Welcome to Arkansas!

Welcome to Arkansas!

The first two days of our Middle States trip have been about actually getting to the Middle States.  When we left from Olive Branch, Mississippi, we were less than 30 minutes from getting to Arkansas and 215 miles from Hot Springs for the official kick-off of our Middle States adventure!

The weather was iffy as we were leaving Mississippi with a cloud cover for the next several days.  We had an eye on the weather as we were heading into parts of the country that we aren’t familiar with their weather patterns, and as it turned out, there were several weather-related events that occurred near where we expect to be over the next few weeks.  Seeing images and reading about the destruction of tornadoes over the weekend feels a little differently when you’re closer to it than when you’re safely home several states away.  I know we have hurricanes in Florida, but tornadoes are my biggest fear from weather.  Our sister-in-law texted us at one point to be sure we were paying attention!  It’s nice to have a network of people looking out for us!

We left the hotel by 8:30 AM, gassed up at Valero, and headed towards Memphis.  We can count being in Tennessee on this leg of the trip even though it was just passing through, but we’ll have several days in Tennessee later on.  I haven’t been through Memphis since we had a 10-hour delay in the airport coming home from Colorado in the mid-2000’s.  We saw the ginormous Bass Pro Shop pyramid from the highway; a friend who is traveling in her RV had just posted pictures of it a few days before we were there.  

We were only in Tennessee for about 20 minutes before we were crossing the Mississippi River and entering the state of Arkansas.  This was DH’s first time in Arkansas; he was fascinated that the state line is in the middle of the river.   

When traveling on I-40 into Arkansas, don’t skip a rest area thinking you’ll just catch the next one – because the next one will be closed and there won’t be another one before exiting for Hot Springs.  Thankfully we did stop, and they had the prettiest irises.  

I shared a picture of them (because #flowersmakemehappy) with my mom.  She told me that when my grandmother passed away, they had an iris in her hands in the casket because that was my grandmother’s favorite flower.  I didn’t know that.  (Side note: my mom and dad shared their memories with me of when Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show after we had posted our pictures from the Elvis Presley Birthplace.  These were also stories I hadn’t heard before.)

The first part of Arkansas was a lot of farmland and fields being prepared for crops.  Then Little Rock.  And finally off to Hot Springs.  The landscape changed as we ventured further into western Arkansas with hills and mountains in the background.

Farmland in Arkansas

Little Rock from I-40 Westbound

Approaching Hot Springs

We had reserved a 2BR apartment through Air BnB.  Because we expected to arrive earlier than the 3 PM check-in time, I reached out to the hosts the day before to see if they could accommodate an earlier check-in.  They could!  So when we arrived in Hot Springs around noon, we were able to immediately go to the Air BnB and get settled in before going off to explore!

The Air BnB was located in the historic district, less than ¾ mile to the start of Bath House Row.  If you’re ever going to Hot Springs and looking for a place to stay, we recommend this one.

~ Cindy D.

Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center (Tupelo)

The Natchez Trace Parkway (NTP) runs approximately 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi northwest to around Nashville, Tennessee.  Our route runs northwest and crossed paths with the NTP just outside Tupelo, Mississippi.  There is a visitor center for the NTP there, so while we wouldn't be traveling on it, we wanted to check out the visitor center.

The Visitor Center shows a 15-minute film narrated by Amy Grant that describes the history of Natchez Trace including how it nearly disappeared until the Mississippi Daughters of the American Revolution took on the project of preserving the trail and placing historical markers along the route. 

I was able to collect my first passport stamp cancellation for my National Parks Passport book.  That was pretty exciting for this gal from Florida!  I will have to remember to do that in other places as well.

The guidebook says to allow 15-45 minutes for a visit to the NTP Visitor Center in Tupelo.  In our case, it was right at 45 minutes by the time we used the restroom, watched the movie, and DH looked at the books for sale.  He was able to use his Senior Pass for the National Parks for a 10% discount.

We left the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center headed for Olive Branch, Mississippi for the evening.  We stayed at a Holiday Inn and Express near the highway.  We had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel in New Albany, MS.  There was a Dairy Queen just next door to the hotel, so we went there for ice cream sundaes.  The weather was turning cooler, so we grabbed our jackets from the car.  It was also supposed to be raining the next day, so I had my raincoat and umbrellas easily accessible.  

