Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Consistently wrong since 2002

No one could have predicted…

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Not all heroes wear capes.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

People are weird.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Faunasphere / Florida Man Does Something Good!

Florida Man Does Something Good!

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Florida Man saves his puppy from a gator!

Don’t even think about messing with this Florida man’s puppy.

Richard Wilbanks, 74, acted swiftly when his 3-month-old pup Gunner was snatched by an alligator in the backyard pond of his home in Estero, near South Florida’s Gulf Coast.

In a stunning video, Wilbanks wrestles the young gator in waist-deep water, bringing it above the surface and prying open its jaws to release the King Charles Cavalier spaniel.

“We were just out walking by the pond,” Wilbanks told CNN, “and it came out of the water like a missile. I never thought an alligator could be that fast. It was so quick.”

Acting on adrenaline or instinct, Wilbanks said he just “automatically jumped into the water.”

He said he sustained some injuries to his hands and went to the doctor for a tetanus shot to be safe.

Gunner had one small puncture wound to his belly, but is doing fine after a trip to the vet, Wilbanks said.

Wilbanks told WINK News that he understands this is the alligator’s home and does not want it removed from the pond. He urged other pet owners to keep their animals away from the water’s edge.

The dramatic encounter was caught on camera thanks to a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fSTOP Foundation as part of a campaign called “Sharing the Landscape.” Its mission is to help the community understand and appreciate the wildlife they live near and help reduce conflicts.

Meredith Budd, the regional policy director of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said the cameras typically capture videos of deer or bobcats. It’s not often they catch something like what Wilbanks and Gunner went through.

“We live on a shared landscape,” Budd said. “We don’t just want to tolerate wildlife, but, rather, we want to thrive with wildlife on a shared landscape.”

Louise Wilbanks, Richard’s wife, told WINK the incident has given them a new appreciation for the wildlife near their homes.

“We do need to be aware they are wild animals. They’re not here for our benefit. We’re very lucky to share this space with them,” she said.

Here’s a bit more video with some reporting:

As a native Floridian who grew up on a salt water canal that fed into Tampa Bay, but has also lived in areas of the state with lakes, retention ponds, and cypress swamp and scrub just outside my doors – front and back – one of the things you learn is that gators can be anywhere. And that they’re fast, very, very fast. When I’m out with the dogs near water, even if it is just low lying scrub that has filled up because of rain to form a pond, I keep eyes on the water and my ears focused on any movement in it and along its edges. Day or night!

And Gunner is a very good and very lucky boy!

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    For those who reached out and asked: I am fine. Nothing is wrong. I was unusually busy over the past ten days or so working on several different things.

    I appreciate the concern.

  3. 3.

    cain

    Yeah I saw that video earlier – that was epic and yeah, never let go of his cigar! Fantastic!

    Pup owes his life big time to daddy .

    Glad to hear you are well. :)

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’ve been to FL half a dozen times or so, never saw an alligator or thought much about one, but stories like this always make it seem to me like the whole state is teeming with them

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    @gwangung: We’ll see. It may have all just been busy as in hurrying up, to enter a perpetual state of waiting. Time will, of course, tell.

  11. 11.

    dimmsdale

    Yeah, been shagging my ass over here in the evenings to see if you had anything up, Adam–even checking the sidebar “Silverman on Security” in case I missed one. I always take your posts as authoritative, and “authoritative” is precious these days. Good to see ya!!

  14. 14.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I spent four years at UF as a doctoral student and two as a post-doctoral fellow and other than the people in the Albert and Alberta Gator mascot costumes I never saw a gator near any of the ponds, lakes, or connecting canals on campus until my last week before moving to start a visiting professorship.

  15. 15.

    CaseyL

    Good to see you, Adam!

    And what a terrific story.  There is a man who loves his dog – and also appreciates gators.  A mensch.

