We slept pretty well although we weren’t sure how that was going to go. The Comfort Inn had a room at the back of the complex. There was a tall hedge at the edge of the parking lot that I could not see through. About 8 and then 8:30 and then 9 we heard the loudest train whistle I’ve heard in a long time! Oh No! The train was about 5 feet beyond the hedge and it sounded like it was coming through the wall. Thea gave me that look. I suggested that maybe the trains don’t run so often at night. I was grasping. We took some knock out drops hoping that we could sleep through the racket. Well guess who was right about fewer trains at night. I was! At least I only heard one until maybe 6:30 or 7:00 AM. We slept right through any others that might have come along. We had decided to head for Dallas on I-20. Texas is divided into 7 types of terrain. The panhandle is considered plains, Kellar is prairies and lakes and east texas is piney woods. These are the 3 we visited and each was beautiful in it's own way. Today was the Piney Woods. We remembered the big flea market that Ron and Cindy had talked about when we were here a week or so ago. This is the weekend that it happens! It’s every weekend before the first Monday of each month. It’s been going on since the 1850’s according to the literature. We found Canton and turned south. Holly Smokes! The place wasn’t big, it was huge! There were parked cars as far as you could see. We found a spot relatively close to some of the buildings. These pavilions were probably 400 feet long and full of vendors with everything you can think of for sale. We struggled along with the crowd and made it down one side and up the other of 2 of them and perused the wares of several more outside. There were many repeats of stuff, but here and there we found some unique crafts and taste sensations. Since we needed to make a few more miles to day, we tried to find our way out of there. That was easier said than done. I wondered, ”Now where did I park that car?” A guy heard me wonder out loud and came to our rescue. He pointed us in the right direction and eventually we found the car. We had barely gotten started and were surprised to find out that the thing covers 300 acres with over 7,000 vendors! No wonder many people set up camps for days on end. It was like the biggest County Fair you can imagine without the chickens and pigs and other farm animals. Amazing! We had no room for any more anything in the car so we headed out. It wasn’t too much further to Dallas and we veered north towards Denton and Decatur on north 35E. We got to Dallas just in time for the rush hour and man do they drive aggressively! Very seldom saw a turn signal used and most of the time our speed was 60 to 70 mph! We bunched up a few times, less than a car length, but never did slow down! I really prefer the less traveled roads, but we were past the point of no return once we got close to Dallas. We didn’t get hit by anyone, so I figure no harm, no foul and we found our way out the other end of the Dallas gambit. Whew! After we secured a room, we set out to find the New Beginnings church in Chico. The road to Chico is my kind of road! Smooth, fast, and almost no traffic; that’s how I like it! The directions that Rose gave us took us right to the door without a hitch. We’ll attend services tomorrow morning and then take the day off. We are kind a tuckered. Talk at you later.

The room we stayed in was quiet and we slept very well last night. We woke to very high wind and immediately switched on the tube to see what was up. There were tornado warnings for a long, wide line that runs north from Tyler Texas up in an arc through Kansas City and it was heading right for Little Rock. We were 30 to 40 miles north and east of there. We talked to the guy at the motel for advice on what to do. We watched the tube in the lobby for a while and the tornado seemed to have dissipated, so our only worry was high winds and rain. He said to just be careful and keep an eye on the sky. We left and picked up highway 70 towards Little Rock. The interstate was full of semis and the spray would be awful if it rained. I also considered that a truck hit by a strong wind would smash us severely flat if it tipped over while we were next to it. Not worth the risk; I prefer the roads less traveled anyway. There was no traffic on 70 and we only had to slow for the little towns along the way. It was very pleasant. The road was lined with trees and they protected us from the wind. For a while we were traveling along the top of a dike with water on both sides lapping the sides of the road. The area was obviously flooded and it gave us the creeps. A few houses were up to the windows with water and a camp site had a few trailers that didn’t get out in time. Another long section of road went past a cypress forest. At first it looked like a swamp, but it turned out to be the area next to a river. It looked like that was its normal state. The trees swelled near the bottom like what you see in the shallow swamps further south. It would take a shallow draft boat to travel through there. It was kind of cool. The plants and trees were very healthy except that most of Arkansas is infested with kudzu which was brought back from Viet Nam and has taken over everywhere. It is a viney thing that climbs the telephone poles and many of the trees all the way to the top. They say that it will cover a house in less than two years. It is everywhere there is a hint of water and there is a lot of water in south west Arkansas. As we approached Little Rock the sky was very dark. It kept getting blacker and the drops started tapping the wind shield. That turned quickly into larger and larger drops until the sky opened up and even with the wipers at top speed, I could barely see to drive. We found ourselves in North Little Rock and decided that a pit stop was a good idea. It was 