Day 3 of the Great Road Trip

Once again I set my alarm for 4:00 AM and woke up at 3:30 AM. And once again I took my shower (which was annoying cold), had a few swallows of the coffee that I made, packed my car, and hit the road by 4:45 AM.

This time my destination was the Blue Ribbon Inn in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I planned to drive through the entire length of Arkansas before stopping for the day.

Sarah said that it would take her 8 hours to travel from Nashville, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas, and then another 8 hours from Little Rock to Amarillo, Texas.

Well, I was happy to find out that it took me only 5 1/2 hours to get to Little Rock.

Driving was very easy that day. In fact, with each day that I traveled, the driving got easier.

For one thing, most of the highways in Tennessee and Kentucky had speed limits of 70 miles per hour. The same was true for Arkansas. It was rather surprising to see speed limits that fast on these roads, especially since they weren't very wide. You would have never found speed limits that high in Massachusetts, especially on roads of that size.

My first gas stop was in Mason, Tennessee at 7:24 AM, less than 3 hours on the road. I paid $24.01 to gas up. (How I hate it when my fingers aren't fast enough on the gas pump and I go 1 cent over an even dollar amount.)

Sarah said that the drive through Arkansas would be boring. On the contrary, I found it rather delightful. Arkansas likes to call itself "The Natural State." And it was filled with lots of natural beauty in the form of gorgeous rolling hills.

I thoroughly enjoyed my drive through Arkansas.

I made mine and Emi's pit stop at the second rest stop into Arkansas. I was traveling on I-40, which shoots across the southern part of the country right into Amarillo, Texas.

There was a sign for a park with a very curious name: "Toad Suck Park." I made a mental note to look that up once I had access to a computer and the internet.

The day was a bit cloudy, and I saw a very unusual cloud that looked like a raggedy funnel descending from the clouds above. Knowing that I was close to Tornado Alley, I grew concerned.

I had never seen a cloud like that before, or even pictures of one. But realizing that I was in a very different part of the country, seeing things that I had never seen before, I wondered if this cloud was another one of those weird things that's common to that part of the country.

The mystery was solved when I got off the road to go get gas. There was a gap in the terrain that enabled to me see that this odd cloud was not a cloud at all but smoke exhaust from a nuclear power plant, which I had never seen before.

Anyhow, my second gas stop was this backwater stop in Arkansas that was well off I-40. The gas pumps were primitive in that they did not have credit/debit card readers on them. I had to go inside the convenience store/restaurant named "Darrel's" to pay for my gas. I used cash this time, so I cannot remember how much it cost me to gas up.

I made it to the Blue Ribbon in Sallisaw at around 12:30 PM. I made such good time that I was considering in shooting for Shawnee, just outside of Oklahoma City, but I decided to stick with my original plan (and motel reservation) and just spend the rest of the day relaxing.

The previous 2 nights were committed to visiting with others, and the following night was going to be spent with my family. So it was going to be nice to have one night that I could have all to myself.

At this motel you parked your car right in front of your room. There were no luggage carts. Nor were there any elevators. So I was grateful that I got a room on the first floor. I was glad that I did not have too far to haul my stuff.

I got settled in my room and then made the obligatory phone calls.

Then I decided to get something to eat, and drove around Sallisaw looking for a place that appealed to my taste buds and wallet. I wanted to do take-out so that I could bring my food back with me to the motel and eat it at my own leisure.

Mexican food sounded like it would be nice. But the Mexican food place that was listed in the American Automobile Association travel guide looked like it had been closed for good. And the other Mexican food joints that I found looked too scary to go to.

So I decided to stop at the Arby's, a roast beef fast food restaurant, that was right near the motel. My entire meal, which consisted of a bacon cheddar roast beef sandwich, curly fries, and a tall container of sweet tea, cost me only $5 and change. And for its cheapness, it was very satisfying.

When I got back, I was too beat and too out of it to read. So I did something that I never do. I vegged out in front of the TV.

In flipping through the channels to see what was on the tube, I came across the CNN coverage of Ted Kennedy's burial. I watched the whole thing.

Well, nearly the whole thing. Barbara called just a minute or so before the burial ceremony had ended. And by then it was difficult to see what was going on because the sun had already set on the east coast.

Barbara and I talked for a little bit. And then I went to bed.

Rather than locking up Callee in her crate for the night, I had been locking her up in her cat carrier. She did much better in the cat carrier, both at night and while on the road. (She wound up sleeping the entire time I was driving.)

I fell asleep easily that night.