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1st car (PT Cruiser) 2,073 miles
2nd car (Dodge Journey) 1,939.7 miles
Total mileage: 4,012.7 miles

Gas receipts: $278.09, 139.835 gallons. (Not including an account for starting with a full tank for both cars)

PT sightings: 182
Journey sightings: 2

Yesterday we probably had our easiest day of all. We didn’t really make it out until lunch time. Starting off with lunch at Marlowe’s with some really good BBQ, fried rolls and the largest salad in history. We started there because there was a line of cars to get into Graceland that wasn’t moving, so we opted for lunch instead.  Marlowe’s was a big BBQ place down the road, plastered in everything Elvis. The food was great. The fried rolls, while wonderful, are simply doughnuts without the sugar.

We then headed back to Graceland and thankfully the line had cleared. It is quite a tour.  We had the silver package which got us into the house and all the museums. They are pretty efficient at keeping people moving along. The tour of the house was the most surprising as it was not as gaudy as we had expected. It was -- for its time -- a pretty cool house. Even if you are not an Elvis fan, this would be a must-see.

Afterward, we headed over to the Peabody Hotel to hang out and wait for the “March of the Ducks.” It is a tradition, started as a joke over 70 years ago.  They have ducks in the fountain in the lobby of the hotel. Every evening at 5 PM they march the ducks into the elevator and up to their pad on top of the hotel. And every morning at 11 AM they are marched back down the elevator to the fountain. It is quite a sight. There is a “duck master” who runs the show. The first duck master did it for 50 years! (He was a former carney who trained the ducks.)

While there we took some time to relax, write out postcards and figure out where we were hitting for dinner. Rendezvous is a big BBQ joint near Beale street which was recommended to us by a number of people. They were not wrong in their recommendation. There were a lot of people waiting to get in, though we only had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. There are two floors (at least) to the place and it is kept pretty simple. The menu is one page and utensils are all disposable. It is a finger-licking-good rib joint.

After dinner, we walked it off by heading down to Beale Street and hanging out there taking in the action. It is a lot like Bourbon Street. I personally liked it better then Bourbon Street, Erica however preferred New Orleans.

- Stephen

This morning we started by going to the St. Louis Arch (the Jefferson Expansion Memorial). It was a perfect morning – completely wet, cloudy and foggy. We could almost see all of the arch when we were standing below it before entering. Once we got to the top, we could see for inches out the view windows. It brought back memories of Devils Tower in Wyoming, which was shrouded in fog on our visit there a few years ago.

Other than being foggy, the experience at the memorial was actually pretty cool. It is great how they keep everything below ground to not interfere with seeing the arch. We watched an IMAX movie on Lewis and Clark below the arch. The ride up to the top was pretty cool, though if you don’t like small spaces, it is probably not for you.

Afterwards, we headed to the Budweiser facility in town for a tour of the brewery. Despite the rain (and of course portions of the tour were outside) the tour was fun. We had two guides, Jim and Monica, who were very entertaining and kept the tour fun. We got to see some of the Budweiser horses, as well as the brewing and packaging processes. And of course, free beer at the end of the tour can always lift spirits.

On our way to our next stop, the AKC Museum of the Dog, we found Dickeys BBQ chain. Lunch was pretty good. It is another place which you order and they give you a number stand to take to your seat and they bring over the food to you. (Culver's was the same.)  For a fast food place, it is a lot more efficient than having people hover around the counter waiting for their food. Dad would like it as they offer free ice cream! Just one flavor of soft serve, vanilla, but hey it’s free! The AKC museum definitely exceeded our expectations. It was a much larger then we had anticipated. All art and sculpture dedicated to dogs.

We tried to get to a park to see a giant eyeball, but the park was closed for an art event that weekend. We skipped that and instead stopped at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. For just a home which he only spent a few years in, on and off, it was really well restored and they had a good museum and a nice tour of the home.

It was getting close to 5 PM and we had not left the St. Louis area and still had to get to Memphis, which was 4 hours away.  The weather had cleared by lunchtime in St. Louis, but as we got closer to Memphis, the weather picked up again and started to rain. On the way, we saw the signs for Lambert's Café. They are known for their “throwed rolls.”  While you eat, the staff comes around and serve up piping hot fresh rolls by throwing them to you from across the room. That was a perfect place to stop for dinner. Calling it a “café” is way off, the place is huge, and I would say almost 2 x the size of a Cracker Barrel. Not only are you entertained by rolls flying around the room, but you also get meals served in a giant 12-inch skillet. Your drinks come in giant 34+ ounce size travel mugs and they come around with different sides – potatoes, mac & tomatoes, fried okra, etc… while you are eating.

Erica and I were not completely prepared for this much eating, but it was a great time. On the way down from the café as we got back on the road, there was a billboard for the outlet shops further up that said “…Now come walk it off.”, referencing just coming from Lambert's Café and stuffing yourself silly.

Speaking of billboards, we have seen a number of billboards, displays, signs, etc… for a lot of “Pro Life”. Some of them low key, but most very out there about being pro life and not pulling any punches. Not much of it on or around church property.

Townspeople:

               “Cooter Holland”
               “Huxley Maxwell”
               “Roland St. Paul”
               “Randall Stanhope”
               “Keiser Wilson”
               “Marie Leganto”
               “Marion Sunset Wynne” (its hard enough to find a first and last, but a first, middle, last is even more rare)

Tomorrow we tour Graceland and other stuff around Memphis. This will be our last full day before coming home.

