Time In Texas

Hello again. Our last chapter concluded on Friday, September 4th, when we arrived at the Shady Pines RV Park in Texarkana, Texas. We are here in Texarkana to visit with my granddaughter Courtney and her family. Courtney just recently had a baby boy, my fifth great grandchild. As is the norm when we travel, we got set up and settled in and then relaxed for the rest of the day in the coach. Packing up, driving and then setting up again in this heat and humidity really take it out of you. We did call and let Courtney know that we arrived safely, and we would see her tomorrow.

Saturday, September 5th, we left the coach after lunch and drove to Courtney's house, which is also in Texarkana, Texas. Texarkana, a city of about 66,000 is split right down the middle, north to south, between Arkansas on the east and Texas on the west. Each city has it's own government structure, but they cooperate with each other on most matters. Courtney married about a year ago and her husband John has two children from a previous marriage, Trinity and Dax. Trinity is about 14 and Dax is 12. the newest addition, Josiah, is just about four months now. They have a nice, older house that they rent and we spent the afternoon with them.

Not too long after we arrived Jackie took Courtney and Trinity to the mall for pedicures. I stayed at the house and visited with John and Dax and watched the baby. After the girls got back we took a bunch of photos and just visited. It has been a couple of years since we last saw Courtney, and that was when she was still in Phoenix living with her mom, my daughter Tye.

About 4:30 or so we left as they had plans for a BBQ with other family. We decided that we would do a mini “pub crawl” of the two Elks Lodges in the immediate area. The Texarkana, Texas lodge, number 2771 was only a few blocks from Courtney's house, so we stopped there first. This was a small, but very friendly lodge. We chatted with the bartender and one of the members at the bar for about 45 minutes. We were able to get a lodge pin for our banner and then moved on to the other side of the state line to the Texarkana, Arkansas Lodge, number 399. Elks who read this will know that the smaller number means an older lodge. Most three digit Elks lodges were chartered prior to the turn of the century. We chatted with a couple of members, including the Exalted Ruler for a while and had a couple of drinks. We also got a lodge pin from this lodge for our banner.

After our lodge visits we started for home. It was about 6:30, so we decided to stop and have dinner out rather than go home and cook. The ER at the Arkansas lodge had suggested a Mexican place, not too far from our RV park, called Fiesta House. We went there and had dinner. Most of the food was pretty good, fairly solid Sonoran style fare. The big disappointment was that there was no beer, no margaritas, no liquor at all. It seems that most of East Texas is dry. Certain counties and cities allow beer and wine, but for most part you can't get liquor in restaurants. Bummer, who eats Mexican without a beer? After dinner we headed back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, September 6th, we had a nice Sunday morning with the newspaper, coffee and talk shows. After lunch we went out to do some exploring and geocaching in the area. We knew that we would not see Courtney and family today as they are very active in their church and had a lot of stuff planned for the day. We were able to get four caches, along with one DNF, before the skies opened up and we had some heavy rain showers. No storm, but lots of rain. We decided to just ride it out in a grocery store taking care of some shopping we needed to do. We went to a place called Super 1 Foods, which had been recommend by John yesterday. After we got inside we noted that it was very similar in appearance and layout to WinCo, one of our favorite West Coast stores. After we were finished with our shopping the rain had stopped, but we went home and stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Monday, September 7th, Happy Labor Day. We were having a BBQ at the coach with Courtney and her family. Although Courtney has been in the coach several times, her husband and step kids have not. About 2:00 the family came over and we spent the afternoon sitting in the coach chatting. It would have been nice to go outside, but even in the shade it was hot. It was 94 with 90 percent humidity, way too much for us. About 5:00 we did some burgers on the grill, along with some french fries, cole slaw and macaroni salad. We had a great meal. They left about 7:30 after a great afternoon with family. We watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, September 8th, we went out about 12:30 for some geocaching and exploring. We stopped for lunch at a great place called Ironwood. It had a very extensive and eclectic menu and had very high ratings on Yelp, for good reason as we found out. This was going to be lunch and dinner for us, so we started with a fried green tomatoes appetizer. They were even better than the one's we got in Memphis. Great breading, nice thick, crunchy slices of tomato. I had the fish and chips, which was a huge portion, and it was some of the best I have ever had. Very crunchy, spicy breading, the fish was thick and not greasy at all. Excellent item. Jackie had a chicken curry that she said was also very good. We took enough home after filling ourselves to make a good lunch tomorrow.

After lunch we went caching, getting six new finds and a couple of DNFs. We then stopped at Albertson's to pick up some of their great corn chips. Then we went to Courtney's place for a last goodbye with the family. We stayed about an hour before saying goodbye and heading back to the coach. I spent some time taking care of outside stuff and getting ready for an early start tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 9th, we were packed up and on the road by 9:00. An early start for us, but we had a 210 mile trip ahead of us that would take us west from Texarkana to the Dallas area. The first 150 miles was quite relaxing. It was freeway all the way and the rain we had when we first left Texarkana had cleared up. Once we got into the Dallas “metroplex” the construction started. It seems that they are working on every freeway in Dallas right now. The lanes were narrow, the traffic heavy and it rained a little on top of it all. We did manage to safely arrive in Denton, Texas about 2:30 and got checked in and set up at the Post Oak RV Park.

