Roostertales: Long Trips, Short Fuses

It was great hearing from some of you that can remember those ‘good ol’ days’ when we managed as kids to engage weather with an opportunity for fun instead of complaining about the restrictions.  No doubt, personal observations varied based on where you lived and what complications were created.  Living in an agricultural driven society created monstrous problems for the farmers, as it does today, but today we can handle those problems with greater ease of machinery and communications.  Soon, perhaps, even the cattle will have cell phone devices programmed to move them to safety without having to leave your couch!

After spending the last several weeks in moderate climates of the desert southwest it was a real shock to re-enter the snow drifted decorations of ‘old man winter’.  These blizzard-style storms are actual proof that the Artic Circle indeed, starts just north of highway 20!  Despite the encumbrances of being snowed in, these whirling, whipping white-outs can create some real, artistic beauty if you take the time to look more closely.  You cannot see the wind but you can see its effects on our rolling terrain as it leaves varied scallops, curly overhangs with an impossible recreation if tried to be done by ‘our hands’.

On another note, traveling around this country in a ‘big rig’ can offer some unique diversity with our ever-changing topography.  As a kid growing up in northeast Nebraska, I always felt my knowledge of the ‘outside’ world beyond this postage stamp-sized Knox County was severely challenged.  Never getting any further than Norfolk, Yankton or Sioux City, one had to wonder if other places actually existed, like San Diego, Tucson, Miami, or Philadelphia.  However, proof was in the pudding as on occasion we would bicycle past a few parked cars downtown with those out-of-state plates.  People would get out and start shaking hands with just about anybody after a verbal gesture of, “How ya doin Partner? Long time, no see!”  Yes, Dorothy, the world outside our backdoor really exists.

Now, in a ‘big rig’, we can scale the mountains and shorelines of any distant state within 2-3 days and get a real feel for their differences by physically wrestling with the gears and ‘jakes’ over our mother-terra.  There are some real, definite features that we share with the rest of our neighbors and then again, there are distinct differences.  For example, California offers real proof that your mental picture of that state will be challenged dramatically just by trying to drive it.  They drive vehicles that were never given the option of directional signals, drive consistently at speeds 15-25 mph over the speed limit, dive for exits at the last second from 3-4 lanes away, and love to drive close enough to each other to read the other’s VIN number. 

‘Traffic Jambs’ are also a definite way of life and each driver must factor in daily commutes to include at least one extra hour (two hour commutes are very common here) before their destinations.  The Beach Boys sang about beautiful California girls, white sand beaches and hotrods until you were convinced that this is all they had, until of course, you got there.  I am continually amazed at the amount of urban sprawl from San Diego on Mexico’s border all the way up the coast line to San Francisco, over 600 miles of multilane highways, bumper to bumper traffic, all while negotiating  through a seawall of neon overkill.  What a nightmare to drive indeed, always on edge, always trying to figure out the unexpected actions of other drivers, all while trying to create at least a half foot of space tolerance for your 65’ and 78,000 lbs., of machinery.  Uff-dah!!

For each of you that have ‘been there and done that’, you know of what I speak.  If you’ve driven on the 8 lanes (one way) of traffic in San Diego I-15, or the 9 lanes (one way) of traffic on I-75 in Atlanta, you know how it works on your central nervous system.  If you’ve ever seen or felt the wrath of super, offensive drivers, you know at times your own existence may be quite threatened while praying for our nation to quickly repeal the concealed weapons laws.  It gives you a definite case of the heebie- jeebies while you begin to wonder just how long it will be before you can get back ‘home’, where a few buffalo still roam, and you can travel those little one-lane, snow packed roadways (see Josh’s video),  where a little bit of heaven and  Wausa, still exist!  The tranquility from being ‘home on the range and snow bound’ is so beautiful compared to places where the rats are still winning!!