Got a later start
this morning than usual...hit the road just before 11 a.m. Since navigating the blog site isn’t easy in
a moving vehicle, I took advantage of being able to sit on a couch with my feet
drawn up to review on how to post the journal on the blog site. It’s an annual relearning process. Seems that everything in the technology world
needs to constantly change in order remain relevant...whether I like it or
not. So I had to familiarize myself to
the changes made on the blog website since last year and that took time. Anyway the posting process has started and
thanks to smartphones I can send the blog link to my mom in a text message so
she can read it. I’ve already sent it as
a test, giving her instructions on how to open the link and she responded with
a “Enjoyed it...keep sending.” 😊
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There was another
station about 1 ½ blocks ahead on the other side of the road. Even though Kim is very skilled at maneuvering
the truck and trailer he decided to up to the next station rather than try to get
around to the other side of the pump. I decided to walk because it was sunny,
warmish and mylegs needed the activity.
I had to wait to cross the road and as I’m about a block away I see Kim
threading his way over to a driveway on the far end of the station. I know he hasn’t had time to get fuel so I assumed
that pump access was lousy and he was going to head back my way to pick me up.
I was surprised to see that he pulled out heading away from me. Then I see another station on the other side
of the road about 2 blocks up. To me it looked like Kim was the ball in a weird
game of pinball, pinging his way from one side of the street to the other.
I crossed back over the road walking faster so
he wouldn’t have to wait too long for me to catch up. However I got sidetracked by some perfect
snowman snow. Quickly built a 10”
snowman named Hank who looked sort of grumpy, snapped a picture and was on my way again.
We eventually did
end up in the same place ready to continue our travels with me having walked
the length of the town. I mentioned to
him that it would have be very disconcerting if the truck had pulled away from
the third station without me in it...he replied that he hadn’t given that but a
quick thought. 😏
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Our route took us
through the panhandle of Oklahoma into a corner of Texas on the way to New
Mexico. We drove through the Big Wide
Open which means wind which is why wind turbines dot the landscape.
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Face masks have been
in use everywhere we’ve stopped except for a little gas station somewhere in
Missouri. Several elderly men sitting
around a table with the clerk standing there regaling them with a story as we
walked in....no masks and no social distancing.
Other customers in the station weren’t masked either but we were and
once we were inside it seemed more prudent to continue on to the bathrooms
rather than turn around on principal. But on the whole I’ve been pleased to see
people observing COVID precautions.
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Temperature was in
the 40’s most of the early afternoon, rising up into the 50’s in Texas and New
Mexico. The warmth feels so good after
the cold temps of the 2 weeks. Also it is so,
so glorious to see the sun...time to soak up some natural Vitamin D.
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As we were driving
along I mentioned that I was still unsure of what I would name a church or a
business, for that matter. Names are
important identifiers...a name could be contribute to the success of a business, etc, etc. One thing led to another and we ended up
discussing how we came up with our kids’ names.
Somewhere in that conversation I got curious about city names. When I was
a kid I remember being surprised to find out that Grand Rapids, MI, wasn’t the
only Grand Rapids in the country. Say what?! There’s another city in another
state with the name Grand Rapids? How can that be? That revelation had my head
spinning. I had somehow assumed that
city names weren’t reused, that there was only one of each name throughout the
country. Fairly naïve of me, I know, but
my experience with city names was pretty much confined to Michigan. My family had not traveled outside the state
to that point.
I consider myself
more worldly and knowledgeable in that regard these days having traveled extensively
throughout the country but seeing that sign for Detroit, IL, yesterday caught
me off guard because, again, I thought Michigan had the one and only. Time for a visit with Google....
Today I picked a few
cities that have meaning in my life to see if they are one and onlies or there
are multiplies out there. I was interested in city/town names within the United
States and did my searching on the website geotargit.com.
Interestingly this website uses the word
“places” instead of “cities” because I think it includes cities, towns, villages,
etc., in its tallies.
Here’s what I found: There are 5 places in the US named Grand Rapids....there are 24 places named Holland....there are 4 places
named Williamston....there are 56 places named Spring Hill, with 12 states having multiple places bearing that
name...there are 14 places named Lewisville... and there are 17 places names Fremont. But oddly I could find only
1 place named Charlevoix. 😎
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Crossed into Mountain Time Zone somewhere
along our travels today. More body clock
adjusting will be needed.
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Direct or bright sunlight
can make Kim’s eyes water and he has a difficult time keeping them open. Since him driving with his eyes closed isn’t
in our best interest I will usually take over the driving until his eyes adjust
or the sun isn’t a factor but tonight heading west into the setting sun was
hard on both of us. Not exactly optimal
circumstances for me to learn how to pull the trailer.
We managed to get
into the town of Tucumcari, NM, where we pulled into a parking lot to assess our
options. Do we wait for the sun to go
down and then get back on the road or find a room here and get an early start
tomorrow? Plenty of hotels in Tucumcari, not so many until Albuquerque if we
stayed on I-40. If we take the scenic shorter
route to Las Cruces we know from experience that fuel and hotel options are
limited. It’s warm enough to stay in the camper for the night but there are no
rest areas around and it’s kind of late in the day to be thinking of
boondocking. Decided to find a room and get an earlier start
tomorrow (hopefully).
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The Kansas Turnpike toll
has been paid; it cost us $24.50 to travel about 130 miles. And it looks like the
exit we took last night into Wichita was the only exit that has electronic
payment only. Other exits apparently do
have actual people to take the money from people. That knowledge mollifies me only slightly though...I’d
still make the KTA do public service work to get off the naughty list, maybe just require less hours.
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| Today's route...Feb. 19 |
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