I love this American ride

This was my 4th trip in as many months to see yet another country concert. Quite frankly, as excited as I was about seeing Toby Keith and Trace Adkins, I was glad it was the last because the drive to and from the Comcast Center was getting old. Granted, Jackie and I took turns driving, and I was supposed to drive for Toby's, but the Rascal Flatts / Kellie Pickler / Chris Young concert was just six days ago, on a Sunday, and since it had been postponed from a Saturday earlier in the month to a Sunday, I drove because Jackie had to get up early for work on Monday. So we switched and now she was going to drive us to see Toby and Trace.

We were on the road just after 4 PM, two country groupies excited about the night. We talked about work and kids and soccer and car crashes (don't ask) and listened to our favorite songs on the radio. We made good time and were nearly there, when suddenly she looked at me.

"You have the tickets, right?"

Oh yeah, those things. I guess we can't get past the gates without those, much less into the VIP parking lot with that parking ticket that says we were, after all, Very Important People who have frequented this place all summer long, claiming seats 27 and 28 in section 7, row L.

Well, I didn't need to answer her. The look on my face said it all. The tickets were still right where I left them, in the red desk in the hallway in the upper left hand cubby, the last ones in the envelope that held the tickets from the entire summer that I took out on each day they were needed to get us to the VIP parking lot and through the gates to seats 27 and 28 in section 7, row L. Yes, that's where they were. 1 hour and 32 minutes and 82 miles from where we were.

We had been making such good time, too.

I called home and asked my son what daddy was doing. "He's mowing the grass," Christopher said. "Can you get him for me?" I asked. "I need to talk to him." Surely he would mind a whole lot, but would still put the boys in the car and drive 30 minutes to the Burlington Mall with the tickets and meet us halfway so we wouldn't have to drive all the way back home.

So we backtracked, headed north again, only we got off the highway in Burlington. G and the boys met us in the parking lot, saving the day.

We made it back to Mansfield at 7, but by the time we could find a parking spot, after having kicked out the concert-goers tailgating in an empty parking space, made our way in, got ourselves drinks, and got to our seats, we had missed the first act. Nonetheless, the rest of the concert was chock full of awesomeness, even if we did have to do a lot of driving.