II24

 INTERSTATE INITIATIVE 2024

quotes from the article

"Prove me wrong, but the cost of keeping one soldier with all the attendant weapons, housing and logistical support could provide ten jobs domestically. Take all those paper tigers at the Pentagon coasting to their 20-year retirement and put them to work pushing wheelbarrows. "

" There was a tunnel under the interstate for Beaver Brooks ebb and flow for the turtles, polliwogs, muskrats and other water loving creatures, but mostly Interstate 91 blocked migrations of rabbits foxes deer and all the rest of nature. "

"During really cold winters it froze solid in the tunnel, and we were able to skate under the interstate to the other side. Kind of scary and not for the claustrophobic."

  " ...get it done properly. Prioritizing, designing with many more wildlife tunnels and overpasses. Forests saved from development and rural hubs built and dilapidated areas restored, renovated, and towns renewed. Who is going to work on the wind farms in the Midwest where most of them will be located? Jobs will be moving around as we begin to take back the Commons and seriously, do you want a soldier in some distant continent pretending to defend our country or ten people working as Road Rangers and bridge builders and those who do all the important paperwork involved getting our shiny new infrastructure built."

                          II 24

      In 1969 I picked up a second paper route and have been working hard ever since. 1970 to 2020. This year I celebrated a life of working too hard for too little by taking two well deserved out of state vacations.

       I was a notorious "staycationer" for thirty years in Florida, although my spirit belonged to the mountains. 

 

                     

        The interstate highway system had seemed like a good idea to me. As an American who believes the Constitution is the law of the land, the interstate highway system fulfilled the constitutional protocol of providing for the common defense. 

        Emergency or military equipment could be moved to any part of the country without worrying about the height of bridges or washed-out muddy roads. This was back when the UNITED States led by example. 

     When I was seven, sitting in my sandbox, I could see Interstate 91 being built. A constant parade of loaders, graders, and dump trucks within view of the highway I was building in my big red sandbox. 

        A couple years later when I was ten, me and the boys took our bikes up on that interstate highway. It was like the Bonneville Salt flats. A huge expanse of flat road the likes of which we had never seen before, and we delighted in seeing who could make the fattest, longest or biggest skid. We'd practice wheelies without worrying about oncoming traffic. Junior hooligans making circle 8's till we were dizzy, and we played chicken, but we weren't stupid enough to wreck our bikes. We'uns dint need no theme parks back in the olde days.

     The work was done on this part of I 91 and it was quite a few weeks before someone finally came along to tell us to skedaddle, "this isn't a playground." 

Old Red sold his pasture land to a developer who built 7 ranch homes at a cost of less than $11,000 each. My mom before I came along and before the porch was built.

Now that the rich have saved trillions of dollars in hidden off shore accounts for us, we can use this stolen labor (profit) to create the Infrastructure Initiative of 2024.   (II24) Envision something great for everyone to use in the next 50 years in an expanded and expansive safety net. Conceptualize a beautiful and enduring hardscape and millions of acres of preserved native habitat.   

One way to start would be to sell half of our military bases, the ones furthest away from American ports, keep it closer to home, right? The Constitutional mandate is for “a common defence”, not to be an international death star.

Prove me wrong, but the cost of keeping one soldier with all the attendant weapons, housing and logistical support could provide ten jobs domestically. Take all those paper tigers at the Pentagon coasting to their 20-year retirement, and put them to work pushing wheelbarrows.  

    The interstate highway system seemed like a good idea but a closer examination many years later, exhibits its flaws. 

      The reason we were compelled to test the highway before the public did was because our baseball/football field was at the edge of it. 

I'd guess it was an early spring day when we went to play our first baseball game. We parked our bikes and walked over to the new   fence, about 75 feet from the new interstate highway and 250 feet from our traditional home plate. They put up the fence during the off season and we were like, okay, a home run fence. It was pretty far away and there might be a handful of home runs every game. And we played all day. Other days we'd lift our bikes over the fence and go play on the as yet unopened highway.

Today I realize these fences not only kept wildlife from running across the highway but kept them from migrating as they had done for ten thousand years. All those fences were responsible for trillions of animal deaths as they were no longer able to follow their simple migrations.

        There was a tunnel under the interstate for Beaver Brooks ebb and flow for the turtles, polliwogs, muskrats and other water loving creatures, but mostly Interstate 91 blocked migrations of rabbits foxes deer and all the rest of nature. 

      During really cold winters it froze solid in the tunnel, and we were able to skate under the interstate to the other side. Kind of scary and not for the claustrophobic.

      Not much there but overgrown brush and the fun was going into the tunnel as fast as possible, then crouching down to clear the 42 inch clearance of the tunnel and coasting as far as possible.

