President Trump is getting serious about the Mexico border wall. Contractors built 8 different designs, 30 feet high. I’m a bit surprised none of them duplicated the Great Wall of China. After all, have you heard lately of it being crossed by any Mongolians? And tourists pay a lot of money to walk on it.

Contractors could hang a walkway near the top of the 30-foot border wall and Trump might collect enough from tourists to pay for it. Once a year hold a Tex-Mex Marathon; those things raise piles of money. Someone suggested covering our side of the wall with solar panels and sell electricity. One problem: the sun shines on the other side.

Meanwhile, just in case Congress decides to fund the wall, Mexican drug lords and people smugglers have been practicing how to get over, under or through all eight wall designs. They operate a whole lot faster than Congress so they’ll be ready before the Wall is.

Do you think this border idea is new? Let’s go back to 1928: “See where they got a bill in Congress to make a road from Brownsville, Texas, up along the Rio Grande to El Paso, then on out to San Diego along the Mexican border. It’s a good idea and should be built.” (DT #449, Jan. 3, 1928) Well, Congress did nothing with the road idea back then. And 90 years later Congress may be just as excited about a wall.

A road that did get built back in the ‘20s and ‘30s was Route 66. It went from Chicago to Santa Monica, by way of Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Arizona. Next weekend, I’ll be driving on a stretch of that historic “Mother Road”, at Claremore, Oklahoma. November 4 is Will Rogers’ birthday number 138, and you’ll agree that’s a birthday worth celebrating.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“Democrats gave me a birthday yesterday, Nov. 4. I was 51 years old, and they elected 51 Democrats. When I am 90 we will be running the country.” DT #1337, Nov. 5, 1930