Catching up to the present (almost)

Beware, this is an especially long entry. I’ve gotten a little behind on the blogging...we arrived in Cary, North Carolina, on Monday, 10/10. But before I tell you about that, let me catch you up quickly on the remainder of our cross country journey.

Friday 10/7 we drove from Oklahoma City, OK to Little Rock, AR. These are the highlights that stick out in my mind as I scan through the photos I took...on our way out of Oklahoma City, we were treated to a nice view of the city skyline:


Later, we passed by Checotah, OK, which is the hometown of Carrie Underwood, winner of this year’s American Idol. Oklahoma has these handy blue signs on the highway telling you all the reasons you should take time to exit and visit the towns you’re driving past. The points of interest are in a bulleted list, with the bullets being in the shape of little Oklahomas. I can’t tell you the names of the towns, but I can tell you that we drove by the hometown of Miss America 1981, the hometown of Garth Brooks, and the hometown of Troy Aiken. So I figured Checotah would have a sign mentioning Carrie. She wasn’t on the blue sign, but she had her very own green sign, plus a big billboard with her photo on it.



Oklahoma is really big on Indian stuff, being that the Cherokee are from there (well, not originally, of course, but I digress). You know how I’m collecting photos of license plates, right? Well I saw this one and I broke formation to speed up and catch a pic. It’s kind of blurry but it’s a Cherokee Nation plate!!


The only other thing I remember about driving through Oklahoma, besides how pretty it was (it made an impression because I’d expected it to be brown and boring), was stopping at a gas station that also had a restaurant called the Pig Out Palace, and there was a pickup truck in the parking lot that had goats in the back.


I tried to take pictures of all the “Welcome To” signs, but I missed Oklahoma. I did get Arkansas though:


We arrived in Little Rock (or rather, North Little Rock—the 40 does not run through Little Rock proper) in the late afternoon, around 4:00 I’d say. I checked into a Super 8 right off the freeway. Okay room, nothing to write home about. I watched a little of the local news...there was not only an air show that weekend, but also the state fair. AND it was Friday night so there was high school football, which is a very big deal around here. So much going on, oh the entertainment choices!! I took a nap and then went to see my parents at their campground, which was even farther away from Little Rock. We went looking for a place to have dinner, but there really was nothing we could see from the freeway except a Cracker Barrel. This is a restaurant that they don’t have in CA, or at least I’ve never seen one there. But they are ALL along the 40. They offer comfort food and a quaint country gift shop. We decided to eat there. The portions were very large and the food was quite tasty. Hard to make bad comfort food. I had the chicken and dumplings...I can’t recall what everyone else had, but I do remember that the menu had a ton of choices and it’s always hard for me to make a decision. We had a really nice waitress, Sarah, who answered all my questions with neverending patience. The gift shop did not have anything I was interested in buying, but browsing after dinner was fun.

Next we decided to visit the Clinton Library. We drove into the city and found it without trouble. The design is quite unique, and I once again found myself trying to take pictures at night without a tripod. They came out okay I guess.




The next morning, I got up at my normal time of 6:30 and was ready to go by 8:30. Yes, it took me that long to get ready because loading the car was a process that involved several trips, what with the cat carrier, the litterbox, and all my luggage. Anyway, my parents had to have someone come out to fix the wiring on the fifth wheel because my dad had been driving this whole time without brake lights, and we finally had gone to a Walmart to get replacement parts but when he tried to fix it, suddenly everything stopped working. So they had to wait around for the RV guy to come. So I went back to the Clinton Library to take pictures in the daylight,



and then I headed east on my own. Turns out the whole trailer had to be rewired and my parents did not leave Little Rock until 12:45, so I’m glad I did not wait around for them.

My first stop was Memphis. I was excited to cross the Mississippi River, because I had never seen it in person before. I was set on going to Graceland (Elvis’ home) or at least driving by it. So I did not cross the river on the 40, but rather the 55. There was some traffic (due to, I discovered later, a crew painting over graffiti on a freeway underpass), so I had lots of time to take pictures, but they didn’t really come out very well due to the bridge blocking the view of the water. Hmph.



Graceland, it turns out, is behind all these trees, and the only way to see even the outside is if you pay the 20 bucks for a tour. I did not want to pay, because I don’t care that much about Elvis, I just thought it would be cool to say I’d been to Graceland. Plus, I didn’t want to leave Comet in the car for that long. So I skipped it. Hmph again. But I did get this shot. I think you can see the columns of the front through the trees a little bit.


I got back on the 55 and exited Riverside Drive so I could get some good views of the river. Very nice.


Passed by Beale, which I know of from Marc Cohn’s song “Walking in Memphis.” Also passed by Union Avenue, also from that song. I wanted to go on the I-40 bridge that spans the river so I drove west back into Arkansas


Got off at the next exit and bought some lunch at Wendy’s, then drove east over the bridge again, back into Tennessee. Memphis has a very pretty skyline. I wanted to visit Mud River Island, which supposedly has a 5-block replica of the river that actually has millions of gallons of water flowing through it, but I couldn’t find it and I wanted to get going.

I headed towards Nashville and it was a very pretty drive. Tennessee is just as green as North Carolina.


Lots of trees and hills to make it interesting, plus lots of rivers. I was impressed.


Saw lots of cotton growing in the fields—mundane sight for native Southerners, but novel for me.


There seemed to be lots of shopping along the way, too. Lots of outlets and such. I did not stop except at the Casey Jones Village exit where there was a cute old fashioned general store.


They had a cotton gin (or a replica?) in the foyer.


Once in Nashville, I checked into the Comfort Inn off highway 65. They claimed to have internet, but it didn’t work, of course. I knew that my parents were going to be staying off Briley Parkway at exit 12, and I saw that there was a huge mall called Opry Mills off exit 11, so I headed there for some shopping while I waited for them to arrive.

I got a call while I was in Casual Corner Annex (one of my favorite stores that they only have a few of in the country!). My dad told me that he and my mom had gotten separated pretty early on in the day. This would not be a problem if my mom had a cell phone, but she does not. My parents had been communicating via walkie talkies this whole time. I was hoping my mom would be able to find her way to the campground but it was not meant to be. I got a call later and my dad reported that she was at exit 219...Briley Parkway was exit 215. She was close, but there was no way to call her back and tell her that. My dad had told her to turn around and try to find it again. I told my dad, if she calls again, tell her to stay put and I will go find her and take her to the campground.

An hour or so later my dad called to report that she was at a Shell station off exit 196. He had arrived at the campground but had not yet detached the truck, so he couldn’t go get her. I quickly paid for my postcards and magnet at the gift shop I was browsing, and headed for the car—which was at the opposite end of the mall, of course, and this was one ginormous mall. I finally got there and headed west.

I would like to say a word about Nashville freeways. That word would be fustercluck. I managed to get out of there on the first try, which was truly miraculous. If you think L.A. freeways are confusing, try Nashville. Absolutely ridiculous. And then once you get outside the city, it’s pitch black. But I made it. My mom was waiting at the gas station, dogs in the backseat. She laughed as I pulled up. I escorted her back to the campground, using a different route this time, one that circumvented all the craziness of downtown. Thank goodness for the AAA TripTik, that saved me on many an occasion.

When we finally got there and settled in a bit, it was really late. For dinner we ended up at a restaurant called Bob Evans, which was basically a Cracker Barrel look alike. I went for the lighter side with a salad. Quite tasty. We went back to the campground, planned the next day and then I went back to my hotel to crash.

The next morning—Sunday, 10/9—we started on time, leaving the campground around 9:15. We drove all together to Asheville. We had planned stops in Cookeville and Knoxville, but ended up passing by both because it was rainy and we didn’t need gas and the dogs were sleeping. The drive to Asheville was very pretty (I feel like I’m saying that a lot, but it’s true! This stretch was especially beautiful due to the mountainous nature of it.)


Crossing the North Carolina border was a momentous occasion...it was exciting to think that we were crossing into our new home state.


We stopped at the North Carolina welcome center to celebrate our entry and stretch our legs. We asked a nice couple to take our picture but apparently they had never seen a digital camera before as it seemed very foreign to them. But we got a photo even though it’s not perfect:


The mountains around Asheville are beautiful, but it was kind of disappointing that the fall foliage was not on display yet. (Later that evening we saw a commercial for an upcoming news story about why it’s still not happening even this late in the year.) But what was fun was when we arrived at the campground in Asheville, Matthew, Amy, and all the kids were there to greet us. I’d been conspiring with Matthew for days to set this surprise up and we pulled it off flawlessly.



