Westward Ho!

Ah, Columbus, Ohio.  Nice.  Kinda pretty.  Wish I could say more about it, but we didn't get to do much exploring while Old Gal was being fixed.  We might have been able to, except for one thing:  Freddie.  

 That's her in the front seat!  She was almost 13 years old when we started this trip, and I was a little worried about her.   Every time we stopped, we had to think first about what would be best for her.  We didn't keep her in the RV for very long without us (and when there was a cross breeze, she was quite comfy sitting up front in one of the captain's chairs, as you can see)!  At the truck stop, we sat with her on a leash in one of the few shady spots or walked around and made sure she had plenty of water.  So when Old Gal had to be fixed, we made a nice space for Freddie behind the driver's seat of the car.  But it's a little hard to "sight see" when the car is stuffed to the gills and there are kayaks on top.  One stop short and Freddie could be flattened!  

Instead, we found a place to park under a tree and waited for them to fix our house-on-wheels.  And waited.  And waited.  I read, did crossword puzzles, checked out all the new Chevys in the dealership out front, walked Freddie 4 times, and tried to nap.  We sat there for 7 hours!  It was so tough to be patient.  This was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime!  We should be doing something fun!  But making sure sweet Freddie was well taken care of was more important than anything else. 

A few hundred dollars later, we got back on the road and zipped down Interstate 70 through the rest of Ohio and Indiana.

We stopped for the night in Terra Haute, just on the border of Illinois, boondocking in a Wal-Mart parking lot.   Another night with no water hookup or electricity, and we were dirty, hot, and tired.  This feeling began to gnaw at me in the pit of my stomach.  What the heck did we do?  Is this one huge mistake?  What are we going to?  Albuquerque is some place on a map, in the middle of a rectangular state that I've never been to, and we are headed there why?  I couldn't remember.  

I should mention that Thursday morning I got a call from one of the districts where I was substitute teaching in PA.  It seems they wanted me to interview for an elementary teaching position!  The woman on the phone wanted to know if I'd be available the next day.  I told her I was currently in Ohio, on my way to relocating to New Mexico, so no, I wouldn't be available for an interview anytime soon.   Sometimes you just have to laugh and keep going!  What is there to say about that???

We pushed on through Illinois and into Missouri.  I saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis from the highway, and Jimmy took a picture when traffic had stopped on the bridge over the Mississippi.

That's our tour of St. Louis!   Wish we could have stayed longer and looked around, checked it out, but that's what traveling with a 23 year old RV, a full car with kayaks on top, and a dog is like!!

Missouri was beautiful!  What an unexpected surprise!  There were really pretty mountains and everything was very green.  It was 95 degrees and oppressively humid.  From I-70 we got onto I-44 and went southwest to Carthage, MO.   We splurged and stayed in an RV park for the night.  Electricity!  AC!  Water!  Cable TV!  Showers!!!  For those of you keeping track, we hadn't showered in a few days, since Ohio.  Yuck!  

This meant showering for the first time in Old Gal.  J had used the shower when he first got her, but I had been dreading it.  It's this tiny little space - maybe 2ft by 3 ft.  There is just enough room to get the job done.  Plus, you have to take a "Navy Shower".  This is where you only use water to get wet and to wash off.  I had scrubbed the shower top to bottom before we left so I knew it was clean, but it still seemed icky.  Not so!  It was great!   Nice and cozy, and you don't get cold easily because it's a small space!   Why would you waste the water by keeping it on the whole time?  This process of moving and changing our lives continues to show me how things I thought I needed turned out to be unimportant in the end.  We had each other, Freddie, a shower, and a comfy bed.  What more do you need?  For the first time since our trip began, I felt completely relaxed, grateful, and excited.