7/4 Bartlesville to Overland Park, KS 193 miles
Before I left, I had an experience… all of the water was out in our park. A water main had broken and they were repairing it. Fortunately, I was able to wait it out. They were all over it and had it fixed in an hour so I could fill my water tank before leaving.
The trip itself was as exciting as watching paint dry. I did expect worse because of the 4th, but traffic was good. I parked in the convention center thinking I was safe there from the fireworks… Nyet! About midnight some folks came and started setting them off in the parking lot for about an hour… Wheeeeeeee.
7/5-7/7 KantCon Kansas City
After a short night of sleep came to the long day of setting up and making it through the day… Eeeek.. Long, long, LONG day. I barely could keep myself awake… in fact, I might have fallen asleep at one point.
Three long days for KantCon but the show was as good as it has been in the past. The folks of Kansas City are awesome. The only thing I didn’t do was to play a game this year. ☹ But I was too tired after the long days and crashed.
7/8-7/9 Kansas City to Memphis, TN 451 miles
Well, for whatever reason, my trip to Memphis, I spent the greatest amount of time on back roads not necessarily fit for a truck and trailer. Maybe there is a toll road along the way as I tell google to avoid tolls.
Pretty country. At one point, I had to share the road with a horse and buggy as I entered Amish country. Definitely made me think of the differences our society has on people.
Once I reached Memphis, the best place for me to stay while visiting was at a state park with NO internet, so I was hampered while there.
7/9-7/16 Memphis Visiting
I spent a wonderful week with a friend I haven’t seen in four decades. We lost touch after HS and reconnected on Facebook. It was a lovely week before reality intruded and I had to get back to the grind.
Oh, and having been most everywhere in the USA, I must say that Memphis was the absolute worst city to drive in… bar none. I can’t tell you how many times I saved myself from a gruesome death because of my defensive driving. I stopped counting after 10.
Oh, and a coincidence… This park ALSO had a water main break the day I was leaving… I seem to be the death of water mains.
7/16-7/17 Memphis to Kettering, OH 531 miles
What gymnastics! My Memphis friend said I should avoid Cincinnati because there is no loop road and massive construction. So, I went north via a town called Effingham (not a joke).
Unfortunately, Indianapolis has its ring road shut down for repairs. The trip took about three hours longer than if I went through Cincy.
I made it with enough time to go to dinner with the family of author Bruce Graw.
I also collected some things I had shipped here for the convention this weekend
Which brings up an interesting point. You didn’t know I had a convention this weekend, did you? Well, when I started this trip, neither did I. At SoonerCon, I met an author who was stumping for the convention Imaginarium. On a lark, I logged into their website and they still had a dealer’s booth available less than a month away. GRAB!
Imaginarium seems to be more of a literary convention. In fact, in talking to them, I was able to get on three panels to cover for others who had dropped out!
Looking promising! More later.
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