Baxter Muni, near Mountain Home AR

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Dawn broke...and the weather looked iffy right away: 100% solid overcast with occasional drizzle. The forecast suggested maybe a break in the afternoon, but the entourage advised the proprietess, "...we may be staying..." and confirmed that after breakfast and more weather reports.

Watching the weather became an all-morning, eventually all-day, pursuit via a combination of phone to Flight Service, computer services, and channel-surfing the retail forecasts just for levity. Bruce picked up Ruth and Janice, who went out to forage for groceries and brought lunch provisions back to the room. We gradually realized we were at the leading edge of an ugly, slow-forming, slow-moving system that would eventually generate tornadoes elsewhere in the region. ("Better to be on the ground, wishing you were in the air..." and all that.)

In the early afternoon, we realized that failure to check out of the motel meant we were in effect checked IN for another night... as we watched the rain increase in intensity anyway.

Bruce collected us for dinner, which was a mile down the road at a different diner from the night before. By this time, the small-town grapevine had heard all about us...and we were much noted by the regulars as we entered. "Are YOU the people flying coast to coast?" asked the retirees who were gathered for their own dinner. We fielded plenty of questions, including about Bucky, and proffered more details about the trip than the rumor mill had provided. Biscuits and sausage gravy were the local specialty and particular favorites of Donna (regardless of time of day, though this is usually a breakfast delicacy!). It was reasonably good food, and the proportions were extremely generous.

The wind was strong enough to move the rain horizontally as a thunderstorm went through sometime in the middle of the night. We were awfully glad to be warm, dry and safe.

Bruce brought us all back to the motel, while the rain continued.

The motel was a privately-owned place, well-kept, with microwaves and kitchenettes...everything we needed to make ourselves at home... because were going to be doing that for a while longer...

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