Started in Kansas yesterday, and drove south. Kansas grew on me as I traveled. The south of Kansas, was actually less of a straight line. Lots of rolling hills, nice curves. It's very green at this time of year, and there were huge swaths of cattle land filled with cows. On the road I passed the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Not the last museum/hall of fame I'd see. That was not the last interesting museum I'd see. Once I hit Oklahoma, I saw the national wrestling hall of fame, and the national cowboy hall of fame, and once I went through Amarillo, I passed the quarter horse hall of fame/museum. Place looked really nice. It looked new. I'm not sure if it's new, it sure looks like it. Either way, people must really like quarter horses because they put a load of scratch into this place.
From Oklahoma City on, this is a drive I am used to from my days traveling back to Dayton from ASU. Oklahoma gets a bad wrap. The east of OK is gorgeous: Rolling hills, streams, green, amber waves, the whole nine yards. Tulsa is there, and Tulsa is a great city too. Lots to do, doesn't have the metropolitan congestion though, and I'm sure if I lived there there would be plenty to do around town, and then a quick ride out of the city would have me golfing shortly thereafter. Even after Tulsa, west of OK City, the countryside still has a charm that makes me look sharp for tumbleweeds. It feels old west. Not a fan of OK City though. I guess I'm less a fan of their drivers. The many times I've passed through OK city, it has never failed to yield drivers who can't seem to tell that there are other drivers on the highway. There's an ethos in their driving that reminds me of something you'd see on the track at Talladega. Once beyond OK City, driving gets better, and the scenery is back to fields high with grass or wheat, and lots of rolled hay bails.
I thought Amarillo had changed a bit. On previous drives, this stretch from OK City to Albuquerque was what I considered a dead radio area. There were no sports stations, and forget picking up NPR. But as a testimony for the great hegemony that is ESPN, it is impossible not to pick up an affiliate of the mother ship. However, traveling along the panhandle of Texas,I picked up an NPR station. I was thrilled. Yet, right before entering Amarillo, I switched back to ESPN. They went to commercial, I flipped back to NPR, and its signal in Amarillo had been taken over by a Christian rock station. Silly me for believing informative public broadcasting might take root in this area.
The radio is fun to track the stories of local talk show. It's all conservative talk. I hear El Rushbo and Hannity. One tactic I notice they pull a lot is when people call in and want to disagree, immediately they ask a question that is very leading, and the person is automatically on the defensive and not allowed to make their point until they answer the unanswerable question: "Why do you want to punish rich people for being rich? Why are you a socialist? Why do you spread so much hatred?" I think they likely have a list of these fallacious questions that the jump to right away.
The most abhorrent thing I heard was a station in Kansas, don't remember the station, I had it for five minutes and it was gone. The host and her call-in guest talked about closing women's health clinics that they presume offer abortions. The man mentioned the killing of Dr. George Tiller as a blessing and sending a strong message that Kansas will not tolerate doctors who kill babies. The host agreed saying it was a blessed event. I couldn't believe I was hearing it, and was stunned. Then a call came in, I pulled over, answered it, and by the time I was done the station was out of range.
Food is still good in the cooler, keeps costs down. As people find out I'm writing for U-Haul they're asking me to get them discounts. Some from people I've not heard from in a long, long time. Suddenly they want a favor. Sorry, can't land any discounts. And it's not a card I like pulling. I've rented my fair share of U-Hauls, even had a storage space with them, but I never tried angling for discounts.
All right, gotta hit the road. Into Phoenix tomorrow. Not sure where I'll be tonight. I have an interview at 5 PM in Las Vegas, NM. That will likely last two hours, and then it is a long, long drive into Phoenix, a little less longer to Flagstaff. The nice thing is that by tomorrow, I'll have lots two hours, as Phoenix is now on the same time as the Pacific coast. So if I make it to Flag tonight, it will be between 10 and 12.
Hopefully can land a cord for the camera tonight or tomorrow. Then I'll have pictures.
Luke
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