- Stephen

I forgot to post the other day about our other stop on our trip to Weldon Spring Interpretive Center. Weldon is a giant superfund cleanup site. The cell, which is a giant rock mound where hazardous waste is stored, is the highest point in St. Charles county. It is based on an old TNT and DNT manufacturing site used during WWII. It stores hazardous waste from that and uranium waste. A bit different from any of the other sites which we have seen on our trip, but that is why it fits into the trip.

- Stephen

Left Davenport this morning without much fanfare. We stopped at the Family Museum on the way out so Erica could get a National Park stamp from the “Silos and Smokestacks” which are a collection of NPS sites throughout Iowa. Not much to see in going from Iowa to Illinois. Iowa was the only state the consistently greeted visitors at its borders with a sign.

Stopped in Hannibal, Missouri to see the Mark Twain home and cave. We ate at the Mark Twain Dinette. The town and the dinette were about what we expected. The town was a whole lot around Mark Twain. Not sure if it was the town or just how long we have been on the trip, but it wasn’t really grabbing our attention. The cave, however, was a great experience. Our tour guide, John, gave a really great tour, even with the group of school kids who were in the tour group.  The kids were really well-behaved and self correcting. One of the kids on the tour was apparently a relative, by marriage, to Jesse James. Jesse James hid out in the cave at one time. Of the other couple on the tour who were not with the kids, the woman was a cousin of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens).

Coming into St. Louis area, we passed a theater which had the movie “Star Treck” listed. Yes, that’s what I said. There were a number of billboards we saw advertising “Bunny Bread.”  At the bottom of each of the billboards, it has the phrase “yes, that’s what I said.”

For dinner, we ate at Trattoria Marcello based on Erica’s co-worker’s recommendation. It was tremendous. The appetizer of the baked ravioli was the highlight of the meal. They were baked meat ravioli with parmesan cheese on top and a nice sweet tomato sauce on the side.

Topping off dinner, we went to Ted Drewes, an ice cream and custard chain. We rolled up and there were at least 4 lines of people queued up out front to get some ‘concrete.’  ‘Concrete’ is basically is close to what we call a ‘blizzard’ back home. Though here, it’s a custard that you can get with nearly any topping or mix to add into it. From the crowds of people on a damp, Thursday evening, we made the right call for dessert.

Tomorrow the Arch, beer, dogs, an eyeball and onto Memphis…….

- Stephen

We woke up almost two hours late today, so we spent the day behind schedule. It was our second longest driving day. We went from Minneapolis to Davenport, Iowa.  Along the way we stopped at Big Honza, which is probably a great look at American self-promotion. There really wasn’t much to it, other than a café and a whole mythology created around the “Big Honza” by the café’s proprietor. Unfortunately Honza’s “un-natural” history museum was closed, so we could not get the full experience, only an early lunch. On the way to Honza's, we almost hit a pheasant that decided to run across the road.

Our next stop was the SPAM museum. Unlike Honza, this was the real history of SPAM and the Hormel Company, sponsored by the company in Austin, Iowa. It is definitely worth the trip. A free tour and movie about SPAM, what more could you want? Oh, we also got to hear a test of the tornado warning siren in the town as we pulled into the parking lot of the SPAM Museum. There is a test of the siren every wed. It was pretty cool to hear as we had never heard one before.

We may have settled Wayne's question about the world's largest frying pan. The sign for the one we saw in Iowa was billed as "Iowa's Largest Frying Pan", whereas the one in North Carolina was claiming to be the "World's Largest Frying Pan".

On the way to Riverside, Iowa -- the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk -- we finally stopped at a Culver’s Restaurant. It is a burger and frozen custard chain with over 300 locations in the Midwest. We just got to sample the food, which was what we expected for a burger joint. Haven’t had a chance to have any of the frozen custard; hopefully we will before the end of our trip.

The marker for the future birthplace of Kirk was behind a house (in the backyard) off the main street of Riverside. It was quite an odd place for it. The Star Trek Voyage Home Cultural and History Center was closed as we got there late, so there wasn’t much else to see.  Flyers posted around town advertise a big party over a weekend in June celebrating Trek, including a rodeo and appearances from the original cast. That should be a good time.

Getting close to Davenport we passed "The World's Largest Truck stop". We chose to just see it from the road and didn't feel a need to stop to confirm.

Got to see a whole lot more of Iowa, which was a lot like the Iowa we saw heading into Minneapolis.

Townspeople:

               Walton Muscatine
               Stockton Davenport

- Stephen

Today was probably our easiest day in the whole trip. We spent the day in Minneapolis, starting by sleeping in! We only had a few things on our agenda, the main one being the Mall of America (MOA). We first round the Mary Tyler Moore statue, and the sculpture “Spoonbridge and Cherry”. The sculpture park that includes “Spoonbridge” was very nice with many other sculptures, including an installation by Frank Gehry. We tried finding a cemetery for victims of a carnival accident within a giant cemetery, but we were unable to locate the site.

