Thanking you for your patience and harassment
Well it's been a month shy a day, but here is the long-prophesied update. I am a negligent blogger and deficient as a human being for letting it go so long. But hey, I was in Texas at the time.
And speaking of Texas, what they say is true: It would be inadvisable to mess with it. I thought the "SUV's with Gun-Racks" comments I'd been hearing before I left were stereotypical at best and prejudiced at worst, but they really were everywhere. You could invade a middle eastern country solely with the arsenal found in the state's Landrover population. It was a little surreal. Of course, driving for 30 hours straight and arriving in a place that is almost 60 degrees C different than you left makes you feel a bit like you've been in a time warp already, but you get what I mean. It's like a whole other country down there.
Friendly people, though. Every restaurant and corner gas store I went into I had very good conversations with the employees and customers. Most of them were vaguely aware that there was a place called Winnipeg "up there," although a few were less sure that I was telling the truth about our current weather. The nicest fellow I met was a used bookstore owner/local treasure hunter (no lie!), who managed to have the next copy I needed in Stephan King's "Dark Tower" series. His quirky little store remains one of the places in my mind that I'll always think of when I think of Texas. The next nicest was the Nebraska State Trooper who gave me a ticket at 2 in the morning on our way through his lovely state (which I have yet to see in daylight). He was such a pleasant fellow that it was impossible to be mad about the situation. Well, not too mad.
We drove down as a family, with my wife's parents and her siblings (a sister, two brothers and a sister-in-law). It was a good group to go down with, although both of my brothers-in-law manage to look as much Islamic as two Mennonites can. Needless to say, we were searched at the border. Not a bad experience, really, although while we sat in the (obviously) bugged waiting room I had to fight an insane desire to lean over to my brother-in-law and say, "Durka durka durka mohammad ali jihad," (see "Team America World Police." No wait don't, it was dreadful).
Great food where we stayed. Ate at an awesome Mexican restaurant which had the best REAL tacos and fahitas I've ever tasted. The salsa was something else, too - kinda like being kicked in the face by a pepper wrapped around a steel toe. Later we had seafood, which disagreed with me for some reason. I swear it was food poisoning, although my in-laws felt no ill effects. This led to some harsh words being exchanged, with opinions about my gastro-intestinal state being debated heatedly. The question was raised, "How can it be food poisoning if we all ate the same thing and you're the only one who's sick?" We were divided on our ultimate conclusion - it was a toss up between "Grey Owl is a nancy-boy" and "the inlaws have the immune systems of junkyard dogs."
Saw palm trees. Never seen them before. Absolutely ridiculous looking things. What was God thinking?
Had to drive through Dallas and Houston on the same day. Never been on the freeway before, so it was an experience, let me tell you. I used to think the Perimeter Highway around Winnipeg was a pretty big deal, but when you see 6 layers of interstate stacked above your head and three more below and there's five lanes one way and everyone's going so fast and was that our exit dammit it was where the hell can you do a u-turn on this crazy highway - I almost had a stroke. Seriously. This prairie boy couldn't take it. Oh, I did alright, but I was about ready to cry when I saw open road again.
So that was our trip. There was a good deal more that happened, but this is a blog about faith and life, so on to the goods.
I've got a serious post in the works for monday. I'm taking long with it because I can't write on the weekends - no internet at home yet; that's what we get for moving into a new development. I'm really behind in reading everyone's blogs, haven't checked them in about 3-4 weeks. So I'll be slowly getting back into the swing of things, hopefully be able to comment here and there. I've missed you folks, and appreciated the emails while I was away. It's nice to know that people care, and even nicer to know that someone likes what I write. So stay tuned, thanks for reading, and I'll be around. Cheers.
And speaking of Texas, what they say is true: It would be inadvisable to mess with it. I thought the "SUV's with Gun-Racks" comments I'd been hearing before I left were stereotypical at best and prejudiced at worst, but they really were everywhere. You could invade a middle eastern country solely with the arsenal found in the state's Landrover population. It was a little surreal. Of course, driving for 30 hours straight and arriving in a place that is almost 60 degrees C different than you left makes you feel a bit like you've been in a time warp already, but you get what I mean. It's like a whole other country down there.
