Whew, it’s been a while since I wrote one of these. I am not sure it is possible to cover all the ground since we last met, so I will only leave you with a short story from our latest visit to Iowa. For those who may have missed it, last weekend we traveled back for my mother’s 90th birthday party. It was so much fun and was so good to see everyone! The trip from North Carolina to Iowa is a little over 1,300 miles and 19 1/2 hours one way if you drive straight through. We do not drive straight through and typically stop somewhere near halfway, about 10-11 hours into the drive. This trip was not different. We had a relatively uneventful first day, overnighted in Lexington, and were making the last push to Panama when the darndest thing happened. I don’t think Bill Justis and Jerry Reed were playing on the radio at this particular moment, but shortly after we crossed the Iowa state line, going westbound on I-80 with my foot hard on the pedal, we were passing a semi that was hauling a dump truck when out of nowhere we heard a spynchter clenching explosion! After a quick self-assessment for leakage, I asked the other occupants if everyone was all right as I gripped the wheel, holding us steady with the still-unknown source of our untimely disruption. All reported they were good; however, the moon roof, the fixed glass panel just behind the sunroof, had exploded! Still intact but completely shattered. As we made our way to a place where we could pull over to assess the situation, the glass began raining down on the children in the back, slowly at first but with an ever-increasing pace until we came to a full rest on the off-ramp. There, we pulled down the rest of the loose glass and, after a quick deliberation, decided to push as is to what just happens to be the largest truck stop in the world, the I-80 truck stop, located about four miles down the road. There, we topped off with gas, called several Ford dealerships to discuss the feasibility of a quick repair (not gonna happen), checked the weather report for the rest of the drive, and ultimately decided that a blue tarp and Gorilla Tape were going to be our best course of action. (Since I just recently added advertisements to the site, this would be a good place for product placement.) Now I don’t know the miles per hour rating of Gorilla Tape, but I can tell you it holds to at least 85 m-p-h. The tape and tarp held surprisingly well under normal weather conditions for the rest of the drive; however, normal is not our typical disposition. At about 30 miles out, the rain came. Slowly at first, then a slowdown to 35mph downpour. And to top it off, hail, because why not! I am not going to lie, inside, I was hoping the truck would be totaled from the hail. It is not as if it would have mattered that this was an inside thought, because the noise combination from hail and the now loosening tape on a tarp was making a deafening noise that made any discussion of our situation almost impossible. Almost impossible. There may have been a slight disagreement over the required immediate action, but after a quick stop and a wet t-shirt, we drove the rest of the way. Thanks to my brother, we were able to store the truck in his shed, Custom Seed Company, Panama, Iowa, if you are in need of some native grass seeding. He also let us borrow a vehicle for the remainder of the weekend, which was nice. But to prove that our sense of adventure has a sort of contagious aspect to it, I accidentally locked the keys in his truck when we departed two days later. Ultimately, it was a great trip, fun was had by all. Miss you already, Mom!
The moon roof of the truck.
The remedy. (after some improvements with a little help from some friends!)
As a reminder, Lunch Box Quotes are notes I include in the kids’ lunches every day. Number 1 gets a text, and 2-4 get handwritten napkins.
Visual credits to, Featured Image: @ManaByte
Quotes: @ProfCarlSagan @Gentleman_Ways @QuotesforGoal @arealmofwonder
Quotes:
1. “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.” – Mark Twain
2. “A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.” – Rudyard Kipling
3. “What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently. It’s not so much the opinion itself, as the audacity of wanting to think for himself. Something they don’t know how to do.” – Arthur Schopenhauer
4. “Beauty is the archenemy of mediocrity.” – Dietrich von Hildebrand
Bonus Quote: “Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.” – St. Augustine of Hippo
Sources:
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
– Mark Twain pic.twitter.com/E2Ua28qt7E
— Prof. Carl Sagan (@ProfCarlSagan) April 11, 2026
“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.”
-Rudyard Kipling pic.twitter.com/q22hlqhKQX
— The Ways of A Gentleman (@Gentleman_Ways) April 8, 2026
“Lo que más odia el rebaño, es aquel que piensa distinto. No es tanto la opinión en sí, como la osadía de querer pensar por sí mismo. Algo que ellos no saben hacer”
Arthur Schopenhauer pic.twitter.com/bo1Z94OEPl
— Libertario 🟨⬛ (@QuotesforGoal) April 11, 2026
This is exactly why The Culturist was the first culture account I chose to follow and subscribe to.
Because this account still knows the difference between beauty and content. https://t.co/YQ6ygxzHsW
— Culture Explorer (@CultureExploreX) April 11, 2026
“Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow.”
~ St. Augustine of Hippo pic.twitter.com/k00bcHuUuz— Cian McCarthy (@arealmofwonder) April 10, 2026
This is one of the greatest photos ever taken by a human…so far. pic.twitter.com/NbTwbrHVJw
— Jeremy (@ManaByte) April 7, 2026