Road Trip

On The Oregon Trail – Day #4

Hammond, LA to Paris, TX. We started on I-12 heading west, but before we even got to Baton Rouge traffic came to a stand still. We crept along for a couple miles until the next exit and got on some surface streets and it went pretty quickly. We dodged around the east and north of town on US-190 until we got to I-49 North. Did I mention Interstates suck? How about the Louisiana’s suck worse than most? The surfaces were awful, but we didn’t really hit any more traffic on I-49 even through Alexandria or Shreveport.

Once we got on the Texas back roads it was pretty much smooth sailing until we hit our overnight spot. And fast sailing too. Two-lane state highways you can go 70 MPH and the four-lane roads are 75 MPH which is 15-20 miles an hour faster than any state we’ve driven through so far.

Dinner was at Burgerland which was, truth be known, the only reason we routed our trip west this particular way. This was our third time dining here and for the first time, we came away mildly disappointed. We both thought the burger left something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong it was still miles above a Whopper or a 1/4 Pounder, but, we really couldn’t put our finger on it, it just fell short of previous experiences. The fries were still top notch and a small order feeds a family of four.

On The Oregon Trail – Day #3

We circled the wagons in Hammond. This was a planned 2-day stay to visit with friends from our New Orleans past. As it turned out, Donna did the visiting thing and I did the lay in bed in the hotel thing. I have been batting a cold/flu since last Monday and with the whirlwind last week in Aiken I never had a real chunk of time to rest and recover. Hopefully this day did the job because the next 6 days we are covering 2400 miles to get to Klamath Falls.

On The Oregon Trail – Day #1

I set my phone’s alarm for 5:00 AM, to get an early start. I woke up at 4:45 on my own, so we just got going. All the stuff we are carrying seemed like an awful lot while it was sitting on the floor inside the AirBnB. It seemed like a lot when making 5 trips from room to car too. But with the back seats folded down flat the Mini swallowed it right up.

I don’t know it was just one of those days or was it because the both of us are so frazzled from the whirlwind last two weeks, but we had a very eventful day. Here are the Top Five:

  1. On one of the trips back into the AirBnB from the car I walked into the glass of the sliding door. Fortunately I was moving slow enough that no damage was done to me or it.
  2. During final cargo arrangement inside the car I accidentally bumped the horn button with my butt. Fortunately it was a short duration contact so that it didn’t disturb the pre-dawn neighborhood quiet.
  3. We were too early getting to the south side Dunkin’ Donuts, they don’t open until 6:00 on Saturday’s. There is another Dunkin’ on the other side of town, basically on the way, so that became our next stop. We were still too early. But only by a few minutes, so we waited.
  4. We were meeting a friend at the Cracker Barrel in Augusta for breakfast on our way west. We didn’t see her car and we didn’t see her in the dining room when we got there, so we sat on a couple of rocking chairs to wait. After a few minutes we realized that she is not a late arrival person, Donna was about to text her to see where she was when her phone buzzed with a text from Carol, “I’m inside.” We forgot to check the store part…
  5. Spurred by a conversation at a farewell gathering about road trips, I thought it would be cool to take a photo of the “Welcome To” sign of each state we pass through, naturally I remembered well after we were already deep into Georgia to get one. I rationalized that crossing the Georgia border didn’t really count as it no major milestone because it is only 15 miles into the journey. We managed to traverse nearly all of the Peach State on two lane back roads before having to get on the dreaded Interstate. This worked out perfectly for me to get the Alabama sign in the Welcome Center. I cruised slowly through looking, but unfortunately there wasn’t one. Dang it, the only opportunity was a mile or so back on the side of the Interstate.

To the best of my guessing ability, either late today or maybe early tomorrow the Mini reached the 35,000 mile plateau.

Travel Day

Today we left behind Klamath Falls on our way to Granite Falls (not to be confused with Frostbite Falls) and we are about halfway there. Tonight we are in Tillamook, home of Big Cheese and even bigger blimp hangers. Even though about a 1/3 of our route was along the coast, most of it was a bit inland, so that there are no Pacific ocean photos. As a matter of fact I didn’t take a single scenic shot all day.

This photo, taken a week ago, is of our transportation appliance for this trip, a 2019 Chevrolet Malibu in refrigerator white. I’m not sure which model it is, might be the top of the line as it has key-less entry and the dual pane sunroof. The seats aren’t that great, but all in all it not too bad a ride. It had a mere 8400 miles on it when we picked it up at the Portland airport and so far we have added around 1300 more miles on it and we’ll probably tack on another thousand before we are through.

Slow Miata to Texas Day 14

AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA
Famous for its tree-lined streets and their names, Aiken abounds in flowers most of the year.
Bill,
Day 14 of 14 of the “Slow Miata to Texas” tour. Decatur, AL to Aiken, SC. 412 miles. A really long day in the saddle and mostly on the dreaded Interstate. OZ is a wonderful place, but there is no place like home. There is no place like home.
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903

Slow Miata to Texas Day 13

Greetings from ALABAMA
1. The birth place of Helen Keller, Tuscumbia. 2. Big Spring Park, Huntsville. 3. Wheeler Dam, North Alabama.
4. Vulcan, Birmingham. 5. Dock Scene, Mobile. 6. Bunker Tower, Anniston. 7. Denny Chimes, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. 8. Azalea bushes in full bloom. 9. Noccalula Falls, Gadsden.
10. State Capitol, Montgomery.
Bill,
Day 13 of 14 of the “Slow Miata to Texas” tour. Memphis, TN to Decatur, AL. 215 miles. Today’s highlight was dinner 300′ up in the Renaissence Tower overlooking Wilson Dam in Florence, AL. Good thing the view was spectacular, because the food was so-so. Got to see the lock system go through a cycle for a barge heading down stream.
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903

Slow Miata to Texas Day 12

The Pyramid soars into the sky 32 stories (321), rising out of the Mississippi Delta like a great shining diamond. It could hold 200 million gallons of water. Its base is as big as six footballl fields. The interior height, 280′ from the floor to the Observation Deck above, is greater than the exterior dimension of the Astrodome or Superdome.
The focal point of this stainless steel wonder is The Pyramid arena. This 22,500 seat sports and entertainment complex hosts a vast array of major touring family shows, concerts, sports and community events. The Pyramid is proud to be the home of the University of Memphis Tiger Basketball.
Bill,
Day 12 of 14 of the “Slow Miata to Texas” tour. Eureka Springs, AR to Memphis, TN. 315 miles. Long day, but we wanted to see the Triple A Memphis Redbirds play the Albuquerque Dukes in Tim McCarver Statium. Last time we were here we saw Tim Raines play for the Double A Memphis Chicks (1979.) This is the last year for Tim McCarver Statium as next year the team moves downtown to the new 14,000 seat “Autozone Park.”
Brian & Donna, Aiken, SC		 Bill Kirby
The Augusta Chronicle
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903