We started in MOA with lunch at Tiger Sushi, where we put together our plan of action to tackle the mall. As we moved around the mall hitting stores of interest, we came across “Alamo Flags”, a store which sold flags (of course) and more, including state and flag stickers, patches and more. Erica made a great find there in some state stickers she could use for scrapbooking. While checking out, we chatted with the owner of the store and his father.  We were discussing our road trip (hence the reason for all the stickers) and he mentioned how much he liked it here (in Minnesota specifically) as he felt accepted, even with his mixed family. His wife wore full Muslim dress (burqa), and his kids were adopted: his son was African and daughter was blonde.  His father gave us an Aruban coin as a gift, which we didn’t realize initially.  We kept trying to give it back to him.  Our interest in the coin prompted the owner to also show us all the different coins that they receive there. He gave us a coin from Jordan, his home country, as well. Both of those coins were given to us to keep. They, like everyone on this trip, were extremely nice and friendly.

We went to a number of stores, including Beadniks, which is an awesome bead store. We found out tonight when we got back to the hotel that they also have a location in West Chester, PA. We will definitely be going to that location when we get home.

The mall is really big, but very well organized and easy to get around.  After wandering around and shopping for several hours, we hit Tony Roma’s for dinner and then went to see “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” at the theater there. Wolverine really lived up to expectations. It was a good telling of his back-story and how he got where he was with the X-Men. I can’t wait to see more movies around this franchise.

Tomorrow, we head back into Iowa heading towards Davenport. We hope to see SPAM and Captain Kirk…….

- Stephen

Forgot to mention some more of the townspeople names we came across over the past few days:

• "Jane Noel"
• "Anderson Joplin"
• "Archie Drexel"
• "Black Rattle"
• "Huxley Maxwell"
• "Roland St. Paul"
• "Randall Stanhope"

- Stephen

We started the morning in Omaha with breakfast at the hotel with Kathy, one of Erica’s coworkers who lives in the area. After relaxing with breakfast, it was off on our long haul 6+ hour drive to Minneapolis. We spent most of the morning just around Omaha visiting a number of sites. With the long distance, we managed to get in a whole bunch of sites along the way.

We started out seeing a sign in Dundee commemorating the one Japanese balloon bomb that was detonated during WWII. During the war, the Japanese sent over a bomb on a balloon and it made it all the way into Omaha before detonating. It exploded overhead with no damage or injury. They were hoping it would cause an incident that would be reported and they could use it to plot the course for other weapons. The incident was kept secret until after the war. 

Next up was Boys Town. This is where it all started with Father Flanagan -- the real guy, not Spencer Tracy. :)  It is a very cool place and interesting to see how it has grown over time, as well as how they operate today. We followed that up with the birthplace of Malcolm X. (Just a sign right now.  They intend to build something on the site but have not gotten to it yet.)   We also stopped at the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Visitor Center, which serves as the National Park Service Midwest Headquarters. While we were getting our stamp for the location, we were talking with Nichole, one of the rangers there. Turns out she spent about 10 years in the Philadelphia area!  She knew the area and had tried to get back there whenever possible. She also had a friend who lived in Oreland two blocks from us!!!  What a small world!!!

We crossed the river out of Omaha, Nebraska, and continued through Iowa.  There we came across a giant spider made out of a Volkswagen Beetle, a giant golden spike monument marking the union of the railroads, the Squirrel cage jail (closed on Monday’s unfortunately), the first bank robbed by Bonnie and Clyde (now a police station), a Danish windmill, and a smiley face water tower, as we drove our way to Minneapolis. Through most of the way through Iowa, there really is not a lot to see. Just lots of farm land and a surprising number of windmills (modern energy-generators) all throughout the farm land.

It has been a very long day. Time for bed. More of Minneapolis and St. Paul tomorrow…….

- Stephen

Yesterday morning, leaving KC on our way to Omaha, we started by stopping by the Truman home. As it turns out, you need a ticket for the home, which you need to get from the visitors center a few blocks away.  We had some time to speak with the ranger down there and see a slide show. She explained that the library yesterday was so cheap ($2 vs. $16) because they are celebrating Truman’s 125^th birthday, so a whole bunch of activities were going on.

In leaving KC, I had the observation “I have never spent so much time on exit ramps as in KC.” We were doing figure-eight’s going from one place to another. They also really like exit #2, as it went from 2A up to 2U!  On our final pass through KC, we found a giant concrete soccer ball in the middle of some soccer fields.  Next we swung by a giant needle and button which represented the garment industry in the town.

On our way to the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, we stopped at Carlos O’Kelly’s for lunch. We happened to overhear another great conversation. Not quite as good as the “wrestlin’ gators” conversation, but pretty good.  There was a group of older couples at the table next to us. There were 3 men and 2 women. They were waiting for another couple to show up. These are some snippets to the conversation:

A dirty old man joke as they were counting silverware while the ladies were away from the table: “One fork, two fork… ha ha ha… it’s better two fork, then two spoon.”

To start a conversation: “So how is the weather up in God’s country?”  Answer: “About the same as here.”

The men kept chatting up our waitress, Brittnie (yes, that was the correct spelling according to her name tag), asking her why the beer came with a lime. She said she didn’t know, but could make something up if they want, just as she did for another couple when she made up a whole story about a picture on the wall.

The one guy, who did most of the talking asked – “Did I order yet? You’ll have to remind me what I want.”

