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Road Trip
West 2003
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Day 3 » |
Date:
Friday, August 1, 2003
Route:
» I-10 West through TX, NM
» Merge onto I-8 West in Casa Grande, AZ
» I-8 West to El Centro, CADistance: 1062 miles
Trip Total: 1247 miles
Log:
Up bright and early in Junction. Rob made a Texas-shaped waffle at the continental breakfast. Most motels these days offer continental breakfasts -- anything to beat the competition, I suppose.
We stopped in Balmorhea State Park to get a duplicate annual Texas Conservation Passport sticker for the new Subaru. Had lunch in the park, and then on the road again.
Kept seeing lots of dust devils and wide open skies in Texas.
New Mexico and Arizona went by quick, only stops for gas and breaks, eating food we had brought...way too much trail mix. We considered stopping in Tucson to visit Jenn's Uncle Ron and Aunt Helen and cousins Sean and Matt, but we were on a deadline and decided to keep pushing through. Next trip...
On the road in Arizona, we passed a warehouse fire - we thought it was a forest fire there was so much smoke.
While driving, we somehow came up with the burning questions: What does to gird the loins mean? and what exactly are loins?
We finally had access to a dictionary when we got home, and the answer to the questions:
From Merriam-Webster OnLine:
Main Entry: gird
Pronunciation: 'g&rd
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English gyrdan; akin to Old English geard yard -- more at YARD
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (as a belt) b : to make fast (as a sword by a belt or clothing with a cord) c : SURROUND
2 : PROVIDE, EQUIP; especially : to invest with the sword of knighthood
3 : to prepare (oneself) for action
intransitive senses : to prepare for action
- gird one's loins : to prepare for action : muster up one's resourcesMain Entry: loin
Pronunciation: 'loin
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English loyne, from Middle French loigne, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin lumbea, from Latin lumbus; akin to Old English lendenu loins, Old Church Slavonic ledvije
Date: 14th century
1 a : the part of a human being or quadruped on each side of the spinal column between the hipbone and the false ribs b : a cut of meat comprising this part of one or both sides of a carcass with the adjoining half of the vertebrae included but without the flank
2 plural a : the upper and lower abdominal regions and the region about the hips b (1) : the pubic region (2) : the generative organs» Day 3
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