The final phase of Escape from North Carolina was now underway. With the other two legs completed: the drive from NC to Illinois and GenCon 31; I left Steve & Patty’s house in great spirits and easily made Memphis by dinner time. The drive was a bit hectic due to the rather intense rain that started around St. Louis. By West Memphis, the weather was mild so I kicked back at the Motel 6, watched some lousy HBO programming and ate Waffle House for dinner. To celebrate what I considered the half-way point of any drive from the Rust Belt to Austin, I had to pay my respects to the King. I stopped there four years earlier so I figured it would be a great tradition or an attempt to recapture the magic I felt over moving to Austin.
Knowing how long the drive from Memphis to Austin was (unlike in 1994), I chose to spend the $20 on the entire package: the cars, the planes and the more personal articles. It was really cool to see more than the house because the latter stuff put Elvis and his family into a better context on who they were. The standard sample of how much fan mail he received was rather amazing. I lucked out on getting there after the anniversary of his death so it wasn’t packed or crazy. Most of the recent fuss was over his 1968 Comeback Special turning 30.
I’ll save all the details about Graceland for another time, namely when I want to reminisce about 1994 or Somara’s first visit in 1999.
With the tour wrapped up, I sent my obligatory post cards and I can’t recall if I bothered with a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich; they don’t serve it exactly the way Elvis liked it because most people find the mayo element gross. I did buy the special soda mug. The King appears on the side if you pour a cold drink in it.
Then the road had to be heeded as I easily crossed Arkansas and into Texas by early evening. Texarkana to Dallas was the dull stretch I always remembered but I knew I was going to be in Austin before midnight as I was driving on I-635 at sunset.
Stupidity, stubbornness and impatience got the best of me in Big D.
I accidently got off I-635 too soon for I-45 South instead of waiting to take the I-35E exit some miles later. Originally I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, there’d be something to take me over. What I should’ve done was turn around, eat the loss of time and gas since the certainty of where the Interstates go would’ve be the prudent thing. Instead, I tried to take the lesser roads West in anticipation of stumbling upon I-35. For some odd reasons, the smaller communities south of Dallas don’t post signs telling you how far away the major roads are neither.
Being lost soon became the least of my worries. On the outskirts of Ferris, I hit a 90 degree turn too quickly. Oh, I managed to get my VW Golf oriented in the correct direction but the car’s 2600 pounds (2.4 metric tonnes) of momentum continued to pull right into a ditch. I was very fortunate that I didn’t roll the car. What I was now dealing with was a flat tire and humiliation. Two nice people helped me out so I wasn’t stranded for long. The “fun” part was driving no faster than 45 mph on my Golf’s donut tire from Ferris all the way to Georgetown. I wasn’t able to call Mel, my future roommate, tell him what happened nor where I was until I found a pay phone off I-35 and my adrenalin levels were down.
I arrived at the Georgetown apartment around 2-3 AM. Thankfully Mel was nice enough to stay up to let me in despite having work in the morning. I don’t think I bothered to unload my car, I figured it could wait until I had unwound and slept.
The next morning I realized how lucky I was. One tire was immediately destroyed in the accident. Another turned out to be slowly leaking. It just managed to hold out for several hundred miles before it gave out in the parking lot. Then my charmed-life theory pulled through. Mel’s place was only a couple blocks from a Lamb’s Tire. My hobbled VW easily made it down there for a new set of tires; two flats and two that were balder than Captain Picard. I had barely been back in Austin for a day and I was already down $400.
Matters were looking up afterwards: I had the means to drive in, sign the final paperwork with Adecco and Apple’s new iMac would be in customers’ hands in the next couple days. Besides, I was back in Austin, where I wanted to be.
Epilogue: Those evening’s dents remain in my car and are continuous reminders to drive the path of least resistance; meaning, stick to the main roads when in doubt and under the speed limit.