Day 2: The Stars at Night Are Big and Bright

We are officially halfway across the country!

This morning we were a little slower getting up than we’d planned. We’d thought about going by the giant pyramid, but spent too much time looking up Disneyland tickets (next week!), and left the hotel later than we’d planned.

Leaving Memphis, we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and were surprised to find one of the early ones with the arch built into the building. The inside was completely modern, but the outside was so cool I had to get out and take a picture. I kept expecting Michael Keaton to run out and urge me to buy a milkshake.

Traffic today went from good to great to nonexistent. Mostly just us and a lot of trucks. Today was our only four state day. We started in Tennessee (just barely), then drove through Arkansas where we experienced our only hiccup. I was in the wrong lane when the highway split in Little Rock and couldn’t get over because of the trucks. We went off in the wrong direction and had to backtrack a bit to get back on I-40. It was rather confusing, so thank goodness for GPS!

The rest of the day was smooth sailing. We marveled at the many windmills in Oklahoma (as we always do in this part of the country). Lots of flat farmland and the occasional hill. Just beautiful.

Last cross-country trip I noted in which states the farmers rolled their hay as opposed to baling it in rectangular blocks. Thus far, I’ve only seen rolls. But I also haven’t been driving the whole time either, which feels odd. Managed to work a full day again, though we hit our first patch of poor cell service. Tomorrow I’m planning some tasks that don’t require internet.

Our stop for the night was Shamrock, Texas. We’d thought about going to Amarillo, but thought it might be too far. Probably not, but we were still ready to stop for the night. We’d wanted to eat when we got here (steak in Texas!), but didn’t want to eat that late, so we just ran through Taco Bell. Not quite the same thing.

The billboards for Shamrock boasted their link to the movies (Cast Away), so we looked up their most famous landmark, the U-Drop Inn, which is a historic landmark from Route 66 and the inspiration for a building in Cars. It used to be a gas station and cafe (sadly, no longer an actual cafe), and was lovingly restored to be a visitor’s center. What I thought was most interesting was that they had old-fashioned gas pumps on one side (like the cafe, just for show) and Tesla charging stations on the other. How times have changed.

We’d rerouted our trip to the hotel just to see it. Turns out it was right next door to our hotel. We could have walked!