David recorded our outgoing greeting on our phone as a song set to the tune the Greatest American Hero song:
Believe it or not, oh the Hohls are not home,
So leave a message at the to-o-one.
When we get home, oh, we'll call you back.
Where could we be? Believe it or not, we're not home.

Now whenever anyone's phone rings (cell phone, etc.) Nora launches into the song. Here is her version, with a bit of prompting.

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DAY 43 Lexington to home
David woke up when Jo was leaving to take the boys to school, and he talked to Jo out the window a minute. We planned to hang around until she got back, but we had breakfast, washed the dishes, packed up, unplugged, etc. and she still wasn’t back. We read stories to Nora and she still wasn’t back, so we left a note and took off. It feels weird to actually be heading home. I’m looking forward to it, though, mostly because we have gone through all the clean clothes, knowing we were going to be home soon, so we are all on our last pair of clean pants and I’m anxious to do some laundry.
Approaching Cincinnati, where I-75 and I-71 run together for awhile, the freeway is wide and busy with truck traffic. We always drive between 55 and 60 because our terrible gas mileage gets worse if we go any faster. But the speed limit most places is 65 or 70 (or higher, out west. It was 80 in Texas). So trucks on this stretch were passing us at a good clip, and, as usual, blowing us around like a kite. Then we were pulled over by a cop for “weaving in our lane” which is not illegal as far as I know. But David said it was reasonable cause to pull us over. Perhaps he thought we were smuggling drugs or Chinese immigrants in here or something. Once he figured out everything was fine, and David told him we were on our last day of a 6,000-mile trip, he went back to his car, then came back and gave David his license back and we were on our way.
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Arrived home! It feels bigger than I remembered, and we didn’t live here long enough before we left on the trip … neither of us remembers where anything goes in the cabinets!

DAY 42 Lexington

We feel like we’re waking up pretty late these days, but we’re still on Central Time, and we’re thinking about staying that way until it’s time to set the clocks back this weekend. After breakfast, we set out in Jo’s minivan with Nora, Michael, Tom and the three of us for an Amish store. Unfortunately Jo hadn’t been there before and we had dubious direction, so we drove around the country for a couple hours before actually getting there. We subsisted on snacks I found in the diaper bag and crackers and fudge bought at the Amish store until we got back around 2 p.m. Tom had fallen asleep, and Jo moved him into our camper and said he’d stay asleep and she’d go get the other boys from school. Of course as soon as she left, he popped right up and wanted to play. We all had a late lunch and then tried to take naps, but Tom didn’t want one. David took Tom and the ingredients for tonight’s chili and went in the house. Nora and Michael slept while I did dishes and made chocolate chip cookies. Then Jo got home and enlisted the boys to babysit (listen to the baby monitor) while I got to ride again. After that I came up to the camper and nursed Michael and then David and I got to go for a ride by ourselves: me on Gypsy and David on Jack, the bigger horse. It was really cool. It was a great way to spend the last evening of the trip, riding horses on this beautiful farm as the sun went down. And it was something we never could have except that we were at the home of relatives who could watch the kids. It was great. The horses hardly listened to us at all, but the walked around and trotted up the hills, and that was mostly what we wanted to do anyway. Again, they started and stopped when we said to, so they weren’t really bad. I think they just had us pegged as amateurs and knew they didn’t have to listen to us. I helped unsaddle the beasts, and then we all had chili for dinner and cookies for dessert. We stayed up and talked a little after Nora and Michael went to bed, but we were all feeling pretty tired. I availed myself of the nice shower Jo and Herb offered me, and then we all went to bed.

