on the road to simplicity

Memphis, TN: Not exactly what we expected

tkscovill ♦ June 28, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

I guess we built up our expectations for Memphis based on what we had heard about good barbeque and the blues starting there. We expected to find lots of great BBQ places with Blues music playing 24/7. Well, that was not what we found. I won’t go into great detail, but will say that this happens sometimes when you are traveling. You think you are heading for something unique, or something really cool, and when you get there you find that it is kind of regular. We found some BBQ but it was so-so, and the only Blues we heard was coming out of the doors of some dark, grimy, customer-less dives on Beale Street. We could tell that this used to be an important place when the Blues were evolving in the early part of the last century. But now, Beale Street is just another tourist trap with not much to offer but beer and trinkets. Here are a few pictures we took of Memphis, and Beale Street.

view of memphis and the mississippi river

Beale Street at 11:00 on a Wednesday morning

The other side of Beale Street

BB King and Elvis rule this town

shameless advertising

“The Flying Saucer” : A Beer Bar with decorating challenges

We stopped in to this place so we could have some tea and cool off after walking around in the 100+ heat. It was cool inside and they had tables and nice comfy couches scattered around. The walls and ceilings are covered with plates–flying saucers–which commemorate people who have tried at least 100 different beers right there in that establishment. We decided not to play that game. It was a really weird, desperate kind of place that seemed to know it had seen its day.

Next will be a short little blip about a small town in Alabama.

An evening on the Arkansas River

tkscovill ♦ June 26, 2012 ♦ 1 Comment

Yes, it is the Arkansas River. It is big and it runs for a long way with bike paths and parks dotting its edges. We went exploring last night after the heat dispersed a bit and found a bonified, real, seafood restaurant. This place specialized in catfish and shrimp, not much else. But what they did, they did well. We shared a sampler and took home leftovers. Here is the view from inside the restaurant onto the lake outside.

Evening glow from inside “Cock of the Walk” seafood restaurant

Yes, that’s the name of the restaurant. I’m sure there is more to the story than we want to know. So, we asked the waiter how to get to the river. He looked confused but then started giving us directions to the “Million Dollar” walking bridge. We thought that sounded nice so we went to the car and found this just a few steps away:

white peacock

A guy in the parking lot told us that they always keep a peacock around as a mascot. He didn’t seem impressed by it. Personally, I didn’t even know white peacocks existed! We followed the waiter’s directions and saw an evolving sunset on the way. I whipped out the camera just in time to get this picture as we were going over a really big bridge:

sunset in pink and purple

Then we found the million dollar walking bridge that the locals are so proud of:

million dollar walking bridge

We didn’t walk on the expensive bridge but we did walk on this one:

And as we were getting into the car, I saw this scene and thought it was nice:

Then when we got back to the RV we saw the moon again. It is almost in its halfway phase and seems to be peeking out earlier and earlier each evening.

almost half moon

Tomorrow we will visit Memphis, TN. This was not on our original agenda, but we thought we’d try to get away from the heat by going north. Well, that didn’t work. It is still hot and getting hotter, but we really don’t mind much. As long as we have plenty of sunscreen and an air conditioned space we’ll be fine. Memphis, The Home of The Blues and BBQ, here we come!

Little Rock, AK

tkscovill ♦ June 25, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

We got into Little Rock at around 1:00 in the middle of the heat, so we decided to park, close up the RV, leave the A/C running and go into town for lunch. Our thermometer in the car said 107. It has been like this since Albuquerque, but we’re doing fine with it. We found a cute little 50’s diner and ate there. It seems like there are a lot of these diners, and each of them either loves Elvis or Marilyn, sometimes both. This one loved Marilyn more.

marilyn

She must have been outside on a really hot day like us. I felt like pulling my skirt up too!

So, after lunch we wanderd around behind the diner and found this:

log cabin re-creation

and this:

barn

Then we met Lyn and his partner who had just finished working in their re-created blacksmith’s shop. They were excited to see us and tell us everything about this shop and the museum. It was hot, we wanted to get back into our car, but we decided that history took precedence.

Lyn in his blacksmith’s shop

blacksmith’s tools

nail-less construction

Lyn and his history-buff friend built this whole thing the old fashioned way. They were full of information and stories and seemed very passionate about what they were doing. It made us step back and appreciate their dedication.

After they told us as much as we could hear, they suggested we go inside the museum where it was nice and cool. We did, but first we took these photos outside.

fiddle playing, dancing woman

using what’s handy to make art

Inside there were lots of civil war things and a huge collection of Bowie knives. Apparently they were used a lot in wars. I wasn’t impressed by all the war stuff, but the knives were gorgeous. Here is one good photo:

Bowie knives

One last photo of Little Rock from the bridge coming into town. Is this the Arkansas River?

