After waking up bright and early at 7:30a, Tyler and I hit the road at about 9:15a into a Tennessee fog. Thankfully, it wasn’t thick enough to obscure our view of the road. Just all the Tennessee mountains.
About 20 minutes or so after we began driving, we passed a sign indicating that we had just entered the Central Time Zone. So, in effect, we had just traveled back in time exactly one hour. After making sure our phones and the clock in the cab displayed the correct time, we winded our way down out of the mountains and hills into the flatter parts of Tennessee.
Sadly, we were unable to make it to the Jack Daniels distillery as we didn’t really need a 2 hour detour today. But, that’s just fine as it gives me an excuse to return to Tennessee someday. Nor did we stop for barbecue in Memphis but that was mostly because there would have been no way for us to easily navigate Memphis.
Memphis held two points of interest for us: the crossing of the Mississippi River and the Mud Island Pyramid. After we’ve reached New Mexico, I’ll be uploading some of the pictures we took on the trip with an actual camera (because the iPhone is only so good (i.e. the camera isn’t the greatest)) so you will be able to see both the Pyramid and the Mississippi.
Then, into Arkansas we ventured. Arkansas, the Natural State, was so abysmally dull that I don’t even want to think about it. At one point when I had been complaining to Tyler about how sucky it was in Arkansas, he pointed out some clouds that looked like we were being flipped off by Arkansas.
We pressed through Arkansas to get to Oklahoma, where we stopped to eat before we began the final leg of the journey for today. As the sun began setting in Oklahoma, we were able to take in some of the natural beauty of the state. But, once night fell, it was as though Oklahoma became a sadist, throwing stretches of road construction areas in excess of 8 miles in length that featured the eastbound and westbound traffic being on the same side of the highway each having only one lane. It was like navigating the trench on the Death Star, except no Porkins died tonight.
Now, we find ourselves in a Motel 6 about 35 miles outside of Oklahoma City, the capital of every state, preparing for tomorrow, when we should get to Albuquerque. As we will be arriving earlier than expected, we will be heading down to Socorro to spend some time with Anna, a friend I’ve known since 2001. I bid you all a good night from Shawnee, OK, home of the Sac and Fox Casino (featuring battles of the bands, apparently).
