Boston to Vegas Road Trip - Part 2

Day 4 – Conway, Arkansas to Amarillo, Texas We gassed up at $1.99/gallon (wow!) and were on the road before the sun was up. We were somewhat sad to leave Conway knowing that we'd miss the local Toad Suck Daze festival, but we really had to move on. We'd spent some time in Arkansas before. In fact, it was the last of  my “50 by 50” states back in 1999. Last time we passed through we enjoyed a stop at the Fort Smith National Historic Site, but this time, we whizzed through at 80 mph.

We were bound for Amarillo, Texas, but as we approached Oklahoma City, I asked the guys to consider a stop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, memorializing the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

We stopped for a brief visit. It was an emotionally-charged, sobering hour … sad, terrifying, disturbing, heart-wrenching. The memorial site is located where the Murrah building once stood, its charred walls still partially intact. We gazed upon the Field of Empty Chairs … one for each of the 168 people lost in the blast. Etched on each chair is the name of a  person lost in the blast. The chairs are arranged in nine rows, each row signifying the floor in the Murrah Building on which the person died.

We walked back to our parked car asking ourselves how someone (Timothy McVeigh) could have planned and perpetrated such a violent attack. He had beefs with the government, but why take it out on innocent people? We had no answers.  The ride back to the highway was quiet and somber, but we all agreed the visit was important, if only to concretize the inhumanity of man to man right in our own backyard.

US40 between Oklahoma City and Amarillo is long and flat. We sped on across the flat, grassy plains at 80 mph. Wind farms and grain silos dot the prairie in great numbers, churning out power for the Sooner state.

We crossed into Texas and arrived in Amarillo, tired and road weary. Paul is a retired truck driver and was quite familiar with this route. He veered off the highway so I could get a quick photo of the Leaning tower of Britten. Love that Roadside Americana stuff!

He suggested dinner at The Big Texan. On request, they even sent a limo (of sorts) to pick us up at the hotel.The Big Texan is a touristy steak factory. David and Paul ordered 8oz sirloins. As a non-red meat eater, I found it hard to find anything suitable on the menu. The options were quite limited and most non-beef options were breaded and deep-fried. I finally settled on a grilled chicken sandwich (lose the bread) and a side salad. No complaints though. It was an enjoyable evening, watching the men devour their juicy red meat.

The Big Texan challenge is to eat a 72 oz steak with all the fixin's in one hour. If you eat it, it's free. If you don't, but are willing to eat it in front of the entire restaurant population, it costs $72. If you order it at your table, it's $200. The all-time record is a 120-lb woman, Molly Schuyler, who devoured not one, but two in 15 minutes. Why, pray tell, would anyone want to do this?

After dinner, we waddled through the Big Texan gift shop and took a look at the live diamond-back rattler they had on display. Paul practiced his sharp-shooting on zombies and then we collapsed in the Edith Ann big rocking chair for a rest. Big meals require adequate rest and digestion.

We moseyed on out to the front porch and a limo was waiting to deposit us back at our hotel. Enough excitement for one day. We're on the home stretch of the road trip. Las Vegas, here we come!

Boston to Vegas Road Trip - Part 1

Day 1 – Boston to Winchester, Virginia We were up at 0500 and Lin, bless her heart, was making coffee and omelets to speed us on our way. It was dark, cold and raw as we loaded the car and headed out. It was a lackluster travel day. We sped through Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and finally ended the day in Winchester, Virginia. I've got a head cold blossoming and slept through most of the journey. We had Chinese for dinner (hot and sour soup for me was perfect) and hit the sack early.

Day 2 – Winchester, VA to Knoxville, Tennessee

We weren't up quite as early. We decided we'd take advantage of the hotel's free hot breakfast. There was a bit of a tizzy when Paul couldn't find his car keys, but after a frantic search, David found them lost between the pages of a notebook and all was well. Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park wasn't far off our route, and I convinced the guys to take it. The foliage hadn't started turning yet and the views early in the morning weren't particularly good until we spotted a bear … and then two more.

Not far down the road, two young bucks were sparring.

