October 20, 2013. That's All Folks.

 

 

 

October 20, 2013.  That's All Folks.  The first picture is of a cotton patch, near Sikeston.  It is a different strain of cotton than that I picked as a boy.  Then, the stalks were taller with fewer bolls on each stock.  Today, cotton is picked with machines.  There is no dragging a cotton sack along rows which never end.  Three cents a pound is what I was paid.  "Pick a hundred pounds of cotton boy, take home three dollars," the farmer said.  What I do today isn't hard at all. 

I have given you a couple more barns to go with the scores I have already given you over the last several years.  Finally, there are several pictures from our campground on the banks of Lake Taneycomo.  Harvey is sandwiched between two behemoth RVs.  I suspect that if Harvey has feelings, he would feel proud to be in that lineup.

So, we are in Branson for a few days, then we will return home.  This will be the last blog entry for this trip.  By the time we get home, we will have traveled about 4300 miles, crossed 18 states, used about 315 gallons of regular gas.   The most expensive gas was in upstate New Hampshire where I paid $3.69.  The cheapest was in Missouri where I paid $2.96 in Sikeston.  Our average mileage has been slightly over 14 MPG. We have been out about 22 days.  We will be home before the week is out.  The total length of the trip will be less than four weeks.   

That will be it for this trip.  The trip has been what I expected in some ways and disappointing in others.  We made the big loop I envisioned at the beginning.   The Blue Parkway part of the trip was disappointing in that we were locked out of Shenandoah National Park and 100 miles of the Skyline Drive part of the Parkway.  We were also ahead of the color change in Virginia and North Carolina.  But, all in all, we've had fun.  Maybe we'll try it again sometime.  For now, that's all folks. 

October 19, 2013. Lambert's in Sikeston, Completing the Cycle.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

October 19, 2013.  Lambert's in Sikeston, Completing the Cycle.  I was someplace today that I've never been before - twice.  We left from central Tennessee this morning and drove 120 miles to Nashville.  We then turned northwest and angled toward Sikeston.  That course took us to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers a few miles from Cairo, IL.  I have never been there before.  That's the spot Huck and Jim were looking for in the Mark Twain classic, Huckleberry Finn.  If Huck could get Jim up the Ohio River, Jim would gain his freedom when he arrived at one of the states that didn't recognize slavery. 

There are three Lambert's Restaurants in the United States. The original is in Sikeston, one is just south of Springfield near Ozark and one is in Foley, near Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We have been to the last two.  We have not been to the original Lambert's in Sikeston. 

We arrived in Sikeston about 2:00 PM and went directly to Lambert's.  I thought our timing was perfect.  There would be no wait in the early afternoon.  Wrong.  According to the hostess, the wait was an hour and fifteen minutes.  I have never waited that long for a meal in my life.  We left and went to the campground.  An hour later, we returned, certain was I that the crowd would be cleared.  Wrong, again.  I was told by the hostess that the wait was still an hour and fifteen minutes.  I took a number.

You are wondering why I did that.  I told our children that finishing what you start is the key to character.  Applied to today, that meant that I had to finish the cycle and eat at the only Lambert's I had not eaten at.  Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? 

October 18, 2013. Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Cherokee Indian Museum.

October 18, 2013.  Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Museum of the Cherokee Indian.  Asheville to Cherokee, NC, through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to Gatlinburg to Pigeon Forge to Crossville, TN sums up today's travels.  Well, not quiet.  Where in the world do all the people come from?  The drive through the Park was littered with traffic.  It was as though the government shutdown dammed up the tourists.  When the shutdown ended, the dam broke and people flooded the parks and tourist destinations.  Even on Interstate 40, twenty miles from Gatlinburg, traffic was backed up in the turn lane.  It was like the traffic around Arrowhead Stadium before a Chiefs' game. 

We visited the Cherokee Museum in Cherokee, NC.  It is nicely done and well worth the $10.00 per person admission charge.  The total for the two of us was, of course, $20.00.  I had a twenty-dollar bill and four five-dollar bills in my money clip.  I chose to pay with the four fives.  I didn't feel comfortable handing the Native American at the admission desk a bill with President Andrew Jackson's picture on it.  It was Jackson who ordered the removal of the Cherokee from their homes here in Tennessee to Oklahoma in what became known as the Trail of Tears.  A very high percentage of the Cherokee died on the trail.  The Cherokee are still cross with Jackson about that.  Who can blame them. 

To make the perfidy worse, the Cherokee made Andrew Jackson a national hero by helping him in the Indian wars in Florida.  In fact, at the battle of Horseshoe Bend, the deciding battle in the war, a Cherokee brave saved Jackson's life.  He later expressed regret for that act of bravery. 

After Chief Justice John Marshall spoke for the Supreme Court and told Jackson he could not remove the Cherokee to Oklahoma, Jackson is said to have said, "Chief Justice Marshall has made his decision.  Now, let him enforce it."  Of course, the courts have no enforcement power.  That power rests with the President.  The Cherokee, despite their victory in the courts, were removed from their homeland. 

The Park offered hints of autumn.  In places, usually at higher altitudes, the trees were in the process of changing colors.  The owner of the campground where we are staying tonight says the temperature here will be in the upper 30s tonight.  That means it will probably frost in the Park and the trees will change drastically in the next week.  We will  be gone - that figures. 

