I’m a grateful person

Day 3, June 28, 2008

Each person can focus on problems or on the good things. Personally I choose to look on the bright side of things, I’m a card-carrying optimist.

Once I read, “Optimism is infectious and inspiring, but a lot of people don't want to deal with optimism because they have to work hard to achieve it. Pessimism is easy: just sit around and mope.”

This evening’s entries into my Gratitude Journal:

1. Yesterday evening, after planning today’s driving route, I got a great night’s sleep.
2. I was surprised by some turkeys as I was leaving Scott Lake – a Tom who was strutting his stuff, two hens and about 10 youngsters.
3. My route – north on 83 and east on 36 – was scenic, the highway was smooth, and practically empty.
4. When I checked the weather band, I heard that Liberal, Kansas, was hit by golf-ball-size hail and lots of rain last night.
5. There was a Dairy Queen along the way.

So why was I grateful about Liberal’s storm? When I planned my route at Clayton, it was a toss-up between the highway that would take me to Liberal (where I would probably stay at B&B RV Park) or through Elkhart (the route I took). I’m grateful I chose Elkhart.

Today I drove through numerous small Kansas towns, and I enjoy reading the ‘welcome’ billboards. Selden says it is the 'home the world-famous livestock auctioneer'; Kensington says ‘biggest town for its size.'

Yesterday I noticed that wheat was being harvested. That’s not unusual. But what was unusual was that the wheat was so short. My recollection is that wheat grows much taller. Curious minds need to find out – so I asked a local. Turns out scientists have created plants with shorter stalks as a way to cut back on water use.

The ‘ag report’ on the radio talked about crop prices, fertilizers, tractor sales, crop dusting via airplanes, and of course the weather. Yes, I do enjoy the Midwest.

This evening I’m in Marysville, Kansas. None of my RV directories had any listed for this town, so I was considering ‘dry camping’ at Walmart. When I got there, I went in to buy some supplies and asked at customer service if there were any RV parks in town – thought I should do that before asking permission to stay in their lot. Here I learned about the city park; and that’s where I’m. I’m plugged into electricity – and there is no charge!

Tomorrow I have a short drive east in Kansas, through a small part of Nebraska and will cross the Missouri River at Nebraska City. Yes, I’ve checked with highway/bridge closures and it looks OK. Then I’ll stay south in Iowa; on highways 2 and 34.