About the other couple they were waiting for and why they were late: “Oh, he probably didn’t like the pants he was wearing and didn’t realize it until he was in the car, so he had to go back and change.”

The restaurant was pretty good, Erica had a dish with Navajo bread and I had a chicken and beef mix. It was all Mexican, though with the name “Carlos O’Kelly’s” I expected a mix of Mexican and Irish, but it was all Mexican.

After lunch, we stopped at the Glore Psychiatric Museum which detailed the history of psychiatric institutions and the treatment (or mistreatment) of those with mental disorders.  

We made it to Omaha in time for dinner. We walked down a few blocks in their historic district to Upstream Brewing Company, a local micro-brew restaurant, for some good steaks. On our way to dinner, we passed the Gene Leahy Mall, which is a nice park. In the park are two giant side-by-side kids’ slides that were wavy and probably about 20 feet long. They were probably the coolest slides outside of an amusement park that I have seen. Lots of kids were out on a Sunday evening having fun with them.

For dinner, I started with the smoked gouda blonde ale soup, which was great, and then had a NY strip with riced potatoes and onions. I topped it off with some dessert – a Beer Float. It is their stout with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty good; it tasted like a kicked-up root beer float.

After dinner, we passed through the park to see even more people out, and now the bigger kids were enjoying the slide.

- Stephen

Got an early start today. We were on the road by 8:30 am. We had a target of 6 sites to see today. By the end of the day, we had dropped a site, and added two more for a grand total of 7!

We started just outside of Joplin with the giant 32 foot praying hands. Next up was the George Washington Carver National Monument. It was a pretty cool place focused on the man and his accomplishments. He has done so much more than peanuts! On the way to KC, we managed to see the giant morel mushroom by the side of the road (easily 15-20 feet in height) just off the side of the highway. It’s just what it is named, a giant morel mushroom, promoting mushrooms.

Given the time, we opted out of seeing the “Precious Moments Chapel.” It was mainly just for the creepy factor as those things creep both of us out. 

We didn’t really see anything else until we got to the outskirts of KC, where we stopped at the 1950s All-Electric House. It is part of the Johnson County Museum, which we wandered through first.  It gave an overview of the history of the county from early settlers through the suburban sprawl of the 1940s and 1950s.  It was a nice start for the tour of the 1950s house, which was built as a demo house for the KC Power & Light Company. They had moved it from its original location and restored it back to how it was when it was built. It was a really great tour that brought all those “home of the future” black and white reels from the day to life. The woman who gave the tour did a tremendous job with just me and Erica on our own personal tour.  With the house and museum, we were really impressed with the county. Nowhere else have we seen the level of effort in a county in such a well-kept setting to preserve not only its older history, but its more recent history.

We were doing really good on time, so next up was Hallmark.  Hallmark was founded and currently resides in KC, so they have a visitors center with history and some live demos of how cards are made. It was a very cool tour.  Not only do they have engravers working, but demos of two different presses used to make cards. There is even a demo machine that makes little ribbons for you to take a souvenir. At the end, we even got a free gift of note cards, since Erica brought a coupon from the website. We were still doing good on time, so we ate lunch at the Crayola Café in the Crown Center (an enormous mall attached to the building.)  The Crayola Café is just that -- a Crayola-themed café -- geared towards kids with a store right next to it. The factory in Easton should have one near it! (Hallmark owns Binney and Smith, who makes Crayola.)

 Still cruising along, we headed to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. (I know, not one but TWO presidential libraries in this trip – isn’t it exciting?!?!) It was a much bigger place then we expected. Even after seeing Clinton’s, I was surprised at just how big it was. They have a large number of displays, movies and other information focused on Harry Truman’s life and, more specifically, his presidency.

This was lucky break number two for us. First, parking at the mall was free because it was the weekend. And then entrance to the library only cost us 2 dollars instead of the usual 8 per person.

Our last item of the day was the Community of Christ temple, or the “crazy rocket ship temple”, since the church has a space rocket look to it.  After that, we checked into the Hyatt and started figuring out dinner and also going about swapping out cars.

Two days ago we noticed a crack in the windshield, most likely from a rock while we were driving. It started below the visible part of the windshield, se we didn’t see it right away until it was pretty big. We called it in to Dollar and we had the option of hanging onto it or bringing it in to swap. It didn’t seem that bad, so we opted to hang onto to it. Well, it got worse, a lot worse, growing by at least two inches a day. We would have swapped it in sooner, but there are no Dollar rental agencies in Arkansas, so we had no choice but to keep it until we hit KC.

We were able to take it to the airport and get it swapped out no problem. We are now driving a white Dodge Journey. We were getting hungry so we went to Arthur Bryant’s for dinner – good KC BBQ - and then Sheridan’s for some ice cream. Sheridan’s has these “concrete” mixes, I got the “Grants Grasshopper” with mint, oreo cookies and frozen custard. Erica got the “Wedding Cake” concrete which is custard with wedding cake mixed in.

Tomorrow we make the trek to Omaha.

- Stephen

This morning we left Little Rock on our way to Joplin. We started by going to the “Old Mill” in the northern suburbs of North Little Rock. It is known for its use in the opening scenes in “Gone with the Wind.” They have transformed it into a very nice park. Originally it was dedicated to the pioneers who made their way out to Arkansas.

