In my report for April 10th (Saturday), I forgot to mention the adventures with attempting to swap out my rental car. In my previous cross country trip, Avis wanted me to turn in the car to an Avis office and swap it with another car every 3,000 miles. That would allow them to do an oil change and maintenance. In this case, since I rented for less than two months, I was told I could keep the car and just get oil changes. They would take the cost of oil changes off my bill. However, I was welcome to turn in the car at any corporate-owned Avis office if I chose.
I had a ways to go before an oil change was needed, but I was getting uncomfortable with the idea of heading into the southwest, knowing I'd be on a lot of backroads, with a car that had a northeast license plate. I wanted to call the Dallas-Fort Worth Avis office to see if they'd allow a swap before actually going there. It was impossible to talk to anyone at the office. With every button chosen on the automated system, you'd be sent to their national reservation line or you'd get voice mail. Finally, I went there. The DFW airport is huge and it was a mess driving around the surrounding roads. The GPS could not really help me. At first, I tried to take my car to the rental return place and then saw horrible spikes going in which would have destroyed the tires. The sign said "pull forward" but there was nothing to retract the spikes.
Finally, I found the actual rental office with parking for the office. The staff person was willing to do a swap. But, the car had to be returned on an upper level (back to worrying about the spikes), and a new car would have to be picked up at the lower level. He offered to let me use a small cart to transfer my stuff. When I travel, the car is filled because I take extra clothes, and extra of basically anything else I might need just in case there are problems. Better safe than sorry. But to try and move that with a tiny little cart would mean I'd be transferring stuff all night. So, I decided to skip it. I would just have faith and trust in God in terms of any problems arising from my plate showing I was a long way from home.
Anyway, on to Sunday. After church I did more exploring of Fort Worth. It really is a nice place despite the congestion. One thing I like about Texas in the big cities is that the interstates all have service roads, and a special left turn lane. If you miss your exit you can just go to the next one, stay as close to the left as possible, and go into a left lane that avoids the red lights and gets you right back on the interstate going in the opposite direction. That's quite handy and I used it a few times.
My next stop was Amarillo, which is in the panhandle. I had an almost six hour drive on an interstate style road which ran from Fort Worth almost to Amarillo. It was basically nowheresville. There were occasionally some very small towns (with populations below 1,000) along the way. But for the most part, you'd see cows and pastures along the way. The speed limit on this non-interstate road is 70. It has roads crossing it. There just isn't a lot of traffic, but still, taking a left turn or going straight across a 70 mph road... (I've seen roads like this in the Dakotas and I've seen roads like this at 65 mph in Oklahoma.) At one point, one of the crossroads was named New York Road. That was funny to see, especially since there weren't any other state name crossroads.
View Larger Map
Texas is generally flat in this area. It was cloudy the entire day. After dark, I started noticing the sky lighting up. There were lightning storms (no thunder). I was able to see the lightning directly hit the ground in the fields on either side of the road. (I remember the first time I saw this type of thing in really flat areas. I was in western Nebraska, heading for Wyoming, back in 2007. It got me very nervous.) At this point I just enjoyed the show but did not get nervous. I wouldn't have to worry about downed power lines because when this road was not passing through small towns, there were no power lines along or across the road. It did start to rain, so I slowed down to avoid any accidents. But, the rain was fairly short.
Getting onto I-40, I started to see a bit of Amarillo. The businesses are definitely western-themed. But, it was clear that there would not be the congestion problems of Fort Worth. Amarillo has only about 200,000 people (compared to Fort Worth's 700,000+) and once you leave the city, it's rural with very small cities (as opposed to suburbs surrounding Fort Worth).
The wind was really fierce as I was bringing things into the hotel. Apparently, this is average for Amarillo.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
April 10, 2010: Arkansas to Texas
This was my fourth visit to Arkansas. Originally when I did this trip, I wanted to spend some time exploring Little Rock, Arkansas a bit, as well as some of the cities and towns along I-30 in Arkansas (southwest part) going into Texas. But, ultimately Little Rock was just a stopping off point with a very good hotel. I decided to throw my time into Texas instead. Besides, I would be visiting parts of northern Arkansas on the way back so at least I'll get to see a little bit.
Prior to this trip, I had only been to Texas one time. That one time was at most three to five hours during last Fall's trip. I drove down from Oklahoma City, saw a historical site, had BBQ for dinner, and got back up to Oklahoma City for the night. The fall trip had been so compressed and Texas had been at the end of the geographic area I was covering. Before the Fall 2009 trip, I had tried many times to include Texas in a trip and it never worked out.
This time, I got to see and understand a lot more about Texas. The people truly love and are proud of their state. Texas is referred to as the Lone Star State and on many of the bridges, you see a star and outlines of the state. The star, state flag, and outline of the state are constantly visible from the road in the populated areas I visited. The state flag is a simple design with a blue vertical strip including the single star, plus a horizontal red and horizontal white stripe. Many businesses incorporate the design of the flag into their own signs and logos.
