Coming Home from Texas

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The morning I left Texas, I was up early to treat my bug bites and the sensitive skin left from my round of hives. The bites were my main concern…lots of calamine lotion on them to stave off itching. I did the last bit of loading into the car; my parents woke up a little early to see me off. It was dark when I set out. There was about an hour when the sun was in my eyes after the sun came up, but the weather was crisp and clear - great for driving.

I stopped at a Pilot for a rest stop in Texas (and to get my morning caffeine). The upper part of the wall was decorated with ‘Texas tourist art’.

The part of my route in Arkansas was easy…just a little construction around the cities but didn’t slow me down.

The last rest stop in Arkansas had a tree with a fresh wound…a big branch must have come off recently. .

I crossed the Mississippi into Tennessee at Memphis heading toward Nashville. The drive was easy enough that I talked with my daughter on the phone (through my car) - noticing areas of recently downed trees along the highway and a kettle of birds (I think they were pelicans…certainly were not vultures…at 70 mph I didn’t take my eyes off the road for better identification).

I turned north at Nashville toward Bowling Green, KY which would be my stop for the first night. Overall – I made it to Bowling Green 20 minutes earlier than my car’s projected ETA first thing in the morning! It was a long day of trouble-free driving.

The next morning, I got up even earlier since I was trying to get myself back to east coast time. It was dark when I set out again even though I was on the eastern side of the central time zone. The driving was easy at first. It was a weekday but I managed to miss rush hours in the few cities along the way.

By late morning I was in West Virginia and enjoying the scenery….shortly after a long highway construction/special closure caused a 30 minute delay but the weather was good and the rest stops along the highway were frequent.

After a rest stop that included buying gas as I got close western Maryland – I got a rude surprise: snow and wind. I didn’t stop at the first rest stop in Maryland. It was white knuckle driving by then and continued for about an hour through Garrett and most of Allegany Counties. I was lucky that I68 did not have much traffic and few trucks. Everyone slowed. And we all made it through to Sidling Hill where it was cold but not snowing at all! My car was covered with salt, grit…and melting ice.

The sensor in my windshield gave an error that cleared after I use the wiper fluid/wipers so the adaptive cruise control functioned through it all. By the time I got home I had calmed down a little from the stress from that hour of hard driving. The exhaustion from the two days of driving (or maybe more the last afternoon) set in the next day. I took a long nap!

Road Trip: Maryland to Texas

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I made the drive from where I live in Maryland to Texas in two days (best case about 21 hours of driving)…confirming that I really don’t want to do drive it in 2 days again. There were no accidents either day and I made only quick rest stops that only prolonged the original time my nav system calculated for the day by about 30 minutes each day. I was exhausted (mentally and physically) at the end of each day and beginning to ache every time I got out of the car. I had a painful back my first day in Texas! My solution is to do the trek over 3 days instead of two from now on…and take more time at rest stops to move/stretch. The pandemic strategy of having all the food I need in the car saves time and makes it easier to eat my normal diet…I will probably keep that as part of my road trip strategy.

The first day was from Maryland…through Virginia just west of Shenandoah National Park…and halfway through Tennessee. The first hour was in darkness and through the heaviest construction zone of the entire trek; it’s good to get the challenging part of the drive over with as early as possible! I only saw one sign about masks and very few people were wearing them at the rest stops; I did put a mask on when I was in buildings even though I have gotten the booster vaccine already; the whole purpose of my trip was to visit 90 year old relatives and our family is taking precautions to reduce the risk of them getting a breakthrough infection….and I don’t want to get even a mild case of COVID-19! It was a very cloudy day with a lot of mist and light rain…a few patches of heavier rain. It was weekend and there seemed to be less traffic. The fall foliage was wonderful during the short periods where the weather did not obscure it! There were several rest stops along the way that had roses blooming. I was surprised by the strong exhaust smell as several rest stops; it was a cool day, and perhaps more vehicles were keeping running than usual – or maybe the weather was holding the fumes closer to the ground; I didn’t linger. My car has a range of about 400 miles, so I don’t have to stop for gas very often; usually that is where I anticipate some vehicle smell rather than at the rest stops. The hotel was just west of Nashville. I was glad I had brought my air purifier along since the hotel room smelled of disinfectant when I first went in.

