Last night Vince and I were talking about funny things from our earlier years.
One thing that wasn’t really funny but we do laugh about it know . . you all know how precise Vince is about everything and how scatterbrain I am about everything . . one night he flew into the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and I was going to pick him up. He lived in GA and I lived in southwest Louisiana. It was easier for him to fly into Houston or Baton Rouge so that’s what he usually did.
I got there just fine – before my days of not being able to drive over bridges. I got out of the car and wrote down where I had parked the car. Don’t ask me how it happened but maybe I wrote it down wrong but I think there are two different terminals (maybe more) and I went in one, and came out the other and the lots were numbered the same but people with half a brain would have known which terminal they were parked near.
His flight was pretty late . . arriving after 10 p.m. I think. We came out and could not find the car. It took several hours to find it. Can you believe he didn’t dump me right then? We walked and walked and walked and neither of us can remember how we finally found the car.
Another thing was that we were driving my car once . . not even sure where we were going but we were driving across Texas. It may have been the same trip for all I know. A rock hit the windshield and made one of those little bull’s eye type cracks. Vince stopped at an automotive supply place and got the kit to stop it from spreading. It was like a hypodermic needle and you injected the stuff into the crack, and let it sit for some amount of time . . longer than he wanted to sit and wait so we were driving down the road with that needle thing attached to the windshield. We left it on there so long that we had to buy a razor blade to get it loose from the glass. People would pass us and look at like . . those people are nuts!
One thing we still laugh at – Texas has Farm to Market roads and they’ll be FM (which stands for Farm to Market) and then a number. Vince asked me “what does FM mean?” I told him Farm to Market and he didn’t believe me so we looked it up and I showed him that’s really what it means. He thought it was a crazy name for a road and there are so many of them.
Now .. we live on a Farm to Market road. Often when I have to give our address to someone on the phone, I’ll say FM XXXX and they say “What?” and I say “FM – Farm to Market Road”. I tell Vince that’s what he gets for not believing me when I told him . . now he lives on one.
We do have some funny memories.
Claudia Duke says
George Bush is horrible for trying to find a “lost” car! I’m so glad I have a son who can come pick us up in the waiting area now. Did you know that several years ago the state legislature tried to change some of the FM roads to UR (Urban Roads) for the ones that are now “in” towns? They quickly changed them back when there was an uproar from the public. UR XXXX just did not have the same ring to it. I’m pretty are it was before you and Vince moved to Texas.
Phyllis says
I worked for Nabisco and when taking orders, I could not figure out what FM stood for. One of the salesmen finally told me and I also learned that RM is ranch to market. The thing that continues to confuse me when we drive to, and in TX, what is the law for the rural roads with the wide shoulders. I see the locals, I assume, pull to the shoulder to let me and others pass them. Is this the legal thing to do? Sometimes if someone is following me and I don’t want to chance it, I just pretend that I don’t know anything about it and stay in my lane. With my NC tags, I figure they will never know the difference.
Liz says
I think it is more of a safety thing than a legal thing. In rural areas, you’ll see farm tractors and horse trailers pull over to the shoulder so they don’t get run over by inattentive drivers. I’ve moved to the shoulder on some roads in order to make a right turn without fear of that 18-wheeler running into me as I slowed down.
By the way, Texas drivers tend to go fast all of the time. In OK, they’ll pass us on I-35, even when I’m going a bit above the speed limit. We smile when we see them a few miles later getting a ticket.
Judy Laquidara says
It is a legal thing in Texas – https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._transp._code_section_545.058
Judy Laquidara says
I did a little research to be sure but yes, it does seem to be legal. See #5: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._transp._code_section_545.058
Rebecca says
That reminds me of the time I took one person to the Ontario (CA) airport to pick up a third party. The previous time I had been there was 10-15 years earlier, when it was like a bus station. I dropped the friend as soon as I saw a building, and when I went to park the car, I saw there were TWO terminals, and our friend was coming in the far one! It all worked out, but what a surprise.
Judy Laquidara says
It’s really hard when they change things and you don’t even know it. How are we supposed to keep up with everything? 🙂
Tee says
What? FM is Farm to Market? Haha! I never knew that. I just knew that when driving in Texas, the roads numbers started with FM. 🙂
Judy Laquidara says
Now you know! 🙂
Nelle Coursey says
We have a lot of those!
Twyla says
And I do believe they were made for farmers. and farmers have the right of way. So don’t be honking your horn at a tractor and equipment.
Susan Nixon says
I always thought the FM made great sense! We loved driving them in the 5th wheel – there’s not all that much traffic on most of them, and you get to see awesome country. That’s where I saw them burning the sugar cane fields with the flames rising way up in the air – 20 feet or more and smoke columns going up and forming clouds. I’d never have seen that if I hadn’t have been on the FM road!