Turtle crossings

I have found a new job for the highway departments. I think they should put up signs along the highway at different spots warning drivers of turtle's crossing. There are many signs warning us about deer crossing, but I haven't seen any about the turtles. And on every road trip I see dozens of turtles of all sizes crossing the highways. However it is very unusual to see a deer, especially in the middle of the day.

I would even donate my lack of artistic skill to help them design the sign. The one about the deer has the animal in a running jump position. The turtle needs to be in a more sedate pose, with his head stuck out high, and all four feet exposed. Because he is actually moving, even if it is slowly.

The sign about the deer is more for the protection of the motorist. If you hit a deer, you and your car may suffer serious damage. However if you hit a turtle, only the little animal suffers much damage. He will possibly pull in his head and feet and "roll with the punches." But it won't do him much good if it was a direct hit.

The danger to motorists comes when other soft hearted drivers like me, will swerve to avoid hitting one of our little friends. Then I might either lose control of the car, or hit another car. But out on the country roads where we have been traveling lately in mid-mornings, I see more turtles than I do cars in some places.

We have found a delightful shortcut to the hospital in Pittsburg which keeps us on the so-called blue roads almost the entire 45 minute drive. These state highways are well maintained and have no problems unless you get behind a farmer with a huge tractor or other implement. There is no shoulder so that the farmer can pull over, so you must slow down until you come to a crossroads to get past. Thankfully most farmers are not going very far in these vehicles, so it really isn't a big problem.

But the turtles feel that this is their territory, however the best part is on the other side of the road. One day we decided that all the goodies were on the left side of the road as all the turtles were crossing from the right to the left. The next day it seemed to be reversed. And then our theories went haywire because they were going every direction. Must have been something in the wind.

Perhaps all this attention to the reptiles' journeys might make it seem that we became bored with the daily trips over the same roads. That is not the case. There is much to see between our home and the hospital in Pittsburg. To start with there is the opportunity in Bronaugh to see if the wind tower is actually turning yet. Then further down Highway 43 we can consider turning off to have a look at Bushwhacker Lake. At Liberal we can make plans to take the road into the Prairie State Park on our way home. When we pass the gas station at the state line we can compare the price of gas with that in Nevada and decide where to fill up the next time. When we actually reach the hospital we can look at the flags surrounding the Veteran's Memorial Amphitheater and think about going to walk out into it after Lester's treatment.

These are all interesting possibilities for enriching our daily travel. It makes it more eventful to have these handy points of interest. We are almost finished with this daily regime and I'd like to report on the number of these side trips we actually took during these nearly four weeks. Not counting the wind tower in Bronaugh I think we can easily reach one. Once when a relative from New Mexico was driving with Lester they did go by the Prairie State Park on their way home.

What did we do on the other times when I was the one driving? We watched for turtles crossing the road.