On the Road again

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here again with you, getting ready to share new adventures from... well... we'll get to the plan in a few paragraphs.

The last time I wrote to you was in early October in the wee hours of the morning just before we evacuated our home to avoid the approaching Hurricane Matthew. After days of hurricane prep and sleep deprivation I was a bit punchy and worried sick. One loyal reader even wrote to let me know I had called the storm "Hurricane Michael". Michael... Matthew... whatever. At that moment it looked like the Big Bad Wolf and I felt like the little pig who had built his house out of sticks. Living by the sea didn't seem like such a great idea at that moment, I'll tell you. 

If any of you have been saying to yourself "Hey, I wonder how SilverCliche' and the family made out in that big storm... you know, Hurricane Michael? He never wrote again after that. Maybe he didn't make it." All I can say is: You could have called! It's been six months for crying out loud. We did fine, thank you very much. Between, our house, our son's and our daughter's there was zero damage. Z-E-R-O.  Oh, there were a few challenging days and nights. We evacuated inland to Okeechobee, Florida. It was the SilverCliche' caravan. There was Mrs. C' and me in the trusty Tundra with Romeo the Wonder Puggle, our 11 year old grandson whose runaway ADHD was the perfect filter to make hurricane prep and evacuation seem like a party (finally! everyone's excited like me!). The Airstream was in tow and loaded to the gills. We had every computer from the house, financial records, our last will and testament, photo albums, all of the food we could get from the refrigerator (I still contend that the green olives would have survived and could have been left behind... the brine had preserved them for at least ten years... they looked as fresh as Vladimir Lenin's face... a simple Hurricane was not going to spoil them... and that's the last I'm going to say about that) and two bags of Doritos. What we needed but didn't bring was a bottle of Scotch and a couple dozen fentanyl. Let this be a lesson to all of us. Once the hurricane is about to hit it's a little too late to think about how you've neglected to maintain a steady a regimen of pain management your whole adult life. I now understand those of you who have made a commitment to prep year 'round. I still haven't learned my lesson. Anyway... back to the caravan. Behind us was our son in his van with his cat and Labrador. 

Off we went to Okeechobee. We were able to get a room at the Holiday Inn for our son. The rest of us: Mrs. C', ADHD-boy, the Puggle, the Lab, the cat and I stayed in the parking lot in the Airstream. There are many legendary tests of human strength and endurance. The "iron man" triathlon... the ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen... the Native American's traditional Sundance ceremony and that crazy thing National Geographic used to feature where Pacific Islanders would jump off a 100' tall tower made of lashed sticks with a vine tied to their ankles. I think they were the bungee tribe. I should probably fact check references like that in the future. Forget all of those feats. Consider the challenge of spending a windblown night in a 200 sq ft home with two adults, the human ricochet and three pets. Let that sink in a minute. Imagine 3:00 AM... the  peak of the storm. I'm still waiting. Remember, there's no pain medication onboard. Oh, there it is! Thank you. Now that I have your sympathy let me note that I'm still waiting for a call from the White House about that Medal of Freedom they hand out casually to mere comedians and documentary filmmakers. Jokes and blurry black and white pics set to solo piano music and Alec Baldwin voice-over tracks don't bring freedom... I'll show them what it takes to hold America together.

Now that I have that off my chest, let me get back to the business at hand. SilverCliche' and the open roads of America. I can almost smell it!

Normally I give you a couple of days to get prepared for the resumption of our particular brand of daily travelogue. I recognize that a swift transition from regular readings of the New York Times or JK Rowling to "SilverCliche' on the Road" might invoke whiplash... or nausea. Well, fasten your seat belts... we left today.

We don't have a title for this trip. Last year was the "Grand Canyon" trip and our undocumented trip to visit family in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The year before that we did the "Yellowstone" trip and the "Atlantic Coast" (Maryland to Florida). I guess I better name this one... quickly. How about "places revisited"? I think I like that. I also think I know how kids get some crazy names like Moon Unit or Apple. "What... you need the name now? Uh.... well.... Moon Unit!"

