Arkansas

We are somewhere west of Little Rock. I ask J where exactly, here eating the night buffet in the Flying J, our truck stop of choice, and she drolly tosses off the first thing that comes to her mind--Junior's Loop, so that will have to suffice. We have traveled over 700 miles since leaving Wed. morning. What a joy to be traveling again! For me, especially but also for J who is happy to have her own vehicle and we take turns leading the way down the highway. I like the arrangement since I can toss empty coffee cups and candy wrappers on the floor and smoke smokes and listen to whatever I damn well want to even religious whacks and whistle and sing and preach at the top of my lungs without offending..and Hank and Lucky don't seem to mind and in her impeccably clean SUV she listens to Flaubert so we're all really doing well on this and no fights so far. I mention this to her and she looks up from her Melville over the top of her erudite librarian glasses and smiles slightly saying, wanna start one? We take turns with the hounds, letting them decide which vehicle to ride in after their runs. We know for sure now that if we stay in this country we will purchase two RV's and travel together.

This journey started out on a sour note when Lucky shat in the back of the silver bullet while I was packing it, without a peep of warning. Very impish. It was a mess to clean then I bumped a gallon can of canary yellow paint out of the back of the van and it spilled all over J's motel driveway. So, had to clean that up too.

I love seeing the land pass in it's quiltish transformation as it slowly turns into the landscape of the great magical west...