Thursday, July 15, 2004

yes, kilgore

Lately, I've been tempted to convert my blog into nothing more than a travel journal, a catalogue of hotel lobby details and exotic place names. What's more interesting is the people I deal with every day on the road. Really, every day on my job is Take-A-Stranger-To-Work-Day. It looks like we travel to people, but the truth is that I am perfectly still, sitting Lotus-style (albeit without The Lotus, regrettably) while strangers from all over are drawn through me. That's really how it is.
 
Kilgore and environs are actually much prettier than I expected. One hour east of Dallas the plains become heavy deciduous forest, full of overgrown creeks and vine-covered telephone poles. Single-lane highways dip in and out of shade.
 
It's a good thing that this part of East Texas is covered in trees, because without them the 105 degree afternoons would reduce me to tears. The sun at three in the afternoon is a brand, an open flame, a propane torch held to the temple, played over the toes, blasted on the back of the neck. It hurts, people. I am baked as brown as Kogepan* and just as given to mood swings.
 
*For those of you who are curious, I have a small Kogepan figure that I travel with. According to The Lotus, it guarantees my safety on the road. There's a long story behind my Kogepan, which I'll tell you someday. Or other.

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