12/25/09

This post had the potential to be a bitter and negative one. In honor of the baby Jesus though, we're gonna keep it positive. Therefore, I'm telling you that the okies are really a brilliant bunch of people. They found that the holiday season had become far too secular and commercialized, so they decided to do something about it. First, the highway maintenance people decided to ignore the eastern half of the state. Then, the citizens decided to go barrel-assing down I-40 in a wide range of vehicles that many of us would think were inappropriate for such an icy freeway. You know, pickup trucks with empty beds, Corvette convertibles, RV's, and so forth. And here is where the brilliance of the plan emerges. What might you do when you've lost control of your vehicle and you're hurtling into the trees at 55mph? In many cases, especially in that part of the country, you would likely pray. And to whom would you be praying? There you have it. Brilliant.

Things went from horrible to weird once I got to Oklahoma City. The highways there had been plowed and apparently salted, as they were clean and wet for the most part. Every so often though, for no apparent reason, there would be a two-foot deep pile of snow in the middle of the road. Sometimes the snow would be in the right lane. Sometimes it would be in the left lane. Strangest of all, sometimes it would be in the center lane. Just a big ass pile of snow sitting there. It appeared as if the plow drivers had been snapped up by an alien tractor beam in the middle of their routes or something. This made for some interesting scenes as people weaved in and out of lanes in an effort to dodge the snow piles.

Things normalized once I got out past the truck stops on the west side of Oklahoma City and I was able to drive the rest of the way at 65mph. Clean and dry roads all the way across. Maybe the folks out on that side of the state didn't get the memo about the 'real meaning of Christmas' plot that was being carried out on the eastern side. I don't know. Whatever.

I had a blown headlight from last night's drive, so I stopped in at the T/A in Sayre, Oklahoma to get it replaced. The lady behind the counter said that it would take a little while for the electronic work order thing to come back from Joplin, so I hiked over to the SubWay and grabbed a sandwich. (Yeah, you know the one.) By the time I got back to the shop, my headlight had been replaced and I was sent on my way. Groovy.

The sun was setting and I was getting sick of driving by the time I reached Conway, Texas. This seemed like as logical a place as any for me to stop and call it a night. I asked for a discount on my sodas, since I am employed by the town's namesake. The blank stare from the cashier served as a 'no.' I had my freaking company logo hat on and everything. Oh well. Perhaps if we drop that hyphen in the middle of Con-way...

My eight hours of driving managed to cover 410 miles despite the slow start, so I guess that's good enough. With 1,100 miles to go and three days to get there, we're right on pace. Let's see what kind of brilliant plots the people of New Mexico have in store for me tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone.