23) Floating Clouds & the Flying "C" Exxon Ranch

Most of the USA is astoundingly beautiful. When driving coast to coast, it is always surprising to see how much open space and uninhabited (by humans) land there really is. Yet paved roads are everywhere. Everything is planned around, based upon, dependent upon fossil fuels, namely oil. This is not a pedestrian friendly country. Westward Ho! and the Manifest Destiny are considered our birthright. Americans love their combustable engine and the gasoline that feeds it. Apparently so do the cattle…

The sign below says ‘Cattle Country-exit now-Flying ‘C’ Ranch-Exxon. Even here in open range/ranch land, or ‘cattle country’ as the sign says, there are billboards advertising Exxon everywhere. Are even the cows equipped with gas tanks? Or is that methane?

Technorati tags: Exxon, gasoline, oil, peak oil, automobiles, roadside attractions, pedestrians, cattle, manifest destiny, westward ho, billboards, interstate travel, USA

22) Floating Clouds & the World Floating By

Technorati tags: on the road, travel, West, Interstate 40, clouds, America, Townes Van Zandt, Pancho and Lefty, mothers, sons, small towns, cowboys, wild west, lonesome highway

21) Floating Clouds and Townes Van Zandt

The road seemed to go on and on. America passed by my window in all of it’s splendor and sorrow. Who were all these people living in these dry, cowboy towns? What were their lives like? Why was I following my only son from California to North Carolina? Where would the road lead this time? I listened to TVZ and this song, Pancho and Lefty, often while driving. Townes was a bit rough around the edges, but he sang his heart out, and wore it on his sleeve, that’s why we loved him so, and miss him..

click on center arrow to hear and view video

20) fLOATING cLOUDS AND pINK eLEPHaNT aNGels

We continued to pass red rock formations, pinnacles and strange little roadside mining towns.

THE WEST BEGAN TO SEEM ENDLESS…

THE CLOUDS AND ENDLESS HIGHWAY HAD A MESMERIZING EFFECT. I BEGAN TO HALLUCINATE THE PROVERBIAL PINK ELEPHANTS dANCING IN THE sky

 

Technorati tags: USA, West, on the road, pink elephants, clouds, Western United States, travel, moving, driving, hallucinations, Interstate 40

19) Floating Clouds and the Big 6

The Motel 6 icon becomes a welcoming beacon on the road. After a long, hard day of driving, it almost feels like home for a minute. The $35.00 sign draws you in until you read the fine print…for “one person”. But the Big 6 allows pets! No sneaking in and out with 2 cats, kitty litter trays, cat food,etc. No one cares. There is mold in the shower, pubic hair in the sheets, the smell of roach spray in the air. There are cigarette butts in the no smoking room, and there is no Gideon’s to be found. Mitch’s routine is to quickly strip the bedspreads off, and throw them on the floor. He saw a show on TV that said they never wash the spreads; only the sheets.To prove this, they held a black light over the motel bedspreads; making readily apparent the accumulation of bodily fluids. I wished he hadn’t shared this tidbit of information with me. Luckily, I brought my own pillow and teddy bear. The cats curl up with me, and I quickly fall asleep, too exhausted to even watch the 29 channels.

Technorati tags: Motel 6, on the road, travel with cats, white line fever, moving, cats

18) Floating Clouds and Trains and Tractor Trailers

We continued to see trains traveling along the horizon throughout the Southwest; but the Kings of the Road were definitely the tractor trailers. (Notice cracked windshield?)

A cautious driver submits to all truckers. Sometimes it appeared as if they played ‘chicken’ amongst themselves (see photo below). Don’t crash guys!

Where’d they go?

The majority of food and produce in the US is grown and transported by truck from California. Almost all produce in North Carolina, where I now live, is from CA, or Chile or Ecuador. Even the organic produce is rarely from local farmers. Why are we forced to buy expensive and tasteless apples from Washington State when they are grown in our own state’s mountains? The only immediate solution is to grow as much of our own food as possible in raised beds in our yards and plant fruit and nut trees, or create community gardens in open lots in urban or suburban areas.

Technorati tags: Food production, organic produce, California, agriculture, trucks, trains, clouds, travel, Interstate 40, grow your own, raised beds, sustainability, peak oil