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!

Embraced (7/18/2024)

In the more recent posts, I have mentioned that we had a contractor install a fence around our backyard. It was finished a little more than a month ago and we are really enjoying it. I have always been somewhat against fencing the backyard; however, now I am a convert. Our dogs Jasper and Radar enjoy the freedom of being able to roam our albeit small back yard chasing squirrels, howling at the trees that the squirrels escape into, as any good treeing coonhound should, and at deer outside the fence. Radar dapperly joins in, although he does not howl. In addition, the dogs have rip-roaring wrestle matches. I think at least three or four per day.

Since part of the backyard is in the shade we had a lovely cover of moss instead of grass. Well, that was completely torn up and destroyed by our canines and their wrestling matches. Oh well, as they say; we all enjoy a good fight. Us watching it and the dogs performing it.

We built an additional fence with sticks that fell out of all the trees in our backyard. It serves somewhat as a divider in the yard and a place for birds to hide and hang out. We planted pollinator plants along a path that I put in along the stick fence in the hope that one day it might resemble something like an English cottage garden. The area is being overtaken by a gourd of some kind. It was in our compost and based on our dietary habit, I expect that it will be acorn squash. Our green tunnel is being colonized by tomatoes and green beans. We have been eating grape tomatoes and snacking on the miscellaneous green been. It is an experiment that we will repeat next year.

I have noticed that we spend a lot more time in our backyard, now that we have a fence. The major reason is that the dogs can be with us. Jasper the hound is a runner and hunter. Radar cannot be completely trusted, and we were afraid that would attack people and other dogs that wander by. Before the fence we would either put them on a running leash or leave them inside when we went out. Inside, they would be barking to let us know that they wanted to join us. Outside on the long leash they would constantly wrap themselves around our seats, shrubs or trees. Now they are free to roam and wrestle.

The other night I had decided to go outside to urinate and was struck by an epiphany. Like every other full-blooded man, there is nothing better than pee against a tree and ruminate at the same time. Yes, I announced recently that we had a powder room again and my forays into the backyard to micturate were over. However, I still enjoy going wee-wee in the natural environs. One evening while taking a leak against a tree I had a flying squirrel scamper down the tree to see what all the rustling noise was all about or maybe it was protesting my use of its tree as a urinal. We met eye-to-eye and after further inspection the squirrel climbed back up the oak.

Back to the subject at hand, the epiphany. So, what was that realization that I had? Sitting on the concrete garden bench in the dark in front of our Buddha statue, for the first time I felt like the garden was embracing me. While I could not even see the statue in the dark, I felt one with nature, the world, with the yard and everything in it. I suddenly realized that without a fence our backyard had no limits; there was no cohesion to it all. Somehow that night, the fence gave me a feeling of a hug, of keeping me in her bosom and not letting my mind and spirit wander all over the place.

Now you all know that I am a strong believer in and practitioner of “Forest Bathing.” I have given a sermon on the practice and written 54 posts on the subject. I love wandering in the woods behind our home and absorbing nature. In other words, this feeling of being embraced by the fence came as a surprise and I have not been able to shake it. Three of four times per day I enjoy walking a circle through the yard, inspecting things; pulling a weed or just sit on a bench or a chair to take it all in, fantasizing bout what to do next in the yard or just meditating. It is an amazing feeling and I guess it is still forest bathing since the yard has many trees and we still border the woods. I am enjoying it; let’s hope those feeling does not go away.

Our volunteer gourds

Night in the yard, it was at that time I had the feeling of being embraced!

Black-eyed suzan and the stick fence on the left.