DAY 41 Nashville to Lexington, KY
Last night was our last night in a campground for this trip.
This morning we headed for David’s aunt and uncle’s house, just south of Lexington. It was an uneventful drive, and probably one of the best and most peaceful 200-mile-plus hauls we have had on this trip. We pulled in their driveway in the afternoon, and because it’s a farmhouse with some land, there was plenty of space (level space!) in the driveway for us. Jo gave us a tour of their neat old farmhouse where they just moved recently. It had a lot of character and charm. Each of their three boys has his own room. It’s a nice place. Then she went to pick up the two older boys from school while David played with Tom, their youngest. When the boys got home, they took David and Nora on a go-kart ride around their property. They came back up to the house where I was talking to Tom and nursing Michael. Nora would stay up at the house while David went down with Herb and Jo to ride the horses. Nora and Tom (and Michael) and I were having a fine time, but they were all supposed to be back in 30 minutes or so, and I knew it had been more than an hour. Turns out the horse David was on, Gypsy, didn’t have her saddle on quite tight, and it slipped and David fell off the side of the horse, but luckily while they were still standing still. So things took a little longer than planned. But he wasn’t seriously hurt and got back up and went for a ride. Then it was my turn. I was starving by then for the lasagna that was already done and sitting on the stove, but I really wanted to ride. I went down and rode Gypsy. I felt OK getting on her, because I had ridden horses probably once a year during my teen years (or more) and then once every 3 to 5 years as an adult. But once I got on I realized that I had only ridden at a riding stable, where all the horses have been ridden their whole lives and just go out on the bridle path and go the same way and come back the same way. This was a whole different thing. Gypsy was new to being ridden, and we could go any way we wanted. And there was no long line of riders to follow behind, keeping us at a walk. It was really exciting and fun. Herb was riding the other horse, and Gypsy was pretty much following, but not always. Nor did she always listen to me. She did start and stop when I said to, though, so that was comforting. I had to stop riding because I was too hungry and it was getting dark. David went for one last go-round and helped unsaddle them. The rest of us had dinner. (Jo had already fed Nora and Tom while I was gone.) After dinner we got the camper plugged into their garage (after some technical difficulties) and fired up the furnace. We put Nora to bed and brought the bassinet in for Michael to sleep in while we talked and David and I showed our photos.

DAY 40 NASHVILLE
(photos: inside the Opryland Hotel; Nora's first carousel ride.)
It was a gloomy day this morning. I went up to the office to get David some of the free morning coffee they offer here. It was a bit weak for his taste. I also found out that the shuttle to Opryland advertised in the book was more like a $50/person Gray Line tour that happens to pick people up from here. So that was out. We were going to be driving. I didn’t really know what was at Opryland, just that it was something people always go to see. We drove to the area and parked in the bus parking, which was free. (Car parking, though closer, was $10.) I knew there was a boat tour of the gardens inside the Opryland Hotel courtyard, so I figured it must be pretty big. We walked up to a hotel employee we saw outside and said we were just sightseeing and asked where we should go. She directed us inside, where we passed through the hotel lobby into a stunning indoor garden with waterfalls and fountains and suspended walkways. It was beautiful. Also Nora gets REALLY excited about fountains, so she was happy. And that wasn’t even the room with the boat tours. We kept walking and went into another fountain/garden room. All the hotel rooms seemed to face onto these beautiful domed courtyards. At the end of this second room, we were looking down into what looked like a fantastic buffet. There was fresh-baked bread, shrimp cocktail, a waffle bar, roast beef -- and all of it looked really gourmet and great. We forgot it was Sunday, though. It turned out the buffet was nearly $30/person, so we passed. We moved onto the Delta courtyard, where there was a river with boats that ran along a track. There were also some fantastic fountains that moved and leapt and gushed. We bought some overpriced Pizza Hut and sat in front of one of the fountains on some chairs. Nora was actually giggling with excitement watching the fountain. She was still talking about it over dinner back at the camper tonight. Then we walked on an outdoor path to the Grand Ole Opry, home of the longest running country music radio show. You couldn’t really see the auditorium without getting show tickets, and there weren’t any shows on Sunday. We walked across the parking lot to the Opry Mills shopping mall, which was enormous. We didn’t buy much, but Nora took her first carousel ride with David. “I rode the HORSIE!” she told me when she got off.
Back at the campground, we pulled in and were met with a questioning look from the campground owner. I guess we were supposed to check in this morning, even though I thought I had paid for two nights over the phone. They had already given our site to someone else, but luckily had another one available. They had thoughtfully collected our doormat and dog tie-outs from our old site. After we moved and had a snack, we went to the camp office to ask a question. We ended up in the back room behind the office, where they have computers you can rent and free board games. David and I played a couple games of checkers. Then Nora and I went to the playground while David and Michael talked to the owner. Nora really liked this playground, even though it was mostly really old, metal playground pieces badly in need of a coat of paint. She hardly played with rocks at all, moving from one play car to another and asking to go down the slide “again” and again. After a while I was freezing and insisted we go back. After we warmed up, and while David was making pork stir-fry, Nora and I went to the book exchange and turned in three of our old paperbacks for some new (used) ones.
After dinner, David asked Nora if we should have dessert. Her eyes lit up and she said, “Cookies,” and pointed to the snack cabinet. David tried to get her off the subject, but she kept pointing. David said, “Nora, do you have a one-track mind?” She said, “Cookies. COOKIES!”
Nora went to bed in her sweatshirt and no pants because she wouldn’t cooperate with David in getting her pajamas on. But other than those battles, she really has been very good. She rides happily in the stroller or the backpack and usually goes along with whatever we’re doing.

