Pre-GoatRun: Day 2

I’ve decided to take things easy for the next two days, and I’m trying to catch-up on some sleep. Like yesterday, today was another day of driving on the I-40.

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As I drove through Western Arkansas I passed a lake that was very different than what we have in California. The first thing that I spotted was a whole bunch of white stork-like birds wading in the water. The thing that I thought was really cool were all the trees growing out of the middle of the water. I couldn’t figure out if they were growing on rocks, or if it was just a really shallow lake, but either way… it was scenic.

Something I’ve also found intriguing about driving in Arkansas is that they have signs with a phone number for report people littering. Over the past week I’ve been taking notice of the various state signs for littering… Virginia talks about a maximum of $25,000 in fines… Missouri has a $1,000 fine and/or a YEAR in jail… but Arkansas is the only one that actually has a way for people to “self-police” the law.

The most “exciting” part of the day was when my car turned 30… that’s right, I’ve driven the G8 30,000 miles!

I’ve known that this milestone was coming for a while, and I didn’t want to miss it. I set an alarm on my phone for ~10 minutes before it was going to happen. I setup the camera on my cell phone to take a photo or two (I wanted one of 29999 and another of 30000). I started watching the miles tick higher and higher… 29995… 29996… 29997… and then my cell phone froze! Seriously!?! Now!?!

There wasn’t anyone behind me so I slowed way down while my phone rebooted… 29998… 29999… 30000… ‘sigh, stupid phone! Thankfully I’m good at Photoshop (yes, that image is not “real”).

Entering Oklahoma I was surprised to see that it wasn’t a “Dust Bowl” like I imagined… heck, compared to this time of the year in California, it’s lush! There were fewer trees and more prairie than the neighboring states, with lots of grazing cattle. It also seemed that at every other exit there was a different Indian tribe’s casino.

The drive through Eastern Oklahoma went by quickly, as I was able to team-up with a pair of cars who were “moving along well” (all three of us had radar detectors, and knew how to use them). The lead car was a new (bright orange) Dodge Challenger SRT8… and the trailing car was a PT Cruiser. I let the SRT8 get out in front of me, and with a “rabbit” (aka. the SRT8) and someone covering my back door… we “made good time”. Unfortunately the SRT8 had some troubles and pulled-off onto the side of the interstate (for what I couldn’t tell), but I’d say we trimmed at least 15 minutes off the drive.

As I entered Oklahoma City I started looking for photogenic places for today’s image. I noticed Tinker Air Force Base, and pulled-off I-40 to try and find someplace for a great photo with an airplane.

I drove along the side of the base, but everything of interest was behind gates/fences… so I wasn’t able to get anywhere that allow me to take the photo I wanted. Darn!

I found my hotel and decided to go looking for a place for today’s photo. I drove along a road that passed several big-rig dealerships, but none were really photogenic. The road continued past the Oklahoma State Fair… a large bulldozer… a strip joint… but nothing was jumping out at me. I continued until I reached a point where I didn’t really feel comfortable getting out of my car with an expensive looking camera (I’ve lived such a sheltered life, I know).

On the way back towards my hotel I found a place that I figured I could get a decent photo at…

After some work in Photoshop, I think the resulting image is acceptable.

One thing that was absent from today’s drive was “Limp Mode”! Hopefully this trend continues…