Day 21, Post 19: I read this today - "President Trump just announced that he's overturning the 2012 federal fuel efficiency standards". I find it appalling, especially as I travel through this beautiful country that really should not be taken for granted, that we have a President who needs to take 7th grade science, and is clearly in the pocket of the big money oil companies. I fear so deeply for our grandchildren, who will inherit a vastly overheated and overheating earth.
One of my current travel mates Phil does a simple experiment with his students. They enclose the same amount of air in a control tube and a research tube with the same heating conditions and add co2 to one of the tubes. The air in the tube where co2 has been introduced always becomes hotter. Introducing co2 to air reliably makes the temperature rise. This principle of physics has been understood for 150 years. And now we have a President and an EPA director who actually think that is not true? It's so deeply deeply frustrating, and so incredibly dangerous for us all.
Apart from my extreme irritation with these moronic perspectives, I am fine. I biked for about 55 miles into an easterly headwind today, which was tiring. Sanderson, TX is a dusty, beat up, appealing town that is a great example of rural America in decline. Maybe half the commercial buildings on the main drag are shuttered. Life is not easy here. In spite of that, the residents are friendly and helpful. Funny how hardship created resourceful and helpful people.
Check out my road cycling activity on Garmin Connect.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1623020587
Pic 1, landscape east of Marathon, TX
Pic 2, Landscape near Sanderson, TX
Pic 3, Yucca in bloom
Pic 4, Endearing sign on a motel door in Sanderson (we stayed at a nearby RV park)