DAY 39 Memphis to Nashville

(photos: a tow truck helping us out; friends hanging out in the camper; in the morning, David climbed in bed with Nora)
Our goal was to get on the road between 9:30 and 10 a.m. We pulled out at 10:22 a.m. Not bad. To be fair, we did have to add in some time for David to complain to the management that a panhandler KNOCKED ON OUR SIDE DOOR last night around 9:30 p.m. Can you believe that? We were aware by now that Graceland is not in the nicest part of Memphis, if there is a nice part, but seriously. Can you imagine? Someone coming up and knocking on the door to ask for spare change? We tied Dalice outside for several hours, but we ended up bringing him in because he was barking too much and it was keeping us up. All our stuff was still there in the morning.
OK, to be completely honest, we didn’t lose any time complaining. David went to complain while he was waiting on me to finish the dishes in order to pull forward off the leveling blocks and put them away without having half the dishwater slosh out of the sink. He said the manager or owner had floated the theory that maybe it was a Memphis cop undercover as a panhandler, because in Memphis it is illegal to give money to panhandlers. David said, “Sir, this was not a cop.” And the guy said, “Well, I’m an ex-cop, and let me tell you…. (blah blah blah)” To which David replied, “Sir, I’m an ex-cop, and this was not the police.”
Anyway, we pulled out and headed for Nashville. Things were just going well when David pulled off because he was getting a weird bounce that didn’t seem to be caused by the road. Sure enough, we had a flat. It turned out it was caused by the valve stem going bad. We called AAA and they said it would be an hour. We called back after an hour and a half, and they said the guy would be there in an hour. Then the guy called and said he would there in about an hour. He did show, with his pregnant wife and kids in tow (he wasn’t supposed to be working today) and got us back on the road. While stopped, we met a guy who was going from Albuquerque, NM to Key West, Fla. in three days. With no atlas. David helped him out with his route. Apparently he had just enough money for his $900 camper and gas, but not enough to buy an atlas.
After a stop at the grocery store, when all the kids were finally settled again, we tried to pick up a conversation we had been having before the flat. I said, “OK, now what were we talking about three hours ago?” That’s when we realized it had actually been six hours since I was last sitting up front next to him, just talking. This was on a day when we had less than 3.5 hours of driving to do.
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As it was taking longer and longer to actually get to our site in Nashville, I was getting more and more skeptical a planned meeting I had arranged with some friends this evening would take place. I had envisioned us pulling in around the late afternoon, having dinner, and then my friends coming by the campground to sit outside in camp chairs and watch the sun go down. We didn’t end up getting in until nearly 8 p.m. after the sun was long gone and we could see our breath in the cold. I called at about 6:30 p.m. to make sure there were sites available (so far on the trip this has never been a problem except at the National Parks) and she said there was ONE site left. So I bought it for two nights, and gave her my credit card number over the phone to charge it. My friends did show up, but of course I had planned on sitting outside. There were 5 of them plus a newborn, and of course there are 4 of us. So we were sitting outside in the dark freezing, with some people sitting on the wood deck “patio” on our campsite, as I showed photos of our vacation on the laptop -- a modern day slideshow, probably not much more interesting than the ones people groaned about in the ‘80s. I apologized for the conditions, and David suggested that if he uninstalled the kids’ car seats, we could all fit inside. So we did that, which was MUCH better. I felt bad for not having thought of it first or sooner. It was still a tight squeeze, though, and it only worked because Nora was already in bed up top and Michael was sleeping back on our bed. About 10:30 p.m., after sharing the cheesecake one of the couples had brought, everyone left. We played a game of cards and went to bed.