12 years before I was in my sandbox playing with trucks, my mothers neighborhood was chaotically disrupted. Land had to be purchased for the interstate highway that was going to be built and eminent domain was used in Wethersfield. 

River Road was no longer going to be a way to get to the river.

  

     The gray house in the pictures below is where my mom lived during the forties. River Road was a stones throw from the Wethersfield Cove which was a port of note since the latter half of the 1600's. 

     The plans for the interstate involved buying around ten properties on or near River Road. Buying them to be demolished for the new highway. They got a good price, my mom said, but people were not happy about it and she said the neighborhood was never the same after that. 

     I was there recently and there is a house within 50 feet of the Interstate, and I imagined this 20 foot wall of a highway was quite disturbing in the midst of a once quaint area with a nice green space (see photos).         

       Who wanted to live with the constant drone of highway noise? Some refused to sell and chose to live with the highway noise for the rest of their life.

     What then of future highway building? Reading deeper recently I find that parts of the interstate highway system were built to purposefully break up as many Black Neighborhoods as possible. 

    I drove 13,000+ miles and went through 29 states in 2021. II24 is the Infrastructure Initiative for 2024. Some ideas for us to explore so we can make something truly grand to last at least 50 years. Something so all of us have access. 

         Certainly, without saying, you stop increasing the military budget. 800 billion is absurd with all the needs domestically. A nationwide ... free ... bus and train service is how to best spend infrastructure money. Not foreign bases and embassies where international crooks mingle.

Snow was a big surprise on this trip. This was near Crater Lake in mid-May. Glacier National Park struggled to get open by June 1st and I'm glad we scratched it off the list.

 

       I want to tell you about the state of our highways in 2021 and also that there is a whole lot more to infrastructure than roads. 

      A real infrastructure for everybody. Not just white-collar parasites going to work. that would include a plan for evacuating the elderly before a hurricane as one example. That's also infrastructure.

          After a pretty strong hurricane had passed through, and the roads were somewhat cleared of trees, I went to see my 90+ year old customer first.  She was traumatized and frightened and "never wanted to go through that again." 

         So yeah, 40 days, 13,000 miles and 29 states later, I have some opinions on the state of Americas roads and the constitutional obligation to the general welfare.

           Only 5,000 of those miles were on the interstate. My GPS guide, Bubbles from Google, took me on back roads everywhere. Particularly when I got off RT I 81 and asked for the scenic route to Deposit New York where there was an alleged Motel 6.

             From Old Forge Pennsylvania, where I slept on the side of the road, to Deposit New York was the most scenic 9 hour drive of the year. Six dead deer unfortunately, (how many were picked up fresh for the deer processing facilities?), but one interesting little town after another.

                  Route 11 then 220 then 17 to Deposit.

            Not sure if I remember that right. I needed to get gas because I started the day at less than half a tank after the highway driving. I went through two tiny towns without a gas station and finally in Millersburg there was finally a bodacious stop.

       Something new I noticed are self regulating, one way roads. Instead of two people on walkie talkies standing there with their stop and slow signs, there were timed lights. Timed out to 5 to 10 minutes, it was a bit of a wait but   work crews were tending to rock fall areas among other improvements. 

    One thing for sure, there is already a lot of work proceeding on state and federal highways.

        It does seem like there is already too much construction and repair going on. Those police officers with their lights going are costing the public 80 dollars an hour per car.

          Well, the infrastructure bill passed, but I must say that it seems like there is already too much construction and repair going. We've gotten too far behind. There is certainly a need for all this repair. I crossed many bridges that appeared to have been built 80 or more years ago. Thanks Bubbles for showing me the backbone of America. The bridges that go to where people live.

                a) 55 MPH AHEAD

       Too many construction zones whose cement mini walls were disconcerting to me. I would be part of the traffic funneled into one or two extremely thin lanes and those cement abutments were two feet from the car on the right side and even less on the left. The scariest moments of both trips were driving through these areas IN THE RAIN. 

        Good Lorby the Lobster, I could hardly see. People high beaming and beeping at me as I was going 30 MPH through these dangerous construction zones in the rain. And don't say I could have just pulled over because that is a whole 'nother problem. 

                                                             VERMONT

           CONNECTICUT

During the trip to New England, I had a wonderful ride on Vermont Route 7a. Just beautiful, as early patches of red and orange leaves began to appear in late September. I left Pittsfield Massachusetts a little after noon, (420 in the 413), enjoying the slowly setting sun to my left and taking the gently undulating scenic route, 7/7a, well up into Vermont to check on the progress of the fall foliage colors. 

          When it got dark and there was no more scenery to enjoy, I asked Bubbles, my GPS voice, which was the quickest route to Interstate 89. I didn't know at this point about the dearth of facilities.             

  I assumed I'd find a rest area on the interstates, though I'd been fooled before on the previous trip in May driving in New Mexico. I went 100 miles in a state of extreme tiredness waiting for a place to pull over and had a nightmarish near collision with a tractor trailer.

