Today was the day of driving to Aberdeen, and more importantly for me, meeting the parents. We started the day right with a Burger King breakfast – sausage, egg and cheese in a toasted croissant is a lot better than it sounds. Also, the hash brown carton made me chuckle:
We loaded up on soft drinks and hit the road…
We made a brief pit stop at the Jorgenson Meat Store, a small independent business that sells nothing but meat products and kuchen (a custard-based cheesecake-like dessert of German origin and commonplace in South Dakota). They notably sold the best beef jerky I’ve ever eaten, spicy Peperami-esque treats called “Texas hot rods,” and Mountain Dew and Pepsi Throwback. Suffice to say, I loved the place. I took a picture, but it was both very windy and very bright, so I look simple:
We carried on, passing through Bristol on our way…
…until we arrived in Aberdeen:
Meeting the parents (and brother) was great. We had dinner, then Steph’s mam had invited a lot of her friends/relatives over for drinks. We got nicely drunk and me and Steph solved Rubik’s cubes to everyone’s amazement.
Additionally, I was challenged to drink a beer on my head by Steve, which I flat out said I could not do (truthfully). Steve, who is 52, put me to shame:
After everyone left, we got into the hot tub…
…in preparation for Wales V Ireland, which kicked off at midnight our time. And yes, I watched it on a laptop, from a hot tub, with beer and jerky:
We won 22-10! A cracking end to a cracking day. We retired to the comfort of our accommodation, and went to sleep:
Camper, sweet camper.
The Adventures of a Welshman in America 