Tuesday, June 26, ’12
H-88 Cookeville L H 68 L 62 H H 62 L 51 M H 71 L 55
L-57 C H 98 L 71
Bear update: The Bear says The Pirate Convoy Has Been Captured Party. TR says, “They were driving Humvees.” Moose say, “Bet you couldn’t do that, Bear!” Lou says we will have a TR Vs. The Humvees Party. We will serve Foods That You Eat In A Humvee. The Amazon says, “Humvees will triumph just like the Pirates.”
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Cookeville climbed to 88.
Tucson 103/79 Dandridge (Dandruff says Lou) tomorrow Brooklyn 73/62
We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and went to the Log Cabin for breakfast. I got a better photo than last night. This was one in front of the brick fireplace. It looks colonial. It spurred a discussion about colonial vs. pioneer. We checked out of room 123 at 10:14AM. Our first pit stop was at exit 163 at Loves. We made the second pit stop at a McDonalds at 188. We keep on seeing signs that say don’t text and drive instead of drink and drive. Now we have three lanes on each side or 6 in all as we start around Nashville. We’re looking for a place to stop for lunch. But we end up going through the city first changing lanes all the time. It seemed tricky. I recall that I never liked driving through Nashville in the 90’s. We even pass an exit for the Hermitage exit 221A, the home of Andrew Jackson. Finally the road narrows back to two lanes. We’re now looking for a restaurant in Lebanon for lunch. We remember Lebanon from 1993 when we stopped there on our way to Tucson in the Chrysler minivan. We get off at 288 to go to McDonalds after getting off at the wrong exit before that. There was a Confederate flag on a truck in the parking lot. I also saw a Hardees for the first time since I left Virginia. At lunch I posted my blog entry on Facebook and checked the email.
The lady from Pittsburgh, Christine Lewis, called after we were underway. She was giving me Sabaka’s daily schedule when we were interrupted by a fire in the median strip. I had to call Kenny and get off the road. By the time we got to the next rest area, it was too late. She wasn’t at the same number.
We stopped at McDonalds at exit 258 also. Then for the dog we stopped at the rest area on the other side of the road. It was up a hill but at least it was open. We checked into room 124 at the Best Western Thunderbird Motel in Cookeville. Then we went to dinner at Fazoli’s and got a Chick fil A sandwich for the dog. We took the dog and cat for a walk in the parking lot. Then we returned to our room. The lady from Pittsburgh never called back.
We stopped at La Quinta in Cookeville, expecting to pay for our long-standing reservation. But Gary quickly told me that they weren’t going to give us a ground floor room. We had a reservation of long standing. We called back a couple of days ago to make sure they had a ground floor room for us. They said they did. But when it came time to check in their story changed. When I went in to cancel they said they had a suite, but I was aggravated with their policy of giving us a hard time. I’d just fought another La Quinta in Memphis about the very same issue. I told them to cancel. La Quinta isn’t such an ideal chain for us after all.
On I-40 in Tennessee all the exits we stop at seem to be on the other side of the road. Every time we get off we end up going across a bridge to a Loves, a TA Travel Center, a McDonalds, or a gas station. This is still true and we are almost in Nashville heading towards Virginia. There are a few scattered rest areas on the right but nothing else. We were wondering how this orientation got started. Why is everything built including towns and cities to serve motorists and trucks driving west instead of east?
H-88 Cookeville L H 68 L 62 H H 62 L 51 M H 71 L 55
L-57 C H 98 L 71
Bear update: The Bear says The Pirate Convoy Has Been Captured Party. TR says, “They were driving Humvees.” Moose say, “Bet you couldn’t do that, Bear!” Lou says we will have a TR Vs. The Humvees Party. We will serve Foods That You Eat In A Humvee. The Amazon says, “Humvees will triumph just like the Pirates.”
We woke up to sun. Will it last? It lasted, and the temperature in Cookeville climbed to 88.
Tucson 103/79 Dandridge (Dandruff says Lou) tomorrow Brooklyn 73/62
We woke up at 7:30AM. We got dressed and went to the Log Cabin for breakfast. I got a better photo than last night. This was one in front of the brick fireplace. It looks colonial. It spurred a discussion about colonial vs. pioneer. We checked out of room 123 at 10:14AM. Our first pit stop was at exit 163 at Loves. We made the second pit stop at a McDonalds at 188. We keep on seeing signs that say don’t text and drive instead of drink and drive. Now we have three lanes on each side or 6 in all as we start around Nashville. We’re looking for a place to stop for lunch. But we end up going through the city first changing lanes all the time. It seemed tricky. I recall that I never liked driving through Nashville in the 90’s. We even pass an exit for the Hermitage exit 221A, the home of Andrew Jackson. Finally the road narrows back to two lanes. We’re now looking for a restaurant in Lebanon for lunch. We remember Lebanon from 1993 when we stopped there on our way to Tucson in the Chrysler minivan. We get off at 288 to go to McDonalds after getting off at the wrong exit before that. There was a Confederate flag on a truck in the parking lot. I also saw a Hardees for the first time since I left Virginia. At lunch I posted my blog entry on Facebook and checked the email.
The lady from Pittsburgh, Christine Lewis, called after we were underway. She was giving me Sabaka’s daily schedule when we were interrupted by a fire in the median strip. I had to call Kenny and get off the road. By the time we got to the next rest area, it was too late. She wasn’t at the same number.
We stopped at McDonalds at exit 258 also. Then for the dog we stopped at the rest area on the other side of the road. It was up a hill but at least it was open. We checked into room 124 at the Best Western Thunderbird Motel in Cookeville. Then we went to dinner at Fazoli’s and got a Chick fil A sandwich for the dog. We took the dog and cat for a walk in the parking lot. Then we returned to our room. The lady from Pittsburgh never called back.
We stopped at La Quinta in Cookeville, expecting to pay for our long-standing reservation. But Gary quickly told me that they weren’t going to give us a ground floor room. We had a reservation of long standing. We called back a couple of days ago to make sure they had a ground floor room for us. They said they did. But when it came time to check in their story changed. When I went in to cancel they said they had a suite, but I was aggravated with their policy of giving us a hard time. I’d just fought another La Quinta in Memphis about the very same issue. I told them to cancel. La Quinta isn’t such an ideal chain for us after all.
On I-40 in Tennessee all the exits we stop at seem to be on the other side of the road. Every time we get off we end up going across a bridge to a Loves, a TA Travel Center, a McDonalds, or a gas station. This is still true and we are almost in Nashville heading towards Virginia. There are a few scattered rest areas on the right but nothing else. We were wondering how this orientation got started. Why is everything built including towns and cities to serve motorists and trucks driving west instead of east?
Dog/Cat Report:
Sabaka is turning into a Good Old Boy or a Southern Cracker Doggie. Every day he gobbles down takeout that would make a Dixie boy smile. For breakfast this morning he enjoyed takeout bacon from the Log Cabin Restaurant in Hurricane Mills. Last night he devoured fried chicken with all the trimmings, and the cat did too! And then there was that fried catfish and that luscious ham steak. Wow!
Putlitz last night was nibbling at all the dog’s leftovers. He sampled bits and pieces of fried chicken. It took the cooks twenty minutes to fry it. And it took the cat twenty minutes to make it disappear along with a few pieces of white meat. What self-respecting cat could let this kind of food disappear in front of his eyes without tasting it?
Still no contract . . .
What next?