Denton is a city of about 115,000 which sets on the northern edge of the metroplex. It is about 35 miles to both the Fort Worth and Dallas downtown. I wanted to stay on the north end of the area since we are going north to Amarillo next. I also didn't want to be right in the middle of town. We are going to be here a week, so we have plenty of time to explore. After getting set up we just relaxed the rest of the day after our tough drive.

Thursday, September 10th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to explore. We first stopped at the Camping World store that was only a few miles from the RV park so we could pick up some supplies that we have been needing. We then did some geocaching. We were able to get three new finds and two DNFs before we decided it was too hot to continue. We spent a little time driving around Denton, exploring the town, before heading to the Denton Elks Lodge. This is a fairly new lodge, Number 2446, with a somewhat disheveled lodge building not too far from downtown Denton. The bar was nice and there were a number of members there who turned out to be very friendly. The lodge bought one drink, and another member bought a second. We ended up staying about an hour and a half before heading back to the coach for dinner. We were able to get another new Lodge pin for our banner. We had some country ribs cooking in the crock pot so dinner was ready when we got home. We had dinner and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.

Friday, September 11th, Patriot Day. The morning was a little melancholy with all the coverage of the September 11th attacks and memorials. We left the coach, and the sad TV, after lunch and headed out to see the City of Fort Worth. Fort Worth is about 35 miles south of Denton, so it took us just under an hour to get there on the freeway. Fort Worth was established as a military outpost in the mid-1800's and quickly became the center of the cattle industry in the southwest. When the railroad came to town in 1876 Fort Worth and it's huge stockyards, became a mecca for wholesale cattle sales. Today the city of over 800,000 is still known by the nickname of “Cowtown” and is still a hub of the cattle business. While Dallas is oil, business interests, and suits Fort Worth is cows, cowboys and western wear. We spent an hour or so driving around downtown, admiring the architecture and getting a couple of geocaches.

After our tour we started back north and stopped at the Costco store in North Fort Worth. It has been a couple months since we were able to do a Costco run, so we had quite a bit to buy. After leaving Costco we were on the freeway headed north again when, after about ten miles, we saw the Blue Angels demonstration team practicing in the skies over Alliance Airfield, right next to the freeway. We had noticed on the way down

that the airfield was advertising an airshow this weekend, including the Navy's demonstration team. We were talking about maybe coming down, but when we saw the practice going on we figured we could see most of the show for free and not have to drive all the way down.

There was a wide area off the freeway near the exit ramp for the airfield and there were several cars parked there, so we pulled off and joined them. We were fifty feet off the freeway, so it was not dangerous. I didn't think the cops would bother us since I saw a cop car parked on the other side of the freeway in a similar area with the cop outside the car watching the show too. We were up on a little rise and could see the runways for the airport in front of us and that is what the Blue Angels use as a guide for their maneuvers, so we saw the whole show and got lots of pictures. It has been a number of years since I saw the Blue Angels, since before we went full time, but they are always impressive.

After our impromptu air show we stopped at Walmart for some things and then headed back to the coach. As soon as we got the groceries put away and the cats fed we were back on the road, heading southeast to the Grapevine Elks Lodge, in Grapevine, Texas. The lodge was about 20 miles from the RV park, but when we were in the Denton lodge yesterday they had told us about the great Friday night steak fry at the Grapevine Lodge, so we decided to go there for dinner. The lodge, Number 2483, is in a building that used to be a steakhouse, so it was very nice inside, and obviously had a full kitchen. The place was very busy and people were friendly. They had a live band that started about 7:30 and we had a very nice steak dinner that was quite tasty. We weren't able to get a lodge pin because they kept those locked in the office and no one in attendance had a key. However, the bartender took our card and said she would send us one. We'll see, we have been told that before. Sometimes it works out. We left about 8:30 and drove back to the coach for a little TV and then bed.

Saturday, September 12th, we again were out after lunch and headed up to downtown Denton for the annual car show and festival. The streets around the courthouse square were all closed and there were a couple hundred classic cars and hot rods out for display. They also had some arts and crafts booths setup and were having a silent auction fundraiser inside the courthouse. We spent a couple of hours looking at cars and the booths. The 1888 courthouse has recently been renovated and turned into a Denton County museum, so we spent some time in there looking at the exhibits. We also went through a couple of the antique stores that are on the courthouse square. After we had enough of the festival we did some geocaching in the area, getting five new finds and one DNF. We then headed back to the coach for dinner and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night. Sunday was a stay at home day. I did a few repairs and Jackie did a couple of her chores, but we mostly just had a quiet day in the coach.