Here on Night 1 we are embracing the theme. I'm writing from the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park near White Springs, Florida. We stayed here on our first night out on our first long trip. June, 2015 on the way to Yellowstone. We were eager and bright faced. We had packed marshmallows, mountain bikes, a spotting scope for birding, charcoal, skewers and every other known camping tool cliche'... yes, a Swiss Army Knife... yes, Bear Spray... just stop, OK? Now, 30 states, 20-something thousand road miles, hundreds of camping nights, scores of trips to the "dump station" and a couple of marital disputes on how best to back the trailer into a tight campsite we have changed. At least a couple of times in the past 48 hours one or the other of us (ok... it was me) held up a previously sacred camping accoutrement and said "you're not going to make me pack this piece of crap and drag it through 20 states are you? We've not used in in the last 20 we've visited!" Sadly, I think we are traveling heavier than ever this trip.

The trip today was generally uneventful and unnewsworthy. I have yet to take the first pic of the trip. Hopefully tomorrow. In the only mind altering aspect of travel to the far north of Florida (aside from temps that peaked at 99... its APRIL people!...) I had an eyeopening encounter with Ocala, Florida. Now, in my experience, Ocala is best compared to... oh... maybe Calcutta or Cleveland. You know, a city that's past it's peak or maybe never had one. In fairness to the Ocalites (or whatever the hell they call themselves), that impression was developed from transiting Ocala on I75. If states ever start selling naming rights to interstates this offensive piece of pavement is likely to be called the "Taco Bell Expressway". Yes... I do realize that term already has a medical meaning. The irony would be lost on nobody. So, today, thanks to an accident on I75 somewhere near the exit for Ileum, FL and the helpful guidance of Waze running on my iPhone we got off the TBE and headed northwest. What a difference. We were in spectacular horse country about 2 miles off the interstate. I'm pretty sure Thurston Howell the Third's descendants still live on his old horse ranch somewhere near where we drove and spend their days dreaming that the foal their prize mare just dropped will win the 2019 Kentucky Derby! There were no McDonalds in that stretch. There were, however, specialized hay businesses with signs like farm stands usually have advertising the fresh varieties on hand. I don't even know what "peanut hay" is, but as of today I know where to get it. I'm sure that somewhere near our route was even Hay College. I can picture their cheerleaders encouraging the team with chants of "Hay U", "Hay U". Ok, that was low even by my standards. Forgive me, I'm a bit rusty and I promise to do better tomorrow. Oh... and truthfully... there was even a billboard for a stall mucking business. Since this is a family oriented blog I won't tell your their corporate slogan.

So, on to the Stephen B. Foster Folk Culture Center State Park, which must have the longest name in US state park history. I suspect it was named by a sign painter. ("We'll be rich!"). I share details tomorrow since I'm beat from all the prep and four hours of slinging the Cliche' in the heat through towns like Ocala, Duodenum and Jejunum.

Where from here? Well, we will move briskly (that's our 4 driving hour per day pace) west from here across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and just the northeast corner of New Mexico before our first destination... our niece's house (ranch?) in southern Colorado. From there we'll explore the front range with three nights each in Colorado Springs and Estes Park. Then across Nebraska to our friends' farm outside of Omaha. Then we get some new states for our log book... Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. We'll camp on Lake Superior and at the Mackinaw Straits in Michigan. We'll head south to go around Lake Erie (the Canadian Customs authority has a nasty reputation for dismantling Airstreams... it seems they do this without an eye to how to reassemble it and with the intent of taking custody of both the vehicle and the owner. No thanks/Non merci). Next will be our return visit to Buffalo, NY, then visiting my folks in Pennsylvania and the last destination to see our daughter and three grands in Maryland. The final leg home to Florida will include the entire lengths of Skyline Drive in Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Whew... that wears me out. I need a rest, so I'll wrap up and let you return to the Times or Rowling.

Oh, I almost forgot... you can follow us most every day (unless lack of internet stops me... ) with blog  posts at http://silvercliche.blogspot.com/  and our better pics are posted on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/131457232@N02/ . This e-mail is a one-time reminder to check there and future posts will be made there.

Feel free to share this with others... especially those needing a Rorschach test for their literary sense of taste (It looks like... um... a train wreck?) or those who forgot to renew their subscription to Airstream Life.

Later!

SC'

The unexpected journey

So, it's 3:10 AM as I write this. It's quite -- for now. I've been up since 1:25 AM having gotten 2 hours of sleep.

What's a man's insomnia got to do with seeing the country by Airstream, you ask?

