Riders on the Storm

March 24, 2023 – Day 37

Today was going to be a good day. (Obligatory Ominous Music). I had a nice, concerned, email from Joan:

Heard there were a lot of tornado warnings up for the south today….wondering if they will effect you in your routing?

Joan

I checked the weather for Tyler, Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas and it was nothing but wind. And we were leaving the wind behind.

It’s looking good down here. We’re heading to Little Rock today, no warnings aside from the wind, and it looks like we leave that behind today

Paul

In the interest of time and not having to deal with pans & dishes we ate at Cracker Barrel. We called the manager over to thank him, and corporate, for letting us park out back overnight. There were 4 rigs total, we were the only ones to eat there. It’s not our favorite place to overnight but it sure beats a rest area.

The trip started off pretty nicely, north eastern Texas (and the same for SW Arkansas is really pretty country.

I even grabbed the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Susan said, “Once you see it? It’ it’s unmistakable.” It really is. That tail is all you need to see to know what it is. When I entered into it eBird I was told it was “infrequent” but then I moved the location back to Texas and it was common. I’m glad I got the grab since I probably won’t see it up here.

Right before lunch I told Susan something like “I probably shouldn’t say this, but this has been the easiest day since we drove into New Orleans.” (susan here: Yup. He HAD to poke at it. And boy did we get it.) It had just started raining and it was lunchtime so we pulled into a Walmart parking.

The rains got heavier. And our watches and phones all dinged with important information.

The video was even scarier.

A front of storms running northeast to southwest and we were heading straight north right into the belly of the beast. We could add more than an hour to the trip and go east, then north, then west, skirting Little Rock and hopefully the storm. It was a hard decision and we may have made the wrong one. It is 9:45 pm as this is getting typed.

We headed off. Our 4pm arrival time was now 6pm. (Hah! If only we got here by 6pm.) Most of the extra trip was uneventful. We’d see some lighting and get some drizzle, the rain got heavier as we approached Little Rock.

Eventually we headed into the red.

We had to stop. Speeds were down to 45 mph and lots of people had their flashers on. It was getting crazy to be out there, crazier still to be pulling a trailer in this. Susan was driving so I found a restaurant at an upcoming exit and we took it. The parking lot was jammed but back a bit was a gas station that had room. We opted to head there and wait it out. The storm was moving directly east so it would only be 15-30 minutes of waiting. We were amused by the antics of the cars in the flooded street.

We headed out again when the weather radar looked better (it lied). We exited again and found a decent place pizza place for dinner.

We pulled into home for the next few days at around 8:30. What was waiting for us was a 90 degree back in, not a diagonal back in. Those of you who tow know that a 90 is harder. I got it in, I’m getting better at this. (Thanks Howard, I still remember the lessons in the driveway!)

Spoiler alert. Next stop Graceland.

But we’re staying here for a few days for some life maintenance Doesn’t that sound fancy? Day 1 will be groceries and laundry. And showers! (I won’t have to smell Paul over the diesel trucks).

Then we get on with birding and maybe some bike riding if we can find easy trails.

Daily: 406

Return Total: 2,190

Overall Total: 5,717

Return Miles/Day: 25

New Life Birds: 1 for me, 0 for Susan, Ha ha, I’m ahead.