Next stop was the Fort Smith National Historic Site in Arkansas along the border of Oklahoma. It was a central funnel in terms of military support, supplies and justice in the western frontier in the 1800’s.

We swung through Alma, Arkansas to see the Popeye statue in the “Spinach Capital of the World.” It is the company town for Popeye brand spinach.

For lunch, based on Erica’s friend John’s recommendation, we stopped at Braum’s. They offer a mix of lunch and breakfast meals a la McDonalds, ice cream like DQ, and  a market area like Wawa. It’s actually a pretty cool combination. I got their large burger and swapped out my soda for a mint chocolate chip shake. Just right.

Finally we stopped in Bentonville, AR, which is where Walmart got its start. We hit the main center of town where there is a Walton’s storefront which houses the Walmart Visitor Center. Unfortunately, in part due to the thunderstorms we were driving through and the time we made it there, it was closed so we only got a brief look around before heading through more rain to our stopover in Joplin, MO.  Along the way, we saw a brief patch where hail had blown through and laid along the side of the road.

For dinner, we hit the Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Restaurant a few miles down from the hotel. It was a hopping place with a huge area for a lot of hibachi tables and it was pretty full. We opted for the sushi area as that was what we were really craving. As usual, quick service was the thing and we finished our meal within an hour.

All the moving around is making it hard for us to keep track of what day it is and where we are. Tomorrow is our most ambitious day; we plan on hitting about 6 places. Three places around Joplin and three around Kansas City, including the Truman Presidential Library and Hallmark. We will see how it goes.

- Stephen

Yesterday was a pretty simple day for us. We left Mississippi for Arkansas on for our Billgrimage. On the way out of Mississippi ,we passed a welcome center near the Akransas border. It was in the shape of a paddle boat with a moat of water around it.

The only Roadside America item we hit was the  Mammoth Orange Stand in the shape of, well, an giant orange. We were alerted to supposedly some roadside dinosaurs by the points we loaded into our Garmin, but they were nowhere to be found. They must have gone extinct.

On the way to Little Rock, we stopped in Leland, Mississippi. It is the birthplace of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog. Despite the little size of Leland, we had quite the time locating the building where the history of Kermit the Frog was kept. Both way points we had in the GPS were wrong (one did lead us to an historical sign denoting the importance of the town, but not what we were looking for.) We stumbled upon the Leland Chamber of Commerce on the main street of town, where the website instructed the display was supposed to be and a very nice woman there directed us to the correct location at the edge of town by the highway.

Once we arrived, we saw the "closed" sign up. They were supposed to be open, but I did not see anyone inside, so I knocked. A woman popped her head out and waved us in. Turns out the door was unlocked (I swear it seemed locked when I first pulled on it.), and the "closed" sign hadn't been turned around by the woman who was working in the morning. Our panic was averted.

The older woman who worked there carefully walked us through all of the displays and history of Jim Henson and his muppets in the little two room display.  A lot of which came directly from Jim’s wife and kids who were very supportive of Leland’s efforts to capture his history here.  It was absolutely delightful to see the history behind the man and his creations. One of the best pictures on display was of a young Jim in his backyard sitting Indian style with a blanket around him, playing a fife or something like that and “charming” a garden hose with a spray nozzle. It was absolutely creative as the “snake” was up looking as if was being charmed.  The original Kermit the Frog Muppet from "The Muppet Movie" was on display, set up in a replica of the bog in the opening scene.  (Courtesy of Jim's wife.)

After getting some pictures with Kermit and doing some shopping, the woman there directed us to a great little place to eat down the road for lunch: Connie’s Bakery, run by a Mennonite woman. We figured we would give it a try and we were not disappointed. I got the special, Chicken with poppy seeds, fried apples and a side of fried okra. It was probably the best chicken I have ever had. It was like a creamed, shredded chicken with poppy seeds and a bit of crunch. It had a great flavor and a wonderful texture to it. The apples were not really fried, more like baked in a sweet syrup with the skins.

Getting back on the road, we only stopped again to see the orange stand before getting into Little Rock to stop at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. It wasn’t quite like I had expected; a very modern building is what we drove up to on 1200 President Bill Clinton Ave.

Everyon we have encountered on the trip has been nothing but nice, polite and helpful. A great experience. Here at the library, they kicked the niceness up another notch. Not only were we greeted by at least 4 different people guiding us into the library (even through security), giving us help and recommendations along the way, but when we got up to the 3^rd floor for the replica of the oval office, the guard there helped pose us get a good shot in front of the oval office.

Every single service organization should come here to see and learn firsthand how customer service should be done!

We were there right to closing, when another guard introduced himself and what he did.  He informed us that the library would be closing in a few minutes – but did not herd us out.  He gave us time to leave at our own pace. On the way out of the library, a limo had pulled up and out came a large group of teens dressed up for what was most likely prom. They were showing up to get there picture taken in front of the fountains at the entrance to the library. It was quite a sight.

We got checked into our hotel and figured out where we were eating dinner. We opted for the Gaucho’s Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse. They are known for their “Churrascaria”, which is essentially a meat buffet served tableside. You have a little dowel on your table which is red on one side, and green on the other. Put the green side up and they will keep bringing you meat on skewers that they slice or pull off and serve to you. When you need a break, you turn the dowel to the red side and they will leave you alone until you are ready to start eating again and flip it back to green.

