Carls Corner

Interstate 35 gets confused in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area. About 30 miles south of the Metroplex, it splits into two legs – one leg goes through Fort Worth, and the other through Dallas (which are about 35 miles apart). Then, about 30 miles north, they coalesce. In between, they are known as 35E and 35W. If you’re from out of town, this can be confusing, because both of them run north-south – it’s just that one of them is left (West) of the other (East).

I only mention this because I started out this morning from Fort Worth towards Carl’s Corner. Why would I go there? Because I’ve heard it mentioned recently from two independent sources: friends in Connecticut, and Julian Pettifer in BBC Radio 4’s “Crossing Continents” (I’ll get back to that in a minute).

Up in Smoke

Starting from Fort Worth, you head south on 35W, whereas Carl’s Corner is on 35E. Fortunately, about the time you need to make a u-turn to come back towards Dallas on 35E, you hit one of my favorite BBQ truck stops. The menu is pretty basic: plates of beef, ham, sausage, hot links or turkey for $6.79 – a plate includes two sides (typically beans, potato salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, …); ribs for $9.99; po’boy (yes, good question – I don’t know) for $4.59; Texas trash (frito pie Texas style – again, I don’t know) for $6.25. Desserts: cobbler or pie for $2.50. To drink: coffee, iced tea or coke – large or small, but nobody (except me) orders small (and that’s only because I know that “large” means I’ll most likely need a friend to help me carry it).

"Bio Willie"

Delicious. So what’s the deal with Carl’s Corner (http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/locations-TX-Carls%20Corner.html)? It’s just a truck stop, but the owner is a friend of Willie Nelson. When Willie heard that Carl was closing down and retiring, he called him and persuaded him to stay open selling “bio-diesel”, which is made from natural products. Willie Nelson isn’t on my list of favourite singers, and he’s had a few legal problems, but he is to the American farmer what Bob Geldof is to starving Africans, and I admire him for that. So Carl stayed open, and, as he says, “the truckers did the rest”. It’s cheaper, it gets more miles per gallon, and the engine runs cooler. While I was there, a 30-wheeler pulled in to fill up – I’m used to 18-wheelers, but this was a monster, and so was the guy who climbed down from the cab. Loose fitting pants and t-shirt, with a beer-gut that hung down almost to his knees!

I didn’t go inside – if you’re not a trucker or a biker, I think the place might fall silent as you walk in, but I’m probably being unfair.

And why would Julian Pettifer be even remotely interested? Because, apparently, even though the American administration appears to be denying all knowledge of global warming, and refusing to be a party to the Tokyo Accord, there is a grass roots movement with indications to the contrary. Individual states are instituting mechanisms for reducing corporate emissions, and ways to trade “coupons” between states that are particularly efficient with those that are not. And an Evangelical church splinter group is breaking ranks by recognizing that we were given stewardship of the earth and its resources, and should accept the responsibility for taking care of it (there is a strong “creationist” versus “evolutionist” debate here, which means that many evangelicals automatically reject anything that “scientists” might have to contribute). And so Julian Pettifer not only visited Carl’s Corner, but also the town of McCamey, Texas – the “wind energy capital of Texas”  (http://www.mccameycity.com/windmills.htm). That’s quite a few hundred miles west of here, and, much as I’d like to visit, it’s a little too far to drive.

So don’t believe everything you read. Sometimes the people can make a difference. And, at the moment, George W. Bush is following, not leading.

Nothing to Write Home About

It’s not supposed to be this cold in Texas, y’all! The temperature dropped 50ºF from 80ºF one day to below freezing the next. And here, snow is unusual – more often, we get “freezing rain”, which is a euphemism for the major highways acquiring a surface like glass, and being littered with cars that have spun off onto the grassy verge, and the flashing lights of Emergency Services vehicles slowing down the traffic to almost a complete standstill.

The fountain outside the hotel, though still trying valiantly to maintain its credibility, is essentially frozen – and the picture was taken around noon!

Meanwhile, back in Eggesford, the winter landscape continues to look stunningly beautiful – the picture is of our local church (in the foreground), and Eggesford House, of which I know nothing more than the name (in the background).

So there’s literally “nothing to write home about” – and I had such great plans for this weekend. I’m sure that within a week the unusual cold spell will be over, but for now, I can do no better than include a small vignette that I wrote some time ago – if for any reason my memory fails me, and you’ve seen this before, I think you’ll just have to grin and bear it!

Panhandling is illegal in Dallas. Every now and then they have a crackdown, and it disappears for a while. But it always comes back.

While waiting at a red light, a young black man with a feckless smile stood by the side of the road, baseball cap in hand, held out expectantly. He waved cheerfully at the occupants of cars as they drew up. He didn’t look hungry or drunk or drugged – merely forlorn. His clothes, though old and ragged, were clean, and he wasn’t the usual panhandler that you’d cross the street to avoid.

I stared resolutely ahead. The light took forever to change, and that gave me time to think. Why did I refuse to make eye contact? Presumably because, in the inner recesses of my mind, I could pretend that I hadn’t seen him, or that he didn’t exist. If he’d been wounded, or fainting from thirst, would I have helped? I think so. So why not help with some loose change (which I dump into a jar when I get back to the hotel and then donate to Children In Need in those little envelopes they give you on the plane anyway)?

Maybe it helps if you have a rule – you know: “I never give money to beggars”, or “I donate to charity through my church”. But I don’t think it would help. Somehow the thought that I completely ignored a fellow human being that was in need of help, and worse, that I tried to convince myself that he wasn’t even there, weighs on my mind. I know you can’t give money to everyone who asks for it; I know he’d “probably only go and buy beer”; I know that “he ought to get himself a job like everyone else”. But I also know that not everyone in similar circumstances has deliberately thrown themselves under the wheels of life.

The trouble is, how do you tell the difference? And what do you do about it? In my case, the answer is, sadly, nothing.

In my defence, I have to say that, now, I invariably give money to people that look as though they need it. The most recent said something like: “Hey, thanks man – now I can buy some soap and get cleaned up.” Whether I, or you, believe that is inconsequential. I felt better. I really hope he did, too.