Climax (Michigan)

Bald Knob (Illinois)

Chunky (Mississippi)

Having followed the Great River Road beside the Mississippi – we finally turned east at the start of last week so that we can make the plane in Miami on 12th December.

To be completely honest if anyone says that they would like to travel the Great River Road, it might be an idea to tell them that in fact there is not a lot of ‘river’ in the Great River Road.  Because the Mississippi used to flood a lot and very badly – there are levees and barriers all along it, plus some industry.  It was not quite what we imagined.  I thought we might meander beside it, lolling along the bends and having a bite to eat at regular intervals along the way.  The truth is that it is very underutilised, especially for leisure or outdoor eating.  Of course, it is stinking hot in the summer and the insects would be horrific so only crazy Brits would want to sit beside it when you could be in an air-conditioned Wendy’s!!

What the Great River Road has been good for though is as a route through states that we have only ever heard of – and that sound so exciting – Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi.  In the new year when we go to New Orleans we will complete the journey with Louisiana.   The landscape, the sheer vastness, the big skies and colours this autumn have made it a great drive and a wonderful experience – so we were very grateful to the Great River Road.  It was an excellent start and very kind to Reg and his novice drivers. 

 

Vicksburg is crucial to the Civil War story.  We spent last Monday in the cemetery where every state represented in this battle has memorials to the men they lost.   It was cleverly presented with the different colours – red for the Confederates and blue for the Union troops.  The coloured posts marked out where the defence of the town and the attacks were staged.  The mound that the cemetery is on is still scarred by trenches and craters from explosions.  20,000 people were killed, lost or wounded at Vicksburg – so the scale of suffering is humbling.  No doubt if you were American it would feel more emotional, but nonetheless as with all war graves you come away bloody pleased that we live in these times where we are so shielded from war.

Although we were going east from Vicksburg we both agreed to another southern detour – which was to go and see Natchez, a town beside the Mississippi.  It was just glorious and in the war, because it was so lovely, it was not burnt down.  Loads of antebellum houses and we randomly got a shot of rum from a distiller as we walked past his shop!  It was a beautiful sunny day and we started on the ‘could we live in Natchez’ routine and how brilliant it was.  Then we went back to where we had parked and I saw a notice on the wall which was to commemorate someone who had been killed by the Ku Klux Klan in Natchez in 1967 but worst of all – no one had ever been charged!!  Well talk about going off a place…

What also made us take the detour is this amazing road – the Natchez Trace Parkway.  Originally a trail from Native Americans – this road was awesome and it runs from Natchez to Nashville.  We only went to Jackson on it – but it was superb.  Lined with pine trees – must be 50ft tall, oaks and maple trees.  Every shade of green, brown, yellow and red that you can imagine.  Rolling slopes and dappled light as the sun got lower.  We would love to have carried on to Nashville it was so good, but we had to stay in Jackson that night – state capital of Mississippi.   (All Reg likes is smooth tarmac – and it had that too.)

Jackson the day before Thanksgiving was probably the low point of the trip so far.  Nothing against Jackson but Matt and I rather morphed into Johnny Cash and June Carter.  It rained (it never rains!), we could not park Reg for love nor money and when we thought we had done so – a woman came over and shouted at us so we had to leave her empty car park and try again.  The potholes, the city traffic and to top it all low-slung trees – made this the worst thing so far. After an awful lot of stress and shouting we gave up on Jackson.  We will just play the record from now on!

We spent Thanksgiving in a park in Alabama – you guessed by a lake!  Very relaxing after the stresses of Jackson to have a bit of time in one place – we cycled and it was hot enough to eat outside which was great.  No one asked us into their RV for a turkey dinner on Thursday – which we were quite relieved about – but it is a funny sensation to be surrounded by people marking something that means nothing to you and that you are not taking part in.  Perhaps this is what Jehovah Witnesses feel about Christmas!

Alabama seemed even more drought affected than Mississippi.  Every lake and river is either dried up or well down on normal levels.  There is a burn ban on all the sites and the whole place is brown and dusty.

Highlight of Alabama for us both was yesterday when we spent the day in Montgomery the state capital.  Famous for Rosa Parks, but also for being technically where the Civil War started as Jefferson Davis the Confederate president sent the telegram to start the hostilities from Montgomery.   The alternative White House that the confederate first family used for four months is open to the public and we had a mooch around that. 

