Or for my overseas readers, HGVs. After two days on the road, I am safely at my dad’s house in eastern Tennessee. Yesterday I slept in and then had a hard time getting up and packed and ready to hit the road, so I ended up leaving an hour later than I had planned.
It was drizzling when I left, and I continued to drive in light rain until shortly before I reached Little Rock, Arkansas, after which the rain became much heavier. That stretch between Little Rock and Memphis is one of my least favorite roads to drive because in the last few years it seems to be overrun with commercial vehicles to the point where I’m kind of excited to see another car or pickup truck on the road.
North of Little Rock traffic came to a standstill for over half an hour, with GPS estimating the blockage (due to an accident) would last at least 90 minutes. My GPS found me an alternate route, but I still had to move forward in occasional six-inch increments until I reached an exit I could use.
By the time I took the detour and made it back to the “right” road (I-40) the sun had set and the rain was pouring down in buckets and I was surrounded by massive eighteen wheelers. It was not a fun drive, especially since the truckers seemed to be universally lacking in common sense, not to mention common courtesy. I suspect that many of them were also illiterate, because they certainly seemed unable to read the speed limit signs.
I’ll be honest—driving at night, in pouring rain, surrounded by hundreds of barbaric truckers, is one of my very least favorite things to do. The upside is that it is so stressful I can stay wide awake with no need for caffeine.
I arrived at my cousin’s house a good hour and a half later than I should have. This is my cousin Miracle Mark, who almost died last March and who is miraculously still alive. (Really. It’s a miracle.) I spent the evening visiting with him and his sweet wife Teresa and then snuggling down in a very comfy bed.
This morning we had a little more time to visit before we all had to leave the house. Teresa was taking Mark to a doctor’s appointment and I of course had another drive ahead of me.
It was a gloriously sunny and very windy day—such a change from yesterday’s gloom and downpours. Tennessee isn’t really at its best in January, but it was still a mostly lovely drive and although there were a lot of trucks on the road, it seemed more like fifty percent compared to last night’s ninety percent. And there were only a handful of speed traps instead of every ten miles like usual. I don’t speed, but I do get tired of being told every few minutes that there’s a speed trap ahead.
The worst part of today’ drive was going through Nashville, which I hate because in order to stay on I-40, you have to keep exiting right, then left, then right, etc. I wish it could just be a straight shot through town.
After leaving Nashville, the road starts rising, and my spirits rise right along with the altitude. I’m not sure why this is, but up to a point, the higher the altitude, the higher my spirits. I love driving up onto the Cumberland Plateau like I did today, and it depresses me to drive back down at the end of my visit. The same is true of my trip to Colorado. After Amarillo, my mood improves with every mile as I drive higher and higher.
My dad wanted to meet me in town for supper, but I arrived in town at 3:00 in the afternoon, so naturally I went to the yarn store first. This town has a lovely yarn store and I haven’t made it in there during my last few visits. They had some lovely shawls on display and I was successful in finding a couple of patterns that I’m hoping to use with some of my yarn stash. There may have also been some sale yarn that insisted on coming home with me.
My dad had asked me to do some grocery shopping for him, so I did that before driving over to the restaurant to wait for my dad. We had a nice dinner before heading back to my dad’s neighborhood. I am staying in my aunt’s condo this time as my dad got rid of his sofa bed. My aunt is still in a nursing home, so I have the place to myself. It’s a little bit weird, because everything is laid out and set up for her to return.
Any online activity will be taking place at my dad’s house because my aunt’s condo has no internet access. So we’ll see how much I’m able to blog while I’m here.