Morning musings:
We were up and out the hotel door before 8
a.m., only to find that the trailer blinkers and electric brakes weren’t
working. Last night every time the wiring became disconnected, the truck let us
know…by a ding and simultaneously, a warning on the driver information panel.
This morning there wasn’t any recognition by the truck that there was even a
camper back there. We were right next to a Wal-Mart so the first line of
troubleshooting was replacing the bulbs. That didn’t fix the problem. It’s been
wearing on Kim that we don’t have blinkers or the electric brakes. He’s
concerned about the extra weight of the camper pushing from behind and only the truck brakes to
stop the rig. Finally stopped at a truck stop in Newton, KS, so he could give
it a better look. Didn't take long before he figured out that it wasn’t in the
wiring from the camper; the issue was that the wiring behind the bumper was
shorting out. He fixed it and concern has been replaced by relief. Both
blinkers and electric brakes are now properly working. When I asked him what he
did to get it working; he simply said, "I wiggled it." Since he’s
pretty sure that there won’t be any more issues, we’re going with the premise “it’ll
work until it doesn’t”, but if it does happen again, at least he has a known
starting point now.
Update: No problems all day until
there were…about dusk. It was rest area
time anyway and Kim was able to make a quick fix with electrical tape.
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Just as I
was thinking that the wind that was such a presence on the drive west hasn’t
been a factor heading east, I felt the truck jerk sideways. Oh shoot, it’s back! Kim said he's been feeling it for a while,
but it hasn’t been noticeable from the passenger's seat until now, as we’re
heading northeast on US 35. The swaying has really kicked in. At times it feels like we’re floating on the
road instead of driving on it...not sure that's a good thing. However, it’s a warm wind so there is
that.
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We’re
passing fields that are covered in a fine purple sheen...so subtle at times it
makes me wonder if I’m really seeing it. Second guessing my eyesight. And at
times because of the coverage over the field, it looks like purple flowers are the
planted crop and at times it’s only along the edges. What is it? Lavender?
But isn’t it too early for lavender? Googled 'purple ground flower in Kansas' and
found out that it’s not lavender and it’s not a single flower either. It's two winter annuals known
as Henbit and Purple Deadnettle.
Both are in the mint family. They grow in fields every year, but they are
especially colorful in years with mild winters, when the warmer weather gives
the cool season plant more time to germinate.
Evening update:
Last night
we were talking about how we rarely see the gas stations of the 60s and
70s…Sinclair with its green dinosaur mascot, Texaco with it star and Phillips
66, which was the brand of station that the Bakker family owned and ran back in
the day. I was googling the stations and reading the results…it was a way to
pass the time on the road. Things we learned:
**The long running ad campaign for Texaco “you can trust
your car to the man who wears the star” was started in 1962.
**In 2001, Texaco and Chevron merged to become
ChevronTexaco.
**The name ‘Phillips 66’ was inspired by a test
drive of the fuel at 66 miles per hour on a stretch of Route 66 in Oklahoma.
**Phillips Petroleum Company and Conoco merged in
2002 to become ConocoPhillips.
**Sinclair first used dinosaurs in its advertising
in 1930, promoting lubricants refined from crude oil believed to have formed
when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
**Sinclair stations began featuring a green
fiberglass DINO (prounced DYE-NO) in the early 1960s. DINO is still a favorite
photo op to this day.
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When we
were over by DINO, I looked down to make sure of my footing and I saw a plastic
ammo box that looked suspiciously like a geocache. When the photo shoot was over, I opened the
box and sure enough, I’d found a geocache without even looking for one. Signed the log, left a unicorn rock then found
it on the app and marked it ‘found’.
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Stopped at a Roadside America attraction in Clarence, MO, which was billed as a “1950s gas station
Two
giveaways that this little tableau harkened back to an earlier age: Price of
fuel was simply listed as 319/reg and 369/ethyl and none
of the mannequins were wearing seat belts. In fact, one child in the back seat
of a car looked to be standing up. I grew up in the 60s, not the 50s, but I
remember those unbuckled days in the back seat of my mom’s car with my brothers
and my cousins.
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Kim has battled the wind most of the day, the air seemed unseasonably warm every time we stepped out of the truck and we
watched lightning ripple through big puffy clouds as we drove toward
Springfield, IL. The wind is rattling the windows in our hotel room as I sit here typing this.
Song lyrics come to mind: Something’s happenin’ here…what it is ain’t
exactly clear.
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We’re in for the night in Bloomington, IL…Kim
drove 643 miles today. It’s less than 400 miles to my mom’s house and then
another 100 or so to Charlevoix. If the
weather cooperates, we stand a good chance of being home by tomorrow night. And that would be just ducky!
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40 Days of Lent opportunity: Find an area of greediness in your life and ask for God’s
help in overcoming it. I was able to listen to Sunday’s sermon which gave
me plenty to think about as I searched my life for the areas where greed creeps
in. It didn’t take long for a couple to surface; prayed for a
more generous spirit.
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