More of Kansas

8/02/08

Again we got up early and started off for another long day on the road toward Colorado Springs where we are planning a three night stay. Kansas continues to be flat and boring. The only thing we had to amuse ourselves was reading the road billboards as they passed along. We also didn’t see Toto or Dorothy.

Somewhere in Kansas

8/01/08

We left St. Louis in the morning and drove and drove and drove. We could have stopped in Abilene, Kansas to see the Eisenhower Center but it was closed when we were in the area so finally we stopped in Salina, Kansas for one night. The camp was out in the middle of nowhere but it had full hookups. When I was checking in the guy behind the counter took a layout of the park, drew a circle around the campsites and told me to go park in what ever site I wanted. After setting up all we did was go swimming to cool off and relaxed for a while before turning in for the night.

I know you'all want to see pictures but we are having problems uploading them. Just try to imagine a stright road with flat land as far as the eye can see and you got Kansas.

We are now at a place where the internet connection is good so here are some pictures of Kansas.

St. Louis

Thursday 7/31/08

We left Branson heading for St. Louis, MO. We drove all day stopping at a campsite about 3 in the afternoon. We did some set up and then went off to see the Gateway Arch. During the drive, Lynn had been looking through the AAA book to see if there was anything else to see in St. Louis. She noticed the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site nearby so we headed for that first. What we found was the Grant home as it was before the war and his presidency. This home was Julia Grant’s family home. This is where Julia and Ulysses met and fell in love. The Grant’s were eventually married here and lived with Julia’s parents for a time. In the 1850’s, they raised their family and farmed the land at White Haven. In the 1860’s the Grants purchased the land from Julia’s family. After the war and the presidency, the Grants never lived at White Haven again full time but visited often.
Now a few miles down the road we headed for the Gateway Arch. After parking, we walked down to the roadway next to the Mississippi River. What we noticed first was that the river was very high and there was debris floating down the river. There was a sign describing the travels of Lewis and Clark and if you looked in the water there was a statue of either Lewis or Clark. We couldn’t tell because it was under water all the way up to his neck. We were told that the levee was flooded. Normally there was parking on the levee but it was all under water.
We walked on to the Arch. It is a very impressive sight to see it rising from the ground. We went in to buy our tickets. We wanted to take a tram ride and a riverboat combination but the riverboat was closed. We bought tickets for the ride and headed for the tram. The tram ride is in a little pod that holds 4 to 5 people. There is one little window in the door. We were in the pod with another couple. Ed says “it is kind of a small window to see out”. The rest of us were all kind of shocked because we were under the impression that we would be getting out. The other girl is dying because she’s thinking “I want out of this thing”. Sanity prevailed and we all decided there was no way they would keep us in this pod at the top. The ride came to an end we were let out of our little pod. The windows are little but the view is tremendous. On one side is the Mississippi River and Illinois and on the other side is downtown St. Louis. We spent some time looking out the windows and taking pictures. Ed noticed the couple that rode up with us did not stay long and the girl would not go near the windows. We took our ride down in the pod with a guide and Ed asked if these things ever get stuck. She said yes, unfortunately, quite often. We made it down without incident and headed back to camp.

Branson, Missouri

Sunday 7/27/08 – Wednesday 7/30/08

We took a break from the RV for a few days and stayed in a Time Share in Branson, Missouri. It was a nice break and we were able to get caught up on all the laundry. We had a nice place with lots of room and a TV that got actual channels. On a couple of days, we found ourselves going to the pool at 9 at night. It was still warm outside and the pool was crowded.
On Monday, we went to a dinner and preview of some shows in Branson. We didn’t see anyone there that we really wanted to see. We did get some free tickets for a couple of shows. We saw a show called Legends in Concert. This was a show where the singers were impersonating other singers. The “legends” we saw were Shania Twain, Johnny Cash, the Blues Brothers, Elvis, and the Temptations. They do a pretty good job. We thought the Temptations were the best. We also saw a show called the Duttons. If you saw the TV show America’s Got Talent, they were in the top 8 of that show. It is a family where everyone plays violins, fiddles, banjos, etc. and sings. It was a very lively entertaining show.
One day we drove out to the Table Rock Dam and Lake. We took a walk on a lake trail. In the shade by the lake it felt pretty good. The temperature was in the 90’s and with the heat index it felt 105. We did some other walking by the dam but because of the heat it wasn’t too comfortable. When we got back to the room, Ed decided to do some geocaching. If he had thought of it earlier, Lynn would have gone but she had done enough walking and opted for the pool instead. Ed found one of the two caches and came back very hot and tired.

