The Bloody Doors Off

Road trip today. L and I drove to Waterloo for a pork hamburger at a little dive called the Harmony Restaurant. So good. But that wasn’t the best part (though taking a road trip for food based on a third party recommendation was pretty good); it was our attitude. We’d gotten turned around a couple of times because apparently the signage to remain on King Street wasn’t easy enough for us to find, and fuck knows why Mapquest wanted us to get OFF the 401 onto Highway 6, drive out of our way and then get back ON the 401 (the prevailing theory is the directions were written by a sadist). After missing the turn off and having to use my phone’s GPS to angle us back towards the right road, we’d agreed that, well, we could always go with Plan B if we couldn’t find the joint. (I should also mention it didn’t help that the numbers on King Street E. went UP as we approached, and then turned onto King Street North, and the FIRST 90 King Street we hit was the WRONG one).

We weren’t going to be disappointed if we couldn’t find the place we were searching for. It was the journey we enjoyed, the destination was a bonus. (Even the coffee was good! Now I see why those Diner and Dives shows are so popular. The Harmony has been around for over 80 years and they never change their menu (or the prices, two burgers, fries, onion rings, and two coffees for under $20).)

We thought about taking a stroll through Waterloo but could see the rain clouds coming so we got back in L’s car and drove back to the city. Sure enough, we hit a downpour on the way. We’d been discussing plans for the rest of the day which, again, we made a Plan B and Plan C for depending on whether or not the rain continued (which it did). We ended up with Plan D and it was just as good, if not better, than anything we could’ve come up with. And that’s a huge takeaway: when we plan something together, it doesn’t work out. When we just set out on the journey, we end up having a helluva time.

I need to treat my life as a journey, and not worry so much about the destination. I end up happier that way.