Thursday, March 30, 2017

Snapshots from the Road

by Pa Rock
Traveling Fool

I returned to Kansas City yesterday on a flight out of Portland, and today I made it on home to the little farm in West Plains.  Rosie turns circles when she is happy, and she turned so many when I got to the house today that I was afraid she would make herself ill!  She missed me and I missed her!

The flight from Portland to Kansas City was the roughest I have ever been on.  We hit turbulence that lasted twenty minutes or more.  The pilot tried several different altitudes, but they were all exceedingly rough.  I was reminded of the paint shaker in my Dad's old appliance store, or John Travolta riding the mechanical bull in Urban Cowboy.  At one point I was holding onto the fold-down tray with one hand and had the other in the air - like a professional bull rider just coming out of the gate!

Next time I'll take the train, thank you very much!

Tim picked me up at the airport and on the way back to his place we got a close-up view of the future.  At a stoplight in Mission, Kansas, we pulled up behind a shiny new Tesla.  It was the first one that either of us had seen.  When the light changed, the car drove a short distance and then pulled into the drive of Tim's dentist's office.  This century-old love affair with the combustible engine has about run its course, and electric vehicles, like the Tesla,  are poised to take over.   So sayeth Pa Rock.

On the long drive from Kansas City to West Plains today, I had an interesting view of the past.  There is a large Amish community near Osceola, Missouri, where the famous Osceola Cheese Store is located.  (Much of the cheese in that store, is, in fact, Amish in origin.)  Today just before getting to the store, I saw an Amish gentleman driving his buggy beside the highway on the other side of the road.   Amish buggies along the roadway are not an unusual sight, but this one was.  Atop this fellow's square, solid buggy rested a full-length canoe!   Interestingly, I didn't see a cooler!

Then I got home to Rosie and her happy dance!  Be it ever so humble . . .



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