Day 23-27, March 25-29: Tennessee

DAY 23 - MARCH 25 - TENNESSEE
There was a huge thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning. It was pretty intense with lots of thunder and lightning. It woke us up. Then the wind came up and it started pouring. I was waiting for the tornado sirens to start. Whenever we travel in the South, I fear every dark cloud is going to turn into a funnel, every time the wind comes up it means there is a tornado behind it, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. But there were no sirens or a tornado. By the time we were ready to depart everything was calm. The drive to Nashville was uneventful, except for a flat tire on the trailer. We were actually driving on it for a bit before we noticed. Crisis #2. After 6 hours and 228 miles we safely arrived at Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Nashville, Tennessee.


Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under Tennessee to see a review and more pictures of this campground.
http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/


DAY 24 & 25 - MARCH 26 & 27 – NASHVILLE, TN
Nashville is referred to as the “Athens of the South”. It’s the hub of state government, a culture metropolis for middle Tennessee and the epicenter of the country music world. Downtown, on almost every street, corner there are large black boxes with country music coming out of them. You find yourself tapping your feet as you explore the sights. You can also see Greek-influenced architecture throughout the city.
The new Grand Ole Opry and Gaylord Opryland was across the street from where we were staying. Gaylord Opryland is an exclusive resort that is part of Grand Ole Opry. This resort had a garden conservatory under glass roofs with waterfalls, fountains and more than 10,000 tropical plants. It was all very impressive. We tried to visit this area, but we found it difficult to get into the parking area and when we did get in, parking was $18.00. So we skipped it. Next to all this was a shopping mall. We saw people walking over to this resort from the mall. An idea for next time.

For the next two days we visited two historical homes and plantation:
The Hermitage is the home and plantation of 7th President, Andrew Jackson. This is a 1,120 acre farm with about 40 sites (main home, slave quarters, etc.). Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel and other family members are buried here. He had a Tomb built when his wife died. When he died, he was buried next to her in the same tomb. His home was a cotton plantation with about 200 slaves. When he died in 1845 his only daughter Rachael inherited the plantation and it was ruined after the Civil War and then became the property of the State.














The second plantation we visited was the Belle Meade Plantation; founded in 1807 by John and Susanna Harding. It started with a log cabin and 250 acres and grew into 5,400 acres. It was a thoroughbred horse farm used for breeding, training and racing. One of the horses named Iroquois was an ancestor to Seabiscuit. Wine making was also a tradition of the plantation and they still produce wine. We sampled their wine, liked it, and bought 3 bottles.














We also visited the Tennessee State Museum. This museum has a collection of historic Tennessee paintings, silver, ceramics, textiles, furniture, and firearms. Its Civil War holdings of uniforms, battle flags, and weapons are among the best in the nation. The capital building was just around the corner, so we walked by and took a picture. We didn’t explore it as it was on top of a hill and I did not have the energy to climb up for a closer look.

The zoo in Nashville is excellent! The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is fairly new. It is small compared to the past zoos we’ve been to. It’s on 180 acres and includes Grassmere Historic Farm that was built by Michael C. Dunn in 1846. He sold to son-in-law, Lee Shute, in 1850. In 1859 Lee sold it to son William. William and his wife loved nature and poetry so named the farm after a memorable place celebrated in the poetry of William Wordsworth. His two grand-daughters inherited the farm in 1952. The deeded it to the Children’s Museum. The Museum developed it into a Wildlife Park in 1990. In 1997, the Nashville Zoo assumed management of the property. This zoo is landscaped in a way that makes you ‘maze’ through woods and jungles. It makes you feel like you are out in the wilds. The animal habitats are large and natural. It’s one of the best we have seen and a ‘must see’ if you ever visit Nashville.














We really enjoyed Nashville, but did not have enough time to see some other sights we wanted to visit. One of them is the Creekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. In late May Dale Chihuly will have his glass art on display throughout this botanical garden and in various ponds. His hand-blown glass art is spectacular. So we will be returning here for a few days on our way back home to visit this garden. I can’t wait!