Friendly people, though. Every restaurant and corner gas store I went into I had very good conversations with the employees and customers. Most of them were vaguely aware that there was a place called Winnipeg "up there," although a few were less sure that I was telling the truth about our current weather. The nicest fellow I met was a used bookstore owner/local treasure hunter (no lie!), who managed to have the next copy I needed in Stephan King's "Dark Tower" series. His quirky little store remains one of the places in my mind that I'll always think of when I think of Texas. The next nicest was the Nebraska State Trooper who gave me a ticket at 2 in the morning on our way through his lovely state (which I have yet to see in daylight). He was such a pleasant fellow that it was impossible to be mad about the situation. Well, not too mad.
We drove down as a family, with my wife's parents and her siblings (a sister, two brothers and a sister-in-law). It was a good group to go down with, although both of my brothers-in-law manage to look as much Islamic as two Mennonites can. Needless to say, we were searched at the border. Not a bad experience, really, although while we sat in the (obviously) bugged waiting room I had to fight an insane desire to lean over to my brother-in-law and say, "Durka durka durka mohammad ali jihad," (see "Team America World Police." No wait don't, it was dreadful).
Great food where we stayed. Ate at an awesome Mexican restaurant which had the best REAL tacos and fahitas I've ever tasted. The salsa was something else, too - kinda like being kicked in the face by a pepper wrapped around a steel toe. Later we had seafood, which disagreed with me for some reason. I swear it was food poisoning, although my in-laws felt no ill effects. This led to some harsh words being exchanged, with opinions about my gastro-intestinal state being debated heatedly. The question was raised, "How can it be food poisoning if we all ate the same thing and you're the only one who's sick?" We were divided on our ultimate conclusion - it was a toss up between "Grey Owl is a nancy-boy" and "the inlaws have the immune systems of junkyard dogs."
Saw palm trees. Never seen them before. Absolutely ridiculous looking things. What was God thinking?
Had to drive through Dallas and Houston on the same day. Never been on the freeway before, so it was an experience, let me tell you. I used to think the Perimeter Highway around Winnipeg was a pretty big deal, but when you see 6 layers of interstate stacked above your head and three more below and there's five lanes one way and everyone's going so fast and was that our exit dammit it was where the hell can you do a u-turn on this crazy highway - I almost had a stroke. Seriously. This prairie boy couldn't take it. Oh, I did alright, but I was about ready to cry when I saw open road again.
So that was our trip. There was a good deal more that happened, but this is a blog about faith and life, so on to the goods.
I've got a serious post in the works for monday. I'm taking long with it because I can't write on the weekends - no internet at home yet; that's what we get for moving into a new development. I'm really behind in reading everyone's blogs, haven't checked them in about 3-4 weeks. So I'll be slowly getting back into the swing of things, hopefully be able to comment here and there. I've missed you folks, and appreciated the emails while I was away. It's nice to know that people care, and even nicer to know that someone likes what I write. So stay tuned, thanks for reading, and I'll be around. Cheers.
posted by Grey Owl at 11:40 a.m.
4 Comments:
"Grey Owl is a nancy-boy" - lol - thanks for sharing the trip, man. And it's good to have you back.
My wife pointed out the comment about palm trees and declared loudly, "See, I am not the only one!"
(She came down to visit me in Biloxi when I was stationed down there and pointed the palm trees out to me. Specifically she said, "Look, there are palm trees here."
Now I understand (I can't empathize) but I can understand how a poor soul that was born and raised in Rochester, NY might be impressed by the sight of a palm tree, having never seen such a thing before. What I don't understand is why she would point them out to the guy who lived there and saw them daily, as if he had never noticed they were there.
Scott - glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for caring enough to be impatient at my absence. It's good to be back!
Wanderer - good to, uh, "see" you again! And tell your wife that we'll have to get together and point and laugh at the pictures in National Geographic sometime.
I laughed long and hard at this post. Ramon and I lived in Denton, TX (an hour North of [hell] Dallas) for 1.5 years and I can testify that Texas is as weird as you observed. Ditto on the strange but very friendly people and the real-tasting Mexican food. My dear Owl, could you not avoid the Dallas highway tangle somehow? We got lost there once and drove around lost in the same 2 square miles for 3 hours once. No shame to you for trembling like a little girl. Heavens.
Cerise
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