The second day route completed the trek across Tennessee, crossing the Mississippi River on the bridge that was shut down with the discovery of structural issues a few days after I crossed it last spring (evidently repairs were completed), and then across Arkansas. I’m about 200 miles to my destination when I cross into Texas. The weather started out foggy in Tennessee…then sunny in Arkansas and Texas. The temperature started out at 50 and climbed to 80. The drivers seemed to get more aggressive as the day progressed – and the speed limits were higher with more traffic! Fortunately, there were no accidents along the route to slow me down (as there had been in the spring). I learned more about the solar panels around one of the rest stops in Tennessee since there was a person at the desk (they feed the grid and the university that installed them gets the credit!). I appreciated a rest stop in Arkansas that is closed but has port-o-potties; it was perfectly placed for when I needed a stop and, of course, I had hand sanitizer in the car. The trees were still green on the second day….fewer trees along the route. The welcome center in Texarkana had its usual neatly trimmed landscaping. There some roses blooming at my last rest stop.

I acquired a TxTag for the toll roads in Texas and Oklahoma to make it a little less expensive and avoid having to stop for tolls in Oklahoma when I head back on a more northern route though Springfield.

Overall – a good trek. I did it in 2 days and made it to my destination when I wanted…but I don’t want to do it that quickly again!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 11, 2021

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Wind Energy Accounted for 42% of New US Power in 2020 – And solar was 38% of the new energy. And 8 east coast states have large offshore wind projects in the works in the years ahead. Hurray! It’s a good trend and it looks like the slope of the trend will keep increasing for wind and solar (decrease and go to 0 for new natural gas).

How people respond to wildfire smoke -  Another reason to slip on a mask.

Devastating Rain in Tennessee – A map of the change in soil moisture between August 20 and August 21. The floods on August 21 in Tennessee (area circled on the map) killed at least 22 people. I was surprised that there was an area of Illinois (to the north and a little west of the flash flood circle) where the soil moisture increased even more; perhaps that area floods frequently and the area is managed with flooding in mind.

New analysis reveals Vesuvius Victims’ diverse diets – From analysis of Herculaneum skeletons. Men got more of their protein from seafood. Women ate more meat grown on land, eggs and dairy products.

Eye provide peek at Alzheimer’s disease risk – Amyloid plaques can form in retinas of the eye. Does their presence there provide a visible biomarker for detecting Alzheimer’s risk?

Top 25 birds of the week: Wild Birds! – Bird photography…..challenging and beautiful subjects for our cameras.

Have you seen a weasel lately? – There is a suspicion that weasels are in the decline…but the data is circumstantial. These are not predators that have been widely studied. The post points to a role for citizen scientists!

Dispatches from a world aflame – Reviews of two books about the recent fires…and the relation to climate change.

Preemption of Green Cities in Red States – At a time when we need to get serious about addressing climate change – a drive by some states to keep local governments from taking any action. There is a cognitive dissonance between historically arguing for local control then usurping that control when the state government does not agree with it. I like local control but acknowledge that higher up the governance hierarchy could make sweeping changes easier. Perhaps some of these state governments will redeem themselves by quickly taking strong action toward climate change reduction and mitigation – soon. The top issue for me when I vote these days has become climate change!

Climate Change Is The Greatest Threat To Public Health, Top Medical Journals Warn – Another reason that actions to address climate change must be at the forefront of our thinking about the future. Medicine cannot make up for the injury we are making to ourselves and every living thing on the planet.

Road Trip from Maryland and Texas

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The road trip from Maryland and Texas was done in two days…stopping in Dickson TN for the night. It was done on a weekend when I thought the traffic would be lighter. It was a pretty drive with redbuds blooming along the highway. Virginia apparently plants them along the interstate. The dogwoods were beginning to bloom as well. I got through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and half through Tennessee on the first day. I tried to take pictures at the rest stops which were all open along the route. Virginia seems to have more frequent ones that the other states.

