Tonight two of my friends and I decided to go to a country restaurant in Ethel... That is a sleepy little town over many a beautiful hill and through rich farmlands... We took Patty's car, and we duly noted her inside car temperature was 118 degrees when we started... Throughout the drive there it gradually cooled to 112 degrees in the car... But for some reason I wasn't really all that hot... It was such fun to be out and to be having one of the Thelma and Louise and Thelma days like we used to have so many times..
I was a bit worried about a step that had posed a problem getting in the restaurant last time... My knees aren't the best, and I worried about that step. I actually had prayed about it from my house to Patty's... and I told them after I went in the restaurant... that was an easy step.. I was surprised that I had been concerned in the least...
The restaurant owner is retiring next weekend, so they feasted us with delicious meals so large we all brought home quite a bit.. I had a nice little piece of strawberry pie for my mom, as well... The evening sun was simply spectacular on the fields... Car temperature was down to a nippy 101 degrees on the way home....
Cattle were busy finding farm ponds... like this one...
And we stopped just a minute so I could take a picture of the water lilies in this pond.. They reminded me of my grandmother's little fishpond...
I couldn't get close at all, so imagine huge white water lilies everywhere...
You'd think three ladies would have had enough of the open road, but we decided it was too good of a time to end... so we drove up and down the back roads behind Bevier... Everybody knew where so and so lived, where they used to live.... and where they had gone to buy sweet potatoes when they were kids... It was fabulous... We saw open fields of sunflowers planted by the Department of Conservation... The flowers had millions of little heads facing the dipping western sunset.... I missed that photo shot because I was enthralled by the huge birds that swooped down and flew low to the ground in front of the car, leading us down remote back roads... farther, farther....
The land was staked out with no trespassing signs everywhere, but we were on the road... and we knew where we were... almost... Suddenly, Patty said the magic words, "Uh, oh... low coolant... Check engine."
So we turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows to the twilight air... Temperature hovered in the car then about 109....
We drove on... My thoughts turned to the strawberry jello pie (later renamed cobbler for obvious reasons) and my little shrimps in the back seat....
Then... "Uh oh .... there's no more road!" We had come to the end of the traveled road, and Doralee insisted the rest of the pathway would end us up in the riverbed... Naturally we decided to U-turn... And that's when we smelled the motor....
Not good... Not good at all for a hot summer's night on the road to nowhere from nowhere... but we coasted to a stop in the most wonderful of all spaces... shady and next to a herd of curious cattle....
Patty gave her husband a call.. He was, as you might imagine, a bit curious as to WHY we were out in the middle of nowhere... but manly-as-they-all-are, he brought out jumper cables and did the obligatory tinkering under the hood before he called the wrecker!!! Meanwhile, we had a little picnic with a few more shrimp!!!
The cows came closer and if we got too loud or shouted at each other to "give it some gas," or "turn the motor over again.." they got in the fracas with an impatient moo or two....
Stone cold... Not even the little clicking sounds.... We sat there until the wrecker came to hoist the car and drive her back to civilization...
See the white pickup? Yeah... THAT's the step I think I prayed for earlier... My gosh! Trucks are built for long-legged cowboys, aren't they?
With the last breath of daylight, we pulled out and headed into town. Patty and Doralee rode with Rick, the Wrecker Man... I rode with Patty's husband who promptly laughed and offered me a "chaw" of tobacco... I told him no thank you, but when I saw the sack, I did a strange and unusual thing... I asked to smell it...
Beechnut chewing tobacco... I took a whiff, and I was gone... transported through time and lifetime to my grandfather's barn... He chewed Beechnut, and the aroma is still sweetly cloying... a pure cord to the little girl who sat with him in the doorway of the barn, learning just how to spit... (before Gramma caught us and brought those lessons to a screeching ---emphasis on the screeching-- halt).... I finally came to my senses and took my face out of his sack, apologized for sticking my schnoz in there and oohing and aahing like a crazy woman... He has known me for a long time, so he didn't seem to notice anything at all!!!!
All in all, I can't count the number of blessings, beautiful moments, and simply wonderful gifts present in this evening's jaunt.... And I certainly didn't waste a prayer on steps.... but then is any prayer ever wasted? I think not... Stay cool....
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