Honesty
Christmas this year was Bob installing a new sink faucet in our bathroom and fixing the tank on the toilet in the guest bath. There were cards, one from me to him and one from him to me. It was quiet all day.
New Year’s eve, was quiet and ultra cold. All day. The chicken’s water froze even with a heated base and I had to go out many times to pour very hot water onto the ice to melt it for them and then use a hammer to crack the ice layer on the goose’s water.
And now, about my last installment on my vacation to see my Auntie. Well, it has been a very long time of thinking and (most likely) over analyzing why I couldn’t write about it. This is hard to share, but I think it will be good for me to just say what I have been thinking.
Getting out and traveling over 2,000 miles was good, but in my mind’s eye it was a sham. Why? Because for most of the trip I wouldn’t allow myself to stop and enjoy the things I passed on the highway.
Here is my reasoning
Traveling in my truck was like traveling in a box on wheels. Just like staying inside when I am home. You may not get this, but I see it as no different when I wouldn’t allow myself the freedom to explore all the historical sites, museums, and just get out and walk in some of the little home town’s I saw from my windshilded, rolling red box.
There is one distinction I give myself, and that is that I went so far while locked inside my little red box and that I was able to go out and do errands for my Auntie, because she needed the help. Well, really, how different is it to shop the grocers or Wal-Mart in Iowa vs. Alabama? There was a familiarity, a comfort zone, in that too.
I have pictures for you of Hamilton, Missouri, where inexplicably I felt OK to spend the morning exploring. Go figure.
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- My little Red Rolling Box on the right
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- Quilt murals. Where is everybody?
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- The first living thing I met so early in the morning was a red and green cricket. I didn’t know they came in red and green; did you?
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- A couple of fellas waiting for thier wives to appear. Guess they didn’t know about the man cave up the street!
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- No explanation needed. It’s only here because I like it.
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- Interesting montage is a welcome to town.
In answer to “Where is everybody?” Well, they’re all inside shopping or hiding in the Man Cave! 😉
And a question: Does anyone in Missouri know what kind of cricket that is? I have searched and can’t come up with the answer.
Life on the Farmlet 
A lovely town! And it’s cold here too … had some snow this morning, nice dusting. I think your cricket is a locust.
“I think your cricket is a locust.”
You may be right, Deb! It was the ovipositor that I thought looked more cricket than locust.
This world is such a very large place that if we stopped to explore everything on every journey, we would never, ever reach our destination. Sometimes, you have to choose between travelling and arriving. Often, I have the same feelings when we make a long trip. Why can’t we stop and investigate that orchid farm, this historic monument, that amazing bakery? Well, because we have another 500km to go today to make our waypoint. They’ll be there the next time we pass through, and maybe next time, we won’t be in such a hurry. The world is wide and wonderful, and our time here is too short 🙂
Thinking on this . . .
I’ll be back.
And, just to play the “B” side here: why not stop to take that photo, enjoy the moment? If you feel the impulse, trust your instincts, “carpe diem” and seize the day! This time and place – the light, the colour – will never be exactly like this ever again…
Best wishes for a great 2018.
Thank you, Tom, sending wishes to you and Mrs. Tootle for 2018 too! (That was an alliterative overkill, methinks.)
Personally, I would be very pleased with myself for driving for 2,000 miles on my own. It’s not always true that the journey is more important than the getting there and I’m sure your Aunty was pleased you went to see her and were able to help her out.
I love the quilt mural!
Lynn, I am happy that I made the trip, just kinda weird about the parallels between being boxed in a truck and boxed in the house. In both cases I miss much of the world around me. As for my Auntie, well she is dropping big hints about me moving her down here. I would love nothing more than to oblige her, but I don’t know if she could stand another big move. Which is the long way of saying, yes, I think she was pleased with my help. 😉
I am already looking forward to my next drive up to see her. This one isn’t such a big loop and I will have the benefit of time and a bit shorter drive. There were several president’s homes along the way that I would like to visit (not all in one drive). Most notably Lincoln’s home and gardens.
I think your cricket might be a common meadow katydid (Orchelimum vulgare). Here’s an image from BugGuide. https://bugguide.net/node/view/74929 If you wanted to confirm it, you could submit your image to them.
