sufficient

heading west

And the chronicle of this summer's roadtrip begins.

We set out Thursday, July 29 from Laura's house at about 8:00, right on schedule. The goal for the day's driving was Norman, OK. First pit stop: West Memphis, AK. First time I'd set foot on Arkansas soil and pretty sure I don't want to stop in West Memphis ever again. We stopped for real at Central High School in Little Rock. Seemed like an appropriate stop for 2 former teachers and ed policy students who care about social justice. We joined a tour of teachers for a bit and then wandered around the school on our own. It's still a functioning school, but everything on the inside has been preserved as it was in the days of the Little Rock Nine.From there, we drove west to Oklahoma. We spent the night at Lake Thunderbird State Park just east of Norman. I was really looking forward to this park- the lake was huge and beautiful. Campground, not so much. We turned into the tent loop at the campground. Mistake. I have never been in a nastier, less maintained campground- fire pit filled with beer cans and food trash, cigarettes littering the campsite, trash hadn't been taken out in the bathroom anytime recently and many wasps had made their home there. Possibly the worst night's sleep I've ever had camping as well, given the night's low of 85. I felt bad for Laura, starting out this crazy trip I'd mostly engineered in such a way.

Morning came, we woke literally before the crack of dawn and were out of there by seven. For all of its horrors, we'd gotten there late enough and left early enough that we never saw a ranger, nor was the visitors center open, so at least it was free!

Labels: travel

posted by CP @ 11:11 AM 1 thoughts