Hey everybody. We’re on our way to Austin, and so are our hundreds (not kidding) of boxes of stuff. Our boxes and furniture are on a truck that I believe is currently in North Carolina or something; Brian, Pearl, and I are all at a Super 8 in Morristown, Tennessee. We’re hoping the three of us will be at our new apartment on Sunday, and our stuff is probably going to arrive on Wednesday. Phase 1 (packing) and Phase 2 (loading) were both so completely insane — and I am so, so exhausted from going through both of them plus lots and lots of tearful goodbyes — that I can’t even begin to describe this past week. Just trust me: it was crazy.

We’ll report back soon!

First of all, we went through Louisiana, and I owe you this:

Also, remember how I mentioned that it was snowing in Vicksburg? Well, here you can see some snow falling on the Super 8 pool (which was open, of course, since the day before had been 80 degrees or something!):

We did eventually get to Jackson and had to continue recovering from being sick. I had a little relapse, etc. I won’t bore you (or gross you out) with the details… but it did, unfortunately, prevent us from attending most of the events we had come to Jackson to enjoy. Alas! We still had a really nice visit with my aunt and uncle, and they took us to a very cool art event hosted by the Mississippi Museum of Art’s New Collector’s Club. It was a talk and studio tour at NunoErin studio in Jackson. They make very cool swamp-inspired, interactive artwork with thermoactive materials — basically, furniture, pillows, and wall panels that change color when warmed by body heat. Here is one of the artists demonstrating how to use a hair dryer to get the color change effect on some wall panels:

It was fascinating and really fun. Thanks, NunoErin!

Eventually we got back on the road to DC… and I have a few more state signs for you, including the elusive Virginia sign!

(By the way, we went through a little corner of Georgia, but they don’t bother to put up a welcome sign there. What gives, Georgia??)

In Virginia, we stopped at the Natural Bridge Exxon and saw this tiger:

It’s a far cry from the Itasca Wampus Cat, eh?

This tiger was made by Mark Cline, a fiberglass artist whose work we always see everywhere. In fact, we have several stories about Professor Cline… but they’re stories for another time.

Anyway, we’re moving to Austin. Wait, what? No, seriously. We are. I got a job. We got an apartment. Movers are coming a week from Tuesday. Soooo things are pretty busy and crazy. But we’ll keep you all posted as much as we can. Keep checking back!!

Well! We’re going to have to tell you more about Austin later. We had a bit of a development. We were supposed to leave Austin on Friday morning and head to Jackson, Mississippi. Instead, on Thursday night, we were both up all night with a horrific stomach virus. I’ll spare you the details, but trust me, it was not pretty. We had to stay an extra night in Austin, and then we tried to make it to Jackson yesterday — and we almost made it, thanks in no small part to a refueling stop at my aunt Catherine’s in Shreveport, Louisiana. But when we got just outside Vicksburg, we became concerned that the place we were headed in Jackson might contain some new and terrifying strain of the virus we had just endured. Plus, IT WAS SNOWING (!!), so we decided to stay put. So, this morning I’m writing this from the Vicksburg Super 8… and we will be going to Jackson (for real this time) later this morning. We’re both feeling significantly better, but still far from fabulous. Being sick is as awful as littering!

We got on the road and before we knew it, we met up with an old friend.

Brian and I both have enormous fondness for the Gateway Arch. Our first trip together (in September 2005) was to St. Louis (for a conference for Brian), and we actually went inside the Arch. It was terrifying but really fun! You guys may also remember that we passed through St. Louis on our way home in the fall. Good times!

An hour or so outside of St. Louis, we saw a sign for the World’s Largest Rocking Chair (in Fanning, Missouri), so obviously we had to go see that for ourselves. And now you can see it for yourself too:

It’s 42 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 27,500 pounds… and was just erected in April 2008! I’m sure it has a great future as a roadside attraction ahead of it. Congratulations, World’s Largest Rocking Chair! And sorry you got displaced, World’s Now Second Largest Rocking Chair, where ever you are.

Another interesting thing we saw on the road today was this:

(We think this is a Google Street View camera car. Can anyone confirm or deny?)

Then, we had our big moment:

HOORAY!

Our first stop in Oklahoma was here:

We came here because we needed to fill the gas tank, but it turned out to be a very special place. Not only does this highway-bridging rest area include the Will Rogers Mini-Museum (the “museum” consists of some posters and one small display case of paraphernalia — seriously), but you’re allegedly looking at the World’s Former Largest McDonald’s. (Brian and I went inside to use the restroom and we both find that claim hard to believe. This McD’s must have held the title a long time ago!)

We continued on to Tulsa, where we went here:

This is Hank’s Hamburgers, which is a Tulsa landmark that’s been operating since 1949. We had a really great time here. Everyone was so nice to us, the place had a wonderful authentic small-town air (despite being in a relatively large city), and they have these homemade chocolate-covered peanut butter candies that are amazing. And also they have tater tots. And they hilariously say “Hank’s” instead of “thanks” on their signage:

After that, we drove for a long time. We made it through Oklahoma City all the way to Ardmore where we are now all set up in our Super 8. Tomorrow we’ll keep heading south. Yay!

Woo hoo! Six states to go…

Anyway, before we knew it, we had arrived at our first destination… the Creation Museum! I don’t think I can really articulate our experience there, so I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly) and you can draw your own conclusions. Okay?