Monday, September 14th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove the 35 miles southeast to the City of Dallas. Dallas was founded in the mid 1800's and grew economically as a center for the oil and cotton industries. Oil and financial businesses are still the primary economic movers for the city. With a current population of 1.2 million it ranks as the ninth largest city in the U.S. It took about an hour to get to Dallas and the first place we went was a district just outside of downtown called Deep Ellum. It is an area of turn of the century buildings which now house a wide variety of arts, entertainment and dining venues. We stopped at a Fuzzy's Taco Shop, which we have been wanting to try since we got to Texas. It is a large chain in the state, we have seen them all over both Texarkana and the Dallas Fort Worth metro area.

As it turns out, the food was very good. It is a fast food chain, you order at the counter, but they have a dozen different types of tacos to choose from. I had a beef fajita taco and a tempura fish taco, along with some beans. Both tacos were very big and the flavors were excellent. They are moderately priced and food is good, I would go to one again. After our lunch we did some geocaching in the area, getting four finds in less than an hour. We then spent some time driving around Dallas downtown, checking out the architecture and the sights. We drove to the outskirts of town to the Elks Lodge, Number 71, which makes it one of the older lodges in the country. However, the lodge was closed, so we were unable to get a lodge pin. We also stopped at a Sam's Club for some things before heading back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, September 15th, our last day in the Dallas metro area. We went out after lunch for some geocaching. We got six new finds in an hour or so. After caching we headed home and stayed in the rest of the night. Wednesday was another travel day. We left Denton about 10:30 and headed northwest towards Wichita Falls, Texas, a little over 100 miles. The route was not interstate, but in Texas a lot of the other State and Federal highways are four lane divided roads, they are just not limited access like freeways. We arrived at the Wichita Falls RV Park about 12:30 and quickly settled in. We went out about 3:00 to make a Walmart run and then we briefly explored the downtown area.

Wichita Falls is a city of about 105,000, located in north-central Texas, only about 20 miles south of the Oklahoma border. The city was founded in 1872 and quickly grew into a regional commerce center with the arrival of the railroad ten years later. Until the 60's it was an oil center, but most of the oil industry has moved to the larger city of Amarillo, a couple hundred miles northwest. The city is also home to Sheppard Air Force Base, one of the largest training commands in the Air Force. They do technical training as well as flight training at Sheppard.

While we were touring the small, but interesting downtown, we got a virtual geocache at a very interesting place. The Newby-McMahon Building is a four-story brick building located near the railroad depot in downtown Wichita Falls. It is well know as “The Littlest Skyscraper”, a title given by Robert Ripley's Ripley's Believe It or Not! syndicated column and a name that has stuck with it ever since. In 1912 a large petroleum reservoir was discovered in Wichita County. By 1918, an estimated 20,000 new settlers had taken up residence around the lucrative oil field, and many Wichita County residents became wealthy virtually overnight. As people streamed into the local communities in search of high-paying jobs, the City of Wichita Falls began to grow in importance. Though it initially lacked the necessary infrastructure for this sudden increase in economic and industrial activity, Wichita Falls was a natural choice to serve as the local logistical hub, being the seat of Wichita County. Because office space was lacking, major stock transactions and mineral rights deals were conducted on street corners and in tents that served as makeshift headquarters for the new oil companies.

In downtown Wichita Falls, near the railroad depot, there was an office building called the Newby Building, built in 1906 by Augustus Newby a director of the Wichita Falls and Oklahoma City Railway Company. The oil-rig construction firm of J.D. McMahon, a petroleum landsman and structural engineer from Philadelphia, was one of seven tenants whose offices were based in the original Newby Building. According to local legend, when McMahon announced in 1919 that he would build a highrise annex to the Newby Building as a solution to the city's urgent need for office space, investors were eager to invest in the project. McMahon collected $200,000, about $2.7 million in today's dollars, in investment capital from a group of naive investors, promising to construct a highrise office building across the street from the St. James Hotel. However, McMahon's plans for the “skyscraper” were scaled in inches rather than feet, resulting in a “skyscraper” that was ten feet wide, 18 feet deep and 40 feet tall, four stories. Each story is one room of about 108 square feet.

McMahon used his own construction crews to build the McMahon Building on the small, unused piece of property next to the Newby Building, without obtaining prior consent from the owner of the property, who lived in Oklahoma. As the building began to take shape, the investors realized they had been swindled into purchasing a four-story edifice that was only 40 feet tall, rather than the 480 foot structure they were expecting. They brought a lawsuit against McMahon but, to their dismay, the real estate and construction deal was declared legally binding by a local judge – as McMahon had built exactly according to the blueprints they had approved. There was no stairway installed in the building upon its initial completion, as none was included in the original blueprints. Rather, a ladder was employed to gain access to the upper three floors. By the time construction was complete, McMahon had left Wichita Falls and perhaps even Texas, taking with him the balance of the investors' money. The key to McMahon's swindle, and his successful defense in the ensuing lawsuit, was that he never verbally stated that the actual height of the building would be 480 feet. The proposed skyscraper depicted in the blueprints that he distributed, and which were approved by the investors, was clearly labeled as consisting of four floors and 480 inches tall.

