Amarillo to Arkansas

We were on the road at 6:13 am, with a long eight hours of travel ahead. Waking up every day at 4:45 was wearing me down, but I kept my game face on. There was still plenty to see in the next five days. It was 66 degrees and overcast, but we would be driving out of the rain-threatened part of Texas. The only part of Texas we have seen is the panhandle, and it is rolling green hills with ranch after ranch. Big ranches. Lots of cattle and horses. Nice welcome centers, except for the really big spider and cricket that were in the ladies' room. One really, really big cross by the roadside. A pretty state.



We decided to place a little wager while in Texas to see who could guess how many miles we would do on this roadtrip. Bonnie > 8,458; Clyde > 8,540; Donald > 8,350; Daisy > 8,750. Winner would get bragging rights only. Who was going to have money left after 24 days of vacation? Also while in Texas, my 4G film card filled to the brim. It held 1,480 photos (too many of them blurry, but I didn't know that yet). I reverently removed it, tucked it into its little plastic jacket, and loaded a 2G. Who knew what great shots I might get with this new film card?


We saw dozens, maybe hundreds, of windmills in Oklahoma near Weatherford. We saw Kodak and we saw Imation, and then we needed cookies, and soon. Weeks ago we had thrown out cookies so the bears wouldn't smell them, and we had been in a cookie drought for too long. My favorite on-the-road-cookies are found at Subway, and the white chocolate macadamia nuts are the best. Subway cookies stay fresh and soft for days, not that they would be around that long. We found a Love's gas station/Subway combination, and while Clyde and Donald fueled the GM, Bonnie and I headed inside for a dozen cookies. Cookies at 9:30 am are especially delicious.

By lunchtime (11:09) we were enjoying the balmy 80 degree weather, as much as we could while riding in an air conditioned car. We saw signs for the hometowns of Garth Brooks, Merle Haggard, and Carrie Underwood. Lunch was Arby's, always a good time, then we were headed for Arkansas. I-40 looked a lot like Massachusetts.


We reached the Comfort Inn & Suites in Russellville AR around 3:00, and it was gorgeous. We had rooms on the third floor, and yes, there was an elevator. There was also a nice pool and a whirlpool, and we all headed for some aquatic recreation to while away the afternoon and work up an appetite for supper. The hotel seemed very quiet, maybe because no one checks in that early in the day, and we enjoyed it.


The dance card had both Cracker Barrel and Ryan's Grill Buffet & Bakery, so we had to decide where we wanted to go. We had never tried Ryan's, so we went for something different. Our server, Brandi, was very nice. I would describe Ryan's Grill as a small version of Golden Corral, but somehow I seemed to eat just as much as I did at all the Golden Corrals...Brandi gave us a scratch ticket, and we won a free beverage for the next time we visited the restaurant. Not bad - so far we had won a wash&dry at the laundromat in Flagstaff and a soda in Russellville.


When we met Bonnie and Clyde for breakfast the next morning, they told us and the desk clerk about the people in the room next door to them. There was a child bouncing off the walls from 12:30 - 3:00. According to the desk clerk, the family was being put up in the hotel by their insurance company because their house had mold. Judging from the activity of the night before, they probably had holes in the walls as well. The desk clerk said the front desk should have been called. Well, next time it would be.