DAY 38 Memphis

(photos: Michael was actually awake for this American tourist attraction; Elvis stuff; the famous pink Cadillac)
We had great weather today. We had breakfast here, then strapped on the children and walked the few blocks to Graceland. It is not really set up for pedestrians to walk there, as we found out when we realized the place to purchase tour tickets was across the street at the parking area. It is a Friday morning of no particular consequence as far as I can tell, and yet there was already a large line at the ticket counter and waiting to get on the bus. It was pretty expensive. It was $22 for just the tour of the house and grounds. It was $30 for that, plus admission to five other museums and exhibits, such as Elvis’ airplane and Elvis’ cars. We went ahead and ponied up for the more expensive one, and we did get 10 percent off with our AAA card. The shuttle took us across the street to Graceland, and we all got acquainted with our audio guides, little plastic digital players with headphones. I knew that would be a challenge, because there is no way to pay attention to a recorded voice and to Nora at the same time. Even though she was being ignored some of the time, she was well behaved in the backpack. Sometimes one of us would let her listen to the headphones, and she would say, “Man talking in there,” or “Everyone is in there!” when there was music playing. The audio guides made things a little strange, since there were dozens of people milling about silently in close quarters, completely not paying any attention to each other. But it was neat to see an American cultural icon, and the house itself was pretty cool. It is not really all that grand by today’s standards, but it certainly was uniquely furnished. The outbuildings were interesting, too, including the racquetball courts, the pool, the horse stables and of course the meditation garden where Elvis and his parents are buried. The guide and exhibits really made Elvis out to be a saint, emphasizing his gifts to charity, his award from a service organization, his military service and his religion. The audio guide attributed his death to “chronic health problems and his increasing dependence on prescription drugs.”
I guess the audio guides worked out pretty well in the end. If we had had a live tour guide, we would have worried about Nora talking over him or her, as has happened on other programs we’ve tried to do. Plus we could pause the guide to attend to the kids, and then start it up again. I can’t help but think about all the real tour guides out of a job. The audio guides allow them to pack more people into the house at one time. Sometimes it felt like cattle herding. And we could see the shuttle buses loading and unloading constantly. They obviously rake in the money doing this. All the smaller museums conveniently placed their exits at the opposite side of their gift shops. We avoided the overpriced hamburger joint where the shuttle drops off passengers and walked a couple blocks to a fast food place. The only seating they had was outside, but it was actually quite a nice day to have lunch outside. We were all wearing jackets, but the sun was shining and it was in the 60s.
After that, we went to see something called “Elvis After Dark.” The point of the exhibit was that between Elvis’ fame and his insomnia, most of the time he sought his amusement at night. In Memphis, he would rent the movie theater after it closed, or the fairgrounds when the fair was on, inviting his friends to ride the roller coasters and play bumper cars at 1 in the morning. There were also some interesting artifacts there, including a TV with a bullet hole in it. In the gift shop, there was a pool table from Elvis’ Bel Air home. Apparently Elvis and the Beatles had played pool on it. For a mere $100, we could have played, too. For 30 minutes. Yeah, right. During this exhibit, Michael had just eaten and was wide awake. He was actually pushing back from my body in the front back and tilting back his head to look at me and smile and make faces. Between his cute face and Nora asleep in the backpack, the kids were charming all the other tourists and all the employees.
Then we toured Elvis’ airplane, the Lisa Marie, which was pretty impressive. If you ignored the ugly ‘70s décor, you had to admire the gold-plated sinks in the bathrooms and the nice conference table. A video playing inside the plane informed visitors that one winter he realized Lisa Marie had never seen snow, so they flew to Colorado to play in the snow for a minutes, then flew back home.
Then we went on to some other forgettable exhibit explaining his rise to fame and his relationship with his agent. After that was the car museum, which was really cool. There were several motorcycles and a lot of custom cars, including the pink Cadillac, and BMW roadster Priscilla liked to drive, and several other customized luxury cars.
We walked back to the RV park after that, and David held down the fort while I took a nap. (Nora had already taken her nap, beginning at the airplane tour and ending in the car exhibit.) We had dinner, and then David went out and duct-taped on the aluminum covering on our rear bumper, which fell off in Little Rock. (We were driving for the first time in quite awhile without the bicycle on the back, and the wind got under it on the freeway and tore it loose. We had been keeping in here in the aisle on the floor, which was pretty annoying. Now both kids are (mostly) asleep and we’re having a quiet evening.
After dinner, Nora was jabbering away and recited the most difficult page from a story of hers I have heard so far: “It came back on just in time for our favorite TV show, but the weatherman kept interrupting it. Then it started thundering loud.” (This is from “Just a Thunderstorm” by Gina and Mercer Mayer. Earlier today she asked me to read from a magazine we have laying around. I read the title of an ad she pointed to, and she said, “By Gina and Mercer Mayer.” She’s hysterically funny.)