In 1999 the building was sold to a private party who restored the building. It is currently part of the Depot Square Historic District of Wichita Falls, which has been declared a Texas Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We always tell people that geocaching takes you places you might never go otherwise. This is the kind of thing that we are talking about, a very interesting and fascinating story.  Not too far from the skyscraper is the old Holt Hotel.  It started as an office building, then was converted into the Holt Hotel.  It is now a condo building, called the Holt Residences.  

Thursday, September 17th, we left the coach about noon or so and headed to a local Greek restaurant called Gyro's and Kebob's. They had a very limited menu, basically gyro's and kebob's just like the name says. Jackie had a large gyro with lamb, I had the ground beef kebob's. The food was excellent, as was the service. The onion rings I ordered as a side were a disappointment, but I guess onion rings are not a Greek item. After lunch we went to the laundromat and did our laundry. Once the laundry was finished we headed back home, stopping to get a couple of geocaches along the way. We stayed in the rest of the evening.

Friday, September 18^th, we went out after lunch to do some more exploring and geocaching. It was to be very hot today, over a hundred degrees, so we did some virtual geocaches which didn't require us to be out in the heat for very long. We then went downtown and spent a couple of hours going through some of the many antique stores there. After antiquing for a while we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 6:00 or so we left again and drove to the Wichita Falls Elks Lodge, which was only a couple of miles down the road from the RV park. The lodge is in a very large steel prefab building that doesn't look like much on the outside, but is very nice inside. It has a very large lounge, a really big meeting room, and a huge ballroom. They also have one of the nicest commercial kitchens I have seen in an Elks. We had a couple of drinks and chatted with some of the people at the bar. The lodge was very friendly and even gave us a little tour. This lodge was chartered in 1903, so it is an old lodge, Number 1103.

After cocktails and getting a pin for our banner we left the lodge and drove to a nearby Italian Restaurant called Mia's. It was a nice little place with a good Italian menu. We had a calamari appetizer that was very good. Jackie had the Veal picatta, which she said was very tasty, but they were really, really skimpy on the amount of veal. There were a couple of very small, very thin pieces. When we later mentioned it to the waitress she told us, “I noticed that.” We told her she should have said something to the cook or manager if she saw what she didn't think was right. She was a youngish girl, probably not a lot of experience. She also forgot our salads, so the place doesn't get high marks for service. I had a spaghetti dish with sausage, mushrooms and meatballs that was outstanding. I was very happy with the food, not so much with the service. Also, no garlic bread, a big no-no for an Italian place in my mind. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched TV until bed.

Saturday, September 19^th, we went out about noon to take in a Mexican restaurant called Gutierrez Family which we found on Yelp. It had 50 reviews and a 5 star rating, that is hard to get. We found a ramshackle building just outside the projects about a mile from downtown. However, the place was very crowded and a majority of the people eating were Hispanic, which is usually a good sign for a Mexican place. Jackie had an enchilada plate, I had steak ranchero. The food was excellent, although a little on the hot side, even for us. The tortillas were homemade and outstanding. The only downside was they used bagged chips, but it was a very small place with a small kitchen, so I guess something had to give. The service was good too. If we lived here we would probably be there once or twice a month.

After lunch we did a few geocaches and then went shopping for the wood trim I need to finish off the refrigerator project. The only thing I haven't done is the final finish work. Unfortunately, we went to four home stores and none of them had exactly what I wanted. I saw what I wanted a month ago at a Menard's store somewhere in the Midwest. I wasn't ready to do the work, so I didn't buy it. I wish now I had because we are out of the Menard's territory and no one else has the same three inch wide finished trim. I am going to try again when we get to Amarillo next week as it is a little bigger city. We then headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Sunday, September 20^th, we had a stay at home day. After a morning with the paper and Sunday news shows we spent the afternoon doing chores. Jackie did some cleaning and I did some repairs. I had to take the toilet apart and install a new seal. I also took the inside covers off of the air conditioning units so Jackie could clean them and I could seal up some air leaks inside of them. We had a busy and productive day.

