I expected nothing and hoped for everything. Fully prepared to be disappointed in any reality that might manifest, I did so with full expectation of 'routine' rather than 'surprise.' The entire trip was 'surprise' with absolutely no 'routine.' I'm still shaking my head about that reality.
I am a former truck driver. That's right 'the big rigs.' Eighteen wheels. Cummins 400 V-8. Thirteen gear Road Ranger. Never nicked a gear. Ever. I became an instructor eventually over about a years time. I had good students with successful careers and some fresh out of prison. Both genders. Women sometimes were seeking a move from prostitution to a legitimate job. Families of all kinds. The refrigerator unit was a Thunderbird. Yep. I ran independant. 48 states. On a rare occassion, Canada. My favorite destination Hunt's Point Market, New York City. Produce. All kinds. Never had a shipment go bad on me. Ever. Never lost money because the reefer unit froze over or the temperature wasn't right. Always attended to business on the road and no I never in my life was a prostitute although some would call me friend. I never spoke Spanish and I was always respected as 'the lady drive' with the 'cold truck' to load when temperatures on the docks in McAllen, Texas were over 100 degrees fahrenheit. With that background, it is easy to understand when I travel it's only natural to compare the current landscape to the past. I remember it well. I remember friends, acquaintances, economies and experiences.
It's been a few years since I was out of North Carolina on wheels. I have flown out to Iceland, Washington State, Juneau, Alaska vistied with family around the state, but, has been primarily content in Wilmington chasing down the mysteries of Human Induced Global Warming and getting to know Earth as my best friend. This trip was a real awakening. I didn't need any skills. I just needed my five senses and a sixth one that told me 'there was something dearly "W"rong.' I didn't set out to be politically motivated but that quickly changed and I'd like to synopsis it here.
North Carolina was somewhat predictable although the temperatures were unseasonably hot and dry with the tourism of the western part of the state near Winston-Salem heading to Pilot Mountain seeming sparse. As I approached Virginia there were a lot of orange barrels. That would prove true for most of the trip, primarily through the Red States. There were ten barrels lining the road where there should have been one and the monies spent on maintaining those barrels in pristine new condition must have been considerable because there was not one that I saw with a scratch on it, tipped or bent. All brand new, all the time. Odd, I thought.
The trip through Virginia was brief and primarily a construction zone. The other side of that was West Virginia. Construction? What happened to the barrels? Were there such incredible road construction from days gone by that West Virginia requried no new 'Interstate' highway construction at all. I mean I know the states contribute to the interstate system in their states but it also is maintained by federal dollars, after all the interstate highway system is a first line measure in Homeland Security. At times of 'National Emergency' the first vehicles to dominate the interstate highway system is the military. It was designed and built to move military along at incredibly rapid response times from sea to shining sea and from north to south. The commercial use by tractor trailers helps support the interstate system and is why there are special use taxes required to be paid by independants and companies alike. Fuel tax stamps. If a truck does not have one registered for it, it doesn't move over that state's roads.
So, back to West Virginia.
It was an expeditious trip through that Blue State. UNTIL. There was a rather upsetting accident involving a semi and car(s) on route 77, north bound, about mile marker 122. It stopped traffic. Not only that but the 'response' time to the accident by LARGE equipment to remove the badly damaged vehicles was slow in coming and then drastically under-manned to carry out the job in a fairly quick manner. As a matter of fact the traffic pattern took on it's own autonomy when crossing the median and taking the next exit south bound only to return back north and travel past the accident site to re-enter 77N about mile marker 133, just north of it.
I am sure there were deaths at the accident. I wonder if more occured than should have because the 'emergency' response was so slow in coming. I didn't want to know. I have enough 'stuff' to handle on a daily basis at home and this was really none of my business. As I traveled again toward Michigan a sad reality started to set in, realizing, for the first time ever that my country was in disarray. The "Homeland Security" we believed to be only flawed when it came to Katrina was far more unorganized and unprepared than I ever realized. At this point I didn't carry any conclusions regarding Red or Blue State so much as the alarming reality that 'response times' of these type of incidents should be well rehersed. Response times in an environment that dictated preparedness under Homeland Security was vastly inadequate. In West Virginia what was starting to settle in to my conscious was a new reality about the USA and it's division of power, authority that was placing some citizens at advantage and others without. What was starting to seep in to my consciousness jarred my intact memory and there was complete conflict with all kinds of priorities known to me.
