Musings from Rural Kansas

Happy Sunday!

Hello, everybody! I was trekking from Texas northward when my vehicle broke down in Kansas, suffering cooling, transmission, brake, and power steering failures all at once. D’oh!

It’s all a result of bolts backing out from the vibration of the transmission, so it’s simpler than it sounds. Imagine my stroke of luck when the tow guy offered for he and his son to bring it to their rural property and fix it all in two days! Surely better than the three weeks estimated by the referred service provider of my insurance company.

So, here I am in the Kansas countryside, far from the drone of generators and interstates at the truck stops, listening to the frogs and birds instead. The transmission is beautifully fixed, and now we’re just waiting for another day or two for parts for other problems.

Although no one wants to spend thousands on such repairs, I consider myself very fortunate because it’s an older Winnebago and rather difficult to find people who want to work on older vehicles. New Zealand is loaded with old classic vehicles and the number 8 wire mentality of its pioneering population, in part spurred by virtue of its nature as an isolated South Pacific outpost, assures that the “fixer-upper” mentality is alive and well. Kiwis are very good at keeping vintage vehicles alive. I quite loved this aspect of Kiwi culture, and am delighted to see it being revived out of necessity in America.

Last summer after arriving in LAX, I drove across the US renting a brand new Mazda 6. I was itching for a road trip after 3 years of island fever, plus I had just spent 12 hours in a mask on Air New Zealand. I would have needed some rest time from that even before transferring to a domestic flight. Nice car with all the bells and whistles. Bluetooth, AC, nav system. The cruise control had a feature that slowed me down if I got too close to another car. It also issued a warning every time I got too far outside my lane.

It was beautiful, comfortable, and safe. 

BUT… when I reached my destination, a good friend lent me a 30 year old Geo Tracker with low mileage, 4WD, stick shift, and no radio, cruise, or AC.

It was a sweltering summer contrasted to the NZ winter I’d just left, but it was liberating. Since arriving in the US last July, I have lapped the lower 48 states and driven well over 10,000 miles in two different vehicles most people wouldn’t venture to the grocery store in. Haha!

I used to be excited about new technology. Now I just want to go back to the 80s or the 90s. I’m tired of being controlled. 🏴🖤