|
| 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! |
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