This past weekend was a tad hectic, as I was "planning a possible road trip"
that I was basically *set on* turning into an *actual* road trip. Plans were
made and directions printed out on Saturday evening (4/6/24) for a trip to a
Wal*Mart in "Mountain View, Missouri" and the car was mainly loaded and other
things prepped, like baggies for individual dog food servings. (I saved the ice
chest, ice and bottled water, etc., for Sunday afternoon, right before leaving.)

*Saturday night/Sunday morning* I had a dream / vision snippet: a flash view of
totality: the ring of the coriolis of the sun surrounding the darkness of the
moon, set against (within) a dark background. (It was immediately recognizable
*in the dream/vision* for what it was, so *that* would qualify as "clarity 10"
despite the sheer black & white nature of the scene.)

Sunday morning, I watched my local Church service (live) on YouTube (because I
just wasn't "geared" for going to Church *and* going on a trip) and also checked
the DVR (digital video recording) of "CBS Sunday Morning" (possibly one of the
*least* offensive, least-far-left, least-sickening *nonfiction* programs on CBS)
as I was looking forward to seeing *something* on the eclipse, and possibly
analyze their 10-to-20 second national weather map for the week.

Lo and behold, they actually had a "cloud coverage forecast" for Monday (the day
of the eclipse) showing Mountain View (and most all the western US) had a 60%
cloudy forecast (and the other places were too far to drive for my personal
taste) and the *only* place within comfortable driving range of Middle Tennessee
with 0% coverage was the SW-to-NE path across the State of Indiana.

During my early childhood, my family would go every year to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
to visit my grandparents and cousins (and aunts and uncles) living there. In my
very early 20s, I drove there myself a few times, and was *fairly* comfortable
with the directions.

In the center of the path of totality in Indiana was/is a town named Franklin,
relatively small *and* with a Wal*Mart, so I switched up the plans to go, laid
it into the Google Maps app, and *presto!* I had a route. (There's a
neighboring "Franklin, Tennessee" near Murfreesboro, so it made the connection
that much easier to remember.)

Oddly enough, the "shortest route" involved *toll roads* which the maps app
easily circumvented. Time was not an issue, because I was driving up Sunday, to
sleep the night in my car, to be ready on Monday (the 8th, the day of the
eclipse.)

Being a tad too cocksure of myself (and wanting to save paper and ink, as the
step-by-step directions that I'd copied from the app were a tad cumbersome and
lengthy) I *clipped* them at the point where I-24 had something to do with
another road notification. (Possible error #1)

On the starting leg, still in Murfreesboro, I was at the intersection of Lokey
and US-41 (headed towards I-24) when the app seemed to be giving me a strange
direction (perhaps I was too anxious to be off?) so I pulled into the parking
lot of the nearby Hardee's (also called "Carl's" in some areas of the country)
to use the free wi-fi (my tablet needed a wi-fi connection to *plot* the maps
app directions) to re-plot the route, and avoid toll roads. Re-set, or so I
thought. (Once the route is set, the app has no direct need for further Wi-Fi
as it is GPS-based.)

I kept following I-24 (West) looking for the connection it mentioned. I saw one
exit for a south-bound Interstate (69S?) which is what I *thought* I was looking
for, only I wanted to go *north* so I kept on driving.

On and on along I-24 West, across the Kentucky border near Clarksville (which I
was familiar with from a job contract I fulfilled one week at the 101st Airborne
in Clarksville) until I came to the Kentucky-Indiana state border (the Ohio
River) and noticed two *different* bridges across the river.

"Huh!" I thought, thinking "*Maybe* it's been a few decades since I last
crossed; *maybe* they rebuilt the bridges???"

I soon noticed I was in the State of Illinois (! -DEFINITE error #1!)- the GPS
app on the tablet seemed "off" for some reason as well.

