Hurlshot's 2014 Summer RV Trip

[Hurlshort]

Day 13 - I went for one last jog on the levee this morning before packing up and rolling out of New Orleans.  We spent most of the day driving through Mississippi.  Thanks to the internet, we found a fantastic place to stop and eat lunch near Jackson.  This place was off the beaten path a bit, but it was like stumbling onto a southern potluck, with a buffet filled with all sorts of dishes that you don't find easily in California.  Our family stood out a bit, but were were not disappointed by the southern graciousness.

 

 

After that we went across the street to a grocery store, and then headed the rest of the way to Memphis.  My wife even drove a bit, letting me get a nap in.  In Memphis, our park is right next to Graceland.  We've got a playground behind us, and it's really a beautiful park.  Honestly I'm greatly relieved to be in Tennessee, Louisiana was beautiful, but the humidity was starting to get to me.  Tennessee is perfect weather right now, after dinner we spent awhile just watching the fireflies flit about. 

[ManifestedISO]

Food and geology are the best reasons to travel, I think. 

 

Looks like southern hospitality includes Sunday closing time of whenever-o'clock. 

[Guard Dog]

One thing I love about the South, and a big reason why I've never left is once settling here is that red or yellow, black or white, 90% of the people you meet are really friendly and polite.

[mkreku]

When I traveled through the US, I stopped living in hotels after a while. I just crashed in whoever-offered-me-a-place-to-stay-for-the-night's apartment. People drove me around in their cars and gave me guided tours of their little towns. They were so proud to show me all the lookout points and beaches and best burger places!

 

We joke a lot about Americans but they are truly the friendliest people I've ever met.

[Guard Dog]

Hurlshot you are going to have a tough time topping this trip next year!

[Hurlshort]

Hurlshot you are going to have a tough time topping this trip next year!

 

Next year we will probably keep it a bit smaller, but my plan is to hit the East Coast in two years.  I think I'll probably find a nice park in Pennsylvania and take trains to the big cities.

[Gromnir]

 

Hurlshot you are going to have a tough time topping this trip next year!

 

Next year we will probably keep it a bit smaller, but my plan is to hit the East Coast in two years.  I think I'll probably find a nice park in Pennsylvania and take trains to the big cities.

 

not a bad idea. lancaster, pa is having an amtrack station. get to philadelphia from lancaster and then go anywhere worth mentioning. even so, you will still be spending much time on trains. perhaps amusing, we had to get to reading from philly a few years ago. is no reading railroad as in monopoly game, so we had to rent a car.  don't know why that were amusing to us.

 

we hate i95. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Hurlshort]

Day 14 - I'm officially in love with Memphis.  We took it easy in the morning, enjoying the cool air and the lack of an AC blasting in the RV.  I played some Blackguards and yelled at the kids to go outside and play.  After lunch we headed out to Graceland and caught a free shuttle to Sun Studios.  I recently read a book about the history of Sun Studios, and was very excited to explore it.

 

 

This place was packed inside.  It's not a big studio, and apparently tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of Elvis's first record, so it was crazy.  Logan was too young for the tour, so just me and my daughter ended up going through the whole thing.  They made it up to us by not charging us for the tour, and they even gave my wife a free milkshake to keep her and Logan happy.  It was amazing to stand in the recording room where Johnny Cash was discovered and even see a piano that Jerry Lee Lewis used to pound on.

 

 

After that we walked down to the ballpark and enjoyed some food while watching the game.  The park was really nice, definitely a top notch place.

 

 

We enjoyed the game from a grassy knoll, it was perfect.  The weather was great, their was a playground right next to us where the kids ran around for most of the game, and the fireworks at the end were amazing and up close.

 

 

I'm pretty sure we were the only family with a Giants blanket at the game.  I also wore my Giants hat.  

[Guard Dog]

Did you guys hit Beale St since you were down town anyway? The stadium is awesome too, one of the best in the MiLB.

[Hurlshort]

Right now we are having lunch at Rendezvous and then going to the Gibson factory. We briefly walked down Beale, it looks like a pretty wild street.

[Hurlshort]

Day 15 - Today we tried to go to Graceland, but the line was really long in the morning, so we hopped on a bus downtown and started at the Rock 'n Soul Museum.  It was decent, but honestly I thought Sun Studios was a better tour.  Then we ate some ribs at Rendezvous, and I forgot to take a picture before.  Needless to say, it was delicious and the whole family ate well.  I highly recommend it, the downtown restaurant was affordable and the service was great.

 

 

After that we hiked to the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.  For those of you that don't know, this is the site where MLK Jr. was assassinated.  They have recently renovated it, it has only been open for about 2 months as I saw it.

 

 

 

 

It is hard to describe how emotionally powerful this place is.  I can tell you, walking through this museum was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  You start off learning about the roots of slavery, then travel through buses where Rosa Parks struggled and the Freedom Riders rode.  You pass counters where young students staged sit-ins.  Then you follow the path of a Civil Rights March and end up in the very room that Martin Luther KIng Jr. was staying in.  

 

I had to pull myself together quite a few times, and by the end I was emotionally exhausted.  Everyone needs to experience this, it is an incredibly important place.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guard Dog]

They did a nice write up in the paper about that place when it opened, or re-opened actually. I've got to find time to go see it. Sun Studios is awesome, I went once back when I first moved here. You still planning on hitting Graceland? I'd say it was a must see but I've been here for four years and haven't come any closer to going than driving by. If you are going back near downtown you should check out Gus's Fried Chicken. If you like that soul food place in MS. you'll love Gus. It's right on Front Street by the river in downtown. It's like 2 blocks from Mud Island if you're going there. If you're going to be around Overton Park, well, there are a ton of great places but I LOVE Central BBQ. It's a mile or so south of Overton off East Parkway & Central Ave. It's almost Rendezvous good but costs less and no waiting. 

