Last two days

The Days Inn in Oklahoma didn't have wi-fi, but the Budget Inn in New Mexico does. So, updates.

Wednesday, we left NC around 7 am. Crossed into Tennesee, the sun came up, and it was bright and sunny most of the day. About a quarter of the way into TN, we crossed into Central Time, and I got to figure out how to reset the clock in the truck. Unlike every other car stereo/clock I've changed, the radio has to be ON in order to change the clock. Stopped at a rest stop around 12, we had the rest of our pizza from the night before, and took a small nap. Continued on. The cross into Arkansas was noted by the worsening condition of the roads. Up until Little Rock, it was just horrible. But on the plus side, radio was good. We crossed into Oklahoma late, and the visitor/welcome center was closed. Plus, they didn't have any of their literature outside, so no motel coupons. :( But, we'd seen a sign for Days Inn, close, and we liked the one in NC, so we stopped there. Got everyone unloaded, then a quick trip to the nearby WalMart for dinner, earplugs, and IcyHot. Chicken enchiladas, toasted corn Doritos, and Tostitos salsa con queso. Then crashed.

Thursday, hit the continental breakfast (not as good as the one in NC, which had sausage gravy and biscuits in addition to everything else), got on the road. Aaaand OK won the Worst Roads award from AR. The rough roads, curving roads, and high winds totally kicked Matt's ass. We stopped a lot for rests and naps. Stopped in Amarillo for dinner; the place Matt wanted to take me, Country Barn, was closed, so we went to Iron Skillet instead. Oh, and at that Petro, found chocolate-covered Altoids. Very nummy. We pushed on, OK, TX, and stopped at the New Mexico welcome center, in the rain which had started 10 miles before, and got some coupon books. Budget Inn, with pets, $35. Not bad. We crashed hard.

Now, it's Friday, and we'll be getting on the road soon. We should get to Phoenix tonight, if that winter storm across the top of the state doesn't get to us. Here's hoping.

Grr

New Mexico. Snow.
Trip is delayed yet again.
I-40 is closed.

Now that I've gotten the haiku out of my system: Tucumcari and the surrounding area got hit with that storm. I-40 is closed from the TX state line to about 60 miles west of us. If we were in just a car, not the 14' truck with car trailer, we'd find some side roads, alternate routes, whatever. But, the beast is not agile, and it consumes gasoline like water, so we wait.

We found this out not from the television (Weather Channel is so focused on Denver), nor from the radio (usual morning chatter), but by getting to the onramp and finding everyone just...sitting there. Idling. An orange barrel blocked the entrance to the freeway. We sat there for about half an hour before I got the phone out, and despite being roaming, called my Dad back in NY to see if he could hop on the computer and find out if 40 was closesd. He'd just heard something on TWC, so tried to get online and find out for sure how much was closed. He couldn't find it, so we drove a bit, found a non-blocked onramp...and made it to the next exit before being directed back off the freeway. Found ourselves driving past the motel we'd just left. Grr. Turn around, sat in line for a while, then decided, "Well, check-out's not techincally until 11, so, let's see if we can get back into the room." We could, as evidenced by the fact that I'm online typing this.

It's now about 45 minutes until checkout, and according to the NMDoT site, 40's still closed. We'll give it a little longer; if it's still closed in 20 or 25 minutes, we may be spending the night here.

What's really annoying? We're both in SANDALS, and our heavier shoes and socks are all packed around the middle of the truck. So we really have to watch our steps, make sure we don't step into snowdrifts or really cold puddles. If we'd had closed shoes and socks readily available, another night wouldn't be so bad. There are some interesting looking places around the motel, but I'm not walking through snow in flip-flops.

Randomness

Because I'm still in New Mexico, and there's nothing else to do:

Nobody puts Sailor Zeo in a corner.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

We upped for another night at Budget Inn, since 40's closed through half the state. If we were smart, we'd be sleeping. But I'm on the computer and Matt's playing Deep Labyrinth, a DS RPG that no one recommended, but I picked up used at EB Games when I got Metroid Pinball. He's been playing since....ten, I think, so two and a half hours. I haven't really had a chance to play it yet, but since it's absorbing him, it must be decent. :)