In a bubble (10/3/2024)

“Bang, bang, bang ...” “What was that, it sounded like machine gun fire.” We were on our regular evening dog walk. The short pee walk before we go to sleep. “Nah, it is a car back firing on the main road” I replied. The next night, around the same time “bang, bang, bang,” etc. “Again, is that the same car? What has the world come to and where is the police?”

If it isn't that, it is a car or motorcycle trying to drag race down the road. They roar on the main highway by our neighborhood. A highway that is mostly empty around 11 at night, the time we typically walk our dogs. We feel sorry for those folks living closer to the highway. It must be really jarring at times; although there is a sound wall between their backyard and the road, it must be pretty loud of we who live a half mile down the road are bothered by it. Drag racing at 11 pm? At least the cops are asleep, so it is a free-for-all.

What is this world coming to? Where is the consideration for our fellow citizens, chivalry, empathy, class, you name it. Everybody is in there for themselves, stroking their narcissistic tendencies, trying to claim the vehicle with the fastest acceleration title, moreover, which vehicle is the loudest, the most souped up? Fuck that gas mileage, I'll just complain that gas prices are too high, and blame some politician, but keep on spewing it out of that enlarged tailpipe that makes a roaring sound of their monster truck. Who is all powerful and more manly. Or are they compensating for something they lack?

The other day I was driving home from having the van worked on and here came a car that was either a Mustang or a Camaro shoot by me with a big roar. I was on a 3-lane road following the sped of traffic. The dude weaves in and out of lanes trying to pass all kinds of seemingly traffic-law obeying citizens. In essence putting all those folks in harm’s way. A few weeks earlier, some lunatic was passing cars on the shoulder of the 4-lane highway I was on. It is not only Yorktown; it is this country. I saw it in Kansas City, Louisville and even in the mountains of Colorado.

I know, here is another old and decrepit guy who should no longer be driving complaining about the youth or fellow pavement users. No that's not it, I am no slough, and this is not only about drivers and their vehicles. As a country we have become a lot less considerate of other people. We grab them by the pussy, we make them look like idiots, and so on. We have become a society of slaves; slaves to society, corporate America, to our politicians and for some this is the only way they can distinguish themselves in this slave society. In their non-slave hours folks are trying to stand out, become individualized, without regards for others. And what is the remedy? I really do not know, maybe a bit more sense of community and responsibility.

Whenever I am outside, walking, working in the front yard, checking the mail or simply sitting on a park bench, I try to be courteous. Oh, I'll give you the middle finger greeting if you, at night, in the dark, come barreling down the road with your bright lights on and don't dim them when I know you can see me, but you insist on blinding me. Remember asshole, I can see you way earlier than you can see me, you don't have to shine those brights right into my face. I broke an ankle in 2001 when I accidentally stepped in a hole on the curb when some lady refused to dim her lights.

So here you see that I can dish it out as well. Use words that may offend some of you folks, and I am sorry, but I just want to make a point. This attitude that I describe in this post is what is hurting this country, our earth and our survival as species. We need to start thinking more collectively, be more aware of our fellow humans and realize what the results of our actions are on other folks and society. We do not live in a vacuum. Speeding up your or this society's demise is not getting you anywhere except that you drag everyone down with you, you damn narcissistic idiot. Everything we do affects others, even if we don't see it.

Yup, me, me, me and fuck the rest of society

Report from the road (9/25/2024)

Although I am home, I want to report a little more about my recent road trip. I was gone for 11 days. I had fun. I did not record the miles I drove, but I think it was over 3000 miles. Flying back was ok. Thank goodness there was a direct flight from Los Angeles to Norfolk and I was able to relax once the airplane tool off. In this blog I want to discuss some of the non-drive experiences, mostly as they relate to people.

My objective of Day 1 was to get away from Virginia as soon as possible. The major thing I experienced that roads were still under construction, very much like what I described here a year ago. I also had trouble with my phone keeping its charge, despite the fact that I plugged it in. Somehow the USB port was not doing its job. I decided to buy a plug-in charger in the town I stopped. Luckily, there was a car parts store near the motel I stayed in. The attendant was very helpful, we had a nice talk about all the complicated plug-in gadgets and different telephone charge ports there were. He was young, but even for him it was somewhat difficult to hunt for the correct gadget on the rack.

