Out of the Cool Air and into the Frying Pan

View from Talimena Parkway
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Came down out of the nice, cool, uncrowded Arkansas mountains into the hot, flat, crowded plains of AK and TN.  We are simply headed home, and that means driving all the way across Arkansas and most of the way across Tennessee.  We declined breakfast at the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge (the food is convenient, but not great--although we did have a VERY good bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup there); couldn't face another round of 2x 2lb pancakes.  So we drove down into Mena, stopping at several overlooks on the way down the Talimena Scenic Parkway, and found a cafe that has breakfast service so recently instituted that they don't have menus printed yet.  But for a good price, we had a very good plate of bacon, eggs, and toast.  (We paid cash, so no credit card receipt, and I can't remember the name of the place, but it's the last restaurant on the right on the way out of town on 88 north.  I recommend it!)

View from Talimena Parkway (2)
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A lot of the driving in Arkansas was on state highways, and that was very pleasant.  Pretty countryside, though most people probably wouldn't believe it.  Once we got to I-40, though, the fun was mostly over.  I-81 in VA is notoriously bad driving because of all the trucks, and I-81 ends and merges into I-40 near the TN/VA border.  I took a one-minute sampling about four different times at 1/2 hour intervals, and estimated that 1200 trucks per hour pass by on I-40 going West.  It's a lot harder to count the trucks going the same way you are, so I couldn't take a sampling of those headed east, but I have to figure it's about the same.  So figure 2400 trucks per hour or something like 25,000 trucks a day.  If you go by that, the economy is doing great--unless they're all empty and the drivers are just aimlessly driving around out of habit.

...perhaps she was trying to figure out what to do with it since she had just shoved half the candy bar into the CD drive.

Memphis--on the fly, from the car on the way over the bridge
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Had lunch at an interesting place, though:  Nicks' Bar-B-Q and Catfish in Carlisle, AK.  The restaurant claims to have been "World Famous Since 1972."  Surely they couldn't say it if it wasn't true, but I have to confess to my own ignorance on this point.  I managed to miss their fame!  They specialize in pictures of Miss Arkansas on the wall--about 8 or 10 different ones of those.  We are informed by the blurb of history on the back of the menu that:  "Today, you'll find that the family has kept his recipes and the same old-fashioned service in tact."  Good thing, as I do hate tactless old-fashioned service.  We are also told that "You'll find this family tradition to be one of the best, from Nick's conveyor line to a whole new generation of serving you with down home hospitality."  Prose worthy of my students.  The service was, however, quite good, and the barbecue was tasty.  I was not willing to try the barbecue and catfish platter, however...

View from Talimena Parkway (3)
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Ran into Nashville at rush hour; that was tiresome.  Accidents AND construction contributed to the fun--never to mention that TN drivers have to be among the worst in the nation.  They specialize in zooming rapidly from lane to lane without warning, weaving and diving, speeding up and stamping on breaks. At one point, during the heaviest of the traffic jam, the girl behind me appeard to be texting (she kept looking down into her lap instead of forward at me!), and when she finished that, she had a candy bar in one hand and a CD in the other hand.  She just held the CD while she ate her way through the candy bar; perhaps she was trying to figure out what to  do with it since she had just shoved half the candy bar into the CD drive.  Who knows???

Nick's Barbecue and Catfish
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Oh--and all the rain of the day fell during the traffic jam in Nashville.  Fortunately, this amounted to (literally) one minute of rain.  Since we were on the road 13.5 hours, that was pretty amazing.

Rolled into the hotel in Eastern time at about 10 p.m., safe and sound.  Dad and Liz at that point were an hour out of Dallas on the plane; they beat us home, but at least we didn't have to do it all in one day.  Who knows which is worse?