Closer to home and back in the same time zone

Thursday, August 1 -  the ride today was much more comfortable, as the temps were a bit less boiling than yesterday.  The top was down all day and there was much less sweating.  The traffic getting out of Memphis was pretty heavy but it moved right along and we headed northeast and finally got back into the Eastern Time Zone.  We were in Nashville, TN for lunch and went to Blackstone restaurant and brewery. We had a great lunch, good service and a new beer glass, really I think this is the last one.  We then drove through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky, reaching our destination of the Days Inn and Suites in Cincinnati, Ohio around dinner time.  We went through the same routine that we've come to know, checkin, unpack, and dinner.  I'm not really sure how that's going to work when we get home tomorrow, I guess we'll see what happens.  That's all for this next to last post.  Our last post will be once we get home, unpacked, and have dinner.  I hope it will reflect the wonderful vastness of the experiences that we had over these last five weeks.  I hope that you will be able to share someday soon our pictures and how much we learned, experienced, and enjoyed over the last 36 days.  So long from Cincinnati, see you all soon, we've really missed you all.  N&L

We begin the trip home.

Wednesday, July 31st -  as we left Dallas, the realization that we were heading east and north started to sink in.  The journey of five weeks was coming to a close.  It hardly seems like we've been gone that long but it seems forever ago that we went rafting, watched the fish flying at Pikes Place Market, and walked the trails along the rim of the Grand Canyon.  The trip to Memphis from Dallas was a hot one.  The top was down almost the entire time and it was in the upper 90's. When we got to our hotel we checked in, unpacked the car and went to dinner.  We went to a restaurant in a nice little neighborhood, that reminded us of the Elmwood strip in Buffalo.  The food was good but the service wasn't very good, probably the worst we've had for the whole trip.  Not really sure why, but it just didn't seem up to par.  We then took a ride around downtown Memphis, including the area around Beale Street,  but it was extremely crowded and we had no idea of where to park.  Back to the hotel for a dip in the pool to cool off and a good nights sleep before the very long drive to Cincinnati.

Our day in Dallas

We headed in to downtown Dallas for a little sight-seeing. We stopped at the Grassy Knoll, the site of the assination of JFK. There were many people around this area. There were plaques to describe the different aspects of what happened that day. We went to the museum bookstore. It was an interesting review of American history.  Our next stop was supposed to be a microbrewery. Once we found the address we discovered it must have been the corporate office. No beer in this building.
We then headed to John & Paula Lind's house for a day of relaxation. Paula grew up in NT. Lynn and Paula have been friends since grade school. We started with a tour of their beautiful home. John made delicious stuffed jalapeños that we all enjoyed! Bathing suits, drinks and snacks and we headed to the pool. They have a beautiful in -ground pool. We hung out in the pool on a very hot afternoon!  We had a great time catching up on our kids, families and jobs(well Paula and I talked nursing). A delicious dinner followed, more conversation and Norm and I then headed back to our hotel(without incident).
Our thanks to John & Paula for providing us a day of relaxation and fun!!!!

Carlsbad, wasn't too 'bad' but the traffic in Dallas is another issue.

Monday, July 29th - The hotel we stayed at in Carlsbad, NM, didn't have a complimentary breakfast, so as we drove out of town it was a Sonic breakfast.  That not being sufficient for Norm we spent the first hour of our trip to Dallas looking for someplace to get a doughnut.  It seems that Dunkin' Donuts or Timmy Ho's isn't interested in coming to the Southwest.  Finally, a local little donut shop appears on the horizon and the morning improves greatly.  The rest of the morning and afternoon were spent on the road.  We stopped a few times to get gas and at some Native American shops, but it was fairly uneventful until we got to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  We were in traffic that rivaled that of LA and carefully following our Triptik.  Unfortunately, without us knowing, the Triptik was taking us to a different hotel than the one where we were staying.  We finally were so confused that we stopped and put on the GPS  with the address and found the hotel. It took us about an hour and a half to go the distance that should have taken us about twenty minutes.  It made the day end with a great deal of frustration.  We did find, with the suggestion of the hotel registration person, a good Mexican Restaurant, where the food was good and the price was cheap.  The day finally came to an end with some ice cream and a very nice hotel room with a fireplace, even though it was 101 outside.