Arkansas: Day One

Well, good readers, Jen and I are coming to you live and in person from our new place in Rogers, Arkansas. Cosby is back at our house holding the fort down, and we will move him up here at the end of the week. We drove up from Fort Worth today, and what an adventure it has been thus far!

Last night at about 3AM, we were awoken by a neighbor asking us to move our car from in front of our house, as some intoxicated person ran into a car parked on the other side of the street. It was so fortunate that the driver didn't hit our car on the street! After moving the car back, we returned to bed as Jen's alarm was set for 5 AM.

Well, despite being set for 5, we were awoken by my alarm, set for 6:30. I heard there might be a glitch with the alarm clock on the iPhone due to the new year. At any rate, we awoke at 6:30, and quickly packed our car with some stuff and hit the road. Fortunately, traffic was very light, we were able to drop off my car at the airport on time, and continue on in Jen's car to Arkansas.

As usual, Oklahoma's roads were terrible, but the Wendy's in McAlester, Oklahoma was tasty and provided food at just the right moment! And due to some steady driving, we arrived at the apartments in plenty of time to sign our lease and get the keys. We are really pleased with our new place and are plotting furniture and artwork already! (Thanks, Jen for the photos!)



After lease signing, we went right across 540 to the local new Target and picked up essentials - toilet paper, cups, etc. We also purchased items necessary to furnish our guest bath - a very important step! After our Target run, we went to Fayetteville for dinner. We ate at Pesto Cafe, which was great. A friend of mine, Coy Fagras (she worked at the Carter while I was there) commended it, and it was tasty!



After dinner, Jen and I went to our favorite indie bookstore in Fayetteville, and loved that! It's a great place and I look forward to buying books from them as time goes on. Jen found a cool book about Hurricaine Katrina, one of her reading interests. After Nightbird, we returned home and toasted our new adventure with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec Champagne we have been saving for this occasion.







Well, on a different note - we have no tv or Internet until the 13th here, so what am I reading? In the car on the way up I finished Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti, which was fun and a nice change from what I have been reading. Now I am reading a book that Jason Elliott was kind enough to loan to me, Open City: True Story of the KC Crime Family, by William Ouseley. It's interesting so far, and might be nurturing a new interest in the history of organized crime in the US.

So that's our first day in Arkansas!