Today begins a 36 hour gauntlet of activities that in part will also allow me to take a day off. But, I never feel like I’m resting! I woke up at 2:55am to get started at 4am so that we could finish the run by 1:30pm and drive to Columbia MO where Lucky will have the big round of chemo at Mizzou which will last all day.. Concurrently, I’ve also scheduled service at a Gander in town at 9am so hopefully it will all synchronize so that we can get back to where we left off in Buckner MO.

I wore a headlamp today for the first time and it was great to be on my own in the dark under a moonless, crystal clear starry night. I didn’t feel comfortable bringing Lucky and I think he understood as I left the RV with both Chris and Lucky sleeping. As i approached the first town, Lexington MO, a red pickup truck pulled over after passing me and Jack - whom I met at Wagon Wheel the day before yelled, “I thought it was you - not often I see a guy and dog running town to town!” It’s a big country but also a small one! We chatted a bit on the side of the road and learned this is where he lives. He was kind enough to give us some history on this quaint town.

I left Lexington at 7:30am and took Lucky with me as the sun was up and temperatures were still cool. As we ran by farm after farm we noticed that many of them were “Century Farms” designated so with plaques. This represents a farm that has been in a family for over 100 years. I spoke to a few farmers and learned that most of them are 500-1,000 acre farms growing corn, soybean and a little bit of wheat.

I called my 104-year-old grandmother Clea to check in on her after her fall a few months ago. She asked me where I was and told her I’ll be in Independence MO soon and then in a few days Nebraska. This triggered a memory for her growing up in Schuyler Nebraska where her family, the Ditzler‘s, had 80 beautiful acres of farm where they grew mostly corn some wheat and had dairy cows. In the early 50s she left with my grandfather and moved to Sioux Falls South Dakota because my grandfather was asked to teach code to the Air Force - he was a Captain in the Navy during WWII and worked intelligence under Nimitz. When his stint was over they moved back to Schuyler Nebraska where he became the principal of the high school and she taught. She recalled that at that time many of the families in the area who had farms under 100 acres were being bought out to the families and agriculture businesses that ultimately would survive with the mega farms that exist today. Ultimately they sold and moved to Sacramento CA.

All for today - fingers crossed Lucky’s blood work allows him to get his therapy tomorrow…

Cheers,

David.