My stop for the night was in North Richland Hills, which is a suburb of Fort Worth. I wanted to avoid staying directly in Fort Worth because it's a huge city and I simply prefer small cities and towns. There is also less congestion. I don't mind a city of 200,000 or even 400,000. But beyond that, I just can't deal with the congestion. Fort Worth has an estimated 700,000 people, with Dallas at over 1 million people next door.
It took about six hours to get to the Fort Worth area. Most of the drive was through unpopulated stretches of I-30. I had to pass through Dallas first and then on to Fort Worth. There were numerous traffic jams on the interstates, even on a Saturday.
I spent a lot of time looking around. I didn't try to go into the Stockyards, which is the historic district of Fort Worth, because there was a huge festival going on. It's busy normally but it was likely much busier because of the weekend's events. I didn't even want to try finding a parking space.
For dinner, I went off my Subway diet (because it's cheap, fast, healthy if done right, and available almost everywhere) and had barbecue. This was at Riscky's, which was recommended by the hotel clerk. I can certainly see why. It was absolutely delicious. I liked the BBQ I had last time in Texas, but this one certainly was better.
Overall, I've been very impressed with Texas from this visit. I didn't know a lot about Texas before visiting and didn't pick up much after my Fall 2009 visit due to the short time I had to be there. But I've learned a whole lot more since then.
Prior to this trip, I had only been to Texas one time. That one time was at most three to five hours during last Fall's trip. I drove down from Oklahoma City, saw a historical site, had BBQ for dinner, and got back up to Oklahoma City for the night. The fall trip had been so compressed and Texas had been at the end of the geographic area I was covering. Before the Fall 2009 trip, I had tried many times to include Texas in a trip and it never worked out.
This time, I got to see and understand a lot more about Texas. The people truly love and are proud of their state. Texas is referred to as the Lone Star State and on many of the bridges, you see a star and outlines of the state. The star, state flag, and outline of the state are constantly visible from the road in the populated areas I visited. The state flag is a simple design with a blue vertical strip including the single star, plus a horizontal red and horizontal white stripe. Many businesses incorporate the design of the flag into their own signs and logos.
My stop for the night was in North Richland Hills, which is a suburb of Fort Worth. I wanted to avoid staying directly in Fort Worth because it's a huge city and I simply prefer small cities and towns. There is also less congestion. I don't mind a city of 200,000 or even 400,000. But beyond that, I just can't deal with the congestion. Fort Worth has an estimated 700,000 people, with Dallas at over 1 million people next door.
It took about six hours to get to the Fort Worth area. Most of the drive was through unpopulated stretches of I-30. I had to pass through Dallas first and then on to Fort Worth. There were numerous traffic jams on the interstates, even on a Saturday.
I spent a lot of time looking around. I didn't try to go into the Stockyards, which is the historic district of Fort Worth, because there was a huge festival going on. It's busy normally but it was likely much busier because of the weekend's events. I didn't even want to try finding a parking space.
For dinner, I went off my Subway diet (because it's cheap, fast, healthy if done right, and available almost everywhere) and had barbecue. This was at Riscky's, which was recommended by the hotel clerk. I can certainly see why. It was absolutely delicious. I liked the BBQ I had last time in Texas, but this one certainly was better.
Overall, I've been very impressed with Texas from this visit. I didn't know a lot about Texas before visiting and didn't pick up much after my Fall 2009 visit due to the short time I had to be there. But I've learned a whole lot more since then.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
April 9, 2010: Laptop Theft and Elvis' Birthplace
After a very nice breakfast at the hotel, Dan inquired at the front desk about retrieving his things. Last night, he had been told that they thought we checked out and his things were kept in a room for which the night clerk did not have a key. This morning, the manager told him a different story. They had no knowledge of the items. The maids claimed there was nothing in the room except a left over water bottle, which was promptly thrown out.
The manager told Dan that the only thing he could do was file a police report. Dan noted that last night, other people were also saying things had been stolen from their rooms. Filing a police report was NOT the only thing that could be done. The hotel should have been reasonable and demanded that the maid who had the items turn them in. I told the manager that I would put all of this on TripAdvisor. He said he would file a management response, which is his right. I'll also be submitting a complaint to Choice Hotels itself.
When the officer arrived, he took down the information and had a lengthy talk with the manager. He told Dan that beyond taking the names of the employees down as suspects, the most he could do was file a report. There was likely no chance Dan would ever get his things back.
The laptop itself was old. But, he now has to obtain a new laptop. The bag also contained his cell phone charger and various other things. So, now Dan has to obtain a track phone. While it's best to not trust people in these situations and assume they would steal (thus the need to remove valuables from a hotel room when one is not in the room), it's too bad we live in this kind of world. I'm of course embarrassed as this was a hotel I chose. It was not a dumpy hotel either. Were it not for my points, it would have cost $100/night.
