Ba weep granna weep ninny bong
Day 3 of driving has completed, bringing me to Van Buren, AR. It's got a lot of history that I won't be seeing (such as being the site of a big civil war battle), but the front desk attendant was really nice so there's that.
It is almost surprising how much empty space there is along the way. There are hundreds of miles of nothing, punctuated by occasional rest stops or tiny towns. Texas was weird - they didn't have any rest stops that I could see, just picnic spots along the road. Nowhere to pee, no vending machines.
The cannabis-related billboards morphed along the way too, which was incredibly amusing. California has them everywhere (legal recretionally), but in New Mexico they had billboards advertising weed attorneys in case you get busted 😂. Texas was advertising only CBD and online marijuana cards. Here in AR it's only legal for medical use, so I expect to see more online "doctors".
While this leg of the trip was harder, simply due to the length, I'm well over halfway done by now. I have less than 1000 miles left (1600 km for the metric folks) and am feeling good. A bit sore, of course, but with that also comes the most glorious neck and back cracking I've had in a while.
As I journey eastward, the amount of Christian billboards has increased dramatically. It must be really hard if you're a devout Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or many others. I have been to countries with state religion (both UAE and Malaysia have Islam as the official religion), and yet in those countries I've never been proselytized to, but have here. It's a weird feeling.
I'm off to Nashville tomorrow, and finishing the drive on Friday. With luck, everything will be unloaded by Saturday and I can relax on a flight home.
Salud!