Monday was another travel day, although a light one. We left Wichita Falls about 10:30 and drove just under a hundred miles northwest to a little farming community called Goodlett, Texas. The population is just over a hundred people and other than the grain elevator there is no commercial activity in the town at all. We are staying at a very nice RV park called Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park. They converted an old tin cotton gin and it's surrounding parking area into a nice RV park. They use part of the building for an office and store and the rest for storage. The sites are nice and level with full hookup, 50 amp service. We are only here for a three day stopover. After we got set up we drove to the nearby town of Childress, about 19 miles west, to go to Walmart. We also did a few caches, three to be exact, before heading back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Our arrival here in this little village on the prairie marks a good spot to get this episode published. In a couple of weeks we will be in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, something exciting to look forward to. Until next time, remember that a person really only needs three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. See ya soon.

Hanging Out in the Mid-South

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Wednesday, August 19^th, when we arrived in Wapakoneta, Ohio. We are staying at the Wapakoneta KOA which is just a mile or so from the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. It seems that this is Armstrong's home town.

Thursday, August 20^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some geocaching and exploration of Wapakoneta. We finally had a very nice, relatively cool day, only in the 70's and clear skies. We had a great afternoon of caching, getting a dozen new finds and no DNFs. We also stopped at the Neil Armstrong Museum. We went into the gift shop, but not the museum itself. We also walked around the outdoor exhibits, which included mockups of both Apollo and Gemini spacecraft. We also spent some time in the very pretty downtown and walked around a couple of antique stores before heading back to the coach for cocktails and dinner. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing with the TV.

Friday, August 21^st, another travel day. We left Wapakoneta about 10:30 and headed south towards Walton, Kentucky, about 133 miles away. On the way we passed through both Dayton and Cincinnati, and the big cities, along with the constant road construction made for a very stressful trip. We got settled into the Oak Creek Campground outside Walton about 1:30 or so. We are here to visit another of my niece's, Stephanie, who lives in nearby Florence, Kentucky with her family. She is the oldest daughter of my brother David, who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We haven't seen Stephanie since my mother died in 2009.

After we got settled in we drove back north to the Kentucky and Ohio border town of Newport, Kentucky, so we could find a specific type of geocache called an Earth Cache. An Earth Cache is usually a virtual type cache, that is, no container. You have to go to a site that is remarkable in some geological or other scientific sense and answer some questions posed by the cache owner. We wanted to get an Earth Cache as part of an ongoing challenge underway with Geocaching.com. We have to find five different types of caches prior to September 2^nd in order to achieve the challenge. The cache we went to was placed at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers. The Ohio serves as the border between Kentucky and Ohio and downtown Cincinnati is on the northern side. Newport, Kentucky is on the south. The Licking River flows north out of Kentucky into the Ohio. We visited the cache coordinates and took the steps necessary to log the cache, so now we only have one more cache type to get to meet the challenge. While we were at the Earth Cache we also got a regular cache near the same location, netting us two finds for the day. After finding the caches we headed back to the campground and had cocktails and dinner.

Saturday, August 22^nd, we left the coach after lunch and drove up to Florence, Kentucky, about ten miles north of the campground, to visit with my niece Stephanie Hopkins. Stephanie and her husband have lived in the Cincinnati area for a number of years. We arrived at their place a little after 1:00 and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with the family in their condo. They just bought this condo a few months back and it is a nice place in a very nice neighborhood. Their daughter Makayla is 12 and she is very sweet and entertaining. She spent all afternoon chatting and performing and just being a great kid.

We have not seen Stephanie or Makayla since 2009, and have never met her husband Jeremiah. He works for a law firm in downtown Cincinnati, which is only about 12 miles or so to the north of where they live. We had a wonderful visit and Stephanie served a great dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes and Makayla made some corn muffins that were outstanding. We left about 7:30 or so and headed back south to the campground where we relaxed the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 23^rd, we spent most of the day at home doing chores and relaxing. We did go out briefly after lunch to the grocery store and also got a couple of caches that were in the store parking lot area. About 5:30 Stephanie, Jeremiah and Makayla all came over for dinner. Jackie made a chili relleno casserole with rice and beans and everyone enjoyed the dinner. We sat and talked after dinner for a while. They all left to go home about 8:30. It was really great seeing family on this stop.

Monday, August 24^th, was supposed to be a travel day, but on Saturday we decided to extend our stay here for one day so we would have some time to go out and explore the area. We left the coach about 11:00 and went out first for a quick lunch at the White Castle hamburger place. Neither of us had ever had this staple of Midwest fast food, so we had to give it a try. For those not familiar, White Castle, which started in Chicago in 1921, makes sliders, little mini burgers, rather than the full size burgers you can get at any other fast food place. The standard order is four sliders, which is what I had. They had only cheese and grilled onions on the bun. The meat was a little, tiny slice of hamburger. I thought they were OK, but they were a little greasy. I suspect that is part of what makes them popular. Jackie had the double burgers, where she got two doubles. Their onion bits were good as were the fries. I don't think I would go out of my way to go again.

