As my parents have joined us for the rest of the trip or most of the rest of the trip, I should probably introduce them to you. They are both retired. That is right, they are retired and have an RV and go across country. It’s only the natural thing for retirees to do, so don’t act surprised. This is their second trip since my dad retired two years ago. My dad, who is also named David, is a sort of Renaissance man. He can sew just about anything, and is proud enough to say so. He also paints pictures, can fix just about anything and does all his own handyman jobs. He tells those grandpa jokes. You know the ones. My mom, who is Mary, has been retired a little longer than my dad, but still volunteers at a hospital. She likes to rearrange things even if they don’t need to be. Growing up you never knew what drawer the silverware or what cupboard held the dishes and glasses. To this day, she keeps my dad guessing. She crochets, and loves to spend time with the grandkids.
So we really didn’t do any sightseeing except for seeing the Arkansas River. Yup, we drove right over it on a bridge. If it wasn’t for I-44 crossing it, we might have missed that. The other thing that we saw was a very large cross. The picture to the right is of the cross. Now, they (they being the ones that erected the cross) say it’s the largest in the western hemisphere. If you are going to erect a cross that large wouldn’t you want it to be the largest one in the world. Especially when it is in Texas and they are supposed to do everything big in Texas. Frankly, I am a little disappointed in Texas on this one. Their motto must have changed to “Everything is big in Texas, but not too big.” We didn’t actually stop to see the cross. You could just see it from the freeway. So if you find yourself on I-40 east of Amarillo look for the cross. 
Nothing major happened today and only one minor issue. My dad drove off with his door step still lowered on his RV. This isn’t a big deal as long as you don’t start shredding or scrapping the car next to you or hit a big bump. He had to pull over after I called to let him know about it. The other problem was when the kids were swimming after dinner. They had to get out because a three or four year old produced a Baby Ruth. I didn’t see the Baby Ruth which is good, but his sister let everyone know that he pooped in the pool. The day was much better than on Saturday. Lisa is doing okay at taking pictures of the state signs.The kids were pretty well behaved. Lisa had to tell Samantha to stop teasing Miles in the car, and when they were in the pool Samantha, who is a very good swimmer, was being a pest to Miles. He got mad at her and I had to tell them to go to opposite sides of the pool. This was all before the Baby Ruth incident. The kids had a meatball sandwich for lunch, and this led to the first punishment of the trip. Miles has this aversion to napkins. Even if the napkin is in his hand he prefers not to use it. His choice to wipe his hands and mouth is his shirt. Lisa and I have told him over and over again to use his napkin. So while he was eating his meatball sandwich, he once again used his shirt. His shirt was yellow and red. The yellow was the color of the shirt, and you know where the red came from. So I told him from this point on if he uses his shirt as a napkin, he has to do the laundry, which he did after dinner. Of course, my dad had to start with jokes about putting him in the washer and put it on spin cycle. I told you he likes the grandpa jokes. I'll let you know if has learned his lesson.
Tomorrow, we are planning to actually see something worth seeing. We will be going to the Meramec Caverns, Jessie James hideout (my mom wants to go see it), taking a look at the St. Louis Arch and crossing the Mississippi River.Today, we traveled a total of 484 miles for a total of 1583 miles for the trip, which is about 25% of the miles to be driven. The cost of gas was only $74.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment