Day 6

Monday, July 20, 2009

0430 – Wake up. Go to the bathroom. Hear a thud from upstairs. Wonder if someone fell out of bed.

0500 – Hear someone crying. Go to check it out. It’s Merryn. Her ear hurts.

0645 – Wake up. My legs are red and itchy. I am covered with mosquito bites! Aaaaarrrrggghhh! Consider taking Benadryl to cancel the out of control itching but can’t take it since I’ll be driving today.

0808 – The bags are packed. The car is loaded. Good-byes have been said and now it is time to go.

0830 – Starbucks for coffee. I know that once I cross the river into Arkansas there isn’t much around for many miles. My GPS has been a little inaccurate this morning and it took us longer than it should to find this Starbucks.

0908 – Mississippi River and Arkansas

0948 – Stop at McD’s for breakfast and potty break. Get gas. $2.35/gallon. Start a movie for the kids. They chose to watch Hotel for Dogs again.

1130 – Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s raining.

1152 – Sign for Hot Springs National Park. Consider stopping. I didn’t research the park or any stops in Arkansas so decide to just keep going. Maybe I can get through Dallas before rush hour.

1155 – First dead armadillo sighting.

12:18 p.m. – Arkadelphia, AR. There are a lot of combination copycat names here in Arkansas. Arkadelphia, Texarkana…

12:23 p.m. Sign for Crater of Diamonds. Consider stopping again. I’m talking to Ron at the time and he tells me not to stop in Arkansas. He’s on the way to the airport for his business trip to CA. I told him that we have passed two airports already today but haven’t stopped at any. He tells me about the benefits of flying versus driving. Hmmm… :)

12:25 p.m. There is an SUV with Texas plates that has luggage tied to the roof. It’s making me a bit nervous. One of the bags doesn’t look all that secure to me!

12:37 p.m. A truck carrying a house is taking up more than it’s share of the road. I end up driving on the rumble strip which elicits a “Whoa!” from Ryan as he notices the very large house outside his window.

12:39 p.m. The second dead armadillo sighting.

1:02 p.m. The song of this summer is “Sounds Like Life to Me” by Darryl Worley. Last year it was the "Good Time" song by Alan Jackson. You know – the song that they play over and over and over again… Of course they do it with lots of songs. So what I really mean is - the one that they play over and over again that I enjoy listening to.

1:04 p.m. See a cool small RV called a BT Cruiser. Looks nice and it looks like something small enough I could actually drive it. I’ll have to look it up when I get to the internet again.

1:19 p.m. Dead Armadillo #3

1:22 p.m. Texas. There is a lot of construction on all of the overpasses in Texarkana. Looks like Texas is getting a face lift.

1:26 p.m. Stop at Taco Bell for lunch.

2:05 p.m. Gas, $2.23/gallon. Can’t find Waxahachie on the map. Maybe Ron made it up. Maybe we don’t really have a hotel to stay at tonight. Maybe we’ll be trapped in Texas forever… Which seems more and more true as we are eternally stuck on the access road detour paralleling the highway. We can see the highway. We just can’t get onto it!

2:24 p.m. MY LEGS ITCH!!!!! *^&$(($% Mosquitos!

2:42 p.m. Listening to the radio. The song has the word Raindrops in it. At the very next instant, it starts raining big loud drops onto the car. Whoa – crazy!

3:17 p.m. Cows swimming… Okay, they aren’t really swimming. But there is a group of them hanging around a pond. One cow is standing out in the center of the pond as if she is swimming. A few others are wading in the edges of the water. Felisa is sad because she didn’t see it.

3:28 p.m. “Blame it on Texas. Don’t blame it on me!” A song on the radio. These lyrics could come in handy later if the kids start complaining about how long the drive is.

4:30 p.m. Dallas, TX. I remember crossing this reservoir a couple years ago.

4:38 p.m. There is a hospital for sale. Hmm. I’ve never seen a hospital for sale before.

4:45 p.m. Traffic jam.

4:47 p.m. The cause of the jam – a broken down dump truck on the road.

4:52 p.m. We have made it onto I-35 E south! So far so good getting through Dallas.

5:20 p.m. Arrive at the hotel. Looks like there is a place called Waxahachie after all. It was hard to find though – had to call the hotel for directions since the email with the reservation in it didn’t have a good address for the GPS to use. AND – it doesn’t smell like Cows here. Cool.

After we settle in, we go next door for dinner at Carino’s. About half-way through our meal, another patron came over and told me that my kids were very well behaved and should be proud. He gave us an extra coupon that he had for a free dessert. I love it when the kids’ good behavior is recognized and rewarded by strangers. They certainly don’t need it all the time but an occasional “atta boy” helps reinforce what I’m trying to teach them.

Then you’ll never guess what happened after dinner… That’s right. We went swimming! Then shower, TV, and bed.