Texas In the Rearview Mirror

August 24, 2011

Texarkana, Texas

I write this entry as I sit on the passenger seat of our car.  We are on I-30 about 30 minutes form the Texas/Arkansas state line. David is driving and working with Emma on her multiplication tables that remain rusty. Salsa music plays on the car CD player.

David has a one-year appointment to continue his research in randomness and computation at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.  Emma is still young enough (9 years old) to be optimistic and excited about making new friends in new school.  My mom in Austin remains in good health and has mastered Skype. And as for me, I am flexible with my work.  I just need Internet access, a laptop and an airport. So with a flurry of packing, an almost manic intensity to last minute household errands, (me, not David), and lots of well wishes from friends and neighbors, we set the car’s navigation for Princeton zip code 08540.

We are driving to New Jersey via Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Still in the 100’s here in far Northeast Texas, but last night I turned on the windshield wipers as a few water drops speckled the windshield. When we got out of the car, it smelled like rain.  The air was moist. Emma and I held hands and did a rain dance in the parking lot of the hotel. With trees now dying in Austin because of the severe drought, the most welcome change in our life outside of Central Texas will be cooler weather and the possibility of rain----soaked-to-your-underwear, hair-dripping, squeaky-tennis-shoes, type rain.

We just crossed into Arkansas. I see thunderclouds up ahead.

Texas shaped waffles at La Quinta. Part of what makes Texas so easy to brand:  the iconic shape of the state.  Somehow Colorado shaped waffles wouldn’t be as picture worthy.