"like a band of gypsies...

… we go down the highway."

Room 215 at the Days Inn Little Rock has some loose floor tiles in the bathroom. Think they’d like me to chisel and regrout those for ‘em?

After a fast half-day’s work – finishing up the shower surround, bathroom fixtures, painting the bathroom a fabulous cheerful yellow, and grouting that hearth – Candy broke out the big guns for our parting lunch (the whole gang was there) and then a 10 minute pit stop to shower, pack bags, load the car and hit the road.

I led us on a little tour of the access road/interstate system in our one-mile stretch of Beaumont … THEN we were on the road at 2:00, on a rerouted tour to avoid some rumored storms and tornados headed through Mississippi (the way we’d come).

Our tour through the piney woods of East Texas, and right at 7.5 hours have put us in Little Rock, Arkansas for the night. Our friends from Warsaw headed back the MS way and said the weather didn’t materialize, but the traffic snarl to beat all DID, right around Baton Rouge. (edit: News reports Saturday morning indicated severe storms, damage and fatalities. I've not talked with the Warsaw group yet to check in on the balance of their trip.)

Which would have meant driving three hours out of Beaumont and then … sitting. For a long time. On bridges. At least on our two-lane state highways we could keep moving – well, except for the lumber trucks … and the school bus stop … and the guy on his tractor stopping to get his mail from the box. (I love Texas!) So … ‘six of one, half dozen of the other,’ as my father used to (incessantly!) say.

Jim: Next stop, I need to be sure to take that sign off the car.
Ken: What sign?
Jim: The one that says ‘PULL OUT IN FRONT OF ME!’

We’ll be out super early in the morning and head on for Indy, losing an hour en route. Of course, the first time change in 30 years in Indiana takes effect the week we’re traveling! For the LOVE!

Moments from the week continue to insert themselves into our conversations and private thoughts … faces, comments, events, recollections, revelations, questions. It was quite a remarkable week, with layer after layer of blessing and hope.

More to share, more to see, more to consider. Plan to have an update on Sunday with some closing thoughts, sometime early next week a link to a photo album, and hopefully soon an RSS feed/link (for those who've asked), to keep you apprised of any future updates ... including ~hint,hint~ future trip dates. Awesome things still to come ...

But for now, a little shut-eye.