My dad got to meet baby Cassidy for the first time. She has grown so much since I saw her at the end of June. She’s a big chubby baby now, adorable to no end.


I was reminded of how cute Prestin and Layne are, as well.


There was a Days Inn right around the corner from the campground, so I checked in there. The first room they assigned me was disgusting. It smelled very strongly of bug spray, the carpet felt damp, and the phone didn’t work. The second room they gave me was much better. I went back to the campground and we hung out at the trailer for a while. For dinner, I wanted to go into downtown Asheville, but we ended up at the Cracker Barrel outside Asheville, since Matthew had never been, and it’s a good place to go with kids. It was fun to be out with the whole family. We went back to the trailer and sat around. I watched Desperate Housewives at 9:00. I left around 11, totally tired, and Matthew and the kids left shortly thereafter. They had a three hour drive ahead of them.

The next morning, Monday, October 10, I was able to access the wireless internet at the hotel so I posted, and then we drove into Cary. It was rainy the whole way. The worst was at the highest elevations leaving Asheville—there was terrible fog, so thick you could barely see. We drove into Cary around 3 pm, and we headed for the Marriott Towne Suites, which is to be my parents’ home until they buy a house. Their unit is very cute. It’s basically a furnished studio apartment, complete with pots, pans, fridge, stove, utensils, etc. Plus, free wired internet access. And only $59 a night. But their pet policy requires a one-time $75 fee, too steep for me, since I plan to be in a hotel only a few nights. So I headed for the Red Roof Inn on the other side of Cary, for only $45 a night, pets free of charge. It’s actually a pretty nice hotel. The room is very clean, and I got a business king which means a nice big bed and a big desk. They do not have any sort of high speed internet (wireless or wired), but I’m going to try using dial up AOL.

It’s late and I have an early start tomorrow. But tomorrow I will write about my first day of apartment searching in Cary. Oh, the drama.

From Amarillo, TX to Oklahoma City, OK, Thur. 10/6

Quick note on internet access. Every hotel I’ve stayed in has claimed to offer free wireless internet access. The only places it has actually worked are Flagstaff, Oklahoma City, and Asheville. At first I thought it was my computer, since it’s so old. But the fact that it has worked perfectly well in those three locations makes me wonder. Anyway, it’s working great here in Asheville so I will tell you about the past few days and hopefully show you some pictures.

The night I spent in Amarillo in the little “kabin” was fine. Here are a couple more pictures of it:





I slept okay and was not cold or anything. I opted not to use the common showers but when I went into the bathroom it was empty so I’m sure it would have been fine if I’d thought to borrow a towel from my parents. We left the campground on time, but immediately got separated. I had to stop at the front office to return my kabin key, and my parents I guess forgot about this and just took off. I tried to catch up with them, but they needed to stop for gas before getting on the highway and I just got right on, so I was actually ahead of them. I called my dad and let him know I would just go on ahead to Oklahoma City by myself.

Before leaving Texas, I came across a positively ginormous cross. Apparently it's the largest cross in the western hemisphere.



Being on my own, I could go my own speed, and make my own stops. I stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post and browsed around a bit, looking at all the Indian crafts and regular tourist “junk.” I made some pressed pennies and got some postcards as well as some cool rock magnets and some fragrant rose pods.



Then I went across the street and bought Subway for lunch. Continuing on, I passed by a field of giant windmills. Because I wanted to get good pictures of them, I got off the highway and backtracked on the frontage road. Just having the freedom to do this was enjoyable. I got lots of good shots,





and then got back on the freeway. Lo and behold, I came across my parents. I pulled in behind my mom, and we drove the rest of the way to Oklahoma City together.

In Oklahoma City I stayed at the Regency Inn, a hotel I’d seen a billboard for. They advertised rooms for $34.99 with free internet access. This was one of the places it actually worked, so I posted the previous two entries, which I had already written. The frustrating thing about Oklahoma City was that there was very spotty cell phone service, at least for us Verizon customers. My dad and I could not get a hold of each other. They didn’t know which hotel I was at, and I didn’t know where their campground was (they couldn’t stay at the KOA because it was full, I found out after calling the campground directly in an attempt to get a hold of my dad). Finally, after calling like 25 times and hearing the annoying message, “The wireless customer you are trying to reach is not available at this time,” I got through, and we arranged to meet at the Applebees. We had dinner there, and it was pretty good. After dinner, we went back to my hotel room and took advantage of the internet access to take care of a few things.

