Massacre on I-40

Cross-Country Trip, Day 7

Santa Fe, NM to Fort Smith, AK

If you've ever wanted to know what it sounds like to have large flying insects hit your windshield at 73 miles per hour, drive on Interstate 40 after dark.  Bugs make a sound when they hit, and the larger the bug, the bigger the sound.  Thwack!  Thud!  Splat!  Bizarrely, this occurred only for a brief 20-mile period in Oklahoma.  Swarms of bugs swam in the headlights before ending their lives on our white truck.  Some of them were fireflies, dying in a flicker of eerie bright green fluorescent light which faded gradually from the windshield.

We drove 719 miles today through four states and it took 12 hours with stops.  We set off from New Mexico, drove through about 150 miles of northern Texas, about 336 miles of Oklahoma, and ended up just inside the border of Arkansas at the Old West town of Fort Smith.  

  

It was fascinating to watch the changes of topography, climate, language and people.  We went from the high desert of New Mexico to Texas scrubland to the lush rolling meadows of east Oklahoma to . . . we'll let you know when we assess Arkansas in daylight.  Even the people were different.  As we left New Mexico, the Mexican and Native influence faded.  Texas was white America with a twang.  Here's a shot of what appeared to be the only establishment in Alanreed, Texas:

Alanreed, TX Post Office and Store

Alanreed, TX Motel

Alanreed, TX Official Census Data

I-40 bathroom sign

Oklahoma is home to several nations of Native Americans and signs on I-40 reminded us each time we entered and left one.  We passed through the Seminole Nation, the Cherokee Nation, and a host of others.  It's my understanding that tribal reservations are their own sovereign nations so I wondered whether we would have immunity from prosecution if we committed a crime on US soil  and then fled to a Native nation.  Would the Natives be required to extradite us to the US authorities?  How long could we stay safe and hidden in Native territory?   And most importantly, why am I thinking about these things?  

Oklahomans have their own particular twang and I must admit (with sincere apologies to good-looking Oklahomans) that as a general rule they were not particularly attractive.  I'm afraid that, with the occasional exceptional specimen, this will be the case as we move farther east.  Again, apologies to all the good-looking Easterners out there, but those of you from these parts will know exactly what I mean.

Mercifully for you and me, dear reader, it was an uneventful day so it will be a short entry.  I'll just leave you with some pictures of our trusty truck which is transporting us so ably across the country.  Although we released into the yard a centipede we found this morning in the bathroom sink in Santa Fe, regrettably, our bumper and windshield has become the final resting place for hundreds, if not thousands of insects on our journey.   The road can be so violent.