The hotel had good work space for me to work on blog entries and my Smash Book.  And of course add the sticker for Mississippi to my Bucket List 50 States Bottle.  

~ Cindy D.

Elvis Presley Birthplace Museum

Day 2's itinerary included a stop in Tupelo, Mississippi, at the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  While neither of us consider ourselves fans in the truest sense of the word, we do enjoy his music, so it was interesting to learn about his early life.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace is located at 306 Elvis Presley Drive in Tupelo.  There are plenty of signs pointing the way, so it would be hard to miss.  But as we learned, there are many places in Tupelo besides the Birthplace museum that pay homage to the King of Rock 'n' Roll from the schools he attended as a youngster to the hardware store where his mama bought his first guitar instead of the .22 rifle he wanted (you'll shoot your eye out, kid!).

The Elvis Presley Birthplace consists of the two-room house where he was born (I learned he had a twin brother who was still born), the church where he and his family attended and he learned music, and the museum and gift shop.  The museum focuses as much on life in Tupelo in the 1930s and early '40s as it does on the Presley family.  It also contains memorabilia donated or on loan from friends and fans.  One of the more interesting artifacts was a pair of tickets to a concert for a week after Elvis passed away.  The ticket price in 1977 was $15.  

The grounds have been designed to allow for quiet reflection and introspection through a peaceful walk around a pond with accompanying waterfalls and fountains.  The grounds are open 24/7 and seem to be a place where local folks go to walk for exercise.

The church building has been restored but does contain some of the original flooring and the original pulpit.  At one point it had been converted to a four-room home, but when it was for sale again, it was acquired for the Birthplace.  There is a presentation held there several times a day that recreates what a church service may have been like when Elvis and his family attended there.

  

The birthplace house is a two-room wooden building that has been restored and mostly has replicas of furnishings to show what it was probably like when Elvis was a boy.  The fireplace is original, and there are a few original pieces of furniture that his father donated after Elvis passed away.  The home had been occupied by others before it became part of the museum. 

There is a souvenir guidebook that you can purchase for $1.50 or you can download it for free.  DH selected a book from the gift shop about Elvis and his mother Gladys.  As it turned out, one of the people who collaborated on the book was at the gift shop and was available to sign it.  So that was pretty cool.  

I had inquired with the museum several months ago about how much time to allow for a visit; they had said typically allow 2 hours which we found was about how much time we stayed.  The last thing we did was make lunch from the back of the car.  I had a banana and some peanut butter from the hotel breakfast bar, and I had some gluten-free bread in the cooler, so I make a  picnic "peanut butter and banana open-faced sandwich" which I then ate while sitting quietly on a bench near the Reflection area.

If you have been there, what was your favorite part?  If you haven't, but plan to one day, let us know if you have any questions that we could try to answer.

~ Cindy D.

To the people of Alabama

While Alabama was basically going to be a "pass through state" for our Middle States trip, I did take the time to add the Alabama sticker to my Bucket List 50 States Bottle. 

And made this observation.  Everyone we interacted with in Alabama has been so kind and friendly and welcoming and helpful.  The ladies at the Welcome Center helped me find information on Tuscaloosa.  The ladies at Publix answered my BOGO questions.  The lady at the hotel greeted us warmly when we checked in and each time we came in and out.  The folks at the restaurant for dinner were patient while we figured out what to order, and shared some of their story of its history.  And talking to the woman who gave me directions to find the BEST collard greens in all of Tuscaloosa was like talking to a good friend. (Even though I don't like collard greens.)  FWIW, she says they are at the Chevron on 69.  I commented several times to DH today about how nice every single person I encountered in Alabama was so nice!  I don't say that like I was surprised to find nice people in Alabama.  I say that because it is refreshing to have every encounter in a day be positive!  That's rare in this day and age.  So people of Alabama, Thank you!

~ Cindy D.

Day 1: From Florida to Alabama

Day 1 was all about getting out of the state of Florida.  We got a mid-morning start and headed west to Marianna, then north into Alabama where we spent the night in Tuscaloosa.

