Whoa Nelly!

I tend to drive fast. I tend to rush things. I tend to get anxious.

Sometimes, gentle reminders are necessary for me to realize that I need to slow down, take a step back and be patient.


As I was rolling out of town last Friday toward Austin, I got one of those "gentle" reminders: a speeding ticket.

I was driving a rented Dodge Durango that had a Hemi. I've never driven anything with a Hemi, but I'm here to tell you, they can get away from you. I was headed down I-27, not even out of Lubbock city limits, when I was making my way toward the Post exit to head southeast on the six-hour trek to the state capitol city. I was running late getting out of town, and I needed to be in Austin at a certain time.

I noticed as I pulled up the incline on the exit that below me there was a motorcycle cop that had someone pulled over. "Poor sucker," I thought to myself. It was at that point that I glanced in my rearview mirror to find a motorcycle cop was pulling me over, too.

"Poor sucker."

I claimed that I had a rental and wasn't yet used to it's power, but he didn't really care. He said, "Drive safe," as he handed me a ticket for going 82 mph in a 65 mph zone. Oops.

What a way to start a trip. That makes ticket No. 3 for this girl in the state of Texas, ticket No. 2 from a motorcycle cop, and ticket No. 2 for me while driving to see the Hogs play an away game in Texas (both in which were disasters, i.e. remember the Cotton Bowl New Year's Day?)

Once I got to Austin, I found myself in a city full off 95,000 fans who had arrived there for the football game, as well as thousands of hippies who had arrived there for the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Since the Razorback game was rescheduled in Austin from its original date of Sept. 13, thanks to Hurricane Ike, it was unfortunately rescheduled on a date when every hippie and music lover from the lower 48 would be in town.

Driving through the ridiculous traffic once again reminded me of how we live in a crazy, fast moving society. People lose all sense of kindness in traffic. A cab driver mouthed obscenities to me as I was changing lanes. As I was trying to leave the city Sunday, a Cadillac Escalade flipped me off as I was trying to get on to the exit ramp.

Other than wanting to get the heck out of Dodge and away from the vomit-inducing sea of burnt orange, I was looking forward to getting back on some roads where concrete wasn't present on either side of me, and to a place where you get a gentle, friendly wave from the passing farm truck.

Once you get to the Sweetwater area, which is quickly becoming the wind energy capitol of the world, you see hundreds of giant wind turbines turning in the sky, creating effortless, renewable energy. Their numbers seem to double every time I drive through that area. It takes special trailers to even haul in the blades, because they're so gynormous.

From a distance they seem to be turning slowly, when actually the tips of the giant blades are moving about 240 mph. Anyone every feel like that?

Patience has always been a problem for me. Slowing down is hard. Even after my 900 mile roundtrip drive to Austin and back, which provided me with ample time to contimplate the idea of slowing down (and the fine that will accompany my ticket), I once again found myself in a hurry yesterday morning. I was brushing my teeth when I realized I had put antibiotic ointment on my toothbrush instead of toothpaste.

At least it wasn't Preporation H.

Stay tuned for more from Austin from "Beyond Enemy Lines".