The answer: Hurricane Michael. 

As the past 7 days have played out we watched a tropical depression in the south central Atlantic become a storm, a hurricane, a major hurricane, that a sharp turn to the north, cross Haiti and Cuba and is now bearing down on... us... Vero Beach, Florida.

According to the forecasters, 24 hours from now the home from which I am writing this will be wrapped in wind of up to 140 miles per hour, and potential submerged in sea water up to her roof trusses. Dread. No, really... That's the feeling... Dread. My wife and I gave birth to this house, or perhaps re-birth is a better term since she has stood here since 1954 when we bought her in 2009 and renovated her in a series of steps. To leave her now, in this way, with so little warning and preparation is hard. 

What's this got to do with seeing the country by airstream, you ask?

Well in about 45 minutes I'll slip out the back door of the house, drive the trust Tundra down the street to the Silver Cliche's Vero Beach rest spot, hitch up and bring her back here. Well finish loading her up and at 7:00 AM start the caravan with Mrs. C' and me along with Romeo the wonder Puggle and grandson Gavin in the truck. Riding behind us will be son Chiristopher with his dog and cat in his van. We will head inland. Our destination for the day is Okeechobee, FL. That might be a 4 or 5 hour trip versus the usual 65 minutes given the mass exodus from the coast, but we'll get there. Some combination of us will ride out the storm in the cliche' while others enjoy room service at the holiday inn there. Given the latest forecast, even that may not be far enough away from Michael the monster, but it'll have to do and it will be much better than staying here to ride it out.

Tomorrow? You'll have to ask Michael. Our plan is to sneak back into Vero Beach as soon as the police reopen the bridges to the island. What we will find will be a topic in our next blog. Stay tuned and wish us well!

Another Big Dam Project

Evening Campers! It's me again, Silver Cliche' with you tonight from the shores of Kerr Lake, North Carolina. What? OK, how about "2 miles north of Middleburg, NC"? Still no? I've got it! "6 miles west of Norlina"! No? "15 miles southwest of South Hills, Virginia"? "35 miles northeast of Raleigh"? Finally! It's hard to believe we can be on the border of two of the original 13 states and not be near anywhere that anyone without a NASCAR hat has ever heard of. But there you have it... America!

This trip is shaping up to be way different from the others which we've shared with you. Our past trips have been about seeing America... lots of America...up close... so close you can smell it... sometimes wishing we hadn't got quite that close. This is different. First off, it was never planned as a sightseeing trip. At least not this portion of the trip. We are "in transit". We've got a place to be (Maryland) and a time to be there (tomorrow). We haven't added the time, nor are we quite in the mood to stop in places like Lumberton and Dunn, North Carolina both of which we passed through today. I'm sure many of you have made the pilgrimage to Dunn on your own already since it is recognized as "the dump truck body capital of the world". Go ahead, smart guy... Google it. If you've been to Dunn yourself then anything we would write would just be over Dunn... sorry... I hope you'll forgive me for that. We certainly had no intention of stopping at "South of the Border". We've made that mistake before and would rank it as one of those spots in America where getting too close will leave a smell-memory that's hard to get past. When we saw a billboard advertising their new campground I told Mrs. C' that I'd rather sell the Airstream and sleep under an I-95 overpass. No thank you! Secondly, it's hotter than a teenage romance in the south right now. We saw a little relief today versus yesterday but it's too hot to leave the dogs in the trailer while we go eat with the locals or explore the place where General Grant designed and constructed the first Union Army General Officers' Privy (don't Google that... I made it up). On this trip Kailey the wonder dog will celebrate 130 dog years. She is more willing than able at this point. During a potty break today she literally walked into the side of the truck. We just can't leave her or Romeo the Puggle in the truck or trailer in this heat. So we hang out and drink coffee and read in the morning, then we drive, someone stays in the truck with the dogs while someone else makes lunch to bring to her, then we drive some more. Eventually we apply ourselves to the business of cooling the trailer at the next campsite and relax for the evening. I'm afraid I'll run out of anecdotes to keep that routine interesting starting about... oh... tomorrow.