As for me, I really liked this hotel up until the point that I learned things were stolen. The room was clean, the breakfast was great, the furnishings were great, etc. Since I like to occasionally go to Birmingham to see EWTN, this would have been my default hotel for visits to that city. But I would never set foot in the Birmingham Clarion again.
While Dan was going to stay around Alabama so he could attend Sunday Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, I had to move further west in order to stay on schedule. The plan was to be in Little Rock, Arkansas for the evening. I expected to leave shortly after breakfast. Ultimately, I left shortly after noon since we had to deal with the totally avoidable problem of items in our room spontaneously growing legs and escaping.
Birmingham is likely going to be the furthest point south on this entire trip. Everything else going out is moving northwest. Tupelo, Mississippi, was on the way to Little Rock. I saw Graceland in 2008, so I wanted to see Elvis' birthplace as well. It was about 2.5 hours from Birmingham. Most of the driving was on an interstate like road which is signed as the future I-22. It was mostly desolate. Cell phone service worked for the most part, though while talking to a friend, it cut off.
View Larger Map
The birthplace of Elvis consists of the home where he was born, the church he attended, and a museum. The church tour was the most impressive. It's a very small building, but they give a presentation by showing three movie screens. One is in front and the other two are on either side. People easily feel like they are part of the scene. You almost want to stand up when the people on the screens are standing up, and you feel like they are talking to you directly.
The birth home was owned by Elvis' parents until Elvis was around age three. His father lost the home. When Elvis became famous, he bought it back. The tour guide for the home is Elvis' second cousin. She knew him before he became famous.
The museum was inspiring, talking about Elvis' rise from abject poverty to fame. The family left Tupelo and moved to Memphis (which is where Graceland is located) to look for more opportunities. Those opportunities certainly came.
The drive from Tupelo, MS to Little Rock, AR was mostly uneventful. Mississippi gets the prize for the least expensive gas in my trip at $2.59. But that was only one particular station.
View Larger Map
I had a reservation at the Econo Lodge in North Little Rock. Typically the Econo Lodge is in the low end of Choice Hotels. But it was a brand new hotel and I was pleasantly surprised. I would definitely go back there if I'm in the area again.
The manager told Dan that the only thing he could do was file a police report. Dan noted that last night, other people were also saying things had been stolen from their rooms. Filing a police report was NOT the only thing that could be done. The hotel should have been reasonable and demanded that the maid who had the items turn them in. I told the manager that I would put all of this on TripAdvisor. He said he would file a management response, which is his right. I'll also be submitting a complaint to Choice Hotels itself.
When the officer arrived, he took down the information and had a lengthy talk with the manager. He told Dan that beyond taking the names of the employees down as suspects, the most he could do was file a report. There was likely no chance Dan would ever get his things back.
The laptop itself was old. But, he now has to obtain a new laptop. The bag also contained his cell phone charger and various other things. So, now Dan has to obtain a track phone. While it's best to not trust people in these situations and assume they would steal (thus the need to remove valuables from a hotel room when one is not in the room), it's too bad we live in this kind of world. I'm of course embarrassed as this was a hotel I chose. It was not a dumpy hotel either. Were it not for my points, it would have cost $100/night.
As for me, I really liked this hotel up until the point that I learned things were stolen. The room was clean, the breakfast was great, the furnishings were great, etc. Since I like to occasionally go to Birmingham to see EWTN, this would have been my default hotel for visits to that city. But I would never set foot in the Birmingham Clarion again.
While Dan was going to stay around Alabama so he could attend Sunday Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, I had to move further west in order to stay on schedule. The plan was to be in Little Rock, Arkansas for the evening. I expected to leave shortly after breakfast. Ultimately, I left shortly after noon since we had to deal with the totally avoidable problem of items in our room spontaneously growing legs and escaping.
Birmingham is likely going to be the furthest point south on this entire trip. Everything else going out is moving northwest. Tupelo, Mississippi, was on the way to Little Rock. I saw Graceland in 2008, so I wanted to see Elvis' birthplace as well. It was about 2.5 hours from Birmingham. Most of the driving was on an interstate like road which is signed as the future I-22. It was mostly desolate. Cell phone service worked for the most part, though while talking to a friend, it cut off.
View Larger Map
The birthplace of Elvis consists of the home where he was born, the church he attended, and a museum. The church tour was the most impressive. It's a very small building, but they give a presentation by showing three movie screens. One is in front and the other two are on either side. People easily feel like they are part of the scene. You almost want to stand up when the people on the screens are standing up, and you feel like they are talking to you directly.
The birth home was owned by Elvis' parents until Elvis was around age three. His father lost the home. When Elvis became famous, he bought it back. The tour guide for the home is Elvis' second cousin. She knew him before he became famous.
The museum was inspiring, talking about Elvis' rise from abject poverty to fame. The family left Tupelo and moved to Memphis (which is where Graceland is located) to look for more opportunities. Those opportunities certainly came.
The drive from Tupelo, MS to Little Rock, AR was mostly uneventful. Mississippi gets the prize for the least expensive gas in my trip at $2.59. But that was only one particular station.
