On The Road Again

With the start of the new semester I'm back to my weekly commute between Laredo and Boerne (north of San Antonio). Random impressions of the drive south:

The most dominating feature is the heat. It was bad enough in central Texas - around 100 when I left - but it steadily increased the further south I went. By the time I got to Laredo - 200 miles and 3 hours later - it was 106.

Closely allied with the heat was the sun. In central Texas you're aware of the sun. You can feel it when you step from shade to not-shade. But in south Texas the sun literally hits you. It's like a physical impact.

Taken together, it's amazing what a difference a couple of hundred miles makes in terms of heat and sun. It's a whole different environment down here. 

Manifestations of the sun and heat are scattered all over the highway. The most obvious is a profusion of road alligators - mean, ugly, dangerous hunks of rubber that come from shredded tires, mostly from big rigs. Between the economy and the high cost of large truck tires, more truckers are turning to retreads. The retread tire industry swears up and down that their product is not at fault, and that most blowouts occur because of improper tire maintenance. I suspect that it's a combination of retreads and high temperatures, but all I know for sure is that there's plenty of rubber on the road.

There's also a large number of charred spots along the median from small brush fires. I don't know what caused them, but they're plentiful. I feel sorry for the firefighters who have to gear up in this heat to extinguish them. Our local VFD has a brush fire truck - basically a dually pickup with a sprayer mounted on the bumper that is used to help control brush fires - but it still takes boots on the ground to take care of residual hot spots and make sure the fire is out.  

Finally, there are the inevitable overheated vehicles. I used to feel guilty about zooming past folks who needed help, but everyone I saw was talking on a cell phone, so I figured help was on the way.

On the bright side, I noticed a new cafe in the little town of Moore, just a few miles south of Devine (what, you don't know where Devine is?). It caught my eye because of the name - the 401 Kafe. I don't know if the owners used their 401(k) funds to open it, or if they opened it because their 401(k) funds have disappeared, but its a catchy name. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but I hope it works out for them.

Not exactly the thrill of the open road that songwriters are enamored with...