on the road: Jackson, TN - Texarkana, AR(TX)
Tonight, in Texarkana, Arkansas -- although without knowing it, we drove several miles on the Texas side of State Line Ave, exploring around the motel. We're staying at a Super 8 again, but tonight there was a $15 surcharge for the dog, and the WiFi doesn't work -- I've connected to 4 different networks, but none of them set up the DNS Servers, and the people at the desk have no clue. I think there's more to the problem than that, because I can't use my VPN to my office either, and that's configured by IP address, not host name. No fridge in the room either this time, but there is an elevator.
Turns out James, the poodle, doesn't like elevators. He went in reluctantly the first time. He balked mightily the second time. I picked him up and carried him in the 3rd time. I guess he'll get used to it. (He got used to the "floating", see-through stairs yesterday.) He's all sunshine in the hallway -- not a clue that he's on the 3rd floor, 20 feet above the ground.
Some interesting sights on the road today. We crossed the Mississippi River, always impressive. Just before that we were stunned by the sight of the Mud Pyramid (or something like that). Never heard of it before, and the highway sign in advance of it sounded like a joke. (We'll have to find out its purpose -- once we have internet access....) [Mud Island Pyramid. It's a sports arena/concert venue. Photo and info, and a little more:"The Pyramid is probably one of the most unique features of the Memphis skyline. It can be seen rising out of the flat Mississippi delta while driving towards Memphis across Arkansas. Rising to a height of 32 stories - 321 feet (98m) - from the banks of the Mississippi River, it is as tall as the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The base is as wide as six football fields and the interior height from the floor of the arena to the observation deck above is 280 feet (85m), higher than the exterior dimension of the Superdome and the Astrodome. Outside the Pyramid is covered in a layer of brushed stainless steel. Used primarily for Sporting Events (basketball), it is also used as a concert hall. A replica of a statue of Ramesses The Great stands in front of the Pyramid, facing the general direction of the rising sun. After Labor Day, guided tours are conducted...."]
We saw lots of flooded flatlands on both sides of the river, and we wonder whether that's normal for the season. The initial terrain of Arkansas was much flatter than Tennessee, which started mountainous and then became rolling hills until close to Memphis. Eventually Arkansas became a little hillier too, once we got away from the Mississippi.
I saw a pair of flatbed trailers carrying windmill blades. At first glance I thought "wing", but they had too much of a propeller aspect, but then again they were huge -- the one-per-truck kind of huge. (I wish I'd had the camera handy, but I was driving.)
It's still been windy on the road, so much of the day it takes all my attention to stay in my lane. (We're in a very large van -- large enough to carry a tandem recumbent bike. We're actually carrying a recumbent trike, a band saw, and a table saw, so we're heavy.) Once we got to southern VA, and definately through TN and AR, the highway drivers have been polite, everyone helping traffic flow at each driver's chosen speed. People move over to let you by, you let others by, and the people on the road make openings for the people on the ramps. Simple decency. Not competitive and territorial.
Heading out of Little Rock on I-30 there was a 13-mile stretch of construction with restricted lanes -- the cattle-chute effect. Not pleasant. And the speed limit was still 60 MPH (96 KMPH), so people were often going even faster than that. Once we got to TN the speed limits have generally been 70 MPH (112 KMPH) except in urban areas. We tend to forget about that, living in the northeast US -- we rarely see speed limits above 55 MPH (88 KMPH) north of Washington, DC.
The highway rest areas in Arkansas have these strange urinals made out of stainless steel. (Well, the Men's rooms do.) They look like something that might have been made in a prison shop. (Except that I wouldn't want to let homicidal convicts work in metal shops.) And the forced-air hand dryers used high-pressure COLD air, and the water was cold, and the weather is COLD -- not fun, folks. (Those high-pressure dryers are also painfully loud in a tiled room. Strangely, they're far more annoying while one's across the room using the urinal than when actually drying one's hands. Perhaps the cold (air on the hands) distracts one from the noise.) Andrea pointed out an interesting tile bench in a[n unoccupied] Women's room.
