Day 15: The End of the Road

Lebanon TN to Orangeburg SC

 

We left Lebanon, TN, at 7:30 central time after breakfast and began our drive home. We passed through Knoxville, Asheville, and then Spartanburg. In Columbia, we got caught up in the massive congestion left from a tanker fire that happened earlier this morning on I-26. We finally reached Orangeburg at 5:00 in the afternoon. I was of mixed emotions: glad to be home but a little sad that our trip was over. We traveled a total of 2819 miles and saw many new things. I think I'll be up to another road trip in a year or two!

Day 14: Nashville

Goodlettsville TN to Lebanon TN

We didn't want to leave too early in fear of getting caught in the Nashville traffic coming from the suburbs into the city, so we left the hotel about 8:45 after breakfast. It took us about 30 minutes to drive to downtown and park in a public parking garage near the famous Ryman Auditorium. I knew it was where WSM broadcast the Grand Ole Opry back in the day, but I didn't know that so many other famous people of all types performed and spoke here as well. It looks like a church because it was a tabernacle in its earliest days, including the pews.

After our tour of the Ryman, we drove northeast of Nashville to tour the Hermitage, the 1821 Greek Revival homestead of President Andrew Jackson. We arrived at 10:30. The visitors' center had good exhibits and didn't avoid the controversial subjects of slavery and Indian removal. As we all are, Jackson was a man of his time and place with corresponding views, perhaps a little more extreme. Jackson and his wife Rachel are buried in the garden.

 

 At 12:30, we ate at the cafe at the visitors' center and then drove to Lebanon, TN, to stay at a Sleep Inn, again much cheaper than a downtown hotel. Naps in the afternoon. Took out a pizza from a Bellacino's in the same interstate interchange as the hotel.

Day 13: Converging Rivers

Linn MO to Nashville TN

We got up fairly early for our 400 mile drive, and after breakfast at 7:15, we continued our travels east and south: US 50, I-44, I-55, and US 60. The US 60 bridge across the Mississippi River was closed due to repair work, so we passed through the now dismal town of Cairo, Illinois, via I-57 and got back on US 60 to cross the Ohio River. Before we did, we stopped at Fort Defiance State Park at the very southern tip of Illinois to see the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the point where the states of Missouri (the tip of land in the mid-distance to the right), Illinois (where I'm standing), and Kentucky (in the background) come together.

We joined I-24 east at Paducah and continued to a Hampton Inn outside of Nashville, TN, arriving about 2:30. We decided not to pay the expense of a downtown hotel but to drive into town tomorrow. For dinner, we made the mistake of not heeding the bad reviews at the local Shoney's (we had very little to choose from in the area) and added another bad review of our own here. Although not having much experience, I would say it was possibly the worst Shoney's in America.

Days 11 & 12: Remembrance and Reunion

Stilwell KS to Marshall MO

We left Stilwell about 10:00 and began our drive back east by taking the loop around the city and heading to Marshall, MO, via I-70. Marshall is the area of Missouri where many of my mother's relatives are from, so I feel like I am entering ancestral homelands. Ridgepark Cemetery is located in Marshall and is where many of my relatives are buried, including my father. Mom and I placed stones on the graves as a symbol of remembrance, but instead of a stone, I placed a golf ball at my father's grave. I think he would have appreciated that.

 

Marshall MO to Linn MO

After we left Marshall, we got back on the interstate and ate a packed lunch at a rest stop. At 1:00, we started for Linn, MO, where many of my father's relatives are from and where we are spending the next two nights with his sister and brother-in-law. Because this is Memorial Day weekend, we went to the Linn Public Cemetery to visit the graves of some of my father's side of the family. My aunt and uncle took us out to dinner at a small restaurant in Westphalia, MO, a small town near Linn. We ordered fantastic fried chicken, moving to #2 on our list.

On Sunday, my aunt invited cousins and in-laws to her house for an informal family reunion during the afternoon. It was good to see the family again.

