On November 20th, my amazing dad and I left Jones, Oklahoma at 6:15 in the morning. We had our first wrong turn before we even made it to Oklahoma-Arkansas state line. We needed to stop for a bathroom and a drink, and I accidentally directed us to the Indian Nation Turnpike, and we had to got 10 miles south before the first exit. Oops…..
So, after a 30 minute detour, with a bathroom break, we got back on the road. The only state sign I missed, was Arkansas. It was pouring down rain, and we completely missed the sign. However, we did see some interesting town names, and once the rain stopped, we had beautiful scenery….
Our next big stop was after we went through Little Rock. We stopped at Nick’s Bar-B-Que and Catfish in Carlisle, Arkansas. It was delicious, had great service and I got a t-shirt. They didn’t have a hat for dad’s collection, but it was worth it!
Next, Memphis Tennessee,
Dad’s truck (a.k.a. Cindy) has built-in GPS. However, she needs an update. So, she went a little haywire in Memphis. She had no clue that there was a roundabout, to get us from one highway to another. She had no clue where we were. However, this wouldn’t be the last time she didn’t know where we were, but she does get us around some major traffic delays later. Just in a “Bob’s Road” kind of way. (If you get my reference, you’re probably from Oklahoma.)
We hit traffic in Mississippi, but it wasn’t too much of a delay. The sun started to go down and I didn’t get any landscape pictures. Nor did we stop. We had a hotel already booked just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. So, we only stopped if we needed a bathroom.
Cindy’s next little, hiccup was coming in to Birmingham. There were major traffic delays on the highway we needed to get to our hotel. So, we took Cindy’s detour and it was very interesting…..
Cindy’s detour was a “Walk in the woods.” We followed a semi truck, and the road was only wide enough for him. So the hairpin turns we took, were fun……. (Nervous laugh inserted here)…. Then, we had to go under a bridge…… We watched the semi, nearly get stuck. All we could do was wait and watch….. But the driver was a pro! He went slow and steady. He made it, probably holding his breath and saying a few choice words. We made it to highway I-20, and then to our hotel, just a block away from our first Buc-ees. However, we saved the stop for the next morning.
The Hampton Inn in Leeds, Alabama was great. Comfy beds, nice staff and even with the remodeling they were doing, clean and quiet. We got a good night sleep, had a good, free breakfast and set off on the second half of our journey to Orlando.
From the start of our trip, dad and I kept track of all the U.S license plates that we saw on the road. Here is the list for day 1: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Indiana , Texas, Mississippi, California, Georgia , Kentucky, Florida , Colorado, North Carolina, Missouri , Maine, Alabama, Kansas, Washington, Nebraska (19 US Tags) and Ontario, Canada
NEXT EPISODE – THE ROAD TO NATIONALS: DAY TWO
Categories: NAM Pageant
Kirsti Rose Deyoe 
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