I somehow had a hankering for Mexican food and stopped at the restaurant nearby. It had good ratings on Google, and I dare say, the food was good. But don't order the rib-eye fajita. My chin dropped when it was served; it was an actual rib-eye stake with all the fajita makings. I ate all the vegies and half the meat and that was it. The stake was great but I was full and regretted all those chips I ate and washed down with a jumbo margarita. When I mentioned to my server that it was way too much, he just nodded.

As I mentioned in my previous post the next stop included St. Louis and the famous Gateway Arch. You go up in what they call a train; however, to me it feels more like a ferris-wheel. I shared my gondola with two couples. When making small talk they mentioned that they were both from Milwaukie, did not know each other, but lived a mile apart. As a result they started to discuss the latest murder a few blocks down from where they lived. The mother of one of the couples lived a few homes down whre the murder took place. One of the ladies told me that she wanted to take her (now) husband to all the water parks in the country and they had just spent a day at one in St. Louis.

I want to keep this post about some of the people I encountered on the road. I did not get a chance to interact with many, except some servers in restaurants, most of them were very nice and personable, including the server in Warrenton (MO), Pratt (KS), the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Mesquite (NV). The bar lady at the brewery in Alamosa was nice too. The most memorable were the teenage server in Pratt. She was too young to serve beer and the bartender had to bring it over. I should have asked if she was still in school and what she thought her future was in such a small rural Kansas town. Actually, the staff at the Pratt Holiday Inn Express were the friendliest. The wait staff at the North Rim appeared to be mostly Turkish engineering students who were there for the second season. I had fun talking with them. Their season was almost over, after which they played tourist for a few weeks before going back to Ankara. Their plans included a tour of the National Parks in the west. The owner of the Peruvian restaurant was from Nicaragua, but he assured me the cook was Peruvian. The food was outstanding.

The ranger or receptionist at the Prairie Preserve, she was mildly interesting, well trained and thus politically correct. Between the lines, she briefly mentioned something like “the mess” this country was in, but when I tried to draw her out, she refrained. We had a nice talk; she as a wildlife grad and me as a range management dude. However, she had no idea about the less common plants that I observed during my hike on the preserve.

The most interesting discussion I had was with a Navajo sales person at the Four Corners Landmark.  He was manning a booth and we spoke about my previous life and work on and near the Navajo Nation.  He told me that I missed the powwow in Windowrock which was held that weekend.  Again just small talk but very pleasant to be back in the culture I once lived in.

My last real encounter with someone I did not know was at the Hollywood Bowl. I wanted to buy a commemorative sweatshirt. “No, no that one is too small for you,” an African American lady all the sudden started to give me advice, “you need to go a size up.” We ended up in a nice 5-minute small talk, while my daughter and her spouse looked on. Having had a few women trying to take advantage of me on-line, I was a little weary or suspicious but then my family was nearby and we parted on very friendly terms. I may write about these more nefarious encounters some other time.

As you can see, I have nothing serious to report, and never had an in-depth discussion during any of my encounters. In a way I regret that, but is never was my objective during this trip. Hopefully, it provides a very small vignette of the people I saw and met during my trip.

This is a photograph of the small gondola of the train going up the Arch.  It's a four minute ride and as you can see, very intimate.

The Four Corners Landmark

On the road (9/12/2024)

Not a very imaginative or original title, but it is appropriate. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been traveling the famous U.S. highways and some of the byways. This last time, it was a quick trip across, delivering one of our cars to my daughter and her spouse. We had three vehicles and that is more than enough for a retired couple. It was a solo trip this time; my wife stayed home to take care of the dogs and bonsai. In addition, it is hurricane season and it always feels risky leaving home for an extended period. The region was hit by a tropical storm when we took a similar trip last year.

In the past we have taken a few road trips across and I still enjoy it. In 1979 we drove from Delaware to Utah for our graduate studies. We did the opposite trip in 1981 on our way to a new job in Nepal. Those were my really first multi day road trip. On the way we visited my wife's friends in Lexington (KY), Louisville (KY) and Columbia (MO). We continued on through Denver to Cheyenne, and ended our trip in northern Utah. We drove an AMC Pacer, which looked like a fishbowl on wheels. On the way back we raced through Nebraska, Iowa and the Midwest; we were in a hurry. We somehow fixed my wife's paintings (she's an artist) to the ceiling of the car, and the gap between the paintings was occupied by our two cats; our two dogs were on the back seat. The other memorable thing that I remember is hearing Barbara Mandrell’s song titled “Crackers” over and over while driving through the prairie states (Nebraska and Iowa). It always amazed me that this song was so popular in the Bible belt since she invites someone back in her bed after a fight and I didn’t think it was her hubby.