Day 10: Kansas City, Redux

We spent the morning in Stilwell, and then after lunch, Mom and I drove back into Kansas City, MO, about 12:00 to visit the National World War I museum, which is the official national WWI memorial and museum dedicated to that war. The Art Deco style memorial was built in 1926 from funds collected from the residents of Kansas City, and the memorial, museum, and park grounds continue to be maintained by the city. The top of the tower is more than 200 feet with great views of the city, and we reached it by an elevator.  It was appropriate that we visited during Memorial Day weekend.

 

After we toured the memorial and museum, which had excellent exhibits, we walked down to adjoining Union Station, which was built in 1914 and was a bustling train station in its day, a palace of train travel. Then back to the car to drive to Stilwell by 4:00.

 

Day 9: Kansas City

 Kansas City MO

We stayed close to home today. At 9:00, we drove the few miles into downtown Kansas City, MO, from Stilwell, KS, to the 18th and Vine district, which was once the center of social life for African-Americans living in Kansas City. The main commercial drag has been restored, featuring The American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. We toured the museums until 12:00.

It was time for lunch, so we ate at Arthur Bryant's Barbeque restaurant near the museum. We ordered sliced beef sandwiches and french fries.

After eating lunch, we drove back to Stilwell. We relaxed in the afternoon and evening.

Day 8: Walmart and Rival Fried Chicken

Little Rock AR to Bentonville AR

 

Today we have to travel 400 miles, so we got an early start and left the hotel at 6:45 after breakfast. We woke up to a thunderstorm and heavy rain which let up a little but continued a couple of hours into our drive. We continued to travel west on I-40, basically going around the Ozarks along the southern and western edges. The highway follows the Arkansas River which was full to bursting because of all the rain this area had been getting. The land is hilly, and after we turned north on I-49, we had some beautiful views. Our destination was Bentonville, the world's headquarters for Walmart, the retail behemoth. In the charming downtown next to the square is the Walmart museum at the location of Walton's 5&10, Sam Walton's first store in the chain that later became the Walmart we know and love today. Sam Walton is a revered figure in the museum's story, of course.

At 11:00, we turned around and traveled south to eat at AQ Chicken House in Springdale, AR. (The "AQ" is an abbreviation for "Arkansas Quality." They are known for their fried chicken and batter-dipped french fries. (Think of a fried shrimp and substitute the shrimp with a french fry.) Although the Arkansas chicken was flavorful, the consensus was that the crunch of the Georgia chicken put it over the top in a competition. We left the restaurant about 12:30.

Springdale AR to Stilwell KS

Continuing to head north into Missouri and then into eastern Kansas, we made good time driving up US 69 and into Stilwell, KS, at 3:30. Stilwell is an exurb south of Kansas City, where Mom's sister lives. She invited her daughters and in-laws and other family members from the area for a little family reunion and good conversation. We will stay here for three nights before moving on. It will be nice to leave the hotels behind for a few days.

Day 7: The Lorraine Motel, the WJC Presidential Library, and Central High School

Memphis TN to Little Rock AR

Got up, had the complimentary breakfast again (Hampton Inn has a standard menu), and drove south out of downtown Memphis at 8:00. Before leaving Memphis, I wanted to see the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. The hotel has been preserved as part of the National Civil Rights Museum. We were too early for the museum's opening, but the area in front of the museum was open space from where we could take a picture of room 306, where a wreath has been placed.

We are now going west again via I-40 into Arkansas, another new state for both of us. After passing through the Mississippi River floodplain, the highway took us over some rolling hills and farmland. The area is decidedly rural. It was about 10:30 when we crossed over the Arkansas River, entered Little Rock, and drove to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Although a fan of President Clinton, I have to say that the library was like a "double-wide in the sky" (I hope I just coined that) and another case of hagiography. The reproduction of Clinton's Oval Office was the most interesting part.

At 12:30 after the library tour, we drove west parallel to the river and ate at Doe's Eat Place, only open for lunch, and ordered tamales wrapped in parchment (not corn husks) and chili. Tamales are popular in this part of the South although I have seen virtually no Hispanics on this trip. Blacks seem to do the manual labor, like housekeeping, unlike in North Carolina where that type of work would be done mostly by Hispanics.

