Out and About -- In the World at Large

[Happy-N-Skirts]

I have never had anything like that happen. If it does you can say you are revering from an operation. That would be a good one. Otherwise, just think how comfortable you are and enjoying life.

[dillon]

We departed Phoenix this morning and had lunch in Sedona, and just settled into a hotel in Santa Fe. I’ve been in a powder blue-grey skort by Woolrich. Tomorrow I’ll be in more desert colors with a tan nylon skirt by Royal Robbins. We will have breakfast in Santa Fe, lunch in Taos, then another late-night check-in in Amarillo. Thursday will be a driving marathon as we will try to go all the way to Memphis, which is a solid 12 hours with minimal stops, 725 miles. Friday night we hope to be in Athens, GA, for a quick visit with my first cousin. Then Saturday it’s the last seven or so hours back to Wilmington.

[Happy-N-Skirts]

TO: Dillon

Wow, that is a heap of driving. You sure are dressed comfortably for the trip. Amarillo to Memphis in one day. You will be missing so much. "See the USA from the Interstate"? (See the world through a porthole?). We enjoyed Athens. I have roots there. We found where my great great etc. is buried which was their plantation. He served in the Revolutionary war and was present at Yorktown. He wrote about it and was not fond of G. Washington. Have a good and safe trip.

[dillon]

Just back in our eighth floor hotel room on BB King Ave after a stroll on Beale St. in Memphis TN. Had a nice time in an outdoor bar listening to a blues cover band, then back to the hotel bar for a nightcap. Couldn’t work out a meet-up with my cousin, so we will linger a bit here in the morning then stay around Birmingham AL tomorrow night. Was in a black nylon Royal Robbins skirt...sister to the one I wore in Taos...but black...duh. A fine time was had.

As for seeing the USA from the interstate, well it was the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. I didn’t miss all that much. And from Santa Fe to Amarillo we were on rural two-lane highways, and it wa beautiful. Especially Carson National Forest and Cimarron Canyon State Park, then the grasslands of northeast New Mexico. But, as my fellow Carolinian, the late Charles Kuralt, once said, “The Interstate Highway system makes it possible to travel coast to coast without seeing anything.”

[r.m.anderson]

Just back in our eighth floor hotel room on BB King Ave after a stroll on Beale St. in Memphis TN. Had a nice time in an outdoor bar listening to a blues cover band, then back to the hotel bar for a nightcap. Couldn’t work out a meet-up with my cousin, so we will linger a bit here in the morning then stay around Birmingham AL tomorrow night. Was in a black nylon Royal Robbins skirt...sister to the one I wore in Taos...but black...duh. A fine time was had.

As for seeing the USA from the interstate, well it was the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. I didn’t miss all that much. And from Santa Fe to Amarillo we were on rural two-lane highways, and it wa beautiful. Especially Carson National Forest and Cimarron Canyon State Park, then the grasslands of northeast New Mexico. But, as my fellow Carolinian, the late Charles Kuralt, once said, “The Interstate Highway system makes it possible to travel coast to coast without seeing anything.”

Take the interstate highways crossing Kansas or Nebraska - and it is an instant replay - same lone tree on the horizon - same farm house - same fence line -
every ten or so minutes same ole same ole - 400 miles of instant boredom !

[Bikerkilt]

My dad said once when you go into Kansas their is a corn field and when you leave Kansas it's the same corn field. I have ridden my motorcycle from Missouri to California and back twice now and try an stay on two lane roads. One trip I came back on route 160 from Utah to Colorado and the landscape, high planes to grass lands, is quite a sight to behold.

[dillon]

I live in a pretty flat part of the world...but apparently not as flat as Kansas.

https://www.usu.edu/geo/geomorph/kansas.html

[Ray]

Great link! Very amusing. I’m off to learn about mountain climbing in Kansas from Wikipedia.

[crfriend]

Thanks to the link to that paper, Dillon. It was good to actually read the thing. ("The importance of this research dictated that we not be daunted by the “No Food or Drink” sign posted in the microscopy room." made me laugh out loud.)

I was aware of it, of course, having heard news of it on PBS some many years ago, and it was one of these things that just sticks to one (or, perhaps, lies flat on one). But there it is.

[denimini]

I think that research deserves an Ig Nobel award.

[crfriend]

I think that research deserves an Ig Nobel award.

Well it was published in the Annals of Improbable Research...

[beachlion]

I live in a pretty flat part of the world...but apparently not as flat as Kansas.

https://www.usu.edu/geo/geomorph/kansas.html

I love serious research. With the slightest doubt about a certain statement, the scientific world should step in. I'm very skeptical myself and the people around me are quite annoyed by that trait.
The above mentioned research however would be different if the researchers had looked into the world of pancakes on an intenational level. With the French crêpes or the traditional Dutch pancakes, the outcome would be reversed. And as a Dutchman, I know what a flat country looks like.

[Fred in Skirts]

And as a Dutchman, I know what a flat country looks like.

Under water for the most part!!

[beachlion]

And as a Dutchman, I know what a flat country looks like.

Under water for the most part!!

That would have been the case if we let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers run the business of building protection against the water (sea and rivers).
Thanks to about 3000 years of experience in water management, you still can walk in about the third of the country that is below sea level with dry feet. Unless you jump in one of the countless canals or go out in the rain. The lowest point is about 22 feet below sea level and counting with the sinking soil and the rising sea.

[Fred in Skirts]

I have a great admiration for the Dutch engineers. They do a marvelous job of keeping the sea from over running the country.

And you are right about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I don't believe they could patch a tire without the tire exploding. Of course it would take 5 years for them to even get to the tire because of all of the meetings and planning they have to do to do anything at all.