Travels - Strange Sights

I started on a long trip out of Louisiana the other day. I'm heading up to my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary. Marriages work when the married couple WORKS AT THE MARRIAGE, or so I am led to understand.

When I started my drive, I was interested to note the hazards one meets on the road. You expect bad drivers, possibly deer running out in front of you, and I have even encountered flocks of wild pigs and a lone cow standing in the road. But the first hazard I almost but didn't quite run into was the cranes. Not construction ones; large white birds, possibly of endangered species. They were feeding in many places beside the road, and often as you drove past they would take flight. Some of the stupid ones would fly in front of your car. These aren't like little sparrows that might get stuck in your radiator grill, but do no worse damage. These birds are five feet tall, with equally huge wingspans.

Passing into Arkansas, the flights of cranes stopped, but heavy rains began. I understand those same storms have since caused tremendous trouble in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as Arkansas. I slowed down quite a bit, since I was not keen to hit a semi, and couldn't really see more than fifty feet in front of me. The rain continued through Little Rock, and along the highway towards Memphis. It wasn't until I turned north just before Memphis that driving conditions began to worsen a bit.

Along this road, I saw what I first thought were towers of clouds, but there were many of them and all along the horizon. When I got closer, I found that they were actually burning fields. A prarie fire? That is what I thought at first. The flames were lapping up, and smoke was all across the highway. I prayed for rain to put out the fires. However, shortly thereafter, I began to wonder if these were deliberate fires. I passed fields which had been burned to the treeline, but the trees were untouched. That sort of thing suggests a controlled burn. Why were they burning the fields. Contrary to what people in New York say, the folks who live in Arkansas are not stupid. There is a reason to burn your fields, but I haven't any idea what. I'll go read up on it to find out. In the meantime, beware of smoke on the highway in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri...