On the road again

Another travel day means another timeline.

8:35 a.m. Depart Birmingham, Alabama.

8:40 a.m. Finally get to turn off of the street from the hotel onto the highway.

9:12 a.m. Birmingham's "modern music" radio station plays a Cardigans song that is not "Lovefool". Color me surprised to hear "Erase/Rewind". The station format is different, kind of a mix of alternative rock and singer-songwriters that play on pop/adult contemporary radio.

10:17 a.m. See the third Alabma highway patrolman pulling someone over in a ten-minute span. What is going on? It's not that busy out here.

10:29 a.m. Enter Mississippi. First time I've ever been in the state.

11:20 a.m. Exit at New Albany, Mississippi for food and gas. Get held up waiting for a semi truck that has partially slipped off the road to get back on. Although there are a few restaurants, gas stations, and other stores built up around the exit, it's not an area where'd you expect much traffic. It takes me forever, comparatively, to get around here and back to the highway.

11:59 a.m. Back on the road.

12:28 p.m. Several of the gas, food, and lodging signs by the highway have had all businesses removed from them. I know there's not a lot out here, but surely it's not that vacant.

12:35 p.m. Off the highway I see a trailer with big signs advertising psychic readings inside. That's a part of the south I haven't been seeing on my travels so far.

12:56 p.m. Enter Tennessee. I'm on the south side of Memphis and choose to give the GPS the benefit of the doubt when it comes to turning before my printed instructions direct me. Looks like a good decision. Music-wise I've picked up an HD radio station dedicated to the blues. It's not like Tom Waits DJing in Mystery Train but it'll do.

1:18 p.m. Enter Arkansas as I cross the Mississippi.

2:01 p.m. Radio station playing jazz (or something) transitions into a syndicated program heavy on 80s R&B. Hold on, did the host just say "the n word"? Maybe, maybe not. Now I'm thinking that it was a word similar to that but not with as charged of a meaning.

2:15 p.m. A plane is flying around doing all sorts of looping maneuvers. What is going on?

2:31 p.m. Pull off at a rest stop. Not too much more to go.

2:38 p.m. Back on the road.

3:16y p.m. Hear "Western Union" by The Five Americans on an oldies station. I don't think I ever realized that they were mimicking Morse code in the chorus.

3:48 p.m. Arrive in Conway, Arkansas at the home of friends.

And so marks my thousandth post on this blog.