DAY 26 & 27 - MARCH 28 & 29 – THE HILLS OF TENNESSEE
Another storm was predicted the night before we departed for our next destination. And it did come. In fact it rained the whole day and it was a very long driving day. Because of the rain, we drove slowly and carefully. At one point during our drive our radio started that emergency warning beeping. We figured it was just another one of those emergency tests. But it was for real. It was a tornado warning (FYI: tornado warning means a funnel has been sighted, tornado watch means the conditions are right for a funnel to form). But fortunately it was for an area of Tennessee that we were not going to be near. Whew. I was scanning the sky and holding my breath for the rest of the trip. After nine hours and 278 miles we arrived safely at Rocky Top Campground in Blountville, Tennessee.

Please see our RV PARK REVIEW BLOG under Tennessee to see a review and more pictures of this campground.
http://charleston-rv-park-review.blogspot.com/

We are up in the hills and near the border of Tennessee and Virginia. At the RV campground I asked where the storm shelter was (when traveling in tornado country, you always ask where the nearest shelter is) and they laughed at me. They do not get tornadoes because the area is too hilly. The hills will break up any funnels if they dare to form. I did not know that. Now I do.
It will be a short visit in this area. There is not much to see here except for some caverns to explore.

We only had time to visit Bristol Caverns, located just outside the border town of Bristol. These caverns are over 200,000,000 years old. In the frontier days, the Indians used the underground river as an attack and escape route when they raided the settlers. The short tour took us along their escape route. The caverns were impressive and our guide was a young man who was informative.

















We explored downtown Bristol and visited several antique stores in the old section of town. In fact the antique stores are on State Street where one side is in Bristol, Tennessee and the other side is in Bristol, Virginia. So we had a lunch in Tennessee and went shopping in Virginia.














Our next destination is VIRGINIA.


Virginia facts: 1788 entered the Union as the 10th state. Virginia covers 40,817 square miles and has a population of 7,078,515.
State Nickname: "Old Dominion"
State Motto: "Virginia is For Lovers"
State Capital: Richmond
State Flower: American Dogwood
State Bird: Cardinal
State Animal (Dog): American Foxhound
State Tree: American Dogwood
State Gem: None
State Song: None

DAY 20 - 22, March 22 - 24: Arkansas

DAY 20 – MARCH 22 – LAKE DISTRICT
The Spring storm is now over and we woke up to clear and sunny skies and the snow was almost all melted through out Oklahoma City. We continued driving on Highway 40 (Route 66) across Oklahoma into Arkansas. We made a stop to take this 'Route 66' photo. It was a bit unnerving, but interesting.

April Fool....Just kidding. The picture was taken at the Oklahoma City Zoo. I just couldn't resist. Actually we left Historic Route 66 somewhere between Oklahoma City and the Arkansas border. We are still on Hwy 40, but the Historic Route 66 turned towards the North and goes through Missouri and ends at Chicago, Illinois.

As we continued on we noticed lots of snow was still on the ground as we entered this state. They probably got the worst of the storm yesterday after we got hit the day before. However, there was no snow when we came into Ft. Smith (not far from the Arkansas state line). The storm had traveled north when leaving the Oklahoma. We stayed overnight in Russellville which is in the Lake District and next to Lake Dardanelle, a state park. This part of Arkansas is hilly with lots of trees. Most of which are now full of white blossoms. Spring is here and it is all quite beautiful. After 6 hours and 269 miles we arrived at Ivy’s Cove RV Retreat in Russellville, AR.

IVY'S COVE RV RETREAT:
This is a very small RV park with only 16 sites. Half of the sites had permanent or long-term residents. However, those trailers looked fairly new and not trashed out like some we have seen. All the sites are pull-thrus with full hook ups including cable TV (with only 12 decent channels) and free WiFi (with easy log on and a strong signal). The interior roads and all the sites are gravel and dirt with a small grassy area between the sites. The sites are long and fairly spacious, making the sites somewhat private. The office is a large brick building that includes the laundry room and bathrooms. The showers are in individual rooms inside the laundry room. Each of those 4 rooms each included a toilet, sink, and shower. They are very clean, almost new, and very private. The owner and manager was on vacation, so a ‘neighbor’ was running the place and that person only showed up to checked us in and then disappeared. It left us with an uncomfortable and unsafe feeling. Did not know what we would do if any problems came up. No one was around to make sure the place was secure. Because of this we rated the place a 3 (1-Yuck, 2-Poor, 3-Fair, 4-Good, 5-Excellent).