Our next trip across the continent was in 1986, but now from Delaware to southern New Mexico. This time in a Honda Civic Wagon, with the same two dogs and only one of the two cats. The most exiting episode was when our cat escaped out of our room of an Indian run motel, in Artesia, NM. We had to stay another night before we found our cat and we could complete the journey. We got to know that town quite intimately that layover day. During those study years we made one more road trip, back and forth for Christmas vacation. Another time we drove to Dallas and flew from there to visit the grandparents of our 1 year-old daughter. In the mean time we made some other trips: to Corpus Christy for one and later on to California (the San Luise Obispo area).

Finally, we did the trip across that I describe in last year's posting: Yorktown to Montana to Long Beach and back home. In addition, my wife drove across one time to take our daughter to Sacramento and now I did this solo trip. I also made a solo trip from Gallup (NM) to Richland (WA) and from Virginia to Maine (I-95). We also have traveled to Charleston (SC) by car. In the past we frequently traveled the Pennsylvania Turnpike when we lived in Cincinnati and visited the (grand) parents in Delaware.

What highways did we take. We lived on Route 66 in Gallup, NM, and we did other Route 66 sections in Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and Missouri. These past two years Interstate 64 was a common route in our trips across the country. We have also traveled Interstates 70, 35, 40, 44, 15, 70, 76, 80, 84, 10, 37, 90, 94 and 95. Highway driving is fair. It is a great way to quickly get from point A to point B; however, the landscape typically flies by. We always joke that the Texas Interstates are the reason we were able to conceive our daughter; all those early arrivals in motel rooms and having time for more time for intimacy (aka wild monkey sex … we were still young … sorry daughter). Naturally, the radar detectors assisted in our speedy arrivals.

Honestly, I like the byways. We have taken large sections of the Lewis and Clark trail through Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana. We have driven some of the country roads in Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona on some of our other cross-country forays. I like those much better. It allows you to sightsee and just spend time to take it all in.

Things have changed over the years. While in the old days we poured over maps to plan our trips; Google maps is now my go to source. I still plan a trip marking destinations and aiming to keep a day's drive to around 300 miles (480 km). That distance can amount to approximately 6 to 7 hours of driving. Going west is easier because you gain time when crossing into another time zone. Going east you can lose an hour and a 7 hour drive all the sudden results in an 8-hour trip (on the clock) when you cross into the next time zone.

This is just a sampling what we have done. We have spread our wings and shared our exhaust gasses with many places. We still enjoy traveling the highways and byways by car (and now our van).

Bison near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  All the pictures below are from my latest trip.

Me at the North Rim

The Four Corners

Highlands of Colorado

Road Trip (9/6/2024)

In the latest update, I am on a road trip across the country. My wife and I decided to shed one of our vehicles and give it to our daughter. She got a new job that required a long commute on the opposite area of LA. We had three vehicles: our van, the CRV and my Accord. We figured that it would be a lot cheaper if we shed one and expect that our tax and insurance rates would go down. We would probably use the van a little more and put more miles on both remaining vehicles; however, it should be a net win. In conclusion, I decided to hand deliver it to LA and fly back. It is a solo trip, and I just don't have a lot of time to write,

I am currently writing this entry at a microbrewery in Alamosa, Colorado. I am at 7500 feet elevation, and since I crossed into another time zone, I have an extra hour. The trip has been fun and somewhat frustrating. It is nice to be on the road again, that's for sure. I am usually too tired to go crazy after a drive of 6 to 8 hours. As I mentioned before, getting old is no fun; the drive tires me out and the time zone changes are interesting as well. The first day I just drove like crazy, I did not sightsee and ended up on Mnt. Sterling, KY. I noticed that the charging port in my car did not work, and my phone was about to die. After checking into the motel, I went in search of a charger. After buying one I had a good dinner at the Mexican restaurant next to the motel. The food was crazy, I asked for a steak fajita and was served a full rib-eye steak like a fajita. It was very tasty especially while being fueled by two margaritas

Day two took be to Warrenton, MO via St. Louis. During this leg my trip became fun and very frustrating at the same time. Start with the fun! I took a side-trip to the Gateway Arch. I had never seen it close by, let alone been to the top, so it was my day! It was fun; however, on the way there I learned about the latest school massacre or as one of the vive presidential candidates called it: an unfortunate incident that is just “a fact of life.” Well, fuck him! In other words, having XM satellite radio in my car, I could not stop listening to the reports on the shooting and the aftermath. It angered me and really bothered me.

