♫♫♫ Deep in the Heart of Texas ♫♫♫

Forth Worth, Texas

Weather Max 15 Min 2

Well...what a to do!! As per yesterday's blog, Kae dropped me in Greenbrier and I caught the bus to Little Rock. I booked into a hotel and as I had received no text from Amtrak to say the train was delayed, I optimistically left the hotel at 2 am to get the train due out at 3.10 am.  Keep in mind that I never slept as I was too worried I might not hear the alarm (I know! - but it happened the morning I flew out of Brisbane to LA). I showered and headed off to the station to find the train was delayed - BY 4 1/2 HOURS!!!  I debated returning to the hotel but I had handed in my key and I wasn't sure that if I could get it back. In the end I stretched out on a hard wooden pew for the next 4 1/2 hours. There was no coffee - I had a Twixt from the vending machine but it was melted because they had the temperature pumped up in the station to 29 C ( 83 F) - it was like a bloody oven.  It was a very very very very long night and to add insult to injury the train arrived just before the end of the thriller I was watching on the TV so I still don't know if  Kevin Costner recovered from the the terminal disease he had and if he finished killing all the bad guys.

If I never see this station again
it will be too soon

Texas Eagle - should have been
 called the Texas Budgie

At this stage I'd had 1 hours sleep in the previous 24. Shortly after we boarded the train they served breakfast so I went to the dining car. I thought I'd sleep after that but I was way past it by then. I still have the head cold so I took the night time Nyquils and I slept for 2 hours. That was it!!  I finally arrived at Forth Worth, Texas after 8 hours on the train at 4.30 and then by the time I got my bags and Uberred to the hotel it was nearly 5:30.  I am way too old to get by on that little sleep.  I am now showered and fed and I will hopefully sleep all night. 

The food wasn't as good on the Texas Eagle as it was on the Coastal Starlight. Just another grrrr moment.  

Breakfast

Lunch - pork shank sandwich.

This day has been loooong but my room at the hotel is wonderful. I booked at the Marriott because it's cheaper mid week and Christmas is their quiet time so the room was a good price. HOWEVER - I am quite a distance from anything so I might just treat myself to a bit of relaxing luxury in the hotel for a few days. 

Flags are flying at half mast everywhere and apparently it's  out of respect for John Glenn - they will stay like that until he is interred.

I was sitting in the caboose!!

Texarkana

Texas is a bit sparse

Made me laugh - Molly the Trolley

On the road again...... :)

Little Rock Arkansas

Weather Max 13 Min 6

Well ....here I go again. Kae took me to Conway this afternoon and I caught the bus to Little Rock Arkansas. 

Waiting at the Service Station
for the bus to Little Rock

Thank you Kae and Ang for your hospitality . I love you guys and will miss you and look forward to you visiting us in Australia.

I'm currently in a hotel in Little Rock but will be going to Union Station to catch the Train - The Texas Eagle - to Fort Worth Texas where I will be staying for 4 nights. The train goes at 3:10 AM!! so I will need to leave here about 2 am-ish. The trip takes about 10 1/2 hours. Now this all sounds great but Amtrak are notorious for being late - by hours - anyway. They then advised there may be further delays due to line work further north. Add to that, the train is coming from Chicago which is experiencing heavy snowfall and I will be amazed if we get there at all. It will be interesting.

Meanwhile I am in this hotel for a few hours - the train station doesn't open till 10:30 pm and with the number of shootings and other nasty things that have happened in Little Rock this month I'll play it safe.  

Random - I watch Love Actually every Christmas - my favourite Christmas movie.  I thought I was going to miss it this year but just as I got settled to do my blog I turned on the Telly and guess what was on . Happy face. I get my Liam Neesan fix and Andrew Lincoln looks gorgeous in pre Walking Dead fame.
How good is that!

Random - how come we pay $4.00 a bottle for water at the movies and yet the local Servo sells it for 21 cents a bottle.

Random - I haven't seen these before - do we have them in Oz? You just set the whole bag on fire.

Random - on sale in the Servo - I didn't buy one :)

My beautiful grand dog Derek who gets his picture here whenever I want because I love him and miss his unconditional love and hugs xxx........ and just look at that bloody face......can you hear my heart melting?

