Travels with The Rayman

We are flying toward Denver and I’m sitting next to Rayman who is rubbing him thighs with dry napkins to mop up the white wine which he just spilled upon himself while holding his book and sharing a pretzel with me.  Poor dear.  

The flight attendant replenished his wine which he really needed by this point in the trip.  The good news is, it wasn’t red wine.  The bad news was it was the entire glass.   A healthy pour landed in his lap.

Hopefully this is the only mishap of the trip.  Thus far it has been great.  We left a bit earlier than I would have, but Rayman gets nervous so I have learned to accommodate early arrivals so he doesn’t get overwrought.  This is a family trait.  His Mom was always nervous about time too.

On the drive from Branson to Kansas City, about a 4 hour drive, we started getting hungry.  Alert.  Alert.  Seems to be nothing but fast food restaurants along the freeways of Missouri, and that just didn’t cut it for me.  Our first destination was the Truman Presidential Library.  As we closed in on Independence, MO, where the library is located, we exited the freeway and drove the local streets until we spotted a Mexican joint that had a few cars in front.  That is where we ate.  And as usual, we gorged ourselves with chips and didn’t complete our meal.  But we were happy as clamss.

 

The library is wonderful.  What a time Harry had his whole life, and his life in politics was nothing short of amazing.  I had read the book about him and so it was old news, but the re minder was very helpful.  The pictures and presentations were wonderful.  We also got to see some very old cars that Harry used over the years.  Finally, we capped off the tour with a graveside visit;  Harry and Bess Trumans’ final resting place.  The closest I’ll ever come to them.  

In reflecting on the state of our country, I was reminded just how important democracy was to him.  He even was declared the loser of his election to Mr. Dewey on the front page of the NYTimes.  But he won and Dewey graciously accepted the outcome.  Oh, how I moan at the thought of Trump and his BS. 

But I digress.

As most of you realize, it is hard to land a direct flight anywhere nowadays.  And our trip was no different.  Flew Southwest and we changed planes both ways in Denver.  Denver airport is relatively new and I don’t think it is was well planned.  We couldn’t even find an ice cream cone.  How is that a thing?  Restaurants are few and far between.  Very disappointing.  Oh, well.

We are now flying west out of Denver toward Portland and we just hit lots of turbulence over the Rockies.  Good thing I was wearing my mask.  It made hyperventilating much easier to counteract.  Deep breathing ensued and insured that I did not pass out because of fright.  I hate turbulence.  

While we were waiting in Denver for our continuing flight onto PDX, I checked my text messages, and discovered that my old childhood friend, Marie, was in PDX.  So we connected up and decided to meet for breakfast in the morning.  She is leaving tomorrow to drive back to Paso, where she lives.  So we are meeting at a food truck for breakfast.  I figured she would enjoy the experience of that type of dining since I’m pretty sure there aren’t any food trucks in Paso.

It has been a great trip.  Finished editing the book, spent lots of time visiting with Nancy, saw some sights and dipped my toe in the swimming pool.  

And we didn’t get lost.  This may be a first.  Send up a flair!!