C and I made an unexpected trip up* to South Dakota to see my dad this week (he's fine, btw). And while some people might listen to music or books on tape to while away the six-hour trip, one of the true fascinations of the I-29 corridor from KC to Sioux Falls is the variety of roadkill. The heavy rains from earlier this month seem to have displaced an even larger and more varied assortment of critter than usual.Here's the total from the trip north last Sunday:
Deer: 15
Racoon: 14
Turtle: 9
Opossum: 1
Rabbit: 1
Skunk: 1
UFO: 16
Much of the carnage was spotted in Missouri. Apparently, Iowa does a better job of clearing away the remains. For whatever reason, we didn't spot our first (identifiable) skunk until we were well across the South Dakota border.
No count from yesterday's return trip. We left Sioux Falls two hours before sundown and found ourselves happily distracted by rainbows and, later, lightning.
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*A Word Dork footnote: For me north is always "up" in terms of travel and south is always "down". East and west are usually "over" for short-to-medium trips ("We went over to St. Louis for fried ravioli.") For longer trips, a person goes "back" east and "out" west.
Lee, I completely agree with your direction descriptions. Except that as a native Californian, going east has always been "back east" for me. There really aren't any short "going east" trips in CA. You either go north, south, to the ocean, or back to some god forsaken, hell-hole such as Manteca. Even when going to the sierras (which I realize is east of the Bay Area) I say "going up to the sierras". Makes sense to me considering the change in elevation. Also serves the purpose of making a clear statement that you are driving through, not stopping at, one of these portals to hell in order to reach the Sierras. But I digress...
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your dad is okay.
Footsie
UFO= Unidentifiable Flattened Object.
ReplyDeleteSo if you're goint to Lincoln, Neb., do you go "out" to Lincoln, or "up"?
I also considered UFC (Unidentifiable Flattened Critter).
ReplyDeleteLincoln is still an up, since most norths are up for me, including northwest and northeast. It's an admittedly imprecise science (if it's a science at all). Seattle, for instance, is out west to me. Vancouver, however, is still up.