Drive Day #2

This drive day was not quite as eventful as yesterday's - thankfully!

The big news of the day was the drive through the panhandle of Texas. Now, I must note that in our family, Texas is known as Tex-Ass. If you're from there or have an affinity for it, I do apologize, but... while in my collegiate career, Cal was about to go to the Rose Bowl and the coach of University of Texas complained so much and sweet-talked the Texas reporters so much, that Texas ended up at the Rose Bowl and we ended up at a shit bowl (which, yes, we did lose, because, hey now, we deserved to be at the big one and who wants to play well against a nobody?). Anyways, I hold a grudge against all things Tex-Ass (except for one of my best friends who's currently residing there).

But it was while in Tex-Ass that I was reminded of a story from Drive Day #1. Mom and I are driving along, me in the drivers seat, probably still in Zona or maybe in NM. Mom's talking about something or other (I lose track), when I spot animals up ahead. To which I yell, essentially at the top of my lungs, BOVINE! You can just hear my mother thinking, "What the ****?!". It was a moment - I mean, who does that? They're cows, but apparently I thought otherwise at the moment. (Yes, bovine are cows, but who actually refers to them as such?)

There have been many interesting factoids and streets that we've driven past. For instance, we've driven past the hometowns of Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Brian Urlacher, Troy Aikman and Susan Powell (Miss America, 1981). Then there have been roads like Shinarump Drive in Zona. Can you imagine living on Shinarump Drive?! Clearly, there are moments when I can act like I'm two again and seeing this road sent me straight back, thinking of all the ways I'd tease a friend who lived on this particular street - not that any of my friends would...

Oklahoma City turned out to be quite nice. We, of course, somehow got a bit lost making our way to the hotel, so ended up at some lake. It was a lovely sight to which we then figured out where we were going. I was rather surprised at how green Oklahoma is, expecting to be desolate like New Mexico. Mama kept talking about how nice it might be to live on one of the lakes of Oklahoma - as it's just so beautiful. I reminded her of a little mother nature phenomenon called tornados. She grew up with them, but regardless - they're much more prevalent in OK, then in her little area of Iowa.

We're currently mid-way through Drive Day #3 and yes, there will be stories from today.

I'll give you a hint to whet your appetite - it involves trucks!