View Larger Map
I had a reservation at the Econo Lodge in North Little Rock. Typically the Econo Lodge is in the low end of Choice Hotels. But it was a brand new hotel and I was pleasantly surprised. I would definitely go back there if I'm in the area again.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
April 8, 2010: EWTN and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Thursday was a long day. The major plan for the day was to participate in two live television broadcasts on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) which is the Catholic cable channel. It's worldwide and also streams on the web. And, this was the purpose of being in Birmingham.
I've been to Alabama four times counting this current trip. My first visit was in 2005. Alabama was the first state I visited outside of the Northeast. It was also the cause of my first commercial flight. I went with a group to EWTN. I last visited Alabama and EWTN in Spring, 2008.
The Mass is broadcast at 7am Central Time (in Eastern Time, it's 8am). In order to be on television, you must arrive around 6:20am. Otherwise, you risk having to go to the "overflow area" and will not be on camera. Since the hotel was six miles away from EWTN's studio, I didn't want to take chances. I decided we had to leave by 5:45am. I woke up at 4:30am and I think I was so excited over visiting EWTN again that I did not get much sleep. At most, I had two hours of sleep. I was totally exhausted for most of the day. I'm glad I didn't have to drive six hours that day as I typically do on one of these trips.
When we arrived at EWTN, there were very few people in the Chapel. It's a small Chapel and there is not a lot of room. But it's been packed on my two previous trips. Staff are always there, but even they don't fill it. They need visitors to fill it so the broadcast does not show a lot of empty pughs. As Dan and I were two of the three younger people present, a staff member sincerely thanked us for showing up.
The GPS wasn't great in getting us there. Dan had been there on Wednesday so he remembered the way. But getting us out of the studio and back to the hotel was a real mess. The GPS took us through a bunch of neighborhoods when a couple of turns in another direction would have immediately brought us to I-20.
Breakfast at the hotel was very nice. It included nice southern food, except it was missing one of the most important things: grits. Still, there was enough of everything else that the grits weren't missed.
After resting a bit, we decided to go up north to Hanceville, Alabama. This is where the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament is located. The Shrine is frequently promoted by EWTN, and some shows are taped at the Shrine, but they are not officially connected. Mother Angelica (founder of EWTN) had the Shrine built, but she is not officially connected to EWTN anymore, except to be remembered as its founder.
When we left, I told Dan to take all of his things out of the hotel room since the maids had not been through yet. Even if things were not valuable to him, they could get thrown away. He decided to take the risk, and even left his laptop there thinking it was so old that nobody would steal it.... I should have remembered, and reminded him, that nobody would care about selling his laptop. They would just want it to see if they could get information out of it to steal his identity.
Our first stop was Our Lady's Grotto. This is run by Benedictine monks and contains minitature sculptures of various scenes from Biblical and Catholic history. The brother who did the sculptures worked on them from the late 1930s to the early 1960s when he died. The sculptures are left outside, and surprisingly enough, there is very little detereoration due to weather. I visited the Grotto in 2005 on my first trip to Alabama. There was a new carving (done by someone else, of course) made in 2009. I'll have pictures up soon.
After the Grotto, we visited the Shrine itself. Dan was amazed as this was his first ever visit. The Shrine is gorgeous. It was built in 1999, but was done in the style of an older church. The materials all look modern, but they are done tastefully and in intricate detail. Five families donated to build the Shrine, on condition that they remain anonymous forever.
We met the priest and young women who were going to appear on the EWTN show Life on the Rock later that evening. They came from Nebraska and were touring the Shrine when we were there.
We also saw the gift shop, which looks like a castle and has medeval suits of armor. There are statues of St. Michael the Arcangel and St. Joan of Arc, each dressed in armor. Dan was amazed at all of these things. (I was too when I first saw it five years ago.)
Hanceville is about an hour from Birmingham. It's not directly off I-65. The GPS took us through the countryside getting back to Birmingham. But, we saw some nice scenery.
We had enough time for a quick dinner and then had to get back to EWTN for the broadcast of Life on the Rock. We each reserved a seat in the audience ahead of time. However, it wouldn't have mattered because there were not that many people in the audience. We could have just walked in right before the show started and still been given seats.
On some EWTN shows, the camera pans the audience. On Life on the Rock, they don't. The only contribution the audience makes is to clap at the breaks and beginning/end of the show. It was interesting watching the broadcast. It's a very small set and there is only one studio (outside of the Chapel where the Mass is broadcast). So, for each show they must keep switching the backgrounds and furniture. Breaks are done in order to adjust equipment and move guests around. In this case, there were several young women and each one had to have a chance to be on screen, so they would switch during breaks. There is a large television on the side so you can see exactly what the viewers are seeing (complete with credits, names, web addresses, and other wording placed on the screen while people are talking). I kept turning my head to watch what people saw vs. seeing the people right in front of me.
