1. I’ve heard of wild turkeys, but boy was I surprised to see three different sightings of them on the road side in west Texas.
2. I had heard about the “Prada Marfa” art work that is a building that looks like a Prada storefront, but was quite surprised to see several cars parked so that they could visit the art work. (At the cost of $80,000, this “artsy” storefront in the middle of nowhere seems rather odd to me – we drove by it quite accidentally.)
3. Now that Barnes & Noble has come into so many cities across the United States and gotten rid of the mom & pop bookstores, I was pleasantly surprised to find a town in Texas with a population around 6000 with two book stores and what looks like a very nice little library with a sign that says “Second Best Small Library in America.” Great to know Alpine, Texas has so many readers!
4. As we were heading into El Paso, on I-10 (a major interstate) we saw a couple who had pulled over onto an entrance ramp, who were digging up a Yucca plant to apparently take with them. That was odd indeed!
5. Right as we were heading into El Paso, Texas we saw a dust twister, and leaving that same city we saw another dust twister an one side of the highway, with another dust twister on the other side of the highway. That’s a whole lot of dust twisting!
6. Outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico we saw a sign that said “Dust storms my exist. Zero visibility possible.” Not a sign that fosters a lot of faith in one’s driving abilities.
7. Same area as # 6, I wonder about the people who live out in this desert, how their lungs must be…
8. Same area as # 6, shame on me for thinking that San Antonio possibly going into stage 3 water restrictions is a drag.
9. A lot of the buildings/homes in the Mission Hills area of San Diego made me think of David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot’s home. The deco style architecture in a lot of the places was just too cool: bubble glass, curved walls, angles inside of other angles, etc.
10. As we were driving to a wonderful area (Point Loma), we saw a real life mailman walking from one house to the next, delivering the mail. With the advent of all these collection boxes that are now so common, neither of us had seen a walking mailman in years unless you count the one we saw recently in an episode of the old Hazel television show.
This concludes my “Oddities from the Road” entry, although, who knows, there may be a part 2 in the future.
P.S. >>> Thanks to all of you who have given us some California traveling tips. We are adding those we can into our trip.
Alfred says
Danna are u and husband anywhere around where the fertilizer blast was in Texas last night up to 15 dead and was concerned about u.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
No, Alfred, we are not at all close to the fertilizer plant explosion. What a terrible accident!
Kate says
We have so many wild turkeys here in the ‘burbs of Northern California that it has become a problem in many towns. The Marfa Prada was just on ’60 Minutes’ this past Sunday, so maybe that drew the crowd? Safe travels!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kate, at first I thought the wild turkeys we saw were vultures. I’ll watch for them in northern California.
I’m sorry I missed that 60 Minutes. We might, maybe, perhaps would have stopped. It was just strange driving through this big, vast empty nothingness of a desert, and seeing these cars stopping to see this Marfa Prada storefront.
Laura says
Ditto, Kate! Wild turkeys are everywhere in the foothills of the South Bay and the East Bay. They are a problem when they invade the yards of suburbia and damage vegetation.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kate & Laura –
Yuck, and here I’ve been complaining about our grackles! The wild turkeys we saw were a lot bigger than our dog was. I’m sure I wouldn’t have felt safe letting her go out in the yard with those big birds hopping/flying around.
Donna says
This may sound naive but y’all don’t have walking mailmen anymore??? We still have them in the neighborhoods of our small (very small) town, although out in the sticks where I live now, we have what is known as a “rural carrier” and a mailbox by the side of the road.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nope, Donna, our mailwoman “delivers the mail” in a large group of about 75 to 100 boxes that are all together. Each house in an area uses the same huge grouping of individual mail boxes. None of the houses in our area have individual mail boxes at their homes.
Donna says
PS I enjoyed reading your list, Danna, and meant to comment on some other items, but that little bit about the mailman threw me for a loop! I need to get out more…:-)
Mark says
I also mourn independent bookstores…but as a Kindle owner sometimes I feel like I may be part of the problem! If you are going through Tucson on your way back to Texas you should check out Bookman’s Used Books on Speedway. It’s so big they have maps to help you find your way around 🙂
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mark, I’m a Kindle owner too, but I like to blame Barnes & Noble!
(Alas, we aren’t going through Tucson on our way home. I wish we had known about Bookman’s Used Books when we went through…)
Susan* says
Now that sounds like ‘my’ kind of bookstore, Mark! Lol!
Laura says
Danna, seriously number four sounds totally illegal. It would be in California, anyway.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Laura, I’m pretty sure it would be illegal in any state. I had never seen anything like it before, and doubt I ever will again. The “Hmmm, I like that.” mentality that some people apparently have.
Andrea KPM says
I was also surprised to see your mailman comment! I think in CA you will see north or south that older neighborhoods have walking mailmen/women, newer planned developments have central box areas. I get the walking delivery, my daughter and her family 2.5 miles away have the central boxes. Your trip really sounds interesting, I love travel like you are doing!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Andrea KPM, I guess the there is a substantial post office economic savings in the newer developments that have central boxes, but there’s something so nostalgic about seeing a mailman/woman walking the beat.
Mary H says
You should have been in El Paso the weekend of April 13th! They blew down the ASARCO stacks. Then the following day they blew down our City Hall building to make room for the new baseball stadium. Tons of dust everywhere!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mary H, it sounds like El Paso is doing a lot of renovating. Every time I drive through your city, I think of my parents – who met while living there.