And... we're off!
Plan C was a keeper, and I hit the road yesterday, Saturday January 6.
This was the scenario leading up to my departure:
I had a $120 Best Western voucher that expires Sunday, January 7. I asked if they could extend it and the answer was no, so I decided I would start my trip on Saturday and assess how my foot is doing after traveling for a day or two, and then decide whether to continue on to Arizona or head back home.
Heading out Saturday was a bit of a gamble. It was bitterly cold (-1 when I woke up with a high of 23 predicted) and I would be scooting just barely Southwest of what might turn into freezing rain late in the day on Sunday. I considered changing my route to head due South instead of Southwest because that would give me slightly better weather, but it's a longer route and a much, much less pleasant one -- I-65 is a major truck route and a nail-biter under the best of circumstances. So I decided to play the odds and take the route I prefer and risk getting stuck for a day waiting for ice to melt.
When I got to Paducah, Kentucky late in the afternoon on Saturday, everything that had been in the van since the day before was completely frozen. I shlepped stuff into my (free!) motel room and headed to a well-reviewed Chinese restaurant for some hot, tasty, reasonably healthy food. By the time I got back from dinner, my foot was asking very politely to be elevated, so I granted its wish for the rest of the night.
When it was time to perform my nightly oral hygiene routine, I discovered that the super-chilled mouthwash bottle that had been in the van overnight wouldn't open. The contents hadn't solidified, but the plastic was too inflexible to "squeeze and turn" the cap. I had to run it under hot water to warm it up enough to open.
Looking ahead at the weather forecast for Sunday, I realized that if I was serious about avoiding freezing rain, I wanted to do my driving in the morning and get to Jonesboro, Arkansas before it started raining. There was no freezing rain warning for Jonesboro, but there was for most of my route there.
So, I got up early under cloudy skies and headed out on the second leg of my trip.
Since the interior of my van is not yet fit to be photographed, here is a photo I took of a quilt at the fall QuiltWeek in Paducah in September. Danny Amazonas is amazing -- I got to see him give a demonstration of how he works his magic. Make sure to click on the image so that you can see it full size.
Little ol' Paducah is home to the National Quilt Museum and one of the biggest quilt shows in the country. https://quiltmuseum.org They also have a cool little airport with an outdoor viewing area for the runway with a bench and flowers.
This was the scenario leading up to my departure:
I had a $120 Best Western voucher that expires Sunday, January 7. I asked if they could extend it and the answer was no, so I decided I would start my trip on Saturday and assess how my foot is doing after traveling for a day or two, and then decide whether to continue on to Arizona or head back home.
Heading out Saturday was a bit of a gamble. It was bitterly cold (-1 when I woke up with a high of 23 predicted) and I would be scooting just barely Southwest of what might turn into freezing rain late in the day on Sunday. I considered changing my route to head due South instead of Southwest because that would give me slightly better weather, but it's a longer route and a much, much less pleasant one -- I-65 is a major truck route and a nail-biter under the best of circumstances. So I decided to play the odds and take the route I prefer and risk getting stuck for a day waiting for ice to melt.
When I got to Paducah, Kentucky late in the afternoon on Saturday, everything that had been in the van since the day before was completely frozen. I shlepped stuff into my (free!) motel room and headed to a well-reviewed Chinese restaurant for some hot, tasty, reasonably healthy food. By the time I got back from dinner, my foot was asking very politely to be elevated, so I granted its wish for the rest of the night.
When it was time to perform my nightly oral hygiene routine, I discovered that the super-chilled mouthwash bottle that had been in the van overnight wouldn't open. The contents hadn't solidified, but the plastic was too inflexible to "squeeze and turn" the cap. I had to run it under hot water to warm it up enough to open.
Looking ahead at the weather forecast for Sunday, I realized that if I was serious about avoiding freezing rain, I wanted to do my driving in the morning and get to Jonesboro, Arkansas before it started raining. There was no freezing rain warning for Jonesboro, but there was for most of my route there.
So, I got up early under cloudy skies and headed out on the second leg of my trip.
Since the interior of my van is not yet fit to be photographed, here is a photo I took of a quilt at the fall QuiltWeek in Paducah in September. Danny Amazonas is amazing -- I got to see him give a demonstration of how he works his magic. Make sure to click on the image so that you can see it full size.
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