Vacation

158,000 Logging Trucks

Finally Got One

We have now taken photos in 15 different Washington Counties, but if you think about it, with a lot of planning and careful staging, don’t you think you could take 15 different photos around the same county? I’ve always had that thought. So for the last several weeks I hoped to have found a Washington County sign that included the state we were in.

Well, today it happened, and it didn’t matter because in Louisiana the counties are called parishes and as far as I know that is the only state that does that. Not only that we are not even going to use the photo either as we found a better photo op just a few miles further down the road.

On our 400 miles drive today through Mississippi, Louisiana & Alabama we passed or were passed by about 158,000 empty or full logging trucks. Somewhere between Georgetown and Monticello, Mississippi the Emperor passed through the 158,000 mile mark.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 84

Motoring Challenge Points 5, Approx Miles Driven 400
Totals So Far: 140 points & 7120 miles

Teddy Bear Town

City - Onward, MS

I admit that the above photo has been manipulated. Donna took my picture with my head through one hole and then took another when I stuck head through the other hole. I then merged the two. If you look closely you’ll notice that the Challenge Poster is upside down on the left and right side up on the right.

We got 6 Challenges today, but only 3 went for points. Three went for replacements including the one above of Onward, MS. Just by happenstance did we manage to stop at the Onward Store that is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and it wasn’t until we read the literature on the outside by the door that we decided to toss poor little Oliver, Georgia to the side. The reason we call stuffed toy bears Teddy Bears happened right near here in 1902 – The Story of the Teddy Bear.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 82

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 315
Totals So Far: 135 points & 6720 miles

Population Less Than 100 Again

Destination - Population Less Than 100

Our first try for this “Destination” was of the sign for a place called Doodlum in Virginia that had a population of 34. The sign looked very professionally done, but it was most definitely not state issued and Doodlum wasn’t on the state map.

The second, attempt just the other day, was a sign for the town of Goodnight in Missouri that had a population of 18. The sign looked state issued, but the town itself wasn’t listed on the state’s official transportation map.

Morrison Bluff, Arkansas has the real deal state issued sign and was on the map too.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 80

Motoring Challenge Points 7, Approx Miles Driven 388
Totals So Far: 132 points & 6405 miles

Off Day

Clinton Museum, Fayetteville, AR

We got a little lost in Fayetteville looking for a way out of town after the Courthouse photo and stumbled on this unassuming house. It wasn’t open yet, so we couldn’t go in to drop off the Trump for America bumper stickers.

We did the loop to Eureka Springs in the morning and in the afternoon we washed some clothes and then visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I didn’t get most of the modern stuff, but I did enjoy the visit. Afterwards we walked a bit of the attached trail system.

Tomorrow it is back on the road.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 78

Motoring Challenge Points 2, Approx Miles Driven 135
Totals So Far: 125 points & 6015 miles

Bosworth Bungalow

Bosworth Bungalow

Earlier you got a view from the back deck, so here is a view of the Bosworth Bungalow from the parking area. This 2-bedroom place is a tidy little hideaway that comes with everything you need except food & drink to have a nice relaxing vacation. It is a quiet little lake that you have to be coming here to be here. There is one road in, and one road out, that do not form a shortcut to anywhere.

At first we thought that it was real quiet because it is off season and worried about coming back some future summer, but we found out that it is a fishing lake and only electric trolling motors are allowed, no jet skis or ski boats, so it might be just as mellow here in July as it is in April.

We’ve been eating breakfast at the cabin everyday so far, but today we wanted something different, so we drove to Marysville, about 10 miles away1 to go to Carl’s Jr for a sausage & egg biscuit. Carl’s is the west coast version of Hardee’s, the decor and menu are extremely similar, and while the biscuit was better than we have gotten anywhere else, it was no Hardee’s…

1But it takes 30 minutes to drive there because you get there directly from here.

Where The Heck Are We?

When we got in the rental car to drive from SeaTac to Granite Falls we plugged in our GPS, and while we waited for it to realize we were on the other side of the continent, we used the old style analog version of in-car navigation, a paper map. We started out heading north on I-5, but got on I-405 hoping for lighter traffic. I don’t know if this was the absolute wrong choice, because we never found out if the regular I-5 came to a grinding halt after a couple miles like the 405 did, but it was definitely a wrong choice.

As traffic slowed Donna called out to get off the next exit, using the map she could see where we could head east and slightly south on WA-169. From there we could take various state roads heading north paralleling I-405 about 5-10 miles to the east of it. This worked pretty well until we got to Monroe where the road heading north towards Granite Falls was just a black line with no number attached. Here we would need the GPS’s help.

And here is where it failed us. While traveling state roads it was fine, but as soon as we got on a county level road all that was displayed was the car icon on a field of green with a somewhat helpful directional heading.
We knew our destination was north of us, so whenever we came to an intersection we would take the road that would be going north or northeast or minimally one that would head northwest. After 6 or 8 turns we could see a state road on the GPS’s upper horizon with a dot and the words Granite Falls, so we knew we were making progress. After another half dozen seemingly random turns we drove into town on the very street that Donna’s family live on.

Before we left to go Washington I had updated the maps on the Garmin Nuvi in preparation, so what could be wrong. So on Sunday there during a bit of down time I tried to figure out why the GPS was telling us we weren’t driving on a road. I could see city level streets in South Carolina and Texas, but not in Washington or Neveda. After some head scratching, internet searching and reloading of the maps I figured out the problem. Not enough onboard memory in the GPS to store the entire country.

Why during the initial loading, or the subsequent reloading, didn’t the GPS tell me that the entire City Navigator North America NT 2015.1 wouldn’t fit in the internal memory and wasn’t installed?

Started up,went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1389

Seattle “Stoner Tour” Souviner T-Shirts

Usually when I go on vacation I send back postcards to my still stuck behind their desk co-workers, but for next week’s trip out west it might be different. I’m hoping that some enterprizing individual out in Seattle has decided to make up some I-502 relevant souviner T-Shirts, because something like the mock-ups below would make a perfect gift to bring back for them.

These will also make a nice bit of related merchandise for my Cannabis Cabana stores (opening soon in a empty lot near you.)