Tupelo, MS

Tupelo is about half way down the Natchez Trace and where I choose to spend the night.  It seemed a shame to drive through and not get some Elvis on.  ha.

I'm not a big Elvis fan but thought it was only fitting to play the Elvis station on Sirius while driving around Tupelo.  I considered a drive to Memphis since it is only about 100 miles, but intend to come back to that area at some point so I opted to wait and take my time.

First stop - Elvis's birthplace.  Elvis was born in a small shotgun house; today it anchors the 15-acre Elvis Presley Center. The museum features a private collection of Elvis memorabilia. The Walk of Life surrounds the house with markers depicting the years of Elvis's life, while the Fountain of Life, a stunning water feature, represents Elvis's life in Tupelo.  

"Tupelo was an important place in the life of Elvis Presley, as he lived there for the first 13 years of his life. It was in Tupelo were Elvis began to spread his love of music, and to honor his memory, a statue was built called "Elvis at 13"."

As you drive around the downtown area, you can see assorted guitars .... all decorated for Elvis.  There are dozens of them.

A plaque and statue in Fair Park

The Lee County Courthouse was built in 1904 and boasts a beautiful clock tower attached to the building.

It took about 2 hours, including the birthplace and a driving tour.  I could have easily gotten back on the Trace, but opted to spend another night at the State Park.

This "restaurant" was recommended to me .. I stopped for lunch and had a fried egg sandwich (haven't had one in a lot of years) and some really good baked beans.

It was a VERY popular place with the locals.

A Day Trip (or Two) to Alabama ...

I started out the day by driving south to Huntsville, AL to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.  This is well worth a stop.  Some of the exhibits and plaques are a bit worn, but they are in the process of updating everything so it should be even better.

The Saturn V Hall was especially interesting.  I took the tour (included in admission) and learned much more than I did at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  FYI  this Saturn rocket is all original, where the "others" on display at other facilities are made from parts.

And did you know the Lunar Rover actually folded up and was attached to the outside of Stage 4 of the rocket?

I also paid for an IMAX movie called Dream Big about various engineering feats around the world; mostly bridges and earthquake-proofing tall buildings, but the movie did go into some detail about the construction of the Shanghai Tower. With 127 floors, it is the tallest building in the world "with a 90 degree twist."  The typhoon season was a big reason for the twisted construction.

Just FYI - Shanghai is the most populated city in the world.



First Railroad Marker - The first railroad to be built in Alabama was created in 1833, however, after some time it was absorbed by another railway in 1898, marking a short, but useful existence.

Country Lane Discount Statue - Although the huge statue in front of the Country Lane Discount store may look like a cartoon character, the fact of the matter is, he's so cool, you have to check him out! With an American flag in one hand and his other hand fisted in the pocket of his overalls, there's no way you'd want to miss this giant Southerner.





And, of course, another cool bridge ....

Ghost Bridge - There lies a bridge near the University of North Alabama with many terrible tales attached to it. From slave hangings, to animal killings and KKK meetings, there are many who believe the bridge is haunted and definitely spooky.  They are actually tearing down the bridge because of vandalism.  Personally, I didn't get a "spooky" vibe ....







Frank Lloyd Wright - Rosenbaum House - The Rosenbaum House was built for the Rosenbaum family in 1939. "The house is the only structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the state of Alabama, and the only such house in the southeast that is opened to the public."

 

The Palace Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop - Enjoy milkshakes, chocolate malts, sundaes, and huge banana splits at the lovingly restored Palace Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop. The original Palace Drug Store was built in 1906 and the original soda fountain was removed in the 1960s, but new owners (a couple that met here and married) restored the fountain a few years back and although the drug store's gone, a meal and dessert here is a step into an older era of old-fashioned ice cream treats.

After lunch, as I was driving down Main Street to my next stop, I happened upon Spring Park.  What a great park!

Absolutely gorgious day .... sunny, clear, warm with a perfect breeze.

This part of Tennessee/Alabama seems to have quite a bit of cold wind, but today it's just a pleasant breeze.









 I was going to stop at Helen Keller's birthplace, but there was road construction and the street was blocked off.  The officer didn't think it was necessary to let me through.  ha. 

I thought this water tower was cool ... it actually says "Toscumbia Birthplace of Helen Keller" on it.  Maybe I should have cropped the picture to enlarge the tower, but I liked the flags flying in the foreground.

Rattlesnake Saloon - It is actually in a cave!

Coon Dog Cemetery - No trip through northwest Alabama history is complete without a stop at Coon Dog Cemetery, which holds more than 185 coon dogs interred among unique headstones and epitaphs. Annually on Labor Day, the cemetery hosts a celebration that includes buck dancing, singing, liars' contest, and barbecue.  To say that the Key Underwood Coon Dog graveyard is a pet cemetery would be an incorrect assumption. The cemetery is only for Coon Hounds and no other type of animal. So no, you can't bury your Husky here or your Pug; it ain't gonna happen. Coon Dogs only!



