On Saturday, there were a lot of Model A Fords in Exeter. The weather was a bit iffy, but after a phone call, I donned my painty pants and headed down the hill. I tried my best to not think about all the things to do at home, and listening to the audio version of Cry, The Beloved Country really helped. (Anyone read this book? It’s about South Africa in the 1940s.)
Because of the rain, I was able to fill my water bucket by scooping up from a puddle. Very convenient. Next, I worked on the “hidden” lantern. It was blue the day before.
I added a coffee pot to make up for the one I lost. This was all just sort of fiddly stuff, waiting for the tour groups to appear. 
The first group came quickly and I didn’t have my camera handy, but Betsy did. Look at all these interested people – what an audience!
Then my buddy Jay showed up. (Yes, I was lost on the wrong mural.) If Jay can drive a Model A, I figured he can back up and turn around a Freightliner. Yeah, sure, I prolly coulda* done it myself, but Jay is a farmer, and farmers can drive anything and do it right the first time.
See? Perfect! I didn’t even need a stepladder to reach those upper blue trees.
This was my view of the mural, from the very very convenient placement of the truck for trotting back and forth to see how things look from a distance.
The second group arrived, and this time I was able to take their photo and speak from my elevated platform.
They invited me to lunch, so after meeting and greeting a few other mural visitors, I put a bunch of orange traffic cones out and left the Freightliner hogging up the alley.
After lunch, I fiddled around a bit more on the parts I could easily reach, and finally decided that I was perfectly capable of repositioning the truck myself.
Nothing to it. Might get a job with a trucking company when this mural is finished.
I camouflaged the lantern a bit more, and finally tackled the remaining blue patches.
Now that the end is in sight, I am wanting to slow down and detail everything within an inch of its life. In spite of all my lack of confidence, I do feel quite proud of and connected to this mural. Each time I’ve worked on it, I’ve met nice people and built up my skills at muralizing.
P.S. Larry warned me about running at age 79. He said he was fine at 78, but now that he is 79, it just doesn’t work.
*”Prolly coulda” – I know it is “probably could have” but I wanted to sound like a trucker.
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