Day07 11:00 Central Abilene cooks.attend.pounding
Commentary above noted. I was of the mind that only my patron saint @Mamma_Zappa was following progress anything other than obliquely and that if she knew precisely where I was then the gods were likely smiling on this nomad.
But there are others reading this quasi-blog! Whodda thunk that?
So we’ll stop being a smug git and be more inclusive.
If you look at my profile image, you’ll see why a land filled with undulating stuff and rocks draws my attention. Conversely as the I-40 US60 an US84 take you into Texas I see similarities. However you got hills that Thule doesn’t.
After about an hour beetling along at good pace I’d gone through my Spotify playlist at least twice so dialled into the local FM radio channels. Bloody hell, isn’t Christian Rock an abomination? For me, Billy Connelly nailed it.
Reacting To Billy Connolly ranting about Christian rock and religion - YouTube
(skip to 0:55)
For a break, stopped at Fort Sumner at the “Billy the Kid” Museum and then visited his gravesite. As I parked by the museum the playlist started the Cruel Sea’s “You better get a lawyer, son; You better get a real good one.” Told you it was pycho-telekinetic. Have no dog in the fight over Henry McCarty’s status. I am bemused that Joe “Texas Reds” Grant, regarded as Billy’s first kill, is interred in the same cemetery just a few metres away.
But the big surprise of the day to the north of Abeline on or me was the banks and banks of wind turbines along US83 seemingly outnumbering the reciprocating oil pumps. Had no idea.
As mentioned previously most rural/farm buildings out in your West don’t have gutters or rainwater tanks. They also are profoundly lacking in trees. At home virtually all established homesteads are surrounded by groves of trees to protect the house from winds and take the edge off the summer heat. Consequently, homesteads are usually concealed from the road. Here it’s more of a “Little House on the Prairie” exposure.
Spied a few feedlot dairies along the road but I’ve only seen a handful of beef cattle either grazing or in lots. I did see what I could convince myself was a pronghorn, but they usually go about in herds not solitary, right?
Yesterday at Telluride I put my hand in a patch of snow beside the roadway. Today its 110F in Abilene. Good baking dry heat too. Had my first visit to Walmart. I expect Walmart inventories are tailored to the local market but I thought it was one of those stores where you could by a pram, a kitchen sink and a gun whilst picking up your weekly groceries. The Abilene store seemed to be carrying more conventional lines. I walked all the aisles twice and couldn’t find a marker pen/sharpie. I did buy out their stock of flash drives as the dashcam is generating 30GB per day, my hard drive is chocka and my comms prevents me uploading to dropbox as I planned.
Ate out at Dennys tonight. Apparently, something has gone bung kilter with their procurement system or possibly they are on a major cost cutting exercise because they didn’t have any chicken, salmon or corn. On the other hand the t-bone steak was a triumph.
Heading for Austin tomorrow and am expecting a much more consistent vista.
Will include a glossary/itinerary below.
If somebody wants to look at the forward schedule with the possibility of hooking up its:
Accommodation and activities are booked only for localities marked ###
Stop #
09 Austin, Texas
10 Morganza, Louisiana
11 Memphis, Tennessee (@feppytweed ?)
12 Lynchburg, Tennessee
13 Mountain City, Tennessee
14 Appomattox Court House, Virginia
15 Washington, DC ### (inc Dopefest?)
16 Gettysburg, PA ###
17 New York, NY ###
18 Easton, PA
19 Niagara Falls, NY
20 Detroit, Michigan
21 Chicago, IL
22 La Crosse, WI
23 Sioux City, or Sioux Falls tbc SD
24 Custer Ste Park, SD
25 Devils Tower, WY
26 Yellowstone, MT
27 Glacier, MT
28 Seattle WA (@Lancia ?)
From there I wind down the Pacific coast at a rate dependent on how much slack remains
Day00 Sydney sofa.even.notices
Day01 Los Angeles stars.frog.atom
Day02 Boulder City Hoover Dam onion.softened.training
Day03 & Day04 Tusayan Grand Canyon sounding.famously.worm
Day05 Kayenta Monument Valley shapers.northward.abacus
Day 06 Alburquerque via Telluride known.builds.since