More Road Trip Observations

I previously posted here about a recent trip to a marble quarry in Georgia (I know, I still have not finished that thread but promise to do so here within a few weeks).

Wanted to add some additional road tripping observations to the 3 previously made in a blog post here (pink houses, crosses large and small, and music).  So here are some more observations:

1. Roadside kitties.  We all have seen those intent cats hunting in the grass right beside the interstate, right?  Ever notice how the preponderance of such kitties are black, or largely so, in color?  At least that’s the stereotype I have.

2. Paralyzed Veterans of America.  The radio carried a poignant commercial for this organization.  I cannot comment upon whether, as charities go, this charity is a good one in terms of a favorable admin-cost-to-program-cost ratio.  What I do want to observe is my utter disgust at the fact that paralyzed veterans need an advocacy group to lobby for their rights, programs, and services.  When a service member is injured, they deserve lifelong treatment for that injury.  100%.  By the government that sent them into harm's way. As the Earth Bound Misfit said here:

If we, as a nation, are unwilling to shoulder the financial burden of caring for our military retirees and veterans, then this is what we should do: Stop making so many veterans by getting into wars. When the shooting starts, there are going to be maimed veterans who will need care for the next eighty years. If that cost is unacceptable to the politicians, then stop sending men and women off to fight. No fighting, no combat veterans to care for-- that should be a simple enough equation for even most politicians to grasp.

3. The Dude.  On I-81 in VA, I saw a semi with the name on the cab, “Dude Smith Trucking.”  The name struck me, as I am not particularly into nicknames (previous post here).  Dude seems not to have a web site, but his Facebook page is here. 

My burning question is whether all of Dude’s friends called him Dude for so long that it just became the name he goes by.  Or scarier yet, did he get up one day and just decide, “You know, I want to be called Dude from now on”? 

See, the nickname “Dude” has already been claimed, forever, by Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.  This joker in Virginia is an impostor.

The official Big Lebowski trailer here.  A curse-filled (and funnier) clip is here.