As is yearly tradition in my family, we embarked on a holiday journey to visit family once again. I arrived back in town yesterday, after having traveled 2,750 miles in the space of eight days (here to Louisiana and back again). This is a little nuts when you consider certain variables, such as how sore one’s butt becomes from sitting for so long, how boring the landscape throughout Texas and Oklahoma (we passed through there on the way back) can be, and how normal sleep ceases to be a part of your life for that brief span of time. I had a great time, to be sure, though I am thrilled to be back home. At last I can rest!

As you no doubt guessed, my adventures have left me with much to blog about. I’ll start light today, and over the next few days I’ll post more. Today, the theme is “oh the drive.” I love driving, and it’s always great to watch the landscape change. Scenery ranges from beautiful to plain, fascinating to boring. The following are some thoughts that occurred to me while driving, in varying stages of boredom or what have you.

• There are certain parts of the drive that are eye-poppingly boring. I happened to be driving various parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisina, during which I passed through such areas. While Oklahoma had little to distract from the monotony, Texas and Louisiana both showcased a veritable gold mine of roadkill. I found myself trying to see if I could identify each beast I came across. Raccoons, squirrels, and deer (small ones) were among the most common (I once saw a dead armadillo in Texas, but not on this particular trip). A morbid task, indeed, but one has to stay amused somehow.
• On the way to Oklahoma, while driving through a small town in Texas, I spied a small church. Nothing out of the ordinary. But when I looked more closely, I noticed that its title read “Bible Church”. This puzzled me for some time, and I still have not figured out what exactly a “Bible Church” really is. Is it somehow different from all other churches, or is the underlying message a declaration that no other church uses the Bible? I’m miffed.
• Driving through Oklahoma, I saw a sign for a state park. While all state parks have names, I’ve never seen one like this: Roman Nose State Park. [Insert funny Roman Nose comment here].
• Throughout the drive, bridges along the interstate exhibited this message on a nearby sign: Watch for ice on bridge. I first noticed it while driving at night, and was at first amused, wondering what an ice bridge was, and why I should be watching it. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that certain parts of the sign were printed in larger font than the rest, sort of like this:
  WATCH
  FOR
  ICE
  ON
  BRIDGE