March 27, 28

Saturday night we studied the weather forecast and the tornado alley map, since there are thunderstorms coming up. The distance home via the three possible routes vary by only  6 miles, says Opa Henk from behind the computer. Lowest chance for tornadoes if we go via Dallas and Memphis, so we abandon the southerly route.

After a lazy Sunday morning we were on our way at 11:30. Not as warm as Friday, and quite cloudy. With a 5 PM dinner date with friends in Austin we had lots of time. The day, as far as driving was concerned, was divided in two sections. Before dinner, an hour and a half of driving, and after dinner, as far as we could get before we got sleepy.

So we finally left route 10. First we drove rte 35 to Dallas, rte 635 around Dallas, and then we got onto rte 30. We drove rte 30 also on the way to California, but after Dallas we went more straight west. On the stretch to Austin we didn’t see mountains in the distance anymore, the landscape was undulating flat, arid, but not desert-y. Enough trees, but small and well spread out, and !lots of them already wearing spring green! Along the road the flowers made pink streaks and yellow patches and here and there blue-purple blobs. But what we saw most of between San Antonio and Austin: bulletin boards. Pool tables, roof tiles, “Join the National Guard”, sports gear, McD, cowboy boots, caverns, “Arrested? We can help!”, and my three personal favorites,  #3, Whataburger;  #2, “half a dozen fresh veggies”, and  #1, “You know you want one!” That one was for Harley Davidson, but I thought it fitted Whataburger equally well.

In Austin, of course we were much too early for dinner, we had lunch on the Lowes parking lot and then settled behind Costco, where a young employee was roller blading. And roller falling. So we helped his skates off, put a little pillow under his ankle, and got him a bottle of water while he called his Costco manager and his mom. They sent the store EMTs out, who used cardboard to stabilize the leg while the store manager came for a look, and then his mom arrived to take him for X-rays, everybody left, and there we were, all alone again, as if nothing happened…

After dinner Opa drove until 10:30, just past Dallas, to avoid the morning peak. The clouds cleared up some before dark, but they hung heavily to the southeast. We parked for the night at WalMart again and got underway this morning by 8:30. We started on rte 30 (towards Little Rock, AR). The trees get taller and taller, and after the town of Sulphur Springs they pretty much looked normal.Then in Little Rock on to rte 40. So far, along the road, pink, white, yellow, what looks like white irises, and bluish – I think a thistle, and looking mighty mean. At the rest stops you don’t see flowers, they mow there. Pity. And near Texarkana, the Arkansas side, we saw a small wild pig rummaging in the fresh green grass down from the road, a black one with some white spots.

Big difference between Texas and Arkansas: in Texas, lots of Obama dollars at work on the roads and flyovers, and cloudy. In Arkansas, trees and flowers along the road,including redbud trees; and the sun shines.

Because of the latest weather update we had two choices, either wait the next bad weather system out or try to stay ahead of it. There’s no getting around it. We are going to make a run for it. If it overtakes us, we can always still hunker down for three days or so… So we just had dinner at a rest stop between Memphis TN and are zooming on to Nashville. On our way out, in December, we passed Nashville in the dark - hmmm. I was hoping to actually see it this time...