To Kansas and Back

 

by Pa Rock

Road Warrior

Rosie and I are safely back in West Plains after our hurried weekend trip to Kansas.

We left West Plains fairly early on Friday morning - somewhere around 8:30, and completed the 277-mile trip to Tim and Erin's house in Roeland Park, Kansas, in about four-and-a-half hours.  Today we reversed course at about the same time in the morning and made our way back to West Plains in the same amount of time.   

I only saw one political distraction of note, and that was on the rear of a very large pickup truck that was pulling into the Sonic in West Plains as we were picking up breakfast.  The fellow had an wide bumper that sported two big Trump stickers, and he had a big green "Q" stretched across the rear window of the cab.  It seems so bizarre to be living in a world where people are proud of their ignorance!

We were not in any hurry and managed to stay close to the speed limit most of the time we were on the road - which was a good thing because John Law was out in force.  I counted four cars that were pulled over and dealing with highway patrolmen, and noticed several more patrol vehicles lurking along the roadways.

Another thing I observed on the return trip home today was a proliferation of Airstream trailers.   While on a family vacation out West in the late 1980's our family met one of those massive Airstream caravans that stretched for miles.  What a sight that was!   (If you have never encountered one, check out 1993's movie, "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"  Juliette Lewis and her grandmother were participants in an Airstream rally and that's how they wound up meeting Johnny Depp, aka Gilbert Grape.)

Today I saw three Airstream trailers hooked up to pickup trucks and sitting behind the McDonald's in Seymour, Missouri.  A few minutes later I passed another one on Highway 60 heading west, and a few minutes after that I encountered Airstream #5 at a quick stop in Mansfield, Missouri (hometown of Laura Ingalls Wilder).  I came home and checked the internet to see if there were any rallies going on in the Midwest, but found none.  Perhaps it was just a group of friends out doing a weekend thing.  Fun to see, nonetheless.

As a general rule, I make no attempt to get in my 10,000 steps a day while on these rare weekend getaways, and this weekend was no exception.  However, without trying, yesterday I managed 10,995 - quite a bit of it walking up and down hills at Ren Fest - and that's one tough way to accumulate steps!

But we are home now where the ground is level and the grass still needs mowing.

Days off are rare when your life revolves around a big yard!