Day three took me to a small town in Kansas. I stopped for another side trip at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve where I took a 1.5-mile hike. This was totally up my alley being a range scientist. However, man, it was hot (90) walking there. By the time I got back to the visitor's center I felt like I had heatstroke. This feeling did not leave me and when I arrived at my motel in Pratt, Kansas, I felt utterly exhausted. Not sure if the drive, the news or heat exhaustion did me in. On top of that, I got a room in the motel where nothing seemed level: I had to walk up slope to get to my bags or out of the bathroom. There was at least two inches difference which made me very unstable during my stay. It exaggerated my concern of my health and general well-being.

Day four brought me here: Alamosa, Colorado. No side trips this time, just an 8-hour drive. Going through Dodge City I was reminded of my last gripes about the area; but things got better when I entered Colorado. It got drier, I saw prairie dogs, ocotillo, and eventually the Rockies. I was listening to Doctor Radio on XM and I felt good. At time I was still pestered by the news (the shooting and the Cheney news). But life was good again.

I’ll leave it at that, except to tell you about my travels to-date, and my mental state. More to follow, as I am sure you know.

A tall grass prairie picture

Before going up

Wyat Earp and me in Dodge City

At the Spare Kegg in Alamosa

Restaurant view

Creepy and Weird (8/22/2024)

Two new words that entered our political lexicon. As most of you know, I occasionally write about politics, sometimes about what is going on at the local level here in Yorktown. Conversely, I write nationally and internationally. Note that I did not hyperlink the national in this post, but I have 102 posts (not including this one) on the subject in one form or fashion and 15 on racism. You can probably find many more posts where I forgot to add the tag. The words I want to write about are weird and creepy. I have used the word weird a total of six times and actually three of them occurred in posts where I have politics as a keyword. I used creepy once; however, it had to do with aging.

Creepy and aging that is an interesting jump. Do older men get creepier as they age? I would hope not, as I am older. However, I can think of at least one old person who is getting creepier and creepier with age; even weirder. As you know I am a liberal and was happy that at least our side of the presidential race bowed out. This was not because he became creepier, but he was just plainly getting too old. However, the candidate from the other side who is two or three years younger than the guy that was considered too old is staying in the race. You all know I am writing about tRump. That guy was already creepy years ago. He slept around while married, associated himself with abusers of minors, slept with porn stars while his wife was pregnant, and even raped women. He is a convicted felon, a criminal. His followers and he himself consider him the second coming. I learned today that he obsessed with crowd size and claims that one of the pictures of his opponent’s crowd was AI generated. Now that is creepy, and it is definitely plain weird that almost half the country would want him to become the president of this country. It has all the flavors of a cult.

Even weirder is the choice by this candidate in selecting his wing man or candidate for vice president: a self-proclaimed slum dog millionaire who went to Yale, writes a book about his humble upbringing but does not give a crap about the poor and middle class, and rages against the educated elite. He comes from an area where healthcare is lacking, where women’s healthcare and maternity support is poor, but he does not care. He seems to dislike unmarried women and calls them “cat ladies.” In addition, he is against invitro fertilization, but believes that all women should at least have three children, and all women should stay at home. Together they are for installing the government in your bedroom and in your home, but God forbid if the government tells you anything about your right to own a gun. Plain weird, if not creepy.

I was happy when Biden decided not to continue. I am happy and energized by the new candidate, Vice President Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. It was Governor Walz who described some of the actions by the opposition and even the ticket as “Creepy and weird.” I admit, I am not original here, but I would like to enforce the idea. tRump, Vance and their followers are plain weird and a lot of them are creepy as well.

Sorry, no deep message here, except the reinforcement Tim Walz’s observation about the Republican candidates and my commitment never to vote for these creepy weirdos. I hope you do the same!