More odds and ends

Talked to my wife tonight--after three days of trying.

Once upon a time, those bargain phone cards could be a bargain. Tonight I just shoveled change in the phone long enough to make sure she was all right, and it was noticeably cheaper.

But we discussed that a couple of days ago.

On that subject--remember the banks of phone booths I mentioned as a staple of truck stops a few years ago? This (nice, well-equipped) truck stop has a room full of phone booths like that. No phones, though. They use it to store cleaning supplies. I finally found a pay phone in the lobby of the restaurant.

But we covered that, too.

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On the "getting around" front, the scooter came in a little handy today. A couple of things about nice, big new warehouses:

• Modern warehouses are BIG.
• Many companies have become security-conscious to the point of paranoia--especially at the (BIG) new warehouses.

The result? Well, in this case, the only bathroom I was allowed to use was on the other side of the building. With the front very carefully fenced in, "going" meant going around three sides of the warehouse.

Did I mention the warehouse was BIG?

The scooter only speeds me up to a trot, but even that was quite welcome. I may keep the thing with me.

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It's been a while since I did a long drive through a Midwestern state (Illinois, in this case). I remembered the lack of hills from drives toward Colorado in my childhood, but it's not something that really registers when you're just remembering it. I'm not used to that kind of flat. At least it didn't surprise me.

I also remembered the oases of trees in the middle of the great flat fields, where the owners had sheltered their houses from the winds. What I didn't remember were the little lakes every mile or three, each with its little dock, its motorless pontoon boat, and its cluster of RV's, trailers, or tents. I suppose they're for reservoirs for the irrigation systems--they looked more like big ponds than little lakes. And it's Saturday--if you've got the water anyway, why not camp next to it on the weekends?

But for someone who grew up in more irregular and wooded country it seemed odd--an endless stretch of cornfield, an interstate less than a hundred feet away--and there you are, camping in the wilderness. Oh well, I've set up a tent in my back yard before...

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And speaking of camping out, the fiberglass tent is cool enough to sleep in now. G'night.