Three Days...843 Miles...Heiskell, TN

April 6, 2016

It was a day of traveling east, 232 miles to be exact, and we stopped for the night at the Walmart in Russellville, AR. The plan was to stay at a RV park but after a couple of calls and no luck we just pulled in, asked if we could stay, and spent the night. It was actually a pretty quiet night as this Walmart was not open 24 hours.

We were maybe 30 minutes out of Shawnee when I saw a sign that said, The National Shrine of the Infant Jesus in Prague, OK so we took a short side trip.

The base reads: The more you honor me.
The more I will bless you.

Then we crossed into Arkansas. Loving the green.

More of the road ahead and out the side window.

April 7, 2016

Another long day 293 miles with a stop in Little Rock, AR to visit the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. (This stop will be its own post.)
We ended the day in Jackson, TN and just to change things up we spent the night in a Sam’s Club parking lot.

Little Rock Central High School
This is still an operating High School built in 1927.

Dome of Capitol Building in Little Rock, AR

Some views out the window of Little Rock.

In Arkansas

Crossing back over the Mississippi River.

Crossing into Tennessee

Memphis skyline from bridge.

The Welcome Center.

Bass Pro Shop.
We could see this pyramid shaped building as we crossed
over the bridge. 

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

The clouds looked so pretty against the blue sky as the
setting sun, behind us, lite them up.

April 8, 2016

Today was another long day 318 miles. We ended the day in Heiskell, TN at the Escapees Raccoon Valley RV Park and will be spending a week here.

We went up and down a lot of hills today.

Nashville from I-40.

For my sister, Chris and brother-in-law Perry.
They lived in Lebanon, TN for a few years.
Never did see the city limit sign...:(
The first Cracker Barrel opened here in 1969.
Yes, we did stop and have lunch at a Cracker Barrel
in Lebanon just not the original one.

Redbuds and Dogwoods along with green as we
drive east on I-40.

April 9 & 10, 2016

These two days have been about catching up on laundry, picking up groceries, and relaxing. Tomorrow...well we will see what the day brings.

This is pretty much the end of our trek east when we leave here Friday morning we will be pointing the truck north with the plan to be in Lower Michigan sometime the following week. Then back in the UP no later then May 3rd. (Not sure of the route we will be taking yet. We have heard I-75 has one lane open going north. We will be checking this out. We do have a back up plan through Virginia but it adds almost 200 miles to the trip.) 

We have our fingers crossed that the “weather predictors” are right and it will finally be spring when we get back to Escanaba.

Shawnee, OK

April 5, 2016

We are parked for the night at the Walmart in Shawnee, OK. We drove approximately 164 miles today and there was a pretty strong crosswind most of the way. Tom said he felt like he was fighting the wheel most of the day to keep us going straight. The nice thing about the way we travel is we could take our time and then stop when he felt enough was enough.
We both agreed it is really nice seeing all the green fields passing by outside the window as we travel down the road.

A few pictures of the Sayre city park.
We noticed a crew cleaning the pool today as
we left. Must be getting it ready to open.

Some of today's views as we continue our trek east.

Driving through Oklahoma City.

I caught a couple of the planes along the fence
as we drove by Tinker Air Force Base.

You can tell by the flags there is a definite breeze.

Tonight's sunset looking across the Shawnee
Walmart parking lot.

Note:  being in a parking lot this evening we do not have electricity so there will be no fill in the blanks tonight.

“Today I am happy because I don’t have any reason not to be.“

                                  ~Anonymous

Sayre, OK

April 4, 2016

As the title indicates we have stopped for the night in Sayre, OK at their city park. It has long pull-thru sites, no need to unhook, and the sites include water and electric for $12 plus there is a dump station. The weather is beautiful it was around 78 degrees when we pulled in and checking just now it is only down to 64 degrees. It is a quiet park and looks well maintained. According to the information listed there is a 9 hole golf course, a lighted walking trail, pool, tennis, basketball, horseshoe pits, miniature golf, fishing ponds,volley ball, plus a playground area. Though it did not look like the pool or miniature golf was open. It is just a few miles off of I40 and it will definitely be on our list of places to stop when traveling through Oklahoma on I40.

