a flyswatter is all you need

We stopped for dinner at Denny's, and wouldn't you know it, it finally happened--we both hopped out of the truck and dutifully locked our doors, leaving the keys inside in the center of the dashboard.

Oops.

We went in search of a wire hanger to unwrap and reach into the window with (which we had helpfully left cracked open to ventilate the cats), but the nearby hotel only had wooden hangers! Luckily, there was a very nice man at Denny's who gave us one of the restaurant's fly swatters to use.

Melissa had to stick her skinny arm through the crack in the window because Alex's arms are too big, but she couldn't reach the top! Alex hoisted her up about four feet off the ground, from which point she could reach the swatter down to the inner door handle, snag it and pull it out toward the middle of the cab. She did it! But she didn't account for the fact that her arms are much bigger since starting yoga classes a few months ago.... In the process of opening the door, she bruised her bicep against the edge of the window!

Here you can see a lovely blue just starting to blossom on her arm shortly afterward. We're waiting to see if it will become a really gory and dramatic battle wound, but it looks like it's just about stopped purpling up already. But we got back in the truck, which was the point of the whole operation!

Despite the mayhem, we were able to have dinner and get back on the road in short order. We also got gas for $2.89 per gallon, which is the lowest price we've gotten yet. We filled the whole tank and didn't even hit $75!

Now we're cruising to Wichita for the evening. Tomorrow, we rendezvous with the Price/Bowling clan in Missouri (pronounced "misery" according to Alex). Hopefully the thunderstorms we've been seeing all day will have gone ahead of us and cooled it down there.