Sunday, April 29, 2007 West Memphis, AK

We awakened to a beautiful, sunny day along the Mississippi and headed into Memphis for our appointment with the ducks. Every day at 11:00 A.M., the Peabody Hotel ducks come down the elevator from their “Mansion on the Roof”, walk along the red carpet that is rolled out just for them, and hop into the elegant lobby fountain where they swim and play until 5 P.M. Then the procedure is reversed. Absolutely charming to see! (Thanks to Arkansan Harriet for the tip.) The ducks have a 3 month tour of duty before they leave for a normal duck life on the farm. Next, the sounds of Elvis were calling, so we headed to Graceland for an audio tour of the home and grounds. It lasted about an hour and a half and moved along in a very organized way. There are longer tours that include his airplanes, cars, and more…the shorter one suited us just fine. At the end of Memphis is Mud River Park. There they have a wonderful museum that shows the history and culture of the Lower Mississippi. Also at the park is a several -block-long model of the river from Cairo, IL, to the mouth in the Gulf. There are explanatory signs along the way. The younger set seemed content to just wade and splash and left the “learning” to the adults.

April 28, 2007 Branson to West Memphis, AK

This was a “driving day”. As we headed toward Tennessee across Eastern AK, the scenery was slightly rolling hills, spring-like green trees and grass, some frost-damaged trees, and farmland…also lots of “Arkansas elk.” This label became a part of our vocabulary in Western Arkansas. A gentleman at the Jasper Chamber of Commerce had suggested that we watch for the elk that abound in the valley and we would see them when we crested “yonder hill.” With much anticipation, we awaited our wildlife viewing opportunity. Somehow the elk heard us coming and convinced the cows to take their place. We are staying for two nights at the Tom Sawyer Mississippi River RV Park. It is truly right on the Mississippi, and the park becomes part of the floodplain as it lies between the river and the levee. After doing our “research”(talking to people), we headed for Memphis to try the famous barbecued ribs. Rendezvous, a highly recommended destination for ribs, was in an alley unknown to our GPS, but Rog persevered. We learned that ribs are served wet or dry, and this place serves dry ribs. You choose the sauce after they are served. Conclusion: Most Californians should go for wet ribs…but we would be outvoted in these parts judging by the hordes of people waiting for a table. Beale Street, home of the Blues, was next. In the evening, it becomes a pedestrian walkway, so we joined many others who ambled along stopping to listen to jazz, blues, and other types of music. BB King’s was a popular place on this Saturday evening.

April 27, 2007 Branson

Sunshine! The laundry facilities at the Silver Leaf Resort were beckoning this morning…an opportunity too good to pass up for a couple about to be “on the road again” Saturday morning. Then it was off to SDC to explore. The World Fest continues so we enjoyed a singing/ dancing performance from Costa Rica and an excellent swing group and singer from Russia. SDC is an amazing area of Branson. It has rides, performances that vary depending on time of year, food locations, shops, recreations of house/school from the past, and much more. The grounds are beautifully planted and the whole place is very clean and well-maintained. The evening was spent back in the 50’s…dinner at a 50’s style restaurant meant hamburgers and malts, of course. The show we saw was called “Lost in the 50’s with the Platters”. It was the original Platters group, a “few” years older than when we listened to them in high school, but the voices have maintained their quality level. We have been impressed with the talent at the performances we have seen. In between dinner and the show, we found a Segway place. Segways are one-person scooter-like vehicles that Rog has been researching and dying to try ever since he saw one in Sweden last summer. This was his big opportunity, and he was not disappointed. NO, we are not adding one to the garage!!

April 26, 2007 Branson

Today was cloudy and chilly…high 40’s to low 50”s…a perfect day for a paddleboat cruise on the Branson Belle. With our annual SDC pass, we only paid half-price…quite a bargain! This included the cruise on Table Rock Lake, an on-board full-course served lunch(more like a dinner!), and the stage show…about 3 hours in all. In the evening, we opted for the Darren Romeo show. This was recommended to us by a couple we met on the Grand Canyon RR trip. Networking pays off because Darren Romeo is a multi-talented entertainer. He sings and does singing impersonations(Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Darin, and more), but the main part of the performance is his illusionist show. He’s an excellent entertainer!

April 25, 2007,Eureka Springs to Branson, MO

After heavy overnight rains complete with thunder and lightning, we awakened to cloudy skies. The trip to Branson took a little more than an hour. How good it was to see our Scandinavian Tour friends, Bill and Lorie, from Iowa. They had invited us to share their timeshare, Silver Leaf Resort. Bill and Lorie are Branson tour guides extraordinaire! We had a driving overview of the city before heading to Silver Dollar City (SDC) for the afternoon. It’s World Fest time at SDC…we enjoyed a singing group from Zambia and then a terrific Celtic Isles Celebration performance. It featured dancers, singers, harpist, and bagpipes that were representative of Ireland and Scotland. A steak dinner at Ruby Tuesdays was really good. Then it was off to see Clay Cooper’s Country Music Express. It was a great combination of singing, dancing, and comedy…a family-owned presentation and location.