We've gone by so many interesting things that we haven't had a chance to look at. There's a hell of a lot to see in this country, and most Americans have seen very little of it. Everyone should take an extended road trip, with lots of time to stop at whatever piques. Doesn't need to cover a lot of distance -- take the time to see things. This isn't that trip, for us. 8-(
Getting to bed earlier tonight, since there's no WiFi.... 8-) Maybe that will get us on the road earlier, so more of the driving will be in daylight, when we can see the interesting panorama of states.
Turns out James, the poodle, doesn't like elevators. He went in reluctantly the first time. He balked mightily the second time. I picked him up and carried him in the 3rd time. I guess he'll get used to it. (He got used to the "floating", see-through stairs yesterday.) He's all sunshine in the hallway -- not a clue that he's on the 3rd floor, 20 feet above the ground.
Some interesting sights on the road today. We crossed the Mississippi River, always impressive. Just before that we were stunned by the sight of the Mud Pyramid (or something like that). Never heard of it before, and the highway sign in advance of it sounded like a joke. (We'll have to find out its purpose -- once we have internet access....) [Mud Island Pyramid. It's a sports arena/concert venue. Photo and info, and a little more:"The Pyramid is probably one of the most unique features of the Memphis skyline. It can be seen rising out of the flat Mississippi delta while driving towards Memphis across Arkansas. Rising to a height of 32 stories - 321 feet (98m) - from the banks of the Mississippi River, it is as tall as the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The base is as wide as six football fields and the interior height from the floor of the arena to the observation deck above is 280 feet (85m), higher than the exterior dimension of the Superdome and the Astrodome. Outside the Pyramid is covered in a layer of brushed stainless steel. Used primarily for Sporting Events (basketball), it is also used as a concert hall. A replica of a statue of Ramesses The Great stands in front of the Pyramid, facing the general direction of the rising sun. After Labor Day, guided tours are conducted...."]
We saw lots of flooded flatlands on both sides of the river, and we wonder whether that's normal for the season. The initial terrain of Arkansas was much flatter than Tennessee, which started mountainous and then became rolling hills until close to Memphis. Eventually Arkansas became a little hillier too, once we got away from the Mississippi.
I saw a pair of flatbed trailers carrying windmill blades. At first glance I thought "wing", but they had too much of a propeller aspect, but then again they were huge -- the one-per-truck kind of huge. (I wish I'd had the camera handy, but I was driving.)
It's still been windy on the road, so much of the day it takes all my attention to stay in my lane. (We're in a very large van -- large enough to carry a tandem recumbent bike. We're actually carrying a recumbent trike, a band saw, and a table saw, so we're heavy.) Once we got to southern VA, and definately through TN and AR, the highway drivers have been polite, everyone helping traffic flow at each driver's chosen speed. People move over to let you by, you let others by, and the people on the road make openings for the people on the ramps. Simple decency. Not competitive and territorial.
Heading out of Little Rock on I-30 there was a 13-mile stretch of construction with restricted lanes -- the cattle-chute effect. Not pleasant. And the speed limit was still 60 MPH (96 KMPH), so people were often going even faster than that. Once we got to TN the speed limits have generally been 70 MPH (112 KMPH) except in urban areas. We tend to forget about that, living in the northeast US -- we rarely see speed limits above 55 MPH (88 KMPH) north of Washington, DC.
The highway rest areas in Arkansas have these strange urinals made out of stainless steel. (Well, the Men's rooms do.) They look like something that might have been made in a prison shop. (Except that I wouldn't want to let homicidal convicts work in metal shops.) And the forced-air hand dryers used high-pressure COLD air, and the water was cold, and the weather is COLD -- not fun, folks. (Those high-pressure dryers are also painfully loud in a tiled room. Strangely, they're far more annoying while one's across the room using the urinal than when actually drying one's hands. Perhaps the cold (air on the hands) distracts one from the noise.) Andrea pointed out an interesting tile bench in a[n unoccupied] Women's room.
We've gone by so many interesting things that we haven't had a chance to look at. There's a hell of a lot to see in this country, and most Americans have seen very little of it. Everyone should take an extended road trip, with lots of time to stop at whatever piques. Doesn't need to cover a lot of distance -- take the time to see things. This isn't that trip, for us. 8-(
Getting to bed earlier tonight, since there's no WiFi.... 8-) Maybe that will get us on the road earlier, so more of the driving will be in daylight, when we can see the interesting panorama of states.