Please note that we are now home. I saved these to post after we arrived for security reasons, including having the laptop online at unsecured motel wi-fi systems.. They will continue daily.
Most of the day’s happenings were silly stuff. I mean, it still involved finishing loading the rest of the car, driving 605 miles to Kearney, NE, and all the usual things. But, boring, right? You don’t need to hear about unremarkable weather, how many bumps were in the road to torment Steve’s back (way more than 97,846,000), or Nebraska scenery where even the Platte River was a twisty series of sand trails under bridges we drove over and seldom even a trickle of water, right? If it weren’t for fields being spray watered, we might as well have already been in Arizona missing the rest of the trip, except AZ has better scenery.
But the silliness started before we got out of the driveway. It had been another thunderstorm overnight, or so I’m told. I slept through it. But it made itself known when I had to scrape water and birch leaves off the car windows so we could see in the dark for the first bit of our drive. I have to lift the wiper blades up to do a good job, but the the rear wiper fell off. Find a black wiper on black asphalt in the dark, right? That managed, I also managed to stop Paul, his engine already running for his drive to work, to put it back on for me. I’m sure I could have done it in some actual light, had there been some. Paul managed to replace it without any.
We were well into Iowa before stopping at a rest stop. Nap first, after getting up before dawn even thought to crack, then pit stops. Steve actually got out of the car while I napped, found a sturdy bench, and gave his back a short reprieve from bouncing. His punishment for that was having to listen to a woman standing in a picnic kiosk playing her flute. Punishment, you ask? Her tone was so breathy that you almost couldn’t hear the notes, not clear and rich. Her music? About an hour (I’m guessing, as she was there before we arrived and after we left) of scales, major and minor, each different from the last, progressively higher then lower, until she started over. And over. And… I fell asleep. Mercifully.
It was time to walk the dog, her third of the day since she got one before leaving and another at our breakfast stop on the way. There was lots of sniffing, a little squat, and just before heading back to the car she decided to leave some presents on the grass. Luckily we travel with a little teeny bag velcroed to her leash, containing a roll of doggie bags. They’re much like those tear off grocery bags in the stores, a bit less easy to tear, hard to open to use. (Tip: moisten fingers and rub top back and forth.) Better yet, they’re opaque so nobody has to look at what your little four-legged pride and joy just produced. You just stick your hand inside, surround your bounty, peel the bag back down your hand still clinging to what was outside but now is inside, knot the top and toss.
I mentioned they were hard to open, right? There was also a breeze. While I was struggling to figure out which end of the separated bag was the one which opened, the roll dropped, sailed out in a long kite tail, and had to be gathered up before I lost it. I returned the dog and the leash/bags to the car to Steve, asking him to please roll the bags back up and put them back in their holder. He insisted he hadn’t been laughing while watching the wind play with me, but we both knew better. I suspect even the dog knew better! Meanwhile I returned to the site of the crime with a solitary bag and played good neighbor.
I think the dog had so much fun laughing as well that she tried to replicate the event twice more on that first day. Fortunately, I was better prepared subsequent times.
By the time we got everything needed into the motel room, ate supper (mac & cheese & pudding cup in the provided microwave, brought our silverware) and walked the dog one last time, It was still only just after 7 but I was exhausted and ready for bed. Steve wasn’t quite ready then, still hadn't eaten, and was ready for some reading. Of course I woke up at 4:15, ready for the day, which started with dog walking. Steve didn’t. But we have lots of time before checking into our next motel in Estes Park and trying to see if we can snag one of those 130 slots left open for entry the next day into Rocky Mountain National Park. If not, the backup plan is getting into the park by 4:30 AM !!! OUCH! But hey, we gain an hour driving to Colorado.
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