On the Road Again.

[Persephone]

It has only been a month since I posted the story of travelling with my sister (click here) (http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?195599-Travels-With-My-Sister-(Now-Complete!)&highlight=travels).

We're on the road again, this time heading to Michigan. Tonight we pulled into Salt Lake City and after a long hot day of driving we couldn't wait to hit the pool and spa.


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/b7983ee1-08fd-4ffa-87e6-7fb656254710_zpsf4e3d493.jpg

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Beverley Sims]

Barbara,
Are you "tramping" around the countryside again? :)

[kimdl93]

Sounds good after a long day on the road. I'm looking forward to the next installment of travels with Barbie!

[PretzelGirl]

Are you staying long? You sure need to hit the pool here. It is smoking!

[Persephone]

Today it was out of Salt Lake City, across Utah, and across most of Wyoming.

We had lunch in Little America, Wyoming (a town with an interesting history) and I had a conversation with a dinosaur.


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/26e496ec-1563-4785-9c71-b55dbfa5cacc_zps9fae1f1a.jpg

Tonight we're in Cheyenne, Wyoming, planning to head out in the morning although I need to check one of the tires, an inside dual, to be sure that there isn't a slow leak.

Sorry Sue, we weren't in town for more than the overnight. I'd love to meet you and some of the other gals but it will have to be on a more leisurely trip.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[docrobbysherry]

R u traveling in that block long rolling palace of your's again, Barbara?

[Persephone]

There is this place that has struck me with awe ever since I learned of it; a place of incredible kindness and generosity. I visited it today.

But there were things that happened along the way, so let me begin with this morning.

Last night it looked like we were having a slow leak on an inner dual tire. The very expensive, and often inaccurate, aftermarket Tire Minder wireless tire pressure monitoring system on our motorhome kept giving us dire warnings about it.

So this morning I manually checked tire pressures and while I couldn't find a problem with that inner dual, I did have a problem with the outer one! The valve core was not closing and the moment I removed the tire minder sensor valve cover the air was rushing out of the tire. Screwing the cap back on in the face of the 90 psi (620.5 kPa, 6.205 Bar) hurricane pouring out of the stem wasn't that easy!

I got it under control and came back in the motorhome. In discussing it with my spouse she said, "Might be best to let David (my male name) take it to the tire place."

Normally I take my own vehicles to repair places, but I decided to go with her suggestion. So "he" got dressed and we rode over to the nearest truck tire place.

The office was staffed by two delightful ladies who listened to my problem. They said they could fix it but the wait time for a mechanic would be two hours. I glumly said I really didn't want to wait that long and one of them said, "If we gave you the core and the tool you could do it yourself!"

I readily agreed, took the core and tool and drove around to the air pump on the side of the building. When I removed the monitor the air once again came rushing out. But this time I inserted the tool and before I removed the core I tightened it and the air stopped!

I filled the tire back up to 90 psi, returned their stuff, thanked them profusely and we were back on the road!

Now, would they have told me, as a woman, to go fix it myself? I doubt it, but with some conspiratorial smiles and winks would they have moved a sister up in the line? Maybe, we'll never know.

I changed genders at a rest area and we trucked on. After a few hours we stopped at a Grandma Max's somewhere in Nebraska for lunch. (Yeah, "Grandma Max." Turns out it is short for Maxine, although I had my transgender hopes up for a while). As always it was fun to have a waitress say "ladies" and "girls." No matter how often it happens I never get tired of it.

We drove some more and then we came to stop number one, the "Bailey Yard," the world's largest railroad classification yard, it sorts, services and repairs locomotives and cars headed all across North America. Some 2,850 acres, over 2,500 employees, it is 8 miles (12.9 km) long and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, has over 200 tracks, and two huge sorting "humps."

We went up to the 8th floor of the nearby tower and watched the action. It is odd to see railroad cars moving on their own, and even odder to see radio controlled locomotives moving strings of cars. As well as being the world's largest railroad yard this is probably the world's largest radio-controlled train layout!