The GPS predicted a 5:35 drive to Tuscaloosa, but by the time we poked around, we added two hours to the time.  I always do better driving in the morning, so I drove the first several legs of the day.  Which means I could stop whenever I had a notion!  Which meant we stopped at the rest area in Gadsden County that is off the main road.  And at Nan's Country Store somewhere on US 231 before leaving Florida.  And at the Alabama Welcome Center.  

We saw the signs for Nan's Country Store for about a mile before getting to the roadside shop.  Souvenirs. Moonshine Jelly.  Hot Sauce.  Fried Peanuts.  Boiled Peanuts.  Candied Peanuts.  Amish Soap. Nan's Country Store had all these and more!  

If you know me, you know I like to talk to people.  There was a young man who pulled up at Nan's about the same time we did.  He browsed a bit and found something to buy.  While we were both waiting at the counter to pay, I struck up a conversation with him.  He's from the same area we are from, does substitute teaching at a school for children with special needs, and is getting married in 80 days!  He was on his way to visit his fiance' in Birmingham, and it was his first time stopping at Nan's Country Store.

For all my planning, I didn't make plans for lunch, so as we were leaving Dothan, we decided to find something in Troy.  DH's sister and brother-in-law spend a night in Troy every now and then and we thought we remembered they had a place they liked to eat, so we tried to reach them to find out where it was, but didn't hear back.  As we were coming into Troy, we saw a billboard for a place that was next to Publix.  Publix! That sounded like a good solution for lunch.

I love shopping at Publix in other states because when there is a BOGO sale, I can buy just one item at half price rather than having to get two.  I wasn't sure if Alabama was that way, so I saw a friendly woman who was shopping and asked her.  She said, "You must live in Florida!"  The customer service lady was also really nice and helpful when we checked out.

For lunch we picked up some prepared salads from the produce section (on sale, 3 for $10) and a banana.  DH got some BOGO cookies for later (but only one bag, not two), and some BOGO chips (two bags).  There weren't any tables outside Publix like there are at some places, so we ate lunch in the car. It was a beautiful day, not hot at all, so it was a nice little car picnic!

After lunch we headed up to and around Montgomery.  We're using Google Maps as our main GPS, but we've been around Montgomery before so we knew the way.  The GPS had us make a weird turn but it was a good decision because it re-routed us around some road construction that was causing a traffic build-up and probably delay.  I guess it knew something was up?!  

I was still driving until we were outside of Montgomery and on the main highway to Tuscaloosa.  We stopped at a Dollar General for a restroom break and to change drivers.  While there, I found my favorite flavored water (Bai, Molokai Coconut - although my most favorite is the Andes Lime but I can never, ever find it any more) and I went ahead and got a Mother's Day card to have for next month.

Gary drove the rest of the way into Tuscaloosa with just one more stop at a rest area.  We found the hotel without any difficulty, and our room was ready and waiting for us.  I had checked in on the app yesterday.  We unloaded the car, talked to our son, and then checked a few options for dinner.  We had asked the front desk clerk for recommendations for something locally owned, so she had given us a few ideas. 

One of the ideas was for Archibald & Woodrow's BBQ which was just two blocks from the hotel and also a place I had identified in a previous blog post.  It's a run-down looking place on the outside, and you wouldn't even notice it as you drove by (we didn't see it when we were driving to the hotel even though we went right by it).  Inside is pretty much what you might expect from an old BBQ joint.  You order at the counter and pay (cheaper with cash), get your drink, then sit at the table to wait for your food to be delivered in a carry-out box.  You can eat there (we did) but I imagine most of their business is carry out and catering.  DH had the catfish with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy.  I had the pulled pork sandwich (sans bread, stupid gluten allergy) with green beans and mashed potatoes no gravy.  The catfish wasn't greasy and DH said the breading was good.  The pork was tender, and the green beans were definitely "country cookin'" good!

After dinner we enjoyed sitting outside at the hotel before getting some exercise and prepping for the next day..  And marveling at being on Central Time instead of Eastern!

~ Cindy D.

And we're off!

