Day 2
First of all, as promised, here's the video of Becky and Loyette entering Louisiana -- Becky's 50th state, and Loyette's 16th.
Thrilling stuff, I know. ;)
Loyette, it should be noted, later added a 17th state, Texas, to her list. She'll get #18 and #19, Oklahoma and Kansas, tomorrow. But for Becky, there are no more "new" states to visit. She's been to all fifty!
See also here, and of course here. As for me, I'd already been to Louisiana, and am still "stuck" at 49 states -- I've been to all of 'em except Alaska. Grumble, grumble.
Anyway, it was another long but enjoyable day of road-tripping in the general direction, roughly speaking, of Denver. The weather has been beautiful, if a bit chilly and blustery, throughout our drive so far -- and although the scenery has been limited by the fact that we're staying mostly on the interstates, there have still been some very pretty stretches. Today's highlight was probably I-10 between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, which has all sorts of neat swampy and watery views.
Besides, to me, the open road is itself a form of scenery.
The reddish speck ahead in the left lane is the Mazda, driven by Becky. And, yes, I took the picture while driving. So sue me. :) When the road is that flat, straight, and empty...
Anyway, we've stopped for the night in Canton, Texas -- county seat of Van Zandt County, target of a Stephen Colbert insult, and home of the Dairy Palace and its "World-Famous Hamburgers":
Notice the message on the white sign: "MAY GOD ALMIGHTY HAVE MERCY UPON THIS NATION OF." Of what?!? Inquiring minds want to know!
As I mentioned in my last audioblog, the Texas state-line sign boasts of the Lone Star State's status as the "home of President George W. Bush" -- and so does the hotel we're staying in. When you walk into the lobby, you see this:
Upon seeing the photos, I asked, tongue-in-cheek, whether the photos were up because President Bush had stayed here. The friendly manager lady responded, equally tongue-in-cheek, that indeed he had, and we'd be staying in the room he'd used. Heh. She then added, "Naw, I don't think he's ever even heard of Canton, Texas." The pictures, she said, are up for general "Texas pride" reasons.
Later, when I came back to ask if I could take a pictures of the Bush photos, she happily agreed but then quipped, "You're not working for the Obama campaign, are you? I don't want to be next week's Joe the Plumber on the news." LOL!!
It's a good thing she didn't get a look at my car, because it does have an Obama sign in the window, and an Obama bumper sticker on the back:
I actually wondered, as I was driving through Baton Rouge, which of the above-pictured car decorations is more inflammatory and offensive, from a typical Louisianan's perspective: the Obama stuff, or the USC Trojans license-plate holder? :)
I did get questioned about my political allegiances once today, by a convenience-store employee in Amite, Louisiana. I had mentioned something during our first conversation about being originally from the North, and then when I returned to the store to buy something else a few minutes later, she asked -- having evidently seen my car -- "You said you're a Northerner, right? So you're for Obama?" Heh. When I responded in the affirmative, she left it there, though I had the distinct feeling she was biting her tongue.
I saw one car in Baton Rouge with Obama stickers on it, but, as expected, most of the presidential paraphernailia we've seen on this trip (of which there has not been much in any event) has been of the pro-McCain variety. For example, a pair of stickers on a car parked near ours in Osyka, Mississippi, just across the border from Louisiana:
Where to tomorrow? Well, now that our southward dip to "tag" Louisiana is over with, our route is pretty straightforward from here on out:
View Larger Map
The main issue tomorrow promises to be the morning rush hour heading into Dallas, which I'm not sure we can leave early enough to avoid -- unless we decide to get off the interstate and bypass the city entirely, perhaps by way of the Salt Palace. I sort of doubt that will happen, but we'll see.
And now, to bed.
Thrilling stuff, I know. ;)
Loyette, it should be noted, later added a 17th state, Texas, to her list. She'll get #18 and #19, Oklahoma and Kansas, tomorrow. But for Becky, there are no more "new" states to visit. She's been to all fifty!
See also here, and of course here. As for me, I'd already been to Louisiana, and am still "stuck" at 49 states -- I've been to all of 'em except Alaska. Grumble, grumble.
Anyway, it was another long but enjoyable day of road-tripping in the general direction, roughly speaking, of Denver. The weather has been beautiful, if a bit chilly and blustery, throughout our drive so far -- and although the scenery has been limited by the fact that we're staying mostly on the interstates, there have still been some very pretty stretches. Today's highlight was probably I-10 between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, which has all sorts of neat swampy and watery views.
Besides, to me, the open road is itself a form of scenery.
The reddish speck ahead in the left lane is the Mazda, driven by Becky. And, yes, I took the picture while driving. So sue me. :) When the road is that flat, straight, and empty...
Anyway, we've stopped for the night in Canton, Texas -- county seat of Van Zandt County, target of a Stephen Colbert insult, and home of the Dairy Palace and its "World-Famous Hamburgers":
Notice the message on the white sign: "MAY GOD ALMIGHTY HAVE MERCY UPON THIS NATION OF." Of what?!? Inquiring minds want to know!
As I mentioned in my last audioblog, the Texas state-line sign boasts of the Lone Star State's status as the "home of President George W. Bush" -- and so does the hotel we're staying in. When you walk into the lobby, you see this:
Upon seeing the photos, I asked, tongue-in-cheek, whether the photos were up because President Bush had stayed here. The friendly manager lady responded, equally tongue-in-cheek, that indeed he had, and we'd be staying in the room he'd used. Heh. She then added, "Naw, I don't think he's ever even heard of Canton, Texas." The pictures, she said, are up for general "Texas pride" reasons.
Later, when I came back to ask if I could take a pictures of the Bush photos, she happily agreed but then quipped, "You're not working for the Obama campaign, are you? I don't want to be next week's Joe the Plumber on the news." LOL!!
It's a good thing she didn't get a look at my car, because it does have an Obama sign in the window, and an Obama bumper sticker on the back:
I actually wondered, as I was driving through Baton Rouge, which of the above-pictured car decorations is more inflammatory and offensive, from a typical Louisianan's perspective: the Obama stuff, or the USC Trojans license-plate holder? :)
I did get questioned about my political allegiances once today, by a convenience-store employee in Amite, Louisiana. I had mentioned something during our first conversation about being originally from the North, and then when I returned to the store to buy something else a few minutes later, she asked -- having evidently seen my car -- "You said you're a Northerner, right? So you're for Obama?" Heh. When I responded in the affirmative, she left it there, though I had the distinct feeling she was biting her tongue.
I saw one car in Baton Rouge with Obama stickers on it, but, as expected, most of the presidential paraphernailia we've seen on this trip (of which there has not been much in any event) has been of the pro-McCain variety. For example, a pair of stickers on a car parked near ours in Osyka, Mississippi, just across the border from Louisiana:
Where to tomorrow? Well, now that our southward dip to "tag" Louisiana is over with, our route is pretty straightforward from here on out:
View Larger Map
The main issue tomorrow promises to be the morning rush hour heading into Dallas, which I'm not sure we can leave early enough to avoid -- unless we decide to get off the interstate and bypass the city entirely, perhaps by way of the Salt Palace. I sort of doubt that will happen, but we'll see.
And now, to bed.
posted by Brendan Loy at
10/28/2008 11:20:00 PM
