Road Trip Adventures: Days 2 & 3

On Day 1, while at a rest stop somewhere in Arizona, I talked to a retired Navy veteran who had spent 26 years of his life serving our great country.  I told him about my Dad and his service in the Air Force.  It was neat seeing a similar retired hat perched atop another gray haired guy so far from home.  While talking to the Navy gentleman, for a second, it felt like my Dad was there with Adam and me.  

We had a bit of an historical experience on Sunday morning when we attended 7am mass in the oldest Catholic Church in Albuquerque, San Felipe de Neri (the church was built in 1793).  As we exited the church, we talked to a woman who was born and raised in the area.  She wished us a good trip as we departed the plaza in Old Town Albuquerque to make our way over to Rebel Donuts for an eggnog frappe and a couple donuts to go (Choco  Rebel, Salted Caramel, and of course the Maple Bacon donut).  I still prefer the breakfast donut from the Lancaster Farmer’s Market my friend, Michelle, gave me over the summer followed by the breakfast donut Adam, Doris, Natalie, and I ate from Voodoo Donuts in Denver.  However, these sweet treats definitely helped as we traveled from ABQ, NM to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Day 2.

This store reminded us of one of our favorite songs of Dawes:  A Little Bit of Everything.  However, as Adam pointed out...a store with this name (A Bit of Everything) should not be a specialized football store as it doesn't really have a bit of everything..hah!

Adam and I also worked to finish our monthly book today as we drove.  One of my housemates gave me Dr. Scott Hahn’s most recent book, “Joy to the World:  How Christ’s Coming Changed Everything (and Still Does)” as a Christmas gift.  The start of Chapter 12:  Flight Into Joy sounded extra familiar considering Adam’s and my current circumstances:

Christmas means travel, with all of its attendant busyness and bother.  In our highly mobile society, that’s what Christmas means to more and more people every year.  That is just as it should be.  Families should make an effort to get together for holy days.  And Christmas, after all, would be the appropriate time.  It’s the feast whose biblical backstory involves the most mileage.

Random facts from Day 2:

There is a concerto that is devoted to the four seasons.  I guessed correctly one 1 of the 4 in trying to match up the music with the season.  Guess I have some more learning to do from Adam in his taste of music.

In Adam’s words, “there is a whole lot of nothing between these two cities” when traveling on 40 East.

Sunday does not equal a day of rest for the farmers we saw hard at work riding their tractors yesterday afternoon as we traveled through New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Cadillac Ranch is right off the highway in Amarillo, Texas so it is very easy to make a pit stop and look at the cars half in and half out of the dirt there.  If we had had more time, I would definitely have stopped to look at them in person!

The song below by Bryan Adams was my favorite tune of the day:  

"A Little Love"

Some people walk the straight and narrow - some walk the rocky road
some get the silver spoon and some get the heavy load
there's a man in a paper box he smiles whenever we walk by
we just walk a little faster and say "there but for the crazy of God go I"
But a little love - just a little love - a little love can change it all
i've been up and down this highway and I ain't seen a road sign yet
it's cold hard world baby you gotta hang on yo what you get
I don't believe in miracles but that don't mean they don't come true
well I may not get to heaven but I get a little closer when I'm with you
but a little love - just a little love - a little love can change it all

well I get a little tired walkin' down the street
people on my side - everyone I meet
but they don't know what's on my mind
and they don't know what they might find
a little love - just a little love - a little love can change it all

right when you think you don't need love is when you need it most
even if you got the father the son and the holy ghost
well there's more to truth baby than what we know is true
ya we wander round in the darkness
but every now and then a little shines thru
and a little love - just a little love can change it all 

When crossing into Texas, we were able to snap this shot of the NM sign since we hadn't gotten one the other day.

As we got more comfortable with each other's driving styles, some of us felt comfortable enough to nap while the other drove.  :)

Supposedly this is the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere (somewhere in TX)...?

Cotton?

Missing my pooch even more (today is Dusty Shamrock's 8th birthday)!!

 

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Originally, we had planned to end Day 2 by staying overnight in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma but instead ventured 20 minutes northeast of the city to Arcadia to try out a place called, “Pops”, at the suggestion of a friend when she heard we were going to be in the area.  What a fun place this was!!  Built in 2007, from the outside, the building looked like some sort of futuristic building one might see on the TV show, “The Jetsons”, and we were surprised to see the gas pumps in front of Pops.  We joked that instead of dispensing fuel the pumps would fill gas tanks with soda.  Yeah, it doesn’t take much to keep us amused and entertained.  ;)  

I can’t even do the description of Pops justice with words but I will try.  The entire front and back walls of the huge convenience store were lined with hundreds and hundreds of colorful bottles of soda on the floor to ceiling shelves.  The flavors we saw ranged from Ranch (???!!!!) to chocolate to peanut butter and jelly (!!!) to more traditional flavors such as birch beer from Kutztown (where I got my Master’s degree!!).  Adam and I excitedly scooped up a bottle of Orange Dream that is supposed to taste just like an orange creamsicle and a bottle of Cherry Limeade to keep with the seasonal spirit.  We can’t wait to imbibe of our “spirits” when we share them with Mom and Dad in PA.  While dining at Pops, some teenagers walking by our table tripped and dropped their newly purchased soda.  One of the bottles broke open and showered us, and our food, and the shelves above us, and our hair, and my jacket with soda.  I was just thankful my ears didn’t get drenched with the sticky stuff.  We laughed it off and I sure hope the boy who had tripped and fallen wasn’t on a first date with the girl…how disastrous!  After dinner, we checked out the backyard and enjoyed the pretty lit up trees before hitting the road again and driving on a bit further on back roads to get back on 40.  The back roads provided a nice break from the highway driving and showcased some holiday lights.  My only regret from this portion of the trip is that we didn’t find Delilah on the radio sooner! 