After we settled in we only had about 3 hours before it got dark. So we drove nearby to Lake Dardanelle State Park and then spent more time at Petit Jean State Park, 20 miles away in Morrilton. Lake Dardanelle offers fishing and boating and both places have campgrounds and lots of hiking trails. Petit Jean is known for its waterfalls and Petit Jean Mountain. The legend of Petit Jean is the story of a French girl who disguised herself as a boy and secretly accompanied her sweetheart, an early explorer, to the New World and to this mountain.














DAY 21 - MARCH 23 - WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS
Russellville was just an overnight stay. Our next stop is two nights in the Memphis area, both in Arkansas and Tennessee. West Memphis, AR borders Memphis, TN. It was an easy, short drive on Hwy 40 to the border. The skies were clear and it was sunny and warm. After 6 hours and 198 miles we arrived at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, AR.


TOM SAWYER RV PARK:
This RV park is alongside the Mississippi River. The park is closed during the months of April and May because the melting snow (from 1,000+ miles away) causes the river to rise and it covers this park. There are around 76 sites in two sections; one is in the woods under the trees and the other is out in the open along the shore line of the Mississippi River. Our site was right on the shore and at the end of the row, so we had no neighbors on one side. We had a fantastic view of the rushing river. We could sit in front of our trailer and watch the river rush by. We could also watch the barges pushing or pulling their large loads. Even though being so close to the river can feel relaxing and peaceful, it can sure keep you up at night. These barges ran all day and night. During the night when all is still, these barges are quite loud and noisy when they go against the current. I finally had to break down and wear my ear plugs.

The interior roads and sites are all gravel and dirt with grassy areas between the sites. The sites are long and spacious. You are not on top of your neighbor so there is a lot of privacy. The comfort station ‘shacks’ at each section have a laundry room on one side and on the other side are two private rooms each with shower, sink and toilet. The laundry is free
There are full hook ups with free WiFi (easy log on with a strong signal). No cable TV, but you can get quite a few channels with your TV antenna.


After we settled into our RV site, Dave worked on repairing our trailer awning. As we were attaching it to the trailer a woman from New Mexico stopped to help out and to chat. In fact other people who were walking their dogs nearby would also come by and chat during our stay here. Very friendly people stay at this place. The repaired awning is now in place and is as good as new. Now we will have a screen for those sunny, hot days that will be coming soon.

DAY 22 - MARCH 24 - MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
The sun was out this morning and it would be a beautiful, warm day. We headed over the border into Memphis, Tennessee to visit the Memphis Zoo. We were here during our 2005 trip. It was a wonderful zoo and wanted to visit again. And as with the other places we have revisited so far, there were changes and new areas added. The Memphis Zoo covers 70 acres and is home to more than 3,500 animals representing more than 500 species. The entrance area has an Egyptian deco with columns, sphinxes, and hieroglyphics made to represent the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis.











On this day there were three areas where the animals were quite active and playful. Five years ago a new area was built to accommodate a pair of Giant Panda’s that was a gift from Beijing, China. Memphis Zoo is one of four zoos in this country that have these animals. Today one of the Pandas was outside being cute and busily eating his bamboo.

In the Northwest Passage area, the polar bears where very active swimming about and teasing the people at the window viewing them.

And in a new area called the Teton Trek, three grizzly bears were being very playful in the water. Click on arrow to see this one minute video.


It was a very fun day at the zoo.

