Mileage: 1705
Mood: :(
States visited: 8
Highlights: gallivanting on Orange Beach.
A few thoughts: Eisenhower, gotta be the most brilliant guy that ever lived. From being a five star general (where he engineered the invasion of Europe), to being a the president of the country. However, his greatest achievement has to be his idea of coming up with the Interstate Highway system. You don’t appreciate the power of the highways until you spend time traveling on it, more than three days at least. Like, I was traveling on I-55 for five days! And now, I’m on I-10, East. I will join I-95 North, all the way to Boston. The ability to move goods easily across vast distances, has had a contributory factor to the economy of the country. These, are American Icons. Thank you President Eisenhower. Oh, by the way, the highway systems in Florida, they are the best I have traveled on so far. The only thing that makes them come second to Iowa's is that, they don't have wireless internet on their Rest Areas. Other than that, they have the best facilities (compared to those in Mississippi; Louisiana; Missouri, Arkansas etc) Plus, they have phones along the highway, and if there is a breakdown you can call for help! Awesome. I have just changed my mind, Florida's highways systems are better than those of Iowa; they are the best.
The city, is under sea level, meaning that if another hurricane/earthquake/engineering failure/high sea levels or combination there off comes again, the city will be under water…again. The city was devastated by the hurricane. Instead of rebuilding the city at it's same location, a prudent person embused with foresight would build somewhere else, like relocate the city away from the dual dangers of storm surges and the like. Why would I spend $98 billion dollars to build the city at the same dangerous location?? I could use it to build it somewhere else or something. But then again, inherent in all of us is nostalgia: the reluctance to give up the past!, especially if that past is awesome. It is a human condition/nature to want to hold on to the past, to cling to what was once. In the same picture, the human condition neglects reality, totally refuses to face reality. When the mayor comes along and says "we will rebuild the city…," people cling to that, even if it is not the right thing to do. New Orleans, will be under water some other day again, and people will wonder why our generation refused to listen and relocate the city. It is with these considerations that my last journal entry proclaimed 'rebuilding New Orleans, is an exercise in lunacy." Some of you, had begged to differ with me.
I drove through a tunnel in Mobile yesterday. It was weird, luckily the tunnel was short. There after, I visited the USS Alabama museum. The ship is very big, and it reawakened my former soldier hero-worshipping emotions. I like the military, wouldn't mind saving in one. There are lots of attributes one can gain in the army: valuing honor, honesty, a sense of duty to thyself and thy superiors, and the ability to trust those in your platoon. The army, an awesome 'social institution' as my Soc 101 professor would say. The battleship, looked really nice. I presume the men who saved under had full pride, and loved her. The budget of the military, is 1000000 times the GDP of Zimbabwe. Just very big…super big. (Overhead: "If you go to Greece you would be hungry coz they save small things like they do in Japan." "No you won't, the Greeks are the original super-sizers! ")
Just outside Mobile, I visited 'Orange Beach' a little town holy dependent on selling their soul to tourism. The beach was awesome, the bad thing being that I got there late, just after sunset, and I asked a half naked couple to take some pics of me. The pictures are not that clear, just dark. I hope I will get to go to the beach in St. Augustine, the first Spanish enclave in the North America. I tasted the water when I was traversing Orange Beach :$ And yes indeed, it was salty… The town, is still recovering from hurricane Irvine, I was told by the couple I was hanging out with. Wading into the warm, transparent waters of the Gulf of Mexico, I couldn't help it but feel a sense of wonder. My wish is that I ought to have taken a ritual plunge into the soothing, waters, whose waves lapping at my ankle were ticklish.
I saw oil tankers, really huge. I didn't see any off-shore drilling platforms though. I remember some guy somewhere saying 'These oil rigs, they attract the sorriest bunch of all losers.' It's tough to work on an oil rig, and I think I would love it. Do you think I ought to ditch college and go to find work at an oil rig……… ? Anyway, this also showed me the role played by the Mississippi Delta. There were lots of oil tankers, and that’s why we are still paying high gas prices due to events from last year. The weird part about gas prices? The vary a lot. (sound*: 'they range from $3.00 in the big cities, to $1.86 in some places! I have found out that the best place to buy gas, is just outside the cities, in those loci the price is very low.
*I have mp3 voice recordings of most of my thoughts. If you need to hear one, just ask me and I will sent it to you.
*I also have video clips and of course tonnes of pictures.
*the journal entries are not edited (I have no intention of doing so) and as such the writing can be a little not ok, euphemistically speaking.