           So I get on I 89 after hours of driving in Vermont with no facilities and la la la. Nothing for many more miles, and I thought, well surely 91 will have a large rest area so I could at least sit in my seat to get three or four hours of sleep. So, another couple of hours driving to I 91 though already fatigued.

Parking area ahead, I see on a sign, but I figure I'll just keep going till I find a rest area with a bathroom. La la la nothing ... another parking area with no rest room but full of trucks. Finally, I made it, the Vermont Welcome Center was a relief to see after looking for a bathroom for over 5 hours. Lots of parking ... but ... the ... place was closed. Open 7 to 7. 

Surely they would make the rest rooms available? The doors were locked. What? This is all you got Vermont? As it turned out there are virtually no rest areas till the one in Middletown Connecticut. This lack of rest areas is a seriously important issue. 

I drove over 5000 miles on state highways that were nicely paved getting me good gas mileage and traffic was light throughout.

 After driving on hundreds of state roads, the primary II24 idea would be to create rural hubs away from these interstates. 

      I drove into the far corner of the Vermont Welcome Center and went to Whee behind some evergreens in the dog walking area. Every 15 minutes or so someone would park and check the door of the building in order to use the facilities, only to walk away disappointed.

          A cop pulled in and so I was trying to figure where I would go if he/she kicked me out while I was so dang tired in a 100 car parking lot with nothing to do.  I tried to rest in my seat, but I really wanted to go in the back where I had a cushioned space I made for a bed.              

       100 parking spots and I was the only one parked there. Luckily the officer left, so I finally laid out in the back. Florida plates in Vermont, let me rest FFS. In 2021, I slept 24 of the 40 days in the car so finding places to sleep was challenging. I honestly didn't utilize campsites, but I will in May. A chance for me to be completely spontaneous after so many years of nose to the grindstone.

           On the average I can get a comfortable 3 hour nap in the seat of my car, but in the back of the car I could get 6 hours of good solid sleep with the six layers of various cushions and blankets and one of those, rated -20, sleeping bags for the top.

b) PAVEMENT ENDS

       Sticks and stones will break my bones but not if I use a cane. I was a bit early to see peak fall foliage, but I observed the early stages of it which was interesting in its own way. This is also the time of year when mushrooms abound and moss is thick and green and every path I went on had tree roots sticking up, and I had to be careful. People my age breaking their hips every which way. 

        There are so many beautiful places that are free to enter such as the Scantic River State Park and Rugged Mountain in central Connecticut. Out by Northfield Massachusetts were some nice hiking areas. A lot of hunting areas too, I saw a dog in an orange vest at one place.

 

These might be Four Mule Creek, not sure.

Found a nice trail at Mt Greylock

Scantic River State Park. Open 24 hours.

NEW ENGLAND IN LATE SEPTEMBER WAS SUBLIME

Main Street Sebastian. What other town has a 300 acre park on Main St?

          Back to the drawing board. Even a 3.5 Trillion dollar plan is nowhere near a big enough plan, I'm sure. Many people shaking their head at the, what 1.2 trillion, that was budgeted? 

      Remember we are building something to last 50+ years, so 10 Trillion dollars is actually 200 Billion per year. Money well spent, unlike the military which lost over 750 billion dollars last year in their futile effort to win a war.

Many engineers will be leaving their petrochemical jobs in the near future for jobs with II24 as the fossil fuel industry prepares to collapse.  Brain drain to the smart energy.

         All these on and off ramps on the interstates are not easy to design and every aspect of a plan will need people that understand we have to consider Mother Nature this time. So many factors go into the planning of the roads that people generally take for granted. 

The planning alone will cost a trillion dollars to get it done properly. Prioritizing, designing with many more wildlife tunnels and overpasses. Forests saved from development and rural hubs built and dilapidated areas restored, renovated, and towns renewed. Who is going to work on the wind farms in the Midwest where most of them will be located? 

Jobs will be moving around as we begin to take back the Commons and seriously do you want a soldier in some distant continent pretending to defend our country or ten people working as Road Rangers or bridge builders or those who do all the paperwork involved getting our shiny new infrastructure built.

        I've been on some entrance maps that are more fun than an amusement park. Design is first. It all needs to be worked on and is what this decade should be about. 

                Sadly, there will be cases of eminent domain as I described before in my moms neighborhood and I propose a triple indemnity. Pay those relocated, three times the value of their property and long time renters could also be compensated in this manner. Concurrently, large areas of forest need to be preserved and why rural hubs and many more rest areas will be important. MANY more restrooms. More sinks less tanks. We need to start a de-corporatization of America and Boomer greed. War without end is stocks going to the Moon.