71 degrees outside and absolutely pouring! We got wet running to the shelter of the building, but it wasn’t cold, so that helped. As we left town towards Texarkana the rain lessened and finally stopped all together. We figured we were at the bottom edge of the storms that were heading north and east. We stopped at Wal-Mart for some stuff and the pavement was almost dry already. We had decided to go to Shreveport Louisiana and enter Texas further south. The road that runs along Inter-state 30 has left many “Radiator Springs” along the way. Each town is quite run-down and there are many abandoned buildings. You could see that they used to be bustling little burgs that have seen much better days. There are a few hold-outs trying to keep it together, but most of the former residence are long gone. It’s kind of sad to see. The road was in remarkably good condition the last 30 miles in Arkansas. It wound up and down through the country side and was very smooth and in good repair. Most of the roads up until late today were in terrible, rough condition. It did start raining again, but it was short lived and it’s not raining down here…right now anyway. We found hiway 20, an east west hiway with several motels along the way. Turns out the area is swarming with military personnel showing up for drills at the base nearby. Almost every room was booked everywhere! The girl at the Comfort Inn did some juggling of rooms and got us set up for the night. Thank you, front-desk-girl. I really did not want to drive any further. Driving in the rain was tiring and we’re ready to stop for the day. We only got one photo today; maybe more tomorrow as we cross into Texas. I think we’ll try for Denton or Decatur tomorrow. I do want to stop by the Chevy dealer in Fort Worth to see if that guy came back and bought the white Corvette. We want to attend church in Chico, a little town west of I-35. It’s the church of the nice little lady we met on the way through a week or so ago. More to come; stay tuned.

Unfortunately we had another semi-sleepless night. It wasn’t the freeway though. Every now and then we heard rather loudly what sounded like someone dragging a garbage bag full of empty pop cans down the flight of stairs just outside our room. Just as we were slipping off into dreamland, it would startle us right back to wide awake. What the…? Thea even got up and went to the door and of course it would stop seconds before she opened the door. No one was there! We finally figured it out that it was the ice machine depositing ice into someones plastic bucket. It's located in the hollow passageway right next to our room. I think it might also have been the ice maker just dropping the last load into the holding tray. Then around 5:30 we were jerked awake by what sounded like a demolition derby right outside the window! After the brain fuzz settled we realized that it was garbage day and the truck that lifts the dumpsters had 4 or 5 within a hundred feet of our door. God! We had the hot breakfast which was actually not bad, packed the car and headed out intending to find the quilt store that Thea had read about in the visitor’s information pamphlet. I’ll be darned, we found it first try! What!? Yup, we did. The ladies that run the place were very outgoing and helpful. Thea was in quilter’s heaven. She found a pattern book with new (to her) patterns and a cutting deal to get the right amount of extra fabric at several angles. It worked for the patterns in the book. She even showed Thea how to use it and gave her some samples to take home. Well you don’t just walk out of a fabric store without fabric so we (yes we) picked out some fat quarters and a half yard of this and a half yard of that, paid for it all and then walked out. Tickled was my wife. It’s good to see her smile. We pointed the car towards Memphis and made plans to grab a bite on Beale Street down town. We found it easy enough, parked and strolled through all the sights, smells and sounds of the Blues Capital. They are famous for B-B-Q and a real fun place to be. Music (Blues) from several different live musicians was in the air. One guy we heard will be great in no time. Stevie Ray Vaughn comes to mind. He's the guy in the checkered cap. He was real good on that guitar of his. We ate at “Pigs” which boasts the best B-B-Q pork around. I bet they are right! We checked out the shops and found the Memphis Hard Rock Café. We found the brass note in the sidewalk for Elvis and then found the Gibson Guitar plant. We went inside the store that was full of pretty well every model of guitar they make. It was very cool. There is a festival starting tomorrow that will go through the weekend. I guess the place will really be hopping! Beale will be crawling with amateur and professional blues musicians, singers and those that love them. I’d love the music, but not the crowds so it’s good we got there today. We crossed over the Mighty Mississip and into Arkansas. Interstate -40 looked like a good bet to make some time. WRONG! I bet better’n half the semis in America were on that hiway today. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that they are all trying to pass each other and plugging the only 2 lanes for miles at a time because they are only going 1 mile an hour faster than the truck they are passing. Screw that! We got off at Wheatley and found a room in Brinkley a few miles down State hiway 70. We had to stop for a train, but that was OK with me. The truck traffic was way too intense this time of day. We’ll stay on 70 tomorrow and then go southwest from Little Rock into eastern Texas. Not sure which way we’ll go after that, but it will eventually get us back up into the Pacific Northwest in a week or so. I’ll keep-a-typin’ so’s you can follow us the whole way home. We are wondering where we’ll be when we stop talking like this! Oh, by the way, RABBIT! Til then, Happy Trails.

