The Preserve Journal  on the road.   End Notes

I wasn't prepared for the flat, unbroken vastness of the west Texas landscape.  It is scrubby with only sparse vegetation for the few head of cattle one sees in the distance.  The numerous well pumps tells you that someone, not a cattleman, is making this land pay off.

Driving northwesterly through the panhandle  around Roscoe, Texas you will begin to see the first of the huge windmills and then hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) more until you find yourself driving through vast wind farms with windmills as far as the eye can see.  Not sure of how much these farms contribute to the  Texas grid but it must be considerable.

No one is prepared to see a bad accident on the Interstate.  Driving through a torrential downpour on I40 outside Nashville, the traffic became  a crawl.  Up ahead on a particularly bad downhill, a Fed Ex truck pulling two trailers had apparently lost control and wiped out the guardrail and turned over on its side.   The tractor had separated and ended in a ditch.  The trailer may have burned.  We learned later that the driver had been killed.



Driving the interstates with tractor trailers on either side of you, passing you or impatiently wanting you to make a move is a fact of life and not likely to change.  Learning to stay with them or simply maintain a reasonable speed is all you can do.  You soon learn to hold your own and understand that you have just as much right to the highway as the big rigs. As it gets dark many of the rigs pull into the rest stops for the night.  They are a little more closely watched as to duty times and mandated rest periods.

Driving cross country is always interesting and highly recommended.  It is an opportunity to see the country up close and meet some of the great people.