At least I got a few pics in today. Here is our current camping spot on the shores of Kerr Lake:
 


Here is a link to Google Maps to show you precisely where we are. Remember, set Google maps to "satellite view" to see the terrain then zoom out to see the larger picture: https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5295343,-78.3158123,37m/data=!3m1!1e3

I'd rate this as one of the better campsites we've stayed at. It was a challenge to get into and required snaking the Cliche' around a couple of trees, but the privacy and view are well worth it.For tonight we have a lakefront vacation home.

And here's a panorama of approaching dusk taken from that seawall in the pic above:
 

As for Kerr Lake itself, it's another fine product of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Wikipedia says of the John H. Kerr Dam: "The dam construction started in 1947 and took 2,100+ workers in three shifts, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, more than four years to complete" That a big dam project. It is partially in North Carolina and partially in Virginia. The Virginia portion is the largest reservoir in that state.

So instead of sightseeing along our route across America we are stopping in places like this and enjoying what we see. Tomorrow we take on one of the toughest challenges in trailer driving. We've taken the Cliche' across the Rockies...  a breeze. We've gone to sea on ferry boats... a snap. We've braved heavy rain and flooding along the Gulf... no problem. Tomorrow we take on the dreaded Washington Capital Beltway. The Secretary of Transportation says "The recent improvements in the Capital Beltway make travel around Washington efficient, safe and pleasant". That's reassuring since we all know that cabinet secretaries are people whose word means something. Despite that reassurance, we are preparing for the worst and shooting to traverse the dreaded Tyson's Corner stretch during the 30 minutes between 11:42 AM and 12:12 PM that are currently believed to be free of rush hour traffic. From there, it's across the Potomac into Maryland. Wish us well!

Our visit to Maryland is mostly about helping our daughter with her project list. I may take a few nights off from blogging, but if I do I'll be back once travel begins again.

Later!

SC'

Sultry and Steamy in the Southland

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you again. Tonight from Lake Marion, South Carolina and specifically at Santee State Park on the south shore of the lake.

There is something special about traveling through the southland in July. It's as sultry as a Kathleen Turner movie and as steamy as a romance novel. Not the type of romance novel that has the work "Bronte" on the leather spine. The type that's in a rack at the supermarket checkout. You know, the paperback with a picture of a shirtless guy on horseback on it. I'm not sure why those guys either look like Antonio Banderas or Yanni. I take that back... actually, I do know why. If they ever want a model with the Yule Brenner look, I'm ready to step in. Not the "King and I" Yule Brenner with the open vest. The older, pear-shaped Yule.  Anyhow... the south today was that kind of steamy.

We survived our night in the presence of ICBMs without incident. In fact, it was a reminder of some of the rarely seen aspects of America's safety shield. In 1995 our family had the chance to board the USS Nebraska for a tour when she was at Port Canaveral for a test launch of one of her Trident missiles. Our son, youngest daughter and I were shown around the ship from the forward torpedo room to the engine room door (a classified space). It was amazing to see an Ohio class boat from the inside. Nebraska is still in service, although she transferred from being based at Kings Bay, Georgia to Bangor, Washington. With some of the craziness in the world there is comfort in knowing she and her sister ships are always at the ready.

The trip from St. Mary's to Santee was uneventful, if not cool and refreshing. The thermometer in the truck read 90 when we hit the road at 10:30. It moved up steadily until topping out at 99. We have yet to see 100 as measured by the truck on this trip, but there were 100+ temps reported from near our route including in Columbia, South Carolina where they topped 100 for the fourth day in a row with a forecast for four more to tie a record. It's hot here.

Any of you who have traveled I-95 from the north to south or back know Lake Marion. It's the largest lake in the state of South Carolina and I-95 passes directly across it about half way between the North Carolina and Georgia borders. Like so many lakes we visit this is a man made. A bit older than many, this was a New Deal project. Strangely, you can see stands of trees in the middle of the lake. The lake level looks normal as judged by the docks, beaches and such along the shore. We've seen flooding around the country and this place doesn't show current signs. If we had not been hit with severe storms at my usual time to wander around and take pictures I could show you the floating forest that sits about a half mile from the shore where we are camped. Maybe the morning will offer better opportunity.

So tomorrow we continue north. The next stop is a state park in North Carolina near the Virginia border on Kerr Lake. That's about 4 hours drive and will position us to reach Maryland on Friday.

Stay tuned.

Later!

SC'

Sleepin' with the Boomers!

