Tales from the road

I have had trouble finding wifi, hence the delay between posts...

So on Wednesday, I loaded up the car and officially (kinda) started my trip.  I headed to Austin to see Kayley (my gf) before I left.  On my drive down there, the thought definitely creeped into my head that I will probably see some pretty weird stuff on the road.  Well day 1 was pretty weird.

On I-35 (the devils road) I saw a pickup in front of me (abt 200yds) have a blowout and drove through a strong dust devil that shook the car pretty hard.  Note unheard of, but weird to see in the same drive.  In Georgetown, I drove through a patch of rain.  I caught a mustang in my rear view mirror spinning out of control.  It was rush hour, so we were only going 40-50mph, but traffic was pretty dense.  Ultimately, the drive couldnt control the spin and slammed nose first into the concrete divider.  Not that bad of a wreck, but I couldnt help but think that the persone travelling in the left lane (mustang was in the center lane) wouldnt have time to brake and tboned the mustang. I couldnt exactly see what happened (it wasnt directly behind me), but it was pretty unsettling and important reminder of the inherent dangers of highway travel.

When I got to Austin, some friends had a nice Bon Voyage dinner at Trudys.  It was great to see everyone, and good times were had by all.




The next morningI kissed Kayley goodbye, and I made my way for Arkansas.


It is about an 8hr drive from Austin to little rock.

I did see one crazy thing on the road.  I was on I30 outside of Texarkana, on the texas side, and I was following an old truck with flatbed trailer in the fast lane about 80mph.  I started to see some tiny rocks coming off of the trailer and heard them hitting on my windshield. Crap!  I hate that.  I gave him a little more distance to save myself.  Suddenly, I see a bunch of golf ball sized rocks slide off of the trailer.  Oh shit oh shit.  I brake pretty solidly and look into the review mirror to make sure the person behind be slowed down.  I looked just in time to see a big rock hit the winshield of the black lexus sedan behind me.  It left a really big shatter, and I could see the driver wildly gesticulating and cursing.  The guy never ended up passing me, but I bet he was pissed as hell.


I made my way to Hot Springs so that I could buy a Natl Park Annual Pass.  It was kind of a time crunch, and I got there five min before closing.  Unfornately they were out of passes (how does that happen), so I will have to get one later.

I spent some time walking around Hot springs taking in the sites.  My impression is that is was a big tourist spot back in the day, but has seen some of the tourism go elsewhere.  There are plenty of historical bldgs in various stages of upkeep or disrepair.  Seems like it might be a pretty cool place to buy an old house.  Lots of Bikers.  Apparently this weekend is the hot springs biker rally, so I guess that makes sense.  I got some subway and cruised around a couple of backstreets.  Lots of quaint BnB's.  I know my friends Kevin and Jorja spent their anniversary here. I can see why. Very pretty place.


I followed my navigation to Lake Sylvia in the Ouachita National Forest, and it took me down some pretty remote state hwys.  Very scenic. Arkansas is what texas would look like if it ever rained.  Very green and lots of trees.  I noticed a lot of houses along the way that were right off the hwy.  The trees are dense, but around the houses there were normally pretty huge clearings with very well trimmed grass.  I wondered that it must be quite a chore to manage.  Which made sense when I passed several people on their riding mowers cutting the grass.  It is definitely a multiday chore for some of these properties.  Also another weird observation, I have not seen a single police officer (ok now I remember seing one motorcycle cop in hot springs) since I was in AR.  Now it makes sense why people have a very easy tendency to speed.

From Leaving home

I made camp at Lake Sylvia. I spent a majority of my time on a lawn chair right near the lake. There was almost no one else in the whole place so I didnt mind posting up right at the scenic spot. I watched the sun go down and the stars come out.





This first camping day was definitely a process of deprogramming myself from the normal way of living. No home. Living out of the van. Another thing I felt is a lack of control. When you have your daily routine, you feel very in control of your situation. But out in the middle of nowhere, you are much more vulnerable, and lots of unpredictable things can happen (see earlier in the post). Anyways, it was a very cool night (be jealous Texans), and I had to sleep in my sleeping bag.

Oh yeah, one more thing. One of the first signs I see when I pull into the campsite is a bear warning sign. "NO FISH GUTS." I am afraid of bears. Everyone should be. What was the sandwich I bought at Subway in Hot Springs to eat at my campsite?? Tuna. Damn. I ate that one in the car.

So this morning, I woke up and had breakfast near the steaming lake. Awesome! I made the drive towards Memphis, and along the way I had my first truck stop shower. Actually pretty nice. It costs $13, which I guess is a little steep for just a shower, but they give you a towel, and it is very private. (If anyone who is planning a roadtrip, I stopped at Petro...they seem to have very good facilities at each place I have been to.)



So right now I am on my way to Memphis. I will try to update later with pictures. The blogger interface on my tablet sucks, and I am having trouble getting it to work. Check back later.