I had in one sitting beef, sirloin, pork, chicken, lamb and sausage. It was great. They have a variety of side (plantains, mashed potatoes, beans, greens and rice) which they will refill at your request.

Forgot to mention: You have all seen the white outline stickers on the back windows of pickup-trucks with Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes comic) peeing on something, usually a Chevy, Ford, or some other symbol. In Alabama, we saw a new sticker. This one was of Calvin and instead of peeing on something, he was kneeling and praying in front of the cross.

Today, back on the road to head towards our waypoint to Kansas City: Joplin, MO.

- Stephen

Started the morning with breakfast at The Burn where we had spent the night. We ate with Chuck and his wife, another couple staying at the Burn who had been on the house tour with us the previous night. They were an interesting older couple to have at breakfast. They have 3 different homes (Miami and Destin, FL, and Minnesota – near Duluth) which they move between throughout the year – not being tied to any season, just wherever they needed to be for kids or whatever. They also travel regularly not only with a toy poodle, but also a parrot. (Since 9/11, they have not flown with the parrot, since they have to take the parrot out of its cage during security screening. Therefore, the parrot travels by car.)

We started today’s trip with a Roadside America stop at Mammy’s Cupboard, which is a small restaurant in the skirt of a 2-story tall woman. On the way to Vicksburg, we hit the Natchez Trace, a National Historic Parkway that runs from Natchez to Nashville. It is a great road to take if you need to go from Nashville down to Natchez or beyond as it’s a very scenic route; one lane each way, with no stops and just about no traffic.  We only stopped at one historic spot along the parkway before getting off at Port Gibson for our 2^nd roadside stop, the gold hand pointing to God. It is a large gold hand on top of the spire of a church pointing up to God.

Before heading into Vicksburg National Military Park, we stopped for lunch at Sonic. We had not been to one, and since they are not that local to us, we stopped in. It is like the Stewart Root Beer drive-ins in Jersey a number of years ago, but without the roller skates (at least at this one).

In Vicksburg, most of the day was spent at the Military Park. The Vicksburg battlefield consists of over 1,330 monuments and markers along a 16-mile tour road. It is an absolutely huge battlefield. We rented a portable GPS at the visitor center to escort us around the park. This is the 2^nd GPS tour guide we have used. It is definitely the way to go if you have the option. The guide goes with you around the park and automatically starts up at different points based upon your location, and you can call up further information on topics as you go along.

We headed back to the hotel to check in, got cleaned up, and relaxed a little before heading out for dinner. From Pat at the Vicksburg Visitor Station at the Park, we got the recommendation for dinner at Walnut Hills for good southern cooking.

At dinner we started with “Charlie’s Potato Rounds”. Not sure what they were (remember Rooster fries?), but were pleasantly surprised with what came out; basically, they were potato skins. Only instead of what you typically get, they were medium slices of potato topped with cheese and bacon. Basically a more improved loaded potato skin.

For our mains, Erica got the fried catfish and I had the fried chicken (along with the potato rounds, something they were noted for making). We both had the baked sweet potato as the side. Both were excellent. Even being fried they were not greasy like a lot of fried food. The baked sweet potato was delicious, but even more so as it was served with a small ramekin of brown sugar to add to the potato for a tremendous flavor.

The food and service were good on their own, but what drove Walnut Hills over the top was the conversation we overheard. Behind me, there were three local Mississippi gentlemen, discussing – in great detail – gators. Erica and I looked at each other with knowing glances as we overheard their conversation. We kept our chatting to fill only the gaps in the conversation of the gentlemen behind us so we could absorb every word.

The conversation went something like this:

“[someone in their family was learning how to gator wrestle]…I kept telling him you need to watch the gator, he doesn’t have much strength this way [I can assume by upward jaw pressure] but you have to watch out for him…he will struggle for a bit, then he will go limp… He’ll pretend he is hurt…but don’t believe him…he’s fakin’….you can’t go limp, you gotta hold him...”

“Well, the gator went limp, then Billy [I think] and …. He ended up with 16 stitches..”

“16 stitches?....How old was he at the time?...About 16 or 17….”

“Alligators are good for nothing…they’ll eat everything… they’ll even eat your bass.”

“If you are goin’ kill them, you better use something bigger then a pistol…Or you better know what you are doin’….”

“I knew a guy who used to have a pistol, but he couldn’t kill it, hit it about 6 or 7 times… He needed to get a bigger gun next time… a ‘308’…”

“You want to catch a gator, it’s a big metal pole, stuck in the ground leanin’….hanging from it is a hook with chicken tied to it… but you can’t be too far away, ‘cause when the gator bites the chicken, it’s mouth is so sensitive, it’ll strip the chicken off without touching the hook… so you need to be there to yank the pole up to put the hook through its mouth….”

“[What you can get for a gator]….it can vary from year to year. A good year is $15 a foot… It doesn’t matter if they get older ‘cause they get wider as they get older.”

You cannot script conversation like this! It really pushed the entire meal over the top for being in the locale.

Tomorrow we head towards Little Rock (and our Billgrimage) with a side stop at the birthplace of Kermit the Frog.

- Stephen

Tuesday we left Gulfport, but before we did, we stopped to see the “World’s Largest Rocking Chair,” that’s been around since about 1965.  We also stopped to see the “World’s Tallest Ronald Reagan Statue” in Covington, Louisiana on our way to Natchez. The Reagan statue is a bit newer, built in 2008. Why was it built? Well the guy in the town was apparently just a really big fan. Reagan had no other connection to the town.