April 24, 2007 Lake Dardanelle, AK to Eureka Springs, AK

After leaving Lake Dardanelle, we headed north along scenic route 7 through the Ozarks. Unfortunately, a frost which had come through a couple of weeks ago had killed the dogwood and azalea blossoms …and fog made it quite hard to get good views of the lovely valleys. Bet it’s gorgeous in the fall! The little shops, often somewhat dilapidated “homes”, had appropriate names such as Booger Hollow and Auntie Ellie’s. While browsing at the latter, Auntie Ellie herself had a phone call which prompted her to say, “You’ll have to excuse me for a minute. The cow got out!” At that point, the store was left in good hands…OURS! The destination for today was Eureka Springs, AK, in the Northwestern corner of the state. It’s a historic Victorian town oozing charm. We took an hour long historic trolley tour with our guide, Harlan, doing an outstanding job of narrating. After a brief shopping time, we made a beeline to the car to escape the impending thunder and lightning. This is our first motel stay…tomorrow it’s off to Branson.

April 23, 2007,Checotah, OK to Lake Dardanelle, AK

We left Checotah with no sign of Carrie Underwood! Our destination is Lake Dardanelle in West Central AK. After registering, we set up our site in Lake Dardanelle State Park right along the lake. Everything was lovely and green with trees at each campsite. This was a relaxing day…time to loaf by the lake, book in hand, as geese and squirrels came up close hoping for food handouts(which are discouraged by park rules). Rog initiated his new Coleman fold-up stove by grilling chicken which we used to make delicious salads. After lunch, we drove around the nearby city of Russellville. It had an eastern feel with its brick and stone houses along tree-lined streets. Sprinkles from above told us that it was time to head for cover back at camp

April 22, 2007 Santa Rosa, NM to Checotah, OK

Earth Day! We drove from Santa Rosa, NM, through the Texas Panhandle…no scenery worth noting. Continued through Oklahoma and found Northeastern OK to be very green and pretty. We located a wonderful KOA in Checotah, OK, home of 2005 American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood. The campground had a fishing area stocked with bass, perch, and catfish. With no fishing gear, we couldn’t take advantage of it. Besides, our resident fisherman, Christian, was not with us. I hiked to the large lake at the back of the property. It was a lovely camping location!

April 21, 2007 Williams to Santa Rosa, NM (About 460 miles)

We awakened to a few snow flurries and lots of wind. The drive was uneventful except for the constantly changing sky. It went from snow flurries, to light rain, to heavy, scary clouds. The wind is still making us feel very at home because of its similarity to La Crescenta. We checked in at the Santa Rosa Campground. It’s a Good Sam site and has wifi, TV access, and is very clean and well-maintained.

April 20, 2007, Train Ride to the Grand Canyon

It’s Grand Canyon day! The package deal that we bought through the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park and AAA gets a huge thumbs up. We boarded the train at 9:45 after watching a humorous wild west show. The train arrived at the South Rim about 12:15. A buffet lunch was served before we climbed in the lounge coach bus for a driver-narrated tour that stopped at various places of interest to get a better look and to take more photos than anyone needs. Each location seemed to have something just different enough that was calling out to be captured on film. We learned that the Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and the only one in the U.S. Our train arrived back in Williams about 6:15. Each train car had a host or hostess who kept things lively with games and entertainment. Our hostess, Jodie, was superb. No one should have that much energy! Rog enjoyed a Jacuzzi at the hotel…another part of the package. We slept well that night.

April 19,2007 La Crescenta to Williams, AZ (About 440 miles)

We left home at 6:09 A.M.(almost on time!). It was hard to say good-bye to Buddy, but we knew that she’s in great hands with Eric moving in. The radio was tuned to Nashville to get us in the mood for our Tennessee touring to come. As we were heading East on the 210 and the sun peeked its head over the San Gabriel Mountains, I got that visceral feeling of an adventure about to begin. All those old trips in the past came flashing back..it was a great feeling.

We arrived in Williams about 3:00 and checked in at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park. The town of Williams has a lot of history and is known to be the last city along Rte. 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40.

Ours is the little one sandwiched between two biggies. The good news is, they don't use the campground facilities because their rigs are fully self-contained. We get to use spic and span showers and restrooms.

Our Rig

Our rig is the embodiment of the word, "compromise". With $3.00 to $4.00 gas prices, we wanted to be able to pull something behind our Hybrid Honda and to have the security of a solid structure (as opposed to canvas). This afforded other comfort features like AC, hot and cold water, Heater, Refrigerator, etc. Since our purchase, I've added a lot of stuff including the AC, XM Radio, Media Center including a Satellite Dish, Now that I have it loaded with all that stuff, Carol has to sleep outside. We are certainly outside the mainstream of the "what's in" when it comes to RV rigs.. the majority of what we are camping with are huge Class A "Bus-like" mansions on wheels. Here's a shot of our mansion in 72 square feet.

Our Plan

We have been planning this trip to "The Old South" and parts in beween since we purchased our Pop Up camper a year ago. It is our intention to make the circle in 5 weeks, seeing the sights and visiting with friends old and new, young and old. Our route looks like this: (Click on map to make it bigger)