Then the sun came out, the views were gorgeous and the side trip was all worthwhile.

We spent the night in Knoxville, Tennessee with a pleasant dinner at the K-Town Tavern next door to the hotel.

Day 3 – Knoxville, TN to Conway, Arkansas

Another overcast, gray morning with threats of rain in the forecast that never caught up with us other than a couple of splats on the windshield. This is really not my kind of road trip … too much driving and sitting and not enough side trips and attractions. Our goal, however, is to reach Las Vegas in time for Rebecca's (David & Paul's mom) 99th birthday and the clock's a'ticking.

Tennessee … the Volunteer State (War of 1812 reference), home of thoroughbred horses, moonshine and whiskey, the Nashville Sound, Davy Crockett, Ole Oprey, Elvis' Graceland and probably too much more to mention. What amazed me most was the foliage. It was “New England” beautiful. Looking at the riot of color along the highway, I would have never guessed I was in Tennessee.

Then we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas … home to the World Duck Calling Championships, the home of WalMart and President Bill Clinton. The state also considers itself the quartz crystal capital and the spinach (yes, spinach) capital of the world. I also want to mention that it's a center for handcrafted dulcimers and archery bows. Wow! Who knew? We ended up in Conway, Arkansas for the night, just outside of Little Rock. In honor of WalMart, we bought all the ingredients for a room picnic (roaster chicken, shrimp, chips & salsa) and watched the Broncos lose a game to San Diego. Bah!!!

Tomorrow … on to Oklahoma and Texas.

The Fine Art of Walking

Whether it be strolling, sauntering, perambulating, hiking or wandering … walking is one of our favorite pastimes. When we're living aboard the boat and in port, walking is usually a necessity if we want to get from here to there. We find, however, that once we're off the boat and living on land, we have to work at finding opportunities to walk because it's so convenient and easy to drive everywhere. Since we've been on our 10,000 steps a day kick, we've been working extra hard at walking to do local errands and quick grocery trips. (Notice the “we've” … see how easily I suck David into things like this.)

Though it seems like Lin's neighborhood is out in the country, in actuality it's less than a mile away from US Route 1 which is lined with shops, banks, malls and grocery stores. Instead of borrowing Lin's car when we need to go to the bank or pick up a few groceries, we walk. It's easy to accrue at least 2-3 walking miles every day on a round trip to the store. Even our dentist is within walking distance. We exercised and got our smiles polished in the same trip the other day.

The best part of walking, beyond the exercise benefit, is that we notice things that we'd miss if we whizzed by in the car. We can tell who has the best English flower garden, where the wasps have decided to build their nests and whose house needs painting. We note where there are good sidewalks, where the crosswalks are located and where the road is too narrow to walk two abreast. We can smell the wafting aroma of cinnamon rolls baking in the nearby bakery. Sometimes we have particularly good luck … David found a dime on the sidewalk the other day.

When we can't fabricate a reason to go to the store, we head to (Francis William) Bird Park, just across the street from Lin's house. With 89 acres of meadows and trees and trails, there's plenty to keep our attention while we're walking along, skirting around the Canada goose poop and batting gypsy moths out of our faces. Cardinals and blue jays compete noisily in the trees. Squirrels race around, chasing each other. The other day, there were hot air balloons in the middle of the park giving people rides which necessitated a separate walk back to the house and back to the park with my camera.

On my bucket list, I have included walking the famed Thames Path in the UK. In the past, we've walked along the Inca Trail in Peru, done the Table Mountain trail in South Africa, short sections of the Appalachian Trail on the US east coast, tens of trails in the Colorado Rockies and parts of New Zealand's Great Walks. I'm not looking for hundreds of steps (Inca Trails), hills (all the others) and rough camping (Rockies), lugging all our gear and food on our backs. I prefer comfortable distances with a pub and an inn available each evening. I've piqued David's interest in this walk … maybe a fine English walk in our future? In the meantime, I'm already thinking about how we'll manage long walks in Las Vegas' 110+F (43+C) temps.

Counting 10,000 steps with: