Seventeen Days of Excitement - Day Two - Part One

Day Two

6:00 am EST Oh how I miss my bed. It was a really rough night for me. I know someone must have beaten me up and got away with it. Ouchers. Well, it’s another day. Here we go.

Tom slept wonderfully. He needed to. I am so glad.

This is a really nice hotel. We have always enjoyed The Fairfield. The accommodations are always inviting. The décor is as if we are in a fancy home. Seldom do the rooms remind you of a hotel. Did I mention that we got a special rate because they had only one room left and it was a luxury suite!

We only had to pay $100. When Tom told me that I about passed out. I am so out of the loop on prices when you travel. He did remind me that it was worth any price he paid last night. I had to agree.

We now know what it is to sleep in a king sized bed - together! At home I sleep in a recliner in the living room as lying down on a regular bed is too painful as well, we don’t both fit on our bed. It’s all good though - we both get to sleep!

Uh oh, I just discovered that walking may be a problem today. My left ankle does not want weight on it. Hope it is just the fibromyalgia and nothing more. Life is a challenge - every day.

Wow, this is the second day and last night my love admitted, “Maybe driving across country was not such a good idea.” He must be having a rough time. He awoke exhausted. He does not complain; neither will I.

Although, I would not veto a turn around to go home and fly! That will never happen. On we go.

Some of the trees down here (between Nashville and Memphis) are covered over with vines that will eventually kill them. However, they are so beautiful that they create the illusion of sculptured trees. The cover is so complete that you can not even see the trees. It’s breath taking. We passed them so quickly that I did not get a chance to photograph them. I’ll get them on the way back.

Since I didn’t check my email or hub pages last night I will have to do it tonight.

Breakfast was provided by the hotel. Yummy food. I went down early and enjoyed oatmeal and apple juice.

The offering was awesome: Waffles, scrambled eggs, toast, bagels, blueberry muffins, Danish and, of course, oatmeal; along with milk, tea, juices, coffee and hot chocolate.

I came back to the room and had to get Tom out of bed if he chose to eat in the hotel. They have a cut off time of 9:00 am (their time). It was food! He rushed, and was downstairs in a snap. He had a feast, and I had part of his waffle. I was really quite full.

9:38 am EST On the road again.

10:30 am EST Yeah! I see a Rest Stop in Arkansas, the land of unbelievable plants and trees; and the breeder of three Presidents of the United States.

Of course, in most things, my body dictates; so we are stopping. I love the Information Centers. This is one. There is so much to see and to learn. The people are refreshing and different.

11:18 am EST On the road again.

Conversation is great, but I-40 is really bumpy. I took five minutes to write this; too rough to write more now.

A little note here: I-40 is parallel to the famous Route 66. So it was fun to see all of the Route 66 signs. And to visit the various Route 66 tourist attractions. More about that later.

I was real proud of this, when I said it. I told Tom that I think one reason we get along so well is that we are finally a team. He did not agree. He said he was concerned about me wanting to do so many things; and he said that is not being a team. Wow! What a kick to the head. Guess I need to go back and review Men are From Mars! <giggle>

12:30 pm The scenery is changing, which means that we are nearing a city. The desert is as barren and desolate as portrayed in the movies; lots of land and sand and cacti. What I did not expect were the mountains just off onto the edge of the never ending desert. They were quite interesting and beautiful.

Sometimes I see a tree, a cactus plant, or a rock formation that really says something to me. Hence I have tons of pictures, that, until I get them onto the computer, will make sense to no one but myself.

Look, how cool is that; a huge clock tower with a steeple on top of a church. I see it, I see it… it’s a Pentecostal Church. That is really awesome. We are close to Little Rock, Arkansas, now. I wonder what finds I’ll see there. We are bound to stop, I think. <smile>

Tom is hungry and truth be known the fire in my body screams for relief. I honestly don’t think I’m hungry.

2:00 pm Once we stopped I realized I was hungry. Guess what unique restaurant we stopped at; McDonalds! Yup! You heard it right. That is one place we are confident we can eat the food and find decent restrooms. I mused over that and shared with Tom and we laughed about it.

I cannot believe I am shaking so hard. Tom says it is hunger. I eat - a fish sandwich and he eats a double stack and fries, no salt. We both feel better afterwards. My hands are still shaky and my writing looks like something out of the large print books for the almost blind. I decided to rest and not write for a while.

We have so far traveled 253.4 miles today.

2:42 pm Traffic has been unpredictable to say the least.

We stopped in a place called Van Buren, Arkansas. There was a (you guessed it) Walmart Super Center to visit. <smile> Tom is a Walmart employee and thoroughly enjoys visiting other Walmart's to see how they are set up and how the associates respond to the consumer. He loves his Walmart.

I purchased three more paper backs (The Prey series) and a pack of safety pins. I made Tom a sleeve for his left arm - it was getting way too much sun. Since Tom has previously had skin cancer, we need to be very aware of his time in the sun. The sleeve was made out of a true linen napkin I keep in my purse for emergencies. (Don’t ask.) It fit him perfectly fine. It came up to his shirt sleeve and down just over the back of his hand so his fingers were free.

To be continued.