Postblog from Indiana: Random Observations

• Local TV news is the same everywhere – except in Denver they don’t report the temperature-humidity index which, by the way, was over 100 degrees Sunday in Louisville. At 11:00 p.m., the temperature cooled to a manageable 85, the humidity 75%. At the same time, I noted on the Weather Channel that Denver was at 51 degrees with rain.
• Remember Stuckeys, the once ubiquitous gas, snack, and tacky souvenir places in the middle of nowhere along the interstates? They are mostly closed now, but you’ll be glad to know that many of the buildings are still in use – as adult sex toy shops. I imagine that since they are outside city limits, municipal regulations don’t apply.
• So far, Colorado has the worst rest areas. Illinois has the best. In Missouri, I took a nice little nap on a picnic table in the shade. A few Zs make driving safer – as long as you’re not at the wheel when you catch them.
• BP is thick in these parts. Fortunately I have been able to find alternative places to spend my fuel dollars.
• Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky drivers all follow the speed limit better than those in Colorado. I’ve only been tail-gated once by an impatient speed maniac. The obnoxious vehicle was from, you guessed it, Colorado. I try to positively represent my state by driving with patience and consideration. But it’s tough when you have to pass those damn slow Midwesterners all the time. It doesn’t help that the speed limits are lower in the east.
• You can pick up NPR everywhere. What’s more difficult is avoiding The Car Guys. Every time I changed stations on Sunday I caught the beginning of their annoying show and had to switch to the country music countdown. It was either that or fundamentalist “Christian” radio. No thanks.
• I thought gas was expensive in Illinois – until it occurred to me to drive into the towns to fill the tank. Service stations gouge interstate travelers.
• Rivers are a lot bigger east of Kansas. Mountains are bigger west of Kansas. Pickups are the same size everywhere.
• Yogurt doesn’t explode when you open it at 1000 feet elevation.
• Kentucky bluegrass grows naturally in Kentucky – in fact, their natural landscape is what people in Denver’s suburbs spend a lot of time and money to create artificially.
• If you order iced tea south of the Ohio River, beware – it will be sweetened before you get it.