The Outback Diaries recounts the efforts Randy took for his mother Barb in the last year of her life. It started with a road trip from apartment H in Colorado Springs, to a house in the suburbs of San Antonio, and then to room 209 at Los Prados Verdes Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation.

Randy and Barb encountered the unimaginable all along the way. There was the free range solar panel farm somewhere on Interstate 25.

There was brunch with Thumper at a cantina in Dallas served up by a brown-eyed girl wearing blue contact lenses who smelled like rainbows. There was a rebellion brewing among the residents at the nursing home.

There was a hideous dress. There were repeated references to the songs and movies of Randy's youth.

Could Randy get Barb to Texas in time to meet her new great grandson?Could they avoid the rebellion before being conscripted right into the middle of it by the likes of the President of the Residents and Mr. OK?How many times would the word "irregardlessly" be used before being called out as simply poor grammar?The answers to those questions and more are in The Outback Diaries.

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