Damage and Delight

Trying to find someone to diagnose a problem with a car on a Sunday is like it used to be to try to find a doctor when you were sick on a Sunday, until they came up with urgent care centers. Someone should develop an urgent care center for vehicles. I could have used one yesterday.

I knew something wasn't quite right with my car thanks to the ruts and potholes on I-40 going through Texas and the rough, uneven pavement in a construction zone on I-40 a little west of Oklahoma City. I didn't know what was wrong and didn't know where to go to find out on a Sunday. The car seemed basically okay, so I continued on my journey.

Yesterday morning I woke up in Oklahoma City. Gotta love OKC -- it's the only city where the hotel had the SPEED Channel. So I happily watched a couple of interviews with the drivers before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race (which, as it turned out, was rain-delayed until today).

Oklahoma gave me steady drizzle and light rain until mid-afternoon. One visual highlight was the roadside sign that said, "Checotah - Home of Carrie Underwood." And the sign that said that if you took that exit, you could visit a Civil War site. Huh? I'd never thought of Oklahoma as a Civil War state. But what do I know? Much of I-40, despite the gray skies, was quite pretty with the lush grass and carpet of trees lining the sides of the highway. (Pic here -- the speckles are raindrops on my windshield.)

I rolled into Arkansas mid-afternoon yesterday. It was still drizzling through most of the afternoon. I was sailing along in light traffic entertained by k.d. lang belting out the beautiful "Hallelujah," which she sang at the Vancouver Olympics. Great song. I played other songs too, of course, but I did repeat that one several times. I was tempted to stop at the Pig Out Palace for BBQ because the sign was so hilarious, but I drove on. Got to Little Rock -- 350 miles from Oklahoma City -- at 5:15. I thought I could make it another 135 miles to Memphis so I soldiered on.

Part of the game while driving cross-country has been to see if I could get the cheapest gas along the way. "Cheap" has varied from $2.64/gal. to $2.84/gal. I learned over the miles that the places that flashed their prices on huge LED signs facing the highway usually had the cheapest gas. I felt so highway-savvy whenever I'd win the game by, in fact, buying what turned out to be the lowest-priced gas in the area.

Passing the Shiloh battlefield was emotional. With the lone cannon in site and the vast, empty, rolling-hilled field all calm and grassy now, I could almost see and feel the young soldiers, the violence of face-to-face combat, and the fear and bravery of them all.

Sure enough, I did make it to Memphis before dark. When I crossed the famous Mississippi River, I felt that somehow the occasion was momentous. What tales it could tell....

As I approached Memphis, the pyramid-shaped structure on my left caught my eye. What the heck is it? (Pic here) Very cool, whatever it is.

I wove my way through the city so I'd be past the rush-hour traffic when I left for Nashville in the morning. I found a Hampton Inn, charmed my way into an upgrade, and sought a local restaurant for dinner. Coletta's, which I'd found when I got lost on the way to the hotel, was the place. Good spaghetti and meatballs, Italian music from the 1950s, and, best of all, I was seated next to an electrical outlet so was able to plug in my laptop and log on to Facebook. I have enough loquacious friends there now that it takes me nearly an hour to catch up with everybody.

The "damage" and "delight" occurred today. First, the damage: I motored the 200 miles from Memphis to Nashville. I took my car to Crown Ford, and Randy there was nice enough to take my car in for a look-see. Sure enough, the undershield, which protects the underside of the car from whatever water, mud, rocks, etc., are thrown up onto it and cuts down the noise, was damaged beyond saving. They just took it off, so I'll have to have it replaced when I get back home.

Next, the delight: My friend Michele, whom I haven't seen since she helped me move three years ago this week, drove to Nashville from Louisville, Kentucky, and we have spent the day and evening together. So good it is to reunite with a good friend. We're such good friends that it seems like we got together last week, not three years ago. A colleague once said he was such good friends with so-and-so that they didn't need to see each other. I guess that's the way it is with Michele and me.

We had lunch in downtown Nashville at Big River Grille & Brewing Works -- excellent burger, mediocre coleslaw -- and roamed around downtown a bit. Caught a quick pic out of the car window of the Country Music Hall of Fame (here) and wonder what the radio-tower-looking structure is (bad picture below). (Be kind -- I was in a moving car, folks, and it wasn't mine so I wasn't driving!) We had an excellent, reasonably priced dinner at a little place recommended by the proprietor of our Hampton Inn (4th night in a row in one), Jose's in Old Hickory. I love local, hole-in-the-wall places and always seek them out.

Now I'm only about 675 miles from home. I'm not going to drive it all tomorrow, I don't think. It's beautiful country, I'm told, and friends suggest that I take my time and be a tourist. When else am I going to drive this way? This will probably be the only time. However, you never know!