Road Trip Part 2 - Oklahoma to North Carolina, 4,000 miles and DONE

July 15

Ahh, leaving Stillwater I felt so much more rested than I had during the whole first part of the trip.  There really is nothing like a good night’s sleep to calm your nerves and soothe your aching back from crouching in a driving position for hours at a time.

I went back over to the assisted living center to see my grandmother and caught her after breakfast and before sewing (their schedules are super tight)!  It was nice to have a chance to say goodbye.  She gave me her lucky quarter from Bingo which I treasure and will take with me on my travels.  The Smith women understand Bingo, we have the skills. 

I waved goodbye to Uncle Ted and Aunt Laura, they were so wonderful to let me stop in and rest up, thank you both! 

First stop was Tulsa, I was hoping to find a Bank of America to deposit some cash I had found while cleaning out all of my stuff (don’t you love it when that happens?  Much better than finding a dead mouse).  I followed my Google Map directions into downtown Tulsa when I realized this was a Bank of America corporate building… so no parking and I was quickly caught in a continuous loop around the building unsure how to get back on the highway. 

[Side note: from this point on you will notice I continue to get more and more lost.  Yes, it would make sense to have a GPS, and yes I could have downloaded city maps which would have been helpful.  No, I did not do either of these things, because my mapping process had taken me across the country safely so far, and stubbornly I continued to use my original method.  This turned out to be a mistake and I am fully aware of that, lesson learned.]

I did have an opportunity to see some interesting buildings (trying to make lemonade from lemons here) and finally made my way back to the highway by sheer luck. 

Next I entered Arkansas… and stayed there for quite some time.  To be frank, I am not a fan of Arkansas.  I have had multiple weird experiences (and not weird in a good way) every single time I drive through this state.  I tried to appreciate the beauty of the trees, the puffy clouds in the sky, the… the dead armadillo on the side of the road.  It just broke my heart, I love those little guys.  Next I turned on the radio to listen to the local music station and heard the most ridiculous conservative horse crap, apparently Obama single handedly allowed Russia (and assisted Putin) in annexing Crimea.  Did you know that?  I did not know that.  Whew, even talking about it now is making my blood pressure rise. 

Fueled by anger and caffeine I made a deal with myself to not stop in Arkansas and spend one more dime of my money in this state, no matter what.  I got pretty far across the state before seeing these enormous thunder clouds developing in the sky.  They were literally pregnant with rain water.  And then… they released.  It was like driving in a hurricane – complete and utter anarchy. 

I escaped the rain just as I passed into Tennessee and saw Memphis.  Hooray!  Now I can finally get gas and go to the bathroom, sweet Jesus take the wheel!

I drove through Memphis to Bartlett, TN where my next Airbnb adventure awaited.  This night I stayed with a family and their eight year old daughter, four cats, 14 chickens, 2 rabbits, and full on suburban farm, just inches from the city limits of Memphis.  

Once I arrived I looked through their thoughtfully prepared visitor booklet and found a local southern food restaurant called Sweet Peas.  Sounded like a good meal to fill my weary soul (and stomach).  I drove over to the restaurant, parked, and walked in… honestly the experience was one of a kind.  I suppose I was expecting a small little café, that’s what it looked like from the outside.  It was quite a bit bigger and bustling, and to top it off there was an Elvis impersonator crooning from a mini stage at the back of the restaurant.  EXCELLENT.

Fried catfish, fried okra, cornbread, sweet tea and purple hull peas (similar to black eyed peas I found out) was my meal for the evening.  The server was quite possibly the nicest server I have ever had.  She almost forced me to take home a free sweet tea and a free and generous helping of their sweet potato casserole just because she wanted me to try it.  Elvis continued to sing – Frank Sinatra, George Jones, Dean Martin – so many greats I can’t even keep track.  He was fantastic!  And he would sashay over to some of the more engaged ladies and swoop silk scarves over their necks while singing sweet melodies to them.  I was quite entertained… and FULL.  No more southern cooking for this chickadee.  [And no, I did not eat a fried hand or fried chicken foot, that was catfish.]

