E. M. Smith, blogging as Chiefio, narrates his adventures and misadventures in driving from California to Florida with a truckload of his possessions. The prices on the West Coast (which read like a nightmare to those of us in more economically sane climes); the fun (???) involved in driving a heavily loaded van around hairpin turns and up and down steep slopes in tight mountain passes; and his encounters with others make for interesting reading.
You'll find his two articles at these links. I suggest you read them in that order.
First Load Cross Continent – Part 2
Here's an excerpt from the second article to whet your appetite.
I crossed Texas from Amarillo down to I-20. Exiting Texas I crossed into Louisiana and then went diagonally across the State on Highway 49. There was a storm… Storm warnings were in effect at my last stop. A Highway Patrol SUV passed me, flashers on, at about 50 mph. This was about 9 PM and dark. At one point, wipers going at full extent, I was down to about 30 to 40 MPH on the freeway, depending on visibility. A big SUV (Cadillac I think) whipped past me at about 60. Wind was gusting and at times it was grim. Visibility was maybe 100 yards. Which made it all the more exciting when the SUV, about 90 yards in front of me, went all sideways, then wobbled back to sideways the other way, then eventually wobbled back to forward… and proceeded to do about 45 MPH after that.
Being a bit Awake from all this, and a bit “energized”, I decided to turn on the radio for, hopefully, a bit of calming music. What did I have come right out of the speakers as soon as it was on?
“Hail Mary Full Of Grace!… The LORD is with thee!” I think: “OMG! The Truck is saying Hail Marys! It must be BAAAAD!”
Turns out that the frequency that had been news in Texas was a Catholic Evening Mass in Louisiana. This was on a Sunday, don’tcha know… I have never had my car say “Hail Marys” at me before, but I can tell you it is WAY spooky!
There's more at the link.
Recommended reading, particularly for those planning a cross-country or long-distance move in the near future. You'll learn a lot!
Peter
2 comments:
When I was a kid, I used to stay up past bedtime tuning around with my AM radio, to see what I could find. It's *incredibly* creepy to be moving from static and stations that fade in and out, to hitting a powerful (yet still sticky) signal off the ionosphere skip that is a mass novena of dozens of voices repeating Hail Marys.
The rare time I could find (part of, as the skip faded) CBS Radio Mystery Theater was nowhere *near* as off-putting.
Ah yes, lessons 'learned'...
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