Road Trip Continues

Early to rise in my sister’s house. They normally get up before 6 and leave before 7, beginning their long commute to ugly Waco.

Nothing too much to report on today. My parents are ice cream freaks, which I knew, so we stopped at a couple of Brauhm’s stores, at which they showed their fetishlike devotion. Oklahoma is flat. Kansas is flat. Corn, wheat, sunflowers. Pretty, but not too exciting.

One highlight of my day was actually outside a Brahum’s store, across the street. There were men there in stripes doing yardwork. Surely not, I thought. Was it a gimmick, some funny little advertising stint that got some poor yard guys to wear prison stripes? Finally, with the addition of the law enforcement officer stepping into view as they went around the building did I realize it was real. I saw prisoners in stripes doing yardwork. Honest to God. Why this made me so excited I don’t know. Why I was so disbelieving I don’t know. But I thought it was of note, probably because nothing much else in my day was.

Another highlight was learning that all Texas rest stops are, or are going to be, wireless hot spots. This was something that happened while I was away and when I get time, I’m going to look it up and learn more about it. But, good job Texas, you get a slight nod.

We reached our planned destination for Kansas and started thinking about dinner. Turns out there wasn’t much, and we ended up getting Domino’s pizza. Boy have I missed pizza. I did notice something though as my parents and I were trying to make decisions. I believe my little jaunt to Asia is responsible too. I am more willing than before to do two things 1) pay for convenience (in this case delivery) and 2) ask people questions (if you don’t ask in a place where you don’t read the local language, you may never find out – frankly, I’m happy to be in a place where 99% of the questions I ask a stranger will be understood).

**A side note here – I’m actually not thrilled that everyone speaks English. The joy I used to find in eavesdropping on people is not returning. The majority of the conversations going on I’m not interested in, and many I don’t want to hear, and for some, I go into full out avoidance mode (moving tables, moving aisles, moving stores) and if forced to listen, find myself dumber at the end as well as perhaps a little embittered.

What did keep me occupied all day was a very good history book. It’s called Is Paris Burning, written all the way back in 1965. It deals with Paris at the end of WWII and all the little machinations that went on with Hitler, the Communists, de Gaulle, the revolutionary Frenchmen, reporters, etc in a short span of time before Paris was liberated. It goes with the premise that you care about Paris and its treasures and don’t want them burned, bombed, and razed to the ground. Hitler wanted Paris to be defended, destroyed, and offer nothing to the Allies. The title is a quote from Hitler. Entrancing really- very well written, intense and dramatic without having to fictionalize anything. I learned much and encourage anyone interested to read it.