    ETA: @Adam L Silverman: Depends on where you are.  I don’t remember Gainesville as a hotspot of alligator action. But Florida has for decades been building subdivisions in or near alligator habitat, carving out large networks of canals so they can advertise the houses as “waterfront!”  You put a waterway in a residential area not far from swampland, you’re gonna get gators dropping by to say Hi and eat something or someone.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    @PJ:

    Alligators and rednecks and old people waiting to die. 

    Including my deadbeat “father”, who, judging by his Facebook page, is a huge Trump fan and did his best to emulate his behavior.

    Also some of my better relatives. Including a cousin, who bought a new home in Sarasota with a man made pond near the backyard. Her first week there, she saw a gator in it. Hell no. Peace out.

    When one of the hurricanes hit a year or two ago, my aunt and uncle went to her house to hunker down, because apparently it is “safer”. Oh HELL no.

  21. 21.

    Alison Rose

    My grandparents moved to Florida when I was a teenager, and the first time we visited, my grandpa told me not to walk too close to the canals because a gator might jump out and grab me, and he was too old to pull me back out. Hardy har. (To be fair, he probably would have actually jumped in to save me, though not sure he would have been as successful as this dude.)

    Not gonna watch the video because even knowing it ends well, it’s still too much for me to witness even a moment of an animal in distress and danger. But good on that guy.

  23. 23.

    CaseyL

    @TaMara (HFG): Try seeing them at night.  I was in the Everglades a couple/few decades ago.  Alligator eyes shine at night. There’s nothing quite like looking across the water and seeing a few dozen eyeshines looking back.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    @patrick II: Because Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton are idiots. Cheryl is the better person to ask on the technical details and issues, but while I’m willing to entertain the argument that our satellite capabilities make doing actual overflights superfluous these days, you don’t just walk out of treaties because they need to shoring up. You actually do the hard work of shoring them up. One of the secondary effects of negotiating these things is it builds rapport even with enemies and peer competitors.

    Trump, Pompeo, and Bolton don’t believe in that sort of things, so this is what happens.

  33. 33.

    Mike in NC

    We live on a golf course where various size gators are common. Sometimes they’ve been photographed curled up by people’s front doors. Saw one about a week ago that was about seven feet long.

  35. 35.

    patrick II

    Thanks. That was my non-expert guess, but they are also destroying the planes so Biden can’t easily restart. All of their crap is just so tiring.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    I heard about this but hadn’t seen the video. I was picturing a much larger beast. Glad Gunner survived. Also, I am glad you’re okay. Hopefully the new administration will be better for your career.

  38. 38.

    Doc Sardonic

    Florida Native here……FLOgrown 7 or 8 generations worth…. Point 1…..Man is a fucking fool and damn lucky that gator was around 4-5 feet max, much bigger you’d be reading his obituary. Point 2…. Don’t let your dog run off the leash around water because in Florida where two or more tablespoons of water are gathered together there will be a gator.  Point 3…. Filet mignon to human = Dog to gator.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @patrick II: My understanding is the planes are old and at the end of their useful lifespans. Congress has appropriated money to begin upgrading and adapting newer ones with more modern imaging technology to replace them, but the administration has refused to spend it.

  40. 40.

    Suzanne

    @Mike in NC: In Phoenix, we would occasionally see coyotes in the neighborhood — one chased Spawn the Elder on his bike for a hundred feet or so once — and we had scorpions in the house all the time. But I draw the goddamn line at DINOSAURS. For fuck’s sake.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    According to an old joke, water-skiing in Florida is trolling for alligators, but walking your dog along the shoreline must also qualify.

    As for Adam’s gator pics at 29, I thought one major difference between the dinosaur and crocodilian lineages is that the crocs can’t hold their legs in that position. Maybe they decided to evolve for better locomotion on land?

  49. 49.

    jonas

    I former FL resident I know told me once of the time he and a friend were out for a walk with their dogs near some pond or something and they got into a conversation about whatever and were distracted for a few minutes. When the friend turned around, his dog was gone. Just a few gentle ripples in the water remained…

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Fortunately it was a small gator or Gunner and his owner would likely not be okay. I tell one of my neighbors on a regular basis she needs to keep a better eye on her little mini terrier because the hawks, eagles, and ospreys will think its lunch. The wee beastie has an uncanny knack of bolting out any open door and tearing around our backyards and the scrub. Sweet little dog. I’d like to not see it become something’s next meal.

