Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 68

We left Lincoln about 9:30 am and headed due south to Wichita, KS.  It was a very windy drive through small towns and lots of prairie in southern Nebraska and northern Kansas.  It was a two lane road with not a lot of traffic but a strong wind that seemed to change direction with every  bend in the road.

We are staying tonight, and tomorrow at McConnell AFB in Wichita, KS.  The base has an RV park (FAMCAMP) that is open to active duty and retired military personnel.  It is a nice facility, with full hook-ups and certainly secure.

The forecast tomorrow here is for much cooler temperatures as the front moves through with lots of wind, continuing into Sunday.  We will ride things out here until the weather settles down a little.

Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 67

Getting caught up with the blog.

We left the RV park in Nevada, MO and drove up to Lincoln, NE to visit our son Brian and his family.  We are at the Camp A Way RV Park in North Lincoln.  We have stayed here several times in the past and it is a great place to stay.

We met Brian and the grandkids for dinner and had a good time getting caught up with how everyone is doing.

Our plan was to stay two nights, but after checking the forecast for Friday Night - Saturday, Lincoln was on the edge of a blizzard warning, expecting 1-3 " of snow on Saturday.  So after an abbreviated visit, we decided to leave Friday at morning and head south towards better weather.  It was good to see Brian and the kids again and we had an excellent , although abbreviated, visit.

Florida Sprig Training 2018 - Day 66

Well, we are in Nevada, no,not that one, but rather Nevada, MO.  We are half way between Little Rock, AR and Lincoln, NE on our detour to visit our son Brian and his family in Lincoln.

We left Little Rock about 9:00 am and headed west towards Ft. Smith, AR then north to Fayetteville, AR and into Missouri on I-49.   It was clear and very windy, mostly a quartering tailwind so it wasn't too bad.

We are staying at a roadside RV park, the Osage Prairie RV Park in Nevada ,MO, nothing fancy but adequate for an overnight.

We will be in Lincoln, NE tomorrow for a minimum of 2 nights, and maybe 3 depending on the weather that has snow in the forecast.

The journey continues.

Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 65

We left Tupelo about 10:00 am after getting gas and a truck stop mocha.

It was a fairly easy ride to Memphis, TN then west on I-40 to Little Rock, AR, our stop for the night. We hadn't made any firm plans for heading home from here, remaining flexible due to weather issues that can arise this time of year.

After looking at all the issues, we decided to take a detour up to Lincoln, NE to visit our son Brian and his family for a few days on the way home.  So, tomorrow we will head for Lincoln, NE with a stop tomorrow night in Missouri. From Lincoln, we will evaluate the best route home considering the weather forecast and wind predictions.

We are staying at a KOA in North Little Rock, just off of I-40.  We stayed here several years ago.  It is a nice park and a great overnight stop.

Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 64

After sleeping in this morning and getting mochas at a Starbucks we travelled back up the Trace a little to a spot we missed yesterday. 

It was the site of grave stones for thirteen unknown Confederate soldiers and a section of the Old Trace.  It was short walk from the parking area and we were glad we went back to see it.  It was a very peaceful site and other visitors had left small mementos on the grave stones including coins and other small trinkets obviously left as tokens of respect.  There were also small Confederate flags along side each tombstone, each appearing to be almost new.  It is a small tribute to the men who died fighting for their cause and not necessarily a Confederate memorial. It was a very nice and unexpected experience.

Our next stop was the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitors Center in Tupelo.  It is another excellent National Park visitors center.  After watching a short movie about the parkway and touring the exhibits, we travelled south on the parkway a bit to visit the site of a Chickasaw Native American village.

We then went into Tupelo for a late lunch.  We came across a Mexican restaurant and had a great meal, the first Mexican food we have had for awhile.

After lunch we decided further sightseeing along the parkway and in Tupelo would have to wait for another time.  We passed up a visit to Elvis's home where he was born and several other local Elvis attractions.  Maybe next time. We did pass a monument to a small Civil War battle in 1864 in Tupelo that was a Union victory.

After getting a few groceries at the local Kroger, we returned to the RV to rest and get ready for the next leg of our trip tomorrow to Little Rock, AR.

