Thread: Road pics

Wullie --
Is that puddle your water ration for the day? And do cactuses (cacti?) really grow on rocks down there?

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Wullie --
Is that puddle your water ration for the day? And do cactuses (cacti?) really grow on rocks down there?

I don't drink the water. Up until this week that puddle was nonexistent and will probably be gone by tomorrow if it isn't already.

Yes those damn things grow on rocks, in rocks, around rocks, through rocks, and just about any place you let 'em.

Oh, the leaves are edible too. Nice thing about that cactus is when it gets REALLY dry and all the grass is gone, you can burn the thorns off 'em and the cattle will eat 'em like candy. You burn the thorns off with "pear burner" which is nothing more than a big, glorified bunsen burner.

Our friends from South of the border also cook and eat the leaves. Ain't bad when it's fried up right.

What are those red buds on top of the cactus? Are they flowers of some sort, or seeds? I'm completely ignorant of the flora in your part of the world!

That Cacti fruit is really sweet stuff, but no one ever mentions that they seem to be 90% seeds. I usually stick them with a sharp stick, cut them off the plant and give the outside a really good singeing in a fire. Peel the outter skin off to eat them.


Mick

Mick --
It's fruit? So it's kind of like a seed pod?

Sure is on both counts.


Mick

Thanks, Mick!

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Mick --
It's fruit? So it's kind of like a seed pod?

That is why they're commonly known as "prickly pear".

Mick's got it down for how to eat 'em. There's enough of those things up there in that country now to feed half of Haiti. I ain't seen a crop like this year's in a long time.

Here's the pic I cropped the first one from and there are just a few cacti in this one. I saw some pastures that you'd have a hard time walking through.

A few weeks back I drove from VA to MA, flew from CT to MI and back and then drove back from MA to VA in the span of 6 days. I took a few photos along the way.

I'll start with an airport photo... that was the first place I had a chance to rest.

Then I found a place in MI selling Scotch eggs. I love Scotch eggs.


And then, well, I was busy working


so I didn't take many photos on my phone until I made it back to the airport.
Attachment 104531

This is a Rt 23 in Mass about Sunrise time.



And here is some lovely fog on the Mass Pike.


Then I made it out to the RI area.


I found some great coffee and biscotti at the I84 Diner in NY state.


And round about sunset time I rolled through southern PA to the homestretch.

Or maybe it was northern VA? Who knows. By that time I had been on the road since 6am.

I was lucky enough to work in the middle of nowhere for twenty one years. On the trips back and forth, I got to see many pretty sunsets and sunrises. I took this picture a couple years ago, when a very rare bunch of clouds rolled through. On a trivia note, the mountains in the foreground are the Sutter Buttes, the World's smallest mountain range.