Scots, from ¹a- + gley to squintFirst Known Use: 1785

That pretty much describes yesterday. I, with two friends, John and Curt, went to Jefferson City to attend the annual 2nd Amendment Rally in the Capitol’s Rotunda. Wednesday night it rained…and rained…and rained. So much rain that the local weather bureau issued flash flood warning for western Missouri.

We met in the parking lot of a local supermarket. It was raining. John and Curt piled into my Tahoe and we left for Jefferson City at 6:45am. It was raining like an upended bucket.

The drive to Jefferson City should be two and a half hours, more or less. We had planed to arrive at 9:15am to get some covered parking. That, like our other plans, didn’t happen.

If you look at the Missouri road map, there are only two major routes from the Kansas City area to Jeff City. The first is to follow I-70 east to Columbia and then south on US63 to Jefferson City. The other route, the one we were following, was US50 east from Kansas City directly to Jefferson City. It’s that route I follow whenever I go to Jeff City to harangue the legislators.

All was well, except for the unending rain, for forty minutes. That is, it was well until we reached the Blackwater Creek a mile west of Warrensburg. The creek was over its banks spreading across the adjacent farmland for more than half-a-mile. It was also over US50.

Blackwater Creek curves around the western edge of the city heading north towards the Missouri River. I drove over a rise a mile or so west of Warrensburg and saw nothing but taillights. A MODOT pickup was parked across the eastbound lanes. The MODOT people were turning everyone back west. After a quick glance at the map, we decided to detour north to I-70 and follow that alternate route. I found a paved county road heading north and followed it to state route M. Forty-five minutes later we were on I-70.

We did make it to Jeff City, slightly more than a hour late. Our covered parking was full. Fortunately, the rain stopped just as we rolled into town. I dropped off Curt and John next to the Capitol steps and went in search of parking.

By the time I arrived in the Rotunda, the rally was over. It wasn’t well attended, I was told, due to the rain and flooding. We did, at least, provide a presence.

Curt, Ed, John, Mike, April 3, 2014

The House and Senate was in session. John and I live in Senator Ed Emery‘s district. He is a strong conservative and embodies all those virtues we would want in a strong, conservative leader in the Legislature. He took time from the Floor to spend a few minutes with us updating us with some last minute actions concerning Pay Check Protection. There was some arm-twisting going on behind the scenes but he was optimistic the bill would pass the Senate. It had already passed the House. Pay Check Protection prevents unions from extorting dues from non-members. It is one part of Right-to-work.

Ed had to leave for a floor vote. The three of us left Jeff City heading west on US50. By the time we reached Warrensburg, the Blackwater Creek was back into its banks and the highway was open again.

We were too late for the 2nd Amendment rally but we did do some politickin’ and show of support for those conservative bills working their way through the Legislature. All in all, it was a good day with friends.