Once back at the Adams’ residence I had a great conversation with Tom and Vanessa about their urban farm and what sort of places they wanted to take it and expand it.  They mentioned the organic farming community was pretty nonexistent in Memphis, but they were excited to be there developing it from the ground up.  We swapped stories about companion planting and some documentaries we had seen about organic farming.  As we were talking, their newest cat (Jay Catsby) would launch himself across the living room, take a flying leap in the air and land, claws out, on the scratching post attached to the wall (mounted about a foot from the floor).  It was like watching a pole vaulter.

July 16

Next morning I got lost (again, this will continue to happen) on my way out to the highway because I was entranced by all the crape myrtles that lined the highways.  We used to have a thriving deep pink one outside the first house we lived in, in Dallas.  Crape myrtles are like my double rainbow.

I visited one of probably seventeen Starbucks I found along the way (free Wifi and working air conditioning) in order to map where I was and find my way to the highway.  I am a strong supporter of everything local, but after going on this trip I have to admit that it is really nice to always step in a Starbucks and know exactly what you’re getting.  Thank you Starbucks… for being my friend.

Today was quite different, staying in one state the whole time, hadn’t done that since my half day in Washington.  Let me tell you, Tennessee is loooooonnnnnnnng.  I stayed on I-40 the whole way, battling traffic, longing for simpler times driving in Nebraska when no one was around except an occasional rogue tractor.

Outside Nashville I decided to take a sporadic detour (isn’t that what road trips are all about) and see the Freshwater Pearl Museum outside of Nashville.  No, I didn’t get lost, but it was quite a ways off the highway and not much to look at.  I didn’t realize what a big deal these freshwater pearls were out here.  And I was quite horrified by all the porcelain dolls in the gift store and along with lots of dead animals stuffed and staring vacant at me while I admired some pearl earrings.  I also found some advertisements for a woman selling boat portraits… I’ve heard of having portraits done of your pets, but never your boat – that was new. 

Back on the road I was getting very tired and thankfully passed Knoxville without incident.  I was heading to my final Airbnb location in Chuckey, TN and I got lost, like really lost this time.  I stopped to grab a few pieces of fruit and an avocado for dinner (best road food you can get).  And then I drove right past 351 and found 321 (assuming it was the right road) and rode up and down… up and down… up and down the street.  I finally pulled over and signaled defeat.  Jane, the Airbnb contact, gave me helpful directions to the house starting with, “honey… you are on the wrong road!” 

 

Once I arrived I was swept up by Jane and Glenn and plopped down in a rocking chair on their back porch admiring a beautiful view of the Appalachian Mountains.  Jane is a raw vegan chef and she and Glenn moved out there from Long Island once they retired.  She has a pretty successful business going, appeared twice on their local news doing cooking segments and is writing her second cookbook.  She made me a delicious and fresh dinner of tomatoes from their garden, avocado, white onion, salt and pepper, and homemade zucchini bread (made from a dehydrator instead of being cooked).  It was heavenly.

I also made friends with their bird, Petunia, who was pretty lively.  Jane snapped a few pictures of me and bird.  While I smiled for the camera, Petunia was hopping and bopping to a pretty steady beat on my arm, smiling away.  I was charmed by the bird but was a little apprehensive she would bite my face off (which she didn’t).  She was a very nice bird, so there was no need for alarm, but there’s something about birds smiling at you that freaks me out.  As my friend Erin says when she hears a bird, “that’s the sound you hear right before you die.”

The three of us (well four if you count the bird) stayed up for a few hours talking about life and what brought us to our current paths.  It was such an interesting conversation.  I am now convinced I need to return to New Orleans one more time for Southern Decadence (a GAY Mardi Gras, how did I not know about this???).  As we spoke, Jane kept bringing out more and more treats for me to try including a bunch of delicious and flavored vinegars from this store in Johnson City, TN. 

I finally called it a night and went to bed.  In the morning Jane had already prepared a healthy and delicious apple, date, walnut, and cinnamon concoction in a to-go container for me and Glenn printed out two sets of directions I could take with me to Wilmington.  Nicest people ever, I do hope our paths cross again.

I took a few pictures of their garden before I left, apparently the watermelons were all volunteers!

July 17

My final day!!!!  Today I was going to reach Wilmington and join my Mom and brother and meet my new niece Zelda (a cat).  I just had to get there.  Okay, so here was the quandary.  I had pdfed and emailed myself two sets of directions.  Jane and Glenn had printed out two sets of directions and my interactive map that is NOT reliable gave me three more alternative directions to Wilmington.  All seven of these routes were different.  SEVEN DIFFERENT ROUTES.  What fresh hell is this?