         One feature could be trail cams in these forested areas that travelers at the rural hub could watch at the rest area.  People can observe the local wildlife as they take a break from traveling with these trail cams. Like I said, there are not near enough rest areas on our highways. 

I drove on over a hundred lightly trafficked state roads in 2021, and a federal program needs to make sure these stay in good shape. My gas     mileage was very good on these state highways. 35 mpg at 62 MPH.

My very favorite innovation is what I am calling rural hubs. We find 500 acres of preserved forest, wetlands and parking areas. They would be generally ten miles from the interstates with an abundance of free space for local people to bring their food trucks.  or locally sourced products.  

See where I'm going here? Restoring the Commons. Also, large darker areas are needed for people living out of their cars who are needing some sleep.  There would be much more security on site, enough of these bare bones cuts that has turned service into a joke in America. 

  Most interstate rest areas are corporate traps with their starbucks, 4 dollar cold coffee crappy sugar calories and overly lit parking areas.

  c)GPS SIGNAL LOST

I was in Pennsylvania losing my GPS signal and getting low on gas. I had no idea Pennsylvania was so deeply forested and mountainous. 

What happened is my plug in charger went dead, and I didn't know it. I'll get the name and location later but, like a mirage, a gas station appeared. I had been worried of running out of gas and suddenly there was no cell phone coverage either and believe you me, I was greatly relieved to see a gas station. My phone was out of charge also. Luckily there is a second charging unit in the back.

     I could have taken 81 to 84 and got to New England much quicker but my phone had a, "no interstate" protocol. I went with the flow of the no interstate directive and consequently saw so much more of America. I accidently programmed it to do that.

DEPOSIT NY

        Back to the mirage in the middle of Pennsylvania's Appalachians, this store had truly impressive displays of locally sourced products. From furniture to smoking blends to Cinnamon Pear Jelly. It was literally in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania's aptly named endless forest and was a fair sight better than most of the other farmstands I saw.

With these rural hubs we can create economic activity away from the already busy highways. Driving 13,000+ miles I noticed something significant. Americas highways are oriented from the north and northeast to the west and southwest.

Chicago to Vegas. New York to LA. Everyone was moving out west back in the 50's and 60's when many of these roads were built. Florida to Oregon, Fageddabout it. Georgia to Washington? South Carolina to Idaho. Not gonna happen. What I see as discrimination against the south. 

This is going to be important in future planning. Orlando to Port Orford Oregon. The South needs its own Rt 66 which would be a start in building rural hubs. A federal highway designed for the future. 

Sure there's I 10 but it's super boring. 

Blue Ridge

 Here is what I wrote for my trip to Oregon in May 2021. 

"1800 miles for a Pug rescue and a long weekend in the Appalachians. The 7200 miles out to Oregon and 4500 more miles in September and October. I made a bit of a travelogue on my blog post "DOWNLOAD FILE"   GREENHAMMER: Download File (thegrimoireofgreenhammer.blogspot.com)

d)Johnny Huckster sees America

(Ye Olde Quest)

    After 50 years of “nose to the grindstone”, I gave my nose a rest and had a grand adventure.   

    Certainly not the preppy Grand Tour, I wanted to see the United States without getting into covid clusters and waiting in line anywhere. I wanted to see America not talk to Americans. No offense, right?

I've paid my dues being a good listener to over-talkers and their lines of shit. I want to show a new way to vacation and/or live out of your car while proposing we build an infrastructure to last till 2080.

    It was March 2021 when I got the idea to go to Oregon finally. My gypsy friend was going back to the PNW for good and needed a ride. She was done with Florida and I needed to get away myself and I wanted to check out an isolated warm zone in southwestern Oregon. USDA Zone 9 located from Port Orford down the coast to California. There hasn’t been a freeze in years and I think they can consider year-round crops. This was her destination and coincidentally the area I was always curious to visit. 

 

that zone 10 has crept up about 50 miles into central Florida and note how far zone 9 goes up in the Pacific Coast.

     Several configurations of the trip developed such as whether or not to go to Glacier National Park. 

Suddenly it almost all came to a halt with a bad EKG on April 27th. “You’re not having chest pains?” my doctor seemed alarmed. He was ready to drive me to the hospital. This is shortly before I was to leave on my 7200 mile journey. 

       Weirdly, at the same time, I thought I had two skin tags but they turned out to be ticks. Getting older. it seemed skin tags and age spots began appearing more frequently so I didn't give it much notice. The skin tag on my arm began getting really irritated and I needed to find a way to get rid of it. Imagine my shock when I realized I could pull it off and though almost unrecognizable, it was a dead deflated tick. 

The bite near my bicep still itches and is still red six months later.

 So four days before we were to leave for the cross country trip, my friend seemed alarmed that I could have a heart attack at any time and we both became panicky and anxious about the trip we had been planning. I also confirmed my pre-diabetic blood work numbers. To me that meant I could pass out for no reason.

