Sunday, February 25...Take the Money and Run

   Last night, we weathered the storm and then were treated to a chorus of heavenly sounding voices.  We made a bathroom stop when atmospheric conditions were such that it was safe to get out of the truck without being struck by lightning or being washed away by the rain.  What an absolute delight to step out into the 62^o night air and then realize that the spring peepers were singing!!😇

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   I’ve used the time in the truck to type up my journal on the computer which is a time saver once we get to a hotel.  Of course, it’s only been two days so far but it sometimes amazes me how much can happen when just driving cross country.  We’ve been staying at hotels and it works well to upload the journal to the blog and then link it to Facebook once we’re at the hotel.  It’ll be a slightly different process once we start camping.

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I see shadows!!

Frost on the truck when we woke up, but the sun was out and it didn’t take long for the frost to disappear. Kim is wearing a sleeveless shirt and instead of my typical winter gear of 2 shirts, I’m wearing only one long sleeved shirt in honor of the sun. 🌞

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   I finally transferred the journal entries to the blog last night but was having design issues so I didn’t link it to Facebook then…thought I’d do that this morning.  Since I knew correcting the design issue to my satisfaction could be time consuming because first I had to figure out what was causing the issue so I could figure out how to fix it, I decided not to take the time this morning at the hotel.  Came up with another idea that would make better use of our time all the way around and possibly widen my technology boundaries…or else it was going to be a complete bust, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  I was planning on turning the passenger seat into a Mobile Command Center…using my phone as the mobile hotspot that would allow me to use the computer to search the blog site to find and correct the issue I was experiencing…all while we were traveling down the road. Kim helped me find the necessary cords, etc. to make it happen, then we were on the road and my Mobile Command Center (MCC) was in business!  

   Once we were on the road, I explained my blog design issue to Kim; he said it sounded like an archive issue.  That made sense so I started searching how to access the archived files, which led me to investigate the ‘permalink’ feature, and within minutes I had found the source of my irritation.  A few minutes more and voila! my issue was fixed and I could move forward, meaning I could link it to Facebook and have it look like I wanted.  To say it made my day was a bit premature because it was only 9 a.m. and I had lots of day left…but to say it gave me great joy and got me day off to a good start is not an overstatement. Lots of happy, happy, joy, joy in the MCC!👍

   I do have to say that the truck works as a MCC only when the internet signal is decent enough to be found.  I lost my connection a couple of times but it was a simple process of waiting and reconnecting when the signal improved.  Good thing national security isn’t at stake here….

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The 'talking' bust of GWC

   To break up the driving monotony of just flying down the highway, I looked up Roadside America to see what oddities Missouri had to offer. Oh, Drat!  We had just passed the exit for the World’s Largest Fork and despite my desire to see it, I passed on it.  It was located at the outer edge of downtown Springfield but I figured the Everly Brothers search had already used up my quota of Kim’s patience with pulling this rig through a town/city. I set my sights on the George Washington Carver National Monument, which featured a ‘talking’ bust of the man.  Well, talking in the sense that it contained the actual recording of a him reading a poem during the speech he gave at the 1942 commencement ceremony at Selma College...available to hear at the push of a button.  We found the monument out in the country near Diamond, MO, which is the area where he grew up. We wandered around the museum, watched the 28 minute film and wandered around the walking path.  And I feel that we only scratched the surface of the life of George Washington Carver, who was known as the Plant Doctor and Peanut Man at various times in his life.  A museum exhibit mentioned his soprano style voice...I thought it referred to his childhood voice. When we came to the ‘talking’ bust and Kim pushed the button, I was caught off guard by the voice reciting the aforementioned poem….it sounded just like a woman’s voice! I only saw that one mention of his voice in all that I read, so it seemed that being accepted as a man with a woman’s voice was easier than being accepted as a ‘person of color’. Born toward the end of the Civil War to a 13 year old slave, Carver had to go to extremes to participate in what I always took for granted and sometimes didn’t appreciate…learning in a classroom.  But he persevered and did what he had to do in order to learn.  Along the way he broke several social barriers in his pursuit of an education, eventually had a huge impact in the area of interracial cooperation and was a person who had a great belief in God.  Ultimately it was his knowledge, wisdom and personal philosophy, not the pitch of his voice that impacted people.  I think spending a day with him would have been a worthwhile experience. 😊   

 **The poem he read was called Equipment, written by Edgar Albert Guest.  It has a timeless message and here is just an excerpt of it:  

You are the handicap you must face,

You are the one who must choose your place,

You must say where you want to go.