  51. 51.

    geg6

    When my sister lived in Florida, I went down during spring break and stayed with her in Jenson Beach where she and her fiancé were renting a place on a canal.  I got up one morning, got a cup of coffee and went out to their lanai to take in the morning before heading to the beach.  I was day dreaming and walking through the yard when something moved about 25 feet away.  I thought it was a bird at first because it was just a rustle in the canal bank.  But all of a sudden it burst into action and jumped in the water.  It was so fast that it took me a minute to realize it was an alligator.  I was astonished because I didn’t realize they could be so fast.  My heart, when it started back up, pounded for the next half hour and I never did finish that coffee.

  56. 56.

    PJ

    @CaseyL:

     

    @Suzanne:

     

    @Adam L Silverman:

    After my Dad retired (mostly), my parents spent their winters in Venice, FL.  I would see a big gator sunbathing in their neighborhood at least once or twice a trip.

    ETA: It brought home how much of a distance there is between us and them.  You can see how people anthropomorphize dangerous animals like bears, but there’s no turning a gator into a cuddly friend.

  58. 58.

    West of the Rockies

    Glad to see you, pal.  You’ve  been  missed.

    So what’s her name, the vixen who’s  taken our dear front pager?//

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @geg6: Betty Cracker has shown pictures of bugs that look like they flew out of Stephen Kings The Mis

    @Viva BrisVegas: the jumping croc… tour? So that was on purpose? And you also have killer spiders the size of dinner plates, I am told? Is Australia just Flordia that got bit by a radioactive spider? A dinner-plate-sized, hairy, fanged spider?

  69. 69.

    Doc Sardonic

    Gators can keep pace with a racehorse for short straight line runs, they are damnably fast and deceptively so.  My old man, God rest him, used to love to tell the story of how when he and my sainted Mother, God rest her and give her a fresh rollin’ pin for takin’ after my devilish arse, first got together and he was working cattle for a family friend and came upon a gator nest with some young hatchlings. Pop decided he would bring mom a baby gator. Little thing started squealing and out the water momma gator comes boiling out and chasing the horse at gallop, Dad had to chuck the youngling to keep from getting gator caught.

  71. 71.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: They do train the crocs to jump for tourists. Some namby pamby types are getting nervous about what happens if the crocs suddenly realise that there is more meat in the boat than out.

    The dinner plate sized spiders are not a problem, it’s the ones about the size of quarter you have to worry about. Funnel web spiders do not mess around, they will chase you if you piss them off.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @West of the Rockies: Nothing like that. I’m doing some volunteer strategic and policy advising for someone and that ate up some time. And I had to write parts of one and all of another proposal for my boss for projects we’re bidding on. And some other work related stuff regarding a potential client.

  75. 75.

    J R in WV

    But you know how the Air Force scraps aircraft don’t you? They fly them to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson and park them in the Boneyard, where they wait to be reclaimed for parts or restored and flown again. They don’t run them into a crusher!

    They recently recalled a B-52 from the Boneyard to replace one in-service that had an engine fire IIRC…

    I’ll bet a lot that these specialty 135s are scrapped just that way, flown to Tucson and parked at the east end of Davis-Monthan.

    Good to hear from you, Adam. Missed your Fla Wit, and expertise.

  76. 76.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My sister and BIL took us to a wildlife refuge that was teeming with gators. They assured us that they were small and no danger to humans, but while I was holding sis’ chihuahua many people took it upon myself to warn me not to let him get close to the water.

    Later they did lose a good sized dog to a gator when he went wading in a canal.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Phillip Rucker on MSNBC just now: The President is trying to figure out how he can make a lot of money without doing much work.

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Suzanne: My aunt and uncle around Fort Lauderdale have a screened-in pool.  Not sure if they see any gators in their subdivision, but it keeps out the bugs and fire ants.

  79. 79.