After that, we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It’s been ten years since Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building, and the monument is very well done.





The reflection pool, the glowing empty chairs, and the time walls (the bombing happened at 9:02, so the walls say 9:01—representing innocence--and 9:03—representing innocence lost). There was a survivor wall, too, which I found thoughtful and somewhat surprising and yet very appropriate. I was also surprised to see the fence with all the teddy bears, flowers, and photographs; I thought that kind of thing died out after a couple months but in Oklahoma City it’s still going strong. We found an ID card of someone named Jarod Mertz; we’re not sure if he left it as an offering or if he was one of the children killed in the blast.



The whole experience was very worthwhile, and it made me wonder if New York will be able to get its act together any time soon regarding a 9/11 memorial.

One last comment about Oklahoma. First, it is NOT a wasteland like I expected. Yeah, I was pretty surprised to see the landscape turn from brown and flat to green and rolling. But it was still very cold and windy.

Albuquerque, NM to Amarillo, TX, Wed. 10/5

I guess wireless internet access just was not meant to be for me on this trip. Tonight I’m staying at the KOA with my parents, in a “Kabin,” which is very Little House on the Prairie. It’s just a room with a bed--you have to provide the sleeping bag, and you use the campground’s common restroom and showers. How rustic.



But the campground promised free wireless internet, they allow pets, and they charge only $39, so I went for it. Plus, it’s only a couple hundred yards from my parents, so that’s nice. I did manage to get a connection briefly this afternoon, but it was very tenuous. I checked my email but could not post to my blog. Clicking on any link on a web page sends you into no man’s land, with the little globe spinning forever up in the corner, and a blank page. It’s very frustrating.

Amarillo is a pretty big city, at least compared to some that we’ve been driving through. It is very cold and windy here, like we skipped several months and headed directly into the dead of winter. Here in the Kabin, I can hear the wind whistling outside, and the door isn’t exactly weatherproofed, so the front desk gave me a towel to stuff into the gap between the door and the floor to help keep out the biting gusts of wind. Comet is quite unsettled. He does not know what to make of this place. It’s fine for tonight, but tomorrow I’m back in a hotel with all the comforts of home, thank you very much.

As we entered Texas, the quality of the roads greatly deteriorated, but then they switched from worn out asphalt to pristine concrete. I don’t believe I’d seen a single cop since we left Santa Clarita, but today we saw at least three Texas State Troopers on highway 40.

The land is basically flat and grassy. Not much to take pictures of. The word wasteland comes to mind, but we've still got OK and AR to go through....



For dinner we went to Dyer’s Bar-B-Que, listed in the AAA book as Western style cooking. The plates of food were heaping and the prices were dirt cheap. I had the fried catfish, which came with coleslaw, beans, hushpuppies, and fries. It was quite tasty. The service was fast and friendly, and we even heard a few “y’alls.” Afterwards, in the ladies’ room, I was treated to a very fancy sink.



Everything here is all about the lone star and don’t mess with Texas. Need a keychain, bumper sticker, magnet, coffee mug, tshirt, pin, or hat with that slogan? They got ya covered.

Tomorrow it’s on to Oklahoma City.

From Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM, Tue. 10/4

I’m writing this from my hotel room in Albuquerque, NM, on Tuesday 10/4, but I cannot post it tonight because the internet connection is down. Figures! I pick a hotel because they have free wireless, and it’s on the fritz.

This morning we got started on time, finally! We hit the road at about 9:10. Today was a pretty drive, with lots of red plateaus to keep me snapping pictures. The vast expanses of land and the beautiful cloud formations were breathtaking. Of course a photo cannot come close to the grandeur of what everything looks like in person, but it gives you some idea of what I’ve been seeing.



