Days 3 & 4, Kingsport to Madison(Nashville) Tn, and on to Memphis!

(photo-late Friday afternoon on I-40 coming into Memphis Tn. By Annrose on her "crack berry"

Thursday
(Annrose writes)
It was another crazy day on the road with the truckers on I-81 & I-40. I was doing 70 miles an hour most of the time unless someone was up my butt.....and I had to drive 85.... Sammy Hagar would love it...lol

We made it to our friends house in Madison Tn...so good to see them and they welcomed us with open arms. We’re looking forward to spending some quality time with Ralph and Reena.

Driving for hours at a time is a lot harder than I thought ...I may find the truckers annoying, but I give them a lot of credit.

Bill adds) It was one of those days for us. Even though we were “driving road time wise” were going an hour less, we lost an hour (backwards) when we crossed into the central time zone. We got to Ralph’s about 4:30 pm central time. As Annrose said, they rolled out the red carpet for us. Later in the evening after dinner we got to Broadcast our show from Ralph’s office.

Drive time: (road miles-282-Time 4:30)

Friday
Annrose writes)
Yesterday we arrived at Ralph n Reena's and were welcomed with open arms, good food, good people....thank you LOVAA!

We left Madison, TN (Nashville) around 1:30 and had another beautiful sunset...there are no scenic overlook areas to stop at on I-40, so, I tried getting a shot with my phone...Bill will post (my editor).....lol.


Today is Friday day 4, and we arrived in Memphis, TN around 6pm central time! I have lived my whole life on eastern time....and by the time I get to New Mexico I will be in Mountain time.. OMG I am getting so excited....

Tomorrow we are going to Graceland to see everything Elvis and then a quick trip to the Gibson Museum (and Factory)....it's going to be a very busy day, I think we have another 4+ hours of driving tomorrow, but we should be arriving in Arkansas past Little Rock early in the evening.
I think I’m gonna vegge for a little while and try to figure out the different channels in this city...


Bill adds)
While Annrose is enjoying Memphis (dish) Tv in the hotel, I will echo her feelings about how good it was to see Ralph & Reena.

Today was a shorter day on the road and that helped Annrose both driving wise and in fighting being “tired”. In trying to stop and eat at an “authentic” place, we stopped at a Hardees inside a truckstop. Wow, that was some burger! Besides the “iHop” In Virgina and the Cracker Barrel” Wed. night in Kingsport, Tn, we also did a Dq yesterday as well. Tomorrow we make a few local stops, and then we’ll head to Arkansas and the Ozarks.

Tomorrow somewhere on the first leg (between Memphis and Little Rock, Ar., we will pass the halfway point distance wise, if not in number of days. We have made great time every day except for the first, and now the actual daily road time decreases each day. Oh! you were all waiting for the "Escape's" Nickname: Midnight.

Drive (road time)-3:28-distance-213 miles.

Opps!

Sorry we didn't get a Post up last night, we were exhausted and I had to do our show with Ralph. We will def. Catch up tonight from Memphis...We did decide to Name the Escape yesterday, but you will have to wait for the next post....

Second road day-Va. to Tenn.

Photos(Annrose-Two Photos of Cows Grazing(we saw so many Cows, Horses, and even some Sheep) (Bill-The "Gold Star Veterans Memorial Highway"-I-81 in Va.)
(Annrose writes)
WOW who knew Virginia was so “freakin” big, I was driving all day and we finally got to Kingsport TN at 6:15pm. We are sitting in a Cracker Barrel getting ready to eat some home cooked southern food. I am having southern fried catfish.... love it!

Now, nothing against truckers, but man oh man they think they own the road. I almost got run off the road about a half dozen times. The speed limit on I81 is 70 miles an hour...yes 70 miles an hour, how much faster do you really need to go? Half the time I had to get up to 85/90 Mph. to pass the trucks. It was a little stress-full, but like Bill keeps telling me, we're moving to Arizona and it' s all good.

Happy to be in Tenn. I’ve never been here before and judging by the accents, you can tell we are in the south.
Tomorrow the drive should only be about 4 hours until we get to Ralph and Reena's house. Can’t wait!!

