Other Guy Signs in Missouri, Mostly Harris in Kansas

by Pa Rock 

Road Warrior

Rosie and I have made it back to Roeland Park, Kansas, for a night or two at Olive and Sully's house.  It was a mostly uneventful drive, but we had a close call when I failed to see a car rushing up the bypass in Springfield and was almost hit as I pulled onto that busy road.   Fortunately the other driver saw me in time, honked angrily, and then sped on around.  Rosie was napping and completely oblivious to that near catastrophe.

There was a scarier incident, for both of us, when we got out of the car at a truck stop in Harrisonville, Missouri, and I put Rosie on the ground to follow me around to the fenced-in dog park, something we have done numerous times at the same location.  Rosie is losing her vision and I had failed to realize just how serious the problem has become.  I was walking slightly ahead, I thought, and talking to her as we approached the dog park.   When I got to the gate and paused to let her in, I discovered that she wasn't there.  She had wandered off in front of the truck stop.  When I finally spotted her and loudly called her name, she started running toward me at an old angle and wound up in the busy driveway.  I raced to her - as fast as someone my age can race - scooped her up - and all is well.

Rosie can see better at dusk and dawn when we often go for walks than she does in the glare of day.  We both probably need to be sticking closer to home.

Driving up through south central and southwestern Missouri today I did not see any political bumper stickers, which I thought was odd, but I did see quite a few medium-sized Trump yard signs - perhaps two dozen or so.  There were also a few signs scattered about for a couple of incumbent Republican congressmen.  Incumbent Republicans in rural Missouri generally do not waste much money on campaign signs in a general election because they never face a serious threat.

There were no Harris yard signs in rural Missouri.  (I have one in my car, but haven't put it up yet.  I'm waiting for closer to the election because I know that it will quickly get stolen or shot.)  Harris signs started appearing in Waldo, a funky, and undoubtedly pricey, little community in the KC suburbs just barely on the Missouri side of the line.  However, as I crossed Stateline Road and entered Kansas, the Harris-Walz signs began blooming like the flowers in spring.  It was heartening to see, even though I do realize that this is the only open-minded part of the state and the rest of Kansas is largely Trump country just as it is in backwater Missouri.

But incidents and political distractions aside, we are here!  Rosie is napping, and I am fixing to head out with Tim to do a bit of shopping and pick Sully up from school.   He is eight now, and Olive will be thirteen this week - and crotchety old Pa Rock does not get to see any of his grandchildren nearly enough.

Poor me.