With what time we had left in the afternoon, we visited The Memphis Pink Palace Museum. The name refers to the pink marble used in the construction of this 36,500 square foot estate in the 1920’s. This estate was to be the home of Clarence Saunders, founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores. But he never got the chance to move his family into it. He was forced into bankruptcy in 1923. In 1926 the mansion was donated to the City of Memphis for use as a museum. Most of the museum displays, however, are housed in another building attached to the mansion, including an IMAX theater and a planetarium. There are exhibits about life in Memphis, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, insects, the Civil War and there is a miniature circus that ‘moves’ every half hour.

The parking lot at the Pink Palace were full of blooming trees. In fact we are seeing these trees everywhere now. They are beautiful and the are screaming out to us that SPRING IS HERE....YES!!


Our next destination is to explore more of Tennessee.

TENNESSEE FACTS: After its 1861 secession from the Union, Tennessee is the first Confederate state to reenter in 1866. Tennessee covers 42,244 square miles and has a population of
5,689,283.
State Motto: "Agriculture and Commerce"
State Capital: Nashville
State Wild Flower: Passion Flower
State Bird: Mockingbird
State Animal: Raccoon
State Tree: Tulip Poplar
State Gem: Tennessee River Pearl
State Song: Tennessee by Vivian Rorie

DAY 16 – 19, March 18 – 21: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

DAY 16 – MARCH 18 – HISTORIC ROUTE 66:
On our way out of Texas we stopped and took pictures at three interesting sites along Route 66.

The largest cross in the Western hemisphere.

  

Towns along Route 66 often build oddities hoping travelers would stop and investigate and stay long enough to spend a few dollars. Outside Britten, this leaning water tower brought in more laughs than money.

In Donley county we came across this rest stop that was like a museum. We’ve never seen a rest stop as fancy as this place. There was a fancy playground for kids and covered areas with picnic tables. Inside this huge building were the cleanest bathrooms you ever saw and a lobby full of Route 66 artifacts and a storm shelter with an area that explained tornados and how they are created.

 

 

  
After 6 hours and 275 miles we arrived at Twin Fountains RV Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
  
Oklahoma City facts: Born on April 22, 1889. Became the state capital in 1910. Oil became a major economic force in 1928. Aviation contributed to the economic force at the start of WWII and remains a major industry today. Elevation is at 1,201 feet with a population of 506,132.
  
TWIN FOUNTAINS RV PARK Twin Fountains RV Park is a very nice park. It is a sister’ park to the last place we stayed at. It has around 150 sites with paved interior roads and paved sites. The sites are long and large with lots of space around them. Very private! The layout is hilly so the sites are layered. There are lots of trees and grass between all the sites. However, right now the trees are bare and the grass looks dead. In the summer this place is probably very lush.
  
The clubhouse is very nice, large and feels like a resort. But the laundry room and comfort station are small and old. The bathroom has only 2 shower stalls with one being for the handicaped and not too functional for an ‘able’ person. The map shows two other buildings (on both end of the park) that is a Meeting room, laundry, and bathroom; but there are no buildings??
  
There is a small lake at the entrance with two wimpy fountains, thus the name. There is a playground, a pavilion, but no pool. This park is located just outside of town in a woodsy area. The property is a triangle between two highways and a country road. There is a lot of traffic noise but not enough to wear ear plugs. We had full hook ups, but no cable TV. We could get about 10 channels with the antenna. There is free WiFi, with easy logon and a strong signal, but we kept getting disconnected which made it a slow process staying online.
  
We had a very nice site #W-13. We were on the end of a row so we had a lot of space and privacy around us. The trailer across from us was flying the Confederate flag, so we knew we were really in the South. The one bad thing about this place was that at night the grounds were lit up like a stadium. Despite the insulated curtains we still had light coming into the trailer. We rated this place a 3.5 (1-Yuck, 2-Poor, 3-Fair, 4-Good, 5-Excellent).

   

After we settled into our site we met a guy walking his dog.....and his cat. He said the cat always stays near him and always follows him. Such a sight!

  

We drove downtown to a historic area called Bricktown to find a place for dinner. We had a great veggi pizza at a place called Zio's. Bricktown was the hub of commerce for Oklahoma City almost two years before the Land Run of 1889 when the Santa Fe Railroad laid track. The buildings needed to house the freight were built of red brick, the most available building material in the area. Today the area has businesses, shopping, restaurants, a canal and riverwalk, and a ballpark.