Highlight again was the civil rights memorial.  I am very aware that this blog seems to be about lakes and civil rights.  I am sorry about that but it was very moving.

So instead I will tell you that we had a wonderful dip – spinach and artichoke and a few beers after all our walking around the city.  There was also another huge sporting event on.  This time college football.  Would you know that Alabama is the leading college team and their nearest rivals are the other university in Alabama, Auburn.  They were in the Iron Bowl yesterday – so we watched some people cheering and groaning as Alabama (The Crimson Tide) beat Auburn (Tigers).

Nat King Cole was born in Montgomery – interesting fact for you. 

Talking of songs we now have Georgia on our mind….

 

 

After the night of shooting in Tennessee (that will grab your attention if you have not been following..!) we had another noisy night – this time because the site in West Memphis was beside a drag car circuit.  You could not see it – but you could hear it.  Sometimes the sites are a bit hit and miss – but mostly when we come into civilization for laundry and Wi-Fi. No doubt we will get better at spotting the duds. 

No matter about it – we headed off on Sunday back over the bridge into Memphis proper and up to the Meeman-Shelby forest. In our book, it recommended that we should go to the Shelby Forest General Store.  Justin Timberlake is from Millington Memphis and he has featured this place in one of his videos .. so, we thought we would go there for Sunday brunch.

It was not at all what we expected – tiny and very humble.  The owner Miss Kristin as she was called, was so lovely and helped us with a map about what we could do and restaurants to try.  We had a great breakfast and they were just the loveliest people.  She even asked us about Brexit – which as you know is a bone of contention for the Bradbury’s!! Is it sorted yet?!

The forest had a camp ground and we ended up staying four nights as it was just so lovely.  Again, superb walks, cycling and another lake – but what was good was that it was about 25 minutes from the city and a really easy dual carriageway road in and out of town. Miss Kristin told us a back way to go and a really easy place to park Reg so we could alternate a day in the park, a day in the city.

Last Monday we got up and headed to Graceland.  It is tiny and in quite the most dreadful taste, so as expected – but what was so impressive were the rooms of his gold and platinum discs.  That was quite amazing to see.

Graceland has a shuttle bus that then takes you to Sun Studios and this was absolutely the highlight of the day for us both. We went into the studio where Elvis had made his first record – the marks are on the floor where the three guys stood.  To be in the room where all that music had been made was a goose bump moment and as we have said before the presentation of all this stuff is excellent.  We had a guide who played us all the records that led up to the birth of rock n roll and explained how all the characters in Memphis played their part.  It was very interactive and inspiring.

But nothing compared to Wednesday when we went back into the city and spent the whole afternoon in the National Civil Rights Museum which is located at the Lorraine Motel which is where Martin Luther King was shot on the balcony.  As it turns out you end up in the motel when the story gets there – but you have no idea as you are so immersed in it up to then!  My word it was probably the best museum we have ever been to. The stories starting with slavery up to the 1960’s were very cleverly told.  The right balance of fact, personality and interaction.  It was very moving in places and you felt a bit mixed up about that you had seen.  We headed straight to a bar when we had finished! 

Memphis was our favourite city to date.  We sampled the nightlife on Beale Street – where all the musicians still play seven nights a week – apparently until the early hours.  We did not last that long… There has been a major clean-up of the centre in terms of crime and restoration of old buildings.  We had lovely weather for wandering around and the people were very laid back and courteous.   If you ever get the chance to go – go!

As much as we liked staying in the forest – we needed to get going south again, so on Thursday morning we hit Mississippi and stayed in one of their state parks.  This had been made in the 1930’s when they had tried to improve the flood defences for the Mississippi river.  The river looks like butter would not melt in its mouth but in all towns along the river there are flood markers as to how high it has risen and they are mazing – like ten foot above normal.  The levees are all the way down but are not always sufficient.  Anyway, this manmade lake was very pleasant and was the base for us to explore Oxford the next day. Oxford is small town but the seat of the university of Mississippi or ‘Ole Miss’ as everyone calls it.  Lovely town – we had a spot of lunch and a coffee on a book store terrace overlooking the town square. Beautiful sunny day…

But then on the drive from Oxford to Clarksdale where we were staying the night – we drove into a terrible thunderstorm.  Slight drama in that the wipers on Reg would not come on until we turned the engine on and off again (does Reg know that Matt worked in IT?) and we arrived in Clarksdale to see some Juke Joint Blues in the worst rain and weather we have seen all trip.  We were quite near the crossroads where Robert Johnson meets the devil to get the blues, and it felt rather dramatic.

