LandfallVoyages

Once I had to administrate the repairs to a brand new service truck that got hit really hard on the side of the service bed. The service bed was much like a tool box on a truck. The bed was made in Indiana. Since the truck was brand new it was valuable enough to warrant a large repair and there were a lot of parts and pieces involved. The bed manufacturer had a truly great parts girl running the show and she did her job perfectly through many complications and difficulties. Amidst all these details I spoke to her on the phone many times and we began to become friends. On one of the calls I mentioned that I was going to get lunch right after we finished the call and she cautiously asked where I planned to go. I told her that we were going to get Thai food. She said that Thai food sounded so disgusting that I shouldn’t even describe it to her. She had never tried it. Not Thai food, not Mexican food, not Japanese food. She only ate American food. She wouldn’t even eat any vegetables, just steak and potatoes and those were the only things that she liked. Steak and potatoes 3 meals a day. Seriously.

Curious, I asked her what she ate if she was away from home and she said that she didn’t go away from home. WHAT? What do you mean you don’t go away from home? She never left Sioux City, Indiana. In fact, she rarely ever left South Soiux City, Indiana. She had traveled all the way to Des Moines once and that was the only time she had ever been more that 15 miles from home. She planned to spend the rest of her life inside the same zip code.

She didn’t know any Black people, but she didn’t like them. She also didn’t know any Hispanic people, any Asian people, any Middle Eastern people, or any Native Americans but she didn’t like them, they were weird.

She is one of the pieces of the puzzle of why we bought a cruising sailboat.

Even though it’s really scary, I would rather just go.