Apr 2008

We drive a few hours to Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas. Jere says it's supposed to be a nice park with nice scenery. It was Arkansas' first state park. We set up camp in our assigned space and take a long, long time to get into it. I'm not sure why they assigned us this space; there are lots of other empty spaces. After about 20 minutes of maneuvering, we finally get into the space. I feel bad for the tenters across the street--I'm sure they did not appreciate listening to our diesel truck noise, but we did provide entertainment to them (and they are probably glad that they are have to deal with setting up a small tent, vs maneuvering a 35 ft condo on wheels).

We eat and take off to explore the park. We look at their large waterfall and take the trail to a large cave where there are pictographs on the wall. It's a nice park, but not sure if it is worth driving out of the way for.

We have a short drive today to Memphis, Tennessee. As we cross the Mississippi River to get to the KOA campground, we see lots of flooding.

We actually had planned to stop at a different campground, but it's closed due to flooding. As we cross the river later in the day, we see a campground that is mostly under water -- we're wondering if it's the campground where we planned to stay.

We set up, grab a snack and then head to Beale Street, home of the blues and birthplace of rock and roll. Our first stop is the Blues Cafe for lunch. Wonderful atmosphere and great southern food! A place not to be missed if you ever visit Memphis.

Jere and I share a plate of incredibly delicious (and worth every calorie/gram of fat) barbequed ribs:

And obey their sign to try their fried apple pie a la mode:

After we stuff ourselves with great food at the Blues Cafe, we stroll down Beale Street. They are having a very large Corvette show today so Corvettes are everywhere in the area. Lots of people, lots of good music on the street.

We spend an hour or two in the Rock and Soul Museum (a division of the Smithsonian Institute, dedicated to the history of soul/blues music and the birth of rock & roll). Interesting museum. They give each person a set of headphones and you stroll around the museum and listen to descriptions of the exhibits and lots of music.

After the museum we walk through the 'Africa in April' street fair and then several blocks to the edge of the Mississippi River.

And then through the historic downtown area. It's really a pretty area, with lots of interesting architecture. It's also the birthplace of the modern day grocery store: Piggly Wiggly grocery stores originated here with the first serve yourself style grocery store.

We walk around Beale Street again and then head back to the campground for several games of pool, before calling it a day (and early bedtime--lots of walking today).

It's a day of driving. We leave Columbus, Georgia and plan to stop at Tupelo, Mississippi for the night (Elvis Presley's birthplace) but the campground is full (we typically do not make reservations while traveling, so every once in awhile we get somewhere and they're full). It's a Friday night, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Not a big deal--we keep driving. We'll see Elvis's birthplace another trip.

While driving down the road, a motorhome passes us: it's pulling a car (not unusual) BUT the car is pulling a trailer! We've seen this once before on this trip, but are still amazed that people do this.

We consider driving to all the way to Memphis, but find a state park that has campsites available and decide to stop there for the night. Wall Doxey State Park, Mississippi

It's a really nice state park. The campground is in the woods, with paved sites and electric/water hook-ups. Plus the rangers are very friendly. We set up, have dinner and walk around the campground before dark.

The campground is very unusual in that it has at least one 18-hole "disc golf" course. It meanders all around the outskirts of the campground, through the woods. Plus the campground registration office includes a disc golf pro shop, just like a golf course would have. They have racks of equipment for disc golf. I never realized disc golf had so much equipment. They are having a disc golf tournament this weekend so there are golfers out practicing. The golfers carry bags for their equipment just like regular golfers, only the bag is smaller. All the golfers that we see on the course are young males. Interesting stop.

A busy, long day today but we see a lot of interesting places. We first drive 10 miles north of Americus, GA to visit the Andersonville National Historical Site and POW Museum.

It was the site of the infamous Andersonville Civil War prison, where 13 thousand Union soldiers died from disease and malnutrition in the last year of the Civil War. They have a very good movie about the prison, an audio tour of the area where the prison once stood (we stand there trying to imagine how 33,000 soldiers could have possibly fit into that small area),

and an American POW Museum with exhibits of American POWs during all of the wars.

Then we drive through Americus GA (world headquarters for Habitat for Humanity) to the Plains GA visitor center and stop for a picnic lunch.

After lunch we tour the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. First we see an excellent 30 minute film about Jimmy and Rosslyn Carter and look at the museum which is located in their old high school.

Then we walk around town

and visit the train depot which was his Presidential campaign headquarters. Of course we can’t stop in Plains GA without getting some peanuts. We buy a pound of fried peanuts (they’re excellent), cinnamon peanut brittle (also excellent) and each have a bowl of peanut butter soft ice cream (delicious!). It’s amazing that a U.S. president could have grown up in such a small rural community. But it’s a picturesque area and I can understand why the Carters returned here after the presidency (and still live here today).

We drive out past the Carter’s present church, the Amarantha Baptist Church. Apparently Jimmy Carter still mows grass there every 6 weeks or so, but no signs of Jimmy today. The small Baptist church has no janitorial staff so members of the congregation takes turns caring for the property. The Carters are on duty about every six weeks.

Coincidently, I am reading a book written by Jimmy Carter, Living Faith. It’s about how his Christian faith has affected his life before, during and after his presidency. I read that he still teaches Sunday School at his church (he’s taught Sunday School all during his life whenever he’s in Plains). Before becoming governor of Alabama he taught the upper elementary grades, the same age group that I have taught for years (until we began traveling in 2007). Unfortunately we will not be here Sunday to attend his current Sunday School class, which welcomes visitors. Can you imagine attending a Sunday School class taught by a former U.S. President???

The Carters’ current residence is fenced in and can’t be seen from the road (it’s a medium size ranch style house surrounded by trees). The secret service residence is really all that we can see from the road as we pass the property on our way to visit Jimmy Carter’s boyhood home. His boyhood home is also administered by the National Park Service and has been nicely refurbished. He lived there til he left for college. His father sold the farm and bought the peanut warehouse while Jimmy was in college.

No sightings of the former president, so we drive on to Columbus, Georgia. We set up the 5th wheel at Lake Pines Campground, eat dinner and then set off for downtown Columbus. We drive around the historic district and then stop to walk on the RiverWalk pathway that borders the Chattahoochee River.

We stop for groceries and gas and called it a day.

We pack up and leave the magical world of Disney’s Fort Wilderness. This is definitely one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve stayed at – simply because it’s a 12-minute boatride away from the Magic Kingdom. They also have the nicest restrooms (air conditioned, hand-painted tiles) of any campground that we have ever stayed at anywhere. Not a big deal, but nice.

It’s a day of driving. We take smaller roads, no interstates, for the first half of the day before catching I-75 North. We stop at a campground near Americus, Georgia. Quiet place away from the roads, so Jere and I enjoy a nice walk in the evening along the country road.