Family Connections

Last night when we arrived at our stop in Fridley, MN, our daughter, Sassy drove over from Minneapolis to see us. She had just finished reading my blog posting about the personal hygiene issues and the less-than-daily showers and before she would let me hug her, she asked: "did you shower today?"  We showed her around the truck and then she took us out in her car to an Applebee's so we could buy her a decent meal and enjoy her company. While Mr. Trucker was securing the Steering Knuckle lock prior to our heading out, Sassy said to me: "Aren't you afraid to ride in that big truck?" to which I replied in the negative. I will say, however, that I am now afraid to ride in HER car, with HER driving. Holy crap! It's like taking your life in your hands. Mr. Trucker said to her: "I KNOW I taught you better than this".

We did have a very enjoyable visit with her. She is her usual self, full of piss and vinegar. She really wanted me to come back to her place to see the cats, and I would have liked to, but it was 12:30 a.m. already by the time we finished our meal, and besides, there's that riding in her car thing...

We are now driving south of the Twin Cities and the scenery is pretty uninteresting, aside from an occasional spectacularly bright colored tree. Here's my first picture of the day, just before my camera batteries died.

Guess who?

After replacing the batteries, I took a couple shots of my "necessities" kit, as promised yesterday:

Inside this bag are: face wash, hand cream, triple antibiotic ointment, fingernail clippers, tweezers (cuz those annoying little facial hairs always show up so much better in the sunlight streaming in the truck windows), StimuDents (better than dental floss), my migraine pills, my retainer case, a separate little zipper carry case with a travel toothbrush & toothpaste (cuz at some stops I just grab that little bag & run in), chapstick, face lotion and undereye cream. Inside the upper zippered compartment are snack-size ziploc bags containing bandaids, nail files, and those little prepackaged moist eyeglass lens wipes.

I guess that's about it. This little baby stays at my side at all times and when we make a pee stop, I can just grab it & go. Also many of the items in here are good to have at hand while driving down the highway.

Here's a cool sight just outside of Owatonna, MN, on I-35.

You'll have to turn your head to the side to see it properly. I can't figure out why it's sideways. I rotated it in my IPhoto, but it keeps turning itself back sideways when I try to import it. Darn it all anyway! So frustrating. Here's a link so you can see a proper picture and read about it:

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1TPZ_New_location_for_Owatonnas_Three_T_38_Talon_Thunderbird_Jets

Lest you think Owatonna, MN is going to be my silly-sounding place name for the day, get THAT notion out of your head right now.

Today's silly-sounding place name: Shakopee, MN.