Evenin' Campers! It's me, Silver Cliche' again and back on the road with you tonight from Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, Georgia.

Normally, I send out this e-mail a few days before we hit the road and let you all know to be on the lookout for posts to start nightly at our usual home on blogspot (http://silvercliche.blogspot.com) and pictures at our site on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/131457232@N02/ ). Those sites are active and if you missed any posts or pics from our trip to Arizona and Utah in April-June you can find them there. However, this email isn't an alert, it's my first post from the road on our latest adventure. Why? That's easy... after 7 weeks on the road ending in early June we had a whirlwind time in Florida including catching up with maintenance on houses and vehicles, getting reacquainted with our volunteer ventures at the VNA/Hospice and the Red Cross and most significantly a visit from our daughter and her three great kids from Maryland. That meant that for two weeks we had all five "grands" in Vero Beach. The oldest two guys even used the Airstream as their club house and bunk house. We celebrated the 7th birthday of our one and only granddaughter the night before the crew returned to Maryland. Here's a shot that's worth 5 grand to me from that night:

Anyway, after that we had three days to prep the house and trailer and keep our schedule to depart today. That's normally a week or more of work so guess who didn't have time to send the customary "get ready" email. Who knows, this approach might actually work better.

This trip is a lot different from the last one. There are no canyons on the itinerary, no Navajo sandstone features, no Native American ruins and no snow. Instead we are moving at a quick pace to get to Maryland. While there we will get more grand kid time and help our daughter with some decorating projects. After that, another first, we're bringing a grand kid on the road with us. No, not any of the three Marylanders on the left side of the pic above. I'm flying back to Florida, meeting the guy on the far right at the airport and flying back with him to Baltimore. He will join us for the trip home to Florida.

The first stop of the trip is tonight at St. Mary's, Georgia. "Where's that?" you ask? Well, if you were in Florida and heading north on I-95 and you said "I want to be out of Florida... get me to the first State Park I can reach" you'd be here at Crooked River State Park. The Florida state line is just a few miles south of us. However, between here and there is a national asset many of you have never heard of. The US Naval Submarine Base at King's Bay, Georgia. It's just a few miles downstream from where we are camped on Fancy Bluff Creek. Here's a view of the Creek immediately behind our campsite which is in a stand of mature Georgia pine trees:

The mission of Kings Bay is simple. This is where the strategic ballistic missile submarines of the Atlantic fleet call home. In today's Navy these are Ohio class subs which are 600+ feet long with a crew of 100 and something and head out from here to perform their "deterrent patrols" in whatever patch of ocean they choose. Each carries enough nuclear firepower to send a strong message by return mail to anyone who chooses to send the US their calling card. Of course, this mission means there are plenty of the world's most powerful weapons just down the road. It also means that any government who subscribes to the "MAD" doctrine (Mutually Assured Destruction) in which any nuclear attack would be met with an even stronger nuclear response has weapons targeted at this place. If through some amazing combination of a nuclear accident and poor timing on our part there was a nuclear release tonight you could certainly say "At least they didn't have time to suffer".

The beauty of this place as shown in the pic above is not diminished in any way by the presence of this vital and deadly mission just a few miles away.

After our stop in Maryland we will make a side trip to Pennsylvania to visit my parents. Stopping to visit family and friends has become a favorite activity for us on these trips. This one is overdue since "the folks" have followed us along on each trip. Plus, we are the guests who bring their own guest house... what could be easier?

When our northern business is done we will start to trip back to the Southland. With an active 10 year old on board we are carrying extra amusements this trip. In addition to the x-box we've got puzzles, games, reading material for the younger reader and two bicycles. Although those are mine and his, they are really for Mrs. C' who I suspect will say at least once "My bike isn't here, but why don't you boys go for a ride and I'll stay here at the trailer".

So, that's it. I'll post this one on Blogspot and the river sunset pic on Flicker. Starting tomorrow I'll just post the day's activities and not send an e-mail every day. I hope you'll follow along with us!

Later!

SC'

That's all for this trip...

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here, checking in with you tonight from Lake Point Resort State Park in Eufaula, Alabama near the shores of the Walter F George Reservoir which some people refer to as Lake Eufaula. We nearly escaped Alabama today. We are so close that Alabama is here at the campground, and Georgia is right across the lake.