We could not wait any longer for the rain to subside so drudged to the Ground Zero Blues Bar which is owned by Morgan Freeman and another chap.  He was there to greet us and as it turns out he is mayor of Clarksdale.  The beers were nice, the burger too – but the night never got going in terms of atmosphere as I think the weather was so bad.  It turns out that people did die that night and 30,000 people lost power – so they probably weren’t appreciating that this was the one night both Alex and Matt could go out drinking without Reg!! 

We called in our way home to another blues club called Reds.  This again was fun – watching the crowd interact with the band and there was even some dancing… but we gave up about 1am pissed.

Yesterday we drove south to Vicksburg where I write from now.  This is a civil war hotspot.  More about this later. So far all we know is that we both got sunburnt today when walking downtown and we are in a RV park associated with a casino.  We have not been gambling .. but it was very Vegas.

 

 

Sorry we are already behind with this blog as we have been to some beautiful sites – but without Wi-Fi. 

The state parks are beautiful – especially for me as they are hook up for electric and water. The poo pipe on the other hand is done centrally so not so good for Matt!  You drive to an appropriately named ‘dump station’ and hook up to the sewer.  Trump would be very proud of the division of labour on this trip.  All things outside Matt deals with and I am the boss inside… all very traditional.  See the purple gloves with Matt in action!

Anyway, we left Cape Girardeau in Missouri and on the recommendation of the man in the bike shop we went to Land Between Lakes.  This was the other side of the Mississippi and is shared between Kentucky and Tennessee.  

We stayed by a lake which was just stunning. The trees were great colours; it was warm and we had our first alfresco meal.  After all the shopping, planning, paperwork and worries – this seemed to be where it all clicked into place. It was exactly what we had hoped the trip would be like.  It is a funny feeling to put the blind up in the bedroom and be right bang in the middle of a lake or forest scene – as you could never get views like this from a house or hotel. It is completely unspoilt.

We cycled and walked at Land Between Lakes but they also had a sort of Longleat vibe going on – in that they have recreated a prairie and introduced bison and elk to roam again.  There was a three-mile loop on the edge of this area and we drove around and saw both herds. They seemed rather placid and used to cars.  Reg did look totally ridiculous with his rather nasty brown paint stripes – hardly camouflage.  I think the bison must have been thinking what the heck is that scary white monster truck?!!

After a few days, we then drove south to Tennessee.  We had a night by another lake – this time called Reelfoot.  This was a Friday. The weather was warm and the site was full of hardy Americans eating by camp fires.  We had a curry and a beer and settled down for the night – only to be awoken just before dawn by the most unbelievable bombardment. Half asleep we could not work out if they were fireworks or we had in fact woken up in Aleppo.  It was not just shooting – but some of the noises sounded like bombs.  Stupid us for camping in a place where weekenders like to hunt.  We giggle at the camouflage boats that they like to use on the lakes.  Are they worried that the fish will spot them?!

That same day we pushed on south to Memphis, going over the river to West Memphis which is in Arkansas actually.  Amazing sunset as we drove over the river and we could tell that Memphis was going to be good even at that stage…

 

 

This will be an occasional blog where I write up the various clumsy episodes that seem to befall me on a regular basis.  Alex swears this is because I’m left handed, I simply look at it as bad luck.

So, starting with the first incident of note, rolling my ankle in Detroit.  We visited Detroit in our hire car the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 29th and 30th of October.  After checking into our lovely hotel, Aloft in the David Whitney building, we set off to take a look at the Greek quarter of Detroit (yup, allegedly a number of Greeks live in Detroit) apart from the disappointment of not finding any Greeks in the two streets that compose the ‘quarter’ on crossing one of the many poorly maintained roads I fell into a pothole and rolled my ankle.  As several of you have seen this results in a string of profanity and general ill feeling towards the rest of mankind, this was no exception despite kind offers of assistance from both Alex and a total stranger passing on the opposite side walk.  Fortunately, a few beers followed by a decent meal at Wright and Company made me feel a little better.