    Barbara

    @Adam L Silverman: Although I think my chihuahua mix is too big for a bird of prey, I have seen an eagle eyeing him closely and felt compelled to bring him inside. Even if the eagle failed, its talons could do quite a bit of damage. I am honestly amazed that there aren’t more incidents involving alligators and humans and their pets.

  82. 82.

    cain

    Hey Adam, what’s your thoughts about this open sky thing – but more specifically that Trump is planning on destroying the planes. I don’t know how much our taxes paid for that – but that seems like a decision that is purely political and it costs us money.

  83. 83.

    cain

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Why would you allow your dogs to wade into water that is full of predators? That makes absolutely no sense. Fuck their owners who had no good sense and this poor pup lost their life due to their incompetence.

  89. 89.

    Doc Sardonic

    @cain: Yep…..baby wildlife are some of the cutest things there are on this plant….but unless you are willing to take that E-ticket ride to the hurt locker best to leave them the hell alone.

  90. 90.

    Mary G

    Ugh, I will stay here on the left coast with the wildfires and earthquakes, thankyouverymuch.

    Glad to see you, Adam.

  91. 91.

    coin operated

    @Barbara: No…it’s not.  Dad retired to N. Idaho, and one of his favorite hobbies is instructing newcomers (mostly suburban Cali folks) that you do NOT leave your pet unattended.  He often follows this up with a list of predators that think their mini mutt is on the menu.  One of the more aggressive of the lot, great horned owls, will attack anything that looks edible…dogs and cats are absolutely on that list.

  96. 96.

    cain

    @Doc Sardonic:

    There is nothing more terrifying than seeing a baby bear.. I would probably run screaming. Sure, the cub is cute, but momma is not and she will fuck you up.

  97. 97.

    Barbara

    @coin operated: I definitely won’t take chances.  My assumption is that most birds are generally aware of their limits and if they are eyeing him closely I need to get him out of the way.

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    I just had a good idea. (That happens sometimes.) We need a new national holiday after the pandemic to celebrate health, healthcare workers, achievements and innovations, and to encourage healthy, responsible living. Maybe it would make people feel better about skipping this holiday season if they knew we would have one to celebrate in the spring. Any way we can get Biden and Turtle to agree on a new national holiday? Maybe get the airlines in on it, so people can come together to celebrate with their families once it’s safe?

  103. 103.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Amir Khalid:  Yeah just be real good with that first shot….the second shot is just a birthday candle on dog shit. Funny thing, at one time I had a Thompson\Center Contender which is a single shot hand cannon, had a 30-06 chambered barrel that I shot once….had other barrels but that damn 30-06 was insane.

  104. 104.

    coin operated

    @Amir Khalid:
    I do not know if Adam’s pistol is real…but there are guns that will fire rifle-sized rounds. One, the Marlin 450 BFR, fires a round that will travel through 25 3/4″ pine boards before stopping.

    Or, what Doc Sardonic said.

  109. 109.

    J R in WV

    @PJ:

    After my Dad retired (mostly), my parents spent their winters in Venice, FL. I would see a big gator sunbathing in their neighborhood at least once or twice a trip.

    My folks settled in Osprey, for winters, just north of Venice, so I’m pretty familiar with the area. We saw the Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus in their winter quarters, for example, before they moved north a bit.

    I rode a bike over on Casey Key, and we would go to dinner at the nice places all over Sarasota and Venice. I must be unobservant, I didn’t see many gators except for the state park nearby…

    There’s a pretty good Stephan King novel called Duma Key placed in the area, about a guy injured in an accident that gifted him with artistic abilities, look it up some time. Duma Key was the barrier island just south of Casey Key in the novel, of course no such island in our real Venice/Sarasota area.

    But my mom painted and had shows in the area… so the book hit me right in a sweet spot. Got pretty creepy at the end, of course, it’s by King!

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: Also, the military can slow walk getting rid of the planes if it needs to.  There can be lots of paperwork that needs to be done and redone.  One could really be shocked at how long it takes to do somethings.  Shocked, I tell you.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: The planes are military equipment, so we paid for all of that. Or someone did when they were first acquired.

