Read [url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&e=3&u=/ap/20040621/ap_on_bi_co_ne/wi_fi_rest_stops]this[/url] late at night. The [url=http://www.dot.state.tx.us/txdotnews/026-2004.htm]press release[/url].
Several stops are required. One must always stop and gawk at certain roadside art. Like Stonehenge II, the Cadillac Ranch, the boot farm, the frogs on Carl’s Corner, and so forth. Then, there’s the requisite Dairy Queen stops, the occasional foray (no purchase necessary) into the tinier Wal-marts along the way, personally, I usually hit the hardware, feed & seed stores, plus any fishing stores, and then local taco stands. Those are good, too. Plus discreet inquiries about where to find a decent chicken friend steak and good, local BBQ.
But the other stop that should really be required, even if one is just passing through Texas? Check out the basic roadside rest areas, and, if you pass a “highway information center,” those can be a wealth of information. There’s one on the interstate just around Amarillo, highly recommended.
There’s carousel after carousel of brochures. Local attractions. Local motels with various themes. The help can usually direct a wayward tourist to some local attraction that’s really, well, almost, okay, sometimes, pretty interesting.
How else are you going to find Hotel Earle (motto: A Day or a Lifetime)?
Feast Day of St. Thomas More
Notable because he was both a lawyer and a saint?
[i]Unrelated:[/i]
But this is, ahem, [url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005242]rich[/url]?
Which begat a [url=http://united-states.asinah.net/american-encyclopedia/wikipedia/t/te/texas.html]fact-fnding[/url] [url=http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/misc/gnp.htm]mission[/url].
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I was approaching the downtown post office, and I nodded to a lady walking the other direction. In my hand was a tiny cup of espresso and my shirt. My hair was back in a bun. We passed, then, at the same point, we both turned around. Me? For the obvious reason, maybe. Her?
“Kramer? I thought that was you.”
We chatted for a spell, she made another offer to let me use her pool atop the high rise, and the conversation meandered around to another topic, “So all those people were saying that you were ‘psychic’.”
Which brings me to another point. Which I mulled over BBQ after a swim in the creek. “Psychic.” Nope, but then, what it is? An innate understanding of the metrics of the heavens, being a little unglued in present reality, and being able to leap forwards and backwards – with respect to those metrics.
More than once, actually, quite often, I’ll mention a date to some one, suggest it was time when “something” happened, and I’ll get that look of incredulity, “Wow! How did you know?”
It’s actually based on the scientific location of the planets – or more simply – heavenly bodies, like the Sun, the Moon, but all that chatter about planets and degrees, or so I’ve found, isn’t very interesting. But the results of that planetary movement, that is interesting. Therein is the distinction, too. Nor, for that matter, ever am I right, like 100% of the time. Sometimes, I’m guessing one way on an influence, and it shows up opposite.
But often as not, I’ll hit a date, or time frame is more likely, and I can discern a trend. Or suggest a trend. Looks like voodoo, and more than one of my buddies will just roll his – or her – eyes when I start in with the ‘what’s your birthday’ commentary.
You want a real psychic? I can suggest a couple of local girls, but no, I’m not one of them.