When we got back around 8:30pm or 9, the hotel room was truly cleaned out. All of Dan's things were gone. He went to the desk and was told that it was being held somewhere because they thought we checked out and left it. The clerk did not have the keys to the room where it was kept so he would have to get it in the morning.
We had originally planned to attend the broadcast Mass again on Friday morning. But we were both so exhausted from getting up so early that we decided to skip it. It was too much to get up at 4:30am again. In my case, I knew I couldn't do that after having only two hours of sleep the night before.
I've been to Alabama four times counting this current trip. My first visit was in 2005. Alabama was the first state I visited outside of the Northeast. It was also the cause of my first commercial flight. I went with a group to EWTN. I last visited Alabama and EWTN in Spring, 2008.
The Mass is broadcast at 7am Central Time (in Eastern Time, it's 8am). In order to be on television, you must arrive around 6:20am. Otherwise, you risk having to go to the "overflow area" and will not be on camera. Since the hotel was six miles away from EWTN's studio, I didn't want to take chances. I decided we had to leave by 5:45am. I woke up at 4:30am and I think I was so excited over visiting EWTN again that I did not get much sleep. At most, I had two hours of sleep. I was totally exhausted for most of the day. I'm glad I didn't have to drive six hours that day as I typically do on one of these trips.
When we arrived at EWTN, there were very few people in the Chapel. It's a small Chapel and there is not a lot of room. But it's been packed on my two previous trips. Staff are always there, but even they don't fill it. They need visitors to fill it so the broadcast does not show a lot of empty pughs. As Dan and I were two of the three younger people present, a staff member sincerely thanked us for showing up.
The GPS wasn't great in getting us there. Dan had been there on Wednesday so he remembered the way. But getting us out of the studio and back to the hotel was a real mess. The GPS took us through a bunch of neighborhoods when a couple of turns in another direction would have immediately brought us to I-20.
Breakfast at the hotel was very nice. It included nice southern food, except it was missing one of the most important things: grits. Still, there was enough of everything else that the grits weren't missed.
After resting a bit, we decided to go up north to Hanceville, Alabama. This is where the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament is located. The Shrine is frequently promoted by EWTN, and some shows are taped at the Shrine, but they are not officially connected. Mother Angelica (founder of EWTN) had the Shrine built, but she is not officially connected to EWTN anymore, except to be remembered as its founder.
When we left, I told Dan to take all of his things out of the hotel room since the maids had not been through yet. Even if things were not valuable to him, they could get thrown away. He decided to take the risk, and even left his laptop there thinking it was so old that nobody would steal it.... I should have remembered, and reminded him, that nobody would care about selling his laptop. They would just want it to see if they could get information out of it to steal his identity.
Our first stop was Our Lady's Grotto. This is run by Benedictine monks and contains minitature sculptures of various scenes from Biblical and Catholic history. The brother who did the sculptures worked on them from the late 1930s to the early 1960s when he died. The sculptures are left outside, and surprisingly enough, there is very little detereoration due to weather. I visited the Grotto in 2005 on my first trip to Alabama. There was a new carving (done by someone else, of course) made in 2009. I'll have pictures up soon.
After the Grotto, we visited the Shrine itself. Dan was amazed as this was his first ever visit. The Shrine is gorgeous. It was built in 1999, but was done in the style of an older church. The materials all look modern, but they are done tastefully and in intricate detail. Five families donated to build the Shrine, on condition that they remain anonymous forever.
We met the priest and young women who were going to appear on the EWTN show Life on the Rock later that evening. They came from Nebraska and were touring the Shrine when we were there.
We also saw the gift shop, which looks like a castle and has medeval suits of armor. There are statues of St. Michael the Arcangel and St. Joan of Arc, each dressed in armor. Dan was amazed at all of these things. (I was too when I first saw it five years ago.)
Hanceville is about an hour from Birmingham. It's not directly off I-65. The GPS took us through the countryside getting back to Birmingham. But, we saw some nice scenery.
We had enough time for a quick dinner and then had to get back to EWTN for the broadcast of Life on the Rock. We each reserved a seat in the audience ahead of time. However, it wouldn't have mattered because there were not that many people in the audience. We could have just walked in right before the show started and still been given seats.
On some EWTN shows, the camera pans the audience. On Life on the Rock, they don't. The only contribution the audience makes is to clap at the breaks and beginning/end of the show. It was interesting watching the broadcast. It's a very small set and there is only one studio (outside of the Chapel where the Mass is broadcast). So, for each show they must keep switching the backgrounds and furniture. Breaks are done in order to adjust equipment and move guests around. In this case, there were several young women and each one had to have a chance to be on screen, so they would switch during breaks. There is a large television on the side so you can see exactly what the viewers are seeing (complete with credits, names, web addresses, and other wording placed on the screen while people are talking). I kept turning my head to watch what people saw vs. seeing the people right in front of me.
When we got back around 8:30pm or 9, the hotel room was truly cleaned out. All of Dan's things were gone. He went to the desk and was told that it was being held somewhere because they thought we checked out and left it. The clerk did not have the keys to the room where it was kept so he would have to get it in the morning.
