Going across the country by car

My hubby, our golden lab/basset hound mix dog and I (plus a very full car) have gone through seven states in three days, which is pretty incredible when you think about it. These are South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. I had been to all these states except for Arkansas and Oklahoma and my hubby had gone through all but the last three. We drove to nearly Atlanta on Tuesday night, then woke up late Wednesday morning (though didn't sleep much for the second night in a row) and drove to Memphis. We had found out last night that the Mississippi River was about to flood, but thankfully all of the bridges over it near Memphis were still open. However, the White River in Arkansas, between Little Rock and Memphis had flooded its banks and they had closed down part of Interstate 40, which is the main road we are taking from Memphis, Tennessee to Flagstaff, Arizona. So we had to find a detour for today, and even though we left the hotel by 5:45am this morning, it took us an extra three hours to get around the detour (which was super annoying as we had planned to drive all the way to Amarillo, Texas but ended up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma because we have been driving for 11 hours today). 

As I have said before, I have never been to Arkansas, but what I have seen from the detour and the rest of the state via I-40, I am not missing much. I will say though I am sorry for all the folks that lost their homes and farmland due to the river flooding. We saw the devastation of the it and the tornado that ripped through one of the small towns on the detour, as well as the damage done to one part of Birmingham yesterday while driving. I mean you see the news reports, but nothing prepares you for how crazy everything is in real life. Like all the homes with no roofs or those that were completely flattened. I don't believe I have ever seen the Mississippi River but it was very impressive and as one newcaster said, they were expecting it to get up to 12 ft above the river line when it does flood. It was looking pretty swollen and had covered trees and power lines nearly up to the top. There is almost nothing on I-40 through Oklahoma, except every 25-50 miles each county is owned by a different Native American nation, which had it's own casino. We went through the Cherokee, Creek and Kipopo Nations, just to name a few. It was very green and flat, though less green than Arkansas, which I was frankly surprised at. Also Arkansas had vineyards in the mountainous areas of the Ozarks, which I also wasn't expecting. 

Tomorrow we are hoping to drive from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think my mom wants us to be in Arizona by tomorrow, but I think it we will end up getting there Saturday evening as it is nearly 16 hours there from where we are now. I could do 11 hours, though that is pushing it a bit with me being pregnant and a pooch in the back seat, but 16 hours is just too much