Leaving the Amarillo Ranch RV park this morning.

Traveling east on I40. 

We have crossed into Oklahoma though neither of us
ever saw a sign indicating we had
until the Information Center.

We will continue heading east in the morning. Not sure what the next stop will be. We have decided to just let the day unfold in front of us as we go.


Filling in some of the blanks:

February 29, 2016 (La Posa South LTVA near Quartzsite, AZ)

A beautiful sunrise to start our day.

A lovely sunset to close our day.

March 2, 2016

Another beautiful sunset to end the day.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

In the morning we moved back over to the Plomosa Rd BLM lands for our final 5 days camping in the desert near Quartzsite.

The sun peaking out between the clouds as it slips
behind the mountains.

The nice thing about clouds is the color they
provide as the sun sets.

March 4, 2016

We had seen this ultra-light fly by several times when
we were parked over in LaPosa South.
It turns out we  parked just a little ways from him
  when we moved to Plomosa Road.

March 5, 2016

This was the sunrise just before we took off to spend the day driving over to and through Joshua Tree National Park. (My next fill in the blank post will cover this day.)




March 6, 7, 8, 2016

It was windy on Sunday.
I put together some collages to show what we could see looking in each direction. The top left picture was our view on Sunday when the wind was the worse. The top right is Monday and the bottom was taken on Tuesday morning before we left. 

It was a beautiful yard to look out at which is why we choose this spot. The dust was hard to take and we only ventured out on Sunday to go into Quartzsite for Mass. Otherwise, we were inside with the windows shut yet the desert dust seeped in and covered everything. Though I must say two days of wind and dust does not take away from the beauty, quiet, and solitude of this place. We know if everything falls into place we will be back next year.

North

South

East

West

The sun setting behind the dust.
We are in Quartzsite.

When we got back to our spot the sun had set behind the
mountains but there was a enough light left
to see the dust in the distance.

A Special Sunday

Note: We are presently in Amarillo, TX. I will be adding posts, after this one, to fill in the blanks since February.

April 1-3, 2016

We left New Mexico on April 1 traveling on I40 and ended the day’s drive in  Amarillo, Texas at the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. We are slowly heading East and will turn North in a couple of weeks.

The day's drive.

We are in Texas.

This caught my eye as we drove through Amarillo.

Downtown Amarillo

April 2, 2016

Saturday evening we had dinner at The Big Texan.

While we ate three young men tried the 72 ounce challenge.
The person is required to eat a 72 ounce steak, baked potato, salad, and 3 shrimp in 60 minutes. If they fail the cost of the meal is $72 but they do get a t-shirt.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

This turned into a very special day. The plan was to visit The Texas Panhandle War Memorial. When we arrived it was obvious some type of ceremony was going to be taking place. We started by walking into the Visitors Reflection Center and found out it was a ceremony to “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans”. Since part of the ceremony was laying a wreath at the Vietnam monolith we could not walk into the memorial until the ceremony was complete. It was a special and moving ceremony honoring all Vietnam Veterans. The names of all who served, from the Texas Panhandle, and died in Vietnam were read. They honored all the service branches, Prisoners of War, and those still Missing in Action. (When we decided to visit the memorial we had no idea this ceremony was taking place. Tom is a Vietnam Veteran which made it even more special to be there for this.) 

This War Memorial honors all veterans from the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Panama, Grenada, Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and according to the information furnished about the memorial with room for future monuments as needed. There is one monolith honoring all students of West Texas A&M University, from the inception of the college in 1910, who served and were killed or are missing in action.
At the center of the War Memorial is a three step stage and three flag poles flying the U.S. Flag, the Texas State Flag, and the POW/MIA Flag. Around the stage area is a Red, White, and Blue Garden, to honor all veterans and citizens of the Texas Panhandle. It is maintained by a Master Gardeners group.

I do not believe the pictures below need explanation they speak for themselves.