Today I had many hours and miles on the road from New Mexico through the panhandle of Texas to the middle of Oklahoma. Do you know how huge Texas is, and I am only going through the panhandle! Everything is big in Texas. My billboard reading tells me I could get a free 72 ounce steak … I am guessing it is free at the restaurant only if you eat the whole thing in one sitting … I’ll pass! The beef lots are huge too and I could tell one was coming up before I got even near it because of the smell. No housing developments near these properties. I wondered what they did with the old wind turbine blades and sure enough there was property where they stored them. What can one do with an old wind turbine blade?

Thanks to road construction built during President Eisenhower’s administration in 1956, the Interstate Highway System parallels much of the railroad system in western USA and, as I learned yesterday, the billboard industry was booming. I have seen many a train and many a very, very long train. Our country depends on moving freight by trains and trucks. Hundreds of trucks are on the road using the highway system just as I am doing. 

Motorists, like myself, and truck drivers must look quizzically when driving under some of the highway bridges. Are the engineers providing accurate info and are community leaders listening and getting the necessary repair work done? We’re seeing buildings, bridges and roads in disrepair, so let’s not wait for any of them to collapse before we act. We need to care about all construction and realize there are factors affecting their structural integrity as years go by. No highways, bridges, tunnels, support beams last forever.

While driving hundreds of miles per day I am beginning to see the variety of road surfaces. I don’t mind paying a toll on certain roads. Those areas where I paid a toll had amazingly smooth surfaces! One road actually had a speed limit sign: maximum 80 and minimum 60! Wow! Everyone drove fast on that road and it was nice to know I had no worry of an upcoming pothole. 

I hope by the time I post this our federal government approved an infrastructure bill. There is work to be done in our country and people looking for work with good pay. Our interstate highway system is important for us all … do you know how many Amazon, FedEx, UPS and freight-carrying trucks for various businesses are on the road? Thousands… let’s keep them rolling … we do want to receive our stuff on time, right? Aren’t we still paying a gas tax for road repair? Hmmm….

My campsite tonight is in Choctaw, Oklahoma just down the road from Tinker Air Force base. We are still in a pandemic and people may wonder why I am wearing a mask, and even though I am vaccinated I have no idea if others have been. It is easy for me to wear a mask, so I do.

Tonight’s campsite I have a picnic table by the tent and one under a huge pavilion that becomes instrumental in the morning rain as I take my tent down.