Roadtrip

Okay, I won't take you back too far into my life. It will feel like I'm writing an autobiography or something, and that would totally be not cool. Some autobiographies are cool to read, some not so worth it. Though I tend to think my life's story is book-worthy, alot of people's are, so I'll spare you the details. I'll just give you a briefing, and bring you up to speed starting in the not-so-distant past.

I'm a 30-something divorcee, no children, employed, date interracially, own two beautiful non lap-dog dogs, and we live happily in my little mediocre apartment. When I say "we", I'm referring to me and my dogs, whom you will see me call my "children", or refer to them as "Sparkle" and "Twinkle", because I really like sparkly, twinkly things.

After my divorce (a long time ago...another story), I got into the whole phone chat and online dating aspect of dating. Not that I can't meet people in person, but with my unconventional work schedule, it's a little hard to socialize during normal people hours.

So, I met "Anthony" on one of those phone chat lines. This was before actual computer dating sites were big (I'm giving away my age), but long after responding to ads in the local paper (never tried that route). Anyone who's ever dealt with phone chatting knows that the person on the other end's actual appearance is a gamble. But, he sounded super cute, and hell, I was desperately, reboundingly single, so I didn't care one way or the other at that point. After spending a month of daily phone conversation exchange with him, Anthony invited me to Oklahoma to meet him. I was living in central Texas at the time, and had never been to Oklahoma, so I was up for it. On my first available off days after the invitation, I fueled up and hit the highway for that 8 hour drive. Now, about me, I haven't been on an airplane since I was 5, and personally I'm deathly afraid of boarding one as an adult by myself..I'll fly if I have someone that I know to fly with me. Plus, I like road trips. They give me the chance to think, and alot of times I get the oportunity to see sites I've never seen before, or ones that I don't mind seeing again. Anyway, I arrived in his town, and called him to let him know I was there and get directions to where he was.
*WOMEN, this can be very dangerous to do, so I don't advise being stupid like I was. Someone higher was just looking out for me*.
The first time I called, I got his voicemail. We had just talked about an hour before that, so I figured he might just be busy or wasn't around his phone. I waited a few minutes, pulled over to the nearest fast-food restaurant, and grabbed something to eat. When he hadn't returned my call within 20 minutes, I tried to call again, and again, I got the voicemail. I was getting a little pissed by that time, but I didn't want to over-react. After all, I was somewhere I'd never been before, and knew absolutely nobody within 150 miles of the state. So, I relaxed a bit, and finished my combo. In another 20 minutes, I tried calling again..still no answer..so, I began blowing his phone up. I was livid, and couldn't believe that we'd spent that much time on the phone for him to not be answering when I'd made that long-ass drive to visit him. All sorts of crap went through my head: 
is he ignoring my phone call, did he get hurt or something sometime within 2 hours of us talking last, did something happen to his phone, is he sleep and his phone's on silent.
The scenarios I fed myself ranged from angry to concerned. I was determined to not make this a wasted trip, so, since he lived in a podunk small town, I decided to put on my "Penny" (from Inspector Gadget..again, I'm telling my age) hat, and find out where this Anthony guy lived. By now, I'm wondering if that's even his real name. With nothing other than his name, I went to the local convenient store and asked if the clerk knew anyone with Anthony's lastname. It was a rare lastname, and the clerk was kinda elderly, so I figured he knew everyone in that town. To my luck, the clerk led me to Anthony's sister's house in a remote trailer park residence. I hot-tailed it over there, but wasn't quite sure what I was going to say once I got there. 
"Hi. My name is R, and I'm looking for Anthony?"
These people would probably think I'm insane, showing up at their house, and probably having no clue who the hell I am. But, as far as I had driven, I was tired and pissed, so I didn't care. I just hoped they'd be nice about the situation, and wouldn't chase me off their porch with a shotgun. Luckily, his sister was extremely nice. I found out that Anthony actually lived with them, and she told me that he'd gone out drinking with their cousins. As to why he wasn't answering his phone, she didn't know, but she offered for me to wait there for him...of course I did. I got to meet her fiance', their 2 kids, and enjoyed some great sweet tea (a weakness of mine), and we got to know each other while I waited. By this time a few hours had passed, and his sister tried calling him again from her phone. He answered. When she told him I was there, I couldn't hear what his response was, but according to the way her tone changed, I could tell he'd probably said something stupid. He was home within 15 minutes.
So, I know y'all (hey, cut me some slack on my verbage..I'm from Texas, darn it!) are wondering what happened at that point...well, I'll tell you in the next post...