So suddenly I had a heart condition, my extremities were steadily getting numb from nerve damage and what if I had Lyme disease from the tick?  i didn't even want to think about my sore back, and if it would hold up for that distance.

  I had gotten a seven-week rental because my electronic nightmare of a van finally shit the bed, and I needed to keep working. I couldn't get a loan for another vehicle, so I took a chance with a rental, did my gardening work out of it too. 

I drove 13,000 miles and saw 29 states in May and October of 2021, but I am most satisfied about was seeing my five children in 3 different states. 

I just missed getting the rental for a trip to Tampa to my oldests’ house with his 4 children.  Then the first weekend with the rental, I spent it at my firstborns new condo, helping her on the weekend of a 5K she had organized, and adding a couple plants to her garden.

       The next Thursday I picked up a rescue Pug named Jack in Vero Beach and brought him to daughter #2 in Raleigh. Saw my grand dog Louie and son in law Mitauex. Bonz the Cat does the best he can in a house filled rescues and fosters.

My youngest had left the nest last year and also moved to NC so I visited him and his internet girlfriend and they seemed to be doing nicely in Four Oaks. He was out in the country and it was gratifying to see him out in their in the boonies. I spent the remainder of this 6-day weekend exploring the foothills of the Appalachians. A scenic Route 50 in Georgia seemed just as beautiful as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Marys miracle site in

 Conyers Georgia

GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

🚧

ROUTE 50 IN Georgia is lush in May

Jack the Pug

 It seemed that everyone was talking about a bucket list and so when I thought about it, I figured I had 5 things left. 5 I wanted to get over to Austin and see Little M.  4 I had also wanted to see the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Blue Ridge Mountains for a long time. I heard it was beautiful. I had no idea. #3 on the bucket list was to visit Amish country.

This trip to Oregon sounded like something I needed to do and I wanted to make it happen. It was fourth on the list. I’ve always had the feeling that Oregon was where I needed to go and that would be #2 on a bucket list and seeing the Redwoods was #1.

  Sure I’d like to see Solutre, France and the Niobrara River in Nebraska (the least populated part of the continental US) and visit Hudson Bay from the St James Road, but I would be pretty satisfied to finish these five items.

     Glacier National Park sounds like, potentially, the most interesting national park to visit, and it would be nice to see Katahdin in Maine but....... Glacier opened its Sun Road into the park a week after  I had gotten back from going to Oregon in May. Snow plows were busy trying to clear the roads right till the beginning of June

Here are some pictures from Colorado in May. There is also a Route 50 that is extremely scenic in Colorado.

The Blue Ridge Mountains was the first off my bucket list. In October 2018 I planned out a vacation to Connecticut, to Amish country and the Blue ridge Mountains, but Hurricane Florence had just tore through North Carolina and closed many parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway for a week, but luckily it had just opened back up when I got there. Interstate 95 was washed out in South Carolina and I went on all small country roads to get to the mountains.

Hurricane Florence pretty much followed my proposed vacation drive through the mountains a week before I was to go but the damage wasn't as bad as I imagined.

I went to spot #77 in Section C at the Doughton Campground near Sparta North Carolina and I had the place to myself for six days. Strong fairy spirits up there on the knob. 

So, the Amish visit and exploring the Appalachians knocked a couple things off the bucket list.

     2021 comes along and here’s this chance to go to that isolated area in Oregon and see the Redwoods. The pandemic was winding down but we weren’t in the clear yet. Commitments, logistics and complications changed the plan 10 times over the next two months.  How did I possibly think my back would hold up driving 7200 miles after just driving 1800 miles for the Pug rescue and the mountain sight seeing in North Carolina? Luckily, I didn’t overthink this one or how crazy the whole notion was.

     It seemed a bit of money was on its way, though not yet a sure thing, but that vacation out west to Oregon was finally within reach. No point in going to any Covid clusters and the only two places I went in was the gift shop at Monarch Pass and the gift shop at Crater Lake. 

I saw lots of America and very few Americans, except at rest rooms and it was good to see people were all masking up as I was, but I was also yet to be vaccinated.

Everyone in the world was supposed to get the shots and I couldn't help being suspicious, so I waited as did my client. I did finally get vaccinated in August as it seemed way too many people were dying from it.

Not being vaccinated turned out to be a good thing because our hosts in Oregon were anti-vax preppers who would not have welcomed vaccinated people with their shedding proteins into their house! 

    Gas was easily $600 for the trip. Motels $500 more. Food $300 easily. No income from work for three weeks. For sure, there were at least 25 rest stops I slept at. But I also had three residences to stay at and that worked out great and it turned out that I actually did more socializing than I am used to with those seven days in normal housing.