DAY 37 Little Rock to Memphis
(photos: Our campsite in Memphis; Graceland, from the road out front)
Woke up to rain (again). Unfortunately I left Michael’s tent bubble outside because the sky was clear last night. So it is soaked and now riding in the outside storage. We stopped at a Target store in North Little Rock, then headed to Memphis. I even drove for a little while, until Michael woke up hungry. We are staying in an RV park a couple blocks from Graceland. We walked across the street to a cafeteria-style restaurant and ate there because it is raining and gloomy and freezing. During dinner, David and I were talking about how much fun Nora is, and how glad we are to have both kids on this trip. Nora really does make us laugh a lot. After we got back, we played on the bed with the kids and then took showers and got the kids clean, too. I fed and walked the dogs, and then of course they tracked mud in all over the RV. Plus this site is gravel and it isn’t level at all. Even using all the leveling slats we brought with us, David still could only get us from really tilted to slightly tilted. Oh well. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, but for tonight we have the heat on. It is supposed to get down to 40. I guess all the desert living made us pretty soft, because 40 feels extremely cold. Tomorrow we’ll see the sights here in Memphis.
(As I was reading through an old entry, I realized I never cleared something up. We were supposed to stop in Pecos, TX to get our groceries for the week. Nothing more is said about that until the next day’s entry, where we had stopped in Abilene for the same groceries the next morning. Turns out the store listed under “grocery” on the map in Pecos was a convenience/liquor store, about the size you‘d find attached to a gas station. We opted to wait until we could get to a real supermarket.)

DAY 36 Little Rock
(photos: Nora in front of Clinton's presidential limo; Nora's legs and Michael's tent. No, Michael was NOT in there at the time.)
Yesterday after I posted from Hot Springs, we drove to pick up our paintings and then redeem our free wine tasting at the Winery. I wasn’t too impressed with the wine, especially not at the high prices they listed. The port was nice, though. But not $20 nice. The man who owns the art store where we bought the paintings was interesting. He said he used to run a small grocery/gourmet food store in Little Rock. It was near the Baptist church President Clinton attended, and the president (then governor) would stop in after church for … at this point in the story he stopped and said, “You probably won’t want to hear this.” And I said, “Please don’t say doughnuts.” And he hung his head and said, “Yes. Well, not doughnuts. Pastries.” He explained that they had a very good pastry chef and Clinton would come in and buy pastries after church. We all had a good laugh.
After we left Hot Springs, we headed for this huge city park in Little Rock called Burns Park. It’s so big that it’s on both sides of Interstate 40; it has an amusement park (closed for the season); bridle trails, camping and a championship golf course. It is $16 a night for electric and water and the sites and spacious and forested. I can tell we are getting closer to home, as things are starting to smell familiar. The air smells like Camp Wyandot, and I recognize most of the trees. The oak that is dropping acorns on the camper had leaves that are just beginning to turn red around the edges. It was about 80 degrees today, though. That temperature is made even nicer by news reports we’ve heard that lots of the Midwest has had snow already.
After breakfast this morning, we drove a short distance into downtown Little Rock to the Clinton Presidential Center. It was fascinating, once we got there. For at least the third time, Microsoft Mary has plotted something in the wrong spot. The mapping software had the Clinton library on the other side of the Interstate. We were driving around wondering, first, why it wasn’t where the spot on the map was, and secondly, why there weren’t any signs for it. Then we realized we had a Little Rock attractions map the campground gave us, and we were able to get there easily. They even had dedicated RV parking.
The kids got in free, and Nora was a big hit with her “Future President” shirt on. It was one of those days where executing a graceful dance of trading off children was necessary. One of the first things you see at the center is a short movie about Clinton’s career. Of course Nora is apt to talk through most movies, and Michael is apt to cry if I sit down with him. So David was in charge of keeping Nora as quiet as possible, even when she bossed him around telling him to move his hands off his own armrest, and I was in charge of keeping Michael quiet, either by standing and rocking or by letting him suck on my pinky finger. We also made it through a short presentation in the replica cabinet room. Then we were off to look at the many, many exhibits, which were very well done. For each topic, there was a video or two, narrated usually by a cabinet member or other official. Surrounding the video screens were supporting documents, such as copies of speeches marked up by the president, news articles and photographs. It was best enjoyed if you could stand there and watch each video uninterrupted, so I basically redid the entire second floor in the afternoon when Nora fell asleep in the stroller and I was free to listen to the videos. I enjoyed reading about the Family Medical Leave Act while actually using the Family Medical Leave Act, which is what my maternity leave is. The third floor was less political and more about life in the White House. I was not terribly interested in the china patterns or the Christmas tree decorations, but I was fascinated to read and hear about how Clinton used his charismatic personality, coupled with well-orchestrated state dinners, to build relationships with foreign and domestic leaders.
By about 4 p.m., we had visited the gift shop down the street and were ready to head back to our campsite, just 6 miles away. It was humid and hot, but we sat outside and grilled out. Michael was crying and he felt hot and sweaty to me, so I took his outfit off. As I was taking a picture of Nora, I realized that I was outside our camper, sitting in a camp chair, drinking beer from a plastic cup and holding our son, who had no clothes on. At that moment, when I felt very much like a hillbilly, I was grateful to be in Arkansas, where I imagine such behavior doesn’t merit a second glance. Seriously, though, I rather like Arkansas. It’s kind of surprising it’s not a more populous state. It has all the heat of the desert states or Florida, but it has real trees that turn colors in the fall, and it has mountains, too. It also seems to have a very good retail base. Although Texarkana seemed essentially deserted, both Hot Springs and Little Rock have all the familiar chain stores and restaurants. And the people here are all very nice and gracious. The employees at the Clinton center were extremely kind. They all smiled at the kids and several times people pointed out places where I could sit down if I needed to. Plus they all have that great Bill Clinton accent.

