Beartooth Ride - 2007: Day 12 - Childress, TX

Up at 5:30 a.m., packed, breakfasted, and on the road by 6:30. Why? I don't know.

Took I-25 South through Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinidad, and into Raton, NM.

Now I'm back on the roads I took to get to Colorado...and you know how much I like to repeat roads.

Oh, returned through Clayton, NM on US87. If you remember day 2, I pointed out the aroma therapy options open to the Dept. of Homeland Security if they'd just move those Gitmo prisoners to the feedlot just north of Clayton. The situation didn't improve in the few days since I'd last been through. In fact, there was a road repair crew working on the highway adjacent to the feedlot and I honestly don't know how they did it. I kept holding my breath until I just about passed out then gulped a replacement and held again until I passed the place. Kept getting whiffs of the place for the next 100 miles. I think it'd permeated my clothing.

Stopped at the Rabbit Ear cafe in Clayton for a quick lunch at about 11:30. The service drew about 25 inches of mercury. Evidently they had reservations for 11 for lunch and the entire place was consumed with making this happen. Woe unto the single solitary just-off-the-road customer who had the audacity to want service. After sitting in my booth adjacent to all the preparations for about 10 minutes I stood and walked to the counter, grabbed a menu, and sat down across from this lovely young waitress busily making table set-ups; one supposes for the eagerly awaited reservations. I remarked to her that, perhaps, I could get served at the counter. Aware of my dilemma, she apologized, then turned to the other waitress (the only other...and the one who so conspicuously ignored me earlier) and told her I needed to order. It's the waiter/waitress Freddie Prince thing: "Not my station." The first waitress took my order (BLT...how difficult can it be?), brought my coffee, and promptly forgot me until about 15 minutes later when an authority figure from the kitchen came by and asked me if that was my BLT that'd been waiting in the window. I replied in the affirmative and she ordered my waitress to get it for me. I ate my sandwich and, realizing that my chances for a coffee refill were somewhere between Slim and None and Slim'd left town, I got up, went to the register and waited yet again for my waitress to write up the ticket. I paid and left without leaving a tip.

I mention this because I've been noticing a real drop in service in restaurants on this trip. A similar thing happened in a big truck stop restaurant this afternoon. I had to move to a section that had, apparently, live bodies. Frankly, asking for service from people being paid minimum wage in the richest country in the world seems to me to be pretty arrogant anyway. I suspect we're getting what we're paying for...and no more. But, you'll note that congress is currently arguing about saving something on the order of $13B by eliminating subsidies for 31,000 wealthy farmers (read corporations). In case you don't wish to do the math, that's an average of approximately $419,000 per farmer. Meanwhile they fought like hell over raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.95 per hour. By the way, the ag bill will pass without cutting the $13B subsidy because the wealthy farmers spent $44.6M on political contributions and $193M on lobbying last year. If there's one thing Nancy Pelosi (Dem Leader) and John Boehner (Rep Leader) can agree on it's how to keep that ol' get-me-elected contribution party going.

And, for all my conservative friends, please rail like hell to me about the costs of welfare and "entitlement government" just one more f*&king time. Please tell me again how giving money to the rich so they can invest it in factories and production is better than giving money to the poor who spend it on products allowing the producers to invest it in factories and production. Oh yeah, and oh, please, please, trickle down my back again...and tell me it's raining. (END OF RANT.)

No real pictures today. Just more lots and lots of nothing. I like to collect pictures of unique Texas County Courthouses. I've sort of got a coffee table book on the subject in the back of my brain. Picked up two today.