Trip leg #1 Roadtrip 2009

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This map shows our route the first few days this past summer from Texas to Kansas. The slideshow below has the pictures from this leg of the trip.

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Original posts for this leg:
Night 1 - Texarkansas, Arkansas
Night 2 - Henryetta, Oklahoma
Night 3 - Manhattan, Kansas
June 11 - Still in Manhattan, KS

Slowing down

I've been asked to continue this blog, so I guess I'll give it try, although our travels have slowed down.

We did go to a chili cookoff this weekend near Wills Point, Texas. No pictures though. I cooked chili. Lester cooked our lunch. We had a great time even though I did not place. Out of 32 chili's I came in somewhere in the bottom 19th to 32nd place. Chili tasted okay, just not good enough for the cut. Not surprising, I just dumped and poured this time. I only have one point this chili year (October 1 - September 30). We have only cooked 3 or 4 times now this year. Mostly we cook for fun and to donate to whatever the charity of the day is. This time it was the Myrtle Springs Volunteer Fire Department. Of course placing is fun too.

Since the beginning of April we have gone out of town all but four weekends. This coming weekend Lester will fish and I get to stay home! Then we head to Michigan for daughter #4's wedding. You can bet we'll have pictures for that trip! Meanwhile, the alarm is set as I prepare to head back to work tomorrow. Lester will be celebrating not being joined at the hip anymore at the golf course. Something is not right about that!

Garfish Rodeo 2009

We had a fantastic time at the Garfish Rodeo at the Blind River Bar in Louisiana!!!!!!!! There were thirty-five boats with about 60 fishermen entered in the rodeo. Almost 3,000 pounds of fish were weighed-in! I think the big fish was 99 pounds. Garfish are caught by placing bait-fish such as mullet on large hooks which are suspended from jugs (recycled soda or bleach bottles). After being weighed-in some of the fish was filleted, cut into chunks, seasoned with mustard and hot sauce, dipped in "dust" (a commercially prepared fish fry batter) and fried in a big fryer. Dust is a word coined by one of the fellows in our group who has limited English skills.....the word works! The Garfish was served along with about 40 gallons of Jambalaya. The group I was with prepared the fish while another group did the Jambalaya. I don't know how many people were there for the party, a few hundred at least. A great time was had by all! A few pictures:

A couple of turtles on a log.
A small fishing camp on the river. Many are actually built over the water.
Alligator Bayou lives up to its name in the morning hours. We saw several gators!
Undisturbed waters with reflection!
A splash of color among the shades of greens and browns.
One of those pictures I put on here just because I like it!
Garfish weigh-in area at Blind River Bar.

July 22 - Home!

Got home yesterday! There were a lot of bridges on the final two days. That and rain....

A rather fancy railroad bridge in Louisiana. I think this was across the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge.

This is the bridge that never ends. It goes on and on again. Some people started building it not know when to end. They built and built and built and built, and the bridge it never ends.... (Lyrics by Brenda. Adapted from "The song that never ends" theme song of the Sherry Lewis Show. Composer/Lyricist Norman Martin.)

No clue where this bridge was at!

This is the ONLY bridge we had to stop under to avoid rain on the whole trip! This was near Marshall, Texas our last overnight stop. We also stopped for about an hour in Tyler, Texas at a Cracker Barrel restaurant to wait out the rain yesterday.

Our final stop on the trip was as Cici's in Rockwall, Texas. Treated mom and dad to lunch at mom's favorite place!

Home sweet home! (Collin Park campground.)

While this was the end of our 6152 mile trip, we will be returning to Louisiana the first weekend of August with the truck and boat. Will post the last of our summer fun picks after that trip.

July 19 - The Big Easy!

Pictures from our day trip to New Orleans:

We took a carriage ride through the French Quarter. It was fun and informative! That's Betsy and Trent in the seat behind us.

Howard the carriage driver.

Tennessee Williams lived here when he wrote "A Street Car Named Desire".