    Cheryl will be better to ask on the technical details, but my understanding is that there are several concerns that have been expressed.

    1. The Russians are cheating. They are using their overflights not for the purposes delineated in the treaty, but to surveil other sites.
    2. Our surveillance satellites make the imagery from the planes superfluous.
    3. The planes are old and had reached the end of their useful service lives and the cameras our very outdated technology.

    I honestly don’t know enough to validate the concerns. I have no doubt, just from knowing how the Russians behave that #1 is legitimate, I just don’t know if it is valid. Concern 3 is also legit, which is why Congress appropriated money to begin the acquisition of new planes or to outfit existing planes to take over the mission set, as well as to get appropriate imagery technology that isn’t decades out of date for them.

    All of that said, it would have been far better to stay in and negotiate these issues than to unilaterally walk away. We’ve left our allies and partners behind once again. And even when negotiating with a hostile and untrustworthy interlocutor, the value of negotiating and even reaching a best alternative negotiated agreement is from the trust building that results from the process.

  115. 115.

    PJ

    @J R in WV: Gators like the golf courses.  I’ve never seen one in a nice restaurant either, but it could be I’m just not that high a roller.

    Thanks for the Stephen King tip, it might be his first novel I try.

  117. 117.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: They do not make a 50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) revolver. That’s a photoshop. The largest caliber revolver made is for the Smith & Wesson 500 magnum caliber round. Smith & Wesson, of course, makes the Model S&W 500:

    https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/model-sw500-0

    OVERVIEW

    In 2003 the gunsmiths and engineers at Smith & Wesson wanted to deliver maximum power for serious handgun hunters. The power they sought required an entirely new frame, the massive “X-Frame™,” and was the basis for the new Model S&W500™, the most powerful production revolver in the world.  This ushered in the era of the “big gun” and was only the beginning.   For ultimate power and velocity there’s nothing even close to an X-Frame model handgun.

    HIVIZ® sights, Interchangable Compensator

    Features
    • Most powerful production revolver in the world today
    • Massive .500 S&W Magnum cartridge – 2600 ft/lb. muzzle energy
    • A hunting handgun for any game animal walking
    • Removable high efficiency compensator
    • HIVIZ® Red Dot interchangeable front sight
    • Includes two muzzle brakes.  One for use with Jacketed Bullets and one for use with Lead Bullets.

    Here’s the comparison pictures so you can see the differences in the size of the rounds. Remember, the most common handgun caliber in the US is the 9mm for semi-autos followed by the .45 ACP. For revolvers it is .38 Special and .357 Magnum. You can see the handgun calibers – semi-auto and revolver – in the second image.

  118. 118.

    Danielx

    @Sebastian:

    I read some of that swill and feel like I need to take a shower.

    ETA: some of those people want to kill everybody who even looks like they might not think the same way.

  120. 120.

    piratedan

    @Suzanne: so…. come on down to Cactus Jack’s Used Plane lot where we can make you a smoking deal on an old classic to something just a little less travelled in!

    Remember, if it ain’t from Jack, it ain’t Shit!

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: No. People hunt with everything from .454 Cassul up to 500 Smith & Wesson. For self defense from predators, basically, you’d want the largest handgun round you can safely shoot, with a hard cast Keith bullet (see picture below), out of the longest barreled gun you can both comfortably/safely carry and effectively and safely shoot. The hard cast keith bullets are flat headed, no curved ogive, and they’re a solid cast bullet that is intended to go through the skulls and thick bones of large predators. Also, cinder blocks. Basically they just smash and smash through whatever’s in front of them

    Here are, in order, .45 ACP + P, Heavy .357, and 50 AE hard cast Keith rounds. The last two are revolver rounds.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Danielx: James Mattis– who found his voice now that the election is over– said that Biden must abandon “America First”, which I’m sure is advice Biden was waiting for. So they’re going after him on twitter. I can’t imagine was Parler looks like

  125. 125.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PJ: Every time I contemplate writing a book I decide I can say everything I need to in about 30 pages. So…

  127. 127.

