I Found it Funny

I was a bit bored earlier and decided to type the words "Iowa Park" in the image finder on Yahoo! just to see what came up. I literally LOLed when I saw the first page of pictures! It was none other than the ONE thing that EVERYONE who has every lived, visited, driven through, or tried to talk outside in Iowa Park has encountered at least three times. A train.

Our apartment sits exactly one city block, that's a SMALL city block, away from the BNSF Fort Worth to Denver track that 3 years ago felt a whopping average of 18 trains a day pass thru. THAT, my friends, has gone up since then. In the past two weeks, I have not been able to go outside without hearing the roar of an engine or the shrieking, ear piercing, teeth grinding, earth shattering HHHHOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKK!!!!!!!!! of a lovely train passing through. I counted one day, you know, a day much like today when I'm bored, I counted 20 trains that went through, just within an 8 hour period. So, that tells me that the 18 per day average has increased JUST slightly.

To make matters "better," speaking from a "positive" standpoint, whoever first laid the track through the wonderful town of Iowa Park thought it would be a good idea to put a switchover second track right smack dab through the heart of town. Yes, I said "SMACK DAB!" That's two miles of double tracks through town that are used for passing trains. These are normally found somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, where they don't disrupt the day-to-day duties of Americans at work or play. Some may argue that Iowa Park is the perfect place for such a thing, but I disagree. For those who have ever had the opportunity to live by a switchover track, you know that trains can occupy this two mile stretch of track for sometimes HOURS. One train creeps by at a speed of less than 5 miles an hour while the other train is at a dead stop. This usually occurs at the "lowest" traffic times like 8 am, 12 noon, 3:30 pm, and 5 pm. Just at the times when the whole world is going to work, school, lunch, getting out of school and getting off of work OR when you are in the biggest hurry and need to get across the tracks, or you're driving your Paw-paw's truck that likes to overheat and you really don't need to be stuck waiting on a train. Oh and I failed to mention that BOTH trains, while passing each other, use their shrieking, ear piercing, teeth grinding, earth shattering HHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNKKKKKKK!!!! just in case there is some idiot that doesn't know that there are two trains sitting on the track for two hours. Last time I checked, the shrieking, ear piercing, teeth grinding, earth shattering HHHHHHOOOOOOONNNNNKKKKK!!!! is to let everyone know you are on your way down the track and to get out of the way, NOT for a concert in G Minor with an augmented 7th!!!

So here's to you Mr. BNSF Engine Honk Blower, what would Iowa Park do without you in our lives.

What's that I hear in the distance???

-approved by Farley Wells, CMDI who is mumbling something and turning off his hearing aides.