The Clover Grill on Bourbon Street, a good place for breakfast in the quarter if you don't mind real dives!

An elementary school in the French Quarter. Reminds me of the school I attended in Metairie, Louisiana as a child.

Lester feeding a treat to Shine, the mule who pulled our carriage.

Another bridge. This one is across the Mississippi River. View is from the Woldenberg Riverfront Park in New Orleans.

The house I lived in as a kid in Metarie, Louisianna. The pile of wood shavings out front are from a huge tree that was recently cut down. The tree was not much more than a sapling when I was young. The house was a green wood and there was a carport in the section to the right.

A shopping cart escalator in Target. Who knew such things existed!

July 18 - We did time in Angola!

Prison 101: How to get inside

Have background check. Bring golf clubs! We had a great time playing golf at Louisiana State Prison--Angola's Prison View Golf Course today. It is located within the prison and is operated as part of the employee recreation program. Although the day was hot the game was not, but that did not diminish the fun we had that was partly fueled by the idea that we were inside the prison grounds. Snagged a good t-shirt from the Angola Museum gift shop: Angola - A gated community.

Some pictures from the last few days:
Greene County courthouse square in Eutaw, Alabama. Some unique buildings.
Dunn's Falls and gristmill near Meridian, Mississippi.
Our granddoggy Casey!

Son-in-law Trent all duded-up for our golf outing.

The view from Hole #1 at Prison View Golf Course.

Daughter #3, Betsy, reclining in golf cart.

How close is that guard tower and fence?!?!?

July 17 - Hanging out near Baton Rouge, Louisianna

I know we must have pictures to upload but give us a day or two. We are spending time with daughter #2 who lives near Baton Rouge. It is nice to just to relax for a few days! Tomorrow we play golf at Angola Prison....who can resist an opportunity like that! Will head home next week, Lester is more than ready while I could keep going and going!

July 14 - From Bessemer, Alabama

Signage is a good thing. Lack of signage can cause misplacement! We had difficulty finding our way out of Chattanooga yesterday due to a lack of signage in the downtown area. Choosing to take a route which would allow us to see more of the town we followed US 11 into Chattanooga. Unfortunately the signs for US 11 leading out of Chattanooga were missing. After a couple trips around town we decided to take I-24 out, that was not any easier. It took us a full hour just to leave the city! We did achieve the goal of seeing the town though.

We stopped at Sequoyah Caverns for a tour after skipping the caverns and other tourist sites at Lookout Mountain. The Sequoyah Caverns was on a less travelled road and the tour group of five was more enjoyable than the other would have been. The only disappointment was that the tour was unscientific with very little geological input.

Mountains. Mountains. Mountains. As far south as Birmingham we still saw a few mountains. We may have finally gotten passed them. Here's the pictures:

A conglomeration of bridges. Wish this was a clearer picture!
The Chattanooga Choo-choo use to come to this station which is now a Holiday Inn.

We passed this sign three times before finding our way out of Chattanooga!

This sign on the side of a utility van caught my attention. Can something be delivered without being picked up first?

Beware of guard on duty at entrance gate!

Lester asked me to take this picture. I like the way it turned out!

Sequoyah Caverns. Not going to try to spell the terms for these formations.

Waterfall inside the cave.

Another interesting formation.

