There's gotta be a pony in there somewhere

Remember that old joke that separates the optimist from the pessimist? I'm at that nervous tic stage of probably laughing at too much more than I should. I seem to have a skill for that. There is actually nothing very funny about my current situation. But I can't help myself. I keep thinking of all the things that almost or could have happened and when put in that perspective, what's left to do? I'll get right down to it and let you be the judge.

It's all a bit of a fog but I  think I last wrote to you from the lobby of the Aamco shop in Oklahoma City. They were in the process of analyzing the condition of my transmission. When the head man (Robert, I believe) called me from another branch of theirs to give me the bottom line, I'm glad I was sitting down. I was sorry not to have Steve or Mike or Art with me as I listened to the details, half of which I think I understood. Most men speak that language better than women do. It seems that one thing leads to another by way of electronics, links, filters and transmission fluid turning darker and darker and more and more dysfunctional. The bottom line is that I need a completely rebuilt transmission. I thought seriously of calling one of my new friend's mechanic contacts to get a second opinion, but at the time, everything Robert told me made pretty good  sense. And these guys have a top notch record on line So I told him the last four digits of my social and gave my approval.

I'm in a nearby Motel 6 because the shop guys wanted to call someone for me and I had just stayed at such a reasonable and clean one in Joplin. It didn't dawn on me that I should have checked out what the traffic or available restaurants or  food stores might be within reasonable walking distance. My new Oklahoma friend  (who just called me as I was writing this sentence!) offered to have me stay with her and I so much appreciate that but Robert says Thursday is the earliest I can expect to escape and I really couldn't do that to a lovely new friend who picked me up (or  visa versa) in a parking lot, could I? She just called back and we're going (with Bobby) to check out a few things in Oklahoma City. Now that I think of how an earlier dog of ours nearly ate up the insulation in our car while we went in to visit an artist friend in Mendocino, I think I'll leave him in the motel room instead.

So Mike is checking out my future itinerary to calculate how far I can keep going with the Route 66 thing and when I need to swing off (probably in Barstow) onto Highway 5 and hightail it to Berkeley and then up the coast. That's best case scenario of course. Anything is still possible. To be continued for sure.