Disagreeable greens and drones

Here I am sitting on this odd little elevated window seat in a minuscule motel room in Jackson, Tennessee, a motel room that offers exactly what the website advertised (cheap rates and close proximity to the interstate) plus an unexpected extra-special bonus: a decorating scheme involving four shades of green loudly competing for Ugliest Color on the Planet, the sorts of green you generally don't expect to see outside a baby's diaper or a moldy rotting milk product. This room isn't big enough for that many clashing colors. My eyes object to this constant Assault by a Deadly Color. They demand a rest.

And that's exactly what they're going to get. We had planned to sleep late and leave for Texas at a civilized hour, but the phone rang at 5 a.m. and we were awake so why not hit the road? The temperature on our back deck this morning was 30 degrees and we drove through dense fog all through West Virginia, but by the time we hit Kentucky the sun was shining and the sky was clear. From my perch on this window seat on the third floor of the Motel of Misbegotten Remodeling, I can see blue sky as far as the eye can see, with not a hint of cloud in the sky.

I can also see the interstate. The website mentioned that this motel was close to the interstate, but it didn't specify how close: close enough to allow us to spit across all four lanes, close enough for truckers to say "excuse me" as they take the short cut through our closet, close enough for us to see the whites in the eyes of roadkill armadillos. On the Annoying Noise Continuum, the droning of trucks roaring down the interstate approaches Dental Drill level, and it may even be more annoying than the loud obnoxious shades of green. I can make the colors go away just by closing my eyes.

I can't close my eyes, however, to the flooding that has put part of I-40 under water in Arkansas, a state we need to cross tomorrow to get to Texas. Time to find an alternate route. Truckers always know the best routes, right? I'll just lean out the window and hail a passing semi.