Got a good night’s sleep last night and I am ready to hit the road today. Unfortunately I have to work for the office this morning so I can’t hit the road nearly as early as I would like. So I was up around nine and worked from my laptop in the hotel until two in the afternoon which is when my gold membership with Choice Hotels entitles me to stay.
Jen was on the road early hoping to be off to Mississippi to hook up with a friend there before continuing on her way to Houston today. So we parted ways this morning. The last, long day is a lonely one. Before she left we went over to a restaurant right next door to the hotel called the Farmer’s Market or something to that effect. It was a southern style buffet (a la Golden Corral) but much nicer. The people were very friendly and the food was good. There was not much in the way of vegetarian as we had missed breakfast by fifteen minutes or so but being a buffet and as they had an all day omelet bar I was able to make due quite well.
I worked until two and was in the car and on the road around two thirty. It is a long drive from Dickson to Memphis, on to Little Rock and across Texarkana and on to Dallas. I did the entire route yesterday without the GPS and I did today as well. I really hate using the GPS unless it is absolutely necessary. Using it makes you sloppy and makes you stop paying attention to where you are going. I like learning my way around.
The trip went pretty well. I mostly listened to my iPod – catching up on IT Conversations podcasts as best as I can. I was very glad that I was able to drive almost all of the way across Arkansas today in daylight. The last time we came through it was dark and I missed out on seeing Arkansas on my first time through it. This was far more interesting. I got to see Memphis in the daylight and then a very large portion of Arkansas. It is actually a very beautiful state. But it is also very large and takes forever to drive across which is rather misleading. The trip across Arkansas runs from the northeastern corner all the way to the southwestern so it is incredibly long and gives a rather complete survey of the state.
By the time that I was going through Little Rock the sun was starting to go down and it was completely dark an hour or two before I reached Texarkana. Then I had to drive through East Texas and it was quite late by the time that I finally pulled in to Las Colinas and got into the apartment which I had not seen in over a week. It was great to be home but awful as the family is not here and we have no plans as to how I will be able to get down to Houston to get them. I don’t have enough free time in any given day to be able to make the trip. It is over ten hours round trip and I am worn out from lack of sleep and too much driving. We are going to start working on a plan tomorrow as to what we are going to do to get them.