Tumblin', tumblin' Tumbleweed

Well we made it across Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico today. It was a long and windy trek. There were very strong cross winds that blew a lot of tumbleweeds into the grill. And all those trucks, fuggedaboudit...

We got off I-40 from time to time to see what rte 66 was like. Lots of rundown gas stations and motels. Plus there were tons of rusted out cars, trucks and tractors and the odd school bus. It's amazing how these vehicles are left to rot on the side of the road. We saw lots of horse farms and cattle ranches. There was a sort of olfactory Doppler affect as we could smell them before we saw them and after we passed them.

Tomorrow, finally off to Sedona. We picked up another hour heading west today, so chances are we'll be up early. If so, we'll get on the road at the crack of dawn and arrive in the early afternoon.

Penultimate Leg

No Andrew Jackson sightings so far today. Maybe I'll find a $20 bill in the parking lot. Googlemaps says we have 452 miles to Albuquerque today. 451 are on I-40. We cross all of Oklahoma, the top part of Texas and half of New Mexico. Should be a smooth ride.
If Obama wants to put some money into infrastructure, he could start with I-40, especially in Arkansas. What a mess. Maybe some of the potholes were due to the ice storm, don't know. But it could use some work. Lincoln's campaign platform was pushing infrastructure improvements too. Back then it was canals and railroads. Today it's the interstates and bridges. We are seeing a lot that could use some work.

This is weird...

One more coincidence. This morning in the breakfast room I picked up an old Newsweek from November 08. When I opened it I found a big article about Andrew Jackson and what affect his presidency has on current day politics. Other than being on a $20 bill, I never knew that much about him, now I can't stop seeing him everywhere... OK, enough about Old Hickory.

Walking in Memphis

Well, we made it to Memphis today. It was a long day as we did 636 miles. It would have been pretty tough in bad weather as a lot of the route went through the Great Smokey Mountains. Luckily, we had some good eats on the way. See photo.

On a coincidental note, our friend, Sandy, gave me the audio book, The American Lion, about the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which we have been listening to on the trip. He was born in Waxhaw, NC, the town NEXT to my sister's town and we passed by The Hermitage, Jackson's homestead in Nashville, today. It was closed. Pretty weird, eh?

Not so fast...

After wishing Jimmy Wilfong "good luck" with his exams, we left Scranton and headed to my sister's home in Charlotte, NC. We always have a good time with Curt and Terry and their family. We planned on one day in Charlotte, but this winter storm moving across the south has forced us to rethink things. We are staying here another day and will head west on thursday when the sun comes out again. Thanks for those phone calls of concern from our friends.

Off and Running, sort of....

Hi everyone,This is the first entry in my first blog. When we decided to take this trip to Sedona, the land of the Red Rocks, many people asked us to keep them informed of what was going on. So, at the insistence of some friends, I decided to create this blog for myself as well as anyone else who might be interested.

We started our trip on the 24th of January. We made it as far as Scranton PA where we are visiting our cousin who is a sophomore at the U of Scranton. His family from NJ joined us for a couple days in the land of Dunder-Mifflin Paper Co. That's all I have to say about Scranton. Coincidentally, we have already stayed at this Fairfield Inn one other time in the past on our way south. What are the odds of being in Scranton twice, let alone staying at the same hotel.

As for other news at the moment, Judy has had a sore ankle since she twisted it last summer, walking in sand. Well, she finally went to the doctor and had an X-ray and MRI. She has a longitudinal tear in a tendon in her ankle which will require surgery. It is the ankle on her "good" leg, so that one will be out of order for a few months once we decide when to have the surgery. That will be after we get back from Sedona. She should be able to hike on some of the trails she would have been able to hike on considering her bad left knee. Our cousin, here in Scranton, is studying to be a Physical Therapist. He may take Judy on as a sophomore project.

Well, that's for now. I'm going to see how this looks and what other options I have in this blog.