I pulled into a rest area to walk my dog (Ginger) as well as myself, and found a
pair of folk I thought to be a married couple in matching, yellow-ish T-shirts,
but they turned out to be the janitorial staff. They had a *paper* map and I
*quickly* noticed that I-24 (headed East, back towards Nashville) made a sort of
U-shape, and at the bottom of that U bend, in Kentucky, it tied into I-69 (which
is what I knew led into Indiana.) I thanked them (I think!) and departed, only
this time, I decided to "pinch in" (zoom out) the map perspective, and it showed
me somewhere in a relatively barren area, and I figured it was "off map"
(although that's not an entirely accurate description) but I *also* discovered
that *somehow* the volume had been dropped *all the way down* which is why I
never heard the audible directions heading north of Nashville. (DEFINITE error
#2! But what caused the volume drop???)

About the time I tagged back onto I-69 North, the tablet / maps app began
"talking to me" again, only to avoid the toll roads, it took me through state
routes and highways I'd never traveled before, *plus* by this time, I felt the
need to fill the gas tank (in Kentucky, which was a *huge* mistake- prices in
Indiana were roughly $1 per gallon lower! - what had cost me a little over $34
in Tennessee cost *$60* in KY! (Possible error #2)) and also, it had gotten dark
(I shoulda been very nearly "there" by "then" and also never spotted "the
bridge" over the Ohio) *and* it began to rain- a LOT!- like,
following-the-headlights-in-front-of-you-time, lightning, etc., but fortunately
Ginger just napped out in the back of the car (2012 Toyota Venza, perhaps an
SUV) so *when we finally got there,* it was dark, and the Wal*Mart was *closed
for remodeling* but I managed to find a nice, quiet parking spot (aimed
*southeasterly* near the northwest corner of the lot) which was in a parking row
ahead of an RV (from South Carolina) that was parked *diagonally* to the lot
stripes painted on the asphalt, roughly aimed southwesterly) when an idea that
had bugged me just a bit before the trip began to reform: "What are you gonna
do all day while awaiting the eclipse?"

Taking Ginger (and myself) out for a late-evening walk around the lot, it turns
out the RV folk were well-experienced in the OTR (on the road) travel lifestyle,
and had a small, portable fire pit (about 2' tall, cylindrical, about 1' in
diameter, up on legs, raising the bottom of the pit about 1' above the asphalt.)
They were also friendly, welcoming actually, and invited me to join them. About
that time, it also began to occur to me that, if *I* had thought of coming all
the way there to view the eclipse, it's very likely many others may have as
well.

The "alpha" male of the RV group was named "Rich" (which made it easy to
remember, despite my dain bramage) while none of the other names seemed to have
"stuck."

At any rate, I ended up sleeping in my car with Ginger (as planned) which brings
us to the dream of the evening of Sunday, April 7th / morning of Monday, April
8th:

The dreamer was facing two individuals who were facing the dreamer: The guy on
the left looked like a very frail male, sort of a cartoonish version of a wimpy
potato chip. The person (gender undetermined) on the right was of a light,
luminous-greenish hue, sort of like a hairless, ogre-like head portrayed as a
balloon.

There were two interactions, one where the dreamer shook the hand of the wimpy
guy (to the dreamer's left, appearing to the right of the ogre-like face) with
the dreamer being careful to avoid crushing the wimpy guy's hand, and another
where the ogre-balloon head seemed to be complaining of a headache, and the
dreamer reached forth with *both* hands and gave a *very short,* gentle massage
to the ogre's temples, so as to demonstrate how to alleviate headaches. Clarity
7+/8-

IRL: We (the dog and I) got an early Monday start / morning walk, soon after
which it became increasingly evident that *many* other people had had the same
idea (about journeying to Wal*Mart there in Franklin) and the longest-traveled
couple were from the State of Washington (Seattle)- they'd actually flown to
Illinois for a friend's wedding, and rented a car from IL to IN, but still, that
counted. There was a (possibly Japanese / definitely Asian) family of which,
the older spoke very little English, whereas the kids spoke fluent English, and
it turns out they were from "Illinois," which is what they said, so "verbally,"
the couple (a young, mulatto male and white female) from Seattle remained the
longest distance travelers there. :-)

