Heading home day 1
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 up and down the highway and on the sides of the road.They were yelling out to each other as they strung and tightened the wire. A truck was parked across each access road as well as police cars and road workers blocking the highway to all the ramps and bridges the wire was going to be strung across...as well as light trucks parked at angles to make sure no one got by...for miles it went on...I have to say that even though it was a huge inconvenience for so many, it seemed very well organized and safe. After almost 45 minutes we were on our way...finally at 6:15!
We ended up stopping for a quick breakfast at a chain restaurant around 8am called Carl's Junior which seemed pretty popular. I still am not used to the fact that when fast food restaurants are open, they sell all their items. It is still strange to me to see people eating burgers, fries and extra large sodas so early! And mostly every restaurant is open 24 hrs.
We headed to Shreveport, Louisiana to go to the Horseshoe Casino. It was fun but after a couple of hours there, we were ready by 11 to get back on the road to head east and finally north. Across the whole state of Louisiana we zipped along (speed limit from 70-75 with the "slow" lane going at least 70 and the traffic in the other lane going at least 85). You really do make good time going that fast and I am still getting 32 mpg! We stopped for gas .($2.19 a gallon) then on to Jackson , Mississippi to get a friend of mine some cigarettes as they are very inexpensive there. It's a Walmart gas station that was very busy and right off the highway...the line in front of me had 9 people in it, so it took a while to get to even find out if they had what I was looking for. The only person working the counter was very patient with everyone so the line moved as fast as the people decided what they wanted.
Back on the road and finally at 5:45pm, we arrived here in Batesville, Mississippi right off Rte 55 North for the night. I can tell we are making good progress as the sun sets earlier each day. Tomorrow I think we will both be grateful to eat breakfast at this hotel as it will save time for the sure to be long day. We plan on ticking off Mississippi and Tennessee after today's Texas and Louisiana off the list of 9 states to get through. Tennessee always has lots of crazy traffic so it will be good to get that behind us. Louisville is nice and we are staying east of the city to make it easier on Tuesday to get through not only Kentucky but Ohio and part of Pennsylvania as well...early day again tomorrow!
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 up and down the highway and on the sides of the road.They were yelling out to each other as they strung and tightened the wire. A truck was parked across each access road as well as police cars and road workers blocking the highway to all the ramps and bridges the wire was going to be strung across...as well as light trucks parked at angles to make sure no one got by...for miles it went on...I have to say that even though it was a huge inconvenience for so many, it seemed very well organized and safe. After almost 45 minutes we were on our way...finally at 6:15!
We ended up stopping for a quick breakfast at a chain restaurant around 8am called Carl's Junior which seemed pretty popular. I still am not used to the fact that when fast food restaurants are open, they sell all their items. It is still strange to me to see people eating burgers, fries and extra large sodas so early! And mostly every restaurant is open 24 hrs.
We headed to Shreveport, Louisiana to go to the Horseshoe Casino. It was fun but after a couple of hours there, we were ready by 11 to get back on the road to head east and finally north. Across the whole state of Louisiana we zipped along (speed limit from 70-75 with the "slow" lane going at least 70 and the traffic in the other lane going at least 85). You really do make good time going that fast and I am still getting 32 mpg! We stopped for gas .($2.19 a gallon) then on to Jackson , Mississippi to get a friend of mine some cigarettes as they are very inexpensive there. It's a Walmart gas station that was very busy and right off the highway...the line in front of me had 9 people in it, so it took a while to get to even find out if they had what I was looking for. The only person working the counter was very patient with everyone so the line moved as fast as the people decided what they wanted.
Back on the road and finally at 5:45pm, we arrived here in Batesville, Mississippi right off Rte 55 North for the night. I can tell we are making good progress as the sun sets earlier each day. Tomorrow I think we will both be grateful to eat breakfast at this hotel as it will save time for the sure to be long day. We plan on ticking off Mississippi and Tennessee after today's Texas and Louisiana off the list of 9 states to get through. Tennessee always has lots of crazy traffic so it will be good to get that behind us. Louisville is nice and we are staying east of the city to make it easier on Tuesday to get through not only Kentucky but Ohio and part of Pennsylvania as well...early day again tomorrow!
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