Natchez is a small town with a feel of older days past. These are some of the best kept examples of antebellum homes.  Mainly because of its beauty, it was spared some of the looting and destruction by the Union army when they came through the area.  We toured around downtown and had lunch at “Planet Thailand”. While not quite keeping in the spirit of things, it was close, open and we were hungry. Stopping at the Natchez Visitor Center, we got our orientation and National Park stamps for Erica’s collection. Natchez is the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which is a historical trail that runs all the way up to Nashville.

We headed to The Burn, our B&B in Natchez, to check-in. The Burn is a great period home which is being restored by its current owners. It was occupied during the Civil War by Union troops. After getting settled into our room, we headed over to “Melrose,” one of the two homes managed by the National Park Service. It is probably the most accurately restored homes of the period, as one of the residents -- the daughter of the McMurrans, who were original owners and builders of the home -- was such an avid and descriptive writer.

We came back to get a historical tour of some of the main rooms in our B&B, which was built in 1834.  We learned our room was a part of the side buildings used by teenage boys of the original family.  On our porch, you can see initials in the bricks carved by Union soldiers.   The only ghosts reported on the property were children who have been heard playing on the steps up to our room.   (We never heard a peep.)   For dinner, we went to the “King’s Tavern”, the oldest building in the Natchez territory (1789). It is a three story building, which is supposedly haunted. You are encouraged by your host to wander up to the third floor and check things out for yourself. We dined on the first floor, which was thought to be the stables at one point. The décor and ambiance was that of the late 1700’s – even serving the water in little metal tavern-style cups. The brick walls were adorned with tools and equipment of the period.

The food was wonderful -- exceeded our expectations. I got their specialty which was style of BBQ prime rib with a baked potato and homemade horseradish sauce. Erica had their BBQ pork, another specialty. It was delicious, I had have never had prime rib like that, and I suspect I won’t ever again. The smoked pork dish Erica had was very good, a nice sweet smoked flavor. Erica finished up with bread pudding for dessert.

One thing we have noted about dinner service down here is that it is fast. Not even the slower normal pace you are used to up north. We would expect a big meal to take almost two hours for a meal (drinks, appetizer, dessert). However, down here we have been getting through dinner in under an hour. We don’t feel rushed through the meal, it is just very prompt and quick service. It runs completely opposite of the overall pace down here. Everywhere we have eaten has had very good service, nice and polite.

I had forgotten to mention at the USS Alabama in the gift shop was Col. Glenn D. Frazier, the author of “Hell’s Guest,” who is an Alabama native.  The book documents his time as a Japanese POW, starting with the battle of Bataan. He was very interesting person to talk with.

There have been a lot of churches that we have been passing on our road trip, some with some interesting quotes or sayings on their church signs;

“Don’t wait for six strong men to take you to church.” (We aren’t sure what this means or what it references)

               “1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given” (This is one which we have seen a couple of times.)

The visitor centers we have stopped in at are some of the best we have ever seen. Just by signing in (location and number of people) you get a very good fold-out map of the state. In the last one we stopped in just over the line in Mississippi they were even offering free drinks (soda and the like).

To continue our travel in Mississippi, we will be heading up part of the Natchez Trace Parkway to our next stop in Vicksburg.

- Stephen

We left Montgomery yesterday morning and headed on towards Gulfport. Not a lot to stop and see really until we got closer to Gulfport. We stopped in Mobile for lunch at Wintzell’s Oyster House, another recommendation from one of Erica’s co-workers. Wintzell’s is a pretty good place to eat. We got an order of fried pickles, which we had never had. And I got the oyster sampler. All very good (the pickles are good, but man could they kill you) but a very heavy lunch.

The entire place is plastered in sayings all over the walls. They also had a Yuengling mirror hanging on the wall. Sayings like:

               “A duck is a bird that walks like he has been riding a horse all day.”

               “Junk is the things you keep for years, but throw away two weeks before you need it.”

Our first stop was the USS Alabama, which exceeded our expectations. It was a great, well-marked tour of the ship. On the grounds, they also had a submarine, a number of vintage tanks and artillery pieces, and an airplane hanger. The airplane hanger housed a number of modern jets including an SR-71 and an F-17. They also had a military river boat from Vietnam.

On the way to and from Bellingrath Gardens, our next stop, there was a crematorium right next to an aromatherapy institute.

Bellingrath Gardens were beautiful. Very large grounds right next to the river. Wonderfully well-kept grounds with a great variety of flowers and plants. They even had a very large Oriental-American garden where I got some good shots of a small crane (bird, not the machine!).

We have been keeping count of different things along they way. I should have kept count of the number of dead armadillos I have seen on the side of the road. I have seen at least a dozen of them on our drive yesterday.

Our final stop before Gulfport was the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. Surprisingly a lot smaller then we expected. All along the coast as we drove to our hotel, there are still a lot of empty lots, or lots with just foundations. But there is also a lot of re-construction and renovation going on as well.

