The Road To San Diego: Day 2 − 25 June, 2007
Nashville, TN To Little Rock, AR
Crawling down I-40 with “Tom Sawyer” blasting from the Chevrolet Premium 6-Speaker Sound System, we made a late departure from Nashville. The previous evening’s rest at the Sleep Inn transformed the aches and illnesses of the last few days into a vague memory for Wendy and I. Despite their resolve last night, neither of the kids felt the need to rise from their slumber to join us for breakfast with Randy and Barb Shreve. The Shreves were on an apartment hunting trip to the Music City; Randy having recently accepted a position with one of the mega medical centers.
We caught up on the past few months over the offerings of the breakfast bar at Shoney’s and talked a bit about everyone’s future plans – Randy’s new job, Barb’s plans in the new city, my upcoming thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail. After breakfast, we adjourned to the parking lot for a round of photographs and farewells. All in all, a great start to what would prove to be a long day.
Returning to the hotel, we split up into groups. Wendy started working on repacking the van and insisted (rather, demanded) that no one interfere with her Zen-like focus on the task at hand. I went back to the room and punched out a few responses to the students in my online college course, occasionally stopping to check on Daniel’s and Jasa’s progress in the room next door.
When we rejoined Wendy at the minivan, she was was still surrounded by a few bags of various sizes and shapes, but had made a much more compact arrangement that I had when I transferred our “stuff” from the truck to the van the night before. It was Wendy’s turn behind the wheel. Jasa rode shotgun, while Daniel and I climbed in the back. Before leaving Nashville, we took some time to spin down Broadway, take a look at the Ryman Auditorium (home of the original Grand Ole Opry) and take a stroll on the grounds of the Parthenon and Centennial Park.
Outside of Nashville we ran into a traffic tie-up which lasted for what seemed like a couple of hours. I'm not sure that we ever completely deduced the reason for the jam, but construction with a dash of rubbernecking certainly figured into the equation. While a steady rain from an early summer thunderstorm pounded the van, Jasa displayed her clairvoyant side by performing a reading of everyone's Tarot cards.
Daniel drew his three cards, then "all-knowing" Jasa (with the help of the instruction manual) interpreted the signs. One component of Daniel's tableau was the "10 of Cups" card, which he immediately took to mean that he would have 10 glasses of beer waiting for him in the near future. That was certainly a more welcome outcome than my selections which pointed to darkness in my past, pain in the near future which would ultimately end in violence. Hmmmm.... Sounds like this roadtrip, all right!
Next: The Hell At Exit 157