I continued the trip.
West Virginia's geography was unchanged with striated rock and exposed coal veins. There was nothing about the scenery which changed so much as now the concern about safety was at the forefront of the trip. Of all things I remembered Senator Robert Byrd. I didn't need a road sign with a street with his name to feel as though there was something very "W"rong in West Virginia. The people were always great. There was a little side road of the interstate where one could fuel up and 'set a spell' to converse with the locals whom were locals a long time. Ask how the family was doing. The town. Basically, a bit of anthropology at every stop along the way. It was and is 'my way.' I like to talk to fellow Americans. I like to know what I am experiencing in life is what others are. I like stark reality. I like to understand what makes Americans think of themselves as one country and why we support the least of us through taxes and programs easily afforded by areas of the country more prosperous. More able to contribute. WHILE. Letting West Virginians be West Virginians preserving their heritage, traditions, cultures and love of the USA.
The road was still there. The fuel stop was still there. People were different but only to be replaced by differences in faces and not in presonalities easily engaged by someone with an unthreatening appearance and Lord knows an appearance that ususally looks as though I need rescuing. There weren't upswing stories. There wasn't new news. West Virginia in spite of it's prestigeous elder stateman was floundering.
After West Virginia, there was Ohio. And to no surprise there was the return of the Orange Barrels. A sign of prosperity. Big government spending. Ohio. Approaching Canton there was the first of a large storm. It blew up out of nowhere. It was typical of what I had read and actually expected this type of 'downpour' storm but there was a surprise. Several actually.
The storm didn't just downpour, it had rotation. It was a meso-tornado with huge amounts of water pouring out of it's central and wide cone with a slow velocity that would not sustain tornadic winds BUT did have enough velocity to knock over trees (When you could find one.) I was astounded to realize this was a regular, nearly daily occurrence in Canton. Immediately as the rains began there were reports of local streets flooding and being closed immediately to traffic. At one point when the rain abated and it was safe enough to pull to the side of the road I inspected a ditch. The bottom of it was completely soggy. The top area where water had run off was barely wet. The rain came in such torrents it never soaked into the ground so much as just sought the path of least resistance filling any basin with water enough to saturate it and causing flooding to an artifically raised water table for the length of time the water was rising. Dangerous stuff.
The other surprises go back to the construction and the '?life style?' of Ohioans.
The highway construction in and around Canton, Ohio was and is extensive. It was completly ugly and making the interstate system there one of the most ugliest highways in the nation best to my knowledge except for I-10 through Texas. That has got to be the ugliest road I ever saw. But even I-10 in Texas didn't have concrete barriers for medians. Ohio did. All those nice grassy medians that served as a buffer to accidents coming in opposite directions were gone. Completely. It was at that point my memory recalled an act of Congress called the "Highway Beautification Act" that was passed under the Johnson administration. It was a way for Lady Bird to contribute to the country. It wasn't a bad idea. Vietnam, like Iraq, was a completely horrible idea, but, there is something to be said for a First Lady with an affection for horticulture.
The medians were not only gone but the use of the roadway didn't change. The grassy medians were replaced with so called 'emergency' lanes where traffic wasn't supposed to go but police could. In their cars. There was absolutely no indication a police helicopter could land in that area unless it could straddle the concrete median. The curious thing is this. What good does an extra lane that is primarily gravel going to do anyone if it's blocked by an emergency like the one in West Virginia that completely blocked the entire roadway going north. It was so extensive that the side lanes no one travels or pulls onto except for emergencies was blocked. Then there was the idea that the concrete barriers were not only ugly but dangerous. What if the access to the roadway where an emergency existed was blocked and the only way to the victims was from the other lane. Well, hell. That access was now blocked by a concrete barrier that would have to be blasted away in order to get to the victims. The safety margin for my road trip was getting smaller and smaller by the mile.
Then there is the whole military thing. What if the military needed to turn around. Where were they going to do that? At an exit ramp? Which exit ramp and would a young military driver know exactly the place to turn around rather than just crossing the grassy median? I doubt it.
