Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Postfactoblogging our Weekend Travel

Over the weekend the Slatterys traveled to the Jersey Shore to visit Laura's mom. While a trip to the beach and playground was the highlight for all key demographics, we also spent a fair amount of time on our nation's interstate highway system.

Interstate 195, connecting the New Jersey Turnpike with the Garden State Parkway, always intrigued us with its Preventorium Road overpass. (Preventoria were also the subject of a post on this blog which I cannot now find.) Now the New Jersey Department of Transportation has decorated the highway with signs bearing the following inscription:

WARNING: Trees have been sprayed with noxious spray

No reason is given, just a statement of fact, which I guess is what a good sign does. Still, you kind of wonder just what kind of spray we are talking here. Not that New Jersey has any lack of sprayable noxious stuff.

We also noticed the continuing incursion of Lukoil into the American gas station market. (Topical aside: Is that Lieberman at the top of the web page?) Lukoil is the largest Russian oil company, and I was going to offer reflections on the probable nature of its relationship with the fair and balanced Putin administration until I remembered that it probably has lawyers. Lots of lawyers. Lawyers who do nothing but search the web for actionable items. Anyway, Laura and I agreed that we would prefer not to give our business to Lukoil. Less than 24 hours later we found ourselves at Lukoil on the Parkway. We expected a surly Russian guy to pump our gas while a cigarette dangled from his lip, but were slightly disappointed. At least our attendant was using a cell phone around gas vapors; otherwise the stop would have been a complete bust.

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