Plan B

We arrived back in Bettendorf from our Hawaiian trip on 28 February. Our plan was to depart again on 8 March to catch a few southern states. That plan changed when our son, Jack, called asking us to babysit; he & Heather were flying down to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands for a few days. It seemed like a good reason to delay our trip and we agreed to watch the kids.

The revised departure time was Saturday morning at 8 AM. This was the first trip where we would be driving our own car instead of a rental. A 665-mile drive to Little Rock, Arkansas flew by in 11-hours, including a stop in Hannibal, Missouri for shopping and lunch. Our car is a 5-Series BMW I bought new last spring. The first 12-months of ownership rolled up 5,500 miles - - - that number will increase quickly during the remainder of this year. I really appreciate how the BMW hugs the road after all of the hairpin curves we experienced driving in Hawaii and northern California. In spite of it’s great German engineering, Julie took Gorilla tape to the cup holder to improve it’s functionality prior to our departure from Bettendorf.

The weather was warm and sunny during the drive down to Little Rock. Our luck turned overnight as we awoke to overcast skies and light rain Sunday morning. The rain became steady during breakfast, but I remained optimistic that the skies would clear for my 12:50 tee time. By late morning a second weather front appeared on the radar map headed toward Little Rock; a forecast for continued rain with some lightening caused the golf plan to be canceled.

Although Monday was expected to be sunny and warm, courses in Little Rock and nearby Hot Springs Village are closed on Mondays. Julie & I moved to Plan B. We checked out of our hotel and took off down the road again.

I would have completed playing a round of golf in Arkansas if we would have stuck with the original departure date. Of course the trade-off is that we would not have spent the 2-days with the grandkids and enjoyed the benefit of their “help”.