    Sebastian

    @Danielx:

    In their dreams but there for sure one or two that might snap. Stochastic terrorism as it were.

    But right now they are tearing each other apart. But I am here for all the popcorn and I’ll watch this all day long, honestly.

    I want this shit bottled, it’s so good haha

  132. 132.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Sebastian: One of the units I was in was being shuttered at the end of the Cold War, and, as it went away, we had less and less to do.  I was still there because I was waiting out the last month or so of my term of service so it made no sense to move me somewhere.  I found that I could make an award recommendation form (something that I would do in 15 minutes between other jobs in an active unit) could take me an entire morning.  Get the form.  Get some coffee.  Get a pen.  Get another pen in case the first one ran out of ink.  Stretch.  And so on.  But if someone asked, I was working on something.  You couldn’t say I wasn’t.

  136. 136.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Our allies patient are quite impressive. I think they hoped that we would regain our sanity and we have. But we aren’t out of the woods yet.

    Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

  137. 137.

    Sebastian

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Btw that’s how Italian customs officers would strike. They were forbidden by law to strike but then they would work so slow that trucks would back up 50 miles each side of the borders to France and to Austria. Good times.

  138. 138.

    mrmoshpotato

    @cain: Our allies patient are quite impressive. I think they hoped that we would regain our sanity and we have. But we aren’t out of the woods yet.

    Yes.  Our allies around the world thankfully understand the standing of the United States in world politics and security more than too many of our fellow citizens.

  140. 140.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    @Danielx: James Mattis– who found his voice now that the election is over– said that Biden must abandon “America First”, which I’m sure is advice Biden was waiting for. So they’re going after him on twitter. I can’t imagine was Parler looks like

    I’ve been thinking about Parler and other sites like it and I’m thinking they are probably a good development if they have the effect of cordoning the crazies off on their own reservation.  The real problem with Facebook is not that there were crazies there.  We’ve always had crazies.  The real problem with Facebook is that it sucks normal people into the crazy.   My elderly parents are susceptible to getting sucked into Facebook crazy because they are sometimes on Facebook.  But they would never see something on Parler or other places like reddit where crazy happens.

     

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @Sebastian: It works in reverse too.  I vaguely recall a story about GM tooling up to make the Chevy Vega.  It was important to wring every bit of inefficiency from the production line to get the price as low as possible.  They had a scheme to get the union to buy in by rewarding faster production.  So, when they we’re figuring out how long it should take, the workers were slow and methodical.  When the actual production started, the incentives were to beat the standard time, so everything was rushed and slipshod.  But cheap!

    That explains why there are still millions of Chevy Vegas on the road to this day…

    Incentives matter.  A lot.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  147. 147.

    Geminid

    @J R in WV: I took a trip West late last winter, and checked out Tuscon. Then I headed east, and drove by what seemed like a mile of C-135s at Davis-Monaghan AFB. I also saw a lot of photovoltaic panels on top of base housing. A legacy of the Obama renewable energy initiatives. I drove on to Las Cruces, and saw huge pecan orchards along I-10. And a pistachio farm just over the New Mexico border. I hope to go back this spring, maybe stay at the inn you featured in your On the Road pics

    Some of the old western motels are cool. I’ve stayed at the Lamplighter Inn, Alomosa CO. It looks like it was built in the 1950’s. Standard two story construction, but with brick half walls inside the rooms, and some very pretty green stone veneer in spots that glows in morning and evening light. Alamosa is a neat town to visit. Lots of flat walking, including a park along the Rio Grand on the edge of “downtown.”

  149. 149.

    dimmsdale

    @Another Scott:  I know the thread is dead & gone but your post prompted a memory of my high-school physics teacher, who’d worked on the line in Detroit assembling, I think it was, Plymouths. He said everyone hated the job so much that occasionally someone would “accidentally” drop a slice of lunch meat on the car floor just before the carpeting was installed…just out of spite. High school civics….lunch meat…..I mean — ?

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