I quickly came to the reality in Ohio that Homeland Security was by far the most incompetant agency the federal authority in DC had, but, then it was sincerely a toss up between that department, the Oval Office and the Map Room and well quite frankly I think it's plainly obvious where this diary is going. In my opinion the interstate highway system in the Red States has been a place where federal monies have been dumped to bolster the economy for the sake of an economic impression to return votes to Republicans. In that reality is a far starker one. That being the construction projects have been dealt for economic pockets of influence with absolutely no detail to the larger picture of Homeland Security and an effective and efficient interstate highway system.
There was still a couple of issues for me that cropped up in Ohio. There were the road patches that created a very smooth ride but left a lot and I do mean a lot to be desired in the way of attractiveness. These highway patches were from every direction, didn't blend at all with the current road texture and while the ride over them was smooth it was also distracting. The patches and the road needed to be topped with a macadam that was non-glaring. With the sun overhead now or perhaps even lowering slightly to the west the glare off the highway into my eyes made me grateful I had Transition lens. The roadway and concrete barriers had become surfaces that never absorbed light so much as reflected right back at one's wind shield. My safety margin was getting ever so smaller.
The last thought I have about Ohioans is, "How could they?" Didn't they like to see across the roadway. Was the concrete barriers so much better than grassy medians and seasonal flowers? Didn't the concrete barriers cause a greater opportunity for snow drifts IF winter still came to Ohio? Basically, What the heck were Ohioans thinking to allow this mess to be constructed in their state in the first place?
Then I realized. The car I was traveling in was the smallest and most fuel efficient on the road. As a matter of fact at that very point I was feeling a little clostrophoic because there was nothing but SUVs surrounding my Sentra. At the time of this revelation my little car was costing me about 8 to 9 cents per mile in gasoline. The one way trip to northern Michigan was almost 1100 miles and it cost me less than $100 in gasoline, nothing in oil, nothing in water or radiator fluid. As a matter of fact the little car which supplied ample amounts of cool air during the entire trip only asked to be filled up every 375 miles or so. The car did need air in the tires before starting out of Wilmington, North Carolina. So, to Ohioans whom never valued nature in the first place, the concrete barriers never even blocked their views. They sat well over any obstruction of vision by the concrete barriers in their SUV seats. So to Ohioans the concrete barriers were probably stopping oncoming traffic that was piloted by terrorists or some darn thing. Somehow the concrete barriers in Canton SEEMED to make the highway safer like the concrete barriers in Baghdad or at the White House or most other government structures these days. Funny, though, all those concete barriers around the country at government buildings except in Baghdad perhaps are now replaced by something far more attractive and far more stronger usually with a center post of metal and not just stone.
In addition. When traveling from large city to large city the traffic was mostly sparse, but, in the cities the traffic no matter the time of day was dense. People were spending monies on gasoline for these behemoth vehicles (A mighty animal described in Job 40:15-24 as an example of the power of God.) which rarely saw a speed over 35 mph and stood in traffic jams burning gasoline going nowhere while they never saw the countryside outside their own cities. They couldn't afford it. Their commute had become so expensive there were no monies left over for 'road trips.'
The worst of the Ohio trip was yet to come. I needed to transition from Ohio to Michigan. And guess what? Right at the interchange where "USA Highway/Michigan State Hwy. #23" turned north there was another huge construction project. It took three looped interchange detours to finally get on the prettiest highway of the trip. Michigan highway 23 was charming, natural with wide open spaces and no 'heat centers' that drove meso-tornadic storms flooding streets and endangering lives. There were miles after miles of open spaces both sides of the road with ample amounts of farmland. It set the mood for arriving at Traverse City and the screening of the most intricately fascinating films making this road trip more than worth the time. The entire adverture has been a treasure and nothing short of it.
end of this entry. I'll pick up again with the movies tomorrow as the festival ends today. I didn't anticipate the road trip to take this much time. I want to write about the films. They were incredible and I want to share the meaning they brought to life in general for me.
... until tomorrow....
I'll get back to the usual. Soon enough. It's still summer vacation you know. Time enough to dump the SUV and buy a hybrid or better yet an electric car.
