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US Road Trip Epilog: 14th July 2005

In the morning I'm awaken by the sound of cars skidding and horns blaring on the Interstate outside.

Outside the Holiday Inn Express in Tulsa. A truck carrying waste paper has managed to lose much of it on the road, causing chaos. More effective than any alarm call, that's for sure.

While waiting for my co-pilot to remember how to tie his shoelaces and find his way out of his motel room I have some time to plan the day ahead. The original plan had been to stay well clear of Dallas / Fort Worth but after an email from Jim Cannon I phoned a place around there who could supply the (hopefully missing-link) in the faulty aircon system in the car. Time for a change of route.

Highway 377 over one of many narrow bridges.

There's no point relying on the navigator today, and I can't help thinking I should've traded him for Max the Moose last week. At least Max wouldn't still be on Tulsa Time for most of the 300 miles and 7 hours. Luckily it's a fairly straightforward route - a bit west on Interstate 44 before joining Highway 377 south into Texas and the Interstates of the Dallas / Fort Worth area.

The I-35W at a standstill, in both directions, around Fort Worth.

The late afternoon traffic on Interstate 35W around Fort Worth is no fun - heat around 100° F, roadworks with stationary traffic, and enough aggressive driving when moving to make the M25 around London look like a school for beginners. After a bit of wasted time - my fault for not writing-down the exact address - we find Old Air Products and I can buy the receiver drier thingamajig that should get the aircon working properly.

The time spent on the internet this morning was not wasted, as I know that many of the motels around here are fully-booked but the Howard Johnson's isn't. A few more junctions down the I-35W and Alex can run off and hide from the world in his room and I can disappear into the cocktail lounge (it's a bar, really) attached to the hotel and attempt to drown myself in $1.50 bottles of Coors Light.

Ever wondered what the job of a 'lineman' is? I thought I did - something to do with railroads - until I started taking to Robert and his wife Joleanne in the bar. What a really nice couple, and I now have a much better idea of what it must be like to work around ¼ million volts when a few hundred feet up in the air, and what can happen when things go wrong. Yes, the job of lineman all about high-power cross-country electricity pylons. Wichita Lineman, always one of my favourite songs, will have added meaning now.

US Road Trip Epilog: 15th July 2005 >