That’s all. There’s a river nearby. Maybe I’ll find out what its name is.

OK to AK

tkscovill ♦ June 25, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

This morning as I walked back to the RV from the shower I had a familiar feeling. It was happiness. I felt happy. Even though it was already 90 degrees at 8:30 and it was so muggy you could actually see the air, I felt happy. I grew up in this kind of place with lots of trees and grass and sand and bugs and birds. I looked down at the ground and discovered that my feet were also happy. I have been wearing flip flops since we left Petaluma about three weeks ago. I’ve been wearing flip flops for THREE WEEKS! Now that is a small pleasure to be celebrated. So I took a picture. (Check the previous post if you really want to see my feet in flip flops.)

We stayed in a small town outside of Ft. Smith, AK for two days so we could get some personal stuff done. Instead, we went to a movie and drove around looking for the Ft. Smith we remembered from 20 years ago. We never found it. It was so hot we didn’t care. We were very thankful to have our air conditioned car though. Here are a few photos we took in Ft. Smith.

Roadside cemetery, Sallisaw, OK

This is only 1/4 of the cemetery, and it wasn’t the only one we’ve seen lately. Not something you see in California for some reason.

one of the many churches in ft. smith, ak

We saw so many churches in this town. It seemed like every religion was represented here.

buddhist temple

Even Buddhism. The monks and nuns stopped and waved at us between their gardening. Very friendly. There was a fairly large Vietnamese presence in this formerly “Western” town.

ironwork being preserved

We also saw quite a bit of interesting ironwork here. I love the spiral staircase.

I call this, “Repeating Shapes.”

I love how the iron and the lamp and the leaves and the shingles seem to say the same thing.

Doggie Heaven!

tkscovill ♦ June 25, 2012 ♦ 1 Comment

We have been on the border between Oklahoma and Arkansas for the past two days and finally there is a doggie park with real grass. We haven’t seen this much green since we left Humboldt County early this month. Even though it is hotter than you know what, the dogs have really enjoyed being set free on real grass. Here are a few pictures of them enjoying themselves.

Buster eating grass

Belle rubbing her head in the grass

Buster shamelessly rolling in the grass

This is how a dog looks when he is in heaven.

There is nothing like grass when you’ve been walking on rocks and sand and shredded bark for two weeks and your paws are weary and hot. Then they realized that there were rabbits living in that very grass! The rabbits are way faster than these little dogs though. Still, it was good exercise.

rabbit playing hide and seek with the dogs

We’re off to Little Rock, AR tomorrow and then to Memphis, TN the next day. Not much time for touring, but it sure is nice to see so many trees and rivers and so much grass, even if it is over 100 degrees. Thunderstorms, here we come!

Amarillo to Oklahoma City

tkscovill ♦ June 23, 2012 ♦ 2 Comments

For the next few stops we will only be pulling in and staying for the night, so there won’t be many photos. Although I did find this cool one before we left Texas.

I call it the leaning tower of Texas

The landscape is changing though. We are seeing more green…grass to be precise. The dogs had a great time bouncing and rolling around on a strip of soft, cool grass this morning before we left Amarillo. It’s not so hot any more, just into the low 90’s, and there seems to be some rain on the horizon. It will be nice to hear a thunderstorm again. Today when we walked around the campgroundin OKC I heard lots of cicadas in the trees. This is a very spooky sound at first but can be comforting once you get used to it. I also saw my first mosquito this afternoon. Time to get out the bug spray. Yuck!

old barn, Oklahoma

We saw so many of these scenes. I could snap a photo every minute or so if I took them all. Seems like no one wants to tear down old barns, even when they aren’t being used any more. That’s OK though. It provides entertainment for sleepy travelers. On to Ft. Smith, AK tomorrow. I know there is something interesting there since we spent a day or so there way back in 1991 when we first came across the country…the other way. It is a cute little western town with a focus on trains. Let’s see what we see tomorrow.

Beating the heat

tkscovill ♦ June 23, 2012 ♦ 2 Comments

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

After lunch it was pretty hot outside so we went to the Museum of Natural History ala New Mexico. Usually I love this kind of thing, but by that time I was over tired, my feet hurt and I couldn’t seem to cool off. New Mexicois known for dinosaurs, and rocks, and I guess various theories of how life began. All of this, plus a whole history of computer technology was inside this one museum. So I looked at a few dinosaurs and spent a lot of time studying rocks and semi precious stones, and then I sat on the bench watching people while Sam absorbed the rest of the whole darned thing–minus the computer stuff. He is a sponge in these situations. I use that to my advantage sometimes and just let him tell me the short version.

Here are a few pictures of dinosaurs and rocks.

dinosaur

dinosaur bones

Some of this dinosaur’s bones were actually found in New Mexico.

T-Rex

The kids really loved this guy.