I only gave myself 11 days in this area and I really needed more time to do it justice.  There is more to see the next time I stop here.

Nashville and Middle Tennessee

No visit to the Nashville area is complete without a trip to the Grand Ole Opry .... so, even though I know nothing about Country Music, I felt I had to enjoy this experience at least once.

There were a few surprises .... I booked the ticket to see Clint Black, but he was a no-show.  The Opry is very explicit about no guarantees regarding performers ... subject to change without notice, so this was not the surprise.  What I expected when I arrived was a large ornate building ... something like Dolly with too much makeup .... so I thought my GPS had another brain cramp when it told me to turn into a shopping center!  Yep, the building is behind the center and you use the mall for parking.

The next surprise was the seat ... they weren't individual seats ... it was a long bench seat for the entire row.  Much more comfortable.

And, since I hadn't had time for dinner, the third surprise was dinner .... I ordered the chicken tender meal .... REALLY good chicken (4 big pieces), a bag of Sun Chips and a drink (Pepsi, but you can't have everything) for $13.00.  The second drink for $4.50 was a killer tho ....

The show, as you probably know, is live, which was cool knowing "you" were on the radio.  Each performer sang 3 songs and there was a Korean comedian, Henry Cho, who was pretty funny.  The show, with intermission, lasted 2 1/2 hours .... and the music was pretty good.  Some of the performers were John Conlee, Dailey & Vincent, Chris Janson and Easton Corbin.

The stage from my seat

It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the the Opry to the campground, so I didn't get back until almost midnight .... only to find that my gate code did not work.  I tried everything I could think of, from walking up to the ranger station to calling the emergency number, but couldn't raise anyone to help me.  As a last resort, I called the sheriff in hopes that he had a master code ... which he did, but he had to come out to verify that I was "legit" .... another hour down.  Unfortunately, I had a dentist appointment the next morning, also in Nashville, and I had to get up at 6:30am to drive back.  Short night ....

The second thing you must do in Middle Tennessee is visit the Jack Daniels Distillery.   Needless to say, I took the "dry" tour.  ha.

Each of these barrels contains 53 gallons of whiskey

A couple of interesting facts:  Daniels died from an infection, a complication from a broken toe he sustained when kicking his safe because he couldn't get it open (not a patient man) ... it is believed he may have been diabetic and that's the reason for the infection and the toe not healing.  Here is a picture of the safe -

Each of the barrel houses (there are 9) contain about 1 million gallons of whiskey.  They pay $13.50 per gallon in Federal tax; about 60% of the price of each bottle is tax to state, federal, etc.  Here is partial picture of one of the barrel houses ...

I was glad I got up early to drive to Lynchberg for the tour as it was very crowded by noon when I was leaving.

I saw other cool stuff while driving around .... The center part of Tennessee is called "Middle" not central ....

The Historic Rock Castle was built in the late 1780s, as the home of Daniel Smith and his family. The house was "one of the first permanently built homes on the Tennessee State Frontier".

Tennessee State Capitol

The world's only full-scale reproduction of the original, Nashville's Parthenon houses art galleries featuring the Cowan Collection of American Paintings and other works from the permanent collection. 

Centinnel Park is a large, delight place and would be very pleasant to spend a couple of hours just walking around or rent one of the bikes.

Castle Gwynn in Arrington, TN is actually a replica of a 12th-century Welsh border castle. Unfortunately, it was closed and I couldn't get close enough for a good picture.


The Geographical Center of the State ....

the Geographic Center of Tennessee, first derived in 1834 and preserved with this historic marker.

The Sam Davis Memorial home was built in 1810 by Confederate spy Samuel Davis. Though Davis was hung in 1863, when he was caught by the Union army, the home was basically frozen in time. Today, visitors to the history home can see the house, much in the same way that Davis left it.

I went in search of The Madison Pink Elephant statue, but later found out it was moved to Florida.  The giant pink elephant stands with its trunk in the air.

I did find this though ...  at the Shady Lawn Truck Stop - a giant chicken statue. The chicken wears a chef's hat and even has his own carving knife and fork.



GM makes the Saturn here.  The plant is huge and I wanted to take a tour, but they weren't giving them ....


I passed on Loretta Lynn's Ranch .... the museum is closed and it was a far drive just to tour the house.


Traffic is really bad in Nashville and it doesn't seem to matter what time of day.  Nashville drivers are pretty crazy - they just whip in and out, even where there is no lane  ...

It also takes longer than you think to get anywhere, so I've started setting my GPS to show the time rather than the distance.  It takes about an hour to drive 30 miles.

