Monday Meanderings - 3.21.2016

You are probably not aware that I can control the weather. Yes, it's true. All it takes to bring a significant chill across most of the state is for me to utter the phrase: "Let's take the blanket off the bed. I think we are done with cool weather." Sorry.

Well, welcoming the FLOTUS to ATX for SXSW is a lot less trouble than preparing for her husband, the POTUS. She slipped in and out of town PDQ, and I can't think of any more letter abbreviations to stick in here.

There must be a law or rule, such as Murphy's Law, that postulates that you can't do a single repair to an automobile. Once you replace oh, say, the brake master cylinder, the O2 sensor will act up, which prompts the radiator to leak, which brings on a failed motor strut. I'm going to call it Anderson's Automotive Imperative.

The curator of the Traces of Texas posted a picture on Facebook the other day that jogged my memory.

The sign (which was on a BBQ joint in Hatch, New Mexico) is a remnant from the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, which obviously connected those two cities after completion in 1957. And yes, it was as straight as the sign implies.

Dallas was the first place Barb and I lived after marrying in 1961. We spent 3 whole months there. We had many opportunities to travel this 30 mile superhighway during that period, and on many other visits to Dallas in the years to come. But the most memorable trip was right after we moved into an apartment on Rainer, in the southwest part of Dallas, just a few blocks from the Turnpike.

We had no money to speak of in those days, and one evening we splurged and spent what we had at a movie in downtown Dallas. New to the area, we thought we could take a shortcut home, but our route dumped us right into the west-bound toll plaza. I had no idea where the next exit was, or how much it would cost, not that it mattered. We couldn't pay it.

Back then, an attendant handed you an IBM-type punch card that you surrendered - with payment - at your destination. I remember pleading our case to the attendant, but neither Barb nor I clearly remember the resolution. I think the attendant had us circle around the back of the plaza and join the exiting vehicles arriving from Fort Worth.

Times have changed. Today, there are no attendants - at least on the toll roads in our area. But then again, the need for cash on hand has passed as well. They will mail you a bill. Or in our case, ding your credit card automatically. But perhaps the biggest change is that once the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike collected enough tolls to pay its cost, in 1977, they tore down the toll booths and just made it part of I-30.  Not holding my breath for that to happen in these times.