 

After eating, we made our way to the Central High School National Historic Site, where the "Little Rock Nine" desegregated the white Central High School in 1957. It's a beautiful and large Art Deco and Gothic building still used as a high school, and we were lucky enough to arrive to catch a 1:15 guided tour of the school, the only way to see the inside of the building, including the auditorium and cafeteria. We were with a large group of students from a Louisiana charter school who were taking a Civil Rights tour of the South and were following our general path.

About 2:30, we checked into a Hampton Inn downtown near the River Market area, a collection of shops, restaurants, and bars along the river. Mom rested, and I headed out again and walked a few blocks to the Old State House which is now used as a museum. Mostly built of wood and stucco in a Greek Revival style in 1836 when Arkansas became a state, it is a very modest building replaced by the new state house in 1911.

When I got back to the hotel about 5:00, we relaxed with G&Ts and boiled peanuts. We didn't go out for the rest of the evening.

Day 6: Memphis

Robinsonville MS to Memphis TN

This morning we had to provide our own breakfast, so we thought ahead, and from pilferings from yesterday's breakfast, we put together something to get us started, which was 8:30. We took I-69 and I-55 north across the Tennessee state line and onto Elvis Presley Blvd until the turn into the parking lot. We arrived at 9:30 and had made the mistake of not buying tickets ahead of time, so we had to wait in line -- we got the platinum tickets for the mansion tour including the airplane and car tours. Then we had to wait in line for the shuttle bus. By the time we got to the mansion, it was about 11:00.

There was a very good self-guided tour with an iPad interactive video. Lots of hagiography.

They do manage to get thousands of people through a relatively small house -- on the scale of today's McMansion. It took about 2 1/2 hours to see everything, so with the AAA discount, we could justify the expensive admission. By 12:30, we were through. Back in the car, we continued north on Elvis Presley Blvd into the black section of town. Our mission was to find authentic BBQ ribs, and they were at A&R Bar-B-Que -- just what I imagined and hoped for. We both got pork ribs with the sweet tomato-based sauce, french fries, coleslaw, fried okra, and onion rings.

 

On to the Pink Palace Museum, the city's excellent extensive museum of Memphis history and natural history in the mansion that was built by Charles Sanders, the founder of the Piggly Wiggly supermarket chain based here in Memphis. He went bankrupt and never lived in it -- the city took possession and turned it into a museum.

At 4:30, we drove west into downtown and drove by Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue, where Elvis and others recorded. Unfortunately, it was too late to tour but I did want to see the building.

We checked into the Hampton Inn a block from Beale Street, the main drag of restaurants, bars, and blues music. In search of tonic water for the anticipated gin and tonics, we walked down Beale Street from Second to Third Streets.

Back to the hotel at 5:30, we enjoyed our G&Ts and rested. After dark, I walked over to the Peabody Hotel and then a couple of blocks down Beale Street to soak up the atmosphere. Back to the hotel and to bed.

Day 5: The Delta

Vicksburg MS to Indianola MS

After breakfast, we started out at 10:00 and made a hard turn to the north. We took US 61, called the "Blues Highway," and runs through the heart of the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is the flat fertile bottomland between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers to the Tennessee border. Did I mention flat? The roads are straight as an arrow and lightly traveled with churches, some very modest homes, grain silos, and a few businesses in the small towns along the way. The fields have been planted in straight lines as far as the eye can see with cotton and corn broken up by breaks of trees.

At Leland, we took US 82 east and headed for the BB King museum in Indianola, MS, which opened at 12:00 on Sunday. At the museum, we found a spray of flowers next to the entrance in memory of BB King, who died last Thursday. The museum exhibits and videos were excellent. He was born nearby and began his music career in Indianola.

Indianola MS to Robinsonville MS

We left the museum at 2:00 and continued our drive through the Delta and some thunderstorms north on US 49W and back on US 61 to the hotel at Sam's Town Casino, one of many casinos on this part of the Mississippi River where we got a cheap weekday rate. It is just south of Memphis and a good position for tomorrow's assault on the city.

