Everytime we were drive back from Tucson, we have to cross through Phoenix. It is big, busy, and boring. It was lunchtime and food was on our mind. "Man, there are a lot of advertisements for food" says Jim. "I wonder how many billboards there are in Phoenix just for fast food."Well, like I said, we were bored. So we did some counting while crossing all of Phoenix; from Awatukee to Anthem. Drum roll please: We saw twelve billboards featuring GIANT hamburgers. There were also three just for coke (love the slogan for this one).
To be fair I decided to count billboards that advertised "healthy" food. I found two billboards, one for cuties tangerines and one for apples. Other billboards included lap band surgery, insurance for just about anything, outlet malls, online schools, and churches...
We also counted how many restaurants we could see from the freeway. Now this is for fast food only, we didn't even count chains such as Denny's or Swensen's. And this is only what we could see while driving 75 miles an hour. We saw 26 fast food joints (Burger King, McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Del Taco, In N Out Burger, and Taco Bell).
No wonder people eat junk food while on the road. It's advertised everywhere and every single exit offers a nice selection of processed food options. Even the Dept. Of Transportation advertises for selected and usually unhealthy food options. They'll give you the exit number and point you in the direction of the nearest restaurant.
And rest stops offer vending machine "snacks" for the weary and hungry. Food is not just inside the Circle K, you don't even have to get out of your car to reach for the chips! We stopped for gas along the way and even then we were literally surrounded by food!
Another striking point of interest in my opinion is the incredible number of ads and billboards for hospitals. Maybe it's just me but I find the concept revolting. I mean the ads literally say something along the lines of 'you'll only get good ER care if you come to our hospital' and 'come to our medical facilities and you can kiss your cancer goodbye'. How sick is that? Anyway, I digress...
So 12 larger than life juicy hamburgers... The drive did go a lot faster than usual. And we didn't even count the delivery trucks and semis, which show things like this! [By the way, taking pictures of billboards and movng trucks while driving is a hard task!]
Any suggestions on what we should we count next time we're on a road trip?!
