funnystrange.com

We had a little mix-up this morning regarding morning tea. You see, I'm addicted to iced tea the way most people are addicted to coffee. It's the way I get caffeine and I have to have it first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, the tea at the hotel breakfast was horrible, just like everything at a complimentary hotel breakfast. No problem, I thought to myself, I'll just stop at a Wendy's and get some tea there.

Now, Wendy's is the only fast-food restaurant with decent tea. However, they don't open until 10:30 in the morning. I figured I'd have no difficulty waiting until 10:30 to have my morning tea. Unfortunately, we crossed the Georgia/Alabama border at about 10:15. Suddenly, it was 9:15! Okay, I thought, minor setback. I don't mind waiting another hour for my tea.

Unfortunately, by the time 10:30 rolled around in the Central time zone, we had entered rural Alabama. Which is apparently so rural that interstate exits are few and far between, fast food stops are rare, and Wendy's is even rarer. We finally managed to find one around 11:30 (which was of course 12:30 according to my stomach and my head, which was a bit put out at not having its morning caffeine yet). Once I got the tea into my system, I felt just fine, so it was all OK in the long run.

I'm sure that Alabama and Mississippi are lovely states with lots of beautiful things to see. But you really can't see any of them from the interstates. Nothing but trees, endless trees. It looked just like North Carolina on I-85 except for the live oaks. We tried to take photos of the Montgomery and Mobile skylines, but if either city has a skyline, we couldn't see it from the highway. So all we got were pictures of road signs.

Unfortunately I can't show you the photos just yet, because I'm not able to get a data connection on my cell phone to upload the photos from the laptop. (I'm writing this from Elizabeth's computer.) This is a little alarming, since the entire web cam project hinges on the cell modem. However, I will remain optimistic and assume that since Houston is a much bigger city than Baton Rouge, Verizon will have a data connection available in Houston.

I have to say that it had better work. Because I told the Verizon salesman exactly what I needed to do when I bought the phone, and he assured me this was exactly what I needed. He never even hinted that the data connection might not be available in other parts of the country. Luckily I still have his business card. I'll test it when I get to Houston and if there are any problems, I'll call him tomorrow afternoon.

On to more pleasant topics. Elizabeth and her husband Barry are wonderful. Their house is full of fabulous art and the makings thereof. I could have spent all evening just poking around their workshops, admiring her fabric and bead collections, and his vulcanizer and rubber stamps. I'll try to get some photos of them and their home before we leave in the morning.

Since I can't connect with my own computer, I may not have a chance to write in the morning. In which case, my next post will be from Houston! We should arrive there in early afternoon, with plenty of time to check into the hotel, clean up the car and ourselves, and get ready for the Art Car Ball tomorrow night. I can't wait!