Over the years many of you have asked if we really drive with so much ‘stuff’ on our dashboard. And the answer is a very simple “Yes”. It all started with this little jade plant that was a cutting off a plant that I had purchased in 1972, the summer after we were married. By the time we left on this adventure it was over 3 feet tall, and had about a 3″ diameter trunk. It didn’t seem really practical to bring that along, so we settled for those two sweet cuttings.  Over the years as it grew (and we left more cuttings with friends along the way) it was joined by an Aloe Vera plant from the Florida Keys in 2011 and then this sweet little cactus from Arizona in 2016.

Other items have joined the party (mostly attached to memories or stuff found in Gary’s pockets)and this is how the dashboard looked as we left Columbus last month, heading east to PA.

Ah yes, complete with mask (good to keep one handy, right?) and a couple of crumpled up tissues. (No staging here. This is a true life still life.)
As I began taking my ‘windshield shots’ to document our drive, I noticed that items were beginning to do a little dance.

Let’s face it – the roads through Akron had those guys really jumping!

Gary added the candy wrappers and those tissues just kept moving to the road music.

The mask was the first to topple over the edge as the dance floor became quite crowded.

The dove had fallen over, attempting to get closer to the memory stones, and the pink flowers were distancing themselves from the potted plants. As we crossed Pennsylvania on I80 and then headed north up I81, I was keeping a close eye on the breakables that were getting precariously close to the edge. Just as we were coming into Montrose, the inevitable happened.

Can you tell what took that final leap off the dash?

One of my little Kenyan hippos! All is well, though – no harm, no foul! He was safely reunited to his mate!

The tissues made it just fine (eewwww), and don’t even ask me why we had a mousetrap on the dash. Somethings are beyond my understanding!

Thanks for coming to the dance!

And yes, I know that little leaning cactus need to be repotted!! Yikes!

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