Notes on move from California to Tennessee (September, 2010)

We left on Sunday, September 19, at about 12:00 noon and arrived on Tuesday, September 21, at about 9:00 pm. The trip from Northridge, California to McMinnville, Tennessee is a total of 2,100 miles according to Google maps. About half of it goes over desert-like terrain--i.e. east of California and all of Arizona and New Mexico. Very boring unless you like deserts. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee has greenery and was pleasant to go through.

On the road we averaged between 75 and 80 mph. Faster in the desert regions and slower in the central states from Texas onward. We got stopped by the highway patrol in Arkansas for driving too close to the car in front of us and driving too fast, but he didn't give us a ticket. The speed limit in Arkansas is 70 mph. We were going about 80 mph in a "caravan" of about six cars. Arkansas is full of highway patrol. They were generally hiding in the overpasses. I counted over a half dozen along the way. The other states were generally free of highway patrol. The officer asked for car registration and all our ids.

We stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona the first night (a 7.5 hour drive) and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma the second night (a 15-hour drive). We slept at hotels on both nights. The Ramada in Flagstaff (on 2755 Woodlands Village Blvd) is highly recommended. Very clean and everything seemed new. The total cost was $70.21 including tax. The MicroTel Inn in Oklahoma City was terrible. I had a hard time breathing all night, and it was a non-smoking room.

The trip can be done in two days and I had a mind to do it in that timeframe, but I was too sore from all the packing the week before and needed the rest. For those with children I suggest you allocate four days, maybe even five or six if you do any sightseeing.

At McMinnville on Sabbath

We attended the SDA church in McMinnville on Sabbath and, true to form, Southern hospitality came through. We were warmly welcomed and had lunch at the home of one of the members. (I can get used to this!) The pastor serves two churches, one in Spencer and this one in McMinnville. He's in his 30's and gave a very good, well-researched sermon. Better than I have heard in Los Angeles in years. The membership in attendance is small, probably around fifty. Lots of children and young people for its size. The youth director regularly takes the young people on outdoor activities including backpacking trips, kiyaking, and Sabbath afternoon hikes. They had a Sabbath afternoon hike that day which we missed because of the lunch invitation.

The couple who invited us to lunch live on 10 acres and are semi-retired. The wife is of Puerto Rican descent and speaks Spanish. The husband is a native Tennessean several generations back. His great grandfather had a plantation and owned slaves. He's Republican through and through which came out crystal clear in the afternoon conversation. Not too happy with the Democrats both at the Federal and State levels, to say the least. His wife is a nurse at the hospital in McMinnville--River Park Hospital. (We visited the hospital the day before and found it to be modern looking inside and out. I asked the Human Resources office about job openings and wages. The lady we spoke with, Anne (phone: 931-815-4303), said there were a couple of openings and that nursing graduates get $18 per hour. Those with experience get a few dollars more. Weekend work and graveyard shift also get more. The day before the realtor told me that the hospital seems to always be short handed. Maybe it's the usual overworked and underpaid situation that is common in so many hospitals nowadays.)

The husband spoke of crime in Nashville, 75 miles northwest of McMinnville. Killings occur on a daily basis, mostly drug related. He said that government officials believe that Nashville has become the gateway for drug distribution to the East from the southwestern states like California, etc. Mexican gangs are believed to be primarily responsible. He also mentioned that marijuana growing has been discovered east of McMinnville (in the Cumberland Plateau) in the Spencer area. The authorities are trying to eradicate this using helicopters. They mentioned that almost all Spanish people around McMinnville work for the nurseries and are mostly illegal. When they need hospitalization, their bosses pay for their medical expenses in cash since they have no health insurance. We spoke with one of these workers in the laundromat. He said that the nursery work is very slow now. According to a church member, the nursery business around McMinnville has been hit hard in the current recession. Coupled with a few manufacturing plant closings in the area in the last few years (jobs that went to Mexico, according to the realtor), people have been generally leaving McMinnville for lack of work. However, the Volkswagen plant that is opening in Chattanooga (approximately 80 miles southeast of McMinnville) will be bringing some machine shop contract work to McMinnville, possibly as many as 100 additional jobs according to the realtor.