We had originally planned to attend the broadcast Mass again on Friday morning. But we were both so exhausted from getting up so early that we decided to skip it. It was too much to get up at 4:30am again. In my case, I knew I couldn't do that after having only two hours of sleep the night before.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
April 7, 2010: Pigeon Forge, TN
Knoxville was basically a stopping off point on the way to Birmingham. But, when I arrived at the hotel, I noticed brochures for Pigeon Forge, TN. There are a few shows that take place there and are similar (or even identical in some cases) to the ones in Branson, Missouri which I visited last fall. I decided to check out Pigeon Forge for the day.
I think Pigeon Forge is more like a tourist trap. There is far more shopping and other tourist type businesses than actual shows. I think at most there are twelve shows and most are not available in the afternoon. Branson, on the other hand, has around fifty shows, many of which offer an afternoon showing in addition to a dinner show. Branson is all about shows and while they might have limited shopping and tourist trap type things, the emphasis is on family friendly shows. Branson is condensed into a very small area (due to the Ozark Mountains) while Pigeon Forge is spread out.
As I worked my way south towards Birmingham, I saw some incredible views along I-24 near Chattanooga, TN. At one point I-24 ran along a beautiful lake on one side with mountains on the other side. The mountain views in the area were gorgeous.
From I-24 I had to take I-59 south. A small portion of it cut across the northwest part of Georgia. I officially stopped for something (irrelevant) in Georgia...I bought gas. So, I can include Georgia as a visited state on this trip.
Getting into Alabama, I was glad I bought gas in Georgia. I=59 between the Georgia line and Birmingham is basically desolate. There were very few exits in nearly two hours' worth of driving. There was a great deal of construction, bringing things down to one lane for both the northern and southern routes on I-59. Once I got to the right exit, the GPS goofed up in getting me to my hotel. But, after driving a bit I finally noticed the sign.
I met my friend Dan at the hotel. He is from the Troy area and is on his own cross country trip and we both planned to go to the televised Mass at EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) and be in the audience on their Life on the Rock show on Thursday, April 8th. But, since I got a free hotel night (as I have all this week) I invited him to share the room.
I think Pigeon Forge is more like a tourist trap. There is far more shopping and other tourist type businesses than actual shows. I think at most there are twelve shows and most are not available in the afternoon. Branson, on the other hand, has around fifty shows, many of which offer an afternoon showing in addition to a dinner show. Branson is all about shows and while they might have limited shopping and tourist trap type things, the emphasis is on family friendly shows. Branson is condensed into a very small area (due to the Ozark Mountains) while Pigeon Forge is spread out.
As I worked my way south towards Birmingham, I saw some incredible views along I-24 near Chattanooga, TN. At one point I-24 ran along a beautiful lake on one side with mountains on the other side. The mountain views in the area were gorgeous.
From I-24 I had to take I-59 south. A small portion of it cut across the northwest part of Georgia. I officially stopped for something (irrelevant) in Georgia...I bought gas. So, I can include Georgia as a visited state on this trip.
Getting into Alabama, I was glad I bought gas in Georgia. I=59 between the Georgia line and Birmingham is basically desolate. There were very few exits in nearly two hours' worth of driving. There was a great deal of construction, bringing things down to one lane for both the northern and southern routes on I-59. Once I got to the right exit, the GPS goofed up in getting me to my hotel. But, after driving a bit I finally noticed the sign.
I met my friend Dan at the hotel. He is from the Troy area and is on his own cross country trip and we both planned to go to the televised Mass at EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) and be in the audience on their Life on the Rock show on Thursday, April 8th. But, since I got a free hotel night (as I have all this week) I invited him to share the room.
April 6, 2010: Woodrow Wilson's birthplace to Knoxville, TN
Virginia is absolutely beautiful. Compared to the Northeast where foliage has not come out yet, Virginia is in full bloom. Flowering trees are brilliant in white and purple. The grass is lush green. The rolling hills are beautiful, particularly with the lush green grass. I've been in Virginia primarily in the fall and winter in past trips. The grass was of course yellowed or dead in those times, and looked similar to what one might see in treeless areas of the Rocky Mountain West where the sun beats down on the grass and burns it. But today, the color was brilliant green.
Photographs from this day will be posted soon.
My first stop was the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson in Staunton, VA (pronounced like "Stanton"). This fills in a gap in my list of presidential home visits. I have now seen at least one home related to all presidents who have homes available between Rutherford Hayes (#19) and Harry Truman (#33). Grover Cleveland (#22 and #24) does not have a home available to tour. For the earlier presidents, I'm only missing a visit to Grant's home in Illinois.
The ticket for entrance into the Wilson museum and to tour his birthplace home was a replica of the admission ticket to the Democrat National Convention of 1912, complete with a picture of Thomas Jefferson. The museum had panels and non-flash photography was allowed. So, I did what I typically do in that situation. I photographed many of the panels so I can read them at my leisure, saving time while traveling.