So, not much to share today. A long drive... 374 miles, Google calls it 5:37 driving time but it drives much longer), intense rain with interstate traffic doing about 40 mph at one point, two significant cities of the south (Birmingham and Montgomery), a pass within 5 miles of "the shrine of Tupelo" (the Elvis birth shack). One noteworthy sign I saw not long after we left Holly Springs read Little Tallahatchie River. I was looking for "the bridge" and Billie Joe McAllister, but it turns out they were (both past tense) farther downstream in Money, Mississippi. Perhaps most memorable for me will be the last hour of the drive. After we left urbanity and the interstates we were on state roads... mostly two lane... through eastern Alabama. As residents of the Florida peninsula, I don't consider us "southern". The South (it's a specific place and therefore a proper noun and therefore capitalized in this context) runs from Virginia to the Florida panhandle (but not Jacksonville in my opinion) and west to include Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana. Others may disagree and say stupid things like "Being southern is in your heart and not about where the dirt in your boots came from". They're wrong. There is a word that is used more -- or at least used with different intonation and meaning -- in the south than in the north. That word is "land". Southerners refer to their region as "the southland". The phrase "southern land" comes up in rock-a-billy songs and elsewhere. That last hour of our drive today was through true southern land in rural Alabama. It was beautiful in a way that gave insight into why boys in grey fought as far north as Pennsylvania to protect what they had. Fortunately, they didn't get to keep all they had built on the land, but they did keep the land itself and it's still here to be seen and to inspire. It was green, lush, tranquil, largely undeveloped and seemingly undisturbed. Occasional small towns like Union Springs (how did that name stick here?) and Midway slowed our passage, but that was it.

Tomorrow we plan to complete the trip. It's been 6 + weeks since we left home. Time to get back and see what it looks like now. It'll be 7+ hours of driving, but I think the trusty Tundra and the Cliche' herself can handle it if we and the dogs can. 

It's been quite a trip. I hope you enjoyed coming along with us. We had a chance to catch up with some family we haven't seen I a while. That, alone, would have made the trip worthwhile as it has on other trips when we've stopped to see family or friends and taken advantage of a barn yard or driveway parking spot for a few nights. Beyond that we saw five national parks (Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches and Mesa Verde), a few monuments and recreation areas (Glen Canyon  and Navajo) at least four major rivers (the Mississippi, Colorado, Rio Grande and Arkansas), two major cities (New Orleans and Dallas), too many state parks to mention, too many small towns to count and odds and ends including a plantation in Louisiana, a food court made of Airstreams in Florida and a snow filled basin at 11,000 feet in the Rockies. The best parts are still out there on Flickr if you want to step through them again.

By the time we get home tomorrow I think I'll be spent. Let me close out this trip tonight by saying "thanks" to those of you who helped and encouraged us along the way. It helps on long days like today knowing that you are riding along with us in spirit.

We'll be home almost a month getting our lives back in order and the Cliche' road-ready again (she needs a good cleaning and even some repairs... for example, today somewhere on the rough Mississippi roads a drawer flew out of the wardrobe in the bedroom and broke. That takes some shaking!). Look for an email from me around Independence Day titled "Silver Cliche' hitting the road!" and ride along to Maryland then Massachusetts and home along Shenandoah Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway through Virginia and North Carolina.

Until then...

SC'

1.) Transportation and b.) government waste

Evening, Campers! It's,Silver Cliche' with you again. Tonight reporting from Holly Springs, Mississippi and Wall Doxey State Park. We have made a commitment to put the miles under our belly pan (that's an Airstream anatomical reference) and move steadily toward home. Today was another 5+ hours of driving which was good for about 350 miles. That included three states - Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. It's been a while since we hit three states in a day.  A clear sign we are back in the east, although not yet back on Eastern Daylight Time. 

I was going to post a google maps rendition of how we got here, but it was overkill. Here's what you need to know... From Barling, Arkansas get on I40 heading east. Go for an eternity (like 4 1/2 hours). When you see a huge river under you and a giant pyramid right next to it (make sure the pyramid has a "Bass Pro Shops" logo the size of the playing surface at Yankee stadium on it so you know you have the right pyramid... more on that later) get off I40, take a meandering combination of Memphis city streets that google maps will figure out for you, hop on I 22 south for 20 miles and BANG! you're there. If you reach the University of Mississippi at Oxford (Ole Miss!) you've gone a bit too far.