A code in da node......?

Greenbrier Ar

Weather Max 7 Min -2

It's 53 days since I left Australia - actually 54 because I had 2 October 15's

Again...cold and rainy....Arkansas in winter.....promises of snow that never really materialise....come on Arkansas....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

I want a YAYA CAR!

We went for a drive into Conway so I could get some new joggers and it still amazes my Australian mind that guns are on open display in the local stores.

One of the ways USA beats Australia by miles is the number of shop staff. If you go to places like Walmart there are employees everywhere just waiting to assist you. Nice :)

We had lunch at Colton's Steak House and Grill and my Montana burger actually beat me....maybe I should have left the nuts alone while we were waiting for the food to arrive. hehehehe

My Montana Burger - way too
big - loved the onions

These were vey salty and I could not stop

It was a nice drive and I love that there are so many flags flying.

Somewhere along the way I've picked up a head cold. Imagine Linda and Loni....I survived 2 winters sitting next to you and others at work with massive colds and flus and I never got a bug. Now one of the little bug-gers caught me :(

At least I'm in a nice warm, friendly environment...drugged up with NyQuil and hopefully this bug will be on its way pretty soon.

That pot on the fire contains
eucalyptus oil. Smells great
to this Aussie

More cold weather and making travel plans

Greenbrier, Arkansas 

Weather Max 9 Min 2

The weather has been cold and wet and foggy but today we ventured out to Walmart in Clinton, Arkansas. I love Walmart and you can easily lose many hours just wandering around.

Spooky!

Early morning frost

It snowed in Omaha after I left and it's coming down heavy in Iowa but I know I'll get to see it in Chicago later this month. It's going to be a White Christmas for me :)

We are in for a few cold nights as per the weather forecast below  but with the furnace and the wood fire we'll stay warm.

Brrrr

This afternoon I spent hours on the internet and I've booked hotels and trains for  my ongoing travel.

My itinerary so far is

• 13 th Dec Little Rock, Arkansas to Fort Worth, Texas
• 17 th Dec Forth Worth Texas to San Antonio Texas
• 21 st Dec San Antonio, Texas to Chicago, Illinois

All travel is by Amtrak trains. The trip to Chicago is 33 hours so lots of Podcasts will be listened to and lots of reading done. I do like the trains and if time is not an issue it's a great way to go. You can get up and walk around and sit in the observation car. The food isn't too bad and the whole trip is very inexpensive.  It's nice to see the scenery - last time I drove everywhere and was too busy watching the road and staying on the "right" side of the road to enjoy the view. The seats are comfortable and its very easy to sleep in them. Sleeping cars are waaaay too expensive.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Alamo and doing the River Walk in San Antonio. Hopefully the heavy rain will have eased by then.

Joey waiting for crumbs from Ang

Sun shining....gorgeous day

Greenbrier, Arkansas

Weather Max 16 Min 1

What a beautiful day. This really is a lovely place and whilst the weather will only get colder, wetter and windier from here on...today was great. Spent the last couple of days just enjoying this idyllic spot.

Ang

Settle...there are 2 indoor loos :)

Down the tornado "fraidy hole"

"Paw" having a beer on the porch

Lazy day in Arkansas

Greenbrier, Arkansas

Weather Max  17 Min 3

What a great night's sleep. Cool country air and no noise. Bliss.

We went to pick up Joey the dog who has been in the kennels while Kae & Ang have been Nebraska-ing. He is so cute and very very very very excited to be sprung from the slammer. He was pretty smelly after being incarcerated so a bath was in order.

Soggy Doggy

Soggier, Doggier

I smell beautiful

We went off to do some grocery shopping and it's strange when there are so many items you don't recognise. See picture below for case in point.

Turban squash - who'd a thought?

I did discover yet another vice and am now possibly addicted to Ice-cream Snickers. Speaking of Snickers - I also rediscovered an old vice from my last visit - Snickerdoodles. aaah!

We sat outside and enjoyed the gorgeous view while Ang cooked burgers on the grill and we rejoiced in our retired lives and not needing to know what time it is...never mind what day it is.

Jojo - Boss of the house