15 Saturday
05.15.05 9:28am
I made it to my first planned stop yesterday: College Station, TX. I’m here to visit my friend, Jack. I thought that I was going to see his final review, but I had the day wrong and it was yesterday. I thought that it was today, so I didn’t get in until yesterday evening. I did get to see his parents for a little while, though, because they hadn’t gone home yet.
Yesterday was a tiring day of driving. My plan has been to take shorter driving days and fill the space with more fun time once I get past here, and I am ready for that. Unfortunately, Texas is HUGE and I may have to put in one more pretty long day to get across to a good place to camp. I am going to stay here for another night, though, so maybe some more rest will make it better. I am staying because I want to check out the school and nothing is open on Sunday.
I’m not too sure I could really come here. It’s basically the antithesis of Ann Arbor. I would say it is a bastion of conservatism, but I don’t know if something can qualify as a bastion if the surrounding area is somewhat similar. It also gets mind-numbingly hot and humid here, and I’m a sensitive baby. Oh well, it’s a good Ag school and so I shall give it its due consideration.
I don’t really remember too much from yesterday’s drive, but I do remember Hot Springs, AR. It’s a pretty sweet little city. Next to some gorgeous hills. Large, impressive historic area. Appeared to be bike-friendly. The only problem is that it’s, as far as I can tell, impossible to successfully navigate. I was hoping to find the National Park visitors’ center. You’d think that they would make that especially accessible with good signage, etc. Well, no. Yes they had signs, but I can’t say they were all that elucidating. They had them at forks in the road. The sign would be placed equidistant between the tines of the fork and point straight forward, HOT SPRINGS NP VISITORS CENTER. Not helpful. I even made it into the park from two different entrances and didn’t find the thing. Eventually, I gave up in the interest of time. One thing I will say about traveling alone and this situation is that you avoid that awful tension that arises from getting lost. It’s just you and you can be chill or tense. It’s totally up to you.
Texas really is another world, culturally speaking. People you don’t know will talk to you for one thing and people will call you ma’am for another thing. Instance one: I was at the grocery store in Texarkana fixin’ to buy some jelly, cherries and Ziploc bags. As I was checking out, the cashier called me ma’am probably five times. Whoa. At home I won’t be ma’am for another maybe thirty years at least. Instance two: I was at the gas station and I went inside to go to the bathroom. On the way in, this guy by the slurpee machine gave me this little “howdy” nod, which I returned. On the way out, just as I got to the door, he asks, “How far you ride them bikes?” Now, I must say that this wasn’t the clearest question. Which bike? Was that, “How far have you ridden?” or, “How far do you typically ride in one go?” So I did the best I could, briefly turned and said, “It depends.” Well, clearly I failed. He just tilted his head down a bit and slowly shook it giving off this air of extreme disappointment. I’m not exactly sure where I went wrong, but I think it has something to do with my non-conversational tone/diction. Texas lesson one: F.
Sorry, I don’t have my map with me right now.
I made it to my first planned stop yesterday: College Station, TX. I’m here to visit my friend, Jack. I thought that I was going to see his final review, but I had the day wrong and it was yesterday. I thought that it was today, so I didn’t get in until yesterday evening. I did get to see his parents for a little while, though, because they hadn’t gone home yet.
Yesterday was a tiring day of driving. My plan has been to take shorter driving days and fill the space with more fun time once I get past here, and I am ready for that. Unfortunately, Texas is HUGE and I may have to put in one more pretty long day to get across to a good place to camp. I am going to stay here for another night, though, so maybe some more rest will make it better. I am staying because I want to check out the school and nothing is open on Sunday.
I’m not too sure I could really come here. It’s basically the antithesis of Ann Arbor. I would say it is a bastion of conservatism, but I don’t know if something can qualify as a bastion if the surrounding area is somewhat similar. It also gets mind-numbingly hot and humid here, and I’m a sensitive baby. Oh well, it’s a good Ag school and so I shall give it its due consideration.
I don’t really remember too much from yesterday’s drive, but I do remember Hot Springs, AR. It’s a pretty sweet little city. Next to some gorgeous hills. Large, impressive historic area. Appeared to be bike-friendly. The only problem is that it’s, as far as I can tell, impossible to successfully navigate. I was hoping to find the National Park visitors’ center. You’d think that they would make that especially accessible with good signage, etc. Well, no. Yes they had signs, but I can’t say they were all that elucidating. They had them at forks in the road. The sign would be placed equidistant between the tines of the fork and point straight forward, HOT SPRINGS NP VISITORS CENTER. Not helpful. I even made it into the park from two different entrances and didn’t find the thing. Eventually, I gave up in the interest of time. One thing I will say about traveling alone and this situation is that you avoid that awful tension that arises from getting lost. It’s just you and you can be chill or tense. It’s totally up to you.
Texas really is another world, culturally speaking. People you don’t know will talk to you for one thing and people will call you ma’am for another thing. Instance one: I was at the grocery store in Texarkana fixin’ to buy some jelly, cherries and Ziploc bags. As I was checking out, the cashier called me ma’am probably five times. Whoa. At home I won’t be ma’am for another maybe thirty years at least. Instance two: I was at the gas station and I went inside to go to the bathroom. On the way in, this guy by the slurpee machine gave me this little “howdy” nod, which I returned. On the way out, just as I got to the door, he asks, “How far you ride them bikes?” Now, I must say that this wasn’t the clearest question. Which bike? Was that, “How far have you ridden?” or, “How far do you typically ride in one go?” So I did the best I could, briefly turned and said, “It depends.” Well, clearly I failed. He just tilted his head down a bit and slowly shook it giving off this air of extreme disappointment. I’m not exactly sure where I went wrong, but I think it has something to do with my non-conversational tone/diction. Texas lesson one: F.
Sorry, I don’t have my map with me right now.
posted by Ashleigh @ 11:35 AM
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