Why is it called a Pony Bridge?...

September 9, 2021 Part two. Day 12 if I’m counting correctly!

Random thoughts and questions, no pictures. Staying in Santa Fe for almost a week has brought out the philosopher in me (I have a BS in Philosophy; is that not the best degree ever, a BS in Philosophy?). Anyway, driving the “blue” roads (not a political statement, a map statement!) is not something I ever wanted to do. I wanted to get from here to there as fast as possible. To some extent it was a decision made because of traffic concerns. I worried that we’d spend a lot of time with a lot of traffic and trying, in our sporty Corvette, to pass 18-wheelers.

Nothing could be further from the actuality. I expected lots of traffic; trucks, cars, bicycles, pedestrians (yes, we have seen pedestrians on all the roads, including 66 and Interstates) whatever. No. Most of that traffic is on the Interstates! Route 66 largely parallels the interstates  (I55 to I44 to I40 to I15 to I10 is the general route) so the only people on Route 66 are locals or crazy people like us who are driving 2400 miles (more or less; for us, more) from Chicago to Santa Monica.

My other philosophical questions (I have a lot since we have not turned on the radio since we left Tucson so pretty much all I do is think—and harass Randy): Why are barns red?  What’s the difference between a butte, a mesa, and a plateau (may not sound like a philosophical question, but it is.)? And the ultimate (at least until I think of another) question: What is beauty? We are seeing stark desert as opposed to the greenery and flowers of the east coast but I love the beauty (in my eyes) of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts (which we have been traveling through in the latter parts of this trip). Note that I have no answers, only questions.

Anyway, some pictures of where we’ve been for the past few days will follow in the next post.

Oh, and one answer: A pony bridge is a truss bridge which allows traffic through the truss, but the top of the bridge is not joined together with cross braces. Of course that doesn't answer the "Why" but at least you know approximately what it is. 

We've seen several.