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.”
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