The second mishap was two days after picking up Reggie from the dealership we took a wrong turn off an interstate looking for the ubiquitous Walmart that we spent a lot of our time in buying stuff for Reggie.  Having taken the wrong exit, the satellite navigation was telling me to turn right and go around the block, Alex was recommending we simply continue and turn left and make our way cross country.  Having decided to follow the SatNav I executed a sharp right turn which resulted in whacking Reggie into a kerb with a large amount of force, so much in fact that we pulled over in the next residential street to discover that I’d burst one of the two rear passenger side tyres.  This resulted in a two hour wait outside a house, during which the owner returned from his work at the hospital (given away by his wearing medical scrubs) and asked what we were doing.  On explaining he was far happier and stated he’d been worried it was his in-laws come to stay unexpectedly (no idea either why this would fill anyone with dread).

Third mishap was when we were walking around a small town called St Genevieve, which is on the Missouri river and very proud of its heritage as an early French founded town in the 1790’s.  While strolling one of the main streets our US mobile phone rang, on answering I discovered it was the Emergency services in the vicinity asking if I’d made a call and did we need assistance.  After profusely apologising for the fact I’d inadvertently dialled the emergency number from my pocket they cancelled the SWAT response team (that last is a little exaggeration).

Fourth mishap was my inability to understand how to operate a standpipe at our campsite in Cape Girardeau, again another French founded town on the Missouri.  On arrival, rather than a tap (or faucet as it is called in the US) for connecting Reggie to the town water service I was greeted by what looks like a slender standpipe, on connecting the hose to this I could not figure out how to switch it on.  I consequently removed the hose and then figured out you had to lift a lever on the standpipe, so far so good, unfortunately the issue was now I couldn’t figure out how to switch off the strong stream of water coming from the pipe.  With typical Matt desperation, I therefore tried to put the connector on while the water was coming out of the tap, resulting in the unsurprising state of getting both myself and Reggie soaking wet in the resultant spray of several gallons of water under pressure out of the pipe.

Fifth mishap was on our new identical mountain bikes (now christened the Thompson twins after the bumbling detectives in Tintin stories).  We had purchased them from the reputable bike store called Walmart (they sell everything, including guns!) and were surprised to find that they were totally rubbish (hard to believe for the minimal amount expended I know).  On our first ride from the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St Louis into the city centre St Louis Arch neither of the bikes would change gear properly and my handle bar decided to invert itself whereby the break handles were now on the top and the gear levers on the bottom.  Consequently, we took our bikes (and with Reggie taking up the whole of the parking lot) to a proper cycle store, Cyclewerks, in Cape Girardeau where the guy took over 1.5 hours correcting the gears and brakes on our bikes and discussing politics (anti-establishment, Alex suspects Trump supporter) and where we could take our bikes.  We also took the trouble to buy a set of allen keys, adjustable wrench and plyers to help fix them ourselves in the future.  So now all set for our second attempt at a bike ride along a converted railroad line from a town in Illinois called Vienna (couldn’t stop singing the blasted song on the way there) we set off on the Tunnel Hill ride.  After about a mile my handle bars decided to invert themselves again, and why this is a Matt Mishap is that of course I had left our new tools in Reggie and consequently couldn’t fix the bike immediately.

Just to say that it was very exciting… in a sort of a car crash way.  We had dinner in Reg and settled down with a bottle of wine to watch the results from each state come in – especially interesting to see the ones we now know, like Michigan – which is still not in as I write.   Exactly like home they had panels of experts and you could tell at the start nothing was amiss – and then between 10pm and 11pm our time it started to change.

The turning pint for most was Ohio and then Wisconsin which was shocking as Clinton had not even visited there the whole campaign – so I don’t think in the next presidential race any state will be left unvisited… a bit of an own goal. Doh!

Anyway, we went to bed at about midnight and then woke up and watched some more about 5am and then again this morning.

It was a very exciting night and where we are staying is a complete Trump stronghold…  but we have not seen any cheering or dancing in the streets.  I think truth be told that they are pleased the campaign is over. 

