Long Drive - again

Nov 19th:

Rainy day - just pouring rain for the first 100 miles.  Huge puddles - 3 to 4 to 5 car-length puddles.  You hit them at 65mph and wonder if you will hydroplane - luckily, it is hard to hydroplane on studs.  And as you ride the puddle, there is a huge splash of water, splashing whoever is on your side.  The splashes are particularly crazy when they come at you from semi-trucks.  Thankfully there is no mud,just water, and the windshield wipers take care of it.

The rain gives way to a drizzle and mist rising from the cliffs and rocks and hills along I-84.  The tree and the moss are a particular shade of green, reminiscent of photos of Ireland or Scotland.  I don't think it is wise to pull over to take photos in this weather.

I listen to NPR.

Windmills on a drizzly day

* The aftermath of the typhoon in the Phillipines.  An American reporter is with the UN emergency relief truck distributing tarps.  It was night because the truck was delayed due to bureaucracy, but they thankful to finally be there.  There is a woman standing by the side of the road.  Just standing there in the moonlight... clutching her brand new tarp to her chest... She lost her 3 children, her husband, her house, and now she has a brand new tarp, that she clutches to her chest as she stands there moonlight.  It makes me cry.  I continue driving, and listening.

That silo that I always

photograph

*  It was the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  Every program - Takeaway, Here & Now, BBC News Hour, Q with Jian Ghomeshi - did a little story on the topic.  I had heard about this speech even before I came to the US and knew it was an important piece of US history, but I hadn't read the whole thing until about 10 year ago.  I was volunteering at the Learning Labs, a literacy center and came across the speech in one of the students' workbooks.  I was very moved by it and very impressed by how such an impactful message was delivered in such a few words.  Yes, it made me cry!

Grass

I like the Gettysburg Address so much that I think I could do a PhD on the topic.

The radio programs said the death toll at the site was estimates at 10K with another 22K wounded and 20K missing.  And there was a terrible stench at the site that started in the summer and lasted through the winter...  There were dead horses everywhere, rotting.  The dead people were in temporary shallow graves, being moved to more robust graves over time. 



Side note...  

Public toilet at gas 

station #210 - quite nice

One of the interesting people I came across during my volunteering at the Learning labs was a young girl who had migrated from Ukraine in her mid-teens, who was already fluent in 4 other languages (Ukrainian, Russian, 
German, French), was studying for a nursing degree at BSU in her 5th language - English.  Another was a woman born and raised in Idaho, finished high school, but, was functionally illiterate - couldn't read and comprehend well enough to fill out a job application.  That is the spectrum that I ran in to.  What they all had in common was a desire to learn, which is commendable.

Blue skies beyond the dark cloud overhead

*  There was a short news item about Creigh Deeds and his 24 year old son.  It seems the son stabbed the father several times and then shot himself.  Mental illness and the scarcity of treatment is a sad thing.  Needless to say, I cried.

Clouds

*  A short story on a new television documentary series called Time of Death.  IT follow families during the last few weeks of a loved one's death.  It sounded very educational and empathy-building and produced with compassion, but even just hearing it on the radio made me cry.  So, as well done as it might be, I doubt that I will watch it on TV.



This is not normal - I don't usually listen to Public Radio and cry - in fact, I never do.  I am not sure why all those stories hit me the way they did today.



More Public Radio stories...

*  Pat Conroy has written another book - a memoir, about his relationhip with his father who wa a tyrant.  The interview got me interested in the book - I think I will read it.  The Death of Santini.

*  Mariel Hemingway has created a documentary movie that addresses her family's history of suicides (something like 7 in 3 generations), along with her work to make herself mentally healthier and stronger so as to be less prone to suicide, and to show her children how to break away from the suicidal legacy - to distance themselves from that option.  Didn't cry  :)

Tiny bit of snow at the pass

*  Finally, something frivolous...  The Oxford dictionary announced their word of the year = Selfie.  This is the arms-length self portrait people, especially teenagers, create; often with a mobile phone, and often post to social media.

I do like listening to Public Radio for the variety of the stories that I hear.

The rain stopped after about mile 150 and then by mile 200 there was actually some blue sky and sunshine.  But then by about mile 300 it was gloomy again, with some drizzle until the end of the journey ~430 miles.

The only scary part took place about 20 miles from home...  A "little old lady" crawling on the freeway at 50 mph decided she didn't like the semi truck coming up behind her and decided to move over to the fast lane that was moving at 70 mph, making the fast lane slam on their brakes.  The semi truck went by her, and the fast lane all moved to the slow lane and went by her.  And I could see her in the rear view mirror, several miles away, still plodding along in the fast lane, holding up traffic!!!

Sprinkler and cows (and blue sky)

I walked in to the house and found it to be freezing cold (48F)!  The batteries of my thermostat had died!  Luckily, I found new batteries in my odds and ends drawer, and the thermostat was working again and the furnace kicked in.

Home Sweet Home!