October 22, 2022
This has a been a busy week of pushing our way down the road so we can get to North Carolina in time for Frank’s meeting. Because of that there has been a lot less touring and a lot more moving. We are both eager to get back to a more leisurely pace where we get to enjoy the trip more and not spend so much of our time driving.
10/16 – We got in late last light in the dark and left in the rain early this morning. We didn’t even get a picture of the campground which is right outside of Amarillo, Texas. It is only a mile or two up the road from The Cadillac Ranch and as a tribute they had a sign with a picture of an RV in the ground with the bottom up like the Cadillacs at the Ranch. I really wanted to get a picture of it but due to how dark it was last night and how rainy it was today we were unable to take one. As Frank was in a hurry to get us unhooked in the pouring rain he put away the electric and water but left the water gauge and surge protector still hooked into the campground. We did notice we left them until we arrived at our campground today and went to hook up. The campground had an inexpensive water gauge but no surge protector so we are a little nervous about all our electronics. Hopefully we won’t have any problems. Frank will be calling the campground in Amarillo tomorrow to see if they can ship our items to the office in North Carolina and we will get them when we get there. The only stop we made today was a brief one at a rest stop just as we entered Oklahoma. It was a Welcoming Center and the woman there gave us lots of information on things to see and do in Oklahoma. Wish we had more time to see and do them. She did tell us to go to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial at sunset to see the light from the sun shine through the chairs that memorialize all the victims of the bombing. https://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.2646
10/17- Frank worked all day on an install. I took a long walk around the campsite and worked around the RV. When Frank got off we went downtown to Oklahoma City. We wanted to see the botanical gardens but the building was closed right now so we just explored outside. https://myriadgardens.org/
Then we head on to Bricktown where they have something very similar to Riverwalk in San Antonio. We rode the boat around and learned about the history of Oklahoma. Since my Great Grandpa Hopper came to Oklahoma and claimed land in one of the early land rushes the statutes of those Sooners hurrying to get their plot painted a picture of what it might have been like for him. https://bricktownwatertaxi.com/
After our boat ride we had dinner at Toby Keith’s I Love That Bar and Grill. Frank enjoyed their chicken fried steak which was done to perfection. https://tobykeithsbar.com/locations/bricktown/
Then we headed over to the Oklahoma City National Memorial for the bombing victims killed in the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building. We arrived just in time to watch the sunset and the rays shine through the close bottoms of the chairs that represent each victim. https://memorialmuseum.com/
10/18- Frank had another full day of working so after he got off we headed to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Since he did not get off until 2:30 and they close at 5 pm we rushed through the museum trying to see everything. It had lots of displays both about Cowboys and Native Americans. I had really wanted to go to the First Americans Museum which had displays representing all the Native American tribes but unfortunately for us it was closed on Tuesday and we didn’t have another day to stay. Hopefully we can come back another time and see it. https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/
10/19- All we did today was drive around Frank working. We got to Sallisaw-Fort Smith Arkansas KOA and collapsed. This is not our preferred way to travel at all. But necessary to get to North Carolina on time and to be able to work our schedule around Frank’s job.
10/20- Frank worked this morning and then we started down the road for a couple hours. Frank had an hour long business call mid-day so we pulled into a shopping mall in Little Rock. While Frank was on the phone I walked around the mall and visited some of the store. Finally got a replacement bowl for the one that broke in Provo, Utah. We made it to a campground just outside of Memphis in Marion, Arkansas. The campground offered cooked meals so we were glad to not have to cook. Frank enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich and I had nachos.
10/21- We had planned to go into Memphis today and do some exploring. But I wasn’t feeling great so other than do wash this morning I laid around most of the day while Frank was working. When he got off this evening we went to a nearby state park called Parkin Archeological State Park. They do a lot of archeological restoration there from not just that park but other State parks around Arkansas. We were able to view the area that once housed a village known as Casqui that was visited in 1541 by Hernando de Soto on his expedition of America. https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/parkin-archeological-state-park
After the State Park we were hoping to still make a small trip into Memphis to visit the Peabody Hotel and watch the ducks march out at the end of the day. Unfortunately the freeway was shut down and we ended up stuck in traffic until we could find an off ramp to take. So instead we went grocery shopping and back to our campsite but next time we got through Memphis we are going to make sure we see those ducks. https://www.peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks
10/22- Made it to Nashville today. We had forgotten how beautiful the state of Tennessee is especially in the Fall. The leaves were changing and the colors were amazing.
We got off the road around noon and wandered up the road to Hurricane Mills to Loretta Lynn’s ranch. We wandered around and explored and ate lunch before heading on toward Nashville. https://www.lorettalynnranch.net/
We could not believe how much the city has grown since we moved away 20 + years ago. It was crazy to see how many tall buildings downtown Nashville has now. Traffic was crazy and I40 was even crazier to follow as we wound through town.
We had reserved a spot in Nashville on Lake Percy Priest at Elm Hill RV Resort. Due to the $40 price difference between a lake side and non-lake side campsite we had decided to go for the non-lake side campsite. When we arrived the woman in the office looked at our RV and said it might be difficult for us to get up the hill with how low our RV sits and she was going to give us a lakeside campsite for the same price we paid for the non-lake side one. We were thrilled. We had originally planned to park and head out to do a bit of exploring of Nashville but once we got in our campsite we just stayed and enjoyed the beauty there. We walked around and admired the lake and the changing colors of the trees.
We made a campfire and relaxed and enjoyed the view. Then when the sun started to set it was so beautiful we were glad we had decided to just stay still and relax.
The campground had hired a band from the 1970’s which Vince Gill used to play with called Pure Prairie League. They performed from 7 pm to 10 pm and we enjoyed watching them and listening to the old songs we loved.
It was a perfect ending to a very hectic week. https://elmhillrvresort.com/
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