Friday, January 21, 2011

On the Road Again . . .

by Jean Henry Mead

I've been on the road for nearly two weeks and will arrive home this afternoon. I've been attempting to write a post for today but various hotel wifi connections refuse to cooperate, and I'm wondering how Mark Danielson accomplishes the feat from hotel rooms around the world. Kudos, Mark.

We've been traveling the nation's central back roads, including the Texas Panhandle, where we've seen an alarming number of abandoned buildings and littered highways. My vote for the trashiest town in the West is Dumas, Texas, where the gutters are filled and roadways are in desperate need of highway cleanup crews. But that's true throughout the region. It seems that littering has come back into vogue. A sign of the times? I hope not.

The Gulf Coast region was socked in with fog, rain, clouds and cold wind as well as muddy ocean waves, and we arrived in Yukon, a suburb of Oklahoma City, just before their latest storm, which left the city paralyzed with glare ice and snow. I'm firmly convinced that climatologists' warnings of global cooling and a mini ice age by the year 2040 is valid. Just ask the residents of the southern states, whom I'm sure will agree.

The entire trip hasn't been depressing and I'll report more on my trip in two weeks when I hope that my words won't keep disappering from the screen.

Signing off from Lamar, Colorado.

5 comments:

Mark W. Danielson said...

Signing on from Dubai:) Posting on the road, or from any hotel room for that matter, is easy when you're traveling alone. I'll be flying to Hong Kong in a few hours, then back home. Around the world in six days.

I get far more done on the road than at home, even when I go out for long walks like I did in Paris a couple of days ago. Fewer distractions means more productivity. Glad you had a safe trip, Jean.

Jean Henry Mead said...

I'm not sure what was causing the problem, Mark, but entire paragraphs were disappearing off the screen. It could be my laptop. And I'm glad to be home.

Jaden Terrell said...

I look forward to reading about your adventures, Jean.

Maybe your computer gremlin just felt he or she deserved a vacation too.

Bill Kirton said...

Sounds as if you collected plenty of material for the next few books, Jean. Welcome home.

Jean Henry Mead said...

Thanks, Beth (Jaden) and Bill. It was quite a trip and I did collect a lot of research tidbits to use in future novels. Hopefully, I haven't alienated my Texas readers, some of the friendliest people on the planet.