Frank's Place - Home
Trips and Travels
U.S. Tour
Frank's Spoiled Movie Endings
The Nest
Activities
Frank's Chicks
FrankCam
Duck Dispatch
Under the Down
FrankPals
My GuestMap
My Blog and Journal
Frank's Shop
Site Map and Search
Everything Else
Email Me

Counter


The clock struck Saturday, 21 February as we flew along Interstate 10 in the western portion of Texas. With about 1,300 miles to go, today was light work of completing the final 1,050 or so miles to reach Meridian, Mississippi, where we spent the night, took in a movie, and got out of the car for a duration of more than 20 minutes.

12:01am Actually, this is a continuation of Day 1, since we have a 30-something hour straight-thru drive.
12:12am (MST) We found we've crossed over into the Central Time Zone, and it's here we'll remain until Wednesday (Day 6) on our way home.
1:13am (CST) No, it didn't take me a full minute to type this... but the clock changed as I was adding the new time to it. (Takes a bit longer when your toes are webbed, let me tell you.)
1:58am Tubby, at the helm, apparently managed to not see an entire town, where we'd planned to acquire fuel (the quaint hamlet of Kent, Texas). He claims it was too small to see, but the rest of us suspect he was asleep at the wheel. Oddly enough, we never drifted out of the lane, so it's tough to tell who's lying.
2:25am In an effort to locate fuel, we exited at Toyah, since the sign mentioned fuel. Nothing. The Texaco station has long been abandoned, and the town seemed to only be able to claim one stop sign. We elected to proceed down the highway, even though we only had an estimated 36 miles to empty... but the fuel-orium was only 20 miles away.
2:41am We rolled into Pecos, Texas, with the low fuel light on, and the display blinking to remind us we were down to the last 10 miles before we're walking. Fortunately, we managed to put 27.22 gallons of gas into our 27 gallon tank, and here gas is only $1.51 a gallon. (It's no 17.9¢ a gallon, but that's a once-in-a-lifetime thing).
2:49am Back on the road with our bad selves, and Rachel again has taken command of the mothership. Tubby is on his third 1 liter bottle of soda, having consumed a gallon yesterday (yes, a gallon -- 5 12 ounce cans and two liters). I drank only water to ensure I didn't get dehydrated.
3:44am Rachel surrenders control of the driving; I take over. (And mind you, most states don't allow pets, livestock or ducks to drive, so I have to do it under cover of darkness.)
4:54am We pause at one of the rest stops, which is quite cozy, and is even heated. (This also a far cry better than the myriad of Picnic Area roadside stops, where it's mostly a wide spot on the sides of the road, paved and with picnic tables (no restrooms or stuff like that.)
5:49am I decide this whole driving is for chumps -- particularly when I have a bevy of drivers with me. I hand the driving off to Robin, and opt for a yummy nap.
8:22am We hit the beginning of the Fort Worth-Dallas metropolis, which sprawls for something like 50 miles along Interstate 20. As a result, we switch from defensive to offensive driving, taking an aggressive stance and having our lane change finger at the ready. (I took up a position at the rear passenger window, redefining giving someone "the bird.")
8:58am Still looking for something, anything, of interest to us in the area as we motor along I-20. Nothing so far, but I do appreciate the six lane highway -- and the lack of traffic.
9:06am In a bold nod to variance, we took north I-45 from I-20, to I-30, then hopped onto surface streets in downtown Dallas. I was feeling a little nostalgic, and sought a place to deposit my book, or a grassy knoll to sun my California feathers.
9:10am Rachel indicated she doesn't care about grassy knolls or a book building; rather, she just is interested in finding a crapper. Charming young woman, yes?
9:22am We refueled the transporter vehicle, bought soda, and Tubby bought me a Slurpee, but not just any Slurpee -- a cherry Slurpee, and not just any cherry Slurpee... it was a Minute Maid cherry Slurpee, the beverage of kings.
10:46am Driving downtown, we bumped into The Majestic, which we understand to be where the cops found Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
10:54am We find the County Administration building, which used to be the Texas School Book Repository. And if you gaze to the last window on the right, six floors up, you'll see a small wooden box there. That is the window and position Oswald fired the three shots at JFK, according to the Warren Commission
10:56am I wandered down to one of a few grassy knolls, and found this place was an excellent place to use my camera to shoot from, with a unobstructed view of the roadway.
10:59am By standing on the "X" mark on the street denoting where JFK was when the shots were fired, you can pretty much see there's nothing here to block the view from the sixth floor.
11:03am It's also an excellent street to see ambulances and fire trucks whizzing by with their lights flashing and siren yelping.
11:06am The plaza was dedicated in 1940, but took on a whole new meaning and purpose after JFK was shot and killed. (There is now a JFK plaque thingy just behind where I'm sitting.) But out of sheer laziness, all the Dallas pictures are in one page.
11:09am Rachel receives a communication from Manda of Meridian, Mississippi regarding her enrollment as a FrankChick. Yea -- she'll be our first out-of-state FrankChick!
11:31am After a stop at the rest stop around mile marker 533, Tubby is rotated out of the cockpit and replaced with Rachel. I've opted to not drive any more until we get to a new state; driving in Texas once is enough, and it's now broad daylight -- ugh.
12:54pm We cross into Louisiana, and but despite the map claiming we were rolling through Shreveport, there were no signs to indicate this. As such, I opted to not stop and wander around. I sort of like the sign to get the ball rolling.
2:41pm We hit Monroe, Louisiana, which is a fine place to wander, or have a late-ish lunch.
3:24pm There was some minor delays as we had to wait with the other gawkers to look at an accident and have a picture taken of it.
5:31pm We cross over into Mississippi and wander a bit around Vicksburg, Mississippi.
6:32pm Things are looking well as we hit Jackson, Mississippi -- the state capital here. It's not so much anything more than the sun is setting far too fast for a decent set of pictures to be taken.
7:04pm The travel caravan arrives at the fancy-pants motel for the evening. After we all settle in, plans are made for the evening, with some in the room, others going to the movies, and other still not committing.
8:47pm Rachel completes coordination of the meet and greet with Manda for tomorrow.
2:17am Having returned from the cinema, posted my ending of Against the Ropes, and the updates for the last two days, I'm off to bed. Ta!
 

Home | About Me | Legal Disclaimer     © all rights reserved, allaboutfrank.com