Interstate travel provides its own unique glimpses into the culture of the local population. The entire state of Texas, for example, is obviously insane. The Texans’ rugged individualism results in a stressful experience for those unfamiliar with their roadway custom (or lack thereof). The trouble is not so much with common highway courtesy, and the high speeds at which they travel is to be expected in a state with so much of nothing between its borders. It is the fact that they are completely unpredictable. The highway is only a suggestion at where automobile travel might take place. But there are a number of impromptu, private exits connecting highways across Texas. They are made recognizable by the worn grass where numerous cars have left one road for another, despite the conspicuous lack of connecting roadway.
It is incredibly disconcerting to have a car suddenly join you on the highway from a nonexistent road. As it is a little unnerving to have cars flying past you at 80 miles per hour…on the shoulder. The shoulder is for emergencies, not high speed travel. Unless you are in Texas where you are expected to pull over onto the shoulder for speedier traffic. Which means that as these insane drivers are speeding past you on the edge of the road, they are also blaring their horns and gesticulating wildly.
The Texans’ affinity for driving on the shoulder is a well-documented phenomenon, recognized by the Kansas Department of Transportation. K-DOT, in partnership with insane Texas drivers, is responsible for the most unique traffic signs I have ever seen. Like many states, Kansas has numerous signs warning highway goers not to drive on the shoulder. Several yards beyond these signs, however, you will find clarification. “This is the shoulder,” it reads, with an arrow conveniently pointing at the shoulder. Just so the Texans can figure it out.
In Kansas, however, I encountered the most dangerous of driving idiosynrasies. While sitting in the left turn lane, with my left turn signal flashing, I am accustomed to looking down the road for oncoming traffic before turning. I am, however, not accustomed to looking behind me, a vital necessity for driving in the Kansas City metropolitan area. I cannot count the number of times I have almost driven into someone who was not supposed to be there because they were passing me on the left while I was making a left turn.
Lincoln is not a very large town, and they have a bizarre fascination with widening and constructing roads based on projected growth rather than congestion. This means that it is actually pretty easy to get around Lincoln, so long as you do not actually have to drive through Lincoln. Still, most people in Lincoln are not from Lincoln. I think this leads greatly to a certain competitiveness on the highway and lack of common courtesy. Turning on a turn signal, for example, is a guarantee that whatever gap you thought you found on I-80 or US 77 will disappear the moment the car behind you notices its flash. I am not so aggressive as to push my way in, letting other drivers figure out how to make space. And I cannot bring myself to forgo the signals. After all, it annoys me to no end that no one else in Lincoln seems to use them. I wonder why that is?
Which brings me to Denver. This is the largest city I have ever attempted to navigate by car. Cruising into Denver on I-70 with 6% grades around sharp curves and nothing but that flimsy guardrail separating me from certain death, what lane I am supposed to be in fell to the bottom of a list of priorities more immediate to my actual survival. That is where I first noticed something. Denver drivers are really nice. When I signal, gaps in traffic open up. While I am driving along 20 mph slower than the surrounding traffic, trying to decipher my chicken scratches which are serving as my directions, not a single person honked at me. While I sat at a green light looking at a map, the person behind me just eased around me, without any of the gesticulation common to so many other large and not-so-large cities. Even yesterday as the odd notion seized me to go off in search of a WalMart in the middle of rush hour, I was greeted with bumper to bumper silent traffic. Silent. I heard one horn in the 45 minutes it took me to travel the 50 blocks to the store. Amazing.
If only it were catching.
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
Here in Texas we have different levels of insanity, rural and metropolitan. I prefer the chaos here in Houston, having figured out how to fit in without getting shot; at least not yet.
Did you hear about the fellow who got a call on his cell phone from his wife warning him to be careful because there was some fool on the freeway going the wrong way.
“One, there’s hundreds…” he replied. lol
Great post…I guess the kindness shown to you in Denver has something to do with the laid-back-ed-ness of mountain living. A good friend just returned from living there a year or so and couldn’t believe how no one worked on Fridays; it was just assumed that you’re either going camping, hiking, skiing, etc., every weekend so they’d only work 1/2 a day. What a life!
Hope your destination finds you in good stead.
LOL - definitely there must be levels of insanity. Kansas City reminded me of a time my DH and I were bussing a bunch of kids on a church trip to WoFun. I would shout “INCOMING!” when someone was coming in from an on-ramp lol. It was nuts!
So you are or not moving? I was just in the middle of a note to my friend in Denver and thought I’d better check first
blessings
Denise T
LOL Well I won’t comment on Texas driving habits and Presidential diplomatic similarities LOL
I had no trouble driving in Denver either, although I am used to LA driving and that can be a whole story in itself. So yes, are you still having to consider moving? Or is there hope you might be able to stay?
Ha! That’s funny, T.F. I know another traffic joke I learned in Texas as well:
An officer pulls over a car going two miles an hour on a highway.
“What seems to be the trouble, officer?” An elderly lady asks. “We were going exactly the speed limit…two miles per hour.”
The officer looks at her, confused, then informs her that she is on highway 2. The speed limit is 55. She laughs, and he notices the other passengers.
“Are thy ok? They look like they have seen a ghost?”
“Oh, they will be all right. We just got off highway 110.”
Headmistress, that would be the life!
Denise, we haven’t a clue. But Denver is nice as far as large cities go.
Shawna, I am hoping that my husband will be returning home soon, but there are no real guarantees, and he will likely be bumped around a few more times this year. A huge number of retirments are coming up starting next year, which will give my husband a much greater seniority. And a bit more choice about where he goes.
In the meantime, now is not the best time to be trying to sell a house in the Midwest, so hopefully it will no become a necessity to move.
German drivers on the autobahn are the best, although they merge at 20 - 30mph for some bizarre reason. In town, they were a little more annoying but not as bad as in the States.
Albuquerque has the worst drivers. If you put on your blinker to get over, they’ll speed up just to not lot you in. You are forced to not use your blinker. Also, it’s not safe to stop at a yellow light there, you WILL get rear ended (a friend’s son did, he was a new driver and believed his teaching that you should stop at yellow lights.)
We just moved from the DC area to Arkansas. I was waiting to get out and wondered if the stopped car I saw was a stalled car, then I realized it was someone letting me in–that would not happen in the DC area, everyone is in a rush to get somewhere. This rush pervades all areas of people’s lives, they are an overscheduled buhch there. People also talked about getting into the “right preschool” there and they were dead serious, and couldn’t believe we weren’t going to do preschool at all.
Welcome back!! I’ve had computer problems myself and lighting took out our tower almost a week ago. No more wireless internet at home til that’s fixed. Just got back from a fabulous 4 day vacation to the coast, and I am at my office in town trying to catch up on TeamMASCOT. I have not the energy to update my site - maybe in a few days?
Good to have you back, I’ll have to catch up on my reading in a few days!