Texas 2024

Pretty uneventful day.  We left the Coulsons' home at 6:00 am.  After exiting 840 onto 40W we stopped a little after 7:00 am at Cracker Barrel in Dickson, TN.  We left around 8:00 am and headed toward Memphis.  Memphis traffic was pretty heavy but moved steady as we crossed over the mighty Mississippi into Arkansas.  After passing through West Memphis and Forrest City, AR, we stopped for bathroom break at a TA Truck Stop in Earle, AR - pretty nasty - did our business and headed on down road.  Truck traffic was heavy all the way to Little Rock so we stopped at a Love's for snack/lunch.  We picked up 440 bypass in North Little Rock heading to I-30 when we hit a major backup.  Good ol' Waze routed us around the traffic by utilizing the access road that paralleled the interstate.    We hit the Texas state line, took the normal Welcome signs photos.  After driving 525 miles, we checked into Residence Inn Texarkana around 4:00 pm.  I don't know if the room was an upgrade or not, but it had one large living room plus abd bedroom and bath.  Furniture was sparse in the living room so we had plenty of space.  We then walked over to the Longhorn's for dinner. 

Given we only had 225 miles to go today we did not leave hotel until 8:30 am and headed to Weatherford, TX, about 30 minutes west of Ft Worth.  We checked in to hotel online and asked for a 1:00 early check in.  Just before Dallas we stopped at Bucees Royse, filled up with gas and bought a few snacks. About 20 miles from Dallas traffic begin to back up due to construction - some stop and go - but nothing major.  We arrived at SpringHill Suites Willow Park in Weatherford by 1:00 pm, checked in, and unloaded the truck.  After freshening up we called Saundra to let her know we were in Weatherford.  She was putting out lots of snacks and asked if we could get Aunt Tenny and bring her with us.  We drove to her assisted living campus in Aledo (15 minutes away) and met her in the lobby.  We took a quick tour of the facility and met her dog Beasley.  We all loaded up (including Beasley who rode on the console) and arrived at Saundra's around 3:00 pm.   Her son Kevin and his 10 month old Nora Grace was there.  We snacked and talked.  STan and Katrina arrived around 4:00 pm. Steve came home before 6:00 pm and Kevin left and picked up dinner from Railhead Smokehouse BBQ.  This is Texas - no pork bbq - only beef.  Kyle came in around 8:00.  We talked a little more and then went outside for memorable pictures before heading back to hotel.

Heavy thunder and rain woke us up around 5:00 am on Saturday morning.  We had breakfast and left hotel around 8:30 to drive to Salado, TX to see Paul and Amy.  It was pouring down rain but we hoped we would run out of it as we headed south on 35.  We stopped at Bucees Temple for a potty break and drinks.  We arrived at Paul and Amy's around 11:15 am.  Rain had stopped and turned out to be a great day - although it was getting cooler.  Stan and Katrina met us at there around noon.  Amy had prepared a great lunch and dessert.  Katrina had stopped in West, TX and picked up some kolaches from Slovacek's.  We had a lot of laughs and caught up on the old times we remembered.  Paul and Amy's son Nicky drove in from Round Rock 1:00 pm. Paul has a beautiful property with nice pool and landscaping.  We took the memorable photos and left around 3:00, hitting rain as we got closer to Ft Worth.  We got home by 5:30 pm, ordered a Domino's pizza and called it a night.

Sunday morning was cold (52 degrees) and windy.  We grabbed our coats and headed downtown Ft Worth to the Stockyards to see the cowboys run the longhorn steers to the exchange, just as they did in the 1800s as they drove cattle along 400 mile C​hisholm Trail.   We met up with Katrina, Tenny, Steve and Saundra around 11:00 and watched the drive.  We then walked around the many restaurants, shops and bars.  We had lunch at H3 Ranch restaurant, stopped in at the John Wayne ​museum and saw a statute of his horse Trigger (not the same as Roy Rogers) and picked up some memorabilia.  We visited some other shops and went over to Billy Bob's, the world's largest honky tonk and took a couple of great tourist photos on the bull.  We walked back over to Hotel Drover, a Mar​riott Auto​graph Collection hotel   I can't afford to stay there but it was a beautiful piece of property in a great location.  We gave each others hugs and said our goodbyes, found the truck and headed back to hotel.

