![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Or I get the car jokes.
Went to see the animated movie Cars a few days ago and laughed myself silly.
My history for those who don't know me:
I grew up in a small pit hole of a town in the Arizona desert. We lived in a trailer. Our road was unpaved. We had a well shared with 5 other trailers, our own septic system, and a large propane tank. Only city provided amenity - electricity. My dad was a mechanic, and we had more non-working cars than working ones. He had at least 12 vehicles of one type or another, including a tow truck, a full size bus, a corvette, two studebakers ... etc. That shot of Mater's 'tow yard'? That was our place. Yep. Except the fence was made out of railroad ties.
I've been on Route 66. I've been to a 'ghost' town on Route 66 - Oatman and I've driven the I-40 through CA and AZ. I've also been out to the middle of nowhere in the Arizona desert.
Wonderful things about the movie:
They were true to the car sounds. I know what various cars sounds like. Each has a distinctive sound. A porsche sounds nothing like a 50's Hornet, and it didn't, the engine rumble was reproduced quite well. Our dad had a truck named Old Dog who we could hear coming from three miles away. Really. It was also the truck of note in the area who could get up any sand dune and rescue city idiots who broken down and needed a tow, but had gotten to somewhere tow trucks couldn't make it to.
Wonderful detail to the desert desolation - sand, cactus, rock, the colors, the rust, all great!
Interstate I-40 and Route 66. Since I've been on both, and they look pretty much like that, though you don't go from 'lower desert' to water that fast. It's a dry desert for a reason!
The biggest non-reality bending Problem - the tractor tipping. Come on you middle state farm boys! We all know how you got your kicks, but that's NOT true to the desert. No cows! No farms! Really!
What one does for fun in the desert: lizard hunting, mesquite tree climbing (look out for those thorns!), geode gathering, target practice, off-roading, abandoned mine spelunking, and the number One past time - Flash Flood Bingo!
I can see confused looks. Flash Flood Bingo is simple. When it rains, it does so in quick downpours, all the water runs into 'washes', since the sandy desert can't really absorb the water, it goes towards the lowest spot and makes a big mess, taking away anything in its path. You know, roads, cars, railroad lines, etc. After a nice storm, we got out gathering, and often made out with a good haul of railroads ties, which my dad used to build us a play fort, a fence, and the walk way to our trailer. I'm talking the 12 foot long ones. Once they washed away, the railroad company could no longer use them.
The other fun thing was to go to the road and watch the city idiots try to make it across. Heh. You think it's only a few inches of water, when it's actually several feet (and missing road)! You can really only get across a large wash early on in a storm. Too late, and well, you were better off sitting and waiting.
That's really the only thing about the desert I miss. The thunder and lightening, and great storms we had. Out here in Southern CA, we hardly ever get thunder or lightening, and certainly no washes to watch run.
Went to see the animated movie Cars a few days ago and laughed myself silly.
My history for those who don't know me:
I grew up in a small pit hole of a town in the Arizona desert. We lived in a trailer. Our road was unpaved. We had a well shared with 5 other trailers, our own septic system, and a large propane tank. Only city provided amenity - electricity. My dad was a mechanic, and we had more non-working cars than working ones. He had at least 12 vehicles of one type or another, including a tow truck, a full size bus, a corvette, two studebakers ... etc. That shot of Mater's 'tow yard'? That was our place. Yep. Except the fence was made out of railroad ties.
I've been on Route 66. I've been to a 'ghost' town on Route 66 - Oatman and I've driven the I-40 through CA and AZ. I've also been out to the middle of nowhere in the Arizona desert.
Wonderful things about the movie:
They were true to the car sounds. I know what various cars sounds like. Each has a distinctive sound. A porsche sounds nothing like a 50's Hornet, and it didn't, the engine rumble was reproduced quite well. Our dad had a truck named Old Dog who we could hear coming from three miles away. Really. It was also the truck of note in the area who could get up any sand dune and rescue city idiots who broken down and needed a tow, but had gotten to somewhere tow trucks couldn't make it to.
Wonderful detail to the desert desolation - sand, cactus, rock, the colors, the rust, all great!
Interstate I-40 and Route 66. Since I've been on both, and they look pretty much like that, though you don't go from 'lower desert' to water that fast. It's a dry desert for a reason!
The biggest non-reality bending Problem - the tractor tipping. Come on you middle state farm boys! We all know how you got your kicks, but that's NOT true to the desert. No cows! No farms! Really!
What one does for fun in the desert: lizard hunting, mesquite tree climbing (look out for those thorns!), geode gathering, target practice, off-roading, abandoned mine spelunking, and the number One past time - Flash Flood Bingo!
I can see confused looks. Flash Flood Bingo is simple. When it rains, it does so in quick downpours, all the water runs into 'washes', since the sandy desert can't really absorb the water, it goes towards the lowest spot and makes a big mess, taking away anything in its path. You know, roads, cars, railroad lines, etc. After a nice storm, we got out gathering, and often made out with a good haul of railroads ties, which my dad used to build us a play fort, a fence, and the walk way to our trailer. I'm talking the 12 foot long ones. Once they washed away, the railroad company could no longer use them.
The other fun thing was to go to the road and watch the city idiots try to make it across. Heh. You think it's only a few inches of water, when it's actually several feet (and missing road)! You can really only get across a large wash early on in a storm. Too late, and well, you were better off sitting and waiting.
That's really the only thing about the desert I miss. The thunder and lightening, and great storms we had. Out here in Southern CA, we hardly ever get thunder or lightening, and certainly no washes to watch run.
