Hell’s Half Acre

What a luxury to be able to outrun a storm. It is balmy, warm, sticky in our jeans and snow boots and sleeveless shirts here in Conway, Arkansas. We left the Waffle House in Lebanon, MO at the ungodly hour of EIGHT AM! We had trucks coming in and out all night and each and every truck had a refrigator unit which was not only deafening, cycled All Night Long. I was very happy to be driving out of the parking lot at EIGHT AM IN THE MORNING with breakfast in all the kids’ lunchboxes, coffee for Jamie and myself and a day of driving OFF interstate. We took I44 down to Springfield MO (the Simpsons creators decided on a good name for their town; there is a Springfield in each and every state we’ve been to in the midwest, and probably many counties as well). I had tried, unsuccessfully, to stop at the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield IL but it was located in a mall of downtown buildings with only parallel parking and nothing to accomodate a big ass trailer.

Last night Jamie and I downloaded days worth of weather maps and decided we’d outrun the storm coming down from Canada and turning all the states blue with cold, snow, sleet and ice. We drove lovely roads through the Ozarks and were amazed by the beauty of the mountains. We found all the leaves which were missing from the trees in the northlands; they’ve all migrated down here to Arkansas. Lots of beautiful turning color maple leaves still on the trees. We decided to take highway 65 south through Branston, Harrison and eventually Little Rock and from there we’ll head to Louisana and Mississippi. The coldest of the storm is west, so the beaches and south Texas will be very cold but southeastern Louisana and Mississippi should be ok. At least no snow or ice. According to the weather maps and prognostications, Texas should thaw by Saturday or Sunday and we’ll head down then. For now, we’ll hug southeast Louisana and Mississippi and wait it out on the edge.

For only the second night since we started travelling, we’re at a WalMart. I refuse to shop them and will not even park in their RV-friendly parking lots, but Jamie really only feels comfortable at WalMart so here we sit. I was able to find a Goodwill in walking distance that is not quite as expensive as its midwestern cousins and bought swimsuits for the girls, 2 pairs of pants for Sissy (FINALLY she has enough pants, now that we’re Mexico bound and will be wearing only shorts or dresses until these new (well, new to her) pants are outgrown), a dress for Ellen, books galore and a bear for Pikey. If we are overweight, it must be from the 3,982,355 bears the kids bring everywhere with them.