July 12 - From Chattanooga, Tennessee

Ooops! Seems I haven't posted for a few days. We've been having too much fun I guess! Some highlights:
1) Our second day in Knoxville, Tennessee was spent in a more relaxing mode. We had lunch with Golda and Jeremy then hit the Knoville Museum of Art with Jeremy. The art museum is free on Thursdays! It was a small museum with an exhibit of artsy furniture made by eastern Tennessee artisans and an exhibit of old portraits of Hollywood stars from the 1920s -1950s. We enjoyed all!
2) We played disk golf after Golda got off of work then had a hot dog cookout in the backyard.
3) Headed back on the road on Friday morning. First stop was a visit with a former workmate Suzanne Hale. Had a great visit!
4) Took TN-321 towards Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Another windy road. Hit rain in Pigeon Forge so stopped at one of many entertainment spots and road the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride. Was fun in a lame sort of way. Scared some kids waiting to ride after us by saying that cousin Joey never made it out.....
5) Began to think that the mountains and windy roads would never end. Found out we were right!
6) Spent two nights in Gatlinburg. Visited Elks Lodge #1925 Friday evening then turned in early. Did a walk-about Saturday in the heavily travelled Gatlinburg tourist trap area. We saw a great comedy revue show at The Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre that night.
7) Left Gatlinburg Sunday morning driving through the Smoky Mountains towards Cherokee, North Carolina and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Do the mountains ever end?
8) Recommended vacation: a couple of days tubing and/or whitewater rafting in northwestern North Carolina on the Cherokee Rapids, Nantahala River or the Ocoee River, then a couple of days of camping and hiking in the Smoky Mountains, a full day or two with at least one evening in Gatlinburg shopping and seeing a show and other activities, a day or so in Pigeon Forge in the same manner as Gatlinburg.

Still don't have a winner on my compass rose contest! See June 25th posting for information.
Suzanne Hale and the magnificant view from her deck!
Forgot to upload this picture from my phone a week ago. The biker dog is sooooo cute!
Gatlinburg, Tennessee as seen from the mountain-side walkway from our hotel.
Lester got to be part of the show at the The Sweet Fanny Adams Theatre. He got a big kiss on the head and spotlighted as one of the gals sang that he was a good vo-vo-dee-oh-er. Needless to say he did not complain!

Yes, the sign does say the road goes in circles....and it did!

Up in the clouds....again.

Another cloudy view.

Decorated bears are everywhere in Cherokee, North Carolina!

We stopped a few times to watch whitewater and whitewater rafting in the Smokies. I was definitely envious!

July 9 - Hanging out in Knoxville, Tennessee

Adjectives to describe yesterday's adventures: rainy, overwhelming, fantastic, splendid, awesome, sunny, scary, cold, green, mountainous, tree-filled, shady, wet, cool, spectacular, long, achy, fun, twisty, smiley, great!

After a couple of false starts yesterday we headed to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a tour. Wow! The tour by bus lasted almost three hours but was definitely worth it. We learned how Oak Ridge began as a secret city that was built in a matter of months during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. We also learned the basics of uranium enrichment and the making of plutonium. I snagged a lot of literature and purchased a book on the social aspects of the secret city.

Following the tour at Oak Ridge we headed for the Tail of the Dragon. We had started to do this early in the day but turned back due to rain. We began the ride with sun and clouds. Just over halfway through this twisty (318 turns in 11 miles) ride we ran into rain. Rain and curvy roads are scary on a motorcycle. We took a break at the tourist trap at the end of the eleven miles before taking another scenic route back towards town. This route, the Cherohala Skyway, was much longer but a bit less curvy. The skyway took us to an elevation of over 5200 feet (one mile) with beautiful vistas of the Smoky Mountains. We were actually riding in the thick clouds at the top of the mountains for awhile. That was cold. We layered on shirts we had purchased as souvenirs earlier in the day to stay warm. Coming down the mountain was a welcome event as the air warmed and eventually the curves eased. By the time we got home we were all exhausted and sore from hanging on so tight. Fun good ride, probably won't be repeated though!

Pictures, pictures, pictures:
This bus tour took us through a good part of the complex at Oak Ridge Laboratory with a few stops.
An actual nuclear reactor, no longer in use of course.
An accurately dizzying view on the Tail of the Dragon. Jeremy was warned to be careful with my baby on his motorcycle.

Jeremy and Golda.

The Cheoah Dam used in the movie "The Fugitive".
A pretty view.

Another pretty view.

Golda claims to be smiling!

Apparently we were on the highway to heaven.

Another heavenly view. Mountains as far a you can see.