Wow! What a beautiful ride we had today. We left Tunica and some of our money behind and headed north to Memphis. After crossing the remarkable Mississippi River, we went west passed Little Rock onto Fort Smith. There we turned north and started the awesome ride through the Ozark Mountains. They are breathtaking. The sun was soooo beautiful. Barely a cloud in the sky.
In Fayetteville (where Bill and Hillary lived when they got married), we stopped in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, googled the Bed Bath and Beyond which was 184 feet from where we were in the parking lot. I hurriedly fixed my hair and for the first time in a while thought, "Dang, I'm having a good hair day."
We looked out the windshield. Do you think for one second either of us could see the BBB store from where we stood? Nay Nay. Right across the street was Old Navy and Home Depot. Richard went out and unhooked our tow vehicle so we could drive 184 feet in search of BBB.
Just as he stuck his head into the bus to let me know my chariot awaited, the bottom fell out of a mean, old cloud that had appeared out of no where.
Richard ran to the car. I closed the bus door, punched in the locking code, then I ran for the passenger door, which, of course, was still locked. Richard, in his haste to get into the car himself, was busy in the dry interior of the car dusting away the few raindrops which had managed to land on him. Miraculously, he didn't notice the drowned rat glaring at him through the passenger window.
He motioned for me to get in. I shot him a . . . well, let's just say he suddenly realized what was going on and hit the unlock button. Once I was inside the car, and steam had quit coming from my ears, we went behind the Wal-Mart where other stores were located to see if we could find Bed, Bath and Beyond. After several minutes of driving around (in the rain), we asked someone where it was. (They were kind enough to answer our question, even though the rain was pouring down.) They directed us to store which was recessed quite a ways back between (say it with me) Old Navy and Home Depot.
We did our shopping at BBB and then drove back to Wal-mart. We finished our haul there, which included one of those plastic rain caps Grandma used to wear. While we'd been driving around we saw a MacAllister's Deli. We went back there and ate. So, our recon mission wasn't a complete waste of time.
Back at the bus, we unloaded the bags from the car. While I put everything away, including my newly-acquired rain cap, Richard hooked up the Jeep. He then took his seat behind the bus steering wheel, and I swear, as if it was on a timer, the rain STOPPED. It never rained another second all the way to Joplin, Missouri. Of course, my good-hair day was a thing of the past.
Our long-time friends, Jack and Jeannie Dickson met us at the campground, and we visited for several hours. Talking, laughing, drinking several glasses of White Merlot, and my "bestest" friend in the whole, wide world. It doesn't get any better than this.
Until next time,
Dolores
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