I was on the road today, travelling from Albuquerque en-route to Minnesota. I am on a vacation of sorts, and going to Minnesota to visit family. The weather was good today and the drive has been enjoyable. There are four of us going, and one of us is a four year old. I find the idea of long trip, four year old in a car, and enjoyable in one thought very interesting. I had some concerns that having a four year old strapped into a car seat in a car, travelling down the highway for many hours was not going to be one of the best of times.

Fortunately as I said today has been very enjoyable. We stopped for a lunch of sorts in a small town, Hooker, Kansas. They have a very pretty park with picnic tables, shrubbery, and trees. We found one table bathed in shade. Lunch was nothing special, just some lunch meat, cheese, and bread, and a glass of water. But the little park was comfortable, perfect for a travellers lunch, and a few minutes of sitting still. I have enjoyed many little parks in many towns, but Hooker has an especially nice park, and they must be very proud of it.

We are spending the night in Pratt Kansas, as Pratt is where we ended up when everyone was getting both hungry and tired. After eating, a shower, and a cup of coffee, I wanted to go out for a walk. Pratt being a small town has not invested a lot of money in side walks. At least on the Highway 54 portion of town, but never the less, there was grass going freely along the road, and it has been a long time since I have had the luxury of actually walking more than a few feet on a thick carpet of soft grass.

I walked to the local Walmart, which was my third trip of the evening…. Such is life on the road. When you stop for the first night, you discover those things that did not get packed which are needed. Of course it would be much to easy to discover them all at once. It is more exciting when you are tired and just want to relax for a bit. So I decided to walk to the Walmart, as I needed some exercise after sitting in a truck all day, and the evening weather was pleasant.

I walked back to the room from Walmart, dropped off the final purchases, and walked the other direction for about a half mile. I came across an interesting memorial park alongside the road. It had nine flags in a row, and a tenth flag facing the nine. There was also a small replica of the Statue Of Liberty, placed there by a Boy Scout Troop many years ago, and a park bench dedicated to a couple, which provided a nice spot to sit and enjoy the quiet for a few minutes.

A little farther away from the street was a fountain splashing away. I walked over to the fountain planning on sitting down and watching and listening to the splashing, but there was no bench. So I stood there in the dark for a few minutes and listened to the water hitting the cobble stone bricks. I walked back along the row of flags, and headed back down to the room for the night.

In the mean time, the weather was changing quite quickly. It had been windy all day with clear skies, but when I looked up, most of the sky was black and there were rumbles of thunder some miles away. It is now about three hours later and the storm never made it here, at least not yet. I hope a storm of some type arrives tonight as it has been a long time since I have lain in bed and listened to a thunder storm. I find it enjoyable, perhaps others do not.

It is back on the road in the morning at a yet undetermined time. I know we can not make it to Minnesota tomorrow, so there is no need to be on the road at the crack of dawn. Plus because there are four of us, and not just myself, getting started in the morning takes a little longer than if it were just myself. It is now about eleven at night and I am starting to feel the weight of the day, so it is a good time to say goodnight.