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/89d6c2e8-23ec-4df2-bb63-43b9c0f37931_zps64539518.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/b5cc2cb5-b43d-4259-ba23-dcc1c89c39cb_zps155cb91e.jpg

After our visit to the railyard we headed about 3 miles down the street to see the place I'd really come to North Platte, Nebraska to see - the site of The North Platte Canteen. For me it has become practically a shrine.

On Christmas Day, 1941 a group of local women arrived at the train station in North Platte. It was World War II and they knew that there would be thousands of lonely, scared, homesick boys on dozens of troop trains and they wanted to help them feel appreciated and to have a better Christmas. So they arrived with snacks, candy, apples, and warm smiles to greet those soldiers as each and every train passed through.

And the soldiers appreciated it so much that the ladies knew they couldn't stop. So for the next five years the girls and women of the tiny town of North Platte and the surrounding area met each and every troop train, each and every soldier, with free coffee, sandwiches, birthday cakes, smiles, and hugs. Five MILLION soldiers going to and from war.

This was no government project, there was no funding, there were no generous grants. There was wartime rationing and their families stinted so they could use precious rations of butter, sugar, and eggs to support The North Platte Canteen. Their own farms and the farms around them gave eggs and produce to the effort.

There is an excellent book, "Once Upon A Town," that tells the story, as well as a PBS video, but, for the most part, their incredible effort has faded into obscurity.

In 1973, the railroad tore down the station that housed The North Platte Canteen and passenger trains no longer come to North Platte, but there is an aura at the site, a specialness, that I wanted to experience. There is only a brief monument made from the bricks of the old station, but I had to go there.


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/NorthPlatteCanteenSite_zps08292d0c.jpg

Maybe I have some reincarnation of someone who had been there? Maybe one of the young girls who placed her address inside a homemade popcorn ball so that a soldier would have a pen pal? I don't know. But the story of The North Platte Canteen has captured my soul and today I got to be there.

Tonight we are in Kearney, Nebraska and tomorrow we plan to resume heading east along I-80, heading for Michigan where we plan to buy a used or new 6 to 8 foot by 12 to 14 foot utility trailer to haul some stuff back in. Anyone in Michigan have a good utility trailer for sale?

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Eryn]

Regarding your tire problem, remember that you're in the midwest and people are a lot more trusting thereabouts. Here in SoCal there would be three lawyers telling those ladies not to let you use that tool!

Did you mean "cantina" or "canteen?" I suspect that the soldiers would have preferred a cantina :drink:

We're looking forward to the next installment!

Oh, if you would like to see that hump yard in action here is their webcam:

http://www.goldenspiketower.com/webcam.php

[Persephone]

Thanks Eryn!. It was late when I posted and I was very tired. I've fixed it.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Carlene]

Great post, thank you for sharing your experience with us. It is nice sometimes to read about a transgender (best expression I could think of) person living their life openly with a measure of comfort and contentment..........just being her/him self.

Carlene:daydreaming:

[PretzelGirl]

Sorry Sue, we weren't in town for more than the overnight. I'd love to meet you and some of the other gals but it will have to be on a more leisurely trip.

It can be tough sometimes to fit in meetings. It sounds like your trip is busy enough. I hope it all stays safe and free of negative events (like tire issues). But I do look forward to the day we can get together.

[Dana L]

Trouble on the road can be a pain in the butt, it's all part of the experince. My wife and I travel the country pulling are fithwheel and let me tell you that is the only way to go. We traveled some of that same route last year on our way to Colorado and we'll be doing it again next year on our way to Utah and then down to Arizona. Have fun!

[Persephone]

Most of today we drove and drove and drove, some 472 miles.

But we did stop to visit someplace I've been wanting to go for years, Iowa-80, the World's largest truckstop!


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/sandylewiscares/TruckStop_zps0ba632eb.jpg

Very tired tonight and it is very late. Long drive in the morning.

Hugs,
Persephone.