We arrived at 4:00, had libations, and then ate the early bird special at the casino's steak restaurant. Mom had the tenderloin au poivre and I had the beef and shrimp kabobs. We walked through the casino on the way back to the room. Individual entertainment and to bed.

Day 4: The Siege

Vicksburg MS

After breakfast at the hotel, we drove across the street to the Vicksburg National Military Park Visitors' Center and arrived at 8:30, just in time to see the 20-minute video introducing the park and to look at the exhibits. Mom's senior pass got both of us into the park.

We got back in the car to start the 16-mile drive along where the Union and Confederate lines were during the six-week siege of Vicksburg ending on July 4, 1863, when Confederate General Pemberton surrendered his men and the city to Union General Grant. The road winds through the hills with markers and monuments scattered about. Most of the drive is wooded unlike the open area it would have been in 1863. At the northern end of the park, we toured the USS Cairo, an ironclad which was sunk in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg in December 1862, raised in 1964, and now on display. A knowledgeable park ranger gave us an exclusive 30-minute talk on the history of the ship.

At 10:30, we got back in the car, drove through the military cemetery, and headed south along the Confederate lines, which were protecting the city. After returning to the visitors' center, we drove downtown to the antebellum Old Courthouse, which served Warren County and now is being used as a museum showing many artifacts from life in Vicksburg from its founding and into the 20th century. The most prominent building on the bluffs of the city, this white building with four porticos would have been easily seen by sailors on Union ships sailing on the Mississippi River.

Time for lunch and back in the car. We drove south along Washington Street, Vicksburg's main street with many tourist shops and continued south to the casino area along the river. At 12:30, we stopped at Lady Luck, a small casino with an adequate lunch buffet. There were many slot machines and only a few tables in the gaming area, but we were able to refrain.

On the way back to the hotel, we drove through part of the Confederate lines that are not part of the park property but are dotted with markers and monuments. Here we found monuments to the soldiers of South and North Carolina.

Returning to the hotel at 2:00, we rested a few hours, just missing the afternoon thunder showers that passed through. Beers, appetizers, and a sandwich for supper. Our tablets keep us entertained and then to bed.

Day 3: Jackson

Jackson MS

We are slowing it down today by enjoying a leisurely morning in the hotel room before eating the complimentary breakfast at 9:00. It was about 10:00 when we left the hotel for the antebellum Old Capitol, which survived the burning of Jackson by Union troops in 1863, but later fell into disrepair and was eventually restored and made a museum. The flags are at half staff because of the shooting of two police officers in Hattiesburg the weekend before.

 This is the old House chamber where the delegates to the Mississippi secession convention voted to secede in January 1861. Voting for the post-Civil War state constitutions also occurred in this chamber.

Adjacent to the museum is the obligatory monument to the fallen Confederate soldiers.

We then drove north through the sleepy downtown to the amazingly ornate "new" Mississippi State Capitol, built at the turn of the 20th century in the Beaux-Arts style of marble, stained glass, and other architectural doo-dads for $1 million that the state collected from the Illinois Central Railroad for back taxes. It looks like they spent every penny. A highlight of the building is the antique 1903 hand-operated Otis elevator run by a blind operator who spoke not a word. The dome of the capitol is now being restored.

We ate our sandwiches on a bench in the shade of an oak tree you can see in the picture above. At 12:40, we left for a tour of the home of novelist and short story writer Eudora Welty, who died in 2001. The house is almost as she left it with books stacked on tables, sofas, and chairs. She had made arrangements to donate it to the state upon her death and her family donated its contents.

Jackson MS to Vicksburg MS

At 2:00, we got on the road again and headed west on I-20 and entered Vicksburg less than an hour later. The hotel is right off the interstate and across the street from the Vicksburg National Military Park which we will tour tomorrow. After a couple of hours of rest, we went to the lobby for complimentary beer and hors d'oeurves, if nuts, cheese, chips and a snack mix rise to that status. A late afternoon storm came up. Early to bed.