[Hurlshort]

Unfortunately we are moving on to Branson today, so we ran out of time to see Graceland.  But that's alright, I had a fantastic time and now I have a good reason to come back in a few years.  

[Guard Dog]

Unfortunately we are moving on to Branson today, so we ran out of time to see Graceland.  But that's alright, I had a fantastic time and now I have a good reason to come back in a few years.  

One word of advice, Don't speed in Dyer County, especially the city limits of Dyersburg. The cops there are like cartoon caricatures of redneck southern cops. And the County budget is largely funded from traffic citations!

 

That is unless you crossed the river in Memphis to West Memphis AR. Then you won't go through Dyersburg.

[Hurlshort]

Hah, I can't speed in the RV if I wanted to.  I get passed regularly by big rigs.  

[Hurlshort]

Day 16 - We left Memphis today, but we did stop off at the national headquarters for my wife's sorority.  Unfortunately they were closed, but she was able to take some pictures of the outside.

 

Most of the day was spent driving through Arkansas, namely the Ozarks.  You don't hear much about Arkansas, but it was a very pretty state.  

 

 

We pulled into a nice small campground in Branson and cooked up some ears of corn and pasta.  Branson is a kick, I'll take a bunch of pictures.  It basically is what Vegas would look like if it was run by a Megachurch.  We are hitting up a water park tomorrow.

[sorophx]

Should go see the Boneyard in Tuscon, if you can.

I'm pretty sure it's closed to regular visitors. there's a cool museum just across the road from it, though

[ShadySands]

There are tours that start from the museum

[Hurlshort]

Day 17 - Branson is a weird place.  It is very hilly.  I guess that is what the Ozarks are all about, but it has made it a bit difficult to get around.  Typically when I look up on google maps that somthing is a mile or so away, I think that's an easy walk for my family.  But here in Branson it's a bit more of a challenge.  Needless to say, I am a bit regretful that I did not rent a car.  We are using Taxis for anything over a mile, which isn't too bad.

 

Branson is just covered in miniature golf courses, go-kart tracks, and odd family themed attractions.  I mean they are everywhere, I have no idea how they all stay in business.  Today we hit a water park and went golfing at a dinosaur themed park.  Somehow everyone got sunburned except Logan.  

 

[Hurlshort]

Just a little view into our sleeping arrangements.  I get the compartment behind the TV

 

 

[Gromnir]

Day 17 - Branson is a weird place.  It is very hilly.  

am suspecting that hilly in a rv can be a bit disconcerting. everybody knows that san francisco is making considerable use of the z axis, but is easy to forget that there is many other towns and cities in the US that is just as vertical. morgantown wv is unlikely to be on hurls list o' future tourist stops, but you mentioned going into pennsylvania in a couple years. you could not pay us enough money to drive an rv through pittsburgh. parts o' cincinnati, oh is equal disconcerting. boston is not too hilly, but the streets is labyrinthine. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gfted1]

How do you get TV reception? Just a standard aerial antenna? A dish?

[Hurlshort]

How do you get TV reception? Just a standard aerial antenna? A dish?

 

Most of the RV parks have cable.  I have a long cord that I run out to the cable box.

 

I can pick up a couple channels via antenna, but a couple years back my dish came off the roof somehow (I suspect a low hanging tree) so we don't have the greatest signal.  I'd get a new one, but as I said, most parks have cable anyways.  I didn't even notice it until we got the new TV, because the old one wasn't able to pick up the digital signals anyways.

 

We also bring a ton of movies with us, so when we don't have cable, we keep ourselves entertained pretty well.  Typically when it is a driving day, I'll stop for lunch, turn on the generator, and put a movie on.  That way I can grab a short nap while the kids eat and enjoy a show.

 

Right now it is raining out, and my daughter is watching the TV, my wife and son are on tablets, and I'm on my laptop.  Ah, togetherness.  

[BruceVC]

I wanted to say earlier that those pictures you took around slavery and the civil rights movement were both evocative and haunting for me, it reminded me of other museums I have seen around similar topics. I can only imagine what emotions must have been instilled by being there in person

[Hurlshort]

Day 18 - So my sunburn from yesterday's adventure is pretty bad.  My wife and kids are great, they've basically taken on a nice tan, but my shoulders and back are absolutely on fire.  

 

We had quite a bit of rain in the morning, so we relaxed around the RV and did some laundry.  We got picked up by a shuttle at 3:00 to go see a show called Jonah.  Growing up as a kid, I used to go with a friend's family to church pretty regularly, and the story of Jonah was always one that stuck with me.  It was colored with some more believable ideas like Jonah's hair and skin changing after being swallowed by the fish.

 

Anyways, the show had some amazing set design and was cool to look at, but it was a bit preachy for me.  My biggest issue was they introduce this Jesus like character at the end to counsel Jonah against hatred towards Nineveh.  That was a bit too much creative license for me.  But overall it was not a bad show.

 

 

After that we went to dinner, rode on these round little boats shooting water at each other, and went to bed.  Not much in the way of pictures today, I think I'm getting a bit lazy about them.