More Southeast

Yesterday and today have been mostly about driving.  Remember, we’re the foolish ones driving from New Orleans to Oklahoma City by way of Florida.  Mississippi, check; Florida, check; Arkansas, check; (we already had Alabama, though we found another one there anyway), so we’re now sitting at 49, with Oklahoma tomorrow.

The drive along the gulf once again confirmed how spoiled we are in the Northwest.  To us the coast has lots of topography, interesting rocks, secluded coves, and an occasional long strip of sand.  Our very limited sample of the gulf was flatness, the road next to the sand, the sand, and the water.  No topography, no variation, no scenery.  On the plus side, the water in the gulf is considerably warmer and better for swimming….though that’s more than counterbalanced by the heat and humidity.  

Stopped for gas and lunch and pulled a lobotomy: hmm, wonder if there’s a cache here. Yep, only 200 feet away and it doesn’t really take 2 people to pump gas…quick find.  Stayed in Florida less than an hour, but it was long enough to find two caches and a Starbucks.  Decided to spend the night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi where we were called y’all by just about everyone we interacted with – hotel, restaurant, etc.  We shunned all of the chain restaurants for the one we assume is run by a certain precocious 3-year old since it’s called Half Shell. We had an acceptable, but only acceptable, meal and concluded that the “owner” has more talents to apply elsewhere.

Today we drove from H’burg to Little Rock, and found caches in MS, LA, and AR. Also explored Vicksburg a bit, supported the National Park Service with our entrance fee to the battlefield, and learned a few things….including the fact that the Mississippi River in that area has moved considerably since the 1860s.  We found a virtual commemorating General Grant’s an unsuccessful attempts at building a canal. In Arkansas we found 3 challenge caches, and the most recent finders for two of them were from the Portland area.  But we haven’t been called y’all yet in this state. 

We got to our hotel about 7 and decided to grab dinner nearby.  Since we try to shun chains that we can have at home (except for “fuel-up” meals like coffee and quick breakfasts or lunches), it sort of came down to Cracker Barrel or a flinging-knives-type Japanese restaurant. Decisions, decisions.  Well, it if’s particularly good – or particularly bad – it would make a great story….sure, let’s try the Japanese grill.  The food was neither of the above, but we met a lovely local named Stacy who was curious about what brought us to Arkansas.  She’d once lived in the northwest, and asked if we’d heard of a place called Tacoma.  As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant we checked whether the parking lot had any caches…sure, one with the restaurant’s name that we couldn’t resist finding.

Tomorrow we have a lunch date with a local and then we’ll get to see a cousin of mine who lives in Oklahoma City.  The last time we saw her was at my sister’s wedding in 1999 so looking forward to catching up!