I cannot break the laws of physics captain!

[Frantic Freddie]

Re Geography Failures:

And a story I read several years ago that really stuck in my mind – it took place when the Olympics were being held in Salt Lake City. Someone from New Mexico called in to the Customer Service offices in order to purchase some tickets. No problem, they were told. Order was taken, payment was made and everything went fine until the customer provided their address. Sorry, they were told – we don’t ship tickets outside of the United States.

Not really unusual at all

My FIL sent off for a technical publication once & was told he'd have to go through the embassy to get it.
I was playing a hotel in South Dakota & the bass player & I sat down to visit with some patrons & they asked us if we had any trouble crossing the border.We winked at each other & said "Which border do you mean? Colorado? Wyoming? South Dakota?"

Their sheepish answer was "Well,we didn't know there was a difference"

[Pagan]

It makes me almost cry whenever I think about those wild fires. And they're burning in the White Mountains and Salt River Canyon, the most beautiful place on Earth that I've ever been. So sad, so sad.

I hate seeing any of the forests in NM or AZ burning. My favorite is Lincoln and I hate when there's a fire down there. Don't want or need another Smokey.

The Wallow fire is where the smoke in ABQ is coming from. It's actually caused some delays at the Sunport. It's just a matter of time (like hours) before it crosses the state line. And they're losing containment on the Horseshoe Two.

Honestly, the smoke is freaking me out a little. When I was little, my parents had taken me over to my step-grandmother's (I was flying with her to NY) in Arizona, she lived outside of Sierra Vista at the base of Miller Peak. The night after my parents left, we had to evacuate because of a fire coming down the mountain. Got to within a 1/4 mile of her house. There was lot I blocked out and didn't remember until the Cerro Grande fire in 2000.

[Jester]

I played poker with a guy last week who insisted that there were 52 states, and 52 stars on the Flag.

This is actually rather common. I have had that argument with more than one customer. So many Americans are absolutely convinced that there are 52, or sometimes 54 States. Despite the fact that the number of States has not changed in 52 years, since 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii were added to the Union.

Someone from New Mexico called in to the Customer Service offices in order to purchase some tickets. No problem, they were told. Order was taken, payment was made and everything went fine until the customer provided their address. Sorry, they were told – we don’t ship tickets outside of the United States.

This is also relatively common. Ask anyone from New Mexico, they'll tell you. Makes me glad I'm from Arizona, to be honest.

Having to power through that many miles while watching her sleep or listen to the radio did NOT make for a pleasant trip.

Sounds like a lousy girlfriend, to be rather frank.

[Moirae]

... I'm at a loss as to what to say. How in hell has the human race made it this far with this many dumb people in existence?

[Frantic Freddie]

I hate seeing any of the forests in NM or AZ burning. My favorite is Lincoln and I hate when there's a fire down there. Don't want or need another Smokey.

The Wallow fire is where the smoke in ABQ is coming from. It's actually caused some delays at the Sunport. It's just a matter of time (like hours) before it crosses the state line. And they're losing containment on the Horseshoe Two.

Honestly, the smoke is freaking me out a little. When I was little, my parents had taken me over to my step-grandmother's (I was flying with her to NY) in Arizona, she lived outside of Sierra Vista at the base of Miller Peak. The night after my parents left, we had to evacuate because of a fire coming down the mountain. Got to within a 1/4 mile of her house. There was lot I blocked out and didn't remember until the Cerro Grande fire in 2000.

We have 10 acres on the road to Capilla Peak,used to be a beautiful place for us to camp & close to Manzano Lake if we wanted to fish.We'd spend as many as 5 days (Thurs-Mon) down there on holiday weekends,friends would come for lunch or to camp with us,we've had some wonderful times there.

Then it burned in the Trigo Fire,60 year old Ponderosas & 100+ year old gone junipers,gone

[Seshat]

I can't really understand trees that die in fire. It's just so outside my experience. Eucalypt forests are evolved to burn. And by that, I mean not just the eucalypts themselves, but the acacia and bottlebrush and ferns and palms, the epiphytes and lichens and mosses. Even the fauna is evolved to cope with fire.

If I (or any other Australian) seem to take a bushfire 'too casually', failing to understand a loss of ecosystem, please understand. Our default assumption is that as long as the fauna had a decent escape route, there's been no ecosystem loss.