*****

I am always fascinated by the gems hiding inside relatively plain rocks. This was one of the best displays I have seen.

opal

malachite

rose quartz

agate

turquoise

the largest piece of lapis lazuli “in the world”

I guess I liked the rocks more than the dinosaurs.

The blog monster ate my words!

tkscovill ♦ June 22, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

June 21, 2012: Albuquerque

Last night I was determined to post something about Albuquerque. I wrote a little and then started adding photos. Well, I’ve had this problem with my blog, or is it wordpress? that ends up with me cursing because the post doesn’t show up the way I created it. I spend a lot of time composing my words and making them work with the photos and then to have the whole thing end up scrambled into senselessness just makes me wonder. What am I doing wrong? Should I go ahead and buy the “real” blog spot so I can “control” my own blog? Well, I haven’t decided yet, but I am going to try again to add some words, my thoughts on the past few days in Albuquerque, NM. I posted photos this morning and they may be more interesting than these words, but, well, I need to write and that is why I do this anyway.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

I love writing that word. Albuquerque. It is symmetrical and has a rhythm to it. We arrived in Albuquerque on Monday evening with images of Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon still in our heads. Within a few minutes of leaving Williams we were in desert again. I hadn’t noticed the subtleties of the landscape between the Southern California and Arizona deserts until today. It seems like they both have this dry, crunchy, silver bush type stuff all over. But each of them has something else. Some have lots of junipers, some have short pines, others have tall pines, and still others have just scrub brush, whatever that is. We are driving along highway 40 so I’m sure my viewpoint is limited. But there is a difference from town to town.

desert between williams and albuquerque

anothe desert scene a little farther down the road

As soon as we entered New Mexico we knew we were in a different state. Suddenly there were all these reddish plateaus and layers of oddly shaped rocks in every direction.

New Mexico red dirt

natural cave on the side of highway 40

New Mexico is nicknamed “The Land of Enchantment.” I now know why. It is interesting if not inspiring, at least from the highway. It seemed like a long way from Williams, Arizona to Albuquerque, but once we arrived it was obvious that the place would leave a mark on us.

Driving east on Highway 40 into the city ofAlbuquerqueyou are treated with mile after mile of sculpture and metal work, and architecturally beautiful overpasses. One had a stylized version of an aloe plant in gold.

aloe plants in gold

The best thing though was the landscaping along the road. Each off ramp had its own little rock/succulent/sculpture garden. I tried to take photos but we were going too fast. I guess I’ll just have to remember it.Anyway, our first impressions ofAlbuquerquewere positive. There was a creative energy that we hadn’t seen or felt since leavingSan Francisco. It seemed like almost every corner had some sort of sculpture or painting or mosaic. Nothing was drab—except of course for the rows of adobe houses and apartment buildings. They were charming though and very practical considering the dust and heat. The roads were clean and the city was laid out in a grid with very long roads that cover the valley at the foot of a mountain range. It made sense, until you actually tried to get somewhere, like the only Whole Foods Market in the whole town. Even using a smart phone’s navigating system, we had to drive around for quite a while before we ended up on familiar ground—in the produce section of Whole Foods.

We also discovered that people drive very recklessly here inAlbuquerque. I thought it must be the heat but this was ridiculous. Every time we went out we avoided at least three accidents caused by someone who was in a hurry or just mindlessly racing down the street.

*****

In any case, we decided to stay there for a few days, planning to be inside during the hottest parts. We found a huge movie theater and saw Prometheus. This is a movie I would recommend to anyone who is a sci-fi fan, or a Ridley Scott fan. The special effects were amazing, but for me there was too much violence, and there was an assumption that “aliens” only want to hurt us. I must say that the acting was very good, and they left it open for a sequel. We thought we had beat the heat by going to a movie that ended at 5:00, but that is the time when it is the hottest it seems. Back to the air conditioning.

*****

Yesterday we decided to brave the heat and spent the day exploring Old Town and a couple of museums. Photos of this adventure are in my previous post. We started at the Native American Art Museum, but they only had one gallery open and they didn’t allow photography. They have a very diverse collection but I felt like we got an incomplete view of the subject. We decided to check out the grounds and the sculpture garden which was absolutely worth standing in the sun for. This garden led naturally through a gate into what is referred to as “Old Town.” The mosaic on one of the gates was one of the most beautiful I have seen. Very inspiring.

mosaic gateway into Old Town

I enjoyed taking photos of Old Town, especially the various shadows that caught my eye. I’m sure we only saw a small part of it but what we saw was enough. There were many blocks of squatting little adobe shops that look similar outside but different inside. And inside it is obvious that they have been there for a while because the beams are crooked and need painting and the floors have worn spots on them where people have come in and out thousands of times. I didn’t ask how old Old Town was, but I didn’t care. I was there for the simple pleasure of seeing.