2017 road trip part 1

It is Friday night now. We arrived on Wed night after the last 2 very long days of driving/riding. Never have we seen so many dead deer on the sides of the roads. It was awful to see such beautiful animals that way. We must have seen 50 or more each day especially through Pennsylvania. It is so good to be back(and see the ocean minutes away) and have my sister in law here for a few days before she flies home. Lots of things planned besides mail to go through, a few bills to pay, and some grocery shopping today (including a turkey!). We then cooked a big dinner for tonight (stuffies, brie and crackers, pizza, carrots, broccoli, butternut squash, pork loin, and homemade rolls but forgot to cook the potatoes--but did not forget desserts!) when my immediate family came to visit with my sister in law. She said they always make her feel welcome...  The last days of coming home: All I wanted to do was head east or north, if a sign said west or south we shut off the GPS, ignored...

We left Mississippi just after 7 this morning. It was a very long drive and two separate traffic delays; one right an hour south of Memphis and one somewhere near Nashville. So as a result, I am tired and silly and everything seems hilarious to me...maybe I should sit for two hours in traffic and then drive for 10 everyday! We did stop at a rest stop on I-40(aka Music Highway) that was funny to me (I was not silly until then). We had seen so many Loretta Lynn signs-Loretta Lynn homestead, Loretta Lynn Kitchen, so the Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams rest stop was the last straw. By then we were hysterical every time we saw her name on things... We stopped at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville for lunch before noon. It was an hour wait so Debbie took pictures of the inside walls covered in framed famous people that have eaten there since it opened in the 50's. They even have the original door but it opens into a wall now since they changed the entry way. There is an outside porch to...

To start the day Saturday, we went to pick up the rental car (and ironically the same exact type of car and color as I had rented to drive down back in September.) The major difference is the Texas license plate! Then it was off to an outside city park for a surprise party for my mother in law's 90th birthday, organized by my sister in law Mary. Then it was time to do my final packing. Today my sister in law Debbie and I started out at 5am-61 degrees and raining. We headed to the highway but there was a sign saying it was closed....so Debbie knew another way to get to the highway a short way away...also closed! We went up to a different entrance ramp also closed but I couldn't see that until we were on the access road. She found out that it would be about 15 minutes more as they were stringing electric wires across the highway as well as the side roads. There were 7 bucket trucks with 2 buckets on each and all had people in them up high with flashlights. This was repeated u...

So last Sunday after going out to breakfast with many people from my sister in law's family, we went to a street in downtown Dallas called Swiss Ave that was so awesome. It had loads of houses on that one street divided in the middle with a wide grass strip, benches and old trees. I just loved the architecture of the houses as they are all over 100 yrs old, So in no particular order: Dallas skyline from 10 miles away-93 degrees-Nov 5 Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5  Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas Nov 5 Swiss Ave Dallas

Nov 1 and random pictures Yesterday while out and about, I saw what looked like some longhorn cattle on a second floor of an electronics company. So I took a couple of pictures. I also have some other random pictures that show the roads/bridges. Starting to pack up for the drive north in just 11 more days. I am ready to go home (I keenly miss the ocean!) but already feel sad to leave here as it is where my husband was from. I have gotten to see much of his family and will see more the day before my sister in law and I head out. I already know I am picking up a rental the day before and hope it is as good as the one I had driving down. Another adventure to come on the ride home as we plan to go through Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, Penn then Ct, and finally RI... Fry's electronics Garland-Dallas TX Oct 31 Highway 635 on ramp Dallas Yikes! Normal highway bridges on 635 Dallas Plant on side of road-Military Parkway, Mesquite TX Trash can Grapevine Tx Sign...

So as time is ticking down toward when I head home, I have been doing some interesting things. Today my sister in law and I went to a very unique place off of Route 20 in Terrell Texas. A huge place with no tractor trailer trucks...they do not allow them. Anyway the place has a beaver for a mascot. It is on many of the souvenirs as well as food of which there are many choices. Curiously enough, not a table or chair in the whole place. People buy food, hot and cold, and take it out to their cars to eat. They have fruit cups, hummus and raw vegetables all packed up to go in cups. Cold sandwiches as well as hot food...tamales, and kolaches of all kinds to name a few. If you want a drink you have to pay for the cup first, cash registers are only at each end of the building and it is a lot of walking to see everything. And see everything we did! They sell some very popular coolers called RTIC which were on sale for 25% off. All sizes from travel cup size to huge wheeled coolers. Quite a cro...

Oct 21 Wills Point Texas interesting signs-"Donuts-Chinese food" We stopped at the tiniest ever Doughnut shop for a quick breakfast. You could walk up to a window or drive on the side and get what you wanted. They had quite a variety for a tiny place. The side (drive up window) showed the doughnuts for the day, many different kinds. They also sold kolaches, which we tried, a pocket of dough surrounding, in ours anyway, ham and cheese. I guess they come in many varieties, but with all the other choices, we opted for one "sensible food". We also tried an apple fritter, a chocolate eclair and a raspberry filled small round doughnut. Everything was very fresh and tasty! We had walked up to the window and while we were deciding on what to get, the drive through was busy. People were in their pick up trucks patiently waiting, at one point there were 6 vehicles in line...a unique place. The picture below is of the walk up and the 2nd one is of the drive through with a di...