Can't read the sign from the glare from the rental car dashboard, but the sign says Welcome To Georgia or Hey, Y'all or something like that.
Starting my return trip home in the Subaru a few days later from North Carolina. Chilly, cloudy, and about to rain.
The Bar-B-Q King Lincolnton, NC. I should have stopped for a sammich but was eager to get going.
I like independent BBQ shacks in the south. Colorado is cool and all, but we don't have any good Carolina-style BBQ here.
I did manage to grab a Big Joe Sandwich at Maurice's Piggy Park in Cam's part of the world. It was okay, but not as good I remembered from my college days.
I took a lot of pictures of signs and not many of just scenery in the east. I guess that's because everything looks pretty much the same once you get a few miles inland from the Atlantic until you get to Texas on I-40, when the trees give way to interesting landscapes.
Western North Carolina - the Appalachian Mountains.
Welcome to Tennessee.
Watch out for the East Tennessee Ninjas.
Conveniently placed Krystal restaurant just when I needed gas. Krystal burgers are tasty once in a while, and we don't have them (or White Castle restaurants) where I live.
No picture, but the
Sunsphere is still standing in Knoxville, TN. It reminded me of
a Simpsons episode.
Leaving Nashville, TN early in the morning. Tennessee takes a long time to drive through and there were state troopers every five miles or so it seemed. I was using a radar detector of unknown vintage that alerted me to some, but I'm sure not all. I didn't speed much and didn't have to with high speed limits most of the way.
Part of the Cumberland River. I learned that goes through Nashville from a Todd Snider song.
I was standing here pumping gas just east of Memphis and wondering where I might get some good BBQ when my wife texted a picture of her and the kids watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV. I sent this in answer to her not-yet-asked question of where are you?
The bridge over the Mississippi River on I-40, between Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas.
Time to finish the Yuengling and switch over to Coors.
*burp*
Looking north:
Looking south:
As soon as I entered Arkansas, I started seeing crappy old cars towing other crappy old cars, and all with what looked like temporary license plates. Most were small sedans with the rear bumper covers removed and makeshift towing hitches installed, I guess. I looked over at one of the drivers as I passed and he gave me the meanest "what are YOU lookin' at?!" glare I've ever seen. He probably couldn't see me anyway through the Subaru's dark tinted windows.
Can a three-car highway train like this be legal? Maybe so in Arkansas.
I think I saw three police cars in all of Arkansas. On to Oklahoma, where I saw one, I think. The radar detector went off and I saw a black Dodge Magnum with tinted windows go by in the other direction.
This reminded me of two good songs...
Stopped for gas in Checotah, Oklahoma and took these pictures of the motel next door. I stayed in OKC that night but I texted these pics to my wife to show her my accommodations for the evening. She said, "That looks like a sh!thole!" My wife is a classy broad, huh?
This parking lot would be the perfect setting for Jack Reacher to beat up a few bad guys single-handedly, as he does in most of the novels.
Ready to leave Friday morning for the final run home. Parked in a corner spot, of course.
A good preview of the weather for the day:
Not snow. Cotton. I haven't seen cotton fields in a long time.
Foggy.
Signs can be fun on long boring drives. Tennessee had changeable-message illuminated signs above the highway saying "Gobble, Gobble - Watch the Throttle" (readers of the future, it was Thanksgiving) and also "I-40 Challenge - Troopers Every 20 Miles". I'm sticking with my original estimate of every five miles. I felt safe in case of a breakdown - not so much in the lower-budget states.
This one says
WATCH OUT
Don't Hit Our Workers
Avoid $10,000 Fine
And I liked these signs throughout Oklahoma: DO NOT IMPEDE LEFT LANE. I was pleased to see very few clueless left-lane cruisers out on the highway away from cities. People drive very well out in the middle of nowhere.
Taking a shortcut on what would become Texas state route 152. I might have eaten lunch at
The Big Texan, but I exited I-40 east of Amarillo.
Did I mention it was foggy?
The dude in front is hauling a bale/roll of hay.
Welcome to Texas
Drive Friendly - The Texas Way
And I did.
And no sooner than that sign went by came another - the first 75 mph speed limit of my trip so far.
Great picture, huh? The sign coming up had some harsh and threatening words for anyone foolish enough to text and drive in Texas. If it weren't so damn hot, I think I could live in Texas.
Yup, 75 mph (and then some) on roads like this.
Below is one of a few places on my trip that reminded me of the town in Kris Kristofferson's song "Best Of All Possible Worlds".
This was across the street where I got gas and coffee and realized I might have the only non-American branded vehicle for miles around. This is pickup truck and cowboy hat country, both of which I was sadly lacking. I took this picture in anticipation of my wife's next "Where are you now?" text.
Westbound and down, loaded up and truckin'...
75 miles per hour here, with oncoming traffic okay to pass?
What's under all those tires? After rolling the window back up, I had my answer. Manure. Lots and lots of manure. You might even say it was a Texas-sized pile of manure.
Bales of cotton, rolled up in yellow plastic (or some kind of material).
Not cotton. Snow.
Too bad this place was closed...
Texas patrol car:
That's the end of Part One due to forum post length restrictions.
You'd think I'd take the hint...