Knuckleheads of all types
Post date: Aug 24, 2016 5:24:59 AM
On our recent trip to Yosemite, we were struck again by how many people are just plain knuckleheads. It's sad to see them in action in our National Parks.
The first group we met had forded the Tuolumne River in Tuolumne Meadows so that they could build a stack of rocks out in the middle of the granite slabs that make this area so beautiful. They had found a pile of rocks, and were carrying them across the granite, grunting as they did so. P couldn't resist asking them what they thought they were doing. "Building a stack of rocks!" they explained.
P asked them if they thought the other visitors to the park wanted to see that--given that everything else was so beautiful and natural.
"There are lots of them along the trail over there," was the brilliantly conceived response--completely avoiding point.
P took photos, and will share them with the rangers at YNP, although he doesn't expect any action on that end. But the good news is that these four knuckleheads had taken their shoes off to wade the river, and were now carrying heavy rocks in their bare feet across the granite. They were in pain. (Apparently it hadn't occurred to them that they could carry their shoes with them...and avoid the pain. And P didn't take the trouble to point this out to them.
Sheesh.
And then on the drive back home we were frightened at least twice by large RVs who simply could not manage to stay on their side of the road. They seem to assume that they can take an extra foot or so of the oncoming lane, because their RVs are big and they don't know how to drive them. We've always wondered what happens when two these meet each other on the road. Does Darwin step in at this point?
But even worse, on that same drive home we were passed by another knucklehead driving an SUV who crossed a double yellow line just so that he could get ahead of us. We were driving the speed limit, behind a US Govt. vehicle who was doing the same. We hoped that the park service vehicle in front was a ranger who could give a ticket, but no such luck. And a couple of miles later the idiot driving the SUV then passed the US Govt, vehicle on a blind hill, and very nearly caused a crash because oncoming traffic appeared just as he pulled even with the car in front of him.
Sadly, the driver the US Govt. vehicle didn't have a radio to call ahead to a ranger to pull this clown over and ticket the daylights out of him. Or at least didn't use it. All of this along the section of the road that is very clearly posted against speeding--among other things, to try to protect the bears that are sometime struck by speeding cars here.
Grrrrrr.
And speaking of Knuckleheads, here's the hack that our daughter suggested in case you can't access the photos we post here, thank to those complete knuckleheads at Google/GoogleSites/Picasa/Google photos: