Trekking to Lannyland

June 3

Jan and Lindsey both had to work in the morning, but we made an appointment to visit the the medical complex at U of A. Lindsey guided us to the college by way of the Arkansas River, where we took some more water for our collection. (As we left, a dozen emergency vehicles poured into the park...a mystery we'll likely never know they reason for.) At the university hospital, Jan gave us a quick tour of the Winston K. Shorey building. Uncle Win was a dean of the school until a few years before his death in 1978. He and my aunt Jeannette worked to turn the small college into the large medical complex it is today. This was no easy feat, since it involved attracting top Medical talent to Little Rock during the era of segregation. Winston Shorey is honored with the building, a portrait and a plaque. It was a lot of fun to have Jan show it off to us. I'm glad we were able to make time for it. Jan also showed off the new facilities and her own office (Jan is Dr. Jeanette McConnell Shorey II, a U of A, administrator, for those who don't know.)



We would have liked to visit longer, but it was time to head to Texas. Heading to the border, we crossed the Red River and has our first shift in scenery...the Southern vegetation we has been seeing since the trip began gave way to low scrub grass and bushes. We were entering the west! It didn't last long, but the transition was startling.

A stop in Texarkana at a local Walmart Super Center some how sucked up too much time (how do they do those places eat up your life? We just needed a lantern...) In my rush to get us back on the road, I bypased getting gas in Texarkana. By the time we saw another gas station, we were on vapors and had to pay through the nose to fill up. Lesson learned.

Traffic came to a dead stop on I30 just outside of Dallas, but Ben's Garmin came to the rescue. It navigated us away from the highway over very fast country roads to rejoin the highway at the giant reservoir outside of Dallas. By now it was Rush hour, so we crossed Dallas/Ft Worth in stop and go traffic. Six Flags Over Texas seemed closed as we passed it, which was odd for summer.

Texas highways are not very Garmin friendly. There are lots of close access roads and turnabouts that confuse the GPS in terms of vehicle position. Also, the display is a bit hard to decipher when you have to navigate between these traffic features. Still, we got into Ft. Worth just a little late (and panicked when I realized my phone had Lanny's old phone numbers and address, but I caught him at work and got it straight. Good thing he's also a client!) We arrived okay and got to see the Lathem clan.

Lanny had just returned from Botcon in LA, which included a party on the Paramount lot and a TV spot with Conner and Joshua on KTLA. The Lathem's live on a street of tightly packed houses west of Ft. Worth (a bit of an ET/Poltergeist neighborhood vibe.) The boys rule the neighborhood with their superior knowledge of pop culture and Conner's yo-yo skill. As we left for dinner I heard the local urchins talking about his prowess. Sean and Joshua hit it off very well, and they all watched a Godzilla movie after dinner.

Lanny had a number of LA stories and we talked a bit about GI Joe and Transformer fandom. Texas and Georgia comparisons were made, including the Mexican restaurants, which are quite different. Many of the common features I expect from Mexican eateries in Georgia are apparently peculiar to our state...including Lanny's pet peeve, the lack of white cheese common to El Toro, El Rodeo, El Azteca, etc. It doesn't exist in Texas.

Taura is doing well, despite a small cold, and has proudly lost 40lbs, so she's looking well, too. She likes the new house with the close neighbors. Lanny misses the Woodstock home. I think both of them are feeling out of step with Texas culture.

We had a great time and ended up talking until 1 AM. It was just like old times. We even forgot to take pictures!
Sean got a Transformers toy as a parting gift, so it was fun all around.

On to west Texas tomorrow.