Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Day 14

Day 14 – Wednesday – June 20, 2012

0630 Get up.  Take a shower.
0700 Go to the house for a cup of coffee and pick up my now-dry laundry.

0715 Get the kids up.

0800 The car is loaded and ready (an hour ago I wasn’t sure if I could make my 8 am deadline!).  Time for breakfast.

0911 Pictures are taken.  Vacation Mouse almost got left behind – he was still in Betty’s car after our trip to San Antonio.  Oops!  It is 78 degrees and cloudy as we hit the road.

0914 Back gate

0918 Sheep with white bodies and black heads.  Interesting…

0946 God Bless Texas is on the radio.  The song before that was Austin.  Perfect driving music for Texas.

0949 Pass the Fort Martin Scott Historic Site in Fredericksburg.  Maybe we should check it out sometime.

1000 Dead armadillo.

1005 Wet roads.  Must’ve been raining here.

1015 Johnson City has some cool-looking shops.  Maybe we should come here too some time!

1030 Rain for about 5 minutes

1051 Rain for about 2 minutes

1058 Traffic  jams up as we near Austin.  I really don’t like this part of the drive – it always has rotten traffic.

1119 Toll road.  75 cents.

1128 Arrive at Round Rock Donuts.  The Texas donut is REALLY big!  And yummy too of course.  We ate half and saved the other half for later.

1156 Genie can’t find a Schlotsky’s.  I know there is one in Temple – we stopped there two years ago.

1159 Two police cars have stopped to help change the tire on a third police car.

12:05 p.m. Finally found the Schlotsky’s in Temple.

12:15 p.m. See a billboard for a closer Schlotsky’s.  Let’s go to that one instead.  I seem to recall the one in Temple being hard to get to.

12:23 p.m. Schlotsky’s in Belton, TX.  A sign inside says that the first Schlotsky’s opened in Austin in 1971.

12:56 p.m. Leaving Schlotsky’s

12:59 p.m. Gas, $3.25/gallon.  Why are there always yucky dead bugs in the window-washing bucket at gas stations?

1:17 p.m. Rain

1:25 p.m. Should we go on the interstate or the back roads?  GPS has us taking the interstate but the highway has been very busy today.  Lots of semis and cars.  My personal space is feeling a bit crowded so I’m leaning towards back roads even though it will be longer.

1:30 p.m. Lorena, TX

1:38 p.m. Ryan finished the book he bought yesterday.

1:47 p.m. Waco, TX.  89 degrees.  I decide to go for the back roads.  Keep your fingers crossed for a smooth drive…

2:21 p.m. Donkey

2:23 p.m. Karl from the insulation company called to give a report on the finished work.  Conveniently, there is a picnic area right here to pull off and take the call.

2:29 p.m. Kids are watching a movie – Sky High

3:22 p.m. Sonic in Malakoff, TX.  I need a driving break.  It’s happy hour and it’s the half-price shakes all day celebration today.  Cool!

3:39 p.m. Leaving Sonic.  I’ve done a map check to figure out which way the GPS is sending me.  My oil life is at 15% remaining.  I’d love to make it Virginia before I get my oil changed but not sure I can make it that far before I get to zero.

4:09 p.m. Cows standing under the sprinklers out in the field.

4:10 p.m. Fainting goats for sale.

4:33 p.m. We are in the Eagle Capitol of Texas (but we didn’t see any eagles while there).

4:39 p.m. Dead armadillo #2.  It is on its back, all four feet straight up in the air.

5:16 p.m. See a truck carrying bags of feed.  The labels are horse feed and creep feed.  What is creep feed?

5:17 p.m. Rest area.  This place is packed!  Guess I won’t stop here after all.

5:33 p.m. McD’s in Mt. Pleasant, TX for a bathroom break.  We hear that strange bird call we heard at the ranch the other day.  The kids say that it is a speckled tree goat.  I don’t believe them.

6:05 p.m. Listening to NPR to the stock report.  They are listing agricultural products one by one by one.  Yawn!

6:22 p.m. Now NPR has a story about Coe State Park in California and how a private donation is keeping the park open.  It had been on the budget cuts closure list.

6:31 p.m. Arkansas

6:45 p.m. Red River

6:59 p.m. Arrive at hotel.  After checking in we watch tv for a bit then go swim in the outdoor pool.  Someone had left a ball behind and the kids were having fun playing with it.  Luckily the mosquitoes were not too bad.  The sheriff came to the hotel three times while we were swimming.  When we finally went inside, we saw that he was using the hotel breakfast area as his lunch break/office. 

Showers then we ate the rest of our donut.  Watch more tv then go to sleep late.

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