Dallas to Cincinnati and back via Ft. Campbell

Started by leroys73, February 29, 2016, 09:36:08 AM

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leroys73

I had planned a road trip to my home town, one county east of Cincinnati, to see my ailing uncle .  However, he died the week before my planned trip so I made a quick road trip to the funeral.  I tried to make the most of the sad time.

My special needs daughter and I left home at 0600 on a Wednesday to begin the 970 mile trip.  Wife had to work. I took the tried and true route, Dallas to Texarkana, Memphis, Nashville Louisville, Cincinnati and 275 to 32.  Weather was great and traffic light.  I have made this trip many times so missing a route change were not an issue.

We arrived 15 uneventful hours later a the end of the trail.  My daughter wanted to stop for some quick food so 30 minutes were spent eating.  She is a good traveler.

After the funeral then visiting the my 100s of relatives and old friends from yesteryear we headed back.  I can't say the return trip went as well.  I have a nephew stationed at Ft. Campbell living in Clarksville, TN.  So why not visit him on the return as it is not much out of the way plus I got to get off the interstate. 

The trip to Clarksville was good.  I took mostly secondary roads, US 68 was one of them to Lexington.  It is scenic and I don't remember traveling on it from the Ohio River on. It was enjoyable.  We did run one of Kentucky's many "parkways" then back onto secondaries.

After a very good visit and a night in Clarksville we headed home.  I did not want to take the direct route and I wanted to avoid Memphis in the early morning so over to the Land Between the Lakes area, nice area, then to I=155 and down I-55 to West Memphis  was the plan. 

I missed something in NW TN.  The map, GPS, and signage did not agree.  I screwed up somewhere near Martin, TN.  I had been in this part of TN a couple of years ago on my motorcycle and had a similar problem.  TN doesn't seem to waste money on signage on secondary roads.  I finally had to rely on the GPS which I hate as it only likes interstates.  Before I realized it took me at least 100 miles out of my way just so I could get on I-40 at Jackson.

The trip went down hill from here.  I know truck traffic is heavy on I-40 but usually something I can deal with.  However, this day it was extremely heavy and a real pain. 

It is so irritating when an uphill stretch is in view and one truck pulls out to pass another.  There speed may be one mile per hour different.  Then an idiot car driver passes me on the right blocking the truck from returning to the right lane if he wanted to.  So the car driver says, "Oh, there is another truck in front of me".  He gets pissed and squeezes in between me an the 18 wheeler in front of me. :pan:  Meanwhile we are running at 60 or 65 for maybe 10 miles.  I put up with this ignorance all the rest of the way home.  This happens all the time but this day it seemed worse than usual. 

I am very cooperative with trucks.  I came from a trucking family.  My grandparents and later my uncle who passed away owned an interstate trucking company.  Most truckers are courteous.  I know they have a schedule plus time is money so often I drop back to let them pass a slower truck.  But some just haven't figured out that one mph faster on the flat doesn't mean they can pass on a hill.  Plus some of the people in cars just don't get it, trucks are bigger than they are, don't challenge them. 

Oh well, I made it home later than expected but with higher blood pressure.  All but the last day was a good trip considering the circumstances.       

   
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