Dinner at Emeril’s was nice. The restaurant being in a casino had more of a casino look to it then something you would expect from Emeril in terms of design. But the food was good. I started off with some BBQ shrimp and my main was a double-cut pork chop, which I would put either 2^nd or 3^rd in the list of top pork chops I had. (It came close, but could not beat the one I had in Montreal.) Erica started with fried green tomatoes and got the andouille sausage-encrusted Redfish.

- Stephen

We headed out of Nashville yesterday morning. It took us several attempts at getting breakfast some place local as it was Sunday and all the church goers were out for breakfast. We stopped at two “roadside America” things on the way to Huntsville. A giant chicken, which either wasn’t there anymore or we just couldn’t find it. The other was “giant boy”. Which we did manage to find, and that he was -- a giant boy.

In Huntsville, we stopped at the NASA Space and Rocket Center, the home of Space Camp. That was a pretty cool place. They have two museums there and a rocket park covering all the history of NASA all the way up to today. They have one of the large Saturn 5 rockets on display. We had lunch in their Galaxy food court (they called the area the “lunch pad”), where there was a children’s birthday party going on.  We were happily able to get something healthy there, chicken salads, which was just the right amount for lunch.

On the way to Montgomery, we stopped at the Ave Maria Grotto. It is another roadside America stop and it completely blew away the expectations we had for it. It is a large collection of outdoor sculptures made by Brother Joseph who was originally from Bavaria. They are either reproductions of religious places around the world, or inspirational sculptures using ‘found’ materials. It culminates in the Ave Maria Grotto. We didn’t have high expectations based upon what we saw about it.  The pictures generally focused on the grotto part and did not cover all of the other sculptures and reproductions. A very impressive stop, as Erica called it the “Splendid China” for Christians. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area.

We finished up in Montgomery for the night with a late dinner at “Jim ‘n Nick’s BBQ”, meeting up with Erica’s friend John who is stationed in the area. We both got the brisket on John’s recommendation and it was not a disappointment.

On our long drive, Erica remembered the game which Wayne and Robbie played while on their road trip -- Road sign names. Basically making up names from the place name distance signs along the highway. The top one is the first name, and the bottom one the last name. Two good ones we saw were “Warrior Robbins”, and “Kimberly Morris”.

Today our endpoint is Gulfport and Emeril’s restaurant.

- Stephen

Landed early in Nashville Sat. morning. Got our rental car at the airport, a white PT Cruiser, and headed out for Lynchburg to visit the Jack Daniels distillery. The tour was great, even if there were no free samples. They have a simple operation, but massive in terms of the amount of Whiskey they turn out every year. At the end of the tour we got a really good smell of the Whiskey as it was going through its mellowing process in the barrels of charcoal. It is probably in my top 5 smells ever!

We went to “downtown” Lynchburg for lunch and came upon their spring festival in full swing. There were a gaggle of red hat ladies, musicians playing in a gazebo and people everywhere. Had some good pulled pork, potato salad and coleslaw at the Red Caboose.

Afterwards we got back on the road and heading up to Andrew Jacksons Hermitage. A historic site covering his Mansion and grounds there where he spent the rest of his life after he retired as President. The mansion and grounds were beautiful.

For dinner, we made reservations at the Stockyard. According to Erica’s colleague THE best place for steak in Nashville.  We had some time before dinner, so we made it ove the Parthenon in Centenial Park. A bit of Greece right in Nashville.

Dinner was great, the service there was terrific. I am glad we checked ahead of time about dress code, because I would have felt very underdressed in shorts and a t-shirt. I had the Prime rib and Erica had the Mixed cuts of prime beef. We started with “Rooster Fries”, deep buttermilk battered fries – “one of the south’s best kept secrets”. Our waiter asked if we had ever had them before or knew what they were. As it happens, they are fried Turkey testicles. My response to him was “Bring it on!”.

They were pretty good. Tender and the breading was a good peppery breading that added some nice flavor to the turkey balls. The testicles themselves were a lot like a very tender liver.

• Nashville, TN
• Montgomery, AL
• Gulfport, MS
• Natchez, MS
• Vicksburg, MS
• Little Rock, AR
• Joplin, MO
• Overland Park, KS
• Omaha, NE
• Minneapolis, MN
• Davenport, IA
• St. Charles, MO
• Memphis, TN

I have been chided by one of my friends about not posting in a while, and I know I have been lapse. But we have been busy. So here are pictures from the Ships and Dip III cruise we were just on. It was a blast and we can't wait to go again next year. We stopped at Grand Caymen, and Ocho Rios. Both places were nice, though hands down Grand Caymen was the best.

The bands and comedians on the ship were awesome! We got to see BNL, Guster and Great Big Sea a number of times. We also got to see some of our favorite comedians, as well as be turned onto other bands such as Harvey Danger. GBS really got into being on the boat and enjoying themselves even though they weren't on it last year. I hope they are on it again next year. No word on next year yet, but we do know it will be Ships and Dip V.

Yesterday, I took the train into the city and hit the Philly Auto Show. Overall it was a good trip down, as I got to stop at Reading Terminal for lunch and finishing up with some Gadzooks ice cream! Overall the cars did not impress me over all. I do really like what they have done with the new Mini's and some of the concept cars like the Camero were nice. Most of the production cars from all of the manufacturers were just blah, nothing really special. In the case of the Toyota FR2, somewhat crappy on the interior. The vehicle outside looks great, but the interior was done in cheap, fake diamond plate plastic, completely ruining it.