Well, after … oh… a little over 5 months and 7000 miles, (and 40 blog entries) the trip is winding down. We didn’t make the ‘North to Alaska’ through Portland journey as originally planned. That trek will have to wait for another time and a larger vehicle (why does Dixie keep saying ” Thank God”, every time we mention that? ).
You don’t return from a lengthy road trip without people to thank…
* * * * Blog News Flash * * * *
Blog #30: Rocky Start Part 2, aka…“The Bear Battle”, was nominated for a Bloggy Award !
It seems that blog vignettes combining references to John Steinbeck (‘Joad family derelicts’), children’s songs (the Hokey Pokey), a piece of dried feces caught in the hair under an animal’s tail (dingleberry ), and characters from animated holiday specials (Yukon Cornelius) are scarce.
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Now where was I ?? …. right… right… thanking people for their kindness and hospitality: The list (anyone I leave out is intentional):
- Douglas & JoAnn (Phoenix) ** Wii enabled
- Brian & Chelsea [going & coming] (Flagstaff) ** Wii enabled
- Fred & Donna Maasch [going & coming] (Prairie Grove Arkansas)
- Dawn’s sister Dee and her husband Doc (West Fork Arkansas)
- Patrick & Brittany (Virginia)
- Patrick does not really have a Visitor’s Conduct Agreement (VCA), at least not before our stay
- Bob and Liz Larkin (Virginia) ** Wii and frozen novelty enabled
- Dawn’s niece Kip and her family (Rochester NY) ** Wii enabled
- Kip watched all of Donald’s PhotoShows
- The Utica Couple (Adirondacks) a Good Samaritan act almost undone by a campground bear
- and to the gentleman working in the toll both at a New Jersey Bridge: “ Have a good day, and may you Rot in Hell !! ” (that outburst was probably harsh and unnecessary, but I feel better… so let’s move on )
There were some notable moments which – for whatever reasons - Donald never worked into the Blog:
- Bombarded by desert bill boards for Squawker’s Chicken at Stuckey’s, I succumbed and stopped to get some chicken strips for lunch. I asked the woman working the counter if the strips were really Squawkers, her reply… ” Honey, the only thing Squawking around here is me !! ”
- The first morning after arriving in Prairie Grove, Doc notices we have a flat tire. Further inspection reveals that not only is the tire flat, but the pin-thinga-majiggy in the valve stem was missing !! (please forgive the technical jargon) – which we found about 6 feet away on the sidewalk.
- I had never heard of this happening before
- didn’t know there was a special tool for fixing it
- can’t imagine why anyone would own such a tool
- Dawn’s Dad had one in his garage
- At a hotel’s complimentary breakfast in West Texas, a young man came over to our table asking if he could lay hands on me and pray for my condition. (This has so many promising story lines, hard to believe it got left out.)
- Our very first night camping… taking the tent out of the box and setting it up for the first time… as it was getting dark of course. An 0lder couple strolling through the campground, noticed our struggle and asked if we needed any help. I declined with my standard “thanks, but that would take the fun out it” line. They laughed and continued their walk…but came back by about an hour or so later – we were eating by then… and struggling to keep a fire going – they waved saying… “just wanted to make sure you were doing alrighit”.
That was the kind of people we met on the trip, well except for that guy in the New Jersey toll booth… okay Donald… let it go… let it go…