   Most excellent hosts in all three cases and in three different groups of people. Slept good and had fun with my people and the one thing this disparate group had in common was something new called, “Freecycle.” Freecycle: Front Door

I'll never forget watching the Crows floating across the valley at Pilot MT.

    Disconcertedly, it took 22 hours to get out of Florida. A strong storm had passed over us and our trip to Oregon almost ended before it got started. I left the impression I was heading for “the mountains”, implying the Appalachians, knowing I was setting out to see the Rockies for the first time in 37 years. Less than a handful of trusted people knew my plans.

Too many buttinskis out there intent on telling me how to enjoy my first long distance ride in a long time. I don’t need the endless advice or the Tour books or go see so and so. This was totally spontaneous and worked out perfectly with temperatures between 45 and 75 which is my comfort zone.

   Driving back east I got caught in three traffic jams in California.  Arizona was peaceful seeing the low desert plants of the Southwest again. I’d never done much more than drive through Colorado three times in my youth, but this time I saw some deep Colorado.

    Rugged Route 50 in Colorado was dangerous with its descents but there was breathtaking non-stop scenery. By planning a Mid-May ride, there were snow covered mountains the entire way. Afterwards I read Rt 50 is called the “loneliest road in Colorado.” My passenger/friend/client and I hardly talked as we watched the scenery unfold for hundreds of miles into Utah Nevada and Oregon. A fully immersible experience.

TELLURIDE

TELLURIDE

       I remembered the ride through Nevada and Utah seemed a bit boring a long time ago when I was young, but now I know so much more about rocks and tectonics and shit, it became absolutely fascinating. I don't need a near death experience to appreciate life. I love most of every day. 

      Anyways, here I am with my client (friend actually, but hereafter known as the client as I was creating the prototype for my “driver for hire” side hustle.)  

     I have been telling people the last five years that the economy is going to reassemble itself and opportunity will abound and everybody in every field needs to be playing some heads-up ball and my plan is to create a new kind of business. With gardening for nature leading the way.

    The world of 2030 will be different than what we can imagine today. America needs to shed its white collar parasitical economy and learn to work again. Everyone needs to have skin the game, except fo the totally lame and/or the blind.

    We needed networks to connect and now we have this in many ways in our modern computer era. Easy to connect with fellow quilters or amateur astronomers and those creating Pollinator friendly yards. We are much better able to participate with our civic group. (or with the latest groups being created, such as ‘freecycle’).          

  It's all happening so fast, and I don't know how I would deal with it if I was younger. I'm out to create something brand new in 2024 despite this late stage of life. MY final act. 

Malls are ghost towns and food trucks are in demand. There's an economic inversion occuring. People kind of realizing an AI bot would be a far cheaper CEO of these big companies.

People need to add a balance to the overwhelming influence of governments AND corporations AND religions.  I really believe the American people are going to see themselves through all this. We can go back in the past to bring back the good ideas we abandoned. One would be to make large rural hubs and large rest areas as a partial return of the commons that were stolen from us. 

We can make the connections that will create the networks of the future. We can create our own economy as if the old one doesn’t matter is where my focus will be. The old one best being described as crony capitalism and I'm promoting Market Socialism as a world economic system.

Getting out of Florida

    Driving Interstate 10 west, we were six hours out of Boynton Beach. A windstorm and downpour had just finished. The road was misted and it was difficult to see even twenty-five feet. Traffic was down to 45 MPH.

 A TREE appeared out of the mist across at least two lanes of traffic and we hit it direct ...dead on. Like, I don’t even tell people cause I’m not a drama queen like that. It nearly broke through the windshield in three places and I shit you not we could have been impaled by a huge branch. If I skidded and swerved and went into it sideways that would have been it. Deader than that bug on the windshield.

 

    It hadn’t fallen off a truck and it was a large thirty foot tree stripped of its branches. A dead tree that was picked up by tornadic winds. A Pine Tree you see, we found needles over the top of the engine when we looked and it did impale the radiator area and the engine area was filled with pine needles. We managed to drag the damaged beast to the rest area a mile ahead and there were Pine needles the entire way. There was a wicked wind just before we got there.

    We hit it straight on and the windshield nearly exploded with glass (see picture above) and theoretically we could have been impaled had the branches been pointing towards us. A branch had found its way into the engine area nearly popping a radiator hose and leaving behind many pine needles.

So 7 hours into the trip we drove into the rest area with our battered steed and got 6 hours of sleep. Enough of that day. 

When I saw a dead pine tree walking in the woods, one day recently, I noted its ghostly white color and it looked exactly like the tree we hit.

There must have been a tornado. Pine needles covered the slow lane and shoulder for the mile leading up to the rest area as I said. The road was thick with needles. The next day when we left there were many trees that were in the road but were cut.

