A MUCH welcomed weekend is coming to a close. And a delightful weekend it was!

Took a road trip to Carthage, MO Saturday (about 20 miles) to their Maple Leaf Festival. Charming town with a minature downtown Prescott style town square. Enjoyed a parade, BBQ sandwich, Italian Sandwich a little antique shopping, classic car show and just the sheer joy of it not being a class day! (even though we spent a couple hours on homework Sat. evening)

Also toured the Precious Moments chapel which is also in Carthage. Even saw a bit of sunshine and the fall foliage is stunning!!

Slept in til almost 8 this morning and awoke to clear blue skies and LOTS of sun. The wind remained kind of cool but the sunshine shifted the entire "energy" of this MissouriLand and we made the most of it!

Went to the college & spend a couple of hours practicing pre-trip & in-cab inspections. Lots easier o retain everything when it's just Dave & I. Less distractions and no interuptions.

Spent time in Neosho's incredible Big Springs park, known for it's natural fast flowing springs. Very charming and a perfect time of year to visit .... huge old trees surround the entire park area and the colors were breath-taking. Took a drive and found an OLD small country cemetary that we stopped and explored. An 1816 birhdate was the oldest we could find.

Back to the motel for lunch, relaxing, laundry (carefully checked pockets :-) a bit more homework and here we are after 8 PM already.

From now on part of our daily classes will include a daily road trip. Terrifying, exciting and intimidating all at the same time. Can't believe how much we've crammed into our brains in only a week and can't imagine what's in store for the next week. In 5 days we went from "18-wheeler virgins" to a 3 mile drive on public roads.

Have to "get clear" on this whole AZ/MO permit thing Monday. I still have questions to ask so have to find out when I can sit down with the truck driving class director and get some definative answers. Whole thing still pisses me off! Stress I CERTAINLY DO NOT NEED on top of culture shock, lifestyle shock, living space shock, operating a monster machine and not having my puppy with me shock...... Who's to say once I do everything they tell me to, AZ won't accept it & I'm shoved back to square one again?

Life's a crap shoot for sure.

As was said in The Godfather movie..."Keep your friends close...keep your enemies closer".

I'm watchin' these yay-hoos very closely from now on........