Memphis

Friday 7/25/08





We left Chattanooga heading for Memphis, TN. Nothing too eventful, we just kept pushing through only stopping for gas. We arrived at the campsite about 3:30 and set everything up. We considered going into Memphis to look around a little bit but we had passed a lot of traffic that was going into Memphis and many things close down at 5pm so we stayed put. Ed had us up at about 6:30 the next morning because we wanted to be at the Memphis Visitors Center by 9am. It still looked a little dark outside but we got ready to go. All of a sudden we thought, did we change time zones? Ed went out and asked and, yes, we were in Central time so we had an extra hour. We were in Memphis by 9am armed with maps and everything we wanted to see. Lynn wanted to see the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. This is a beautiful, old hotel in Memphis that started a tradition of five ducks marching into the fountain in the lobby to a John Phillip Sousa march. They march in at 11am and march out at 5:30. We went to the hotel and looked around a little bit but we had some time before the ducks arrived. We decided to walk around the city for a while and then go back to the hotel. We had not walked too far when it started to pour. We had an umbrella with us but we were getting soaked so we walked back to the hotel. We took a seat and waited for the show. As the time neared, more and more people were arriving. It became obvious that this was going to be hard to see unless you were right in front. Ed decided the best place was upstairs looking over the railing. Lynn wanted to stay downstairs but as more people arrived, she too, decided the best view was from upstairs. At about 10:30, the Duck Master came out and told about the history of the ducks and some rules for the crowds. At 11 sharp, the ducks exited the elevator, marched down the red carpet and up the steps into the fountain. What a fun sight! We left the Peabody Hotel and resumed our walk around the city. We walked to Beale Street where there were many restaurants and Blues places. This is where Elvis got his start and B.B. King has a restaurant and store. This area seemed more of a night-time place. It was very hot and humid so we decided to head to Graceland. We drove over to Graceland and purchased our tickets to see Graceland Mansion and were told we had an hour wait before our turn came up. We wandered through the gift shop which had everything you could ever want with Elvis on it. Since we were not much of his fans we did not purchase anything. When our time came we boarded a bus that took our group across the street to the mansion. Looking right as you go into the mansion there is a gracious living room with a grand piano in the background. A portrait of Elvis is on the wall at the foot of the stairs, but you can’t go upstairs. That part of Graceland is forever closed to the public. It was very interesting seeing many things in the house that were odd but others that we could relate too, like the TV, the kitchen appliances and some furniture. Everything was decorated in the 70s style. The kitchen was decorated in the olive green colors like we had when we were married. Some of the rooms had shag carpeting. Elvis built a special house just for his gold records and other trophies. Elvis’s grave and those of his immediate family are at the end of the Graceland tour. The walking tour took about two hours. We were ready to sit down for a while when we came out. We usually eat our meals at the camp but today we stopped at Corky’s BBQ. John Argo suggested we try the ribs. They were certainly good and plenty enough to take leftovers home and eat them the next day.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Thursday 7/24/08

We were on the road by 8am heading for Chattanooga, Tennessee. We had about a six hour trip ahead of us. We stopped in a little town for gas. Ed was inside and Lynn was on her way in when a little old man about 90 years old asked her if she knew how to work the gas pump. She tried to explain as best she could but he didn’t seem to be getting it. He seemed to want her to do it. Then she asked him, have you paid yet? You have to go in to pay first. She was hoping he would get help inside. Lynn told Ed about her conversation with the man and when we went out we could tell he was still having trouble so Ed went over to help him. He had an old pickup truck and a gas can and he wanted $5 in the gas can and $10 in the truck. He said he lived on a farm about 15 miles away and he never came out to get gas, it was delivered to the farm. He also said that he had an old diesel tractor that needed gasoline to start up and then it would switch over to diesel. Ed wished we could have talked to him longer but he had to go and we had to go. We had to really concentrate on what he was saying because it was really hard to understand his deep Southern accent.
We chose Chattanooga for our stopping point so we could visit the Chickamauga Battlefield. We arrived at the campsite around 3:30 and went off to see the battlefield. Because of the location of the battlefield we were really staying in Ringgold, GA. At the battlefield we found it was a tour of a series of historical tablets and exhibits. We could either walk or drive from one to the other. We saw many bikers getting ready to go on a ride and found out it was possible to ride bikes along the road to see the exhibits. We went back to camp and got our bikes, picked up sandwiches and returned to ride the trail. The tour stops at 8 points of interest so we would stop at each one reading the markers. Once we got off the main road it was a very nice trail for bike riding. There were many bikers, walkers and runners using the trail. It was an eye-opener to see the many thousands of soldiers from the North and South that were involved in the battle. At the exhibits, there were statistics on how many were killed, wounded or missing. We could see why it was such a tough place for a battle with all the surrounding wooded areas. It would be very hard to keep track of the troops.
Ed likes to drive through little towns so we were able to drive through some of the surrounding neighborhoods. We drove through the little town of Fort Oglethorpe. There was a mixture of old historic homes and some “newer” homes.

Savannah, GA

Wednesday 7/23/08

We got up at 4:30 in the morning so we could drive down to Savannah, GA. We were hoping they would let us check into a campsite early. No problem, we were able to do a quick set up and we were on our way to downtown Savannah. So, by 9:15 in the morning there was Lynn in line, along with at least 200 other people, for the Paula Deen restaurant, Lady and Sons, while Ed was driving around looking for a parking place. The reason we had to stand in line was because they only take reservations for groups of 8 or more. At about 9:30, the line began to move and we were able to get reservations for dinner at 5.
We decided to spend some time walking around downtown Savannah. The buildings in Savannah are laid out around a series of squares. Each little neighborhood has its own public square. We walked through many of them seeing many of the beautiful old historic homes. We found one for sale but there were no “papers” so we couldn’t see how much it was. We were quite sure it was out of our price range.
We were a little tired from our early morning so we headed back to camp. Lynn went for a swim, this time the water was more refreshing, and Ed took a nap. We got ready for dinner and headed back to Savannah.
When we checked in at the restaurant, we were told to wait across the street and the hostess would be calling us soon. Next, a guy came out to give everyone instructions. Like, our name will be called and we will be given a card. Depending on the color of the card we are either on the first floor or the third floor. Then, he rings one of those triangular dinner bells. Later our name was called and we were seated on the first floor. We could order from the menu or have the buffet. We chose the buffet because that was more of an example of her Southern cooking. We stuffed ourselves with real fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy, etc. Ed even tried greens. A favorite seemed to be Mac and Cheese because the tray was empty. North or South Lynn could care less, either way it is not something she likes. For dessert, we were given a choice of banana pudding, peach cobbler or Original gooey cake. Lynn took peach cobbler and Ed had the gooey cake. Both were delicious.
After dinner, we walked along the Savannah River front and Factor’s walk. The Factor’s offices have been turned into small shops and tourist areas. Our time in Savannah came to an end and we went back to camp to plan our next days move.