   We called the police and Budget rental Car very early in the morning and to make a long story short, we had the originally rented Rav 4 replaced with a Jeep Compass by eleven. 

So from 1 o’clock the previous afternoon when we drove a car to Boynton Beach to drop it off, till we then finally reached the Alabama border, we were finally, 22 hours later, leaving Florida for day 2. So we nearly got impaled by a 30 foot tree that was laying across Interstate 10, but we ended up getting a nice vehicle upgrade, and were finally on our way to Oregon. RAV 4 got good mileage but the Red Jeep Compass was cool as shit.

That afternoon we drove through some scenic state roads in Alabama (231?) and stopped at a quaint farm stand/eatery for the big meal of the day. There were chickens loose in the store and everything. We had a fabulous healthy late lunch there and drove on. 

Night fell and I white knuckled it through Memphis and drove through Arkansas in the dark. Slow down Memphis the sign pleaded as motorcyclists and cars passed us going 100 mph. I seemed to be having some trouble with city based, busy highways and traffic seemed too intense.

    We parked in what turned out to be a motel parking lot and then an empty lot nearby but got gently thrown out. We finally slept for three or four hours at Walmart. Daytime came and we spent much of that day driving through Nebraska.

    The Cherokee had two bodacious gas stations. Large clean areas with lots of choices for travelers and the highways appeared to be freshly paved. The GPS Guide, Bubbles, seemed to be keeping us off the interstates and on much more scenic state roads.  I learned later that too many roads out west are oriented for mid-westerners going to California and not the south to the Northwest.

 

     There was a Route 412 in Oklahoma that traversed that really thin part (handle) of Oklahoma that I found interesting. I had really begun to notice that people living in these areas had really trashy yards. Now this coming from a guy who had a yard full of stuff once upon a time. My hillbilly yard filled with things “I might need someday.”

     It was puzzling to see 10 or 12 cars but then I saw yards with 50 or 100 cars. 55 gallon barrels. Rusting leaking? Tractor attachments, PVC stacks, etc.’

      But you know, it seemed that in all these “hick” towns the American people had gone back to work. Businesses had trucks that were busy being used and metal building doors were open. I had yet to see a shuttered-up business.

          So I was racking up some miles driving with no aches or pains yet. We finally arrived in Pueblo Colorado at 6:00 and checked into a motel. Seedy thought my client but I could care less. I slept in a sleeping bag on top of the bedding and used my own pillow. It was there I got into the habit of leaving things behind. I left my blue ice in the freezer and so became more dependent on ice though I did get a block of ice, one time, that lasted over two days. Deep thin coolers work out best.

          In Pueblo that night we bought legal and had a smoking room so, voila. First time I could administer my medicine in a hotel room without Ozium and incense.

          Then we got on Route 50 in Colorado and it was non-stop, breathtaking scenery from there out. The Jeep Compass was climbing and climbing getting half the gas mileage it should. The gas pedal was hardly responding and I figured we had gotten pretty high. The altitude I mean. Then we got to Monarch Pass which sits on the Continental Divide at 11,312 feet.

            The mountain forced me to breathe deeply and it felt good though I could tell it would take some getting used to. Then down we went and eventually I would tire of the 7% inclines and giant tractor trailers passing me out in the passing lanes, but at first it was exciting and dangerous. I read later that Route 50 is called “the loneliest road in Colorado”

Drink up Shriners!

then go to church on Sunday

Spring was just starting in Mid-May in Telluride

          The goal was to reach Telluride for a second motel rest on this six-day trip. At 7950 feet, my breathing was labored here also, but deep breathing that Clean Colorado air also seemed to do a lot of good.

          The client went to a hot spring up the road and I took a nap in the Jeep. The next stop was Crater Lake. Following that was the rugged scenery of Colorado and at night we drove through Utah and then Nevada’s stark beauty became apparent as dawn approached.

          Truthfully, by the time we got to the Oregon border, we had had about enough sagebrush country. Took the Oregon Redwood trail and saw and touched my first Redwoods. So, there I was with an empty bucket list and a motel within view of the Pacific Ocean.

          The next day we got to our destination in Port Orford, Oregon and I was finally going to experience this anomalous warm area that was in southwest Oregon. At the motel near the beach I noticed the largest Geranium I remember seeing in my entire life. I lived in Tucson for six years and people had their Geraniums for three years and they weren’t half this size.

          I would later come to learn that the Port Orford area rarely freezes and rarely gets too hot. It seems I had found a place that doesn’t freeze and doesn’t burn,, and I have to consider a move to this area. 

                  I think it would be fun to escape there to trim buds for a month or two during the outdoor harvest in August and September when Florida is at its hottest. It seems almost too cool. Every time I check the Port Orford ten day forecast, the average high and low seemed to be 65 and 52 and it was pretty cool the three days we were there.