The wind has been phenomenal. The radio says gusts of up to 40 mph, and it’s barely tolerable when you get out of the car to get gas or food. So I can’t begin to imagine hurricane force winds of 150 mph! Even with the wind, the semis on the road are speed demons. Usually, back in CA, I’d be the one doing the passing, but since I’m following my dad who’s towing the fifth wheel, it’s the semis that are passing us. They come up on your tail and it seems like they’re about to rear end you before they finally get over. Today there were two trucks with oversized loads and they actually passed other semis and my dad, practically forcing them off the side of the road to get by. Seemed very dangerous.

Comet has been doing very well in the car. I was concerned about sedating him for several days in a row, so today I decided to forego the pill. He did fine. I think he’s getting used to the routine, and he’s just resigned himself to it.


Along the way there were many, many billboards trying to attract the almighty tourist dollar to Indian arts and crafts shops and trading posts.


Every single one of them promises the best prices, and lots of them offer a free piece of petrified wood. One of them even promised the unique experience of feeding ostriches. We also drove by the dinosaur park. I wanted to go, but wasn’t sure how far off the highway it was, and when we drove by the exit, all I saw was a little building, not giant replicas like I expected. There were several small replicas on the side of the road that made for novel scenery.


As you know, I’ve been paying close attention to out of state (i.e., non-California) license plates recently, and of course being in a different state now, I see lots of them. Along the 40, it seems like every car that passes is from elsewhere. Lots of Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri. But today I saw my first North Carolina plate since we started our trip. Unfortunately, the car flew past us so I couldn’t snap a photo. In other NC-related news, I’ve gotten two NC quarters as change, one in Victorville and one in Flagstaff. You know me and my quarters!

We stopped for a puppy potty break in Gallup, NM, and grabbed a quick lunch at Taco Bell. It was kind of disconcerting to see large black plastic rats on the counter. Pretty bizarre choice of Halloween decorations for an eating establishment.

We arrived in Albuquerque around 4:30 (we lost an hour crossing time zones). As you approach the city from the west, it looks positively ginormous, even though it has a population of only 448,000. There’s just a tad of sprawl. The sign on the freeway said “Albuquerque, Next 17 Exits”!! We hit a bit of traffic on the freeway, but it afforded me the opportunity to photograph the tangle of overpasses, painted peach and blue.


I checked into a Comfort Inn that accepts pets and supposedly has wireless internet...ha ha. My parents checked in at a KOA down the street. The rates are higher than normal this week due to the hot air balloon festival. My room was $63, and the campsite was $51, and they don’t even have a full hookup. I would be all over that festival (imagine the photo ops!) but during the week the only events are in the early morning, as in dawn. Yeah, no thanks.

For dinner, we drove down Route 66 through the middle of Albuquerque looking for a place to eat, and ended up at an Italian restaurant called Dion’s. It was okay but not as charming as the Railroad Café last night. Oh well, they can’t all be winners, right? I tried to get my parents to go to one of the trendy restaurants we passed while driving through downtown, but they’re more of the home-cooking kind of folk.

Mother Nature put on a little show for us this evening, with lots of lightning and loud thunder. There was a short spell of rain but it wasn’t a big deal. Hopefully it’s dry tomorrow. I wouldn’t want to be driving in a big storm.

Tomorrow we’re headed for Amarillo, TX. Should be mostly downhill again except for a bit of a climb at the beginning. One thing that’s odd here in NM…the cheapest gas isn’t 87 octane…it’s 86, so I had to go with mid-grade at 88 octane and pay $3.09/gallon. I shouldn’t complain, though. I was getting awesome mileage today—about 35 mpg!! My dad averaged seven. Wowsers.

Photos

Here are some pictures from Sunday and Monday:

Acton campground – where we stayed the first night, as seen the following morning


I 40 sign – this highway spans eight states, beginning in CA and ending in NC. We will follow it almost the entire way.


Afternoon shadows - The afternoon sun makes the mountains glow and highlights the craggy texture.


Avi campground – where we stayed the second night, me in the hotel and my parents in the trailer


Climbing – we climbed to over 6,000 feet in elevation, which makes for cool weather but terrible gas mileage


Fueling – filling up the tanks; or, saying goodbye to an arm and a leg


What I have christened "Flip You Off Mountain" – funny rock formation looks like a hand flipping the middle finger


Flagstaff campground – where the parents stayed the third night


Puppies in the car – the dogs all harnessed up in the back seat of my mom’s car, looking cute as ever