Day 2 started off considerably later than yesterday; Dad let me sleep in and got me coffee (super nice of him). Well, actually, he worked out, went to mass, and explored East Memphis and Germantown. Coincidentally, a block away from our hotel was an all-boys high school called Memphis University School; gorgeous campus with numerous playing fields and reminded me of Georgetown Prep or Landon back home. Leaving Memphis, we crossed over the Mississippi River and immediately we arrived in Arkansas. There was some interesting scenery with marsh/swamps the first couple of miles, but I quickly lost interest until we happened upon...
The Little Rock "Skyline"
I thought it was named after the figure skater too,
however he was born in Ohio (thanks wikipedia...not)
So no thanks to Arkansas, I had pretty much given up hope on anything "cool", until my dad and I had a big laugh when we saw this:
Hope, Arkansas: the Birthplace of Bill Clinton
And then, after that there was practically nothing of note. Just a lot of trees, asphalt, and trucks. I guess Bill was the latest and greatest to come out of Arkansas. Finally, we came to the border of Texas. The town on the exact border is called Texarkana; actually, the state line runs right along the main street. Now, I know the saying, "Everything is Bigger in Texas", so I took this to mean that the welcome sign would be huge. However, I found nothing; my dad was in charge of taking a picture of the state sign while I was driving and he kept saying, "where is it? are we in Texas yet?". To no avail, he did take some pictures that could pass for a state line sign.
Where the orange is, it says "state line"
The water tower: "Texarkana is twice as nice"
corny, but hilarious
Texas, so far, is considerably cooler than Arkansas from the car. You know you have seen in movies and pictures the endless sky with the picturesque clouds. I could have taken a million pictures of that incredible sky, but this one will have to suffice:
epic.
As we cruised onwards to Dallas (after seeing many football stadiums), and the conclusion of day two, we came upon Dallas' own man made lake. We crossed it at the perfect time of day, where the sun sparkles on the water and there are an abundance of boats and people enjoying the day.
Lake Ray Hubbard on I-30
On the way to my dad's college roommate's home in North Dallas, we had to cross over the major intersection of all the interstates. I didn't notice it at first, but all of the overpasses have either the Lone Star or the outline shape of Texas on the supporting pillars. Pretty cool, and very Texas (bigger and better right?)
For dinner, we went to one of Dallas' staple "country good cookin' " restaurants, Babe's. They are famous for their chicken-fried steak, which of course my dad went for (and after I scolded him for forgetting his Lipitor). I however went for the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and delicious buttermilk biscuits. Deep fried steak with gravy is not my bag, but it seems to be a big thing down here. Sufficiently stuffed, we were treated to wonderful lemon meringue pie and singing by the waitress.
panaromic of the outside of Babe's
way too hot to eat out there, it's just the waiting room
All in all, a short day (8 hours) with some real southern food and partially through Texas; tomorrow we are headed to Santa Fe, NM, passing through the pan handle and the north part of Texas and NM. More to come tomorrow!
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