Rufus Roy

After a quick tour of the old city, along with suspiciously slowly driving by BBQ joints hours away from opening, I made my way out of the rising heat and made my way over to meet Rufus Roy at Jodie's new digs, a replacement for her 70's Lair she's called home for the past six?!? years.  I reacquainted myself with Rufus at the park, his paws reacquainted themselves with my groin.  He's almost four now and still thinks its funny. Once Jodie got home, we jumped in the rental and headed back into Kansas to see Gen's new child.  Once we finally stumbled upon her new house (these times, they are a -changing), Gen opened the door and sure enough, swaddled up in blankets in her crib - was Eveleyn Ursula.

Gen and Ursula

Gen looked understandably tired, but surprisingly in really good shape and spirits for the nine month ordeal she had to endure.  Ursula slept calmly and quietly, and the shock of close friends having kids wore off easily enough.  With Corey away in NYC dodging bomb scares only televised on FOX news, the timing of my trip worked out fairly good, keeping Gen from being all alone all weekend.

It was hard not to compare a swaddled newborn with the carefully wrapped order of burnt ends and fries from the best BBQ in the land, Arthur Bryants.  Here, a new mom proudly shows off.

With the formalities out of the way, the Fourth was here and it was time to break into the BBQ scene.  Desi, Jodie's housemate was back in town from a stint in Tampa Bay, but had never tasted Arthur Bryants. Ever.  The poor boy from DeSoto fed off my almost religious ferver, and I fed off his rising excitement, and soon enough, we were both feeding from the trough - washed down with a red cream soda, pickles, sauce, beef everywhere.  It was all Desi could imagine, it was all I ever dream it always it.  Jodie put up with us both, and stuffed, we barely made it back to the Plaza before some ice cream helped our digestion and made us feel like card carrying Americans celebratin' the Fourth.  By the time the sun set on Kansas City, a new light rose over the town. It started with high pitched squeals, snaps in the sky, and ever increasing booms and explosions.

The Fourth was here, and Jodie, Rufus and I headed to the center of town, overlooking the Spirit Festival at Liberty Memorial.  From our vantage point, we saw the skyline stand out before us, and the planes of western Missouri and eastern Kansas filling out our view.  We also saw a curious, lonely, overweight man who stood at attention during the entire display, holding a gallon of water behind his back.  The fireworks were average, but the setting was deluxe, with displays visible throughout Kansas and Missouri in every direction you looked.  The sound was muted, but seeing explosions everywhere was pretty wild.  With the festivities behind us, and most of my Arthur Bryants digested to some degree, a new day was breaking: Saturday, when my quest for BBQ took on new proportions.