After our White Castle experience we drove across the river to Cincinnati. We did a few geocaches and then spent some time driving around the big downtown area. It was a typical big city, but some of the buildings downtown were very nice. There was a mix of what appeared to be very old office and industrial buildings with new office buildings. Both the baseball and football stadiums were right downtown on the riverfront. After looking around downtown for a while we drove to the eastern suburbs to visit the headquarters of the Family Motor Coach Association, or FMCA. Friends and regular readers will know that we are very active with FMCA at the Chapter level, belonging to a number of chapters and holding office in a couple. FMCA has it's headquarters in Cincinnati so we drove out to see their offices. They have a very nice building in an upscale semi-rural area of town. One of the women who works there took us on a tour of the building and we got to see and say hi to a couple of people we have met at rallies who are employees.

We then drove about five miles to the other FMCA building which is now used for storage. Until recently FMCA had their own mail forwarding service for members and it was housed in this second building. They have since outsourced the mail forwarding and now use the second building for storage. This building also has a large RV park which is available to members. Any member can stay for two nights free, if space is available, and then up to five more nights for only $20 a night. They are nice, paved full hookup sites.

After we visited the FMCA buildings we drove back across the river and did a few more geocaches on the Kentucky side of the river. We ended up with eight new finds for the day, with no DNFs. We then drove to the Florence, Kentucky Elks Lodge. This is an old lodge, number 314, with a very unusual setup. They operate a regular public bar upstairs and the downstairs is the Elks Lodge, also with a bar for members only. In all our visits with Elks lodges we have never seen this type of setup before. We had a couple of drinks and visited with a number of members, all of whom were very friendly. Although the bar didn't have any lodge pins, the Secretary came in while we there and was able to get us one from the office. About 6:00 we left the lodge and drove back to the campground, stopping at the KFC along the way to pick up dinner. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach.

Tuesday, August 25^th, another travel day. We left the campground about 10:00 and started a 166 mile trip south and west to Cave City, Kentucky. Along the trip we passed through Louisville, Kentucky, but we didn't stop since we were there just a few years ago on our last trip to this part of the country. We arrived at the Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City about 1:00 local time, having gained an hour back by passing back into the Central Time Zone. Cave City is so named because it is just outside the entrance to Mammoth Cave National Park. We are going to be here for two nights and will visit the park tomorrow. After we got set up we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Wednesday, August 26^th, we left the coach after lunch to do some exploring and geocaching. Our first stop was the visitor's center for the Mammoth Cave National Park, which is only a few miles from the campground. We spent a half hour or so walking around the visitor's center, looking at the exhibits and photos. We elected not to do any of the cave tours. We have been in Carlsbad Caverns and we didn't feel like doing all the walking required for most of the tours. We drove around the park and did a couple of virtual geocaches. The Park Service does not allow actual container caches to be hidden in a National Park, but people did “place” virtuals back at the time they were allowed by Groundspeak, the caching headquarters.

We also drove through Park City, Cave City and Horse Cave. The town of Horse Cave was very interesting. Horse Cave is one of many of the caverns in this part of Kentucky that are not part of the National Park. Horse Cave is a very large limestone sinkhole with a huge cave entrance, reputed to be the largest in the country. The cave is right in the middle of town, just off main street. The town was founded in the mid-1800's as a railroad stop, however the town turned into a huge tourist attraction because of the cave and the now easy access by train. The town only has about 2,300 people now, but the two main streets in town still have the 19^th century look. We ended up with ten new finds for the day and no DNFs. After our explorations we went back to the coach for dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Thursday, August 27^th, was another travel day. We left Cave City around 10:00 and drove just under 200 miles to the Parker's Crossroads RV park, near Yuma, Tennessee. It was a very nice park, but we are only here overnight. We didn't even unhook the car. Once we got settled in we rested, trying to get over the colds we have developed.

Friday, August 28^th, we were packed up and on the road by 10:00. We headed southwest on a 145 mile trip to the Hernando Point Corps of Engineers campground, located on the shore of Lake Arkabutla. I think the Arkabutla is an old Indian word for “middle of nowhere” because it's about 12 miles of two lane, country road through the woods to get to the campground. We have a very nice site just across the road from the lake with a killer view out the front. We will be here for five days. The lake was created when Arkabutla Dam was completed in 1943, blocking the flow of the Coldwater River. To create the lake the Corps of Engineers had to relocated the town of Coldwater and it's 700 residents several miles to the south of the dam site.

After we got settled in we cooled down from the 90 plus temperature before getting in the car and driving to the town of Horn Lake, Mississippi, just south of the Tennessee border. We went up there to attend a geocaching event which we had spotted on the website. We needed to attend an event prior to September 2^nd in order to complete our “Geocaching Road Trip” challenge. It was the last of five types of caches we needed to find. It was a small event, with only about six or seven cachers, but they were very friendly and we had a great time visiting with them. The event went about 45 minutes and then we had dinner in the BBQ restaurant where the event had been held.

