Driving through Louisiana and Texas today, where signs of Oil as King are everywhere—tanker trucks, barges on rivers, refineries occupying acres of land. The irony is, if predictions of sea rise due to global warming prove at all accurate, all this will all be under water by the end of the century.
Another irony, of lesser scale perhaps. These notices have become commonplace in motels, and a good thing, too.
Yesterday morning, I showered, placed the towel on the re-use rack, and headed to the “free hot breakfast,” stopping on the way to tell the front desk we’d be staying an extra night. I picked up a styrofoam cup for coffee, a styrofoam plate for fake eggs, little packets of salt and pepper, plastic fork and knife, bubble-packs of butter and jam. Eat and dispose. Then I returned to the room to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with a plastic glass encased in plastic wrap. Later, after a chilly walk along a waterway, we returned to the room to find—guess what?—fresh towels after all. I could hear the planet whispering thanks.
Then there’s us, spewing carbon into the atmosphere at 120 km/hour, en route to our second home. There’s no escaping culpability.
Yesterday we rallied from our colds enough to take a 3-mile hike along a cypress bog near Lafayette. Good to get out. The weather was (and is) still dreary and “cold”–which means you really do need a jacket and maybe a scarf. We saw the sun for a couple of hours this morning, but temperatures are well below normal for here and now.
Tonight we’re just east of San Antonio, both still feeling pretty crummy and wondering how long this cold can last. Our “Cajun experience” this trip consisted of a shared shrimp po’boy for lunch yesterday. For supper—a microwave pasta dish from the hotel’s convenience shop. Pretty sad.
With luck, we’ll welcome the New Year tomorrow with sunshine and clearer heads! Then to Laredo, which is just a few hours away, and across the border on Friday morning.
Happy New Year to you, wherever you are. May 2015 see some progress toward a saner world.
Happy New Year! Hope the colds ( and the cold) soon disappear.
Unfortunately the weather is pretty much the same here in St. Pete – overcast and gray with some drizzle. I wore a jacket to go out for supper and then just to walk across the street to my brother’s. My sister-in-law also has the cold that you and Jack have and feels pretty crummy. Happy New Year, dear friends!