The home tour was interesting, though there was not a lot about Wilson himself. Wilson was born in the home and lived there until he was 1 1/2. His father was a pastor and the family moved to Georgia after that. The tour focused on what life was like in the 1840s and 1850s (Wilson was born in 1856), particularly for children. There were a few pieces from Wilson's family including a bed he slept in. But most of the pieces were period pieces. There a map of the United States made in the early 1840s. At that time, Wisconsin was still a territory. Florida had not become a state yet. Texas was an independent republic.
Wilson did return to the house after being elected president and spent a night there. He had a very short political career though he always wanted to be in politics. Wilson had been a professor and spent several years as president of Princeton. He was elected governor of New Jersey, and served only two years before being elected President of the United States. After serving two terms, he lasted only three more years. The mayor of Staunton wanted him to be buried in the city of his birth. However, he was instead interred at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
My next stop was supposed to be Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat. It's located near Lynchburg, VA. It looks like a smaller version of his main home, Monticello. Unfortunately, I must have missed the note on the web site saying it's closed on Tuesdays. When I arrived, I found the gate closed with a schedule listing that it's not open on Tuesdays.
The drive to Lynchburg was beautiful. Most of it was on local roads. The mountains were gorgeous and there were many scenic lookout points. The road twisted in a way that would make the backroads of West Virgina and southwestern Missouri look tame. Most of the time there were guard rails. The car had trouble climbing some of the hills. I would not want to try this in the winter! But for the most part the views were breathtaking. I have pictures which I will post soon.
After arriving in Lynchburg and finding Jefferson's Poplar Forest closed, I exoplored the city a bit. Then I began the trip to my next destination for the night, which was Knoxville, TN. The drive went well for the most part. However, I found the GPS is untrustworthy when it lists the speed limit for a stretch of road. Often it would claim the speed limit was 70 when many parts of I-81 in TN are at 65. Knoxville was basically a stopping off point on the way to Birmingham, Alabama.
Photographs from this day will be posted soon.
My first stop was the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson in Staunton, VA (pronounced like "Stanton"). This fills in a gap in my list of presidential home visits. I have now seen at least one home related to all presidents who have homes available between Rutherford Hayes (#19) and Harry Truman (#33). Grover Cleveland (#22 and #24) does not have a home available to tour. For the earlier presidents, I'm only missing a visit to Grant's home in Illinois.
The ticket for entrance into the Wilson museum and to tour his birthplace home was a replica of the admission ticket to the Democrat National Convention of 1912, complete with a picture of Thomas Jefferson. The museum had panels and non-flash photography was allowed. So, I did what I typically do in that situation. I photographed many of the panels so I can read them at my leisure, saving time while traveling.
The home tour was interesting, though there was not a lot about Wilson himself. Wilson was born in the home and lived there until he was 1 1/2. His father was a pastor and the family moved to Georgia after that. The tour focused on what life was like in the 1840s and 1850s (Wilson was born in 1856), particularly for children. There were a few pieces from Wilson's family including a bed he slept in. But most of the pieces were period pieces. There a map of the United States made in the early 1840s. At that time, Wisconsin was still a territory. Florida had not become a state yet. Texas was an independent republic.
Wilson did return to the house after being elected president and spent a night there. He had a very short political career though he always wanted to be in politics. Wilson had been a professor and spent several years as president of Princeton. He was elected governor of New Jersey, and served only two years before being elected President of the United States. After serving two terms, he lasted only three more years. The mayor of Staunton wanted him to be buried in the city of his birth. However, he was instead interred at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
My next stop was supposed to be Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat. It's located near Lynchburg, VA. It looks like a smaller version of his main home, Monticello. Unfortunately, I must have missed the note on the web site saying it's closed on Tuesdays. When I arrived, I found the gate closed with a schedule listing that it's not open on Tuesdays.
The drive to Lynchburg was beautiful. Most of it was on local roads. The mountains were gorgeous and there were many scenic lookout points. The road twisted in a way that would make the backroads of West Virgina and southwestern Missouri look tame. Most of the time there were guard rails. The car had trouble climbing some of the hills. I would not want to try this in the winter! But for the most part the views were breathtaking. I have pictures which I will post soon.
After arriving in Lynchburg and finding Jefferson's Poplar Forest closed, I exoplored the city a bit. Then I began the trip to my next destination for the night, which was Knoxville, TN. The drive went well for the most part. However, I found the GPS is untrustworthy when it lists the speed limit for a stretch of road. Often it would claim the speed limit was 70 when many parts of I-81 in TN are at 65. Knoxville was basically a stopping off point on the way to Birmingham, Alabama.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
April 5, 2010: Getting Started
I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time. It will be my second cross country trip (first one was in summer/fall 2008). This time I will be going to California, which is one of the few states (along with Louisiana, Alaska, and Hawaii) I have not seen.