Pictures - Day 64

Florida Spring Training 2018 - Day 63

It was very cold last night, the coldest of the trip so far.  When we got up this morning it was 31 degrees outside and our water hose from the outside spigot to the RV was frozen.  We still had our internal water supply however.  The weather is clear and no wind and its supposed to be warmer today (we think, as we have no real-time access to the outside world at the moment).

Our first stop on the Natchez Trace Parkway was the grave site and memorial to Meriwether Lewis who died on the Trace in 1809 on his way to Washington DC.  The small visitors' center is in a replica of the cabin where Lewis died.  We also saw a segment of the original pathway of the Old Trace that goes through the grave and memorial site.

As we travelled down the parkway we stopped at numerous historical spots and other parts of the Old Trace along the way.  It was all very interesting and informative.  The parkway was almost deserted and we had the 2-lane road to ourselves  except for the occasional bicyclist, RV and car.  The day remained cool with mostly cloudy skies. The trees and bushes are just starting to blossom out as spring approaches.

We arrived at our stop for the next two nights in Tupelo, MS. The park is just off of the parkway and very near the main Parkway Visitors Center.  After getting set-up and resting for awhile, we had dinner at a local BBQ restaurant that was very good.

The plan for tomorrow is to check out the visitors center, do some more exploring of the local area and see what else develops.  The weather seems warmer, but still cool with a forecast of sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s for the next two days.

Pictures - Day 63

Florida Spring Tarining 2018 - Day 62

It rained again last night but had ended when we got up this morning.  The skies were still cloudy however and it was a lot cooler.  We got a little bit of a late start, leaving around 11:30 am after getting gas.  We only had 200 miles to go though and the later start helped the traffic situation going through Chattanooga on I-24.

In Chattanooga we turned NW towards Nashville, turning left at Murfreeboro south of Nashville then SW through rolling hill country to join the Natchez Trace Parkway.  We then headed SW on the parkway to the RV Park where we are staying tonight.  We had a hard time finding the park due to poor instructions and bad directions on the GPS.  We are here now however and buttoned up for the night.  The park is a huge Thousands Trails campground, but is best described as “rustic” and sprawling around a man-made lake.  It looks most of the people here are permanent/semi-permanent residents.  We haven’t seen any other overnighters.  No banjo music however. We are also off the grid with no Internet or TV service (cable and Antenna).  We are not going anywhere tonight, because we didn’t unhook and the temperature is presently 42 degrees and windy.

The Natchez Trace Parkway was established as a unit of the National Park System in 1938 and was officially completed in 2005.  The Parkway commemorates the most significant highway of the Old Southwest.  It stretches 444 miles from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS through the three states of Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi and 10,000 years of history.

The trail that became the Natchez Trace goes back many centuries.  It bisected the traditional Native American homelands of the Natchez, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations and was a trading and transportation route for them.  As the United States expanded westward in the late 1700s and early 1800s, growing numbers of travelers used the trail, turning it into a clearly marked path. In 1801 President Jefferson designated the Trace a national post road for mail delivery between Nashville and Natchez.

In the early 1800s through the mid-1820s, “Kaintucks” from the Ohio River Valley floated cash crops, livestock, and other materials down the Mississippi River on wooden flatboats.  At Natchez or New Orleans, they sold their goods, sold their boats for lumber and walked or road horseback back home via the Old Trace.  As the road improved, stands (inns) provided lodging, food, and drink to the travelers.

Today the Parkway creates a greenway from the southern Appalachian foothills of Tennessee to the bluffs of the lower Mississippi River.  There are many historic landmarks along the way and the Trace crosses four distinct ecosystems and eight major watersheds.  It is habitat for 1,500 hundred species of plants, 33 mammal species, 134 bird species and 70 species of reptiles and amphibians.  The parkway also has limited access and commercial traffic is prohibited.  Traffic at this time of year is virtually non-existent. It is still early spring (or late winter) here.  The trees are just starting to bloom and it is cold at the moment.  I am sure it will be busier during the summer.

The plan tomorrow is to visit various stops along the parkway as we head south to Tupelo, MS. Our first stop tomorrow is the nearby Meriwether Lewis Monument and Gravesite.  Lewis stayed here on the Trace in 1809 on his way back to Washington, DC and died under mysterious circumstances from gunshot wounds.  Many believed he had taken his own life while others were later convinced that he was murdered.

Pictures - Day 62