If you hold your nose you can’t hum.
Along the way
I looked for some good close-up bird pictures to send out and couldn’t find any. I need to get out more. I did come across some ducks on a pond in Arizona. Usually, pond ducks are a whole mix of different colors and patterns, domestic Mallard hybrids paddling about in search of soggy slices of bread or crackers. These ducks were different. They all looked the same.
They’re not domestic ducks. They’re all wild American Wigeons.
American Wigeons like to winter in the southern states. Their breeding grounds are way north in Canada and Alaska.
Our lucky day today
Friday the 13th. Ever since our first kid was born on a Friday the 13th.
Progress and problems
California has a high adoption rate for electric cars. That’s cool. EV adoption will prevent a lot of carbon pollution. (Other states have a high adoption rate too, but we’re just using California to point out an issue.) California also has a high adoption rate for renewable energy. During 2024 there were 100 days where all the electric power needed, for at least a portion of the day, was provided by renewable energy, mostly wind and solar. Again, great solution for protecting the atmosphere.
Problem. How do we want to charge our EVs? We want to plug them in overnight, so they’ll be ready to go the next morning. When does California produce the most renewable energy? During the day when the sun is out. That means for California to meet the growing overnight energy demands, it has to increase the amount of petroleum-based energy it produces overnight. Renewable energy production and energy consumption are not matching up. It’s interesting how two good solutions come together and result in a new challenge. Not a dealbreaker, it’s still progress, but we sure could use some kind of affordable grand scale energy storage to cover the gap.
Desperate times
26 degrees this morning; so cold that I had to change into long pants for the first time in about a year! Our happy dirty van was covered in frost for the first time.
We’re back in Laredo Taco country, the gas station concession that serves very good, simple, and inexpensive Mexican food. Up and about early we were able to start the day with delicious breakfast tacos from LTC, and very good coffee from the Love’s Travel Plaza.
The cold weather was the first desperate moment of the day. The next came at the first rest area when digging through the layers of clothing, I discovered that as I dressed in the dark this morning, I had accidentally put my boxers on backwards.
We drove from Sonora through Junction, Segovia, Mountain Home, skipped past Kerrville and Comfort, headed for Boerne. At that point, plans changed as navigation informed us there had been a accident on Interstate 10, the road was closed, and alternate routes were advised. We detoured toward Bandera, but not all the way there. We went left on Highway 16 through Government Canyon, past the town of Helotes, and into San Antonio. We continued on Highway 16 through Leon Valley and caught Interstate 410 to southbound Interstate 37 toward Corpus Christie. Past Braunig Lake, and made a fuel stop at Exit 125. Gasoline for $2.47 a gallon and a bratwurst for lunch. A right turn on Highway 281 that continues south right past our house. Through Three Rivers, George West, Alice and Ben Bolt. One last stop in Falfurrias for groceries and a Blizzard. Enough groceries to last us two or three days before we have to go out and stock up properly.
Home by 3:30. Still daylight. Arrival temperature 66 degrees. Now we are where we want to be again.