This also led to joining something of a "tailgate party" of sorts with the RV
group, but also with some "milling about" to visit others there. One guy in
particular had a range of equipment set up (he seemed like an amateur using
professional-looking equipment, and seemed to have forgotten to do his homework
on how to track an eclipse automatically) but another group (in a smaller RV
vehicle, properly parked) had three people, a male and female (I *thought* she
was his 80+ year-old mother- turns out she was his ex-wife!) and their son (who
looked to be in his early 20s, possibly early 30s?) which led me to think that
she'd lived a *very* hard life, as she was wrinkled and looked like "Aughra"
from "The Crystal Shard"
(syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/2019/11/thra-hero.png -likely due to cigarette
smoking, as they were both smokers. The guy turns out wore dentures, by his own
admission, so I'm *guessing* he also died his hair, the color of dark shoe
polish.)

One month ago today (3/14), my dear old (elderly) mother passed away (on "Pi
Day," 3.14) and following all that, her memorial service was on April 5th, and I
went on a road trip ("vacation") April 7th to see the solar eclipse in totality
on April 8th in Franklin, Indiana.

This past week has been mostly "recovery" from the road trip (getting "back into
a circadian rhythm") and there have been a *few* interesting dreams that I
refrained from posting primarily because I wanted to "see" how they aligned with
other things "in real life" (IRL.)

The more interesting of the dreams (relevant to me, that is) involved one from a
*few* nights (or mornings) back, wherein the dreamer found himself (in a
presumed male form, although *possibly* a Unified form!) having a "heart to
heart" discussion with Gina, *apparently* at her location in Canada, regarding
the dreamer's deeper (deepest?) desire(s) for a life with her as husband and
wife, although in order to effect that, she'd need to free herself from her
current (second) Canadian husband.

About that time, the scene transitioned into a view as if the dreamer were at
the foot of a bed, facing lengthwise across the top towards the head of the bed,
and a guy (who was analogously in the character of Gina's husband) was also in
the bed, along with a small, male child (perhaps of age 6 to maybe 7) although
I'm *fairly certain* Gina is childless as of the time of this writing (IRL) so
I've really no idea as to what or who the young, male child represents. By the
way, the husband character as well as the boy child character both had dark
(nearly black) hair.

There was a semi-awkward moment when the husband became aware that the dreamer
was having a discussion with Gina, *in their bed,* to which the dreamer gave
some type of comment that was of a non-hostile nature, as the word
"de-escalatory" comes to mind as I type this up. (Perhaps something like,
"Don't mind us� we're just talking.")

This led to a scene wherein the husband is talking with the dreamer, saying how
he was obliged at that point to obligatory male-to-male combat. (This is where
something very peculiar occurred:)

The dreamer had zero resistance, as (he) perfectly understood from where the
husband character was coming from and would have certainly done the same thing
in his shoes, so to speak. But the dreamer, in consenting to the upcoming
punch, said aloud (to the husband character) "Slowly! Slowly!" as the husband's
right hook made *slow* contact with the dreamer's left side of the face (cheek?)
to which the dreamer slow-motion-reacted by taking a light step backwards,
practically a stagger, very much like a single-punch scene being played out in
rather slow-motion.

The dreamer even took a step backwards on the right leg, so as to remain
standing upright (although a step back as a result of the slo-mo punch) rather
than fall over on the ground, thus allowing the husband-character to "play his
part" yet allowing the dreamer to still remain upright.

There was a (somewhat muted) comment (possibly from the husband-character,
although possibly from another source, such as the Gina character *or* the
narrative mind of the dream) that sounded like:
"(!) I didn't mean to punch him *that* far back�" (or perhaps: "(!) I didn't
expect him to go *that* far back�")

Regardless, the dream ended with the dreamer still standing "in the picture,"
meaning there's likely a follow-up dream yet to come along this saga.

Meanwhile, Friday night/Saturday morning, there was a very peculiar (and
lengthy?) dream (perhaps a set of segments) that involved the dreamer at a
location / setting *similar* to an airport lobby, like the seating / waiting
area at a gate zone, awaiting an arrival or departure. (These days, with all
the security, likely a departure.)

The "odd thing" about the scenario is that the dreamer also seemed to have
custodial care of at least two small pets, a cat and a dog. The dreamer also
seemed to have an emotional bond with these two animals, and it was something of
a teeter-totter feeling as to which one had the greater concern / connection
with the dreamer. (It seemed like whichever one was most in need of attention
at any given moment thus required the greater focus of concern.)

There was a scene wherein the dreamer was either A) trying to keep the dog from
eating the catfood (most likely) or B) trying to keep the cat from eating the
dogfood (least likely.)

The end had the dreamer calling for the cat / kitten using the "Heerrre, kitty,
kitty, kitty" call, as the feline was for some reason "on the loose" as it were,
and the call was to coax the cat (kitten?) out from wherever it may be. The
dreamer's attention became focused on a spot under a row of seats along the far
wall, and the dream ended with the dreamer expecting the feline to come out from
under the seats, although there *may* have been some element regarding the
dreamer feeling the need to go in and retrieve the cat directly, if the feline
were too afraid to come forth of its own free will. Clarity 8+, although I
suspect it *may* be something of an allegorical setting (which would make it a
7.)

Finally, there seemed to have been two different dreams before waking, and
that's *likely* because at this point, I'm a tad unable to figure which came
first / last, so I'm gonna tell them as if they're the start and end of the same
dream, as they do fit together logically in the manner about to be typed out:

The dreamer seemed to be working with a partner in order to case a building
*similar* to a school or other type of administrative structure, *as if* to loot
it for some reason, either for data (intel) or possible other material resources
(the narrative mind of the dreamer really had no *clear* suggestions on what was
being sought after.)

As it was already later on Saturday afternoon when I originally typed this up,
and as the dream was a bit vague to begin with, the complication in the plot
line is rather muddled: There seemed to be someone approaching the pair (the
dreamer and the cohort) from *within* the building, as if someone had arrived
early and entered (with keys) from the backside, thus putting the dreamer and
cohort into a state of alarm.

The dreamer quickly directed the cohort to lie (or sit) down and put on hand
cuffs, then when the person (who had a legitimate purpose for being there) came
upon them, the dreamer indicated that he'd just caught a suspect (the cohort)
and was preparing to take him to the authorities (allegedly for processing.)
(And, in case you're wondering what's going on here, just consider the scene
from Star Wars when Han and Luke walk into a control center on the Death Star
while escorting Chewie, who was wearing hand cuffs� same premise.)

As the dream started to end, there was a rather awkward portion where someone
*from* the building seemed eager (and determined) to accompany the dreamer (and
the cuffed escort) *to* the authorities, so as to formally press charges (or
some such.) The dream ended while in transit to some unknown destination,
clarity 8+/9-.

As I was typing this up, it occured to me that all the two thieves needed to do
was to get a far enough distance away from the building, somewhere out in the
boonies, so to speak, and eject the zealot from the vehicle. But the feeling
while awaking was one of confusion, such as "Why are you throwing me under the
bus?" and "How are we gonna get out of this?" although such words were not
exactly expressed. It was "just a feeling."

Now for Saturday night's / Sunday morning's dream(s):
The one I can recall most clearly involved the dreamer, holding hands forwards,
somewhat cupped together (as if to catch a small ball) had a feathered bird
flutter directly into the cupped hands. The dreamer was conscious enough to
avoid crushing the bird, and held it *loosely yet firmly* so as to avoid
crushing any bones in the bird's chest or wings, yet the feathers continued to
flutter a bit.

The dreamer walked forwards, holding the bird out ahead, with the purpose of
taking the bird to a sanctuary of some sort, or at least a place where it could
be safely released.

As the dreamer walked forwards, there came that point where the bird flew out of
the dreamer's hands.

As the background was generally light (rather than dark) yet there was no
discernable background elements, this dream seems more of a 7 (symbolic) to
maybe an 8+ (as the bird's fluttering wings and body seemed *very* life-like!)