I am your classic 'talks to much/too fast' Californian! Everyone talks slower than I do. heh.

When my family went on a cross country RV trip, we were amazed at the varied and extreme 'accents' we encountered. My most fun experience was in Arkansas (where my Grandpa & my husband's dad had lived *we were doing family tree stuff*). We were in a Walmart (gotta love 'em, they let you camp for free and they have everything!), ordering from the little Taco Bell inside. The young gal was calling out numbers of the orders that were up. Our number was '16'...besides the fact that she talked (by my standards of fast talking), realllllly slow, she said, 'sax tain'....we went up and got our order, asked for 'mild sauce' and extra napkins...and she said, 'y'all are from California, huh?' Here we were marveling at HER 'accent', and when we said, 'yeah, we are, how'd you know?', she said, 'cuz y'all talk with an accent, and ya talk real fast'. lol. I told her that I talked fast for a Californian! She was sweet, and the coolest thing was when we got to talking to her, we found out that she knew of the relatives we were researching! Such a small world really.

It was fun to note the difference in the sound and the speed that people talked as we traveled East & South...we only went as far as KY, and the trip back we took in a more Northern route with less stops. We noted that we didn't hear any 'accent' once we hit CO.

Now, for the record, we have a lot people here (mostly in my own family!), who sound similar to Firecharger...our little farming community is not like LA or San Fransisco...we are very much a melting pot here in the middle of the middle of the state. The neat thing is, some of my inlaws, who were born & raised here, have kept the speech patterns they were raised with...you'd think they'd just come from OK or TN...so sometimes, 'accents' can fool  you.

We have fun at Disneyland, since you get such a wide range of peoples from all over the world...it is interesting to hear and see the cultural differences that human beings can possess. The only one that bothers me is the 'personal space' issue that so many people from other countries seem to have. I'm a tad claustrophobic, so when someone comes into my 'personal bubble', I get antsy! lol...what's bad is when you move up (as in a line), and they take that extra step too! *eep* My kids get a kick out of watching me squirm.

But back to a serious note, I do love Firecharger's vids...his insight and down home way of presenting the facts is dead on. And it's a special treat when we get a glimpse of the countryside as he drives along in his truck. :)

Oh, back to silly stuff...my daughter has a very snarky/blunt sense of humor, which her friends know...when she made an online acquaintance with an English teacher who is Christian and Pro-Life (she was very active in Pro-Life ministry and had an opinion column online), they had many intelligent exchanges via email and messaging. When we were in his area (when we went to protest Obama being at Notre Dame), they connected on the phone for the first time (unfortunately we didn't get a chance to meet in person), but she was her usual nutty self and exclaimed, 'oh my goodness! If I hadn't known you all this time I'd swear you were a slow-witted redneck!'. I was shocked, until I could hear his laughter on the other end of the phone! *luckily he'd gotten to know her humor!* She told him he'd totally messed up her idea of people with accents! lol. That was the 'teasing' I was trying to convey in my last letter to Firecharger. Considering that most of California considers our farming community 'rednecks', the joke really is on us! heh.

I'm sure people just assume I'm a flighty air headed speed speaker (hey wait...hmmmm), but sometimes I can throw out some nugget of insight! :)

Blessings to all my Brothers and Sisters, no matter how we 'sound', at least the Lord is our Constant! :)

Suzi