(written on August 1st from notes taken previously)
I actually slept decently last night! 🤯
🙏
Pretty amazing considering I was on the side of the highway with loud trucks passing. Of course, I had my headphones in with my rain white noise going, but still, I slept way better than I have.
I suppose it could be all that lack of sleep I’ve been getting. 🙃
Whatever the cause, I was grateful. 🙏
I forgot to mention last night that on my drive out to Casper, I realized that one of my front tires was about to blow. When I first bought the van, it had all matching tires, and the first one blew in Kansas somewhere right after we had just barely started our second Great Western Road Trip back in ’24.
The second of those original four tires blew in California, if I’m remembering correctly, back in early May-ish?
And number three bulged out and was about ready to explode, the internals having come apart.
I had mostly forgotten about it overnight until I started driving down the road again and felt the shaking of the van.
It’s about 18 mi, I think, from that little parking strip on the side of the highway to Casper, and I didn’t want to get the tire too hot, which would make it more likely to explode, so I just drove I think maybe 50 to 55 mph instead of the 70 that I usually drive (80 mph limit at that point).
Gratefully, I made it all the way to Casper without the tire blowing. I stopped first at the AutoZone to drop off some oil from the Jetta oil change. Then I headed over to the UPS store to ship off a package that Hans had given me to drop off.
From there, I headed over to the Walmart supercenter, hoping to get the tire swapped out for one of the spares that I carry with me, but it was a no-go… Though it was a huge Walmart supercenter, it did not have an auto service section.
There was a Home Depot just about next door to the Walmart supercenter, so I stopped in to look at wood and metal for Rover, to work on the inside and the solar panel roof rack system. I didn’t end up buying anything, the metal being much more expensive than it was at Menard’s, which was just down the road, and seeing that the metal was a lot more expensive, I figured the wood might be as well, so I just took a photo of the wood prices at Home Depot and headed out.
As I was heading over to Menard’s, not too worried about the tire blowing because I was going slowly in town, I realized I was about to pass a Discount Tire center, so I stopped off to see them, found that they wouldn’t be able to get me finished before I needed to be at the temple, so I told them I would come back later and headed over to Menard’s.
I ended up buying some aluminum square tubing from Menard’s but not any wood, as the wood at Menard’s was actually a lot more expensive than at Home Depot. 🙃
From there, it was off to the temple, once again participating in initiatories and then going to the baptistry. One of the temple workers serving in the initiatory is one that’s been there with me just about every time I’ve been there, so we’ve gotten to know each other’s names. 😊
Unlike other weeks, the baptistry was actually completely empty for the second session today. I was literally the only person. The first session was not only full but overflowing with some walk-ins, but the people who are coming for the second session ended up canceling, except for me, so I was the only one. Instead of doing baptisms, I just did some confirmations and assisted another lady who’s probably somewhere around 100 years old with hers.
I remember her because she was rolled into the endowment room in her wheelchair for my first endowment at the Casper temple.
I remember just feeling the sense of respect and reverence seeing her out serving when she could easily be focused inward.
Gratefully, the tire didn’t blow, despite running around like a pinball and a pinball machine from errand to errand. 🙏
Nor did I run out of gas despite being very low on gas. 🙏
After going to the temple, I headed back over to discount tire, had them swap over one of the spares that I carry with me for the one that was about to blow. Think I was like $32.50 out the door after Labor and tire disposal.
Headed back over to the Home Depot to buy some wood, spending far too long there trying to plan out everything that I was doing. 🙃
I also bought some acrylic plexiglass type plastic to be able to make my other skylight with.
Although, I might end up just buying a vent, as it’s been nice having it open. Even though it’s raining a couple of times, having that hole in the roof has given a place for the hot air to escape from when the van cooks during the day.
I didn’t end up going to the gym. I was exhausted, and with all the errands I had run, I didn’t go in the morning, and I was just too exhausted with too many errands having been run in the afternoon to want to stay hours longer without having been properly nourished to try and fight through a mega workout session.
More sleep and more nourishment needed.
Hopefully, I will have caught up on my sleep and will be properly nourished when I go next week. 🤞
I answered a few work phone calls on the drive back, stopped and grabbed some food at the gas station at the turnoff to go to Lusk, worked a little bit more, stopped in the middle of Indian Canyon road, 10 mile, or so, long gravel Road that puts you back out onto the road that Cascade Falls is on, because there was a huge snake in the middle of the road all stretched out. Turned out to be just a massive bull snake, but it was interesting because it was about twice as tall as it was wide, the entire length of it.
I tried to run it off the road, so it wouldn’t get run over, but it just got scared and coiled itself up and tried to make its head look like a poisonous snake. Eventually, I grabbed one of those aluminum square tubes out of the van and moved it, not wanting to get myself bitten. Though not venomous, I’m still not keen on having a bull snake take a bite out of my arm. 🙃
Stopped off at JH Keith Parker, as per usual, on the way home, hung out with Heather for a little bit before crashing to bed, and then crashed for the night.
Gratitude:
- I’m grateful the tire didn’t blow on me
- I’m grateful that I didn’t run out of gas
- I’m grateful that Discount tire was able to get me taken care of relatively quickly
- I’m grateful that I was able to find decently straight boards for my upcoming interior remodel of Rover’s upper half.
- I’m grateful to have been able to feel the peace and spirit of the Temple.
Success:
- Hmmm… I’m drawing a blank. Not sure I had any meaningful successes today? 😅 At least not any that feel like progress.
Improvement:
- Still struggling to not use my phone while driving. Most of the time I’m pretty good, but when I’m trying to work and drive, it’s hard to discipline myself to pull over to look stuff up when I have phone calls that require more than just talking to the customer.
Thought of the Day:
“The cross comes before the crown and tomorrow is a Monday morning!”
C.S. Lewis
Hand of God In My Life Today:
Apologies to the Big Guy. My brain is mush, and I just can’t see well right now.
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 