The Road Trip from Marshall Virginia to Dallas Texas.

About the road trip and all: I had to be in Virginia on business, so I took the opportunity to make the deal, and drive the truck back. A friend of mine was taking a vacation up there, so he agreed that I would go with him to Va, and then he would follow me back from Marshall Virginia to Dallas Texas in case of trouble with the truck. In like circumstances are great road trips born.

The route was I-30 from Dallas to Little Rock, where it becomes I-40 and heads to Memphis, TN. From there, 81 North, and from Knoxville, TN, it took us to 66 in VA, north of Harrisburg.

Here are some of the places we experienced, hopefully these notes will be useful for anyone finding themselves at the coordinates given. (Yes, get a GPS - that's how I map this stuff anyway). These were all along the route. These are in no particular order.

Golden Corral

N 33 27 14.4 W 94 05 20.3
This Nasty Golden Corral restaurant [no image] right off the highway in Texarkana (Arkansas section) should be avoided like the plague. Dirty dishes were provided, and I had to go through 6 sets of filthy silverware before I found one with no old food on it. Drinks were taken away, refilled, and swapped with old toothless people at other tables. You know it is a warning sign when your drink comes back with a straw in it, and there wasn't one there before!

Marathon Gas Station and convenience store

N 37 06 01.1 W 80 30 39.8
Very Unusual flavors of locally bottled carbonated beverages. Definitely worth the trying out. Nice place to stop for a bit.
SURPLUS

N 33 27 56.7 W 94 12 42.6
Large Surplus store on the north side of the highway, just says "Surplus". Didn't have time to stop.
TURNER'S SURPLUS




N 35 59 06.3 W 85 01 01.3
Large surplus store west of Texarkana, remains of a jet fighter outside, and alot of other stuff for the enthusiast. We stopped, but it was just after 5 and the owner was gone. He lives next door as a neighbor told us, but was away. We took the pictures and left.
Love's Travel Stop

N 34 59 12.1 W 90 54 13.4
Love's stop with real A&W root beer and Subway sandwich shop. Great place for the family to stop.
Bell South

Here's a picture of the Bell South building in Knoxville, KY. Note the bus.
Driving through Kentucky


The views are scenic, and the road rolls over hills and valleys, with a couple of steep grades where you will have to cut the truckers some slack as they creep up the hils and howl down them.
Various road shots




A mysterious vortex of some kind appeared along the road, perhaps explained by the speedometer reading in the next image.. In case you were wondering, a Ford Taurus is governed at 112 MPH. Of course this is not really a picture of anyone speeding or anything like that. Just some humor.. The speedometer kept bouncing around erratically in the rental car.



Stucky's

N 35 50 21.9 W 88 05 06.1
Always stop at a Stuckey's! You're not an Americian if you don't!
Traffic Accidents:

There were many accidents along the route, maybe due to the wet weather. Here's a bad shot of an 18 wheeler trailer ripped to shreds in the ditch, a very bad accident. The removal of this 40-ft trailer took two days and caused a continuous 6 mile backup on the highway. We didn't hear what exactly happened, but hope the driver's ok. We didn't slow down to rubberneck as you can see..
N 35 52 12.9 W 88 01 44.9
Bucksnort

If you ever wondered. Here's the road to Bucksnort Tennessee.
Ponderosa Steakhouse

N 36 11 05.3 W 86 17 53.6
Ponderosa Steak House is also next door to Shoney's. Lebanon, Tennessee.
Gifts From Tennessee:

N 36 00 14.2 W 85 02 44.1
Fireworks and souvenirs. Huge selection of all kinds of professional and consumer fireworks, including black cat, large rockets, and "M-80"s. Also lots of cool stuff, to prove you were there!
#1 China Buffet


N 35 56 15.0 W 84 00 33.6
The name is well-earned, and it is no doubt the finest Chinese buffet I have ever found. It was much better than any in Dallas. Includes among the usual fare, better dishes like shrimp in lobster sauce, sushi, Mongolian Barbecue with shitake mushrooms and snow peas, seafood delight with crab and squid. Squid was soft and not rubbery like most. Butterscotch pudding, about 15 flavors of ice cream, cookies, cheescake, fine service. About $7 per guest.