Well today was amazing! We didn’t sleep that well because of the proximity of the freeway, but we did sleep some. Right across the parking lot from us was the National Corvette Museum. We drove over and parked in “Corvettes Only” spaces right up front. That was cool. There are very rare and beautiful cars inside. In 1983 there was only one Corvette manufactured because production of the 84 cars began mid-summer. The museum has the only 1983 Corvette in existence. They have a display of all the 3’s in a long row as you enter. They have a perfect ’53, a ’63 and so on to the present. There was a display of the ‘62 that was featured in the TV show “Route 66”. There were so many beautiful examples of every version of Corvette from the beginning in 1953. They even had the prototypes with all the history and the designers. It was all so cool! I bought a couple posters for the office. One is the technical info with pictures of all the years up to 2006. 2007, ’08 and even ‘09 are virtually the same as the ’06. The museum is where you pick up your special order car and while we were there a couple was doing just that. They bought a 2008 Indy ‘Pace Car’. It's the one in front of mine in the picture in front of the museum. They got to watch the entire car be assembled from start to finish and were the first to start the engine and drive it off the end of the line themselves. We met them and talked a bit. This one is ‘his’ because ‘hers’ is a 2003 Indy pace car they drove up from Alabama in. He also has another earlier pace car back home. I don't remember the year. The guy even got to stamp the VIN numbers on the tranny and the bell housing himself during the production process which takes about 12 hours total time. After the museum, we had lunch at Bob Evans restaurant (they are everywhere down here in the south) where we ran into the new owners again and chatted some more. After that we went to the assembly plant for our own tour. It was so cool to watch the entire process from start to finish. I don’t know who orchestrates the process, but they get all the various parts installed on the right cars as they go along. I’m sure the guide said that they produce 130 to 140 a day! Many are special order and there are many choices so getting the right parts on the right cars must take some concentration to get it right. They do many tests as it goes along and then do a dyno and squeak test and finally a seal test where they high pressure each car from all sides with water to check for leaks. It was so cool to see all these different Corvettes taking shape. They have different versions for export as well. They have to have lens washers and the side marker lights are amber in back not red like the stateside cars. We did not see any right had drive cars, but they do make them. This plant also produces the Cadillac XLR which is very similar to the Corvette in many aspects. The body is composite like the Corvette and it’s a beauty! They say that the technology in the XLR is more involved than the first Apollo space craft. The 375 horse model base price is $85K and the 435 horse base is $100K. There is more electronic stuff than you can imagine. They aim to please. They only produce 8 of those beauties a day. They sure are perdy! The whole day was so cool! We met many Corvette owners and it felt good to be in the brotherhood. There are Corvettes all over the place! After wards we headed south past Nashville and found a place here in Franklin, Tennessee. Tomorrow we hope to find “The Quilting Squares” around here somewhere, which is a store of hard to find material and sundries for the complete quilter. They have Civil War reproductions and Thea is interested to say the least, so that’s what we’ll do. After that we’ll head for Memphis and see where the day takes us. Till next time, sleep tight!

