27 July 2012

On the way to Uvalde

On the way to Uvalde
With 3300km of travel, we decided to take 4 days and headed off on Monday, 23 July, with a first stop at Columbus, Ohio. A 20 kt headwind most of the day caused a 20% increase in fuel usage. There were a few road works also that caused the speed average to drop. The second day started off with overcast skies soon turning to thunderstorms and heavy rain. By noon it cleared and the temperature started going up again. We stopped over on the outskirts of Memphis. By the third day, sitting in the car for hours started to be uncomfortable, but the road through Arkansas is much smoother now most of the concrete slabs have been replaced with asphalt.  Still a few stretches of rhythmic bumping, but a big improvement over previous years.  We were able to enjoy the sight of wall-to-wall CUs, hoping those conditions were a promise of things to come in Uvalde.  The ride was uneventful until 60 miles from Dallas when the GPS chimed "traffic ahead" and suggested an alternate route. Thinking it was going to be roadworks again, I ignored the change in route and right after the suggested exit, the traffic literally screeched to a halt. After 15 minutes  of barely moving and seeing cars cutting across the grass between the highway and the service road, I did the same, choosing a relatively flat area to cross with the trailer. Of course, it's not long before the service road is blocked too, but crossing over to the other side we progressed about 20 kms. We then got to an intersection where police were re-routing traffic. We ended up on hwy 66, crawling along for an hour before rejoining hwy 30. It turns out the highway had been completely closed, probaly due to an accident. We stayed in Mesquite, on the outskirts of Dallas. Only able to find unlicensed fast food places, we decide to head into Dallas downtown for a beer and a bite. We found a nice place called the Hofbrauhaus  with a terrace and though it was still a bit warm to sit outside, with the air conditioning inside, it was actually too cold to sit indoors!
Today a short trip to San Antonio, and a tourist round of the "river walk". Tomorrow a short drive to Uvalde to be there in time for a 10AM safety meeting, and registration. Saturday, a technical inspection of the glider and hopefully some flying.
Nick and Christine





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