Turtle Tales: Day 2 - Rain, Rain Go Away!

We got on the road this morning around 8 AM again - and it was raining! (Surprise, surprise) We had rain all the way to Little Rock and about 50 miles east of Little Rock. So the weather was not making it easy for photos of any kind:( On I-40, 70 MPH means 90-100 MPH, regardless of whether you are pulling, hauling or on a pleasure drive! People are crazy! when we stopped at the Arkansas Visitor Center, they told us that they had just opened westbound I-40 after a pile-up which included 9 18-wheelers, that occurred at 3:30 AM......There are a lot of trucks on I-40 - it must be the major throughfare east-west...........

The highlight of our day was meeting our friends Bruce and Jennifer Brown at Cracker Barrel for lunch! We had not seen them in a long time and it was so good to see them again - eating at Cracker Barrel was a bonus! Bruce and Jennifer are Sammy friends. In other words, we met them through the showing of our Samoyeds and Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers, which we did for many years! They have a beautiful home in Cabot, AR., and live six months out of the year in their motor home in Mexico. Bruce is retired from Union Pacific, but continues to do consulting work for the railroad. We took our very first cruise with them to the Carribean - they started that phase of our life travels, and for that we are thankful!

The area of I-40 over the White River, was closed due to construction of a new bridge, so we had to take a detour on Hwy 70 from Carlisle to Brinkley. This Hwy is known as the Trail of Tears and the Civil War Trail. It was an interesting diversion from the fast paced I-40. Lots of quaint towns and farmlands. There was also a lot of water running on both sides of the road due to the band of showers that came through the area as a result of Hurrican Isaac. The Trail of Tears is called that because this is the path the soliders took when they were re-locating the indian tribes to Oklahoma as a result of the Indian Relocation Act of 1830. This is an interesting and sad piece of American History. For more information, go to the website and read the history of this event - a good read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_tears.

Once we got back on I-40, we passed through Memphis, without visiting Elvis, (we've been there, done that), and turned on Hwy 64 which will take us to Chattanooga, TN. on Sunday. It was getting late in the afternoon, and we were getting tired, so we checked into an RV Resort call Big Buck Resort in Hornsby, TN. This resort is probably the closest we have been to heaven in a long time! It has 1,000 acres of "playland" offerring all types of activities including ATV trails, skeet, rifle and archery ranges, swimming and lake fishing. The best part is that it is cool, quiet and relaxing. We will spend an extra day here just relaxing and basking in the cooler temperatures! The dogs are really happy to be out of the truck! Go to www.bigbuckresort.com for more information on this wonderful facility. Even tho it is a Holiday weekend, there are plenty of vacancies here. It is a little off the beaten path, but it is worth the extra travel time to get here! When we arrived, we had a quick rain shower pass through (of course, every time we are setting up it rains!) and after it passed, there was a beautiful rainbow!

We spent the evening sitting outside in the cool evening air with the dogs and just being thankful for safe travels once again.

Til next time.....

How our day began........