Dispatch from Oklahoma City

Here is where we've gone so far:

On Memorial Day we drove to Chapel Hill to spend a couple of days with Justin's family. We had dinner at the Weatherlys' house Tuesday night with all of Justin's grandparents and his Aunt Ann and cousins. Also spent time with John, who is headed to Thailand for a year starting probably in July.

Wednesday, we drove west on I-40 and stopped for lunch in Asheville, which I had wanted to see for a long time because Justin keeps telling me it's a nice Appalachian college town and I'd like it, which I do, although we didn't stay long. From there we drove on highways 19 and 74, skirting Great Smoky Mountains National Park (we'll be back there on another trip, hopefully), drove in and out of Chattanooga as quickly as we could given construction on the interstates, spent about two miles in Georgia, and then continued on to Huntsville, Alabama for the night.

Today we drove on Highway 72 from Huntsville through northern Alabama and Mississippi. We stopped for lunch in Memphis and ate barbecue at Leonard's, recommended in Roadfood, one of our assorted American roadtripping guides. Then we crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas and took Highway 79 instead of I-40 to Little Rock for more scenery. I've never really had any conception of what Arkansas is like, and I like it. Eastern Arkansas is much like the rest of the Mississippi Delta, with rich colors that I've never quite seen anywhere else in nature, and western Arkansas is hilly as it rises into the Ozarks. In Little Rock we paid a quick visit to the Clinton Presidential Center, as one does, then plunged onward through the remainder of Arkansas into Oklahoma.


Oklahoma isn't as I imagined it so far. I had always thought of it as drab and flat, but it's hilly in the eastern part at least and has been green all along. The colors approaching sunset were surprisingly vibrant--green fields and trees, blue sky, white and dusky clouds. We're staying tonight at a Days Inn in Oklahoma City with free wireless. Yay for Days Inn!