First of all, there’s an outdoor garden/nature trail that leads to a petting zoo that includes a zebra-donkey hybrid. You can see here that he or she is obviously planning a grand (albeit very slow) escape…

We didn’t spend too much time outside since it was pretty cold and windy and cloudy and blah, and anyway, the main part of the museum is inside. There’s a large walk-through exhibit that depicts the early events in Genesis in 3D, often animatronic detail. Here’s our first protaganist, Adam:

Way to be strategically placed, sheep. Anyway, as with most situations, the Garden of Eden exhibit is all fun and innocent games until you add in a vegetarian raptor:

And then here are some dinosaurs boarding Noah’s Ark:

Unlike the Eden photos above, that particular ark photo is actually from a diorama-style smaller exhibit, and I reluctantly admit that those particular dinosaurs are not animatronic. In fact, I think they are action figures that are available for sale in the Creation Museum gift shop.

Aaaaaanyway, after we left the museum, we thought another Great Flood was coming because there was crazy heavy rain combined with some serious wind gusts. We made it through though and continued on our way through Louisville, Kentucky! We made a random (and very brief) stop to see this:

It’s the world’s oldest ornamental water tower; it hasn’t pumped any water in a century, but it’s now an art museum! We actually didn’t plan that stop — we just stumbled upon it, which is of course the most rewarding way to enjoy the road! But we didn’t just stumble upon this:

Yep. That’s exactly what you think it is. And if you ever visit the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, and wish to pay your respects to Colonel Sanders, enter the cemetery on the Grinstead side and simply follow the yellow line.

But… if this all seems morbid to you, don’t worry. Much like Elvis, the Colonel lives on:

We spied the Colonel alive and well, waiting for the bus in downtown Louisville. No, we did not accost him and demand the secret recipe for fried chicken eternal life.

We made it to our Super 8 in Okawville, Illinois, just barely in time to catch LOST. Tomorrow the plan involves conquering Oklahoma!

Yay! We’ve now been to 43 of the 50 states, plus D.C. of course.

Now, I don’t have a state sign for Texas, but I have something even better, if you can imagine that:

Hooray! Yet again, we got to stand in multiple states at once. This is becoming my #1 hobby.

This half-and-half sign is in Texarkana, which (obviously) straddles the Texas/Arkansas state line. There’s actually a big avenue running down to this marker from I-30 called State Line Street, and it’s lined with Texas signs on the west side and Arkansas sides on the east:

Now we are holed up in our luxurious Super 8 room in Mt. Vernon, Texas. It’s really quite a nice Super 8, and they scored some big points with me for this:

Nice touch, Mt. Vernon Super 8.

Oh. Did I not mention we are on another road trip? The main event this time is Christmas in Jackson, Mississippi, with my extended family (hi, y’all!). Brian and I are adding a few extras, depending on how things go. Right now we’re en route to Austin, Texas, and we’re very excited even though apparently it takes 3 days to drive there!

Here’s today’s route log, courtesy of Brian.

View Larger Map

We could see the Sears Tower (kind of hard to spot in this photo, but it’s there in the background to the left of the red crane) and the river and everything. Nice! And today, despite the rain, we did go back down to Millennium Park & Grant Park to see it in the daytime without a quarter of a million other people there, and we visited The Bean:

I love a bean. I also loved seeing the banners that arrived yesterday:

We’ll have to return to Chicago at some point to do more awesome stuff! We’re in Ohio now at a Super 8 outside Toledo and should get home by late tomorrow.

(Scott, is this where the guy wouldn’t let you bring in your coffee??)

We went there because we had a coupon for a free dinosaur bone, which we got. Awesome! It’s our first rock shop trip (we’ve seen dozens along our route, but we’ve never actually gone into one).

Anyway, then we went into Arches National Park! It was very exciting!! We saw so many great things even within our relatively limited time. For example… the Three Gossips!

A place where an arch probably used to be next to Sheep Rock! (They all fall down eventually, you know.)

Check out Sheep Rock!! It was one of my favorites of the day.

Balanced Rock!

Windows!!

Double Arch!

Of course, the iconic Delicate Arch!

And Brian’s personal favorite of the day, Skyline Arch!

We saw one of the handful of whiptail lizards (the only wildlife we observed today) we got to meet on the short trail up to Skyline Arch:

Yay. We agreed that Arches was one of the most beautiful and interesting places we’ve been on the entire trip. We hope to come back and hike more of the trails!

After all that, we left Arches and went up to I-70. I think we better get used to looking at this sign:

We’re going to be seeing it quite a bit over the next few days as we head home. When we first decided to go on this trip, we thought we would be able to enjoy a leisurely drive both out west and back east. Of course, we didn’t really count on getting sick in South Dakota!! So, we have to be back by Saturday at the latest so I have a few hours to recover before I teach on Sunday. Fortunately, Arches didn’t take as long as we had allotted for it, and we were able to eliminate a couple of other places we had hoped to visit on the return trip. In a way, I think it’s fitting that Arches was our final planned destination before heading home, since Utah started it all for us!

We drove through Utah and entered Colorado again before the debate started:

Tonight we’re in Georgetown, Colo., at the “uniquely western-themed” Super 8. It’s a perfectly nice place, but the woman at the desk acted like she was doing us a huge favor by honoring our reservation (and we all know how I feel about sub-par customer service). Hopefully we won’t become ill from the secondhand smoke fumes seeping from next door into our non-smoking room! Lovely!!