Road Trip: A Comedy of Errors, Part 4

Road Trip: A Comedy of Errors, Part 4

At a rest stop 20 miles from our first stop I went to grab my suitcase and found it was not in the back of the truck. I thought to myself David must have thrown it in the trailer so I yelled to him to ask what he had done with it. It was at that moment we both realize what had happened. It never got put in the back of the truck. It was sitting in the parking lot of the hotel we stayed in two and a half hours back the way we just came. David called and the hotel manager had found it sitting just where I had left it. I am not sure why we did not run over it when we backed out of the parking space, but at least it was safe and thank God I put all of my important stuff in the bag with my computer. Now what the heck were we going to do?

Dixie

We went through all the scenarios, could we have it shipped by courier the three hours to Kearney? (Nope it would not get there until Monday, it was only Friday.) Could I just leave it there and forget about it? (David’s idea’s) Was what was in it worth less than it would take to drive all the way back to Omaha (David hoped)? Should we just turn around now and go back and get it? (After all it had all the good clothes and shoes I own.) That would mean the horses would have another six hours in that trailer. We did not think it was fair to them so we decided to go the half hour further to Kearney and at least unload the horses and get checked in to the hotel. I called my family and told them that I was in Kearney but all my clean clothes were in Omaha. I would still be able to meet them on time but I would have to make a quick trip to Walmart to buy some clean clothes. A hundred dollars later I met my family in the lobby of the hotel, I felt like Minnie Pearl pulling tags off as I headed down the elevator. Of course all of my toiletries were in my suitcase along with my comb which I forgot to buy at the store. My hair was finger combed, my eyebrows were in Omaha, and my clothes smelled new. Oh yea I smelled like Old Spice aftershave as I used David’s deodorant. I was a mess and worried about meeting these people for the first time but there was not much I could do. I hoped they could take a joke.

The Cain’s gave me a copy of this 1983 Reunion Brochure

Jim is my cousin and my father’s family’s historian. He is quite interesting and we both love tractors. I have been talking to him for many years now it was great to get to know him. I will be forever in debt to him for sharing our family history with me. We both love tractors and genealogy. He drove the hour and a half to Kearney to go to dinner with us. When I first hugged him I felt like I was hugging a part of my family. His Grandmother was my Grandmother’s sister.

Marvin Cain at Camp Robinson

Let me tell you about the couple. I met Doris and Roger Cain met online when I placed a note on Roger’s father’s Find a Grave memorial page. Roger’s father, Marvin was in the same Regiment, and even Company as my father in World War II. When I originally found the 35^th Quartermaster roster I went through each of the 80 or so names and searched for each one on Find a Grave. Each soldier I found I put a note on their memorial page saying I was looking for their families. Doris and I felt a connection the moment we first talked. The family has been kind enough to share Marvin’s World War II memorabilia with me. So when you hear me mention Marvin Cain or the Cain Family this is who I am talking about. They brought along a bunch of Marvin’s things. They have some pictures I don’t have so maybe someday I will be able to add them to the collection. We sat and went through Marvin’s things and talked about our Dad’s. The Cain’s still have some of the trinkets Marvin brought back from overseas, some coins, and a couple of his medals, a mess kit, his Quartermaster pin. These are all things that we lost in my sister’s fire so it was awesome to hold them in my hands. I felt like our dads were there with us.

Missing! The one in the middle!

Doris had the Quartermaster pin and then she didn’t. We all took turns looking for it and it could not be found. They had brought me a scanned copy of it so we left it at the front desk with her phone number on it in case they found it.

I looked through the pictures and the autograph book which my father and many others have signed. The time went way too fast and before I knew it, it was late and I needed some sleep.

A Page from Marvin Cain’s Autograph Book

David and I had to make a decision about that darn suitcase. Our final decision is we would stay in Kearney and extra night, the horses would get a day out of the trailer, and David would go back for my suitcase.

Doris had offer to drive me to Lexington where my father was raised and to then to Cozad where his Grandparents homesteaded, if I stayed behind and spent the day with her. I had every intention of going with David to get my suitcase but David insisted I stay behind and go with Doris to see these places my father walked. I had to agree I may never be this way again so I jumped at the chance. I had to remind Doris that I would be wearing the same clothes as yesterday when she picked me up, I put on more of that manly deodorant, and we hit the road, David headed back where we came from and me off to see the Wizard in Cozad.

Stay Tuned……………………………………

Related Posts

Road Trip: A Comedy of Errors, Part 1

Road Trip: A Comedy of Errors, Part 2

Road Trip: A Comedy of Errors, Part 3