Saturday - Are we there yet?

Hi everyone! As we start going through each day, different people will post about their own experiences about that day. So, to begin, I apologize that this is a day late. It took the entire day just to rest from the long drive. We woke up and started on the road about 6:30 AM. The first part of the drive (through East Texas) was quite uneventful. Most slept and listened to music (luckily, the vans have an auxiliary input so Ipods could be played). The van I was in began counting states on license plates, trying to get to all fifty. Our count is at the end.

We stopped in Texarkana for breakfast, where Ross tried Whataburger for the first time! He was pretty unimpressed, especially after he didn't get the biscuits he wanted. We'll have to take him back and show him the glory when we are back in Texas. Anyway, we went through Arkansas without too many complaints. At least, I couldn't remember much. The landscape starts to blur together when I'm driving...

So, when we got to Memphis, we ate lunch at a great BBQ place. It was really smoky in there, so you know it's good. Then we began the long trip across the state to Kingsport. Tennessee was pretty rainy most of the evening, and since I had been driving for almost 12 hours, I needed a break. Apparently Kyle also needed to take a break to turn in some work, because the word from the other van was that he was driving and using his computer. So, in order to be safe, we stopped at a Starbucks for caffeine and the wireless internet.

Finally, on the last leg of the trip, we were bored enough to start playing games using the walkie talkies Ross provided. We had each other guess movies based on quotes or songs, and it went on for a long time. At last we reached Kingsport and stopped in at a hotel. One interesting thing I noted was, due to the rain and darkness, it was very hard to get a first impression of the area. However, when we woke up this morning, we were able to see the mountains that surrounded us. It is a beautiful view, and I know all of us appreciate the opportunity to serve while constantly seeing God's great creation around us.

No. of State License Plates: 37 out of 50

-Philip A