Fort Smith in the rearview

This story actually begins in 1972, when Keith was sixteen and working at a grocery store.  He was heading home and stopped at a Jack-in-a-box, where he spotted some older kids in a very cool car.  He told the kid driving the car how much he admired it. Those kids were older, around 19, and so they gave Keith grief, the way older teenage boys will do, that car stuck with Keith - he knew he would love to have one some day - a black 65 Mustang with red interior, and a round white gear shift knob.  That car has stuck with him his whole life.  Then one day about 10 years ago, he managed to buy this at a good price:

The picture really does not reflect just how much work it needed.  This car didn't know it at this point, but it really needed my husband.  

He started restoring it over the years, and then in 2012, after he retired, and then after we returned from hiking the Appalachian Trail for six months, the restoration project REALLY picked up steam.  He completed it last week, and now it is black (not just black, but the blackest black he could find - the black they put on the Hummer H2), with a red interior, and yes, even a round white gear shift knob.  He did every bit of it himself, except the headliner and exhaust. He took out the 289 and put in a 351.  It was a three-speed, but he made it a five-speed, and according to Keith, the car is MUCH happier now.  It now has brand new red seats, and a beautiful new red interior. 

So, that brings me to this:

Now comes the reason for this blog - the great American road trip!  We are taking the Mustang (UNAIRCONDITIONED)  on the open road, and plan to hit some major stops, such as Washington DC (visiting our daughter and son-in-law, where he is working as a summer associate at a law firm for 10 weeks), with lots of smaller stops along the way (State parks, hiking, beaches), with the ultimate destination being Keith's parents in Maine.  He is anxious to show them the car. 

And so, without any further delay, I bring you Keith and Linda on the Open Road:

We pulled out of the driveway this morning right at 8 AM,  and left Fort Smith headed east on I-40, towards Lebanon, Tennessee, our first stop on the road trip.  Some may think I-40 east from Fort Smith is boring, but I think it's really beautiful, especially this year, since we've had an abundance of rain.  We crossed the Arkansas River, glassy and calm, with no barge traffic as we went over.   As we headed east, we passed through rolling hills, past Lake Dardanelle, and it was still fairly cool.

Saleen, our Chiweenie, relocated early on from the backseat, which we had reserved just for her, to lying right between our seats, so I moved her car bed and she lays in it long ways, kind of like a wiener in a bun.  She has just laid there the whole way, until we pass over a river, when she gets up and sits in our laps to look out the window. I guess she can smell the water.

Since the Mustang  is unairconditioned, we were hoping for cloud cover.  I actually dozed a bit, because the next thing I know, we were east of Little Rock, and I never saw it!   I woke up because I was too cold!  I just sat there and enjoyed the fact that we weren't too hot YET.  

It was a very lush, green cruise from Little Rock to Memphis, with the occasional crop duster making lazy circles low across the interstate.  I tried to imagine how much fun they must have with that.  I wonder if some of them might be retired military pilots, pretending to be on bombing runs?  That's what I always think of.  But today, I also thought of their toxic chemicals, and the fact that we were running down the interstate with the windows down.  

We occasionally get honked at and yelled at by classic car fans.  Keith was driving at one point today, and I was totally engrossed in an article in Urban Magazine, a local publication I had brought along, when this 18-wheeler pulls right along side me and blasts his horn.  It gave us both heart attacks!  Imagine that with the windows down!  Keith looked at me wide-eyed and said, "What's wrong?!  What's he saying?"  He thought the trucker was trying to tell us something was wrong with the car.  I looked over at him - also wide-eyed - and he was grinning from ear to ear, giving us the thumbs-up and mouthing the words,  "Nice car!"   I relayed this to Keith, who was now proudly smiling and waving back at him.  And when I looked back up at the trucker, he was mouthing the words,  "I'm so sorry," because he could tell he scared us to death.  

For the first time, we started getting a bit warm around lunch time, as we lost cloud cover for a while.  Before long though, we caught up to some rain clouds, and pulled in close to Jackson, TN at a nice shady rest area with picnic tables.  We had packed a cooler with sandwiches, and took a nice break, tied up Saleen with a nice long cable we had brought along, so she could explore, and enjoyed the cool breeze and the air conditioned bathrooms!  For a second, I felt like a thru-hiker again, coming out of the heat, into the modern conveniences of flush toilets and air conditioning.  I remembered how great it was to wash my arms and face with running water.  However, soon, thunder alerted us to the dark clouds moving in from the north, and we packed up and headed out.  

The rain soon found us,  but nothing too severe - just enough to see if the car leaked!  Happy to say, we remained dry, except for one slow drip that was in the lower corner of the windshield on the passenger side (I had packed a towel just for this purpose). It  was nothing unexpected, as the man who installed the windshield had told Keith that he preferred to wait and see if Keith really even needed the "goop" that he could add later if it leaked. 

It got  warm again in the afternoon, but we were excited about the forecast of a cool front that was arriving tonight, and keeping it cool as we traveled on to Washington DC to visit Daniel and Elise for a week.  

We arrived at our hotel in Lebanon and saw plenty of fast food up and down the road, so we took Saleen on a nice walk, picked up food, and came back to the hotel to eat and relax for a while.  That movie, "Paul" was on (about the alien), which I thought was pretty funny when it first came out, so we watched that and enjoyed it all over again. That's one of the perks of getting old - you can enjoy a movie for a second time just as if you never saw it!  Good night everyone!  Tomorrow  -  on to Daleville, Virginia, an Appalachian Trail town!