We took an impromptu trip last weekend. We left Friday at 6 PM after my husband got off work. We drove for six hours before we decided to stop and get some sleep.
It was late, we were tired and simply wanted to fall into bed. Didn’t happen quite like that. Did you know it is next to impossible to secure a room for the night if you don’t have a credit card? Thank God for prepaid Visas and 24-Hour Wal-Marts! About an hour after we stopped in the lovely town of Forrest City, Arkansas, we finally realized the goal of the much sought after sleep.
We actually left early to finish the trek to Dallas/Ft. Worth. It was a nice drive, albeit a bit boring. There’s a lot of nothing along the way to Dallas via I 30. The goal for that day, since we were arriving mid afternoon was a nice juicy steak. We stopped in the area of Six Flags, Arlington Stadium/Cowboys Stadium and a few other tourists attractions to dine at Dusty Trails Steak House.
We were due to pick up our daughter early Sunday morning (the whole purpose for the trip) in Ft. Worth so we decided we had better find the hotel where she was staying. Not as easy as it sounds. We did find it, after several tries, and found the route we would take in order to pick her up at 7:00 AM Central time and then needed to find a place to lay our weary heads for the night.
We settled on a place in Dallas but soon became bored just being in the room so we decided to go explore a bit…in the car…again…after being in that vehicle all day! As we weren’t prepared for sightseeing, and it was after hours, we assembled a few pamphlets with some rather poor maps and headed out.
We finally ended up in downtown Dallas in search of the Grassy Knoll where President Kennedy was “allegedly” shot. It was not that late but dark nonetheless, however, there were people out and about, so we found a parking lot, grabbed the camera and hit the street.
We found Dealey Plaza and a plaque, right next to the building where Oswald “allegedly” shot the president. And then we met the homeless woman, digging in the trash cans, looking for something to eat. She of course asked us for money and told us she was hungry.
We didn’t have a lot of cash on us, though what we had was in a wad, making it look like a lot more than it actually was. My husband didn’t want to pull it out so we apologized for not being able to give her any. I saw her cross the road, looking along the curb for change, and digging through yet another trash can.
In the meantime we met another interesting character who wanted to give us a history lesson. He told us a couple of things about the sights we were seeing and then asked us to cross the street “for a minute” so he could “show us something”. Didn’t happen. We decided it was wise to get the heck out of Dodge and made our way back to the lot; to the safety of our car.
We saw the woman digging in the trash can in the lot where we had parked. We pulled out a couple of bucks and an opened pack of crackers, the only food we had in the car, and gave them to her. It wasn’t much, but food is food, and hey, I had just finished reading Breakfast at Sally’s, I had a new perspective on the homeless.
We picked our daughter up on Sunday morning a little before schedule; and after stopping off at Starbucks for some much needed caffeine, and McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich to eat while driving, (we missed the free continental breakfast because we had to leave so early), we were on our way. Our destination for the day…Memphis, Tennessee, via Hot Springs, Arkansas.
I had visited Hot Springs as a child but didn’t really remember too much about it. It was hot, the temperature 102 degrees, but we walked around the quaint little tourist town for a bit and felt the 132 degree water running in the springs.
We arrived in Memphis late afternoon, tired and hungry. We found a room with a view of the Mississippi River and headed out to eat. We walked around Beale Street until we found a place that appealed to us. We stopped in a restaurant called Bar None. My husband and daughter split a one pound burger. It had the usual dressings along with bacon and a fried egg. Interesting food.
We rose early to make the six hour drive home. And that was our weekend. Not bad for three days! It was tiring but I’m ready to do it again!
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