I really do enjoying driving. I may not be great at it, but most of the time I find it really relaxing. Now, today, I drove about 8 hours and that’s a little too much; however, the first four hours were pretty great. I was headed out to East Texas and let me tell you, THAT is the country. I’m pretty sure that the show Hoarders would hit the jackpot if they did a casting call out there. I’ve never seen people with more s*** in their front yards. I can only imagine what their houses look like.
Another thing I come across quite a bit is old cemeteries. This may seem a little morbid, but I love old cemeteries. When my brother and I were younger, our family would go out to the woods where they were building a highway (which is now 360). We found fossils and huge turtles. It was really cool and I have great memories of that. One day, we happened upon the Bear Creek Cemetery. It’s really old. Of course, as a young child, I was scared to go in there, but once my Dad started pointing out graves from the 1800’s, my curiosity was piqued. There was so much history there. Ever since, I’ve had a fondness for the peacefulness and the stories of cemeteries. A couple of years ago, when I was having a really difficult time, I went to the old Bear Creek Cemetery and just spent an hour by myself walking around. It was during the summer, right before a rainstorm so the air was thick and the sky was starting to turn a grayish blue. All of a sudden, it started pouring and there was lightening all around me. PERFECTION! It was exactly what I needed.
Isn’t it funny? I was incredibly scared of that place, but I found something to appreciate about it and now I can find comfort there…
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t make a habit of hanging out in cemeteries, but I like the fact that I can find solace in such an unlikely place.
Today, for the first time, I also saw chicken farms. I’m not talking about Old MacDonald and his little chickens running around in the yard. I’m talking about long warehouses with no windows and very little ventilation where chickens are packed in so tightly that they can’t move. The farmers like this, because if the birds can’t move, they gain more weight. More weight = more $$$ for the farmers. More weight also means that the birds’ legs usually can’t support the bird and they become immobile. I had read about these and knew they existed, but I didn’t think I’d ever see one. I saw many. There was one super close to the highway so I decided to pull over and just see if I could see anything. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was not prepared for what I observed. The sound and the smell were overwhelming. All I could think was that those animals had never and would never see daylight. I quickly got back into the car, riddled with guilt and drove off. I won’t be stopping to check out any farms any time soon. I suppose I prefer the dead to the soon-to-be-dead.
On a lighter note, I also saw a three-legged cow today. That was strange, but it made me think that his farmer must love him because I’m sure it would be easy for a farmer to put a cow like that down since it can’t be sold for meat…at least, legally.
Wow! I can see how the people who live in the backwoods of East Texas get their reputation for being off their rockers. I was their for four hours and I feel like a looney tune!!!
Okay…enough of that. I’ve got a headache and I need some good sleep tonight. There’s a chance that we’ll be snowed in tomorrow and I’m secretly hoping that we will!!!
Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite 🙂