Seen on the Road

We went on a little road trip this weekend to visit friends who live about 90 minutes north of us on the interstate.  

I was the passenger so paid attention to this and that and I noticed a few things. One was a commercial truck with a sign on the rear bumper that read "No Lot Lizards".

Call me unsophisticated, I had never heard the term before so I looked it up. 

Apparently Lot Lizard is a term for the prostitutes working truck stops.  They often use CB radios to solicit or go truck to truck ("like a lizard going from rock to rock"), knocking on cab windows, etc. hustling drivers.

A study was done in January of this year looking at the potentially elevated risk for HIV among long haul truckers in the US due to the opportunities for unprotected "highway sex".  Another article targeting drivers suggested that in order to sleep undisturbed/unsolicited, they should place a bumper sticker (like the one I saw) on their vehicle, or leave a bible or cross in a lit area of their front window.

Next thing that caught my eye was a billboard for a McDonald's in Jarrell, Texas, that said "This is God's Country.  Don't drive through it like hell.".  

On the first leg of the trip I only caught the first line "This is God's Country".  I mentioned this to my husband.  "Look - God has a country now.  I didn't know God had a country.  What happened to the idea that God is everywhere?" I asked.  

He replied "That's just a religious way to say 'we are better than you are.'".

"Nope," I disagreed, "that's not religious, that's  secular bullshit.  Just because somebody uses the word 'God' in a sentence doesn't make it religious.". 

I saw an ad on the side of a modest looking motel that said, "Family in town?  Value Inn".  

I started to laugh.  What the subtext of that sign was, "Family in town?  When you don't want them staying at your house because frankly you don't want to spend that much time with them, Value Inn."

Last observation but not least, nearly everybody was talking on their cell phones while hurtling along the interstate in steady traffic at 65-70 miles per hour.

If this practice is really all that dangerous then we need to be scared more about doing that with such regularity, and people need to be pulled over and ticketed for doing so.

If it is not all that dangerous then they need to quit writing articles suggesting it is causing more accidents than speeding or drunk driving.    Either this behavior is the scourge of the highways or they are making a fuss for nothing.  

Which is it, people?  Make up your minds and let me know.

Finally?  Gosh.  It is so very very good to visit friends and get away for a while but it is even better to be back home.  Hope you had a good weekend.

And, wherever you are, I hope you are happy there, too.