drinking wine in the Lone Star State

Crazy amount of driving yesterday. Started off in Virginia with a foot of fresh snow on the ground. The few snowplows the state runs don't seem to actually make contact with the asphalt which leaves a well-packed ice crust (a not-in-any-way-consistent crust) pretty much everywhere. The drive began with the sobering sight of ten miles of cars and eighteen-wheelers stopped dead in their tracks, many of them overnight, on the northbound 1-81. Black pavement was cause for rejoicing. We very happily waved goodbye to the snow in Tennessee, where the kids were amazed to hear the waitress call Wil 'honey'. After Tennessee, we drove a tank each through Georgia and Alabama (where we ate a great meal in Tuscaloosa and confused salespeople with a request for humus — “Woyl, Ah hurd uvit, buh weigh oint gat ut hair”). Then through Mississippi, Louisiana and finally Texas. We got both beds set up this time, girls upstairs, boys downstairs.Pulled into a Travel Plaza at about three in the morning and slept for a few hours. Henri was the first to be woken by thousands of screaming birds lining the telephone wires as far as the eye could see. It’s coming on to noon now and we’re breaking out the flipflops. We should be in McAllen by mid-afternoon and, if all goes according to plan, we’ll cross over la frontera first thing tomorrow.

A few things I've learned about the US...
- There are no municipal ordinances governing the size of roadside signs.
- Never eat anywhere that has an ad on an interstate exit sign
- When you're on the interstate, pick a lane and stick with it, despite the dogged insistence of the drivers around you.
- And, the inside lane is also a passing lane.
- A chicken ceasar salad doesn't actually need to have any lettuce in it.
- Gravy isn't brown. It is white and fully of little crunchy bits of sausage.
- Cheese comes in liquid form
- Texans actually wear cowboy boots, cowboy hats and belt buckles the size of dessert plates. They are gracious and also
serve a mean breakfast taco.
- In Alabama, the only buildings bigger than the Walmarts are the churches.
- The relief of being able to use one's highbeams is only marginally greater than the feeling of vulnerability
imparted by being absolutely alone on a backwoods road in Mississippi.