Although I packed up the car fast, it seemed the last minute details never ended. As usual, I left without bringing some items I planned to bring. Fortunately, I can buy them at stores along the way, though that's extra time. I expected to leave by 11am or noon at the latest. I finally got out at 3pm. I still had to go to the bank before I left, which cut an extra few minutes. By the time I finally got on the Northway, it was about 3:30.
The route for this trip was similar to one I took two years ago around this time, exploring the South. I took I-88 to Binghamton, then took I-81 through Pennsylvania. Of course, two years ago I was less ambitious and stopped in Pennsylvania for the night. This time, my destination was New Market, Virginia (in the northern part of the state, just off I-81).
The drive was nice. I had not been on I-88 in the daytime in a while (perhaps since the previous trip to the South in 2008). It was good to see the mountains and farms again. As I went further south into Pennsylvania, of course, it became dark.
In a cost saving measure, rental companies have changed their definition of "intermediate" cars while increasing the price. What passed as intermediate even last year is now considered "full size." What was considered "compact" last year is now "intermediate." I ended up with a compact car passing as intermediate. The car is very weak in terms of getting up to speed. When it comes time for an oil change, I'm going to swap it out at an Avis office in my travels. I was told that I could do that or just get oil changes myself and they'd take the cost off my bill. I'll take the former option. On the other hand, whatever replaces it may not be much better.
Further into southern Pennsylvania, there was an awful odor for miles. It smelled like rot. I worried that it might be something in the car, but in rolling down my window, the smell was definitely outside. As I passed into Maryland and West Virginia, it went away. But shortly after getting into Virginia, it was back. Outside the hotel, the smell was really strong everywhere I walked. The inside of the hotel was very nice, and thankfully the smell didn't get inside.
Google Maps estimated that the drive would take almost eight hours if there were no stops. This drive took about 9.5 hours. I arrived at 12:30 am. Of course, I was the last one with a reservation to arrive at the hotel. That's standard for me. I had to stop several times along the way between fuel, dinner, walking around, and resting. It usually takes a couple of days of traveling to get back into the pace. Also, once I get into the trips, I have actual planned attractions to see which breaks up the travel. They can substitute for stops just for resting.
Along the way, I received a voice mail from EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) which is located in Birmingham, Alabama. I had requested a ticket to be in the audience for the Life on the Rock show at 8pm on Thursday, April 8th. They reserved a space for me. I'll also be attending the televised Mass on April 8th, and likely April 9th. The televised Mass does not require tickets, but you have to get there by about 6:20am Central Time or else there is no room in the chapel.
Although I packed up the car fast, it seemed the last minute details never ended. As usual, I left without bringing some items I planned to bring. Fortunately, I can buy them at stores along the way, though that's extra time. I expected to leave by 11am or noon at the latest. I finally got out at 3pm. I still had to go to the bank before I left, which cut an extra few minutes. By the time I finally got on the Northway, it was about 3:30.
The route for this trip was similar to one I took two years ago around this time, exploring the South. I took I-88 to Binghamton, then took I-81 through Pennsylvania. Of course, two years ago I was less ambitious and stopped in Pennsylvania for the night. This time, my destination was New Market, Virginia (in the northern part of the state, just off I-81).
The drive was nice. I had not been on I-88 in the daytime in a while (perhaps since the previous trip to the South in 2008). It was good to see the mountains and farms again. As I went further south into Pennsylvania, of course, it became dark.
In a cost saving measure, rental companies have changed their definition of "intermediate" cars while increasing the price. What passed as intermediate even last year is now considered "full size." What was considered "compact" last year is now "intermediate." I ended up with a compact car passing as intermediate. The car is very weak in terms of getting up to speed. When it comes time for an oil change, I'm going to swap it out at an Avis office in my travels. I was told that I could do that or just get oil changes myself and they'd take the cost off my bill. I'll take the former option. On the other hand, whatever replaces it may not be much better.
Further into southern Pennsylvania, there was an awful odor for miles. It smelled like rot. I worried that it might be something in the car, but in rolling down my window, the smell was definitely outside. As I passed into Maryland and West Virginia, it went away. But shortly after getting into Virginia, it was back. Outside the hotel, the smell was really strong everywhere I walked. The inside of the hotel was very nice, and thankfully the smell didn't get inside.
Google Maps estimated that the drive would take almost eight hours if there were no stops. This drive took about 9.5 hours. I arrived at 12:30 am. Of course, I was the last one with a reservation to arrive at the hotel. That's standard for me. I had to stop several times along the way between fuel, dinner, walking around, and resting. It usually takes a couple of days of traveling to get back into the pace. Also, once I get into the trips, I have actual planned attractions to see which breaks up the travel. They can substitute for stops just for resting.
Along the way, I received a voice mail from EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) which is located in Birmingham, Alabama. I had requested a ticket to be in the audience for the Life on the Rock show at 8pm on Thursday, April 8th. They reserved a space for me. I'll also be attending the televised Mass on April 8th, and likely April 9th. The televised Mass does not require tickets, but you have to get there by about 6:20am Central Time or else there is no room in the chapel.
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