Somewhere in Oklahoma

Yikes – there is little to see or do here.

 

We got bored and needed something to do, and hey, the shooting range was right next to the McDonalds. I’d never shot a handgun before and I didn’t realize how violent they are. Sure - you here guns kill people all the time, but when you are in a firing range it is pretty intimidating how much power is in them. I hope to never be anywhere near gunfire.

Peter’s shots were more accurate, but mine were bigger.

Could this be a coincidence that we just finished off a few rounds and we run across this inspirational office of the Republican Party?

 

No comment.

Little Rock, AR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s nothing on I40 from Memphis until Little Rock. I would say there is nothing in Little Rock either, but there is.

The Monica Expressway is appropriately right around the corner.

 

Memphis, TN - Pick up Peter & Lock your doors kids

 
 

 

 

 

 

Elvis’s house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elvis’s living room

 

 

After a couple long days of driving solo, and frankly not much else I pick up my friend Peter in Memphis. Peter volunteered to drive back with me “as long as we do some cool stuff along the way”. Downtown Memphis is pretty neat, the city looks like it is in revival mode and it has a neat downtown pedestrian-only row of blues bars w/ the best BBQ pork ribs. On the other hand, Memphis can be pretty scary if you take the wrong road. Graceland is more or less a diamond in the rough. Its bars on the windows everywhere here. The local grocery store’s security guard had a pistol on each side. Yes, the US is still the wild wild west.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was probably the coolest part of the NC -> CA trip for me – checking out Elvis’s toys. Elvis bought this 1960 lockheed JetStar in ’75 for $900k. He also had a Convair 880 (Equivalent to a Boeing 737) called ‘Lisa Marie’.

If Elvis had one, why can’t I?

Charlotte - cont’d - Getting online

First stop was to the Verizon store in downtown Charlotte to pickup a wireless broadband. I have never been in N.C before and Charlotte seems like a very cool ‘small’ city to come back to visit sometime. People are very friendly in these parts. I didn’t realize it at the time but that was one of the few really nice places I would see during the trip back to San Diego. Spent the night in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The park itself didn’t seem that impressive (but love the name!). One of the coolest parts actually was leaving the park and driving through a never ending road that had motel after motel lined up – along w/ a ton of small amusement centers along the way. Its like vegas slammed up against Yosemite.

I considered satellite internet, but its really expensive and wireless broadband is available in so many places (although not always 3G speeds) that satellite would have been just another gadget that might only be used very rarely - and at a high expense.

Charlotte, NC – It starts here - picking up a used sportsmobile

Sweet Flames.  Yes, they came off quick.

I flew out to Charlotte to purchase a used sportsmobile. Months of research and shopping were finally over – the choice was a used 2006 model Sportsmobile on the Mercedes van chassis. I won’t go into details here on the RV, rather I will blog about it separately here (href). The biggest decision was 4x4 vs 2wd. We got a used one because the older model got better gas mileage and could take any type of diesel. The newer ones can only take Ultra low sulphurs diesel (not bio diesel or diesel south of the border).

We went with 2wd for the better fuel economy and initial up front cost. I also become more comfortable w/ this particular vehicle’s ability in snow/ice and this particular trip is geared towards seeing the world, not necessarily an off road trip. Its hard to have an RV that will do both well. I would like to do a long distance off road RV trip one day, but not this one and not this vehicle.