As I have reported earlier, we are in Missouri heading toward the Mississippi River near St. Louis as we trek back to Ontario. And because of some dreary cold weather we have been watching a little more television than normal. And while most of the shows are just mindless entertainment what we have found the most entertaining are the commercials, like you just can’t make this stuff up, right now “My Dish” app has not been working to keep the local stations updated as to our location so we are presently watching Tulsa Oklahoma television channels. We are watching with a coffee and Baileys this Sunday morning and are watching all the commercials for Tornado shelters to place in your garage, the reality is it looked like a round “port a potty” that is bolted to the concrete floor of the garage. So the warning is sounded and you rush to the garage and lock your butt in this steel out house until the storm passes. That commercial is followed by a restoration company that you could call in to clean up any storm damage that your property may have suffered, which was followed by a loan company that will give you cash for your jewelry, basically like a pawn shop but because of the Covid19 they were offering it interest free for 90 days. Just add to that, the daily weather reports all talk about the severe storm level everyday and explain how they are coming into the spring storm season which peaks in May. As we sit listening to all these warnings, we keep wondering why not just move? If you don’t know whether your house will be there after you come home from work, the need for storm shelters and such … it makes us realize how every area of the country has their own issues, whether it is the need for air conditioners while we were in Arizona or the storms in Missouri and Oklahoma, each area has their own needs, and someone just adapts to fill those needs.

It’s kind of like the weathermen in each area has such different highlights, like when we used to winter in the north, the winter storm coverage would be all inclusive, and in Arizona it was all about a rain storm, and here in the Midwest it’s all about tornadoes, while in the summer it’s all about the hurricanes on the coastal areas, again each area has its own environmental characteristics and the need to stay informed to each area. It is one of the reasons I have an app on my phone that warns of severe weather in any area we may be visiting, just the need to be informed. But apparently this cold snap we are enjoying is not good for tornadoes, so every weather pattern has a couple of sides.

Just as a warning I do feel a true rant in the making, over some of the stupidity that running so rampant right now … so stay tuned.

Please stay safe and be well!

Saturday April 4th 2020

It’s a balmy 36 or 2 degrees here in Tulsa OK, this morning at seven o’clock, it has been a cool night but our boiler kept us warm enough. The forecast for the day has us still in a cloudy cool day but the temperature is on a upward swing, with our travel speed should put across the border mid next week, if all goes well.

As we try to catch up on the state of the Covid-19 virus from both Canadian and American sources, all I’m going to say is that after watching both reports, some people seem to have a much better grasp of the severity of the situation than others. And it certainly appears that we are headed in the right direction, there seems to be cooperation between the federal government and the provinces as opposed to the bickering and put downs between the states and the federal government here. I just hope that some of our American friends remember how this pandemic was handled when it comes time for the next election, because when we compare the handling from the other side of the border it looks like there are some state officials that have failed to take action to protect people and the Whitehouse is still busy just firing anyone that questions the anointed one. But in true Trump fashion now he is stealing medical supplies purchased by Canada, like seriously Mr. Hoax who has everything under control has stooped to a new low even for him. But if the pulp and paper industry in Canada shuts down then there would be no material to make the masks, but of course the Mr. Shortsighted hasn’t thought about that. Some leaders rise up when put under pressure and others just fold up like a wet tissues … just saying

Today has us heading east to Missouri, we have no particular destination in mind for today, just to cross the Mississippi by Sunday and if we can make it work pick up some takeout from one of Miss Laurie’s favourite restaurants “Sauce on the Side” which are based in the St.Louis area. Then we are just three states away, Illinois, Indiana, them Michigan. So with a little stop for a quarantine restocking we will be on Ontario for Easter either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.

So we have shut it down at an empty Cracker Barrel in Springfield Missouri, the day was dreary with a miserable light misty rain which was just not nice to drive in so we stopped after only covering 175 miles (281 kilometres) today, we did stop for fuel and purchased 24.4 gallons (92.5 litres) of diesel at $2.22 per gallon. I need to change the fuel filter again as our stumble worsened as the day went on, so I had picked up extra fuel filters when passing through Texas and I will be donning the rubber gloves and switching that out either later today or tomorrow morning … I have it down to a ten minute exchange … just saying I haven’t lost my touch … lol

According to Navi (that is Miss Laurie’s name for the lady that lives in our Garmin) we are now less than 900 miles (1400 kilometres) to cross the border which is great, now I just need to lock down where we are going once we cross the border to avoid any infraction of our mandatory quarantine, so that will be my task to confirm on Monday.