To See Texas Twice

I left my home of sixteen months at 1 pm on Friday, June 8th, after a few hours of final packing.

There was a billboard before coming to Yuma, AZ, that declared the city the "winter vegetable capital of the world,"... Oh, Yuma. Was able to drive on base with my brand new military decals to meet up with my brother for the night. We had Chipotle for lunch, Cold Stone for dessert, looked at his rifles and his new 1911 pistol he keeps in self-storage, and finally went back to the mall to see The Avengers, which I quite enjoyed watching with him. He drove me back to my car on base. It was so over-stuffed, there wasn't room for a passenger.

Continued on that night for another hundred miles to Gila Bend, AZ, where I stopped at a space-themes Best Western motel. It had been independent back in the 60s, but the decor survived corporate take-over. :) The room included a hot breakfast at the accompanying restaurant. And you should have seen the moon on the way there! A partial, huge,orange one!

The desert drive was fantastic! Long winding road, so many vistas! Stopped in Payson, AZ, for gas and to give my parents a ring. They had a Saturday farmer's market, which I looked at before continuing on to Holbrook, AZ, where I was about to check out their county museum before a Navajo man sitting outside asked for something to eat. Took him to a restaurant instead, and we talked a while. I was so tired by the time I stopped in Gallup, NM, at 2 pm, that I sat down in the convenience store for a 5-minute nap. Crossed the Great Divide at 3, and discovered that going 75 felt pretty slow. The sunset in Texas was delightful in my rear-view mirror. The plan had been to stay in Amarillo, but I could barely keep my eyes open and so I stopped just shy of it in Vega for my 2nd Best Western. Had a DQ burger for dinner and chatted for a second when I got back to the motel.

It was a 4-hour drive to Norman, but it felt like nothing since I was so close to seeing Michael. Got there in plenty of time for church that I even had time for a cup of coffee that he offered me. We went to church, and then Cracker Barrel for a leisurely brunch. Took a nap when we got home... but he had to take off for the office while I rested. Soon though, I got up and started working on fixing the my packing before he came home and we went to Othello's for dinner.

After a lovely sleep, we went to Jimmy Egg for breakfast, then headed out on errands. He saved $60 on his car tags, for being a military spouse! Picked up his prescription, stopped at the post office, the library, had dinner at our favorite Chinese Buffet, and called it a night after we walked Charlie again.

Had a light breakfast at home the next day, did more errands. For lunch we drove to Chickasha to meet up with Mike's long-time friend, Sherry, at Western Sizzlin'. It was wonderful to meet her after hearing so much about her! Back at home (after that lovely hour-long drive), the air conditioner guy came and installed a new unit (as well as picking up my wallet for me that I had left at the restaurant - he was nearby when he called to tell Mike when he'd arrive). Then it was lots of packing and burning music CDs, then dinner at the Service Station.

Left around 12:30 the next afternoon, and went south on I-35, around Dallas, had KFC on the way, through LA, and stopped at a convenience store there so I could claim it as a visit to my 49th state. Stopped at Vicksburg for the night at the Hampton Inn across the street from the battlefield.

Vicksburg National Military Park was very neat. The visitor center wasn't much to speak of, but we bought the driving tour there. We then drove the battlefield loop until 10:30, including the stop at the USS Cairo museum... a gunboat raised from the river in the '90s. We continued our trip through Mississippi. Alabama was long and we stopped for Burger King. We finally made it to Linda and James in Atlanta by 6ish. Had a lovely, home-made meal with them, and an evening of visiting and watching WENN extras and episodes.

Little bit of a late start, checked into a Comfort Inn motel in Hendersonville in the afternoon, just across the street from the community that my grandparents live in. Met them, started to work on a puzzle, chatted, watched the Cubs beat the Red Sox, went out to Papa's & Beer for a big Mexican dinner, then shared a dessert back at their house as we visited with my Aunt & Uncle as well. Loved how well everyone got along!

After breakfast at the motel, we went to see our relatives off on their day trip to South Carolina, visited downtown Hendersonville's Saturday street-market, and the courthouse museum (with a special Civil War exhibition, and a permanent turn-of-the-century Hendersonville County one-room schoolhouse exhibit). From there we found our way to my aunt & uncle's house where we saw all the improvements to their house, played with their friendly black lab Gus, and did a little fishing before we walked around the pond. On my uncle's suggestion, we headed out to see the Pisgah National Forest and the fish hatchery and recreational "sliding rock" in the local river. Leftovers for dinner.

Sunday morning with family, then they sent Mike and I to see the "Spitfire Grill" play at the Flatrock Playhouse, then we all met for dinner at the Sea Breeze seafood restaurant and finished the puzzle when we got back to there place.

Monday morning, the 18th, there was a lot of packing, then breakfast at Denny's to go, which we finished at Grampa and Gramma's by 9:50, visiting until 12:30. Doughnuts to go and a coffee... drove through Fletcher on the way to I-40. Stopped at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park five miles outside Greensboro, NC. This was the battle that led to the great victory at Yorktown later that year... where, incidentally, we were headed. We had just under an hour at the visitor center, then drove to overflow parking so we could take a look at the battlefield and see the statue of Nathaniel Greene. Lots of great artifacts at the center!

This made us rather late getting into Norfolk. Finally checked into the Navy Lodge just down the street from base around midnight.

Goodness, we made it!

Jw