The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

I have taken a lot of road trips in my life, and some of them were even enjoyable. I was watching TV the other night and saw a movie advertised that starred Chevy Chase. He has some interesting and funny movies out there, and in this one he was planning to take his family on a vacation to Wally World while enjoying some sights along the way. They arrived at Wally World after a number of mishaps, and discovered it was closed for repairs. Boy can I relate to that!

Recently my wife, Rita, and I returned from a road trip to Arizona. Our first stop was a cemetery in Nebraska in the middle of nowhere. We finally found it after traveling on some gravel roads that see little traffic. I know this because there were branches strewn on the road that we had to drive around. It was very windy, so when we got there, we found my wife’s great-great-grandfather’s stone, took a picture, and headed south.

The next day and a half took us through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. To say we hit all kinds of weather is an understatement! We drove through rain, hail, snow, high winds and dust storms. The interstates we drove on had lots of semis, and the two-lane highways we drove on had lots of curves and dips. We took a side trip to find a place that advertised pie on some billboards. While we were there, I put gas in the car that cost $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere we had stopped. To top it off, the pie place was closed! Traffic in Albuquerque and Phoenix reminded us that we weren’t in Iowa anymore, so we were both happy that our hotel was somewhat off the beaten path, but very accommodating. We had to drive no matter what we did, but we didn’t drive through Phoenix or Albuquerque again.

We soaked up some Arizona culture while we were there, and by that I mean we were tourists. We visited some friends and a cousin of mine, and they gave us ideas of things to see. The Arizona desert is definitely different than an Iowa cornfield! People would look at us and wonder what northern state we came from. I met a woman I had worked with 45 years ago, and even though we remembered some of the same people, we didn’t remember each other. We visited a winery that had a food truck available while we were drinking wine and listening to live music. I got in line behind three attractive young ladies, possibly in high school, definitely sun-burned. I commented that they didn’t look like locals, and they said they lived further north. I told them I was from Iowa, and they laughed and said they were from Saskatchewan. They were loving their sunburns!

When we left, our destinations were Kansas City to see our daughter and then home to Spirit Lake. We decided to avoid interstates and cities, but to do that we had to do more mountain driving. My wife just about had an anxiety attack when she looked down out of her window. I kept my eye on the guard rail and oncoming traffic, yet another indication we weren’t in Iowa anymore. However, when we stopped for the night, I was reminded of my days on the farm when we saw hundreds of cattle in a feedlot outside of a town in northern Texas. We spent the night there, and though we couldn’t hear them, we could smell them. The town and hotel were nice enough, providing we didn’t inhale too deeply.

We spent two memorable nights with our daughter, and one was weather related. The one thing we hadn’t seen yet was a tornado, and sure enough, we all went to the basement when the sirens went off. It turns out the tornado went north of them, but there was damage in St. Joseph. Never a dull moment in that household!

The rest of the way home was uneventful and we were glad to be home. We had forgotten to dump some milk before we left and had left a basement light on, but we were happy to sleep in our own bed. We woke up to 20 degrees, when just a few days before it had been in the 90s. I guess we weren’t in Arizona anymore.

I suppose this could be considered an enjoyable trip. I don’t know how many more years we will do these trips, though. We occasionally like to take off and go different places for a few days. We usually have a destination in mind and take a few side trips along the way. We used to pack up the kids and spend a few days camping in tents and always seemed to find a rain shower. We bought a camper when I retired, but it’s gone too. Hotels are less trouble. Soon our car trips will be replaced by bus trips, and eventually bus trips will be replaced by enjoyable trips down memory lane.

Roger Brockshus and his wife, Rita, live in Spirit Lake. They are mostly retired, but volunteer in their church and community. They enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren when time allows. Roger is a member of the Hartley Writer’s Group and Poetry Group.