ROUTE AND VEHICLE CHANGES

DAY two started out quite well after our crazy night getting onto the base.  We left Barksdale AFB (at right) around 10:30 a.m. and hit I-20 westbound.  As we proceeded toward Dallas, my navigator advised me that instead of going through Amarillo and then cutting off a corner of New Mexico on our way up to Denver, it would be more efficient to turn north out of Dallas and keep going right on up to Witchita, then picking up I-70.  Clever lad.  Gets his brains from his Grandma!  We are now ensconced comfortably in a two-room suite at McConnell AFB just northwest of Witchita, Kansas!  Getting into the base was more quickly accomplished tonight since I knew to ask the lodging clerk which gate to use after 6:00, and since McConnell is an ordinary (as opposed to "historic") base, the accommodations are modern and were very easy to find.

On the other hand, the journey TO McConnell was not as planned.  The route change was a minor matter, but an annoying technical difficulty with our vehicle sent us off schedule and on a detour to DFW airport for a vehicle swap.  Upon arrival, I was initially told that there was nothing to be done as they had no vans available.  Upon further questioning ("How is it even possible that a major rental company in one of the largest airports in the world doesn't have a vehicle available?") and intervention from management, we unloaded our older model Dodge Grand Caravan and loaded a brand new Toyota Sienna -- SCORE!  The new van is beautifully equipped, rides more comfortably than it's predecessor, and made the five-hour journey from Dallas to Witchita considerably less tedious than it might have been.

Paul was amazed by the size of DFW International, the freeway interchanges, massive wind farms in Oklahoma and Kansas, and a striking sunset over the rolling hills of America's heartland.  All-in-all, it was both more exciting than we needed, and less disastrous than it might have been.

  

Tomorrow we turn west again and head for Denver.

500 MILES DOWN, 3,402 TO GO!

DAY one is in the books!  We pulled out mostly on schedule (sometime between 10:00-10:30 a.m.) after entirely too little sleep and having only misplaced one power cable!  Once on the road, Paul played navigator with his brand new Rand McNally U.S. Road Atlas.  Our route took us out of Pensacola on I-10, then to U.S. 49 to make a Northwest crossing of Mississippi from Gulfport to Jackson where we picked up I-20 due west into Bossier City, LA.  I won't talk about the 14-mile detour that added 30 minutes to our day -- It was all the navigator's fault.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Paul's Shot of our passage through the Wallace Tunnel in Mobile.

Making our way to Barksdale A.F.B. in Bossier City started out quite simply -- a couple of turns off the freeway and we found ourselves at the North Gate with the lodging facility within view...on the other side of a locked and unattended gate.  Seems the Air Force lives by the "Early to bed, early to rise" dictum and close most facilities and a gate or two at 6:00 p.m.  Around the perimeter of the base we went, finally arriving at the West Gate and being directed to the Visitor Center where, after giving up my fingerprints, my Social Security Number, my driver license, a photo of my baggy-eyed self and a promise that both my grandsons would join up the moment they turned 18, we were granted access.

We were THIS CLOSE!  The gate that was locked at left, lodging office at right! 

We crossed the base to whence we began, but on the correct side of the gate this time and found the registration desk with little difficulty.  The room is more than adequate to meet our needs, and the frozen "Smart Ones" entrees we picked up in the lobby shop have staved off the hungries for the night. (ALL dining facilities on base, including a Taco Bell, a Subway, and some others I can't recall closed at 6:00 -- no, I'm not kidding, they closed at SIX O'CLOCK ON A FRIDAY NIGHT.)

Mom is currently helping Paul with spelling as he writes up his view of the day in his travel journal and as soon as I post this, I'm going to crash and hope for a solid 8-9 hours' sleep before we take to the road, headed for Amarillo, tomorrow.

T-MINUS ONE DAY!

IT'S ON!  With just today left for preparations, it's time to do all the last things.  My sister and her grands will be heading home in a few hours.  At about that same time, my son will arrive with my elder grandson!  Now it's all about the timing.

Between now and departure time, I've got to pick up what I now know will be a Chrysler Pacifica van from Hertz, finish assembling our gear, load the van and run a few last errands -- pick up a phone for Mom, hit the auto-teller for some cash, hit the grocery for a few last things.

We're pretty excited to get on the road but, not being morning people, our departure will be late morning, not crack-of-dawn!  I'd say everything is kicking into high gear, but I'd be lying!  I've made enough of these trips in my lifetime to know that whatever I forget we'll either get along without, or replace down the road.  We'll all work through the list of "last things" and sometime after 11:00 p.m. we'll say our good nights, NOT set an alarm, wake around 9:00 a.m, don our new road-trip shirts, and be ready to roll sometime before 10:00 a.m.

All future posts will be entirely dependent upon our ability to access the internet via cellular or wifi.  We'll take lots of pictures -- you won't miss a thing!