DAY 35 Hot Springs

(photos: Our campsite in Hot Springs; steam coming off a fountain of hot spring water; our Duck ride leaving the water and driving up the boat ramp)
The clouds have cleared. We headed into Hot Springs for a day of sightseeing. Tonight we are moving to a park near Little Rock. It took is awhile to find RV parking here. After trying unsuccessfully to squeeze into a couple of the pay lots, we learned there was free RV parking at a visitor center a couple blocks away. We walked the streets of the downtown and the old Bathhouse Row. Then we bought tickets to the Duck Boat tours. These are given on a thing called a Duck which is a bus and a boat. They were made in the mid-40s for military purposes, but they are still running. The driver has to have a CDL to drive a tour bus, plus he has to be certified by the Coast Guard to drive a tour boat. They just drive them down the boat ramp, engage the prop, and off we go on a boat ride. Very cool.
Then we visited the wax museum because you practically have to buy a ticket to the wax museum in order to go on the Duck Ride.
We are buying some art here, because it’s quite affordable. Also, right next to the parking lot where we are, people are pulling up, driving hours to come here and fill up jugs with the mineral water. The National Park took over the actual springs and made it a law that no one can charge for the water. So there is this big fountain-type thing with spigots all around it, and people just come and fill up their jugs with the water. We are filling ours up, too, because what the heck! It’s free! Sitting here in the parking lot, I noticed the Visitor and Convention Bureau apparently provides free wireless Internet access. Nora is taking a nap, so I will try to pay some bills and maybe update the blog.

DAY 34 Texarkana to Hot Springs
We woke up to rain again, so off we went. I didn’t get much sleep last night with freight trains whistling every hour or so, and acorns smacking on the top of the camper. We stopped a couple times for breaks and lunch, and arrived at the Cloud Nine RV Park in Hot Springs in the early afternoon. It was still raining, so any of the Hot Springs National Park attractions were out. We are all pretty grumpy, though, so after we checked in, we drove to the Hot Springs Mall. By the time we got there the humidity and lack of sleep had me really feeling awful, plus Nora hadn’t taken a nap yet. So David took Michael into the mall and Nora and I took naps. I slept hard. I woke up when David and Michael came back, and I went into the mall. When I came back out, Nora was STILL sleeping. (She had told us she wasn’t sleepy and didn’t need a nap.) David picked up a cable at the Sears in the mall so we could catch the bears on Monday Night Football tonight. We had dinner and put the kids down for bed and watched the game. We are really hoping the sun will come out tomorrow, because it’s getting annoying not being able to tie the dogs outside and not being able to play outside. Also it’s just been so dark and oppressive, it’s making us all grumpy. We are feeling better since we decided to buy the cable and have a little football party tonight.
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What a crazy game! The undefeated Bears were down 20 or more points to one of the worst teams in the NFL, and came roaring back in the second half to win! And they scored NO points on offense. It was all defensive interceptions run back for touchdowns, field goals, and a punt returned for a touchdown. Just like the old Bears: all the points scored by the defense and special teams! It was hard not to scream and shout during the game, but Nora was sleeping just a couple feet away.

