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More thoughts from a far more crowded road [1]
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Date: 2022-10-28
This past Thursday I finished my trip returning home. While I much prefer back roads it was a 12 hour trip on the interstate, so that was the plan. It took me nearly an hour to drive the first 25 miles on the beltway to catch I 66 West to I 81 south. Leaving the beltway a couple of exits west is the headquarters of the NRA looming over the road much like they loom over society. Dark and brooding. Once I reached I 81, US 11 runs parallel down the Shenandoah Valley. US 11 runs from the Thousand Islands at the New York/Canadian border to New Orleans. At one time or another I’ve been on the entire route, although some of it was from childhood. I’ve been up and down that road since before interstates.
I didn’t realize that it was National Hog the Passing Lane Day and in Virginia they celebrate with an almost religious zeal. It wasn’t on my calendar. So US 11 it was. The first couple of towns have a lot of Civil War History. New Market has preserved the battlefield. Or at least part that the interstate didn’t appropriate. Given the current divides this was an appropriate reminder of what we face in the coming weeks, months and years. Collectively we never seem to learn from history. Again not too many yard signs. C&L had a piece earlier in the week about the history and efficacy of yard signs. Mostly the more local the race the more important the sign.
It was a long drive and that road was too slow with too many sight seers looking at the last of the fall color. The Shenandoah Valley can be mystical and on this day it certainly was. So it was back the interstate. Truck traffic would indicate the the economy is booming. More like BOOMING! And a substantial portion of that traffic could easily be transported by train. Roughly 10 years ago the state of Virginia spent a lot of time and money looking at completely rebuilding the rail line from Harrisburg, PA to Knoxville, TN. They realized that it would be much cheaper, cost effective and more environmentally friendly. Of course the usual special interests spiked that plan. As always they gain to the country’s detriment.
Being fall it is my time at introspection. My trip involved seeing my elderly mother so there was a lot of contemplation, of the past and the future. The perfect song for the fall is Big Indian (town just down the road from Woodstock in the Catskills, another mystical place) from the Fabulous Rhinestones one of the most overlooked and underrated bands of the era. And as fate would have it in getting this link I learned of Kal David’s recent passing. You were truly an inspiration. Great memories of visiting when you played town. RIP
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