Day Ten: Back to Dallas

Saturday morning, we finished loading up the truck, threw Kat in, and headed out. Tony and I are going back the same way we came. Mike and Susan are going the Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock route because they want to stop in Nashville.

We make some pretty good time. After crossing into Alabama after Birmingham, we keep seeing Alabama-geared-up cars. I ask Siri who and where they are playing. It’s a home game in Tuscaloosa against Western Kentucky. We then start seeing Alternate Stadium Route signs near exits. And traffic comes to a crawl. Note: do NOT go anywhere near Tuscaloosa on game days. It’s crazy. But, it clears up right after the last exit to the campus. We even passed an SUV with the vanity tag: Saban. And lots of elephant heads. Lots. Not quite like this, but close.

But, we’re still making good time and keep heading home, stopping around Monroe for gas. Getting close. I was going to take over driving a bit, but Tony was good. And that’s a good thing because as we get closer to Shreveport, the skies are looking dark (I didn’t want to drive in the rain, or really near any cities, if at all possible). The wind then picks up and I’m trying to pull up the radar to see what’s going on. Hail wouldn’t be good. It’s starts pouring and Tony exits and we wait a few minutes while he reads what’s going on. Lots of red, orange, yellow and green on the radar from where we are all of the way through Shreveport (with lots of lightning bolts). But, doesn’t say anything about hail, so we head on, with lights on, and hazards. This is about as hard of a rain that we’ve ever driven in and we pull over again into a truck stop (with a casino), grab coffee and snacks and wait it out a few minutes. My shoes are NOT water proof and I grab socks from Tony’s bag and a t-shirt since I am soaked from going into the gas station.

We get through it and are getting so close to home. It’s a long day and took 14 hours from Knoxville to home. Unload the truck, leaving the bikes on. Tomorrow is going to be a rest, watch football, grocery shop kind of day.

Another successful trip with lots of riding (golf) AND, finally, bear sightings! Next trip we’re looking at is Eureka Springs in the Spring. Also looking at the Natchez Parkway through Mississippi (it doesn’t have any stop lights, signs and is over 400 miles of “Mississippi-ness.”