The adaptive cruise control made the driving easy….until I got into Tennessee and there was an accident that closed the highway. Traffic was stopped for over an hour – no way to detour. It made the day longer and more exhausting. I was glad that the daylight lasted until I was at the hotel. I opted to eat food from the ice chest rather than get a takeout or drive through meal.

The second day drive started at sunrise at the Best Western and ended at my Parents house. The route was through the rest of Tennessee (some fog in the morning), then Arkansas (lots of construction around Little Rock and a huge traffic jam when the construction took the Interstate down to a single lane), and Texas. The rest stops were open except in Arkansas where several were closed.

There was another Interstate closing accident when I was only a hour away from my destination but there was a detour around it that my nav system guided me through – so it only added about 30 minutes to my arrival time.

Overall – there are some lessons learned from the road trip that I will apply on the way back:

  • I had rounded up on the food/drinks I had in the car with me and that worked well since stopping for takeout/drive through would have been stressful.

  • I drank a Gatorade on both days because I felt like my hands were going to cramp by the end of the day. I’ll do it again for the trek home.

  • Most people were masked at Interstate rest stops…but not always at the inside part of gas stations (I stopped a Love’s and Shell). On the way home, I’ll prioritize stopping at rest stops to avoid going into facilities at gas stations. Even though I am fully vaccinated – I am not comfortable being around people inside buildings that are not masked.

  • The motel worked well. Checking in was quick – with a person behind a clear barrier in the lobby – and the lobby was otherwise empty. The air conditioning/heating was on an outer wall of the room – not shared. I ran my air purifier for about 30 minutes before I took off my mask but that was probably not necessary. I’ll look for similar accommodation for the trek home.

  • Doing the drive from Maryland to Texas in two days is overwhelming if there are serious accidents that close the Interstate along the route. I arrived exhausted. Next time I make the trek, I’ll consider 3 days and plan some sight seeing along the route if there are not accidents that slow down the drive. My route home from this trip will be up to Springfield for a few days before heading back to Maryland….so a different route and shorter drive days.

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2021

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And 2021 is off to a roaring start. Even with the jarring events of Jan. 6 and the pandemic still raging, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate in January 2021.

Bluebirds at our bird feeder –I celebrate when a bluebird group comes to our deck since it doesn’t happen very often. They seem to show up most frequently when there is snow and ice!

Piliated woodpecker in our forest – They don’t come to our deck…but are in our forest. I see them a few times each the winter when the leaves aren’t in the way. Their red heads are like flames. I think I saw a bald eagle a few times too this January. Even the fleeting sight of these birds is a celebration.

Amanda Gordan and the transition to a new President – A young poet and a shift toward hope for our troubled country toward a ‘forming a more perfect union’

Tennessee Crane Festival (virtual) – Lots of good webinars….dreaming about going to the place in January 2022. Celebrating learning about the place this year…and anticipating a visit.

Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival (virtual) – We went in 2019…hope to go to Florida again in January 2022. Celebrating the virtual version this year.

Success making a cheese omelet – I tend to make scrambled eggs but have omelet pans to cook them.  This month I opted to try making an omelet – perfect on the first try…celebrated the accomplishment (and the meal)!

Steak lunch – Our January days have been pretty cold, but my husband grilled on one of the warmer sunny days. A special lunch.

Carrot – coconut – chicken salad – I’ve discovered that if I layer a spoonful of orange marmalade, carrots, canned chicken, and coconut in a bowl….microwave it for a minute…stir…it makes a warm version of a favorite salad to enjoy in winter. Celebrating warm salads!

Howard County Sustainability Legislative Breakfast – Getting an update of what is happening locally re sustainability. I celebrated that good things are being worked at both the county and state level!

Tree trunk macros – It was a short project that I enjoyed a lot. The color and texture of winter tree trunks in our yard were celebration worthy!

Tennessee Sandhill Cranes

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The Virtual Celebration of the Cranes hosted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is history…but there are videos available on their Facebook page. My favorite video is the hour-long Coffee with Cranes; it includes the morning activity of the cranes near the confluence of the Tennessee and Hiawassee Rivers and the intermittent commentary about cranes…a wonderful virtual field trip. I appreciated that I was warm inside while watching the birds in the light snow (with the bundled up commentators occasionally chiming in with sandhill crane info). The high point of the video is near the end – a large number of birds were startled from another field and flew into the mowed corn/millet field they were filming in the last 3-4 minutes of the hour!

