Sunday, June 24, ’12
H-100 Memphis L H 67 L 51 RAIN H H 58 L 52 RAIN M H 78 L 56 RAIN
L-75 C H 97 L 73
Bear update: The Bear says Behind Every Pine Is A Pirate Party. TR says, “Beware of the Pine Wall.” Moose say, “Beware of yourself, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Beware Of The Double Pine Wall Party. We will serve Pirate Pie And Stew.
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Memphis climbed to 100.
Tucson 99/76 Hurricane Mills 97/59 Brooklyn 82/71 T-STORMS
We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and ate breakfast in the breakfast room next to the front desk. They also had yogurt and blueberry muffins just like yesterday. I found postcards of Arkansas, and they were for free even if they are ads for La Quinta. We checked out of room 145 at 10:02AM and headed for 440 E, the ring road around Little Rock. Then we joined with I-40 and made our first pit stop at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 161. We bought a flat of Ozarka water, our first. Then we stopped at a McDonalds at exit 175, Lonoke. We planned to stop at the rest area coming up next between exits 193 and 202, but it was closed due to road construction. We ran into a traffic jam after the traffic narrowed to one lane each direction due to road construction. It was worse than the jam right outside Dallas right after crossing the reservoir. Now we’re looking to stop at 216 instead for lunch. We went to McDonalds. It was very crowded. I’d say mobbed. They even ran out of napkins. There was a fruit stand beside the parking lot. We bought peaches and enjoyed one before climbing back into the car and continuing toward Memphis. We stopped next at exit 241A at the McDonalds at 1:24PM. It was rather late to be crowded for lunch, but they were mobbed. Everything has been mobbed since we left Van Horn, Texas. There was another peach stand and a Bonanza Steak House, the first I’ve seen since the 1990’s. We stopped at exit 260 at a TA Burger King Travel Center. There was a section for professional truck drivers, a special buffet. We crossed the Mississippi River into Memphis. We arrived at the La Quinta at 3:06PM. There was a dispute about ground floor rooms. We agreed to wait one hour. We are now sitting in the Burger King across the street waiting for the ground floor room to be ready for us. It’s such a waste of time. Finally we checked into room 123. We put the dog and cat there and left for Ruby Tuesdays. I haven’t been there since Charlottesville either. I remember quiche, but now they have only chicken pasta. We got gas and unloaded the car. We took the pets out. There were maids vacuuming the hallway and making it difficult to take the dog in and out.
We’re back to I-40, land of trucks. I remember in the 1990’s driving this highway from Charlottesville to the Grand Canyon two times and typically getting caught between two trucks. Even though we were a mini van we’d feel like a trucker doing the big haul. All the best stops were trucker stops including one in New Mexico that billed itself as the king of truck stops. Now as I’m writing I snap a photo of a line of big rigs heading west in the other direction. We’re trying to drive at 60 and trucks are passing us. It hasn’t changed. You wonder where all the trucks suddenly came from.
The interstate here in Arkansas is in horrible condition. We bump along I-40 mile after endless mile between Little Rock and Memphis. This is what we remember from the 1990’s. No wonder it’s under construction. But why hasn’t anything changed in all that time?
H-100 Memphis L H 67 L 51 RAIN H H 58 L 52 RAIN M H 78 L 56 RAIN
L-75 C H 97 L 73
Bear update: The Bear says Behind Every Pine Is A Pirate Party. TR says, “Beware of the Pine Wall.” Moose say, “Beware of yourself, Bear!” Lou says we will have a Beware Of The Double Pine Wall Party. We will serve Pirate Pie And Stew.
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Memphis climbed to 100.
Tucson 99/76 Hurricane Mills 97/59 Brooklyn 82/71 T-STORMS
We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and ate breakfast in the breakfast room next to the front desk. They also had yogurt and blueberry muffins just like yesterday. I found postcards of Arkansas, and they were for free even if they are ads for La Quinta. We checked out of room 145 at 10:02AM and headed for 440 E, the ring road around Little Rock. Then we joined with I-40 and made our first pit stop at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 161. We bought a flat of Ozarka water, our first. Then we stopped at a McDonalds at exit 175, Lonoke. We planned to stop at the rest area coming up next between exits 193 and 202, but it was closed due to road construction. We ran into a traffic jam after the traffic narrowed to one lane each direction due to road construction. It was worse than the jam right outside Dallas right after crossing the reservoir. Now we’re looking to stop at 216 instead for lunch. We went to McDonalds. It was very crowded. I’d say mobbed. They even ran out of napkins. There was a fruit stand beside the parking lot. We bought peaches and enjoyed one before climbing back into the car and continuing toward Memphis. We stopped next at exit 241A at the McDonalds at 1:24PM. It was rather late to be crowded for lunch, but they were mobbed. Everything has been mobbed since we left Van Horn, Texas. There was another peach stand and a Bonanza Steak House, the first I’ve seen since the 1990’s. We stopped at exit 260 at a TA Burger King Travel Center. There was a section for professional truck drivers, a special buffet. We crossed the Mississippi River into Memphis. We arrived at the La Quinta at 3:06PM. There was a dispute about ground floor rooms. We agreed to wait one hour. We are now sitting in the Burger King across the street waiting for the ground floor room to be ready for us. It’s such a waste of time. Finally we checked into room 123. We put the dog and cat there and left for Ruby Tuesdays. I haven’t been there since Charlottesville either. I remember quiche, but now they have only chicken pasta. We got gas and unloaded the car. We took the pets out. There were maids vacuuming the hallway and making it difficult to take the dog in and out.
We’re back to I-40, land of trucks. I remember in the 1990’s driving this highway from Charlottesville to the Grand Canyon two times and typically getting caught between two trucks. Even though we were a mini van we’d feel like a trucker doing the big haul. All the best stops were trucker stops including one in New Mexico that billed itself as the king of truck stops. Now as I’m writing I snap a photo of a line of big rigs heading west in the other direction. We’re trying to drive at 60 and trucks are passing us. It hasn’t changed. You wonder where all the trucks suddenly came from.
The interstate here in Arkansas is in horrible condition. We bump along I-40 mile after endless mile between Little Rock and Memphis. This is what we remember from the 1990’s. No wonder it’s under construction. But why hasn’t anything changed in all that time?
Dog/Cat Report
Sabaka is the best of travelers in our group. He has the best attitude. he always wants to go. He never wants to stop. As long as he gets to snooze now and then he wants to leap out at every stop and investigate the new place.
At night the cat is spellbound by the cicadas making a racket. He wants to go out and investigate. He’s not used to this insect noise back in Tucson in the summer. He’ll bum a ride with anyone going outside the motel room who might take him in his stroller.
Queen Mary report: The ship has started its final voyage to America for June. It will reach New York by the weekend. Next Sunday, July 1, there’s the Fourth of July getaway to New England. Then on July 6 is the next transatlantic voyage a week from this Friday. We’re supposed to be at the dock.
Still no contract . . .
What next?