Last night, after I got home, I packed up the dogs and took them to their Vet where they will be boarded for the next 10 days...hope they don't forget who we are. After dinner with Cassidy, I went home and spent the rest of the night packing and gathering things I wanted to take to Arkansas. I was in bed fairly early...about 11pm...but had a very restless night, waking up almost every hour throughout the night. Finally, I got up about 4:15am, took a shower, finished loading the car and hit the road a little after 5am. The plan had been to leave about 6:30am so as to arrive at the first stop in Nacogdoches a little before the opened at 9am.
Leaving home early threw my plan for the start of the day all off but I thought it best to head in the general direction of Arkansas rather than sit around home until 6am, so I changed the plan and headed for Tyler, the second stop on the original plan. Nacogdoches would have to wait until another day.
I arrived in Tyler during the morning rush hour but the traffic wasn't too bad and by the time I found the dealership on the east side of the city, it was only 8:15 so I found a McDonalds and had a little breakfast to burn a little time. The dealership did not look to promising from the outside, but once I went in I was impressed by the looks of the place...they had tons of motorcycles and merchandise. This was obviously an older place but looks can be deceiving. Unlike the newer dealerships, this one wasn't on a major highway either.
I got my passport stamped and headed for stop #2, Longview. The distance between Tyler and Longview was only 40 miles or so and I was pulling up in front of the dealership in Longview in 35-40 minutes after leaving Tyler. Once again, this was an older dealership and was not on a major highway, but rather on a side street. Still, it was a nice dealership...smaller than many and with less merchandise, but still nice. I got the passport stamped and headed to Texarkana, the 3rd and last stop for the day...or so I thought.
I almost forgot to tell you about the beautiful scenery along Hwy 59 on the way to Longview. I saw a sign advertising a rest stop but it also said there was a scenic overlook, so I exited to find an amazing view...at least for Texas. The place is called Love's Lookout and from the rest stop you can see out to the east miles and miles of wooded hills and valleys. The lookout sits on top of a ridge than runs about 35 miles north and south along Hwy 59...or should I say Hwy 59 runs along the ridge. On a clear day, which today was, you can see for 15-20 miles...maybe more. The pictures I took don't do the view justice I'm afraid. You will just have to make the trip yourself.
It was about 90 miles to Texarkana but I made good time. Shortly before arriving at the dealership, which is prominently situated on I-30 on the west side of town, I stopped for gas and got some lunch....Grandy's chicken nuggets. Whiskey River Harley Davidson...which is a relatively new name after the dealership was purchased by a new owner back in January...looks to be a new building and they are well stocked with parts, motorcycles and merchandise. They are a little hard to get too but after driving around a little, you finally get to the parking lot...the entrance isn't off the access road but rather a road that parallels the access road and interstate that wraps around and eventually goes over the interstate and I believe it turns into University Blvd which goes to the new Texas A&M University - Texarkana campus.
In short order, I was in and out of the dealership and on the interstate headed east towards Little Rock and the airport. The drive was going to take about three hours and it was 12:30pm...looked like I was going to be right on time.
Between Longview and Texarkana, I passed through the community of Jefferson, which is supposed to have an amazing display of Christmas lights and scenery in the old part of town. I had also heard there were some good B&B's in town so I decided to follow the signs to the historic downtown area and see what it looked like. As advertised, the downtown, with it's brick streets and old stores turned into tourist lures, was very quaint and something Sharon and I might like to visit again. The area was hopping with motorcycles and at first I thought it was just because the weather was perfect for riding, until I noticed a flyer advertising the annual Boo Benefit Rally...a fundraiser for the childrens' burn center in Galveston. The vendors were already setting up for the 3-day affair but I didn't have time to look around.
After making only one other short stop for a drink and a bathroom break, I passed the city limits sign for Texarkana about 3:00pm so when I saw a billboard advertising Landers Harley Davidson in a couple of exits, I thought I should make a quick stop even if they weren't participating in the passport program...after all, it was on the way to the airport.
This dealership looked to have been here a long time, even though it was on the interstate, but it was still nice. They had a 12 foot fence with barbed wire on top all the way around the place...must be a high crime area or something...with two large gates...one in front and another in back. There was a biker bar and grill on the premises...across a breezeway from the dealership...that looked pretty good. I was inside for a grand total of 15 minutes and back on the road to the airport.
Sharon's plane was scheduled to arrive at 3:30pm and I was 10 minutes early. Right in front of the baggage claim area, there were metered parking spaces, good for 30 minutes, and one was open, so I took it. I filled the meter with all the change I had, except for pennies, and went inside. I checked the computer screen for arrival and her flight was on time, so I sat down and waited.
After only 5 minutes or so there was an annoucement on the loudspeaker that the light from Washington D.C. had arrived and the baggage would be coming out on the carousel right in front of me. A few minutes later, here she came down the escalator. By the time she made it to the baggage carousel area, the bags were already showing up...I've never seen bags come to the terminal so quickly, even in College Station. We greeted each other, retrieved her bags, loaded the car and were pulling out of the airport parking lot before 4pm.
The drive to Melbourne went very quickly and we pulled up to the Jackson's house a little after 6pm to find Christopher and the kids in the driveway cleaning out their car.
Tomorrow is the big day...arrival of new Jackson baby. Christopher and Merinda will leave the house about 4am to arrive at the hospital at 5am...surgery is scheduled for 7:45am. Sharon and I will take the kids over around 9am to meet their new sibling...we don't know yet whether that will be a brother or sister.
There are no new road trips planned at this time...other than a visit to the dealership in Amarillo when I head out west to attend a football game at West Texas A&M in 2-3 weeks. I had this great idea a couple of days ago that I'd keep the rental car and drive home by way of Lubbock, Odessa, Abilene and Arlington...visiting the dealerships in those cities along the way...until I realized that the day I would be leaving Amarillo/Canyon would be a Sunday and none of those dealerships are open on Sunday. Just as well I guess because I'm getting tired of driving so many miles...I need to slow down a little.
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