This has almost nothing to do with the Church or Tradition. It’s simply me taking an opportunity to complain more or less publicly about the difficulty and danger, leading to great frustration, of driving on certain Interstate highways and sharing that space with the big trucks.
Don’t get me wrong: I love my food and my “stuff” as much as anyone, in the latter case probably too much. I know the truckers are performing a critical service and we need them, because the railroads can’t go everywhere, and they’re mostly dead or dying anyway. So we depend on the truckers for most of what we buy. That’s fine.
It’s just that they are so darned big, and there are so many of them on the Interstates, that it’s less and less enjoyable to drive long distances every year. My bride of 41 years and I have the blessing of owning two houses, one in rural northwest Illinois and the primary residence in the Dallas area. We have family in the NW Illinois town and we love going there, especially in the summer when things get a bit toasty in Texas. I have always loved to drive cross-country, but as I get older and crabbier, the prospect of traversing some sections of our preferred route is becoming something to dread, rather than to anticipate eagerly as I once did.
I’m not talking about the urban areas we pass through, but rather the rural stretches in between. Maybe some other time I will use this space to rant about trying to get through the Oklahoma City area in one piece. Instead I wish to whine about Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa, between Davenport and Des Moines. Second worst is I-35 between OKC and Denton, TX.
Both of these stretches are so loaded with big rigs that, during the day at least, one cannot possibly travel at the posted speeds (or maybe a touch faster 😉) without being forced to play Roller Derby with the bigs for what lately seems like hours. For those of you unfamiliar with Roller Derby, the point is how often one gets trapped in the passing lane while one big rig passes another, especially going uphill, which forces a loaded truck to slow down, along with everyone behind it. It’s a real test of patience, for which I pray, but so far have failed to learn well.
So, inasmuch as I seem incapable of cooperating with God’s grace well enough to stop letting this bother me, I instead have decided that we need those cool flying cars like George Jetson had.
No extra lanes needed! Just fly along the highways above the trucks! They, of course, would be required to remain on the ground. I expect most truckers would be as happy to be rid of us on the highway as we of them. What a deal!
Now all we need is for someone to invent them and build them. Elon Musk, I’m looking at you! 👀
God bless all here!
In Ministerium Maiorum 