Hey, all,
We got to Raymondville around 2:30 after driving through more still amazing countryside. The road wound through first hills and dales and that became rolling lush pastureland. It has all been so incredible. We ended up driving about 3 miles on red gravel roads to get to Tami and Roy’s place. The last ¼ mile was particularly deep and loose considering the minimal road clearance the Corvette has. No damage even though there was a lot of noise. The area they found is part of a 5,000 acre equestrian development that has many miles of trails for the owners to use. The land is divided into 5 acre parcels and you can buy 1 or a dozen. I think Roy said that it is about $2,500 to $3,000 per acre. That’s not bad considering that the phones and power are in. They have 5 acres and Roy built the log house himself and is now finishing the interior. Tami is quite artistic and has decorated the place in a western/cowboy/mountain theme. Their horse and mule enjoy the pasture that covers most of their piece. They are our kind of people and it was so good to finally get back together with them. The place is crawling with White tail deer and we saw quite a few wild turkeys close by. They took us for a drive and the place is so beautiful! There is a place called paradise valley that is a 150 acre grass pasture next to a wide meandering creek with 100 foot cliffs on the opposite shore. They used to hold rendezvous there, but with fuel prices being what they are, people are not coming to enjoy the experiences that can be had. I understand that during the depression, many families came to that valley and lived in the many caves that dot the area. The hunting was and is good and there is plenty of fresh water. Roy treated us to a wonderful pork bar-b-queue last night and home grown bacon with eggs and blueberry pancakes that he cooked on the outside gas grill this morning for breakfast. Our short visit was very pleasant and we hated to leave, but we still want to get to Bowling Green and had back-tracked about 150 miles to see Tami and Roy. When we got back to Poplar Bluff we filled ‘er up, ate lunch and did a car wash. That red dust made the car look pretty tacky. Not acceptable! Today we stayed on the Interstate because it moves much quicker. Even so we drove for almost 9 hours! I am beat, but we are here! The terrain change in eastern Missouri was striking. We went from rolling hills to dead flat in only a few miles. It also changed from stock farms to agricultural farms. We drove for maybe 50 miles and didn’t gain or lose more than a few hundred feet. Right after we crossed the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers we were into long rolling hills of Kentucky. We are just loving this whole experience! Every state has it's own flavor and each is simply wonderful! What a country we live in! Here we are 1/3 the way across Kentucky and we drove here! That's sooo cool! The car is running perfectly and the seats are still completely comfortable. I’m looking forward to the Corvette museum and we can take a tour of the factory. We will call first thing to let them know we are here and should be able to see how Corvettes are made after lunch. We are hoping to start back west tomorrow afternoon although we might also go see the Mammoth Caves that are only a few miles north of here. We’ll keep you posted.

We woke to a sort-of dreary day in Branson this morning. We had a decent breakfast provided by the Victorian Palace Motel. We realized that Branson is very much like Las Vegas except that there is no ‘X’ or ‘R’ rated shows and there are no casinos. After a little more exploration of town and some picture taking, we headed back north to find state hiway 160 east. Like I said, we were at the north edge of the Ozark Mountains. The topography is very hilly with deep draws. We found ourselves on the spine of a ridge winding across the state. I think we averaged about 38 miles an hour. It was such fun driving for me! The road rolled left and right, up and down continuously all day. The engineers did a great job with the road by making sure that the corners were banked in relation to the sharpness of the curves and the surface was smooth as silk. It was like skiing a slalom course. Many corners were right at the bottom of a dip; it almost felt like we were flying, soaring through the sky out of a rolling inside loop. Such fun! The forest was mostly Oak scrub at first and that turned into Hickory mix with splashes of flowering Dogwood in full bloom out in every direction. It was beautiful! There is virtually no underbrush and it would be easy to walk out through the forest if it weren’t for the extreme elevation changes every ¼ mile or so. The straight sections of road were just like a roller-coaster at Palisades Park! We actually got that feeling in our tummies when you go over the top and start down again. What fun! The homes along the way were small houses, some were little shanties, and most were well kept. There will always be the few that must collect dead cars and trucks and all the other “perfectly good” junk that could be, but probably won’t ever be used for anything useful. We remarked about the fact that the homes with grass around the house were freshly mowed. It was nice to see. A couple places we crossed the river or creek bottoms and the recent rains had caused pretty severe flooding. The water was right up to the bottom of the bridges. It was kind of creepy. We felt like we were skimming across the water to the other side. Much of the drive today crossed and re-crossed the Bull Shoals Lake system in western Missouri. Some poor souls had built their houses too near the shore and all that was visible was the ridge of the roof. I understand that this all happened in just the last week or two. We hope the people affected can deal with the damage and frustrations. The last 20 miles or so was much more level as the hills disappeared behind us. There were countless picturesque cattle and horse farms on every side. The vistas seemed to go on forever into the distances with long rolling hills covered here and there with woodlots of Hickory and Walnut. The grass was long and lush and the critters were plump. The whole day was terrific! We got to Poplar Bluff around 6:00 PM and found a room right away. We checked the phone book, expecting to find many listings for Beaty, Hindal and Garrison. Those are the names of distant relatives that we were sure would be numerous. We did find a few Garrisons, but none of the others. Not one! We might investigate some of the Garrisons to see if they are related to us somehow in the morning, but we must admit that we lost some of the wind in our sails. We called some friends that live a few hours north and will go spend the afternoon and evening with them tomorrow. It’s been over 6 years since we’ve seen them. Tuesday morning should find us heading east again with the goal of Bowling Green, Kentucky by the end of the day. That’s where we hope to find no flooding and spend some time at the National Corvette Museum. Yahoo! More to follow.