A long bye-bye in the Scion xB, yesterday. My Dad and I were outta here at 7:00 a.m. for the drive to Quincy, IL via the so-called CKC-IL 110 Route, sort of a sneaky way of saying: I-88 to I-80 to I-74 to US 136 to IL 61 routing. Quad Cities, Knox, Monmouth, Galesburg…blah, blah, blah. On the trip down, My Dad found out the hard way that if you’re not paying attention for the little CKC-110 signs, you’re going to drift and add (quite a bit of) time to the drive. And, a long car ride means something else – HAMBURGERS!
What? OK. Jeez, I don’t even get to talk about the fun part of the day. My Dad just told me to “stay focused and on track.” OK, Mr. Investigator. More about the hamburgers in a bit. But when My Dad starts to, as he puts it, “drill-down,” on an investigation, and he senses some juicy documents with “crucial” information are located in the hinterlands of Illinois, we’re gone, we are hitting the road. My Dad gave me a partial briefing on the latest miscreant. The “subject” had a mysterious fire about 30 minutes after leaving his rural residence late one night. Some on-line inquiries of various county court records revealed some very interesting cases – like an active felony case for possessing the pre-cursors for methamphetamine (METH) manufacturing. So, off to Quincy to look at the “paper files.” My Dad often says that the paper file located at the county court house has “interesting” info…all public record.
Back to our hamburger stop. What? OK…tell the rest of the story. Let me make this quick. My Dad came back to the car with about an inch of documents. And he found that an “associate” of the “subject” may be the same guy who had a prior felony conviction for “criminal conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.” Sounds creepy. But, if you’re the “subject,” I would think that it is pretty smart to start a new criminal conspiracy with “associates” who have prior experience with meth…right? Seems like a no-brainer…which is usually what happens after you start using meth. HA! My Dad just chuckled on that bit of Border collie humor. OK, now I can talk about the hamburgers.
My Dad stopped at the McDonald’s in Monmouth, IL…TWICE! On the way to Quincy, and on the way back. Plain hamburgers – TWO – at each visit.
Remember, I never sleep in the car? Things must be monitored, My Dad caught me watching him in the rear view mirror.