No Blue Highways This Trip
May 10, 2013
I can see why they call it flyover country. From the interstates, this whole country looks mostly - BIG! Interchanges are banked with the same fast food signs KFC, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut... Failed motels, gas stations, casinos, grain elevators, Wal-marts, wind farms, refineries, and trains appear over and over along the highway. Traveling I-40, there is always at least one long freight train out in the flats. Rarely are any boxcars, nor sadly, any red cabooses seen anymore. Everything is now intermodal - flatbed cars stacked with ship’s containers and tractor trailers. Tanker and livestock cars line the landscape on both sides of the highway. Every train is driven by multiple engines both in front and in back.
Above the highways, and across the land as far as the eye can see, the contrails of airplanes criss-crossing the country leave their sketch marks on the sky.
There are some pretty unusual truck drivers out there.
All across the nation billboards invited us to adult bookstores and admonished us to return to Jesus. Underground caverns and historic villages beckoned from huge cheerful signs. Stop for a visit. Stay a lifetime!
We traveled 3,000 miles from California to Washington, DC and the only thing that really changed was the height of the hills, the amount of green in the landscape and the size and number of shredded tire pieces lying like dead animals along the side of the road.
There was no time for visits with friends along the way, just quick hugs and a cup of coffee. OK, maybe some wine.
Until we broke down in eastern Kentucky and had to replace all the tires and spend a weekend parked at a repair garage in Charleston, West Virginia. we were averaging around three hundred miles a day.
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Route 66 - Albuquerque, New Mexico |
At our age those 600-800 mile days of driving are years behind us. Back in 2002, we barreled across the country from New York City for Mike and Kate’s surprise wedding reception in Hayward, California. Made it as far as Reno in about 50 hours and with only 200 miles to go, a snow storm closed down the Donner Pass. We missed the party, but ate a huge, free casino buffet then slept out the blizzard in their parking lot.
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Donner Pass in Blizzard (California) |
That trip west took place only a few months after 9/11, and all across the country when we stopped for gas or snacks, people would see our New York license plates and gather around us to offer hugs and sympathetic loving words.
Traveling so far, so fast on these boring interstates has played havoc with our gasoline budget. ($1709.00 for the trip) However, waiting for the foal’s birth, we had bought no gasoline since February 24th. Sorry to report that on our way to save the planet, we left a pretty big carbon footprint.
Now you can cross the United States in under three minutes, and save money too!
Hooray for doggie truck drivers!
Ron
Bubba, it's about time you leave the DC bubble and see the REAL USofA. Hell, if it's blue, it's the feds' work and likely bad!
Sam
Yes, boring isn't it ? Tires are no longer made to last more than six years. The old ones were good until the tread was gone but the industry has managed to fix that :>( I had a five year old loose it's tread in NC a few years ago. Now I check the DOT dates on them to make sure I am getting fresh ones and then plan to replace them in six years. Just another way that big business screws the public :>(
Don
Good to hear from you. I enjoyed the 2 minute video cross country. That was neat. Leroy is getting big. He's so adorable.
Gail
Yeah! Fly over country it is indeed. I have hopped into some stops by airplane in my previous life, but have never had to cross the terrain on wheels.,,It probably became more exciting once you reached the Allegheny range. I find that beautiful country indeed.,,Wish you fun and laughter in your new volunteering endeavor.
Ilo-Mai
