Greg is off on a business trip till Monday, and it occurred to me that this might be the right opportunity to put together the roadtrip I’d been thinking of. So I moved work and other responsibilities around and gained myself two days and three nights for the rip-roarin’ No-Dang-Good Jesse James Revue (NDG/JJ R)!

The time frame: Wednesday night to Friday night

The rules: Everything has to be within easy driving distance. It’s really just a cheap getaway with a theme. And since I’m just trying out this whole idea, I’m even going easy on the getaway aspect. I’m sticking with home base for my main meals and a comfy bed. This is really more of a way to just get out and about, think about a few things, eat, drink, draw, photograph and blog.

The theme: In a word — badness. My badness — bad nutrition, bad habits, bad manners, bad values … badness. And then there’s Jesse James’ badness, which includes murder, mayhem, violence and bank robbery. I’m not saying mine stacks up by comparison, but it’s all I can manage. And getting in touch with my inner wild woman comes at a good time. As serendipity would have it, I’m just about to start a new diet and shoulder some new responsibilities. Getting to act like a hoodlum for a couple days might be just the ticket. After that I have to act my age — yuck.

The bad guy: The choice of Jesse James isn’t really a personal one, just a circumstantial one. It turns that this region is JJ Central. Without burning through a whole tank of gas, I can go see the farm where he grew up, the site of his first (and supposedly most impressive) bank hold-up and the house where he was shot. So womb to tomb, sort of. I don’t think I’m going to find much about the man to admire, but there may be something about the legend surrounding the man that bears a little reflection.

Off and running

• 6 pm — After dropping Greg off at the airport, I realized that there was no reason not to get right into it and start behaving badly. Went to Starbucks and got a cappuccino that was NOT decaf and DID use whole milk. I even added some real sugar in with the Splenda. Jump back!
• 8 pm — Found that the whole milk and sugar weren’t a bad thing, but the caffeine was. Conducting choir rehearsal while amped up and jittery — bad idea. Still, we naughty people never look back.
• 10 pm — Late dinner: Hummus and oranges. Someone could say that I’m compromising the whole outta-control thing by observing the meatless fast, but hey, if I have to go to confession for this roadtrip it’ll spoil all the fun. Besides, it was really good hummus.
• 11 pm – Couldn’t find anything good on television, so I watched Bugs Bunny cartoons on DVD and ate malted milk balls. All right!