Drive Clown Drive…

Stillness of the Woods

I woke up this morning with no magical sunrise, only the stillness of the Alabama woods. We were camped amongst the trees; these were the quietest woods I think I have been in, not a whisper from the rustling of tree leaves or the slapping of branches, not a sound of critters playing amongst the decaying fallen limbs or underbrush, not a chirping or sweet song from a bird, just nothing. It was as if the woods had been mummified, or perhaps I didn’t listen hard or long enough.

Drive, Drive, Drive…

We were fortunate that Mother Nature kept the rain at bay; otherwise, we might not have been able to descend the loose gravel and clay hill and depart this morning. We left the Togetherness Works RV Resort and continued the trail west. Today was a drive, then drive some more, then stop to recycle, then drive and drive and drive.

Emergency Weather Notifications???

Just before we descended upon the city of Memphis, Tennessee, the rain started coming hard and fast, then a bit of wind, thunder, and lightning. Sirus Weather said there was a 10% chance of precipitation. We soon found ourselves among an onslaught of truckers in the city of Memphis. Memphis, a city that gave us Elvis, and now the joy of roads reverberating and jaunting our bodies as if we had put a quarter in the bed of a cheap roadside motel. If the roads and traffic weren’t bad enough, we were soon amidst strong thunderstorms. It took Sirus Weather about 5 minutes or so to alert us of the storms we were in, and they warned us with seven different alerts all at once, but we were in it with nowhere to go. After surviving the 2020 Derecho, we knew we needed a weather alert backup, so we pulled out our emergency weather radio Walki Talkis and were immediately alerted to a weather alert. However, it was an extreme heat emergency; it was 82 degrees. In Florida, we call 82 degrees winter. Then, like anyone who survived a Derecho, we have yet a third weather backup, Clime, a NOAA Radar App, where we tracked the storm. It lasted about 45 minutes longer; fortunately, we were headed out of its path.

More Lessons of the Area

During the endless hours of driving, we listened to more short lessons on areas we passed through in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. We passed by a town near Oxford, Mississippi, home to Nobel Prize-winning writer William Faulkner, and learned a few secrets of Graceland. Note: I think this app would be better if I took our route and listened a few hours ahead so we could decide to stop.

Clowns, of the South Carolina Subaru Variety

Oh, and did I mention the clown torture we endured today. You know, the clowns who won’t leave you alone and keep on trying to get you to pay attention to them, but you are like, step away, creepy clown; I’ve read Steven King’s IT. Yeah, on I-40, we were taunted by an Clown in a Subaru with a luggage rack; this South Carolina Clown would go so slow that Justin would try to pass, and then he would speed up and keep pace with us, and Justin would fall in line behind him. The moment Justin fell in line behind him, he would drop his speed to ridiculously slow again, and so this dance would continue for way too long. We even got off for fuel and got back on, and about an hour later, we found ourselves once again behind Mr. Clown. So, If anyone out there knows who this Clown is, please let me know; I’d love to have a few words with him.

We decided to stop and camp at the KOA in North Little Rock, Arkansas so that we can shop at the Little Rock Bass Pro Shop tomorrow.