I ate in my room in Oklahoma City today. I had some paleo granola left from Chimicum Corner Farmstand near Port Gamble, WA. Remy and I stopped for lunch in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I was led astray by my Google maps two times. I had searched "organic food, Fort Smith". I was first taken to a building that looked boarded up, then to a grocery store that said it was open on the Internet, but it wasn't. Fortunately, there was a decent, and very authentic, Mexican place about a block from the grocery store. It was tasty, fast, and had a bathroom. These were the important things by that time.
We continued on toward Memphis. We got off track for a moment in Little Rock and took that opportunity to again use the bathroom, as well as to get gas. And it's a darned good thing!
As we approached the Mississippi River in Memphis, traffic came to a stop. And it didn't move. For two hours. What had happened was that a Black Lives Matter Memphis march, intended for downtown streets, had crossed a barrier and gone up onto the I-40 bridge. People got out of their cars and talked to each other. People were amazingly patient. One woman had just left her house to pick up pizza. She cancelled the pizza.
Remy and I got out and walked around a little, but I had to go to the bathroom again! (That's the problem with staying hydrated.) Sitting in the car made it easier to control than walking around on the bridge. After a while, though ... I took the beach towel I'd been using to protect my lap from Remy claws, left him in the car, stepped over the guardrail, and walked down the embankment a ways. I flung the towel over my body in such a way as to cover my butt, then used the embankment to relieve myself. TMI? Sorry. I don't think anyone noticed, or if they did they looked away. I wasn't embarrassed. Just relieved.
Finally, the police got people to move their cars to one side or the other of the 3 lanes plus shoulder. At first, people assumed it was so responders could get through, as there had been a problem on the other side getting a child through who was bound for St. Jude's Hospital. I think the plan all along, though, was to get cars turned around and out again, going the wrong way on the highway, cuz that's what finally happened.
After I got off the expressway, Google Maps tried to send me back the same way, so I did the old fashioned thing and stopped to ask directions. The gas station attendant got me onto 55 South, and Google picked it up from there and got me to my Airbnb. My host is Anthony. He lived in Holland, Michigan, for 8 years while working for Davenport. We have lots more talking to do about Michigan, but since I arrived so late, we just sort of got introduced.
I'm going to Graceland in the morning, so I'd better hit the hay!
We continued on toward Memphis. We got off track for a moment in Little Rock and took that opportunity to again use the bathroom, as well as to get gas. And it's a darned good thing!
As we approached the Mississippi River in Memphis, traffic came to a stop. And it didn't move. For two hours. What had happened was that a Black Lives Matter Memphis march, intended for downtown streets, had crossed a barrier and gone up onto the I-40 bridge. People got out of their cars and talked to each other. People were amazingly patient. One woman had just left her house to pick up pizza. She cancelled the pizza.
Remy and I got out and walked around a little, but I had to go to the bathroom again! (That's the problem with staying hydrated.) Sitting in the car made it easier to control than walking around on the bridge. After a while, though ... I took the beach towel I'd been using to protect my lap from Remy claws, left him in the car, stepped over the guardrail, and walked down the embankment a ways. I flung the towel over my body in such a way as to cover my butt, then used the embankment to relieve myself. TMI? Sorry. I don't think anyone noticed, or if they did they looked away. I wasn't embarrassed. Just relieved.
Finally, the police got people to move their cars to one side or the other of the 3 lanes plus shoulder. At first, people assumed it was so responders could get through, as there had been a problem on the other side getting a child through who was bound for St. Jude's Hospital. I think the plan all along, though, was to get cars turned around and out again, going the wrong way on the highway, cuz that's what finally happened.
After I got off the expressway, Google Maps tried to send me back the same way, so I did the old fashioned thing and stopped to ask directions. The gas station attendant got me onto 55 South, and Google picked it up from there and got me to my Airbnb. My host is Anthony. He lived in Holland, Michigan, for 8 years while working for Davenport. We have lots more talking to do about Michigan, but since I arrived so late, we just sort of got introduced.
I'm going to Graceland in the morning, so I'd better hit the hay!
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