Tub Thumping.

____Day 1: One thousand miles with a load of flax and a thousand ways of doing the job. Different drivers, different ways; same driver, different ways. Changing priorities and at the top of today's list: a new drivers license. The annual trip to the Autopac shop; where the Canadian Government has a nice little earner when everyone comes to pay for another year's permission to drive. So, a midday departure south on Interstate 29 to Vermillion, South Dakota.
____Day 2: North Dakota: 217, South Dakota: 252, Iowa: 161, Missouri: 123. Every one of the 753 mile Interstate 29 will be covered on this trip. From Pembina on the Canadian/US border to the heart of Kansas City where I turn onto Highway 71. Taking the very good four-lane 71 down to Joplin for a night at the Flying'J.

Old style accomodation on US Route 66 in Oklahoma.

____Day 3: A good quick tip at the animal feed plant at Neosho; then a quick phone call to the reload address tells me not to hurry to Tulsa, as the stuff won't be ready till after lunch. An ideal chance to save the $16.50 toll on the Will Rogers Turnpike [Interstate 44] and take the old Route 66 through the towns of Afton, Vinita, Foyil and Claremore. Places that still show the dilapidation of the many prosperous enterprises that folded when the Interstate came pushing through. A traffic-free hundred mile drive in a sunny temperature of 19 degrees C. The load is "Donkey Engines" from the Arrow Engines factory, a place that reminds me of a visit I made to Patricroft; the home of Gardner. The same engineering emphasis; durability, precession and quality. Arrow engines are made to run 24 hours a day and for 60 years! No hi-tech, light-weight, high-powered throw-away rubbish from Arrow. Then after two and a half days of poodling about; it's time to put in a serious six hour stint at the wheel and get to Omaha. Within a days drive of ma home. Ha,ha.

New style accomodation : The Hard Rock Hotel at Tulsa, Ok.

____Day 4: Northbound Interstate 29, all day, cruise control on, arm-rests down and the mind wanders. Trying to think thoughts that remind me of the good times; trying to think thoughts that remind me of the best times. I've been knocked down, but I've got up again. Ain't nothing gonna keep me down. Freezing fog from Fargo through the rest of the trip; back in the yard by nine in the evening.
____Overall Distance: 3456 km.

A common sight on US roads : Will there always be enough wind?