The weather was great today about 35 degrees and partly sunny and oh man what a sunset we had for over an hour, purple, pink, orange, so beautiful!!! And we followed a rainbow for over 20 miles, that was cool. I tried taking a few pictures with my phone while I was driving, of course they didn’t come out too good, but I had to try and of course Bill kept saying both hands on the wheel!! …yeah yeah just navigate I got the wheel.....

(Bill adds) I want her to keep both hands on the wheel because I don’t trust everyone else! It was a much better trip today. Sadly we missed Jimmy in Va. because of issues beyond both our control, but we had a very nice “late” breakfast at the iHop across the street from the hotel. Then it was “on the road.” We only made two stops for “Bathroom Breaks” and a few pictures (see top).

I have to give Annrose all the credit in the world for her driving ability because even out of NY there are folks on the road that are just out of their minds. Where we had a few minor issues with last night’s room and the place we stayed the last few days before leaving NY, this room tonight seems to be a bit better, if a bit smaller. Tomorrow we head to Nashville and Ralph & Reena.

Our First Road Day

(Annrose writes)
The first leg of the trip is done and I said goodbye to a lot of good people today, who I will miss very much!! Of course we hit a crap load of traffic in NY – the GW Bridge UGH!!! I look forward to NOT having to deal with that in AZ. Flatlands & Mountains AAHH!!!

There’s some snow here in Winchester, VA, but it doesn’t look too bad. Now that I have an SUV, I don’t think I can go back to a car now.
Tomorrow we head out to Kingsport, TN then we’re on our way to Nashville to see one of Bill’s oldest friends from when they were kids growing up in the projects in the Bronx. So, looking forward to that.

(Bill adds)- We also hit traffic 2 other times aside from the Cross Bronx & the GW Bridge, both on I-78 West in Jersey. Once we got into Penn. It was pretty clear sailing. Annrose is trying to “take” it a bit slower driving, and it’s hard to do when semis’ and bigger SUV’s are driving past you. Some truckers are a bit aggressive. We only made 2 pit stops, once at the Lombardi service area by the Meadowlands and once on 78 in Penn., near the I-81 interchange.

After the second stop the last 2 hrs. went pretty smooth, but just as we hit the VA. line the snow started. We just made it off I-81 and into the hotel parking lot as it got a little heavy. We are now in Winchester Va. Just past the W.VA. line. Sorry no photos yet, today was too hectic for either of us to shoot at all. Tomorrow we drive the rest of Va. and into the Tenn. Mountains.

Time Started: 1:08pm
Miles: 328
Time ended (with stops & traffic) 8:22 pm
Actual drive time: 5hrs. & 49 Mins.

Tech Issues

Just want to let you all know that not all the "widgets" are set up yet....thanks for your understanding.

Our Last Night In NY

(Annrose writes)

I can't believe it!! The time has finally come for me to say goodbye to NY. Born and raised, lived here all my life. But, I've wanted to live in the beautiful land of the Red Rocks of Arizona for a long, long time.
It will be sad to leave my family and friends, but in this age of technology, I probably will see you more than ever!

Tomorrow morning is my final day at Cablevision, well, a half day, and then we are off on our adventure. Road trip baby, love the road trip, especially since I just leased a new SUV nothing like a brand new car to take us from one coast to the other.

I will do my best to keep you interested in our daily routine of driving and stopping at a hotel and driving and .......I think you get it.

Since I do the driving Bill does the navigating, he loves his maps. I don't get it.
Anyway, this is a first for me, the blogging part, not the typing! I'm looking forward to sharing our adventure with you.

Lets see what tomorrow brings.

(Bill adds) I do “get it”, it’s all about the navigation. Even when you have a GPS or in Car navigation system, you want to route plan and have some control over your route. I've been into maps since I was a Boy scout....

I’ve been “on board” with the idea of this move since we visited in the summer of 2006. We wanted to go a few months from now, but sometimes you just get a sign that tells you to “just Do it”(not to steal from Nike…) so here we go…..