I attended a “Driving Safely” Seminar this morning. The patrolman who conducted it was outstanding. He stated that he had the “gift of gab.” And it was true. In addition to being able to talk, he was also enthusiastic and knew how to keep an audience tuned in. But most important……he knew how to teach. His safety points came across and stuck. Just so you know, the main safety point is THINK! The entire presentation kept reinforcing that……especially compelling was the knowledge of how fast, fast, fast an accident can happen. Think Ahead!

I noticed during the presentation that our patrolman’s eyesight for reading was extremely poor. He had to be three inches from his computer screen in order to read it. At the end, he told us why.

Our patrolman had been shot ten times at point-blank range seven years ago. It was a traffic stop. One of the shots was in the eye. It damaged that eye, but the peripheral damage to the other eye caused it to be blinded. He described where each of the other shots hit.

He did have a vest. And he was still shot ten times.

After falling on the roadway, he survived thanks to a Good Samaritan. This Samaritan ran over to our officer and shielded him from oncoming traffic. And, the Samaritan called for help on the officer’s hand-held radio and gave an accurate description of the suspect vehicle.

By the way, you have probably seen a video of his being shot. He says that it plays on TV about once a month. The trooper’s name is Earl Gillum.

I’m so glad he survived.

Ya’ll take care,
Suzanne

By the way, my cold is gone!


Suzanne

I am now in Glen Rose, TX. I arrived here along with one hundred ninety-nine other Airstream trailers.

You might wonder how it looks to have 200 Airstream trailers going down the highway. Well, I can tell you that it looks pretty neat! It seems that a lot of people don’t realize that Airstreams are still around. They must think that the ones they see in the movies and on TV are just specialty trailers for celebrities. So many times I have heard the comment, “I didn’t know that they still made those things.”

So how do you get 200 trailers into one RV Park without disrupting traffic? Well, there are two ways. One way is just the random nature of people arriving during a 12-hour check-in time. The other way is with a caravan that has been assigned an arrival time. For this Rally, there were three caravans coming in.

And today I learned that there is a competition of sorts amongst the caravan leaders. The objective of each leader is to arrive as close to assigned arrival time as possible. And, it seems that my caravan leader is the champion to be beaten! Well, no one came close to beating him at this Rally. One caravan arrived 7 minutes off from his assigned time. The other caravan arrived 3 minutes off. My caravan arrived 20 seconds off! What fun! And, he’s already thinking about how to get the next one closer!

Talk to you later,
Suzanne

I don’t get sick often. Does that explain why I’m suffering so much with this little cold? Maybe. Who knows? But today, I decide that enough is enough! I’m tired of the coughing, the sore throat, the tiredness, the coughing, the sleep-deprivation, and the coughing. (Can you guess which one of these symptoms must end immediately?)

I have been using a prescribed penicillin-type of drug for ten days along with recommended throat lozenges. I am still losing sleep and coughing, coughing, coughing. It is time to go buy some cures!

I go to the pharmacy and find the nicest guy. He listens to my symptoms and then brings me over to the humidifiers.

(P.S. I just re-read that last paragraph. Please don’t get the wrong idea in your head. I was not out looking for guys. My ‘nice guy’ was the pharmacist.)

He directs me right to the humidifier that he would buy. “This is the one that you should get. Don’t pay $10 extra for that other one. Now, come over to this other aisle, and I’ll tell you what I take when a cold comes on. My colds only last three days. You know, I don’t tell everyone what my secret is.”

(Now, don’t get the wrong idea in your head. He was just trying to help a sick customer.)

He shows me which over-the-counter cures he likes, and then he hands me his favorite brands.

I head on home after thanking him. I set up the humidifier and take all my medicines. When I wake up this morning, I am still coughing……………..but not nearly as much! I am a much happier traveler.

I’ll talk to you later,
Suzanne

Bluebonnets aren’t the only flowering plant in the Hill Country of Texas. Today, I visited a lavender farm and saw about 1500 plants just starting to bloom. When I walked into the shop, the aroma was delicious…..I actually smelled it even with my cold! After looking around and sampling their lavender lemonade and their lavender coffee, I decided that I really did need something lavender in my trailer. After all, I haven’t smelled anything for 8 days now, and the fun of recognizing an aroma was just too wonderful.

So, I bought a bar of soap………Soothing Lavender Mint.

When I sat down to tell you about it, I decided to give you a few details about it just for fun. The first detail I noticed was that the farm had a website. You want to know that, don’t you? Their website is www.chappellhilllavender.com. (There are 5 l’s in that. I know because I missed one of them the first time.)

Then, I thought you might want to know the ingredients. The first word in the ingredient list is “saponified”. Saponified?

Off to Google I go. Saponified means “to convert by saponification.” Oh yeah. Right. That’s really helpful.

So, I look up saponification. Saponification means “a chemical reaction in which an ester is heated with an alkali (especially the alkaline hydrolysis of a fat or oil to make soap)”.

Hmmmm.

At this point, I decide to adhere to the KISS principle. The soap has oils, lavender petals, and spearmint leaves.

Talk to you later,
Suzanne