Yup...

Nashville to OK City to Albuquerque by way of Texas...

I left Nashville (above) early Wednesday morning and set out on a LONG drive through three southern states. Here is Memphis TN as I rolled into Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River.



Other than Little Rock, which I could not score a picture of because it was behind me on the freeway, this is what Arkansas looked like....

Finally made it into Oklahoma after many a fields...

Oklahoma is very flat and very boring. It was raining pretty hard for most of my drive through so pictures were hard to get. But this is where I was trying to get to after 12 hours of being in the car (minus one to eat and a few Cody stops) but a LONG ass drive nonetheless...

Once in OK City I rested at a Motel 6 where they allow dogs for free :-). I got a corner room that faced the freeway so it wasn't the quietest room, but once my head hit the pillow I didn't notice.

I slept in a bit then decided to go to the OK City Memorial. I figured I'll probably never get to OK City again so why not? I'm glad I did. Here are two shots of the reflecting pool, one side says 9:01 and the other says 9:03 which represents the minute before and the minute after the bombing occurred.


This is a 97 year old Ash tree that almost died in the bombing but was resilient and was nursed back to life, it is known as the Survivor's Tree.

These empty chairs represent the 168 people that were killed in the bombing.

And lastly, a piece of gnarled building that still stands as part of the memorial. It stopped raining long enough for me to get some nice pictures and walk the grounds.

Nearing Texas the rain and fog was dense but I scored a picture of a giant windmill. I was bummed about the weather because there were literally hundreds of these things lined up!!!
And this is much of what OK looks like.

Texas!!!!

A working oil rig!!!!

And here is the largest cross in the Northern Hemisphere, fucking creeptastic dude! I had to turn around to take some pictures of this beast. A tour bus was emptying as I was leaving and snickering at my new photographic evidence of how fucked up Texas really is.


I finally reached Amarillo, the half way point to Albuquerque from OK City. I stopped at Jorge's (Knotty Dee googled and found this to be the best place in town to eat) for a bean burrito with killer green chile sauce. My mouth was on fire for 45 minutes following the meal. Hell yeah!!!



After dinner was another Knotty Dee find, Cadillac Ranch, in the middle of a cow pasture. Yes, I walked this far through mud and cow shit, whipping winds and 45 degree weather (thought I left that behind) to see caddys buried half-way and tagged with spray paint. Beautiful!!!!
The walk....

Up close....

Freezing my ass off but loving it....

My shoes after the walk....

A sight for sore, tired, road hypnotized eyes!!! But still a ways to go...and finally it stopped raining about 30 minutes into NM!!!!

It is sooo beautiful here. Pictures do it no justice, really.

Stay tuned for balloon fiesta photos and more road trippin!!!!!
Peace,
MJ

Destination Nashville = Accomplished

I have officially and finally left Cleveland behind me. I thought I would be more emotional leaving and saying goodbye to people, but I wasn't. It was all smiles as I pulled out of the gray scale, chilly, dreary land of Cleve yesterday, vegan pumpkin loaf in hand...
Somewhere in mid-Ohio where fall is just beginning to occur...

My navigator who sleeps most of the time and occasionally picks her head up to investigate our whereabouts and sniff the air flowing in through the cracked window...

A shout out to you Zeus!!

Downtown Columbus (I've never been)....

Cincinasty!!!!


Entering Kentucky. It was pretty for a while, then it got boring. Hit some traffic before Louisville which slowed me down by about 45 minutes.

Kentucky country scene....which was about half the drive...

Signs of a metropolis in the midst of country!!!! Louisville KY, home of the Cardinals and apparently the "World Corvette Museum"...

Driving mania is starting to set in as I snap a photo of myself going 70mph in the middle of Bourbon-ville Kentucky!!
YES!!!! THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO GO!!!!!
Entering Tennessee, damn wiper got in the way. It appears that I brought the gray, dreary, chilly weather with me. Damn Cleveland, let me out of your grip, I AM GONE!!!

The pumpkin loaf has arrived!! Klassy Kate is the best hostess ever. Last night she whipped up some orzo with yams & spicy cheese, a lovely salad, and some dense yet delightful cornbread. This morning was banana/chocolate chip/flax seed whole wheat pancakes and coffee. YUM!!
Last night some live music at the 5 Spot with an ambient musician, who I can respect for what he's doing, but damn that shit was rocking me to sleep!

So onto the bluegrass jam at The Station Inn, which was most excellent.

There were some German's up in that piece talking amongst themselves and in sync Klassy Kate and I look at each other and say "Is that German?" then start laughing. And then there was poor Nigel (pictured in the orange/blue striped sweater)...He was a jammer and had a lady friend there to watch him. She was there with a male friend, and when she said, "Goodnight Nigel" he couldn't even muster up the words to say goodbye, he just watched her leave w/ her male friend with a bittersweet longing. It was a painful look to watch, and I'm not quite sure if he realized how painful an expression he was giving off. Klassy and I wondered what this woman did to him, or better yet, what she hadn't done.....

Off to explore downtown Nashville in the daylight. More to come.
Medusa J