 

We could see this "pop" bottle from over a mile away and no, it isn't lit up as a Christmas light decoration!  ;)

My "pop"ular guy standing in front of the entrance (check out those windows behind Adam!).

These are the windows that were behind Adam.  The waitress said before each worker can go home from his/her shift, each has to clean at least two shelves...that is a lot of dusting/polishing. FYI:  the bottles are glued to their spots on the shelves as they are for display only.

YUM!

Adam pointed out these cool pictures of landmarks that can be seen as one drives along Route 66.  The neat part about these photos was that we had seen many of these landmarks ourselves earlier that day or during the day before even if we didn't physically stop at them.

We both loved the peanut butter shake we shared..hand-spun and all!

 

We were excited to see this soda!  I got my Master's Degree from Kutztown University....and never knew Kutztown had a bottling company much less its own soda!

 

Looking at the back of Pops from the yard will show you just how large this building was in terms of other "convenience stores".

We stayed overnight in a motel that left a lot to be desired.  We didn’t have a laundry bag, WIFI was not free (hence no blog posting last night), and there was no free breakfast.  In spite of these inconveniences, or perhaps because of them, we hit the road bright and early at 6:30am to get a head start to Memphis.  We were able to watch the sun come up over the farms and cattle that dotted the rolling plains of Oklahoma as we steered toward Arkansas and Tennessee.  We have been really fortunate with the weather but today’s leg of the journey has proven to be a bit slower due to construction and a little more traffic than on previous days.

Pottsville!!! Apparently Arkansas likes to borrow names from other states/countries such as Pottsville, Menifee (!!!!), and even Palestine.

Crossing over the Mississippi River and from Arkansas to Tennessee!!

I didn’t realize so many famous folks were from this area of the country, the heartland of America.  It was neat driving on the Garth Brooks Blvd. and seeing the sign marking Shannon Miller’s hometown.  I think it’s the same Shannon Miller I enjoyed watching perform gymnastics on TV as a child.  However, what really excited me was that this morning, we drove through Checotah, the town where Carrie Underwood grew up…I could only get through one (twangy/country) verse of Carrie’s “I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore” on my iPod before Adam put his classical music back on the radio.  

We pulled into Central BBQ in downtown Memphis on the recommendation of a friend.  I'm so glad we followed his suggestion because the pulled pork nachos I ate there were DELICIOUS!!!!  Adam enjoyed his ribs too.  After driving through a little of downtown Memphis and enjoying the view of the river we pulled back onto 40 East.  However, much to Adam's chagrin, I realized there was a Pandora store in the mall and immediately pulled over to see if I could find a charm to add to my bracelet of mementos.  Two hours and another store later, I was successful!  Thanks, in large part to my Aunt Marie and Uncle Bill's gift card from this past fall, I was able to buy a dangling sparkly key with a heart in the center that I can wear either on my bracelet OR on my necklace that will help me to remember this adventure of a road trip Adam and I are currently on when I see it!

Look at all those yummy sauces! 

 

Just after this pyramid we drove past the St. Jude Children's Hospital!

By the time we got back on the road it was dark so we didn't think we wound up pulling over about an hour before Nashville at a hotel MUCH better than last night's!  Yay for free WIFI & breakfast too!!

  

Random facts from Day 3:

The welcome center rest stops in Oklahoma and Arkansas are AWESOME!  They looked like rustic cabin lodges and more importantly, gave away FREE coffee.  The welcome center in Arkansas had a fire roaring in the fireplace that made the whole area smell like campfire.  Very cozy!

Items lost so far:  2.  My toothbrush did not make the trip from Albuquerque, NM to Shawnee, OK and my small dangling St. Francis of Assisi charm that I bought (ironically) on Adam’s birthday in 2011 from the St. Francis Springs Prayer Center fell off my bracelet. : /   I’ve worn that charm every day for the last 3+ years and miss seeing the peaceful image throughout the day.  I hope to make it back to the prayer center in NC someday to replace the beloved charm!

When traveling through Arizona into New Mexico on our first day, we were just a few miles from the Native American reservation, Fort Defiance, which is where my brother and his wife completed one of their pharmacy rotations in the early 2000s.  I remember back then thinking how cool it was they were “so far away” and how I would probably never find myself out that way….and here we were traveling the same roads they did back then.  Cool!

For some reason, no matter where we went today (in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennesee), we were greeted with very poor customer service (in restaurants, stores, and even at the current hotel).  It was very trying at times and I'm glad the day is over so we can all have a fresh start tomorrow...if you have a moment, please send up a prayer/positive thought for all those who may be unsatisfied or unhappy with their current jobs that they may find peace or fulfillment in their work.