Day 15

Day 15 – Thursday – June 21, 2012

0630 Wake up.  It is really bright and sunny outside already.

0700 Time to get up.  Check Facebook and email.  Upload a few pictures to Facebook.  Get coffee.

0745 Shower

0800 Wake up the kids.

0830 Go to breakfast.

0930 Leave the hotel.  It is hot and steamy out here this morning!  85 degrees.  Oh no!  My oil life is already down to 10%!

0932 The GPS can’t find the Clinton birthplace.  Decide to follow the sign we saw last night when we exited the highway.

0940 The signs can’t find it either!  Decide to go to the Hope Visitor Center and ask for directions.

0945 Hope Visitor Center and museum.  The lady working is very nice but I was having a hard time understanding her accent.

1015 President Clinton’s birthplace.  As we are leaving we see the big sign that we missed on the way in.

1101 Stop to buy a giant Hope watermelon.

1104 Gas, $3.21/gallon

1114 McDs for coffee (me) and chicken nuggets (kids).

1119 I have been thinking and I think that moving to a new place with all new people makes it seem longer than a year since we have seen the friends we are visiting on our trip.  Instead of going from home to see people and then back home, we went from home to see people to a brand new place that didn’t seem like home.  Maybe next year it won’t seem like that?

1128 See a Honda crosstour.  That’s kind of a cool looking car.  I wonder if Ron would like it.

1152 There’s a new Big and Rich song playing on the radio.  I thought they were split up?

1159 Friendship, AR.  Ryan thinks that is a great name for a town.

12:43 p.m. Rock on the windshield – ouch!

12:47 p.m. Little Rock, AR.  92 degrees

12:52 p.m. Arkansas River.  Sign for the Plantation Agriculture Museum.  That sounds interesting for a future visit.  There’s also a sign the highway is closed ahead.  Hmm.  That could be a problem.

1:15 p.m. Sonic in Lonoke, AR for lunch.

1:41 p.m. Leave Sonic.  Should I stay on this back highway or take a chance that the interstate is open again?

1:50 p.m. Yep.  It’s closed.  Should’ve taken the back road.

2:09 p.m. Finally get off the interstate (such a backup of traffic!) and now I see a sign for the Trail of Tears.  That’s not a good sign.  I hope we’re not crying by the end of this detour.

2:27 p.m. Now we’re on the Butterfield Trail.  Not sure what that is.

2:40 p.m. Road crew working, causing another back up.  Construction on a detour route should be illegal.

2:44 p.m. Des Arc, AR

2:49 p.m. White River

2:56 p.m. My phone has no signal out here in the middle of nowhere.  It has been beeping and beeping since we left the highway.

3:03 p.m. Cache River

3:08 p.m. Cotton Plant, population 960.  Ryan thinks it looks like a ghost town.  There is a rickety old house on the corner.  I wonder if anyone lives there.  Ryan points out the satellite dish on the roof.  Okay then – someone must live there after all.  Someone who likes to watch tv.

3:12 p.m. Plane wash

3:13 p.m. Lots of trucks on the road headed the other way.

3:24 p.m. Gas, $3.25/gallon

3:34 p.m. Finally back on the interstate.  Our new ETA is 5:08 p.m.

3:48 p.m. My knee is really hurting.  That detour was rough!

4:36 p.m. Tennessee state line and the Mississippi River

5:03 p.m. What was that beep for?  Huh.  I think the GPS is telling me about a red light camera ahead.

5:14 p.m. Arrive at the Ruthlings.  Logan and Merryn are home to welcome us.  D’Arcy is out at Costco picking up some food for dinner.  Fritz is flying.

The kids played Apples to Apples and Kemps then moved on to the Wii.

8:15 p.m. Dinner time – chicken alfredo.

11:00 p.m. Bed time.  Yet another late night.  Is this going to be the summer of late nights?