Cabooses; Honey; Teeth; Being lost; Signposts; House numbering; Adverts on gas pumps
Cabooses: The staff in the Museum of Logging Railways told us confidentially that they have several cabooses (caboose? caboosi? anyway, those little railway wagons with a lookout bit on top) because “your museum is nothing without a caboose” even if it is totally inaccurate for your actual railway. We remembered that when we saw the caboose in the front garden of the Raymond museum, but we were polite enough not to mention it. I wonder if it is like putting a UK telephone box in the front garden of a pub/restaurant. We saw several of those too on the West coast.
Honey: Over the Rockies we see a mysterious advertisement for “High Altitude Premium Honey” So, for those of you who know that a honeybee can’t technically fly at sea level, you should see how the little suckers perform in thin air. Ha ha! They have to walk round our fields!!
Teeth: Americans are famous for having good teeth, or rather, orthodontically-improved teeth. Some of the results are eerily fascinating, and I find myself talking to the teeth rather as some men are accused of talking to women’s chests. In Leon’s tyre shop a chap came in to sort out something about his pickup and he had a Chupa Chup lollipop tucked into his cheek, apparently as a permanent fixture. After he left I said to the nice receptionist “His teeth will be gone soon”. “Oh no”, she replied, “here in the West we have great teeth. It’s in the East that they don’t”. Remind me to report back on this later.
Being lost: With the combination of Google and paper maps and my own legendary (rather than mythical) navigational skills we are of course never lost. Sometimes however when phone signal is zero and I haven’t been concentrating too hard and the road signage is unhelpful we may not be quite sure where we are. Which reminds me that orienteers have several different definitions of lost, including: not knowing where you are; knowing where you are but not how to get to where you want to be; and importantly, believing incorrectly that you know where you are when in fact you are somewhere else. That last one is the devil to fix.
Signposts: Sometimes when a parking lot is shared by several small businesses they all put up signs on the same signpost. Which gives mysterious messages like “Riverboat tours, Walk-ins Welcome”; “Family Dentistry, Drive Through Service” and “Canon City Penitentiary, Gift Shop and Park”.
House numbering: We have just passed a little sign telling us that the four houses near it were numbers 6300, 6350, 6380, 6400. Here in the US you are allowed to make up your own house numbers and people leave gaps, presumably in case of an infill development for multi-storey hobbits. I also wonder if there is some snob value in having a number ending with zeros.
Adverts on gas pumps: It had to happen. Gas stations now use the selection/pay screen to play adverts. Which makes me think that there is room for creativity when you have a captive audience: “Might YOU be about to have a car accident? You should appoint an attorney now. Don’t wait till it’s too late. Dial 800-WIP-LASH.”
Perhaps Tesla could advertise on gas pumps?