So here I am in Arkansas...

So here I am in Arkansas, I've officially been here a full 24 hours now and have a few observations and things to say about the whole thing.  

First: WORST...DRIVE...EVER.  Thanks to my parents, I've basically been going on road trips since I exited the womb, so they're nothing new to me and are usually quite enjoyable.  This one was not one of those enjoyable trips.  To start out the trip, the weather people completely screwed me at the last minute, and the clear, chilly morning they had originally predicted quickly backfired into 3 inches of snow and blowing wind.  Oh, and to add to that, freezing rain at the Iowa border.  Perfect.  It took over four hours for us to get to Des Moines, and I can usually make it in three.  There were periods of time where I was going 30 miles an hour on the interstate.  Getting passed by a semi put me into such a blizzard that I thought for sure my life was over.  Somehow, we made it through there intact.  

Second: a road trip is no place for a moderately stressed-out girl to get her monthly visitor.  Enough said.  

Third: A scooter leaking gas in a covered trailer very quickly makes everything in the trailer with it smell like gas.  Yes...all my belongings smelled like gas.  After half a bottle of Febreeze and some lengthy time hanging outside over the deck railing, most everything is back to a tolerable scent.  There are a few things though that are going on a much needed trip to the laundromat.  Hefty doses of Clorox 2 are in order...that stuff is the best invention ever...really gets the stink out.  The scooter appears to be fine, by the way, not sure what the leaking was all about but it appears to have stopped.  

Fourth: Arkansas is very pretty.  Granted, we came in at night and didn't get to see a whole lot, but the town of Little Rock is surrounded by those woodsy river valley bluffs that I spent so much time living amongst in college in Winona.  The Arkansas River goes through Little Rock, and it's actually quite a large river.  After growing up so close to the Mississippi, most rivers seem small to me, but I'd have to say the Arkansas gives the ol' Mississip a run for it's money, at least in this area...I don't think it's that big for as long as the Mississippi is.  We're kinda wishing we would have brought the kayaks.  Our apartment is on the far west side of Little Rock...we still have a Little Rock address, but we've found that our location isn't even included on some of the city maps.  We're in the "urban spawl" area, if you will.  Our aparment sits at the top of a hill, and we're completely surrounded by pine trees.  There's a big open-air mall about half a mile away, but you'd never know it living where we do...it feels like we're living in the middle of the woods.  I was a bit disappointed at first when I found out how far we'd actually be living from downtown Little Rock, but I could get used to this rustic feel.  I think I was originally expecting the worst of suburbia...tiny trees, a Starbucks on every corner, everyone driving a Hybrid or a minivan (no offense, I like both of those vehicles), and golden retriever for every 1.25 people.  If I didn't know better I'd think I was either in Flagstaff, AZ or somewhere in northern Minnesota with a lake just around the corner...that's what it feels like anyway.  Drive a half mile down the road and you've got a movie theater with IMAX, a coffee shop, laundromat, Petco...all the essencials and then some.  

Fifth: The drivers down here are idiots.  I almost t-boned someone already, and it was totally and completely not my fault.  Then, Simon and I almost got run down in a Target parking lot...by someone that appeared to have no intention of stopping.  Still don't know if they saw us or not...it wasn't that dark out.  To lay it out a bit, a lot of the main roads around us are three lanes going in each direction, and there are stores on both sides of the roads with drives entering on to the main roads...and these are high traffic roads with 45 mile-an-hour speed limits where everyone is going 55, and people making left-hand turns are basically taking their lives in their hands.  Also, the right-hand lane is always coming and going, forcing whomever is in it to turn right into a parking lot with no warning ahead of time, forcing people to swerve around or turn right where they may not have wanted to...that's pretty much how I got into the Target parking lot in the first place.  It doesn't feel very safe and it's making me quite nervous to get the Scoot out.  I might just have to drive it around the parking lot a few times just to make it worth the hassle we went through to get it here.

Sixth: I realized tonight that this is the first travel assignment I've taken where I'm completely on my own.  In all the locations there was always someone there to help me find my way, to find the bars with the good wings, the malls with the best stores, the restaurants with the best burgers...someone to basically help me navigate the city without getting too lost and without ending up in the wrong part of town.  Simon and I are completely on our own this time, and we have to figure all that stuff out for ourselves.  It's exciting and daunting at the same time.  We're going to visit the Department of Tourism tomorrow and pick up some pamphlets and whatnot and find some things to do.  There's also a Little Rock forum I might join to get some insider information...I have to know where to get good buffalo wings...that is definitely a priority...all other things can wait.  

Seventh: this wouldn't be a note from me without some sort of poop talk.  So we got here last night, Simon and I are about ready to kill each other after the stressful trip.  Mostly we just had a lack of anyone else to scream at...not that either of us blamed the other for any of our trip mishaps.  So Simon was outside messing around with the trailer, and I was inside trying to figure out where we needed to return the trailer.  Cooper pooped on the floor...I didn't see him do it, but I know it was him...he always poops in a scatter, never in a neat little pile like the other two, and this was definitely a scatter.  So, with a lack of anything to pick the poop up with at that point, I put my head in my hands, ground my teeth and just sat there for a minute.  When I picked my head up, the poop was gone.  I hadn't imagined it because I could still smell the turds in the air.  Apparently one of my dogs ate it.  I don't know who, and I didn't go to any great lenths to find out (this sounds terrible, but a part of me was glad that I no longer had to deal with it).  I have not accepted kisses from any of them since.

Eighth: I have no idea how I did it, but somehow I managed to bring almost an entire walk-in closet full of clothes with me...in only two suitcases.  I thought that since I had trimmed the clothing down to two suitcases that I had done pretty good with the over-packing problem I usually experience.  By the time I got done unpacking the little suitcase I was quite sure that I had brought too much and could probably have left the big suitcase at home.  I'm quite sure I could go for over a month and not have to do laundry and still have plenty of clean clothes to spare.  I've gotten so good at packing and organizing things in boxes and bags that I've become my own worst enemy...I no longer have a concept of what its too much because I've gotten so good at compressing things into smaller and smaller areas.  One would think I'm bringing less, but in fact I am bringing the same as before if not more.  Luckily, Simon doesn't have this problem and doesn't seem to mind my monopolization of the closet...and the dresser.  He was quite impressed though with the quantity of things that managed to make it down here with us though.