Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

Digression #1 – In My Own Defense

 In my own defense (see last post), I had good reasons for wanting to leave Abilene to start on our road trip east on Wednesday, April 1, before noon.   Being the consummate trip planner and organizer I am (okay – obsessive), I had spent several hours on the internet the weekend before scoping out places to spend the night and places to eat all along Interstate 20 between Dallas and the state line going into Louisiana.

The entire trip was about 740 miles and my mom had already expressed apprehension about the feasibility of making this long journey.  In fact, she had been trying to back out (about a month before) when I called to tell her I’d found a cheap ticket from New Orleans to Abilene on March 31 for $69.  I reassured her that whenever any one of the three of us wanted to stop on the road, we would.  That allayed her concern, but I kept that closely in mind as I further planned.

Assuming we were leaving Abilene at noon, it was nearly three hours to Dallas and I wanted us to get through there on I-20 before the afternoon rush hour.  The next viable stopping point was Canton, Texas, about another hour or so east of Dallas.  Then, Tyler, Long View and Marshall.  That brought us to the state line and the next big town was Shreveport, Louisiana.

Shreveport was nearly exactly half way between Abilene and Picayune – some 375 miles (or 5 hrs, 40 min, according to Google, but who knows what speed that is).  But I highly doubted we would be able to make it that far, seeing as how we were leaving so late in the day.   So, I didn’t even bother to look up staying over spots there.

I figured it would take us 2 1/2 days to drive from Abilene to Picayune, piddling along the way – making lots of rest stops and checking out the sights.  (In other words, catering to Mom.)  Not that there were any sights, understand.  It’s an extremely long, boring drive for anyone who’s made the trip dozens of times over the years, and I have.  Once you get out of high mesquite country around Abilene and breeze through Dallas, it’s pretty much just trees, trees, trees the rest of the way.  One boring tree after another for miles on end.

But, I digress from my digression.

If we made it as far as Tyler, Texas the first afternoon, I figured we would be doing well.  Mom would most likely be tiring by then and ready to call it a day.  Tyler was about 300 miles east of Abilene – a 4 and 1/2 hour drive.  I figured with a couple of rest stops and spending time finding a suitable hotel with good eating places close by we would most likely not get settled in until around 6 p.m. or so.

Besides, Tyler calls itself the Rose Capital of the world and is a lovely town.  Being spring, this would be a lovely time of year to be there.

So, I had my version of the trip plans all set in my mind ahead of time.  Being the totally flexible person I am, however, I would leave the final decision up to Mom.  Like I said, I had all the towns along the way thoroughly checked out and was prepared for anything.

Or so I thought . . ..

Back to the story next time.  Dee