I am full of plans for next January…attending this festival in-person and making a side trip down to Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama (further down the Tennessee River and another location where there are lots of cranes in the winter).

If we wanted a road trip to see cranes earlier in the season – we might visit the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area in Indiana. The peak number of birds at that location usually occurs in December and the birds migrate further south as it gets colder.  

We could do a themed birding travel year around sandhill cranes:

  • September for Yampa Valley Cranes (Colorado)

  • November for Bosque del Apache Festival of the Cranes (New Mexico)

  • December for Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area (Indiana)

  • January for Hiawassee/Tennessee River confluence and Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (Tennessee and Alabama)

  • March for Platte River migrating cranes (Nebraska)

Of course – there are other birds (lots of waterfowl and some raptors) to see along with the cranes at the various locations…and we’d see both western and easter flocks…mostly greater sandhill cranes but some lesser sandhills in the west. There might be some whooping cranes with the sandhills in the east!

Maybe I’ll find other locations to add before we set out – or maybe this turns into a multi-year series of trips. It’s post-COVID travel to look forward to! We know a lot more after all the virtual festivals we’ve enjoyed during our ‘stay at home as much as possible’ time since last March.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 30, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

US-born residents more than 5 times likely to use prescription opioids than new immigrants -- ScienceDaily – Evidently new immigrants are often healthier than non-immigrants despite their poorer background….which is a clue that there is something about American culture that influences opioid use.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week: Spectacular – National Geographic Society Newsroom – Enjoy the birds! We are enjoying the birds coming to our feeder and (heated) bird bath…in the trees around our house. They are easier to see now that the leaves have fallen from the tees.

50 Fish, 50 States: Small Stream Wonders – Cool Green Science – Lots of small fish! When we are in the streams with high school students, we often find small fish but since they aren’t what we are looking for – we simply put them back without identification. Maybe I should look for a simple small fish ID to take a long and start to photograph them too.

A Giant Treehouse 'Like A Castle' Is Destroyed By Fire In Tennessee: NPR – My sister and I visited this giant treehouse in 2012 when we were in that area of Tennessee. Sad that it’s gone.

Hurricanes have become bigger and more destructive for USA -- ScienceDaily – An expensive trend.

When Turkeys Attack – I’m glad the wild turkey population is recovering….hope we can develop strategies to co-exist!

Scientists study impact of sediments and nutrients from Conowingo Dam on Chesapeake Bay -- ScienceDaily – Close to home. The base of Conowingo Dam is where we go to view Bald Eagles. There is a lot of concern now about the sediment build up in the reservoir --- state governments and the utility are working to determine best options for prolonging the energy generation capacity of the dam and improving water quality into the bay.

Big Box Stores Leading the Shift to Renewable Energy - News | Planetizen – Wal-Mart and Target are all in….what about other big box stores? What about owners of shopping centers? Lots of stores are in leased spaces.

Five Architectural Firms Retained to Redesign National Mall Tidal Basin – Another ‘close to home’ in this set of gleanings. This one is in the District of Columbia. Think of the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms. Flooding has increased over the time we have living in this area (now over 35 years). Hope they can develop a good design and get the funding to implement it.

Manta Ray Populations Have Complex Social Structures | The Scientist Magazine® - A study of the reef mantas as they aggregate around the reefs of the eastern Indonesian archipelago Raja Ampat. The study showed two distinct groupings: one dominated by older females and the other a mix of sexes and ages.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 19, 2019

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

New report deepens understanding of wind-wildlife interactions -- ScienceDaily – This article overviews the report. The 24 page report is available here. The amount of collaboration between the industry, government, conservation, academic and scientific organizations is significant and ongoing.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Celebrates Forests – Maybe I’ll go to Vermont for this festival next September – if it’s an annual event.

These surreal jarred fish tell an urgent story of extinction – The Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection – nearly 8 million preserved fish…a window into how 20th century development changed the Southeastern US fish….a record of that destruction.