If you want, along the way stop in Little Rock for lunch at a barbecue place. And since "water always wins" keep an eye out for rain which was not too much trouble for us today, but tomorrow and Sunday are forecast between 60 and 80% all along the route.

So the highlight of the day was Memphis. We passed through the city last year heading west to Yellowstone. Mostly I remember traffic hang ups and the embarrassing condition of the infrastructure. Neither seems to have improved much, although today we took the I40 bridge because Google told us the accident on I55 (could pavement "irregularities" have contributed?) would bring us to a halt. Did you know there are only 17 road crossings of the Mississippi between Tennessee and the delta. That's 737 miles of river with a bridge every 45 miles on average. Two of those are in Memphis. Hey, I want you to be a better informed person for having read this. You're welcome... again.

There are two stories that strike the person passing through Memphis. 1.) transportation and 2.) monumental government waste. Let's take #1 first. Memphis is home to FedEx. 'nuf said. Seeing as how there is no direct connection worth a damn from I40 to I22, Google maps did literally route us on city streets. It did the same last year between I22 and I55. Each tour was a wonderland of modern transportation. At one point today we went along the southern border of Memphis International Airport (MIA). In the few minutes we took to cross there I saw five FedEx planes take off using three different, active runways. It was 4:00 in the afternoon. That's 12 hours off from their busy time. Geez. I just looked up the google maps "satellite view" of MIA. At whatever random time they flew over, there were 80 cargo aircraft in neat rows at various facilities on the north end of the field. There were 5 commercial aircraft at the passenger terminal. Welcome to Cargo-town, USA! In addition to FedEx, every other major freight carrier has a visible presence including UPS, the Postal Service and even the Air Force who had three C17 cargo planes very visibly parked at their hanger near our route. But wait... there's more! Near the airport is the Port of Memphis on the Mississippi which includes a multimodal cargo facility (that's where they pick up those 8x8x40 metal shipping containers and move them between ships, barges, trains and trucks.) So, right here in Memphis there is cargo coming and going on every conceivable conveyance and at speeds determined by a shippers willingness to pay. They can get your Amazon order to you overnight on a plan from anywhere to anywhere (with a connection in Memphis at 2:00 AM) or on the slow boat from China via the Mississippi and the last train to Clarksville. All I can say is WOW! Now let's turn to monumental government waste. Remember that pyramid?  Guess who built it? Right. The City of Memphis and Shelby County. Oh they had grand plans. However, on opening night in 1991 with a Judd's concert planned it flooded. No bull. Evidently the arena had one of those rubber stoppers like an old bathtub but a really big one and nobody could find the chain for it. If you want the whole sad tale, read Wikipedia. The net is that the University of Memphis basketball program wouldn't even play there, the NBA team moved out of town (but kept the right to exclusive use of the arena... go figure) and after every other possibility was exhausted... a breakthrough!... Bass Pro Shops now has a mega store inside it... hence the logo. I poop you not. (Thanks for noticing. I'm trying to keep this blog at least as classy as Memphis itself). So, two lessons here, class: 1.) government should stick to governing and not real estate development and b.) if Donald trump becomes president I sure as poop hope he makes the transition from real estate development to governing better that the Memphis/Shelby team did going the other way. (And I know I mixed "1" and "b"... I have to do something to stimulate my brain now that all I have to look forward to is another 878 miles of driving through the southland and most hoodoos to photograph.)

So, here we are in Holly Springs. It's... raining... and heavily forested... and humid... which means it will continue raining on us for about 2 hours after the rain stops hitting the trees. Tomorrow is supposed to rain more as we traverse Mississippi (Yes, we will be near the Elvis Birthplace Shrine in Tupolo again. No we do not plan to stop. Look at last years blog if you need to see the picture again.) then we will cut southeastward across Alabama until we reach the Lake Point State Park Resort  in Eufaula on the Georgia border. With luck, that will be our last over night stop on this trip and we will back the Cliche' into her home spot in Vero Beach on Sunday night. Like a major ocean liner coming to her home from a round-the-world voyage, she'll get some cleaning, polishing, maintenance and repairs (and a refitting to the factory interior since the recliners stay home next time) and be ready to go north in a month!

Stay tuned!

Later, 

SC'