ROLLING PAGE 7

Hastening toward PEOPLE!

The roads were built up on the way south, which required greater attention to steering more accurately. I must admit, I had become somewhat careless driving the long miles of the virtually deserted route 2, so it is a good thing I was required to pay attention again.

Driving past the tiny town of Strasburg, ND, I chuckled to see a sign detailing their claim to fame ..."proudly the home of Lawrence Welk." Wunnerful, wunnerful ...

It seemed as if the world had turned into a sunflower sea...field after field of sunflower 'faces' looking at the sun. I became mesmerized, as they "turned their heads" to follow the sun.
As I drove and drove, thoughts wended through my mind.. After all, I had lived many years in the megapolis of Silicon Valley. I, too, had followed the warmth of the "important things" (...money, clothes, cars, 'fun') as blindly as these cheery faces of the sunflowers. In the perspective of distance and time, I started to wonder if perhaps the sunflowers weren't better directed in their worship of the sun (which was one of the basics of their very sustenance) than I had been all those years following MY important things...few of which made one bit of difference now, except to have used the funds I needed more now than I did then.

The heat was getting quite difficult for me. It had been close to 100 degrees every day and even in the shade, it was very hot. I considered having the engine air conditioner fixed, but knew it would not only cost a goodly amount, but would cut back my already meager gas mileage. So, I tried to stop wherever it looked shady and rest a bit. When it got unbearable, I would stop at the largest store I could find and pray for air conditioning as I pretended to shop. Whatever your opinion of the mighty Wal-Mart, for the Rver, they are a blessing. Not only can you find almost anything you need in the store, but there is adequate parking, and the 24 hour stores allow RV parking in their parking lots. There are always those idiots who abuse gifts (and dump their tanks or leave a mess) who will undoubtedly force Wal-Mart to remove this priviledge, as so many other places have had to do in the past, but i have found Wal-Mart's a port in the storm many times.

I hadn't seen my friends in Omaha for some years and I was excited to think of talking to them soon. Omaha had changed quite a bit since I was last there, but I eventually found their home on a wee cul-de-sac in South Omaha. My goodness, we talked! And talked! And talked!
The next day I took the RV to a mechanic that my friend's considered trustworthy to replace the bare tire and get a tune-up. Another lesson learned ... I got the royal rip-off. Even down to an oil-cooler, when there was already one on it! I decided that I had better learn more than I knew about the mechanical end of my home before allowing people to work on it.

The pressure to move on continued to press me. I was starting to wonder if it would ever leave me!

Leaving Omaha, I learned another lesson. The streets were 'raised' where the streets crossed. We used to call them "whoop-de-dos". I had put my books and vcr tapes on shelves over the back window. The first bump I hit deposited them, with a grrrreat crash, all over the back of the rv. Startled the devil out of me and I am sure didn't help the tapes much. Only 200 miles to my next stop, so I ignored it, but knew I had to make other arrangements for that gear.

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