          The folks in Oregon were busy with their garden but took us to a very nice path near the Pacific Ocean.

Crested Jay, shedding proteins, and wonderful home schooled children.

Redwood puppies the bark with soft bark. My client stayed and I started my return journey.

 

When I left the trailer park in Oregon, I should have turned right to get back to 101. I drove down an increasingly narrow road for 19 miles. I knew that because I came upon a sign finally, when the road forked and both ways became dirt roads.

      I got a clue when I saw grass growing in the road. You can tell there had been some landslides looking down at the cliffside and up at the higher elevations, everything was sliding down. The river below and cracks in the road where there were visible rockslides appeared. The road kept getting thinner and thinner and I didn’t see any other vehicles and I got to wondering why. Nothing seemed familiar. It didn't occur to me to turn around probably because of the thin road and the cliffs. 

  A rule of driving is not to get lost on a lonely dirt road and when I came to a fork in the road and both choices were dirt roads, I stopped to reassess what was going on. I turned the Jeep around and saw the sign. 19 miles to Rt 101. The other way. I was nearly in Humboldt County in California. 

Murder Mountain | Netflix

 Well, I was two days behind schedule and decided I was just going to drive right through California and get past Kingman Arizona by the next sunrise 20 hours away. Sometimes I had to settle into long hours of driving.

 I had slept in the car for two nights and was feeling good. I had about five layers of different materials such as yoga mats and sleeping bags and an outdoor lounge chair cushion laid across the back.

    Arizona and New Mexico, though boarded up, were much more starkly beautiful than I remember. The entirety of New Mexico seemed to be in dire economic ruin unfortunately. In the previous 15 states it appeared to be that America was back to work.  Not in New Mexico though I didn’t see Albuquerque or Santa Fe or Taos.

After the visit to Shiprock I got on 481 South and figured I could sleep at the first rest area I come across when I got on Interstate 40 east. So, I get on the interstate and thirty miles go by and I am thoroughly tired and I really need to stop. I drove quickly to get through California, but I drove 14 hours which started with me almost getting lost in Humboldt County California.

 

Sixty miles go by and I’m like “what in the hell!” There always seemed to be a rest area just in time but not this time. Here comes the fatigue driving. I count backwards from 100 to 1 and then start again with 99 to one then 98 to one backwards. Out loud to keep as many facilities working as possible. There are other tricks to keep the mind alert but I’d driven 20 of the last 30 hours and seriously needed a break.

There was an exit with lots of trucks but nowhere for cars to park. Then I did a big circle for about 8 miles following an apparently drunk GPS lady and there was nothing anywhere that was safe from thieves and highwaymen. Finally, I saw an area that was 200 by 150 feet with several trucks were parked. I nearly got hit by a tractor trailer while I was going left and lunged toward that wide open space while the truck was signaling to go on the 40 East entrance ramp. We crisscrossed each other by like, inches, and I saw the corner of the truck a few feet from the windshield. I never want to be that tired while I was driving again. A regrettable risk but a good lesson.

I slept 5 hours there and took off raggedy without coffee. Happy to be alive.

I must have spent ten hours driving in Texas before I got to Little M’s house. So much ugliness coming out of Texas it seems but they definitely won the wildflower award. Vast areas of flowers and diversity spread throughout. The hill country was impressively scenic and I thanked my luck with all these fabulous roads I drove on. The, NW to SE routes, ignored by the interstates.

I was tired, having driven 35 of the last 55 hours so I was thankful to be able to stay in Austin for 2 and a half days to rest.  M and her beau listen to the most interesting mix of music. New stuff to entertain my ears.

I was mirthful to discover that Austin has so many wildflowers and a Central Park of its own and a world famous natural spring. We walked to the largest bat roosting area in an American city and I didn’t hear them though my companions did.

Trying to capture the parts of America you don't see on TV. New roads new lands new people.

Infrastructure is about making very long entrance and exit ramps. It's too much like a car race trying to get in the right lane at 70 MPH. 

 

May and October tours. Cannabis friendly stop for photos friend.

Rt 50 out of Colorado then which one in Nevada after Telluride?

GPS guide   down two questionable dirt roads but they worked.

Enough 7% inclines for a while.  

Signs said “women only”. Why a rural hub system would have three types of restrooms men women everyone which would be there for any overflow. Make these rest areas much bigger and save a large chunk of the local ecosystems.

RV parks and yards with many cars and debris and what looks like a mess as observed from the highway.

Trucks that are running, are busy, though. America is back to work.

e) PAVEMENT ENDS

Going back to my trip to New England recently. all pavement, no facilities.

Interstate 1. will be highways exclusively for trucks

no kill shelters is also infrastructure. wildlife rehabilitation centers also. For every tank and infantry, "protecting our country", you could have ten people working at rehab centers here in the good 'ol USA. 

road rage in New Britsky