When we left Texarkana on Friday, December 27, Doug wore shorts for the first time! We headed for the KOA in Arlington, Texas – one of the best places we have stayed. Obviously it was once in the country, but the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth grew together and engulfed it.

We had not planned to head further west than Memphis, except maybe to set foot in Arkansas, but when the college football bowl invitations came out, plans changed! After all, the Cotton Bowl is played in Dallas, which is only about 6 hours from Memphis. For anyone who does not know, Doug is a huge Penn State fan, so this was an opportunity not to be missed. Ironically, Penn State played against the Memphis Tigers, so every window front in the town where we spent Christmas displayed signs cheering on the blue Tigers! When we crossed the Mississippi River it was the furthest west Judy had ever driven, and it was the first time in Arkansas for both of us.

We visited Little Rock briefly, the state capital on the Arkansas River. The name derives from the fact that there are no other rocks on the river between the city and the Mississippi. Apparently there is one more, larger rock a little further up the Arkansas – Big Rock. The gentleman at the information center had to tell us that and numerous other facts about the town that he is very proud of – there weren’t many visitors that day! We can usually tell when the information people haven’t had many callers. We stopped for lunch at the international headquarters of the Heifer Project cafe. It was a very healthy meal! Judy and her friend Bonnie (mentioned a couple of episodes earlier) traveled to El Salvador and Guatemala on a Heifer Project trip in our teen years. We drove the rest of the way through Arkansas to Texarkana: Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana.

As you may recall, it is all about the ducks at The Peabody. The duck theme is ubiquitous. After a speech about the history and tradition, at 11 am daily the Duck Master and an honorary Duck Master Assistant for the day (sometimes a visiting celebrity) take the elevator to the roof of the hotel to escort the ducks from above. There is one male and four females, all young ducks from a nearby farm. When they reach a certain age the farmer takes them away, supposedly to be set free, and new young ones come in.

When the ducks come out of the elevator there is a red carpet and a crowd waiting for their arrival, which is accompanied by the King Cotton March by John Philip Souza.

At 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the ducks are returned to the roof.

Sorry about all the build-up. Major bummer. WordPress won’t let me upload the really cute movie of the ducks coming across the roof to get home! Sorry! If I can find another way to share it, I will let you know!!!

Our visit to Nashville ended quietly, with no time to visit the new Grand Ole Opry Theater, because Judy came down with a stomach bug. On Monday, December 23 we drove from Nashville to Memphis and checked into The Peabody Hotel where ducks are, well, king and queens.

While our van does fit in a standard parking space length- and width- wise, it is close to 10 feet tall, so most parking garages cannot accommodate it. Therefore, at The Peabody, the van was given a premier parking space in the main courtyard!

The Peabody was all decked out for Christmas with trees and lights and a large ginger bread village with moving pieces.

During our visit in Memphis we toured the city and saw much evidence of its two favorite Kings: BB and Elvis. Looking at the outside of Elvis’ house was sufficient!

Other attractions in Memphis included St. Jude Hospital that was started by Danny Thomas and his wife, and the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art. The Belz family was responsible for the latest restoration of The Peabody. The museum included a moving holocaust exhibit and a huge display of large pieces of Asian Art.

On December 21 Doug and Judy toured Ryman Auditorium – featured in the Ken Burns’ documentary about Country Music – and a beautiful building worthy of an extensive renovation.

After our tour of the Ryman we walked up Broadway in Nashville to the Frist Art Museum where we (Judy especially) were delighted to find the exhibition “Hearts of Our People – Native Women Artists” that originated at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. This is an extraordinary exhibit of a wide variety of objects with many interviews and explanations. Later this year it will be at Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and at the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you can see you, you will be glad you did. I will try to see it again. 

There are also haunting paintings and beautiful baskets – one of a pregnant woman’s torso, beading, and many more items.

To top off the day in Nashville, we attended the live Saturday night broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry from the Ryman Auditorium. It was fun, even if a little too Christmasy for Doug’s taste! The music was wonderful!

On December 19 we drove from Asheville through the mountains north of the Smoky’s, through Knoxville, Tennessee at rush hour to RV site A-1 at Soaring Eagle Campground. It was not a quiet night – were the trucks roaring by on Highway 40 supposed to be representing the eagles?

The next morning we continued west through Tennessee, going from Eastern to Central time. The line divides the state of Tennessee – that must be confusing. We arrived in Nashville and made the usual visiter bureau visit and walked around to see the town. We ate at one of the restaurants listening to live music at 3 in the afternoon – it goes on all day and night. Every band plays wonderful music; it’s amazing.

We drove west from New London to Ashville and crossed the Eastern Continental Divide – never knew that existed! The next day we went into the town and parked at the visitor center – for free. Parking can be a challenge with a vehicle that is too tall for a garage. It’s the little things. We walked the Ashville Urban Trail to see 30 stations of sculpture and other points of interest. Below are some examples. We also enjoyed the Art Museum.

Here are a few photos from our crossing from Cape May to Lewes back in December. A very calm trip.

Picking up our story again . . . We left Ashland, Virginia for Greensboro, North Carolina where we stayed at a KOA and where Doug successfully repaired the plumbing! Our friend Bill would be proud. Our next destination was New London, North Carolina where we were served a wonderful lunch of panini’s, salad and potato soup by Chuck and Bonnie at their farm near Baden Lake and Uwharrie National Forest. Bonnie’s and Judy’s fathers’ families were old Orr’s Island friends. The farm is a beautiful home to aging horses, breeding goats, dogs, parrots, as well as Bonnie’s 94 year old mother and her brother. In addition to taking care of all that, Bonnie finds time to paint and to compose and perform music with her own band! She also has written and illustrated a children’s book. A hard-working and talented woman, who is also a ton of fun!

After Annapolis we visited with our friends Elaine and Ron in Laurel, Maryland. Elaine and I have been friends since grade school in Bath. Elaine took us into the District to tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is wonderful. It is a modern interactive experience that is arranged by timeline – you start in the basement and work your way up and forward in time. Before the American revolution the practice of slavery was ubiquitous throughout all of the colonies, even Maine. Elaine served the most delicious crab cakes for dinner!

We continued west through Maryland and visited Doug’s long time friend Mike, who took us to tour Harper’s Ferry. Imagine our shock when Mike sent us photos of a train wreck in the exact area where we had been standing only days later!

We had great meals with Mike, too, of course, and visited Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland. We were just beginning a continual immersion in Civil War history.

The former Air & Space Museum was superseded in a major way by the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport. It holds flying craft from medieval balloons to the space shuttle Discovery. There were also docents who are veterans with in-depth knowledge about the history of the aircraft there and at other locations, which was helpful to me in learning about the aircraft that my uncle flew out of Cuba and Norfolk in the early 1950’s. We later took a short hike at the Red Rock Wilderness Overlook with views of the Potomac River with Mike.

Luckily, the van was still winterized. The next day, December 16, we drove to Ashland, Virginia for an appointment with Airstream to de-winterize her. We were there much longer than expected, but learned much about operations during the appointment. Also, the technician discovered that the galley sink drain was cracked, but he did not have the parts to repair it. Well, Doug is awesome; the next day he found the parts at Lowe’s and repaired the drain! Not a leak since!