Texas Driving

If you want to learn a lot about a state, listen to their radio stations. As I was leaving Austin Monday morning, the skies opened up immediately after I got on the highway and it started to rain so heavily that I couldn't see a damn thing out my windshield. It was pretty scary. I made a quick decision to exit the highway so I didn't get into an accident nor float away due to flooding, I made my way to a restaurant on a hill. I proceeded to stay there for 15-20 minutes as I saw water gushing down a storm drain in the middle of the parking lot, hoping that my car wouldn't become a boat. Once the storm cleared, I started back on the highway. I was doing pretty well driving through Texas, taking in the scenery when I got to what seemed like a no-human land where I lost complete cell phone reception and my GPS. Dear self, when you are driving by yourself in the middle of nowhere in Texas it would be a good idea to write down your route in case this happens, so you don't start to freak out. While I was driving for miles not seeing a single soul other than cows, I started to panic slightly. I remember joking with friends and family that I hoped that my car wouldn't poop out in this exact situation. I drove and drove and drove and prayed to the car gods and told my car to keep it together and to please help me get to where I needed to go. I knew I needed to turn off at some point and couldn't remember where for the life of me. After driving threw the tiniest of towns where the population was 800 people or less, I found a little gas station and was able to get some help.

If you want to learn a lot about a state, listen to their radio stations. I put on the radio to help shush the part of my mind that was freaking out a little and to take a break from my music and what an education that was. I could only stomach it for fifteen minutes or so but I learned a great deal about Texas and the way many of their folk think, through listening to their few radio stations. Another hour and fifteen minutes later, I was back in the land of the GPS/cell phone reception living. As I was making it to Lubbock, Texas to see my old grad school roomie, I passed by oil country. There were oil rigs scattered like poppy seeds on a bagel and thousands of wind farms as far as the eye could see. I was asking myself, where the hell am I? Oh that's right, I was still in Texas. Thank you car for getting me through Texas and thank you to all the kind strangers who helped me along the way. My thoughts are with those effected by the recent tornado outbreak, I'm also thankful to mother nature that I didn't come face to face with one.