Back to the topic of driving:
I've done my share of tag-team long-distance hauls. I've never had the endurance my husband does for long-distance driving, but I used to be able to drive long enough to give him a break. Three, four hours.
One of the best long-haul trips we did was a Brisbane->Melbourne trip. We did a side tour to the Parkes radio telescope, and the Jenolan caves. It meant going off the main route and along some minor roads, but was well worth it.

[Andara Bledin]

Of course, 800 miles will take you clean out of most European counties, and for that matter, just about any state except for Texas, Alaska, and maybe California north to south (not sure).

I can say, from memory, that 800 miles will certainly take you out of California. And Texas is only barely further from north to south.

300 miles ISN'T that far. Phoenix to LA is about 360 miles, takes you about 6 hours.

In traffic.

100 miles is where I go from afternoon trip to overnight stay. 300 is where I swap it over to weekend stay.

Now the trip I took that was 500 each way where I left after a full week of work, worked the whole weekend, then drove back in time to catch a nap before going in to work again on Monday morning was a little much, however.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

This is also relatively common. Ask anyone from New Mexico, they'll tell you. Makes me glad I'm from Arizona, to be honest.

Some of the worst offenders have been from Arizona, Colorado, and Texas! New Mexico Magazine has a column devoted to it every month.
http://www.nmmagazine.com/50missing.php

Then it burned in the Trigo Fire,60 year old Ponderosas & 100+ year old gone junipers,gone

That's the one that the Forest Service wouldn't declare completely out until after the winter snowfall began.

If I (or any other Australian) seem to take a bushfire 'too casually', failing to understand a loss of ecosystem, please understand. Our default assumption is that as long as the fauna had a decent escape route, there's been no ecosystem loss.

I think the difference might be the cause of the fires? All, and I do mean all, of our fires (NM and AZ) this year have been human caused. There's been no way for them to have been lightning strikes.

[mattm04]

They do. They also think there is foreign currency and are so "suprised" at how "progressive" they are for having U.S. dollars so handy...

We're doomed.

[Jester]

I can say, from memory, that 800 miles will certainly take you out of California. And Texas is only barely further from north to south.

Don't know about Texas north to south, but east to west along I-10 it's 889 miles.

In traffic.

We're talking about a drive involving L.A. When isn't traffic a factor with L.A.?

Some of the worst offenders have been from Arizona, Colorado, and Texas!

I have serious trouble believing someone from Arizona would not know New Mexico is a State. Then again, considering some of the rampant stupidity I have seen from my home State, I have no idea why this is such a difficult idea for me to accept.

All, and I do mean all, of our fires (NM and AZ) this year have been human caused. There's been no way for them to have been lightning strikes.

That just makes me want to cry even more!

[Seshat]

I think the difference might be the cause of the fires? All, and I do mean all, of our fires (NM and AZ) this year have been human caused. There's been no way for them to have been lightning strikes.

I agree with Jester: there's no excuse for that.

And Pagan, that could well be the difference. You know that lovely eucalyptus smell? The gas that makes that smell emits from the eucalypts (and ti trees) and is flammable. Add a few dry, hot weeks, and then a lightning storm or any other spark source and foom: bushfire.

"Only you can prevent forest fires" just doesn't work here. We can't. All we can do is accept them, minimise human tragedy from them, and try to plan our habitats to permit fauna escape routes.

[Pagan]

You know that lovely eucalyptus smell? The gas that makes that smell emits from the eucalypts (and ti trees) and is flammable. Add a few dry, hot weeks, and then a lightning storm or any other spark source and foom: bushfire.

Uh....no? While I'm sure there's some eucalyptus trees around the city, we just don't have that many that. And the only thing I can really smell right now is smoke.

"Only you can prevent forest fires" just doesn't work here. We can't.

Speaking of Smokey Bear. This is where the live version of Smokey came from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitan_Gap_fire Again, human-caused.

And it made me laugh when they said on the news that the Coronado National Forest is closed...considering half of it's on fire!

[Frantic Freddie]

I can't really understand trees that die in fire. It's just so outside my experience. Eucalypt forests are evolved to burn. And by that, I mean not just the eucalypts themselves, but the acacia and bottlebrush and ferns and palms, the epiphytes and lichens and mosses. Even the fauna is evolved to cope with fire.

Depends on how intense the fire is,the Trigo fire was what we call here a crown fire.

Here's what our land looked like after:
Our camping spot











The majority of those trees are dead & have fallen down by now.