One thing we wanted to do was to replace the 40-year-old seats with something a little bit more comfortable. The person working on the car in Marlborough recommended that we replace them with Miata seats, which happen to fit a Triumph perfectly, and are readily available from the car shop next door to his, which specializes in upgrading Miatas for racing. Before we left, we purchased a pair of Miata seats, but they needed to be recovered prior to being installed.
Naturally, the shop that makes the seat covers is nowhere near us, and Bob exchanged several e-mails with them prior to our leaving. Some leather samples were sent to us so we could pick out the colors; unfortunately they did not arrive before we left, so we decided to stop in to the store on our way. This was only a short detour just south of Oklahoma City and gave us the opportunity not only to select colors, but also to see the different seat cover styles in person. We were able to order them on the spot and have them shipped back to our restorer in Marlborough. With any luck, the work on the Triumph will be complete when we get back!
It's been a while since I was in Texas, almost 50 years if you don't count the trips I made to Houston while working for HP. When you're on a business trip, you tend to learn a lot about the airport, the hotel, and the office, and not a whole lot about the area around it unless you are very lucky. My recollection of the area around Houston is primarily of the eight-lane highways going through and around the city. The Northwest part of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle bear absolutely no resemblance to that.
If I had to describe the landscape between Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle in just a couple words they would be fields and wind. Before we crossed the Texas border, we saw our first tumbleweed, and when we got out of the car to go into our hotel, the very first thing we noticed was the imposing, yet not at all unpleasant, scent of manure in the freshly tilled fields directly across the street.
Compared to New England, everything is very flat, but it's not the utter and complete flatness of Kansas or Nebraska. There are a few gently rolling hills here and there, and rocky hillocks that have been left between fields. There are at least four types of fields: those that are already tilled and ready to be planted; those that are already green, either with a cover crop that had been planted last fall or freshly planted this spring; those that are full of dry and new grasses, with herds of cows grazing in them, bordered by hay rolls; and surprisingly, at least surprisingly to me, fields with carefully planted rows of trees. I couldn't tell whether the trees were planted as windbreaks or to hold the soil in place or for some other reason. They were not lumber forests.
In the fields that are ready for growing, the circular irrigation wands are already in operation. Except for those areas that were planted with trees, we saw the occasional oil derrick, and more than a few oil jacks in operation. Crops are planted around them and, if in the middle of a cow pasture, there is a short fence separating the oil jacks from the cows. It seems like a very peaceful coexistence.
With one notable exception, I was unable to divine what crops were planted since we were whizzing by in the car. See if you can guess from the pictures and movie before you read the answer.
The wind continued unabated throughout the drive. In Texas especially, there are a lot of wind farms. When we almost got blown away getting out of car at a rest area, it was pretty clear why they were there. It's great to see all of that wind energy being put to use.
Another sign I've never seen in New England:
- Liquid mud available
Warning! Geology lesson ahead!
What is liquid mud? I actually learned about this many years ago when Bob used to work on construction sites. Liquid mud is a very heavy "mud" used whenever you're drilling for oil or gas, or other drilling situations where there is a possibility that you may run into oil or gas. It's made from a water or oil base and contains a combination of a heavy metal such as barium sulfate and a clay such as bentonite. It serves two major purposes besides keeping the drill bits cool: (1) when drilling, it's necessary to remove the rock and soil from the drill hole, and pumping water down the hole is not sufficient to float the soil and rock to the top; and (2) any time you're drilling and there is a chance that you may run into natural gas, you don't want the gas, which is under pressure, to be released in an uncontrolled manner. The liquid mud is heavy enough to contain the gas. End of geology lesson for the day.
What is liquid mud? I actually learned about this many years ago when Bob used to work on construction sites. Liquid mud is a very heavy "mud" used whenever you're drilling for oil or gas, or other drilling situations where there is a possibility that you may run into oil or gas. It's made from a water or oil base and contains a combination of a heavy metal such as barium sulfate and a clay such as bentonite. It serves two major purposes besides keeping the drill bits cool: (1) when drilling, it's necessary to remove the rock and soil from the drill hole, and pumping water down the hole is not sufficient to float the soil and rock to the top; and (2) any time you're drilling and there is a chance that you may run into natural gas, you don't want the gas, which is under pressure, to be released in an uncontrolled manner. The liquid mud is heavy enough to contain the gas. End of geology lesson for the day.
When I used to do some business travel in Europe, a friend who accompanied me a couple of times often referred to the "McDonald's standard". His premise was that you could get a very accurate idea of how expensive the city was going to be by comparing the price of a Big Mac meal with the price in the Boston area.
I have a new standard I'd like to propose, called the "Garden Inn standard". We stay in Hilton brand hotels whenever we can in order to accumulate points for free nights. Unless we are going to be somewhere for more than one night, we tend to stay at a Hilton Garden Inn, which is a good compromise between price and amenities. In October, we went to New York and stayed in one for which we paid $330 a night. (We used our points for that one and got a free night.) Our room two nights ago in Tulsa was $130, and last night's room in Amarillo just $106. We ate in the hotel both nights, so I was also able to compare the menus. The offerings were identical, but in Amarillo everything on the menu was at least a dollar less expensive. Bob had a glass of the local beer, and it was only $2! (He had another.) So far my theory of Hilton economics seems to hold and I think it is worth exploring. We have several weeks more in which to do so.
Automobile lesson for the day: driving at 80 miles an hour while being buffeted by strong cross winds does nothing to improve gas mileage!
I have a new standard I'd like to propose, called the "Garden Inn standard". We stay in Hilton brand hotels whenever we can in order to accumulate points for free nights. Unless we are going to be somewhere for more than one night, we tend to stay at a Hilton Garden Inn, which is a good compromise between price and amenities. In October, we went to New York and stayed in one for which we paid $330 a night. (We used our points for that one and got a free night.) Our room two nights ago in Tulsa was $130, and last night's room in Amarillo just $106. We ate in the hotel both nights, so I was also able to compare the menus. The offerings were identical, but in Amarillo everything on the menu was at least a dollar less expensive. Bob had a glass of the local beer, and it was only $2! (He had another.) So far my theory of Hilton economics seems to hold and I think it is worth exploring. We have several weeks more in which to do so.
Automobile lesson for the day: driving at 80 miles an hour while being buffeted by strong cross winds does nothing to improve gas mileage!
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