DAY 33, Texarkana (Texas/Arkansas)
Our plans to stay in nowhere, Texas were scrapped this morning when we woke up to rain. There’s no point staying somewhere that isn’t on our list of attractions if it’s raining. As we always say, if we’re going to be stuck in the camper all day, we may as well be going somewhere. We did some cleaning this morning, washing the inside of the windshield and vacuuming and such. My little Dirt Devil I got in college is sure getting a workout this trip. We headed to a Passport America campground in Texarkana which is on the border of Texas and Arkansas. There was a county park that was super cheap, but something like a 20-mile drive away from the interstate we are on. We are all kind of grumpy so we decided to pay more and stay at the place right in Texarkana. The book says it has an indoor pool. The main thing is that we will officially be out of Texas. I’m starting to dislike Texas a lot. Maybe because we don’t have any destinations here and it’s a big state to get across. Gas is cheap, though. We’ve gotten gas for $1.90/gal and $1.99/gal here.
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As we approached the RV park here in Texarkana, we got a sinking feeling. The neighborhood started getting worse the closer we got to the park. Plus the mapping software showed it 4 blocks away from where it really was, so we thought maybe it had vaporized like the one yesterday. We did finally see it, though, and it had a high black wrought iron fence around it and a brick office, which is rare for an RV park. We thought it looked pretty nice after all. We were both getting organized to get out of the camper and check in and we were practically attacked by RV park staff trying to help us get in. They ended up giving us the Passport America discount, even though it was supposed to be effective only Mon.-Thurs. As we pulled in, I could see there was an adjoining motel (which actually turned out to be small apartments) and a restaurant. At the campsites, there were concrete parking pads and the electric and water were located in a brick box. We have a big oak tree at our site. So big and old, it’s too big around to put the dog tie-out around it. Walking around with Nora, I thought this must have been a really premier place, and then the neighborhood around it kind of deteriorated. Talking to someone in the laundry room later, I found out that was pretty much the case. It was an old Howard Johnson and it was really nice, in a historic area near downtown. Then the interstate came through and everything went south. I should mention there’s a freight rail track that runs right behind the place. It is a BUSY track. I was overcome by motivation after we parked and I had Michael and Nora “help” me with the laundry, then put them down for naps while I made dinner and cookies. After dinner we took Nora to the pool. It was kind of neat because the pool is under a giant glass dome, and it’s a nice pool. Unfortunately it either isn’t really heated or it’s heated by the sun or something. It was COLD. Really cold. They have a sauna attached, and we turned the sauna on so we could warm up when we got out of the pool. Poor Nora is just like me. After about 10 minutes in the pool, her lips turn blue. It was kind of a long hike between the camper and the pool, so David and I were exhausted after I carried Michael back in his carseat carrier and David carried Nora back wrapped in a towel inside the duffel bag. Nora went to bed and Michael stayed up while I finished folding the laundry. We’re watching football on TV (since we’re actually in a city and it’s a weekend) and listening to acorns and rain fall on the roof. It’s been pretty cramped in here today because it’s too rainy to tie the dogs out. But I think we’re both recovering from yesterday. We are looking forward to having several destinations that are only 100 to 200 miles apart.

