Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Driving, Irene, gas prices,and God

Well it has been awhile, trouble with the internet has taken the blog offline for awhile,but now back up.

Before our line was cut off (literally, the line did break and it took awhile to get it fixed) we drove to the northeast and spent a wonderful weekend with Irene. Now this was an interesting drive with a total of over 3500 hundred miles put on a vehicle. Overall a good drive and we did enjoy some of the trip. Irene did put a crimp in some of the trip, but not too much.

A couple of observations about the drive. Driving through Arkansas both ways and for some reason there is more tire debris on I 40 than anywhere else on the trip. If there was a market for shreaded rubber you could make some money here. The highway was covered with torn up tires from the big rigs.  I don't know how much of I 40 across the country is covered, but in Arkansas it was pretty bad. The drive through the state is easy, just a complete mess.

People always talk about the people in New Jersey and the reality show doesn't help their image, however, after spending time there, I can say the people are really good people. The problem with New Jersey is getting from point A to point B.The Turnpike is wonderful, very easy straight shot across the state, but try to do something local, well forget about it. There is no rhyme or reason at all.  Turns and directions do not make sense unless a local I guess.We did stop and ask directions, and people were helpful,but it took 2-3 tries to make sense of what they said. Identifying signs were virtually non existent, hidden, or so small you would drive right past them with the glance knowing I needed to know what that sign just said. Really really crazy and maddening. Having to drive in New Jersey right after Irene was also a nightmare. I do have to say you have to acknowledge the struggle Irene caused for much of the Northeast.The flooding that occurred in New Jersey and Vermont was absolutely a disaster for those people and prayers go out for all the people suffering in the aftermath and trying to get their lives back together. Driving in New Jersey though was crazy the next couple of days.Example: we get up to leave the hotel for the day after Irene hit and unknown to us right past the first curve the road was completely flooded. There were cars in the road with water up to their windshield. So now we were caught in trying to find away around through some side streets. I made more u turns in the next hour than   the past year and much of this wasn't because of the flood, the flood only caused the detour. Anyway someone needs to redo the entire street system in that state.

The flooding there and the long drive got me to thinking about the issues facing our country with extreme droughts in some areas of our country and the flooding in other areas.I briefly touched on this in an earlier blog, but had no answers, I think I have a proposal, but will save it for another entry.

Now we know that anytime a summer holiday comes up gas prices go up. The last couple of weeks before labor day really proved to me there might be something going on. Two weeks before labor day we drove to the northeast and we were watching gas prices the whole way since on a tight budget. So I had a pretty good idea of what I thought gas prices were going to be on the way back.Well that was the week before labor day and even though the price of oil had not really gone up, gas prices averaged 15-30 cents higher the whole trip back.Gas prices do vary from state to state and the northeast is a bit higher than other parts we drove through, but where we were seeing 3.33 -3.39 on the way up, it was 3.45-3.69 on the way back. And I moderately watch oil prices so I know oil did not go up significantly the week before. Just plain crazy and unnecessary, oh by the way gas prices are now back to the 3.30's with oil still about the same price.

And finally for this post, a bit on God. I usually don't like to talk about God in a general sense, but a billboard on the way back got my attention.It read WARNING YOU ARE ABOUT TO MEET GOD. Now I get the gist that we should always be prepared because you never know what is going to happen,but really. In fact if I meet God I am breathing one hell of a sigh of relief. I really don't believe in the beat the bible over the head of people to get them to believe.I have always thought that was just the worst way to convince someone they should get to know God. I am not much of a stand up and sing praises kind of person, but shouldn't we be happy to meet God. God created us so I don't think God is out to get us. The above is the kind of mindset that drove me away from God when I was young for a very long time.

Again overall a good trip,no it wasn't fear and loathing in the northeast, but rather, hard driving, missed sight seeing in New York, delayed endeavors, and finally some spelunking, wine tasting, and a bit of luck in Tunica on the roll back.

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