No bones about it, this protein slows down fracture-healing -- ScienceDaily - Abundance of ApoE may explain why older people have trouble healing broken bones. Turning off ApoE completely causes fat to be deposited in arteries (a cardiovascular problem) so treatment options may involve lowering ApoE for short periods of time.

O Canada! We Like Your Food Guide – Food guides from Canada (and some other countries) … some differences from the US. Canada merges ‘dairy’ in with protein foods rather than featuring it as an independent group.

Scientists Are Getting Better at Predicting Hurricane Intensity – A new algorithm has been developed to include the complicated physical mechanisms of tropical cyclone dynamics and the way they interact with upper-ocean and atmospheric circulation. It may reduce the error of tropical cyclone prediction within a 24-hour period by 16%. Every little bit of improvement in prediction means better preparations when an intense storm is approaching.

Artworks of the Dark Zone – From caves in Tennessee and Alabama. Artwork incised in mud and inscriptions. A slideshow.

How Penn State is Cutting Greenhouse Emissions in Half – and Saving Money – Kudos to Penn State. I wonder how many other universities are doing similar things.

Empty Meditative Landscapes Visualize the Tranquil Beauty of Silence – A visual treat

Ed Hawkins “Climate Stripes” May be the Most Important Science Image so Far in This Century – Effective visualization of lots of data…becomes information. The next step is action.

Road Trip to Texas – Part 2

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The next morning, we were up and having breakfast shortly after it the service opened at 6 AM. It was a cold start to the day – a frosty morning in Dickson Tennessee. The sun was just coming up through the trees we loaded the car and headed out about 6:30. We’d were already on central time so would not benefit from a time change on this leg of our trek.

The first rest stop was about an hour later. I cheered when the vending machines had my favorite caffeine drink (diet Pepsi). The day was still chilly but not frosty. The rose bushes at the rest stop were full of buds.

Our next stop was the welcome center after we crossed into Arkansas. It was a newer facility with some interesting architecture and posters; my favorite poster was the one of ‘mud bugs.’

We had a long wait on the highway that added more than an hour to our drive; a truck had lost part of its load and a crane had to be brought in to move it off the roadway. When we went by all the traffic was slowly funneled by on a shoulder. We recovered with a barbeque lunch near just before we got to Little Rock.

Then it was on to Texarkana and the welcome center for Texas. It’s a little tricky to exit the highway for the place…it was large with relatively few people around.

The next stop was the old-style Texas rest stop with tile mosaics unique to the place. The surprise of the stop was the historical marker; my sister recognized the name from her genealogy work!

The last stop of the trek was just before we entered the Dallas traffic…wanted to make sure we were in good shape for the final push to our destination.

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Road Trip to Texas – Part 1

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I drove from Maryland to Texas with my sister earlier this week….a 2 day trek. We left my house about 6:30 AM and headed west on I70 rather the dealing with the traffic around Washington DC. I am getting very familiar with the South Mountain rest stop since this is the route to the Pittsburgh and State College as well. This trip – it was in the low 40s and wet. The daffodils were blooming.

We got to I81 and headed south through West Virginia and then into Virginia. The welcome center in Virginia is a green facility….and has the big LOVE in front too.

The next stop was as an older Virginia rest stop but is one of my favorite with a terrace for picnic tables. We talked fast to get some exercise…and because it was too cold to dawdle.

The next stop was for gasoline. The flowers in the wooden pot were past prime but I appreciated them anyway. The Prius was doing well although the wind was beginning to pick up and I was aware that I was gripping the wheel a bit too hard.

We had food for lunch in the car so used the stops for walking around. There were daffodils again at the next stop.

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Finally, we got to Tennessee. The rest stops along the interstate have a log cabin side and rock cabin side. I like the rock side since they are rock from the immediate area.

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We were making fast stops because the temperature was dropping. There was a dusting of snow along the highway between Knoxville and Nashville! The wind was gusting and made it feel very cold.

The last stop before we got to the hotel in Dickson, TN had a different kind of rock and a historical marker for Senator Albert Gore Sr…and the interstate highway system.

Tomorrow I’ll post about the second day of the road trip.