Surviving the Crazies

Ten hours and fifty minutes and 715 miles later...we have arrived at the Days' Inn in Jackson, TN, where it is approximately 20 degrees colder and 20 mph windier than it was when we left home this morning.  All we did today was drive, drive, drive, stop at a Subway somewhere in SW Virginia, only to turn around and bail because we were beat to the door by about 35 teenagers off a church bus. go to Hardee's instead, then drive, drive, drive some more.  We haven't eaten at a Hardee's in a decade or two, and won't be in a hurry to do so again.  Fared (haha) better at dinner: Mexican food somewhere west of Nashville after the worst of the day's traffic had already been negotiated.  Cheaper, faster, better service, and actual food, rather than reconstituted styrofoam peanuts masquerading as chicken fingers.

Major lessons of the day:  Don't drive in Tennessee unless you fortify your nerves first (and not with alcohol--it's dangerous enough fully sober!)  Tennessee is about a million miles across in a straight line, and the speed limit is 70 mph, which means that most people go 75, but the crazies go 85 and the even-more-crazies go 60.  You are, therefore, entertained non-stop by the weavers-in-and-out, who think nothing of taking your bumper with them on their next pass.  This includes the 18-wheelers.  Hours of endless fun.

...most people go 75, but the crazies go 85 and the even-more-crazies go 60.

Cutest sight of day:  two gray kittens, maybe 5 months old, hovering at the edge of the parking lot at a TN rest stop.  Take one step toward them, and they flee about 6 feet--just far enough to stay out of reach, but not far enough to lose sight of you if you happen to have food to throw, which we did not.  Clearly, though, they have become accustomed to profiting from their cute little begging.  That's about it for the sights of the day--driving all day does not result in scintillating travel blog reporting.

Drivers talking on phone:  1035.  Drivers talking on phone causing obstruction in traffic:  1035.

Tomorrow:  Arkansas.

P.S.  Forgot to add: Most exciting event of the day:  I scored 453 on the electronic Yahtzee game that my father-in-law found at a sale several years ago (best travel gift ever!).  Not on, not two, but THREE Yahtzees in the same game.  Needless to say, there is no point in playing again any time soon, as this feat is not to be repeated.  Alas, that was balanced by my ongoing struggle with an electronic Sudoku puzzle, which I have been starting and restarting for about three days.  Just could not figure the blasted thing out--finally got it with a total time invested of 4 hours, 13 seconds.  (Electronic games--sometimes they give you too much information!!!)