It was Tom's Original BBQ and we discovered after we went in that it was a Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives location. We saw the poster of Guy Fieri in the entryway and when we asked the owner, who was working the counter, he said that Guy had been here twice. They had a very extensive menu and I ended up with the beef brisket sandwich and Jackie had the baby back ribs. It was excellent food, some of the best brisket I have ever had. The place was full of local cops when we went in and when I had to show the owner my ID for my credit card he saw my badge and gave the police discount. It's been a long time since I had one of those! They have a location in Horn Lake and another in Memphis, so if you are in the area and want outstanding BBQ, look up Tom's Original BBQ. After dinner we drove back to the campground and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Saturday, August 29^th, we had a stay at home day. I got a number of small chores done around the coach, little things that I had been putting off because we were busy. Jackie got several things done as well and it was nice to have a quiet day to continue to recover from our colds.

Sunday we left the coach after lunch and headed out to do some geocaching and exploring. We first cached in the small town of Hernando, the first town north of the campground. Hernando was founded in 1839 and named after Hernando De Soto, so it is appropriate that it is also the county seat of DeSoto County Mississippi. The town has a current population of just over 14,000. We did a half dozen caches in Hernando before moving a little further north to Horn Lake, the town just south of the border where we went for the caching event the evening we arrived.

Horn Lake has a population of just over 26,000 and was also founded in the early 1800's. It began to grow and prosper in the mid-twentieth century as a suburb of Memphis and light industrial and manufacturing. Elvis Presley owned a ranch here in the late 60's and it was the place where he and Priscilla went for their honeymoon. We did some more caching here in Horn Lake, closing the afternoon with eleven new finds and no DNFs. After caching we drove back down to Hernando and visited the Walmart, then headed back to the campground, where we stayed in the rest of the evening.

Monday, August 31^st, we left the coach around 11:00 and headed north to do some sightseeing and caching in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is just across the state line, about 25 miles or so north of Hernando. Memphis was founded in 1819 on one of the high bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. The city was an important port and center of commerce for the mid-south. The city's elevation made it virtually flood-free and the lower surrounding areas had great agricultural potential. Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, but by June 1862 Union forces had captured and occupied Tennessee, including Memphis, and it remained under Union control the rest of the war. Because this happened early in the war the city was spared the damage suffered by other southern cities. The current population of Memphis is over 650,000, with more than 1.3 million in the metro area. It is the largest city in Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, and in the mid-south.

Our first stop after we crossed back into Tennessee was the UPS Service Center near the airport to pick up our mail. We didn't get much, but it has been a couple weeks and we try not to let it go too much beyond two or three weeks. The next thing we did was go to a neighborhood a mile or so east of downtown where I had lived at one time. In July 1966 I was in the Marine Corps and had just gotten out of boot camp, gone back to Phoenix and married my girlfriend. My first duty station was Millington Naval Air Station, which was located northeast of Memphis. I was sent there because at that time all of the Navy and Marine Corps Aviation Technical Schools were located on the base. After about three months my wife at the time came out and joined me. We rented an apartment in a large house in Memphis. We only lived there until I finished my technical schooling and was transferred to Hawaii in May 1967.

When we were last here in Memphis in 2006 I had tried to find the house where my ex-wife and I used to live so I could show it to Jackie. I remembered the street it was on, Harbert, and that the address was 1300 something, but we drove up and down Harbert street a number of times and nothing clicked, so we were unable to locate it. We did drive out to what had been Millington Naval Air Station. There is still a Naval facility there called the Mid-South Naval Support Activity, but the air base has been converted to a civilian airport and the south side of the base, where all the schools were located, has been deactivated completely. All of the schools were moved to Pensacola, Florida, back in the early 90's.

I decided that since we were in town I would take another look and this time I was able to locate the old house at 1353 Harbert. The front landscaping was completely changed and hid some of the features of the house that I remembered, but once I got close to the front, and then looked at the back, I knew it was the right place. Then things took a really interesting twist. A little background.

During the short period my ex and I lived there we were befriended by our next door neighbors. We were young, I was 19, she was 18, poor (only a Private in the Marine Corps) and alone. No friends, no relatives and no car. I took the bus back and forth to the base. Our neighbors, one of whom was a University of Memphis Art Professor, were very nice to us. We went to dinner at their place from time to time, and they would let us borrow one of their two Volkswagens on the weekends to go shopping, go to the park, or just go somewhere. I had no recollection of their names, only their kindness to a couple of young people on their own for the first time.

After I determined I had the right house I took a shot and rang the doorbell of the house where the couple who became our friends had lived. A youngish guy, maybe late 30's, answered the door and I explained how I had lived next door in 66-67 and briefly explained my interest in his house. As it turns out, the guy who answered the door bought the house six years ago from the wife of the college professor, who had died some years ago. And, he works at the same company with the son of the couple. I learned that the sculptor's name was Harris Sorrelle, and once he said that I remembered it. I was flabbergasted. I gave the guy a card and told him to let his friend know the story and tell him to call me if he wanted to learn more.  Harris Sorrelle has one of his sculptures in a riverside park in Memphis.  I have included a photo of the piece.

