Notes from the Road

It seems like every time I take a solo roadtrip, I notice some unusual things:

• As I was driving down 35E through Red Oak, I noticed an ambulance on the other side of the freeway, lights ablaze. Several minutes later, I noticed a second ambulance, from the same company, going normal speeds and without lights or siren engaged. I wonder if the second one was an apprentice to the first one, just following along at a distance to watch its crew in action.


• Just south of Hillsboro, there's a truck stop with a trailer in its parking lot that bears the name BREAD OF LIFE MOBILE MINISTRIES. The thing is, this trailer has been in the same place for at least the past five years. At what point do they have to start calling it an "immobile" ministry?


• I passed a sign for one of the many Czech food places in West, Texas (not the famous Czech Stop, at which I would stop for delicious kolaches on the way home tonight, but another one downtown), and one of the delicacies they advertised was skunk eggs. My first thought? Eww. Then, as if on cue, I smelled the pungent odor of...roadkill skunk. Not much of an advertisement, I'd think.


• I noticed a place just south of Waco named "Johnson Equipment." The smart-aleck portion of me wondered if they sold condoms.


• CHEAP GAS ALERT: It was too late for me to stop, but a station in Troy had regular unleaded for $2.48 a gallon yesterday (though I noticed on my way back to Waco last night that it had risen to $2.79).


• In north Austin, they're extending the Mopac Expressway. While stopped at a light on the new service roads, I noticed a bridge beam that had just been installed, with the caption 63,000 LBS. written on it. I'm sure that's accurate, but...dang, that's a lot of weight.

I'm pretty beat; my nephews wore me out yesterday, as 4 1/2-year-olds and 2-year-olds tend to do. I have some pressing blogular business to attend to, but I'll catch up tomorrow.