ADVENTURES WITH BARNEY AND CHASING DREAMS

Even though the foundation was laid long before, I didn’t start the work of transforming a childhood dream into a reality until my dearest friend provided the gentle encouragement. That was more than two decades, a dozen books, and countless feature articles ago. Still the fun filled and exhilarating pursuit of the dream continues.

Yesterday I took a break from pursuing the dream and turned attentions toward projects at the homestead which can no longer be ignored. I seldom give thought to how much time is consumed in the quest to become a writer when I grow up. That only becomes apparent when the attentions are turned to the homestead and the upkeep needed to keep the roof from falling down around our ears, efforts to keep Barney the Wonder Truck on the road for another year, restoration of the office after completion of a book, and similar tasks. Yesterday was one of the days where attentions were turned toward other projects.
It seemed an ideal time for such endeavors as the weather was nearly perfect and the City of Kingman was hosting a clean up day at the fairgrounds. In a more perfect world, hauling a load or two of the debris accumulated in a year of renovation projects several blocks rather than making a thirty mile trip to the landfill would be a time saver.

The plan was rather simple in concept; load the truck, follow my son to the fairgrounds as he had used the opportunity offered by the city as an excuse for spring cleaning at his home, and then have breakfast together.
Light was just breaking when I fired up Barney, backed to the side gate, and began loading. By the time the sun cleared the eastern horizon we were on the road to the fairgrounds with a quick stop for gasoline. From that point forward the plan fell apart rather quickly.
Once in line at the fairgrounds I felt like a steer in a loading chute as there was no turning back. A recycling company had equipment issues, scheduling issues with the county resulted in a shortage of workers to unload trucks until 9:00, and from there the problems snowballed quickly.
As a result the time saving endeavor stretched out to a three hour ordeal. That eliminated time for breakfast. It also led to the abandonment of other projects planned for the day.
There are but two options when faced with a complete derailing of plans and schedule; fret, fume, and stress or smile and make the best of a bad situation. I usually choose a third option which is the blending of the two.
The long, painfully slow line at the fairgrounds did allow for ample time to visit with my son and neighbors, and to give thought to the implications associated with closure of the Gasconade River Bridge in Missouri and the powerful grassroots initiative to save it as made manifest in a rally at the bridge yesterday.
Today it is back to pursuit of the dream. First, will be writing the updates and corrections for The Route 66 Encyclopedia that is going to be released in paperback. These will in turn be added to the corresponding page on the blog.
An equally important task is the rough outline for the development of a Mississippi River tour itinerary for a New Zealand based company. This is but one of the many interesting detours associated with pursuit of the dream.
When pursuit of the dream commenced in earnest I never imagined it would lead us to Amsterdam, or Jay Leno’s Garage. Nor did I see it as a multifaceted means of encouraging adventures on the road less traveled under the Jim Hinckley’s America umbrella.
There is a two fold lesson in this. One, dare to dream and dare to transform the dream into a reality. Two, don’t let a myopic focus on the dream keep if from becoming something bigger than envisioned.