The plan now is to head directly toward Table Rock State Park near Branson.  We will spend most of next week there.  Annie will do some Christmas shopping and I will do nothing.  I should have brought a book, but I didn't.  I think I should be able to buy one in Branson, don't you. 

The ducks shown above live on the fishing lake here at the campground.  They have their own duckhouse - it looks a lot like a doghouse - on a floating platform in the lake.  Life should be so good.  The ducks are very content.  They make a noise in their throats which reminds me of a cat purring. 

We should be somewhere in Missouri tomorrow night.  It will be good to be closer to home after traveling through 18 states, some of them twice, in the last three weeks. 

October 17, 2013. A Quiet Day of Culture in Asheville.

 



 

October 17, 2013. A Quiet Day of Culture in Asheville.  We awoke to a quiet rain falling on the roof of Harvey this morning. Annie had a plan to expose me to some culture by touring the River Arts District. The Arts District is an area by the French Broad River in which old buildings have been re-purposed and converted to studios and galleries.  It is a lot like the Warehouse District back home.  Several hundred artists work and sell their art in the District. 

I will tell you the second picture above is Annie's newest acquisition. You will have to figure out what it is. Guess now and I'll tell you the answer in a few minutes.

After leaving the Arts District, we drove through downtown. Annie didn't like that. The streets are narrow and the traffic above her tolerance levels. So, we went to the Grove Park Inn, a landmark hotel which is celebrating its 100th birthday. The halls of the hotel are lined with photographs of famous people who have stayed there, including six Presidents and John Denver. We stayed at the Park Inn 7-8 years ago. I was disappointed that my picture wasn't hanging in the halls.

We had lunch on the deck overlooking downtown Asheville toward the Blue Ridge Mountains. The meal was good and the scenery was beautiful. We were back at the campground by 4:00. Annie likes to be off the streets before rush hour.

Did you guess what Annie bought? I'll tell you that it is the same object you see in the final picture above. Do you know what that is? I wouldn't have known either. It is a yarn bowl.  Knitters put their yarn in the bowl and feed the yarn through the slit in the side of the bowl. The holes are to hold knitting needles.  Did you get it?  If you did, you don't need culture.  You are already cultured. 

October 16, 2013. Follage Along the Interstate into Asheville.

 

October 16, 2013.  Foliage Along the Interstate into Asheville.  After two days on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we left the Parkway for Interstate 81 today.  We saw as many colorful trees on the Interstate as we did on the Parkway.  The drive was a lot easier and a lot faster.  After averaging about 70 miles per day on the Parkway, we traveled over 250 miles today in about four hours. 

Annie wants to look at some pottery here.  I asked her what I always ask her, "Where will you put it?"  She answered the way she always answers that question, "I'll find a place."  And, she does.  I am pretty sure that two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. I think that is some law of quantum physics.  I think she usually finds a place by giving something in that place to one of the daughters.

So, we will "look'' around town tomorrow.  "Look," by the way is code for "shop".  We don't use the word "shop" because Annie knows I don't like to shop.  I will look, though.  If she calls our activity looking, I'll go along with it.  If she refers to it as shopping, I get real heavy to drag around.  Smart woman, that Annie. 

After two nights in the Bear Creek Campground, we will move on.  Our next stop could be either Nashville or Gatlinburg.  The Great Smoky Mountain National Park opened today because North Carolina and Tennessee donated money to pay salaries.  That's a twist, isn't it;  the states giving money to the federal government?  That won't last long.  I understand both houses of Congress will pass a bill dealing with the stalemate on the budget tonight.   The shutdown should be over tomorrow.

In any event, if we go through the National Park, we'll likely spend Friday night in Gatlinburg.  If not, we'll go on to Nashville.  I'll let you know when we get there. 

October 15, 2013. This Isn't Working. Let's Try Something Else.

October 15, 2013.  This Isn't Working.  Let's Try Something Else.   Sometimes things just don't work the way we plan them.  It really doesn't matter how long the plan is in the making.  It doesn't matter how sound the plan is.  There are just some things beyond the control of the planners.  When a plan doesn't work out, you have to accept, adjust and take what's left of the plan.  You can get some pretty good results from a busted plan. 

My plan isn't working out.  The plan that has been forty years in the making has been foiled by an unforeseeable government shutdown, fog and delayed cold weather.  The National Parks and other federal agencies are closed.  The campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway are closed and the early morning fog has blinded us to the valleys below the range.  Finally, the cold weather hasn't reached this far south.  There is color in the trees but most of it is green. 

So, it is time to shake up things.  Tonight, we are in Roanoke, VA.  Tomorrow, we will be in Ashville, NC.  We will leave the Parkway and cover the 250 miles on interstate highway.  From Ashville, we'll start a slow and leisurely drive home.  We will arrive home sometime the week of the 28th.  The trip home will take us through Memphis, Trumann and Jonesboro.  We may also spend some time near Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri.  Somewhere between here and home, I'll wager we'll see some color other than green in the trees. 

In the words of Clint Eastwood in the movie, Heartbreak Ridge, "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!”  We're going to make this thing work.  Stay tuned.