Two years ago we started planning this trip that evolved into the Middle States trip that you've been reading about for the past eleven months since we started blogging about it.  You've read about the places we want to go, the food we want to try, the experiences we have identified that we want to participate in.  You may have learned a few things about the 17 states we'll be visiting, and you may have learned about events in U.S. history that have been commemorated through national historic sites or other landmarks.  You may be interested in seeing Americana through our wanderings in the central part of our country.  And you may be just waiting to see if we actually make it!

And it's time!  We've packed our things, checked our list, and dusted off the Tetris (tm) skills to get everything we need in the car in an organized fashion.  I have to tell you - I don't know how in the world people live in their cars!  I follow a few folks on Instagram who do for the challenge or thrill of it, and I just can't imagine it.  I'm thankful that we are blessed to have a home that shelters us and I feel compassion for people who have to live in their vehicles through circumstances that drove them there.

We'll be posting along the way, and I'll try to remember to put an alert on my Facebook page, but I'm sure I won't always remember, so just check back here for updates.  Thanks for following along!

~ Cindy D.

A Bucket List Bottle and packing

Look at this cool Bucket List Bottle my sweet friends gave me for retirement!  They knew it would be perfect to take on our Middle States trip to document the states we visit.  While I'm only collecting two new states, two others "barely" count because I was only two years old when we lived in Michigan for six weeks one summer, and while I breathed the outside air are the Minneapolis airport in 2007, it technically counts as having been there, but spending two nights on this trip will certainly lock it in!  I'll add the state stickers as we go on this trip, and save the rest for future adventures.   

We spent the last week and a half celebrating my retirement with family on an Eastern Caribbean cruise.  And now that we're home, we're repacking to be ready to start our Middle States trip - only instead of all shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, we're also gathering jeans, long-sleeve shirts, and jackets for the cooler days we will likely encounter as we head north.  It won't be long now until we're posting from the road! 

~ Cindy D.

They sold the building! or finding alternate lodging

We got an email this week from one of the Air BnB hosts notifying us that they had sold the building and therefore our reservation was being cancelled.  Thankfully it was just for one night in a town where there are other options, and also thankfully we were given several weeks' notice so we could secure alternate lodging.

We knew that was a risk when booking with Air BnB, and we were actually a bit surprised when we were able to find a location that allowed a one-night reservation.  It's an older building that had been a hotel in a previous life that the owners converted to small apartments to rent.

One of the things I did when deciding where to stay for each night of our trip was to check out the lodging possibilities.  What I mean by that is if we were going with an Air BnB, a boutique hotel or bed-and-breakfast, or other less-traditional accommodations, I made note of whether there was a nearby hotel that would meet our requirements.  I'm glad I did that because when we got the notification, instead of panicking about where we would stay, I referred to my notes, checked TripAdvisor reviews again, and selected the hotel.  In this case, it's about 2.5 miles away from where the Air BnB was, and it's about half the cost.  It also means we'll be doing laundry at the hotel rather than more conveniently in the Air BnB, but that's no big deal.  (Although it's more convenient to do it ensuite than having to go to the laundry room.)

Our trip planning tip from this is to have a back-up plan for locations that are less populated so you don't get stuck scrambling to find a place to stay.  I wouldn't go so far as to make a reservation at your back-up place, but if it's somewhere you feel a bit anxious about having a cancellation, you can certainly do that - just make sure you are aware of the cancellation policy and know that if you're holding a reservation that you don't think you'll use, you may be preventing someone else from staying (because they'll have likely had to make other arrangements).  Somewhere is the right balance between being prepared and being over-prepared.

~ Cindy D.

This month!!

This month - this is the month we'll set out on our adventure.  

So much to do!

• Make the packing list.
• Hold the mail.
• Prep the house.
• Service the car.
• Clean out the frig.
• Finish fleshing out the itinerary.
• Mow the yard.
• Get a haircut.
• Make sure retirement paperwork and insurance is all handled.
• Prep toddler Bible Class material for substitute teacher.
• Finish putting away the things I brought home from work when I retired last month (to be fair, that was only 4 days ago).

So much to do, but if some of it doesn't happen, no worries - we're still going!

~ Cindy D.