As you can tell, I decided to combine a couple days of sightseeing together in one blog entry, rather than break it up as I usually do. 

Tomorrow I'm headed back to Huntsville, Alabama to the Space Center and I'll tell you all about that.  I have another day of see the sights before I drive the Natchez to Mississippi ....

Tennessee - The name originated from the old Yuchi Indian word, "Tana-see," meaning "The Meeting Place."

The three stars on the flag represent the three different land forms in Tennessee. Mountains in the east, highlands in the middle and lowlands in the west. On the flag these regions are bound together in an unbroken circle. The field is crimson with a blue background for the stars. The final blue strip relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when it is limp.

Tennessee Facts and Trivia

• Andrew Johnson held every elective office at the local, state, and federal level, including President of the United States. He was elected alderman, mayor, state representative, and state senator from Greeneville. He served as governor and military governor of Tennessee and United States congressman, senator, and vice president, becoming President of the United States following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

• Tennessee won its nickname as The Volunteer State during the War of 1812 when volunteer soldiers from Tennessee displayed marked valor in the Battle of New Orleans.

• The Copper Basin is so different from the surrounding area it has been seen and is recognizable by American astronauts. The stark landscape was caused by 19th-century mining practices.

• There were more National Guard soldiers deployed from the state for the Gulf War effort than any other state.

• There are more horses per capita in Shelby County than any other county in the United States. 

• Greeneville has the only monument in the United States honoring both the Union and Confederate armies. It is located on the lawn of the Green County Courthouse.  

• Davy Crockett was not born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, as the song says. He was born on the banks of Limestone Creek near Greeneville, where a replica of the Crockett's log cabin stands today.

• The Tennessee Aquarium is the largest facility of its kind to focus on fresh water habitat. It features 7,000 animals and 300 species of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals.

• The largest earthquake in American history, the New Madrid Earthquake occurred in the winter of 1811-12 in northwestern Tennessee. Reelfoot Lake located in Obion and Lake Counties was formed during this earthquake. 

• Bristol is known as the Birthplace of Country Music.

• The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the United States. The park was named for the smoke-like bluish haze that often envelops these fabled mountains.

• Elvis Presley's home called Graceland is located in Memphis. Graceland is the second most visited house in the country. 

• Reputed "Turtle Capital of the World," Reelfoot Lake also features thousands of sliders, stinkpots, mud and map turtles.

• Nashville's Grand Ole Opry is the longest continuously running live radio program in the world. It has broadcast every Friday and Saturday night since 1925. 

• Tennessee was the last state to secede from the Union during the Civil War and the first state to be readmitted after the war.  

• The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was slain in 1968. The museum preserves the motel and tells the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.

• A replica of The Parthenon, the famous ancient Greek building in Athens, Greece, stands in Nashville's Centennial Park.

• The "Guinness Book of World Records" lists the Lost Sea in Sweetwater as the largest underground lake in the United States.

• The Cherokee silversmith, Sequoyah, was the only known man in the history of the world to single-handedly develop an alphabet. His syllabus for the Cherokee Nation resulted in the first written language for a Native American people. The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore tells his story and is dedicated to the history and culture of Native Americans.

• The Watauga Association at Sycamore Shoals near Elizabethton drafted the first constitution ever written by white men in America in 1772. It was patterned after the constitution of the Iroquois League of Nations, a federal system of government developed 200 years earlier for five eastern Native American tribes. 

•  The capitol building was designed by noted architect William Strickland, who died during its construction and is buried within its walls. 

• Tennessee ranks number one among other states in the total number of soldiers who fought in the War Between the States.

• Tennesseeans are sometimes referred to as Butternuts, a tag which was first applied to Tennessee soldiers during the Civil War because of the tan color of their uniforms.

• The Ocoee River in southeastern Tennessee is rated among the top white water recreational rivers in the nation and was the site for the Olympic white water canoe/kayak competition in the 1996 Olympics. 

• Tennessee ties with Missouri as the most neighborly state in the union. It is bordered by 8 states.

• Dolly Parton is a native of Sevierville. A major highway, the Dolly Parton Parkway, takes visitors traveling to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

• The world's largest artificial skiing surface is located at the Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort in Gatlinburg. There a 5-acre artificial ski surface permits skiing in any type of weather.

• Coca-Cola was first bottle in 1899 at a plant on Patten Parkway in downtown Chattanooga after two local attorneys purchased the bottling rights to the drink for $l.00.

• Cumberland University, located in Lebanon, lost a football game to Georgia Tech on October 7, 1916 by a score of 222 to 0. The Georgia Tech coach was George Heisman for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.

• Cotton made Memphis a major port on the Mississippi River. The Memphis Cotton Exchange still handles approximately one-third of the entire American cotton crop each year.