 

Nearbu we found a corral like area filled with painted fiberglass buffaloes from an art event in 2004; "Spirit of the Buffalo". Just like the painted horses in Amarillo, Texas and the Charlie Browns back home.

 

 

 

  
DAY 17 – MARCH 19 – Oklahoma City Zoo:
This morning before we went to the Zoo, Dave went to Camping World and bought a new TV antenna because the one we had just stopped working. When Dave went to throw out the old one in the dumpster, he found some awning rods that someone threw out. They were damaged, but the parts that we needed to repair our awning were intact. Remember the wind had torn out our awning rods in Holbrook, AZ, and damaged the ends where it connected to the trailer. This is the kind of luck we sometimes have when traveling. The Trailer Gods are with us this day! Actually, we have found some interesting stuff in RV park dumpsters. People buy new stuff and don’t want to travel with the old stuff so they toss them and they are perfectly good. We have found little tables, chairs, even kitchen supplies. So be sure to check out RV park dumpsters. Sometimes you will find some treasures.
  
We visited Oklahoma City Zoo on our first cross country trip in 2005. Five years later there were enough changes that we didn’t recognize a lot of the areas. So it was like visiting it for the first time. Oklahoma City Zoo is home to more than 2,300 animals, including 50 endangered or threatened species. The 8 acre Oklahoma Trail exhibits more than 800 animals. This is an excellent zoo and a ‘must see’ if you like zoos and you visit Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful spring day with temps in the low 70’s.

  

When we returned to the RV park, we were told that a snow storm was going to come in during the night with about 4” of snow. We looked at them like they were nuts. It was such a beautiful warm, spring day. We did see some black clouds forming when we came out of the zoo. So maybe we will get a little rain, but snow. How little did we know.

DAY 18 – MARCH 20 – Snowed In:
Well it did start snowing around midnight. And it kept snowing for the next 24 hours. We woke up to a blizzard with lots of wind and everything was totally covered with a white blanket. Unbelievable! Having never lived in the snow, this was a whole new experience for us. We wanted adventure on this trip and we got it. We were actually enjoying it until we realized how cold it was and damn it was cold. But it was actually only in the low 30’s and that is not cold for someone who is used to living in snow country. But it was cold for us. And not being experienced in driving in it, we stayed put. We kept ourselves busy with TV and our laptops. Our little table top heaters kept us warm and cozy. Fortunately we didn’t lose power or our internet connection. The following pictures show our RV site before, during and after the ‘Spring Snow Storm’.

 

                       ▲    3/19/10                                                 ▲ Next morning at 7am

 

                            ▲Same day at 9am                                 ▲ 3/21/10 3rd day at 6am

  

DAY 19 – MARCH 21 – Downtown:
It had stopped snowing by the next morning, but it was still cloudy and everything was icy. We were scheduled to depart for Arkansas this morning, but decided to stay an extra day. The storm had moved on, but we were unsure of the cold and icy conditions, so we changed our reservations. By the afternoon, the sun was out and a lot of the snow had melted. We drove downtown to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum; the site of the Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19, 1995. We visited this Memorial in 2005. But 5 years later there were changes and new exhibits. Like the first visit, it was a solemn experience and brought back fresh memories of that event and the horrible event of 9/11.

Our next destination is Arkansas.

Arkansas facts: Arkansas entered the Union as a slave holding state in 1836. Sam Walton opens the first Wal-Mart store in 1962. Arkansas covers 51,945 square miles and has a population of 2,673,400.
State Motto: The Volunteer State - At the first part of the Civil War, the state asked for volunteers to fight the war. They were asking for 2 or 3 thousand, and over 100,000 showed up to sign up. After that Arkansas was knows as the “Volunteer State”.
State Flower: Apple Blossom
State Bird: Mockingbird
State Animal: White-tailed Deer
State Tree: Pine Tree
State Gem: Diamond
State Song: Arkansas, The Arkansas Traveler, You Run Deep in Me, and Oh, Arkansas