DAY 32 Stink Creek to Dallas
An uneventful night, except that we were jammed into the rest area. It was a small one, and by the time we pulled in, in was almost completely full of truckers and others who had pulled off to sleep. We wedged ourselves in. Woke up in the morning and drove a few miles to Abilene, where we stopped at an Albertson’s for groceries. I guess it’s that Southern way, but they practically required us to let them help us out to the car. They don’t have any cart corrals, so they must walk each customer out and take their cart back in. We are headed for Dallas today. We are planning to stay in a Passport America in downtown Dallas so we can walk to see the JFK memorial. It’s Saturday, but we’re not listening to Car Talk or a quiz show. Apparently they aren’t too into National Public Radio here in central Texas.
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Both kids fell asleep in the late morning, so we just kept driving and driving while we had peace and quiet. Lately, coming to a stop, even for a moment, means Michael wakes up and starts crying and won’t stop. So we kept going. We made it all the way to Fort Worth, where we stopped when Nora woke up. We pulled into a shopping center for lunch and so David could take a powernap. After we got back on the road, things started to deteriorate. We drove in heavy traffic into Dallas. We got off to check into the Passport America campground that looked on the map like it was right in downtown Dallas. Turns out, it was right in the ghetto-trashy neighborhood just outside downtown. We were not staying there. At all. We drove a few blocks to the JFK memorial and parked. The memorial turned out to be four ugly white art-deco style walls. With nothing written on them. It was the most pathetic memorial I’ve ever seen. The sign nearby made mention of a museum nearby. David offered to take care of Nora so I (and Michael) could go see the museum. It was actually kind of interesting. It was located in a government building that was formerly the Book Depository, where the shots were allegedly fired from. The museum itself was on the sixth floor, where Oswald was. But it cost money to go up, and I didn’t have any with me. I did get to read several interesting exhibits on the walls downstairs, though, including accounts from several doctors in the emergency room where the President arrived. Surgeons were packed into the trauma room because no one knew what the injuries where and what specialists would be needed. Much was done in the first few seconds, but the severity of the President’s head wound left no doubt that any further efforts after that would be in vain. The accounts described a hospital in chaos, with reporters asking friends at the hospital to literally hold the phone to keep a line open to their newsrooms after the Secret Service shut down all new outgoing calls. The reporters knew the president was shot, but didn’t know the extent. It was interesting. Downtown Dallas was creepy, though. Most downtowns are, on a Saturday, so I don’t fault Dallas. But David’s main reason for not coming to the museum was there were three homeless guys within 50 feet of where the camper was parked. One was passed out on the ground. Since we knew we couldn’t stay at the horrible ghetto campground, we pressed on eastward. The next campground I had marked on the map was 109 miles away, and David didn’t want to go that far. I started looking for one closer to Dallas, but that meant I was working on the computer and navigating. At the same time, both kids were unhappy. Michael was crying and Nora had dropped all five things we had given her to keep her busy in her carseat. I think Michael’s crying was getting on her nerves, too. But I had to stay up front to work on the directions. I found a mobile home park listed under camping, and we got off at the exit. As soon as we got in the left turn lane and cars started stacking up behind and beside us, I realized the mapping software had us going eastbound on the service road on the other side of the highway -- a service road that is one-way westbound. I could see there was no other way to get to the park except to get back on the highway, go past it, and come back. But we couldn’t get out of the left turn lane. So we went ahead around the corner, under the highway. There was no where to turn around, and the only way to get past the mobile home park and come back west on the one-way service road was to go in an enormous circle around a giant high school and an industrial park. We had to go even farther because the one road I planned to take said, “No trucks. Narrow bridge.” At that point I was ready to scream, and the kids were already screaming. We made it around the giant detour and came back west on the service road to get to the mobile home park. Guess what? No mobile home park. There was nothing there. I did see a large vacant lot with a picnic table in it that might have been a park once. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! We got back on the highway going east and decided we were going OUT for dinner. I told David he could stop if he saw something, but I had to go into the back and be with the kids and he should just head for the place 100 miles away. He did find a KOA after a few miles. Despite our vow not to give KOA any more money, we pulled off. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. We asked at the KOA and the closest restaurant was a truck stop a couple exits farther down. We headed for it. We went in to the Pancake House and remembered that there are some places in this country that still don’t have a nonsmoking section. It was a horrible greasy spoon with a waitress who kept touching Nora’s face and arm. But hey, someone else was making the food. As soon as our salads came, Michael started crying and wouldn’t stop, despite having just been fed and changed before going in. After David finished eating, he took Michael back to the camper and Nora and I took our time finishing. We went back to the campground and finally got the kids to bed and promptly fixed ourselves some adult beverages. What a day. This was the most trying day so far, definitely. We are actually contemplating just staying for a day here in the middle of nowhere in Texas just to avoid driving tomorrow, even though there’s nothing to do here.