Montgomery, Alabama to Franklin, Tennessee

About 285 miles, mostly Interstate, should have been a nice easy drive, right?  Wrong ....







Friday:  I checked the weather report for temps and humidity percentages and rain forecast, and picked Friday (it was still 85% humidity, but I'm in the South) to get up at dawn and wash my very dirty coach.  You don't realize how dirty it is until you swipe a wet cloth across the white swirl and see the mud form .... It took 3 hours to wash, dry and spray wax the outside, but it looks good!
Unfortunately, my Fitbit only gave me 2500 steps for all that bending and reaching and scrubbing.  After I sat for awhile and had a cold one (diet Coke that is), I went back outside to check the fluid levels in the engine and generator, grease the jacks and steps, spray the seals, etc ....  And then I worked on the inside....  even living the dream has chores.  ha.



I called the local Jeep dealer in Hohenwald, TN to make an appointment for an oil change while I'm there and found out that this weekend was Mule Day - Mule Day is an annual celebration of all things related to mules and is held in Columbia, Tennessee, the “Mule Capital” of the world.  As I didn't want to get hung up in the parade, I took my time getting on the road Saturday morning.

No need to worry .... traffic on I-65 was so bad, I averaged 20mph for over 100 miles.  So much for the 70mph speed limit .... 

For a little less than half the drive I had the generator running with the coach A/C on, because, as you may or may not know, you need to run the generator with load at least two hours each month.  If I haven't used it,  I run it while I drive, so as not to disturb my camping neighbors.  Although it was over 80 degrees outside, it got so cold in the cab I had to run the heater to keep from shivering.  A/C works good. ha.

I got to drive on about 15 miles of the Natchez Trace to get to the campground; beautiful, very peaceful drive.  From all the still-bare trees, I imagine the color on them in the Fall would be awesome. 

And the second part of my fun day ..... no cell service/no GPS and the road to the campground has a bridge that says 11ft.  My coach is 13ft .... so I turn left and try to call the campground ... no cell service remember?  By the time I find a place to turn around (many, many miles) I have passed two police officers target shooting in an open field ... twice.  What's a girl to do?  I stopped at the sign before the bridge and turned on my flashers.  I didn't have to wait long before the officers asked if I needed help.  

What has been done to remedy this situation is a trench has been dug along the side of the road to allow an additional 2ft of clearance under the bridge.  The officers were kind enough to guide me through and send me a mile up the road to the campground.

It isn't clear in the picture, but that dirt area is actually a 2ft drop below the road .... which was also fun because there was no "gradual" decline like a driveway ....

It was after 6pm before I got into the campground, so I took the first site that was level and long enough ... not the best choice, but I'm here now!  I drove around the campground on Sunday and decided it wasn't worth moving.



So .. now the fun stuff.  Lots to see in this part of Tennessee and I'm only here 11 days!

Sunday morning I went to the Mule Days fairgrounds for the worship service at the Main Stage.  It was provided by a local Baptist Church; the service was good and the entertainment was wonderful.  I purchased one of their CDs.

 
And then I walked the Arts and Crafts and Flea Market ... and the food rows.  Between the mules, horses and dogs, you better watch each step you take.

Here are some things you don't see at the OC County Fair....

The the "tour" took less than an hour, including the roasted corn and ice tea, so I headed for Franklin to see what was open on Sunday ...









 First stop was the Carnton Plantation  and the Battle of Franklin (November 30, 1864) - the battle that was supposed to be fought at Nashville was fought here because the Federal troops couldn't cross the river - the frontal assult by the Confederate solders on the Federal position was bigger than Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.  The combat raged for five hours, leaving nearly 10,000 casualties in its wake.  The Carnton Plantation was set up as a field hospital.  In the bedrooms where the surgery was set up, you can still see the blood stains in the wooden floor (that had carpet covering it at the time).

Main house and entrance to the garden

One of the slave quarters

 


 
The Public Square has a tall statue of a Conferate solder and several actual canons.
Lots of pretty tulips in bloom all over Franklin ...




I stopped at the GM plant to see if they offered tours, but they don't.  





The Leeson Covered Bridge - is mostly wood, with concrete supports set into the East Fork Creek.

 I had the pleasure of driving under this bridge both going and coming from the Leeson bridge .... I have found out something about myself in my travels that I didn't realize before - I like bridges.

I just thought this one was cool .... apparently you can walk as well as drive over it because there were people up there waving ....

Driving around the area, there is a much larger percentage of brick structures, both public and residence, than I've seen anywhere before.  I don't know if that means brick is less expensive as a building material than wood, or it's the climate ...

A section of the Trace is under construction (the section right where my campground is), so there are many detours, I don't get to take a direct route anywhere I want to go and, of course, my GPS is not aware of the construction .... I get lost a lot coming and going ... :)