We clocked over 600 miles, driving through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, with a dinner stop at the Rendezvous in Memphis, for their famous dry-rubbed ribs. Finding a hotel in East Bumble Arkansas took longer than planned, thanks to a girl's softball championship being in town...but we drove a few more miles down the road and found a nice place with no trouble. Will probably call ahead tomorrow night! Drove through many a driving rain/thunder storms and tested the water resistance of our roof bag. Luckily for our sleeping bags, the hotel Laundromat (read: dryer) was just across from our room.
Got creative with the tarp/roof bag combo, and hoping the weather will improve as we go further west. Entered Oklahoma, which is much more green, hilly, lush & tree covered than anticipated. This state needs some new branding ... "dust bowl" is doing them a disservice. Are they trying to pull an Icelandic move?
Following a delicious lunch at RePUBlic, we abruptly met the dust bowl. Next concern, where to stop and throw the frisbee around to celebrate the 1000 mile mark? Doesn't sound like as much fun in 98 degree heat, except for Bikram trained Tarah, who loves the heat. :-)
Route 66 and playing LA Woman. 2:52 pm local time.
Exit 84 - first sighting of wind turbines...now we're really starting to get that dustbowl feel...doesn't exactly bode well for the driver... (a few hours later) ... yep, majorly hot (105 degrees) and dusty in west Arkansas and east Texas... But we're getting our fix on Route 66! Ready for Santa Rosa, NM, thanks to Brian (our fearless driver), D$ (best navigator out there) and priceline.com!
Endured temperatures above 105 degrees all through Texas and into New Mexico ... Seeing the foothills now and getting excited for the mountains to make their appearance!
Landed in Santa Rosa, New Mexico after driving 1,300+ miles, unloaded the car and went immediately to the hot tub of our hotel where we met numerous interesting characters. Most of these photos were shot from a moving car, so we'll get some better ones over the next couple of days.
