Based on research he did on the fly yesterday, Dan took the car for its first oil change this morning at 8:00 a.m.
Though the previous day had been quite warm, when we left Nashville at 10 a.m., the weather was quite cold, 20 degrees lower in temperature, and the sky was gray and heavy.
We took I-40 all the way; no navigating to it.
At first the land was hilly and the rock was flaky and gray; the trees had more color than up north. Later the land flattened and large cotton fields appeared, some loaded with cotton, others harvested already, with only a few stray balls of fluff clinging to the brown twigs.
We had lunch at the Waffle House, because it was the only alternative to Subway at the time we got hungry. We had the chicken salad. It was okay. The wait staff and cook worked very fast, but their attitude was grim. Absolutely no pretense at friendliness, just fast service.
By noon, the clouds had dispersed; the sky was blue but the temperature was tooooo cold.
Around 1:45 we crossed the Mississippi river on the Dolly Parton Bridge, remembering how we had taken a cruise on the river on our previous trip through here. Then we were in Arkansas.
In Arkansas the land we saw was flat and fertile.We saw more prosperous agriculture in Arkansas than any state so far: lots of cotton, soy, cattle, corn, lots of green rice fields and harvested rice fields.
Driving was intense all day. When there are only two lanes going one way, then you get stuck behind one semi trying to pass another one. This went on constantly. Very had speed lane changing. We got in about 4 p.m.
The restaurant where Dan had eaten dinner on our last trip was closed, so he chose the Riverside Steakhouse at the Wyndham Hotel. Maybe this was not the best choice. First off, it did not have any view of the river, or anything else. Then we made the mistake of asking to sit in a particular section of the restaurant, instead of letting the hostess seat us; we've gotten away with this in the past, but this time Dan chose a seat in a section where a party of about a dozen people was taking shape. Thus, the service we got was negligent. The second mistake was to order minestrone. Both Dan and I think of minestrone as magically healing; we have had a couple of good bowls on the trip. This concoction had obscure ingredients and was so hot that I refused mine after two bites. We both had the salad bar, which was satisfactory.
Some days you just have to get the job done.
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