A couple of anecdotal things to report.  On Monday night, we were in a bar and Clinton came on and someone started to talk about the election and the barmaid said it was banned.  Last night we had a drink somewhere else and the barmaid said that the country would be ruined by the morning – but it is hard to know what that means and we are reticent to get involved… But the clincher for me yesterday was that we were having our bikes checked over and guy who owned the business for 15 years, about our age said that his healthcare had doubled over the last two years to $15,000 per annum.  He made some other comments about tax, etc. which indicated that he was very anti-establishment, anti-Washington rules and regulations.  He was a nice guy – so it just showed how they are feeling.  He was of course a white working man!

Anyway, fingers crossed that the world does not collapse and Donald will let us back in after Xmas!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Monday night we were in a forest in Michigan – Fort Custer, having our first ever night in Reg.  We reversed into the slot and Matt hooked up the power and water. So far so good. 

We had loads of sorting out to do – as you can see from the picture as all the stuff we had bought – plates, sheets and towels all had be stowed away and we had to wipe out all the cupboards as being new Reggie was rather full of sawdust. 

We were slightly like the Blair Witch Project as we walked around the campsite. Matt assured me that the loos were still open and not closed for the winter… well we walked and walked. We found that they were closed – no matter as we have facilities on board – but by this time it is pitch black. Of course, it transpires that the campsite was circular and we walked 350 degrees to where the loos are instead of just the other way around!

Second night in Granger, Indiana – our first KOA (Kamp Grounds of America). Run by a rather strange lady from Germany – but much more commercial so good practice for ‘hooking up’ as they say.

On Thursday, we set south for good, and motored all day to Springfield, Illinois. We went past an old munitions factory what is now being turned back into prairies and they have even reintroduced bison this summer to the project.  We did not see them – but by golly it needed it.  Funny that on the freeways you see the best and the worst – wonderful wide expanses and big skies and then other times the ugliest plant and yards that have ever been built.

We took Route 66 south through Illinois and stopped off in Pontiac which had a museum of Route 66 memorabilia.  The stories of people who had worked along the ‘mother road’ –  in diners and breakdown garages were interesting to read and you could get the sense of the golden age of motoring.  The road itself has even got a cycle lane for some stretches and it is fun as we were dawdling along with the new I55 hurtling along beside us.

We got to Springfield at the end of Thursday and found the best site so far – closed officially for winter but for $35 in an envelope we could stay the night and still have power and water.  This is quite common apparently.  It suits us that the site is so empty as it was so peaceful.  This was in a lovely setting and I saw a deer when running in the morning and Shaun would have loved the birds – the site seemed to be on a migratory path as there were hundreds of things chirping away high in trees and along the power lines.  I felt like Tippi Hedron at one point without the Hitchcock sexual harassment charge!

On Friday, we went into Springfield which is the state capitol of Illinois so downtown it has a lot of quite grand buildings – the capitol, the state police headquarters, the state revenue collection, etc. – but also of course lots to do with Lincoln who was their most famous resident. He was not born in Illinois, but worked all his life there until he became the 16^th president.

The museum about his life was brilliant and very inspiring.  No matter who wins the election this year – it reminded everyone of how noble and uplifting politics can be and should be.  He was born in a wooden shack and taught himself to read.  Would that ever be able to happen again?

We then went to the Dana House which was a complete contrast.  This is a house designed inside and out by Frank Lloyd Wright.  We had a guided tour for an hour as it is all so precious you cannot just wander around.  One of the lamps that Wright made for the house recently was auctioned and it raised $2m, so you can imagine the value of the entire thing and its contents.  Of course, slightly embarrassing was hearing that somehow we have a lamp at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Illinois had bought the house and contents off the only other owner, aside from Mrs Dana – the Thomas family.  They have restored it fully and quite rightly they are very proud of it. We have become experts on ‘prairie’ style homes, but not sure we will ever need this at home as we just don’t have the space.  The floorplate of the Dana house was 12,000 square feet!  Tim would have been pacing it out for days!

After Springfield, we set off via St Louis to say in Missouri on our way to Tennessee.  We stopped at this amazing place – a UNESCO site which only got a small write up in our book – but as soon as we saw it we decided to take our time. 

