(Sing it with me, kids...) Ooooooooaaaaaaaaak! Lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...

or, as I sang it to the MIL this afternoon, Ooooooooaaaaaaaak! Lahoma, where the road is really really long...

We left South Carolina yesterday, and our 13+ hour drive was essentially "bookended" with stressful driving - the first portion needed a lot of navigation to get through the back road shortcuts to the first fueling to get to the first major highway, and the final portion was in darkness through construction zones.  We arrived safely in Arkansas last night, very late, and had such slow internet connections that we spent more "wind down" time doing other things like checking on the cats and moving essentials into the hotel room than checking the online stuff.  I did manage to check the blog stats, comment on a comment, submit an application for a gig, and look at Facebook notifications.  I think, at this point, it's been between 36 and 7000 hours since I was able to spend any time at all reading my Facebook newsfeed or telling y'all what fun we're having.

TODAY, Stephen was awake to give Dawn's Tramp Stamp a pretty good inspection in the 4 o'clock (Central time) hour, and then her Crack got more attention in the 6 o'clock hour, so we both just got up and started prepping for today's trek.  Had a hot breakfast in our hotel restaurant, which was actually not a mistake nutritionally, but had the climate NOT been overcast, would definitely have been a mistake for the comfort and safety of the cats, simply because it took forever.

We left Forrest City, AR at 8:45 local time and drove west.  The good news about today's trek was the same good news we'll have until we're nearly Los Angeles "local" - it's ONE highway.  We never have to wonder what the next step is.  I've included fuel stops and two-hour driving shifts with 15-minute rest breaks in the mapping software, so we look at the map long enough to see what the exit we need is, and whether we'll head north or south of the highway to get to the station.  But it's always back to Interstate 40 West.  Easy Peasy.

Well, easy until you get to Ooooooooooaaaaaaaaak! Lahoma!  Sure, there was wind sweeping down the plain shoulders and medians of the road.  There were plenty of hawks making lazy circles, and a few that appeared to be hunting.  There were no surries with fringe.  There were ginormous trucks and construction zones and annoyingly bad other drivers, and wind and LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGG stretches of road.  And wind.  Oh, and two pieces of a humongous metal puzzle box being transported on tractor trailers.  And did I mention that there was wind?

We were happy to get to Texas, because for whatever reason, the wind in Texas doesn't seem to want to blow you off the road, and also, it was only 176 miles through Texas, whereas OK was 300,000 miles.  No, really, it felt like it.  Anyway, after Texas, we were greeted by at least THREE different "Welcome to New Mexico (The Land of Enchantment)" signs, and I managed to get those captured in my camera.  (Last night, I failed miserably at both Tennessee {which we were in for a mere blink compared to Oooooooaaaaaaaaak! Lahoma!} and Arkansas, primarily because it was dark outside, and my camera decided it needed a flash.  No bueno.)

So here we are in New Mexico.  It wasn't even dark yet when we got our hotel room.  The young girl at the desk was willing to give me the "I don't have AAA or AARP or any Military ID but I'm just trying to get home and I've been on the road a LOOOOOONNNNNG time" (whiner's) discount!  We found out where to park and then went to eat at the Rockin Ys' Roadhouse down the street before coming back here to do this stuff.  It's been a good day.  And it's winding down with fast-n-free internets!  Woo Hoo!