After my little foray into the past we headed over to get something to eat. Our friend Mike Neighbours had recommended Gus's Fried Chicken when he heard we were going to be in Memphis. It was rated very high on Yelp, so we gave it a shot. We ate at the downtown location, which was one of many. The place was packed, even though we got there close to 1:00, and there were a lot of cops. That is usually a good sign. They only serve fried chicken and the usual sides, so we both had the half chicken. I thought the chicken was excellent, not too greasy and with just a bit of a kick in the spices. Jackie thought is was a touch too hot for her taste. We also had the fried green tomatoes appetizer and they were outstanding. The fries and mac and cheese sides were also very good. I could recommend the place to anyone who likes fried chicken.

We then spent a couple of hours driving around downtown and some of the older neighborhoods, doing some sightseeing and geocaching. We only got six new finds, and one DNF, but we did a lot of looking around. Memphis, especially the older, wealthier sections, is very pretty. After our explorations we headed back south and got back to the coach in time for cocktails.

Tuesday, September 1^st. It was seventeen years ago today that I left Phoenix and moved to Indio to start a new life with my wonderful wife Jackie. We also have a wedding anniversary on February 8^th, but September 1^st will always mark a wonderful day. We decided we needed a down day, so we just stayed in the coach for the day and continued to try and get over our colds.

Wednesday, September 2^nd, another travel day. We pulled out of the Corps of Engineers park at 10:30 and started towards Little Rock, Arkansas, about 177 miles southwest. When we left Memphis we crossed the Mississippi River, putting us west of the Mississippi for the first time since the end of June. We made a fuel stop and arrived at the North Little Rock RV park right around 2:00. This is a city owned and operated park which is right on the banks of the Arkansas River. North of the river is North Little Rock and Little Rock's downtown is on the south side. We are right between the Interstate 30 bridge over the river and an old highway bridge which has been converted to a pedestrian crossing, leading from North Little Rock to the William Clinton Presidential Library, which is just across the river from our park. The park is nothing fancy, basically a parking lot with hookups, but it has full service, 50 amp parking at a Passport America rate of $12 a night. That is hard to beat anywhere.

We got set up and decided to stay in for the rest of the day since it really hot. Not too long after we got in a series of thunderstorms came through and we got some welcome rain. No big storms, just an hour or so of rain and noise. We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. The view after dark was really nice as we had all of downtown Little Rock outside our front window. The pedestrian bridge is lit up it's entire length with colored lights that continually change. It is really pretty here.

Thursday, September 3^rd, we headed out after lunch and did out laundry. After the laundry was done we found a Super Cuts and we both got haircuts. We then went to the grocery store and picked up some supplies. Although it was really hot and humid, we did stop and get one geocache, our first in the State of Arkansas. This also fills in our geocaching map for every state west of the Mississippi, including Hawaii and Alaska. Yea! We then headed back to the coach and put away the groceries.

As soon as we had all the supplies put away we drove the North Little Rock Elks Lodge, which was only a half mile from the RV park. This is Lodge 1004, chartered in 1905 as the Little Rock Lodge. In 1935 their lodge burned down, so they built a new one across the river in North Little Rock. It is a very large, pretty building, very art deco in design in keeping with it's age. There were only four or five members at the bar when we went in, but they were very friendly. One of them was a Lodge Trustee and he bought Jackie one of the Lodge's cookbooks, which looks like it has some very nice recipes in it. We stayed for about an hour and a half, had a couple drinks and a great time talking to the members. We then went home, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, September 4^th, we had another travel day. We left Little Rock around 10:30, as usual, and started southwest to Texarkana, Texas, about 155 miles away. Texarkana is a large city, about 67,000 people, which is split right down the middle north to south, with Texarkana, Arkansas on the east and Texarkana, Texas on the west. Courtney lives on the Texas side, so we are staying on the Texas side.

We are headed to Texarkana to visit with my granddaughter Courtney and her family. Courtney is my oldest daughter Tye's middle child. She got married about a year ago and just recently had a baby boy they named Josiah, my fifth great-grandchild. We arrived at the Shady Pines RV Park, which is about five miles west of Texarkana around 2:00. I had to make some repairs to the coach power cord before we could get set up, so we weren't all set up until after 4:00. We called Courtney and told her that it was too late today and that we would see them tomorrow. After that we stayed in the coach and tried to get cool on a very hot and humid day. We did notice on the local news that the people in this area refer to it as “The Arklatex” because it lies at the junction of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Our arrival here to be with family marks a good place to close out this episode and get it published. This is also more or less the first stop on our travels back to the west from our summer in the central part of the country. Until the next time, remember that life is to be enjoyed, not watched. Get out and have some fun. See ya soon.