A destination necessarily changes the experience of travel. If I’m going to my aunt’s in Kansas City, I don’t stop along the way, either. I get after it, and fourteen and a half hours later, I’m there. But if the road — and whatever lies along it — is my destination, then it makes not a bit of different whether I travel 50 or 500 miles in a day.
In the sailing world, it’s the difference between a delivery and a cruise. If you’re delivering a boat from Galveston to Mobile, everything is focused on getting there. If you’re setting out on a cruise to explore the Gulf Coast, every day brings a new decision: stay? move on? sell the boat and get an RV? 🙂
I’m just happy that you got out on the road. You can’t do everything on every trip, so that just means that another trip is in order!
Linda, the next trip is already agreed on for spring. As I told Lynn above I want to stop to see at least one dead president’s abode, there were several, and I think it will be Lincoln’s home and gardens.
For sight seeing I would really like to stop and see St. Louis. Driving the freeway through there was like driving in LA and I didn’t do that well even when I was an urbanite in SoCAL. But, if I can get Bob to go along for the ride one day I really want to walk those streets. I have no idea if you have ever been there but those buildings and that arch made me feel like an ant. Big stuff that deserves more time to process and photograph. 🙂
I also think it’s a katydid of some sort. Compare:
http://songsofinsects.com/meadow-katydids
We spent three days in St. Louis a decade ago so we could get to know it a bit. When I was a kid, St. Louis was still in the top 10 of most populous American cities. It’s come way down since then: a list from 2016 puts it at number 61. It’s still worth visiting. We went up into the top of the arch and coincidentally had a look down at a Cardinals game that was going on at the time. The St. Louis Art Museum is also worth spending time in:
http://www.slam.org/
And you shouldn’t miss the Cahokia Indian Mounds across the river in East St. Louis:
https://cahokiamounds.org/
Steve, I was confused by her ovipositor. It looks just like a cricket’s ovipositor. Thank you for the recommendations of things to do and see in and about St Louis! The Cahokia Mounds look amazing. We have Indian mounds here in Alabama too and I find them fascinating. That is a lot of work creating those elevations! Going back to bed now to sleep off this nasty chest cold I got from Bob. I haven’t been sick in years, literally, and have forgotten how miserable a common cold can be. 😦
Hope you’re better soon. I caught some respiratory thing a few weeks ago and then Eve got it from me. We think it’s finally trailing off for both of us now.
You have taken a single baby step away from fear and have found it wanting… To me this seems a very good sign; after all, “A journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step.” : )
Now to find other things that pique your interest more than your fear; have the power to tempt you out of your box just a little bit more. Meanwhile, we’re all cheering for you here on the sidelines; )
Happy New Year, Lynda!
Deb, I do think I was courageous to do this trip. I was just disappointed in the connection I’d made between being in the rolling box and this box I call home. It was hard to write about the last leg of the trip because other than Hamilton I hadn’t allowed myself the luxury of stopping to take pictures anywhere else. Trust me, there were a million of them I wanted to take! But the next trip in spring will not be so long and will include a stopover with pictures! That is a promise I am making to myself. 🙂
Sending much love for the coming adventures!
You did well to go so far on your own and then do things for your auntie when you got there.
Happy 2018!
Norma, I did, didn’t I? And doing for my Auntie was easy. I just wished I had been able to stop along the way and take pictures. I have a return plan for the spring and have made a promise to myself to stop at least once and make time for picture taking.
Happy 2018!
I find myself with a similar mindset. I have made a couple of trips to Nebraska and several to Wichita, Kansas over the last six months, and not once did I stop to check out sights along the way. I have decided in 2018 I am going to be more adventurous and get out of my truck and check out a few places of interest. And just maybe we can do some kind of trip together – now that I have a dependable vehicle!
Lori, a shared adventure will be so fun! Just let me know when you are ready. 🙂
I’m so glad that on my first day back on WP, I came across this post and the last installment of the trip. I do hope that on your next trip, you get to stop along the way.
Happy peaceful new year!
I’m working on it, Laurie. Thanks!