I chose to take a route that Glenn had printed out, seemed the easiest, taking me through Asheville and Colombia before hitting Wilmington.  But first I drove to Johnson City and picked up two of those bottles of vinegar for my mom and my Aunt Ainslie whose birthday was this week.  The woman who rung up my order looked and talked exactly like Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias, except she had normal sized boobs.

Once on the road I realized I had made a grave error.  When Glenn had printed out the directions, he had requested directions from Chuckey to Asheville to Colombia to Wilmington, not Chuckey to Wilmington.  Because of this, the directions weren’t straight shots through the cities, instead they had me get off in the cities, welcomed me into the city, and then proceeded to tell me to get on new highways that were nowhere in sight.  So I got completely lost in downtown Asheville in the middle of some big event that had me sitting in standstill traffic wondering where in tarnation I was.  I stopped at a car repair shop and got some reluctant directions from a man chewing straw and wearing overalls (I couldn’t even make this stuff up).

Back on the road my back and shoulder had gone from hurting to aching to full on shooting pain up and down my body.  It was the weirdest pain, icy hot spasms that were giving me a headache and an earache.  I decided to pull over and have lunch just to get out of the car and immediately felt better.  Had lunch in Greenville where I took advantage of the “Southern Pour” and headed back to the highway bracing myself for Colombia… where I got lost, again, and this time in a very bad neighborhood.  

I stopped at a hotel and rang the buzzer, looking around me at the bars on the front desk and the stray cats in the parking lot.  No one answered so I walked back to my car when I heard someone shout, “HEY… HEY YOU… HEY!!!!!”  I turn around and see this huge man lumbering towards me with a microphone in his ear.  He turned out to be so friendly, giving me really good directions to the highway.  You just never know! 

Just about the time I got on the highway, I got lost, again, and this time I have no idea how it happened.  I was so tired that I somehow left the highway and got lost, how does that happen?  And then it started raining, really hard.  So what did I do?  Honestly, I almost lost my cool, it was like the speeding ticket all over again.  But I was SO CLOSE, so close to completing this leg of the journey.  So I found a Starbucks and I kid you not, the rain stopped and the skies cleared and a sunbeam shown down in the parking lot.  That seriously happened.  I mapped my way and got back on that stupid highway and didn’t stop until I reached Wilmington.

So that was the road trip – Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina – almost 4,000 miles.  I almost started crying when I reached Wilmington I was so happy to be there.  And the best part - Family Reunion!  My brother Will is living in the historic district of Wilmington and my Mom’s new house is about four blocks away.  Wilmington is such a cute town, filled with trees draped with Spanish moss and more crape myrtles (yay!).

We spent the next three days packing, doing errands, catching up, and more packing.  I went to bed every night exhausted, but loving being with family and in a familiar setting.  Although I’d never been to Wilmington (except for a quick visit when I was 8 years old), anywhere you’re with your family feels familiar and therefore safe and happy. 

And I LOVED getting to know Zelda, the new cat in our family.  I love to sing to her, “Zelda-cat Zelda-cat, oooooh Zelda Zelda Zelda, Zelda-cat! POP, ba-doo-doo-doo” [to the tune of Lollipop].  She is scared of me, except when she has no other option and needs to be petted. 

I decided to get my hair colored pink because I’ve really never done that before and this is a trip of firsts!  I also got an amazing massage that really worked out those shoulder and back pains.  That was an absolute must. 

I’m looking forward to getting back to Wilmington once my Europe leg is over, I’ll be spending six weeks there alternating between houses, working on planning New Zealand, and exploring the town.

July 21

My Mom and I got up early and drove to Washington DC, to Bethesda, MD where my Aunt Ainslie and Uncle Dave live.  Ran into some rain, but it wasn’t too bad. 

We had dinner with my cousin Amanda, her husband Mike and their cute 2 year old daughter Cara who I got to meet for the first time.  She is definitely a water baby, kept wanting to get in the pool!  Had a wonderful meal of swordfish steaks and fresh fruits and veggies and a decadent six-cheese macaroni and cheese – perfect summer meal. 

Tomorrow I head to Leesburg to hook up with Anjali and then the next day… ICELAND!