Woke up to a cool 45 degrees this morning.  Based on recommendation from Steve we left hotel at 8:45 am to allow time for the morning rush hour traffic to clear out in Dallas Ft Worth before we tackled the 60 miles from Weatherford to the lakes on the outskirts of Dallas.  We made a quick stop at the Harvest of Aledo to get some pics where Aunt Tenny lives (to share with Aunt Bobby). On the way we spied a field of bluebonnets still in bloom.  We also stopped in CVS to get some cough drops and Mucinex since we are all coughing and sneezing (Allergies from Live Oaks?).  I picked up a box and paid for them.  I got to the car and looked at the receipt.  The Mucinex was $48.  I took it back in and got a refund.  That was crazy.  We headed towards Ft Worth and the maze of roads and overpasses as we neared Dallas.  Going through Arlington you could see the top of Cowboy (AT&T) Stadium just south of us, and we drove past Six Flags over Texas.  We remembered going there around 1989.  We made it through Dallas without any major traffic problems.  We drove on to Bucees Royse City for a bathroom and refreshment break.  Just past Texarkana we stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center for a state welcome sign picture.  We stopped at Exit 97 and got gas and cleaned the bugs off the windshield at a Love's Truck Stop.  We left  Love's and arrived at Residence Inn North Little Rock around 4:00 pm.  After checking in we drove over and ate at Chuy's TexMex.  We called it an early night as everyone's allergies are acting up.  Tomorrow is on to Memphis and then home.  On a side note the hotel was giving out the orange cards with your keys.  Thanks a lot.  I will running outside all night checking on the truck.

We woke up to 55 degrees - warmest day of the past few days.  Our plan was to have breakfast at the hotel and leave around 8:30 for the 2 hour drive to the Pyramid - Bass Pro Shop in Memphis.  Patsy and I went to breakfast, and I went out to see if truck was still there (see previous blog post).  It was and and there were no broken windows so all was good.  We ate, packed up and was on the road at the appropriate time.  The allergies are working on us, and there is a lot of hacking, sniffing, and sneezing in the truck.  Turn up the music.  Not far out of Little Rock Waze told us to take Exit 169 off I-40.  David did a quick look at his Waze and expanded it out and could see no accidents.  We ignored Waze's suggestion.  It had to be glitch.  I normally listen to her detours as they are spot on, but this was not the case.  We crossed the Mississippi River into Tennessee around 10:00 and made our way to the Pyramid.   It was impressive, both outside and inside.  After shopping around I found an insulated cup on sale (like the $45 Stanley cups) for $19.99.  After paying we got in truck and made our way south towards Whitehaven where Elvis' home Graceland is located.  Being there a little early for our 1:15 reservation, we searched for a place for lunch.  We found a Piccadilly cafeteria - have not seen one of those in years - and got meat and 2 and a dessert.  The portions were huge and we left half what was on our plate.  We arrived at parking lot across from Graceland around 12:30 and got our tickets at will call.  While waiting we walked through some of the buildings - each with a theme for Elvis.  There was the car building and a motorcycle building.  There was an "icon" building which had other stars who said their careers were inspired by Elvis.  There was a building which looked like the original Sun Records recording studio.  We did not have time to see them all before our tour.  We arrived to the theater at our reserved time and watched a short movie before boarding the shuttle to take us across the street.  They were handing out iPads and earphones to use as a guide but we decided not to lug them around (my mistake - we should have gotten them as we probably missed out on the nuggets about Elvis).  We toured Graceland - seeing the downstairs of the home, the grounds, the pool nd the memorial (where Elvis, his parents and Lisa Marie are buried).  The house was built in 1939 - Elvis bought it in 1957 with 17 acres of land.  It was small to today's standards, although they said it ahd 17,000 SF, it did not look like it.  After catching shuttle back to parking lot we finished touring the buildings and headed to Elvis's airplanes.  Somehow we missed the path and ended up outside the chain fence where planes were located.  We decided to skip the planes and start the 3-1/2 hour drive home.  After a couple of hours we filled up with gas, got some burgers and headed home.  We got to Smyrna around 7:30 pm pretty tired.  It had been a good trip - no major problems on the road or with hotels - just those allergies.