Sunday
– It’s Central Standard Time in Meridian Mississippi.
We drive 9 am to 6 pm from NC through SC, GA, and AL to the first town in MI. It is dark at 6:30 when we miss the turn. Even though we have been at this KOA campground before, I only remember after we arrived. And we can’t find it!
Instead of a hard right onto the paved street, MP makes a gentle right onto the dirt road. In a hurry, we drive too fast through the muddy clay of this Georgia road. By the time the car slows at a rare opening where we can turn around thanks to a driveway, we are in the midst of some swampy territory. Deliverance Retro! The camper is plastered with mud on the front and unimaginable mounds are caked underneath. My sneaker shoes and I sink into the wet turf as I run around in the dark in these unexpected backwoods to direct
MP in a U-turn that is 3 Y’s. 3 stops and starts later, we get back in the right direction to the right road. Turn a HARD right. Turn HERE! I’m commanding. Whew. I’m frabbled. I just make up the word. The car is coated. It looks like we are one of the rough riders proudly sporting our ride in our 4-wheeler as we swing into the city streets. By the way, it is not appreciated when campers wash their rigs in their campsites. It leaves all sorts of a mess. MP finds the connections, sets the hookups while I assemble an instant dinner from our last night bar-b-que with our son’s and all his family. Ahh. That’s a nice contribution
he made to our trip I think, soothing myself.
It is KOA to KOA to get to Shreveport LA then Abiline TX, each 300 miles.
It’s an on-time departure at 8:30 AM; stop at a rest area to walk dog who doesn’t want to get out of the car, but does. We stop for gas at the ridiculous price of $2.75. And stop for our first “junk food” lunch. It’s Mickey D’s for MP. I can’t do it and walk to Chipotle for a rice and beans bowl with guacamole and a grapefruit fizz for $23 smackers vs his $12 meal deal. I enjoy the Chipotle line of “chefs” who scoop what is 2 in front of them into my bowl. Would I like this rice or that one? Each of them are pleasant wearing crisp uniforms. They smile. They look healthy, their expressions may not be shining like the sun, but they are changing, responding to me, then to that guy. They know I am alive. I’m sure the food tastes better because of this. I later learn there are opportunities for advancement at Chipotle.
The drive through Dallas is a first for us. We have been able to avoid it on past crisscrosses. The view looks like a new onslaught of thruways and connecting arched overpasses, 6 or 7 lanes each way. Overpasses arch 3 levels high as they curve in different directions. The roadside has no attractions. A freeway free for all. What could exist alongside such dangerous auto routes? There are rows of extended plain white buildings that look like unadorned flat boxes. Each box features a corner with an identifying logo to distinguish it from the others. Each one looks like they cover acres of square footage. I feel like I’ve never seen highway architecture before.
Oddly, the highway system seems to have paved its way across not only the natural
topography but many front driveways. On a regular basis, I see abandoned houses with front doors towards a “frontage road” which must have been a nice idea before 1955 or ’60 or ’70. Why weren’t the houses torn down? Can they be repurposed, moved? Recycled?.
Can a whole house be recycled? I dream up the company: zero down.com – cheap old houses in Texas.
As we drive, we can receive TV channels via audio. We listen to CNN, MSNBC &
CNBC and $ news til I can’t stand it anymore. Are my kids, my friends in tune to the
tone of tv voices all day? Do they hear about the disastrous government, the war and torture across the human race? It does infect my dreamscape if I’m not careful. Everyone
on the planet must be aware of the Israeli response to the unprovoked terrorist action
of Hamas, the bizarre political resolute group apparently amoral. They are attacking
Israeli state that starved Palestine of its resources, ah let’s count the ways. Please, let’s turn it down for a few miles. Thank you.
The Texas rest stops have interesting mini museums with stories of the first gas stations and the “accidental billionaire” Conrad Hilton. Another has a map of the topography of the state. This is interesting as it must be effected by these roads.
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