3129

Saturday August 20

Part 3; Arkansas

Half past five seemed way too early; but I was not going to be rushed like I was at Boston. I checked out, drove the half mile to the Hertz place. As before, they were so efficient, one signature I was on my way; and not to worry about the damage she said. I caught the bus to the terminal, quickly checked in; and in about twenty minutes, I was through security, sitting in a café eating a crappy breakfast bagel.

On take off to Dallas, the plane hit an air pocket, and lurched to an angle of 45 degrees before levelling out; apart from that iit was an uneventful trip. Having forgotten to get something to read, I stared at the head of the guy in the seat in front, while the soldier next to me slept like a baby. Bastard!

At Dallas, a TGI Fridays was opposite my gate; so I went in and had a couple of beers and a snack; stuffed potato skins. I was asked if I wanted a half or full order; I settled on a half, which was good as six almost half deep fried spuds came. I ate four and was full.

The plane to NW Arkansas was tiny, the smallest jet I have ever been on; and lurched around like a bronco. To make matters worse there were storms all around Fayetteville, and we had to fly through the clouds to land. It was a relief when we landed, and solid ground was under the wheels again.

One good thing about flying to a small airport is the short wait for luggage. Jason and Cheryl were waiting, and we went to the car to get the hell out of there. I had not realised how bad the storm was; the airport lost power for a while, and so we did not have to pay to park, as the machine got fried.

We headed to Altus, where my friends live, to a place there to eat called Alligator Rays; where they do serve alligator as well as more conventional foods. While we where eating, we were hassled by a woman called Michelle who seemed fascinated by my accent; she claimed to have heard of Norwich and that she had not been drinking: she might have been less than truthful on both counts.

Sunday August 21

Got up very late this morning to the smell of bacon cooking, there really is no better smell in the morning. Well, maybe if coffee was brewing as well. We also had the southern breakfast staple that is biscuits; biscuits are like rusks, crumbly scones I guess; and they are eaten with most meals; especially breakfast.

As the football season was starting in a couple of weeks, the main order of business was the great fantasy football draft; it sounded exciting; but the truth was way less than that.

Eight men sat around a table with lists of players taking it in turn to select players; after 5 minutes any pretense that it might be exciting was dispelled. And then there was the snaking; an ever expanding banquet was brought out to help the important decisions. I was still full from breakfast; the fact that NASCAR was more exciting that what was happening in the dining room speaks volumes.

It was a really hot day, in the high 90’s, and at one point, rain fell from a clear blue sky; this of course had the effect of raising the humidity from 99 to 100%; deep joy.

For dinner, Cheryl cooked brisket, and we tried the horseradish I brought from Oregon; it was still reassuringly hot.

Monday August 22

Normally, I would go with Jason to work; but he does something different on Mondays; so I got to sleep in and hang around the house. Somehow I managed to sleep in through everyone getting up and leaving the house.

So, I hung around the house; went online, wrote letters; watched tv. And by ten I was bored; I guess life seems dull after the past month. Jason came back at lunch, and we went to Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping, and I got more pictures printed up; they still look good. I made chilli that night; with different American ingredients, I was not sure how it would come out; as it happened, I needn’t have worried. That night we visited Jason’s friend, Ace.

He lives in a trailer at the end of an overgrown track. There are no lights there, and we stood outside talking as the sun set; stars began to come out, and in the distant, a thunderhead was lit up by lightning; although it came no nearer. And all this was to a soundtrack of numerous crickets.

Tuesday August 23

I went out with Jason to delver gas; the forecast was for rain, I think in which case we might have given up for the day.

We met up with Cheryl as they had some legal business to sort out; and afterwards we went to a fast food place for lunch. Sonic is a southern place and you order and eat at your cay in bays. It was ok; I think fast food is fast food.

In the afternoon, the heavens opened, and Jason got wet pumping the butane. He carried on, as we were going to be away for a few days, and he wanted to do as much now as not to have a backlog when he got back. In no time, the temperature was hitting 104, and humid like you would not believe.

Back at the house, I thought it might be good to have a limo meet us at the airport when we land in Vegas tomorrow; so I found the number of a national company, and rang up to order it.

That night we went to a BBQ place in Ozark; as much as you can eat ribs! As it turned out, we could only manage one serving; but there was a lot. On the way home, we dropped Samantha and Cassana off at Linda’s; and once back at the house, we had to pack. We should have had an early night, but we were a little excited at the thought of being in Vegas tomorrow.