Cahokia is an Indian settlement from 950-1200AD which is huge.  They had built up these enormous mounds of earth that they levelled and then put buildings on top of.  Fortified with stockades of timber they created whole cities.  Because they did not write, there is a lot of guesswork as to why they disappeared but they think that it could have been due to conflict, using up all the resources – timber for instance, flooding from the Mississippi or just general climate change.  How familiar and portentous does that sound!?

The main mound – Monks Mound contains 22 million cubic feet of earth which they carried by hand.  You can climb up it and have a great view of the area and across the river to St Louis and its famous arch landmark.  It was a good juxtaposition of ancient and modern.   We had a great walk around and it was really interesting.   

We camped in our worst site that night – we never left Reg after we had plunged in as it was definitely a site where people seem to live all the time.  We were given this tatty space on corner plot and what was described as a lake on the website was merely a puddle!  We are deep in Trump country so we battened down the hatches and had a relaxing evening inside.  We will get better at reading between the lines I hope when we are planning the sites.  It is great that we are completely self-sufficient – in terms of showering, etc. so that we don’t have to mix with any dodgy locals!

Yesterday we went back to the Mississippi and got our bikes off the back of Reg and cycled over the Chain of Rocks Bridge.  Now for cyclists and pedestrians this is the old Route 66 bridge into St Louis.  We could not believe already how wide the Mississippi is – so heaven knows what awaits us in Mississippi or Louisiana. 

We also called in to St Genieve which is a pretty French town set up in 1760’s by traders. They have made a huge effort to restore the Creole design houses – which you can identify by the outside terrace wrapping all-round the houses.  We shall see loads more as we head south.

After that we then had a very fun experience of driving Reg on to a ferry – much smaller than the Sandbanks chain ferry – but similar idea. Only Reg and one car could fit – so we got out and met the ferry crew and the other car and they took photos of us and I took a picture of their dogs!  Driving off the other side we then travelled down the Great River Road – highway number 3, back on the Illinois side until we came to Cape Giradeau where we crossed back into Missouri. 

One week down and we have been on quite a steep learning curve – but have seen already some amazing sites.  I suppose the main impressions are that it is absolutely vast, the people have been really lovely (we didn’t after all get murdered in our beds on the crummy site) and there is actually a lot of thought provoking history to be had.  Matt and I are in our element as we love a good museum. 

I will leave Matt to tell ou of some of our mishaps – in case you all thought this sounded too straightforward!!

 

All the time we have been in Michigan and Illinois there has been huge excitement about the Baseball World Series – which we have seen has made the news at home.  It is has been great to see it at first hand.  We first noticed these white flags with a blue ‘W’ flying on our first weekend in Chicago.  This flag is flown from buildings and cars and balconies when the Cubs win and that first weekend they were playing the Dodgers to get the opportunity to compete in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians.

By the time we got to Barbara and Marty’s things had heated up for the Cubs and they had made the playoff finals, for the title which is the best of seven games.   The Chicago Cubs had not won the World Series since 1908 so shades of Leicester all over again.  The Indians had not won since 1948 – so they were the Spurs of last season…

Marty was amazingly patient explaining the game to us and I must say we really enjoyed watching it.  I am nervous now writing this as I am bound to drop a clanger in – like ‘in bat’ not ‘at ball’ and he will read it and roll his eyes!! He was very good and made us read the score back to him at intervals during the match and we watched so much of it as the Series went to the last game that we even got to know some of the players’ names and quirks.  We now cannot wait to see our first live match.

Every bar and restaurant has sport on so you might as well get with the programme as they would say here.  Anyway, we finally saw the Cubs win in the parking lot on our last night in St Joseph at about 12.30am. We had left Barbara and Marty half an hour before as just to add to the drama there was a rain delay… just like British sport the tension was ratchetted up another notch.

Next day as we drove south through Illinois wherever we stopped people were talking about the game as no one could have gone to sleep before 1am, or wearing the shirts or flying the flag.  Hillary and Donald got in on the act too as you will have seen – as at least baseball seems to unite people here!

I think the funniest thing yesterday was went to the Abraham Lincoln museum and even he had a speech bubble above the door saying Go Cubs!!

A