How much you will study the truth to know,

God has equipped you for life, But He

Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,

The man must furnish the will to win,

So figure it out for yourself, my lad,

You were born with all that the great have had,

With your equipment they all began.

Get hold of yourself, and say: "I can."

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   The route that Rapunzel plotted for us included the Oklahoma Turnpike, which we didn’t realize until we came to the 1^st toll plaza.  No problem.  The 2^nd toll plaza wasn’t a problem either.  Both had attendants that took our money, gave us our change and receipt, and sent us on our merry way.   
  We took an exit to get fuel and food, then had to pay again to re-enter the turnpike (toll #3).  Kim was willing to drive through because we had paid the 2^nd toll of over $11 about 15 miles back. However, I was properly intimidated by the sign that said “Payment of tolls is strictly enforced”, so we scrounged for the ‘exact change, no bills’, because there was no attendant.  I insisted we play the game by the rules because I didn’t want to receive a nasty gram in the mail from the Oklahoma Toll Authority.  
   Another 10 miles down the road, there’s toll plaza #4.  What?!   As we angle toward the booth that had the ‘Attended’ sign visible because we don’t have the exact change, a woman walks out to turn the sign around to ‘Unattended’.  Really?!  She waited by the sign as we pulled up and inquired, “Now what do we do?”  In return, she asked, “Do you have exact change?” to which I replied “Uh, no, we only have this” as I waved my $5 bill.  She then asked what denomination it was, then pointed to the change machine 10 feet ahead and said we could use that to get change, but it only takes ones and fives.  She walks away and we pull ahead.  Frustration is mounting as Kim can’t get the machine to take the bill, then on the third try it suddenly sucks it in but routes it up and over into a spot above the proper bottom slot.  No change came out.  I start to suggest we just drive on through, but Kim finds another five in his pocket, puts it in the machine and…again, no change came out.  As I'm once again suggesting a drive through, the machine forcefully starts spitting out coins.  A couple coins hit the ground and roll under the truck but Kim managed to get the rest.  As I’m counting out the required $2.65, I realize there’s too many nickels and not enough quarters to equal $5, but whatever at this point.  We pay the toll…the light turns green…I put the rest of the change in the console…we bid a fond farewell to the toll booth and start grumbling.  
  Not 10 miles down the road, there’s toll booth #5… again no attendant, exact change only, no bills…but we now have nothing smaller than a ten.  As I’m saying “Screw this…just drive on through…I’ll tell them that they owe us because their machine ate our money at the last...”, Kim is saying, “Just give me whatever change is left from the last time.”  He throws in $1.50 because that’s what we have…the light turns green but there’s a loud bell which indicates insufficient money was deposited. Too bad.  As we pull away there’s some general cursing and more grumbling about the Oklahoma Turnpike system.    
   It’s at this point that I think "This is the perfect time to eat those Reese’s Peanut Butter Easter eggs I bought back at that gas station". I was going to use the perfect blend of peanut butter and chocolate to ease my frustration. I offered one to Kim.  His response? “No, thanks, I don’t want any.  What I want is to run over a freakin’ toll booth!”  😏

   It occurred to me later that encountering all these toll booths out here was like driving around Chicago except with better scenery. 

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Footnote:  What I find interesting in looking back at that entire scenario is that I went from being a law abiding Pollyanna to having an outlaw Bonnie and Clyde mentality in about 15 minutes without giving it a second thought.  Hmmm…wonder what that says about me.