Once every era, the dreaded "Yukon Dilemna" strikes fear into even the most stalwart Texas, icing roads and leaving a trail of below-freezing days. Fortunately, our plans had only been delayed one day and we departed our beloved country/state on a Thursday morning, the 3rd of this month.
IH 30 is the pavement we tread for many a mile before if brought us to that border strider, Texarkana. Spell check doesn't seem to care for that clever name combination. Regardless of the moniker, we had crossed over before we realized it. Arkansas should really give better warning than they do, at the minimum they should mount a yellow "Razorback crossing" sign. Needing a lil' break, we made use of their 'Welcome Center' where the restrooms were indeed as clean as advertised. The free coffee was, well, it was free.
A few more hours brought us to Little Rock and a new leg of the Eisenhower Interstate System, IH 40. Side note, have you ever heard that tale about how every mile in five is straight so it could be used as an emergency runway? Not true, go check out www.snopes.com if you don't believe us :D Having quickly exhausted the charms of our eastern neighbor, we crossed the mighty Missis...[how many s's and p's are there again?] sippi River into Tennesse.
Above you'll see a quick snapsot as we enjoyed the monumental bridge that ushers motorists into Memphis. Did you know that they have a pyramid there? Somehow we doubt that it will last as long as the Pharaoh's. We arrived in Nashville well after dark and spent the next two nights with a friend from Aggieland and her husband. They graciously opened their home to us and we met their thestral/dog and two cats. (seriously, he looked like a thestral). You may have lived out of a suitcase before, but for three days we lived out of our car that was loaded down like you wouldn't believe. Friday gave us the chance to visit an old friend of Ben's from Austin, meet his new wife and grab some lunch with them. That friend is a musician, and he invited us to the gig he was playing with his sisters that evening. They are REALLY talented and you can check them out here
 |
| 'Trudy Chase' members Meredith(L) & Katie Bandas Thomas(R) with Brian Bandas(L) & Aaron Thomas(R) |
Saturday we headed out to Charlotte, NC to spend the weekend with another friend of Ben's, but we had to show you what we saw on our way out of town:
 |
| Who does AAA call when THEY break down? |
Driving through the Smoky Mountains was awesome, reminded us of that scene from 'Cars' where Lightning and Sally go for a drive. Haven't enjoyed a drive like that since the road to Hana. Our kind host in Charlotte treated us to pizza, bowling and Settlers of Catan. Megan won both rounds of bowling AND Settlers, so we guess she was on a roll(groan) After visiting his church on Sunday and being introduced to the awesomeness that is 'Cook Out' (best milkshakes ever), we loaded up again and backtracked an hour and a half to the Center for Intercultural Training campus in Union Mills. What we did once we arrived is for another post, however. One last thing before we finish, do you ever get a little frustrated with how quickly you unload something that took you hours to load? I mean, that car was empty in 10 minutes once we pulled up on the lawn right up to our apartment door. Wait, was I not supposed to share that?
Up Next:
The first week of class!
DISC & Mindstyles! (Ben & Megan are polar opposites)
Ron's Cooking!
