Dateline: Amarillo, TX.
It’s been ~25 years since I last drove through Texas, and while this time, we’re only traversing the panhandle from east to west, I’m still confident I didn’t lose anything here to come back for. We finished up my son’s deck on Sunday, despite having to start over (he had a small issue with post footings, trying to do too much by himself in one day before I got there), despite the weather, despite the mosquitos (western South Dakota, at least where we live, is almost mosquito-free: I have enough bites on me atm to more than make up!), and despite the various and sundry things that seem to go wrong here and there.
On Monday (yesterday) we left Illinois at 7am and drove through rain in eastern Missouri. By the time we hit Oklahoma, skies were blue…and hot. Our 17-year-old Previa, which we’re driving because of the cargo room for stuff we’ll be carting back from California, doesn’t cool off quite as well as my ’03 Nissan Murano! Add to that, the fact our legs were cramping up due to our exertions on Sunday…well, a 13-hour day wasn’t a lot of fun. But we made it just fine.
It’s just past 7:30, and within 10 or 15 min we’ll be on the road again. Shorter day today though: Only going as far as Winslow.
Mrs. K is giving me the look: She wants to check e-mail. I’m outta here!
You can’t judge Texas by the panhandle! That’s the desert-y part of the state… come on down here to central Texas, it’s still hot but at least it’s green!
.-= Lauren´s last blog ..Stylin’ and Profilin’ =-.
I feel ya on the rain Kes! I drove to Kentucky on Wednesday to go visit family. It rained from Spearfish, all the way across So Dak, through Iowa and Missouri, and then Illinois/Indiana, and Kentucky. The only ‘nice’ day we had was Saturday. Then when we drove out Sunday morning it down poured until we got into Indiana then it was clear skies back to So Dak.
Now I pose a question to you:
Why does it take longer driving towards Rapid across South Dakota than it does driving towards Sioux Falls? (not counting the time changes.)
.-= Daemetos´s last blog ..Summer time =-.
Now THAT is a damned good question. I flat-out (see what I did there?) hate that drive, in either direction (although it’s generally better going home, except it’s usually late at night).
However, after driving 75% of the old Route 66 the past 3 days, I gotta tell ya: The worst stretch of highway in the entire US of A (except for El Paso to Van Horn :p) is Needles to Barstow on I-40 in California.
I’m glad that your trip is going well. Don’t come to far east.. it’s raining cats, dogs and hippogriffs over here.
You can’t judge Texas by anything south of the panhandle, actually.
@Lauren – The deserty part is south and west of the panhandle, thank you very much.
@Kes – You were in Amarillo? 57 miles away from me, and you never bothered to tell me? What am I ever going to do with you…
.-= Psynister´s last blog ..Shaman: Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better =-.
After 13 hours on the road (following a full day of deck-building the day before), all I wanted to say howdy to, was my pillow!
Lauren: » When I was in the Air Force, I used to fly from Atlanta to Tucson or San Diego. A 4- or 5-hour flight…yet it always took 6 hours to fly across Texas!
I am glad you are having such a great trip hon. Miss you though and looking forward to talking to you when you get back.
/huggles and love
I use to live in Pierre, and the drive to Rapid was long, but maybe that’s because I loved it so much I just wanted to get there. Oh, BTW don’t judge Texas by the panhandle. Austin is a great area.
[...] was writing from Los Angeles (or thereabouts); however, I never related the story of getting there from Amarillo. And believe me, there is some story to be [...]