Interstate 55 Pondering

I drove up Interstate-55 to St. Louis last night and I saw something that bothered me. A billboard. At first sight of it I chuckled to myself, but the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. On it is a large picture of Shrek, with the caption "Ogre Achiever- Believe in Yourself".
So what is the point of this particular billboard? Clearly someone wants me to Believe In Myself. After all, this organization has spent thousands of dollars so that they can get this message out. But. . . does this inspire anyone? Should it? Shrek is a figment of someone's imagination. Shouldn't our heros have actually done something to warrant me believing that it is something I should actually do? Should I try to be more like Shrek?
Which makes me ask, where is the state of our nation that we would be inspired to believe in ourselves by cartoon characters? Shouldn't our inspiration come from someone more fomidable? Abraham Lincoln? George Washington? Jesus? Someone who has stood in the face in the face of adversity and overcame? There are plenty of people who would fit this bill.
I don't know.

Another sign I saw also troubled me. It was one of those flashing construction signs set up near Festus that proudly proclaimed "1271 tickets issued since 2/21/06". Clearly a sign from the Missouri State Patrol that they want you to know they are watching you- and you had better watch your speed.
Unfortunately, based on the math classes I took in college. . . a 230 day time span has occured since last February, therefore that sign also shows us that on average the Missouri Highway Patrol issues 5.5 tickets per day.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation statistics, an average of 73540 vehicles traveled along that stretch of highway each day in 2004. We will assume that number is the same (though conventional wisdom says it will most likely have increased). That averages out to 0.007% of drivers getting ticketed each day. Because a significantly larger percentage than 0.007% of motorists are indeed exceeding that speed limit (that's given my own observations based on the number of morons who fly past me when I am driving along that stretch of highway), that sign actuallys says more clearly "We are kind of watching you, just not that closely. We just want you to think we are."

Beautiful Morning

Much time has passed since I went on my nice hike last week, but it was so awesome I just had to share it.

I've been reading the Cloudland Journal and it made me realize how much I missed hanging out in the woods. It is one of the best forms of excercise, plus you get to see such wonderful things. I went first thing in the morning on Sunday morning October 1st. (I say first thing in the morning, but since I had worked the night before it was actually the last part of my day). The temperatures were cool, and the fog was abundant.
The trail I hiked is at Trail of Tears State Park, and is only 15 minutes from my house. Granted the serenity factor is sometimes lacking- it's situated along the Mississippi River and noisy trains and barges run pretty well non-stop some days- it more than satifies. I went on Shepard's Point trail that morning. When I first started hiking the trails back in the 2005, I walked along the lake. Eventually I thought I had enough stamina to walk the entire Lake Trail, which is 2 miles. I decided that while the trail map had it marked as "moderate" it clearly had to be wrong, because I thought I might die before it was over. So when I saw that Shepard's Point was listed as "difficult" I figured it couldn't possibly be that bad. But I soon learned the difference between a "moderate" and "difficult" trail. "Difficult Trail"

But by now, I have walked the Shepards Point Trail several times, and it is always awesome. As I said, the morning was foggy, but it was not completely foggy. From the Bluff overlook (about 200 feet above the river) I couldn't see the river at all, but in other areas, the sunlight came through the mist perfectly. Sunbeams found their way through the clouds so that everthing was very softly lit. The spiderwebs, which were abundant, were highlighted by the fact that this morning they dew covered. I love this picture, because the dew and sunbeam higlight the web it so perfectly. I also love the soft background.

The trail itself starts off on a hill, gentle at first, but entirely a hill until you make a 220 foot elevation change. That particular morning, almost my entire walk up this hill was behind the shadow of the hills for the sun had yet to rise that high. At the pinnacle, the sun shone brightly, with interspersed fog and abundant sunbeams highlighted through. Completely beautiful.

Once at the top of the first hill, you go back down into a valley with a dry creek bed, then back up again. The second hill is not as high, but it is much steeper. I shot this picture near the top, and I'm not quite sure why, but I really like it. I think it's the color differences mixed with the mist.

So that's my walk that morning. I have more pictures, so let me know and I'll put some more up later. Hope you enjoy this! I know I do, especially in OCTOBER!