The end of day 1 of the cross country trip found us in Memphis. After 9 hours of driving, the opportunity to tour the city was brief.
No stop in Memphis is complete without going by Graceland.
Memphis – August 2021 – A Couple of Hours Around Town
Tag: Tennessee
Signs of Change Across America – August 2021
After an entire lifetime of living in the east, life has dealt us a curveball, resulting in us relocating from Ohio to Arizona. We took the opportunity to take a bit extra time during the 2000 mile move to stop and see a few sights along the way. Some of the more extended stops will have their own posting.
Let’s start by leaving Columbus
Time to head west.
First state – Kentucky
Our first stretch break was south of Louisville at Bernheim Arboretum. In addition to the natural scenery there were many sculptures.
After a very long drive across much of Kentucky, we reached the Tennessee border in the far northwestern corner of the state.
It was on to Memphis for the night. We saw enough sights in our brief visit to Memphis to warrant it’s own posting.
The next day started with a drive across the Mississippi River into Arkansas
After extended stops in Little Rock and Hot Springs (postings follow this one), we found ourselves near the small town of Murfreesboro at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. This park is known for being an open diamond ‘mine’ where you pay $10 and are welcome to go dig around for diamonds.
The park has a sign detailing recent and records finds – each day someone find small diamonds, and every once in a while a big find is made.
We did not strike it rich so we continued west, passing Texarkana, which as the name suggests is on the Texas/Arkansas border.
Our last brief stop of the day was in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Their very nice courthouse square has a public restroom with one way mirrors, so you can ‘take care of business’ while watching the world go by 🙂
A couple more hours lead to a great sunset while arriving in Dallas.
The next morning started out across West Texas, passing the town of Cisco (must be where they got the name of the company)
Our first extended stop of the day was in Abilene (posting to follow).
Texans are very proud of their home.
The drive across Texas continued, passing wind turbines then oil derricks.
After 575 mile we were through Texas (or so we though…), arriving in Hobbs, New Mexico.
Eastern New Mexico was still oil country but it quickly transitioned to the mountains. The peak of our trip was in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
After dropping more than 4000 feet we arrived in Alamogordo, home to White Sands National Park (individual posting later).
The plan was to drive the 70 miles to Las Cruces for the night but there was a landslide, resulting in a detour adding an addition 50 miles, resulting us ending up back in Texas (briefly) again.
Eventually we made it to Las Cruces, and the next morning started on the literal home stretch.
After 2000 miles we have reached our new home state! With this move we have a fantastic opportunity for new sights and experiences, so stay tuned….
Across America – May 2019 – Random Scenes Part 2
Central Tennessee – Bus Graveyard
Northern Alabama – Rock Zoo
Scottsboro, Alabama – Did you ever lose your luggage on an airplane and never get it back. It likely ended up here, as they buy all of the unclaimed luggage from the airlines and sell it in essentially a thrift store.
Pawhuska, Oklahoma
Bartlesville, Oklahoma – Phillips 66 Petroleum Company Headquarters
Vinita, Oklahoma – Will Rogers Rodeo
Eastern Oklahoma – Pensacola Dam. A mile long and releasing a lot of water because of the recent rains.
Joplin, Missouri – America’s 2nd largest truck stop.
Southern Missouri – Presumed dead armadillo
Somewhere else in Southern Missouri – Coke Machine Graveyard
Scenes around Cairo, Illinois – At the confluence of the Ohio River and Mississippi River – with flooding.
Evansville, Indiana – Restored Greyhound Bus Station, now a hipster hamburger place. Manhattan prices in small town Indiana.
The interior looked nothing like a bus station.
Evansville, Indiana – County Courthouse
Scenes around Louisville, Kentucky
And after 3 weeks of running around the country – back in Ohio (in Cincinnati). Only 2 hours to home.
Tullahoma, Tennessee – May 2019 – Beechcraft Aircraft Heritage Museum
The small city of Tullahoma, Tennessee has had a long association with flight, as it is located next to Arnold Air Force Base – where many engineers evaluate aircraft and other military apparatus for flight.
As a result of their passion for flight, they have a museum dedicated to Beechcraft Aircraft, despite the fact the planes themselves are built in Wichita, Kansas.
The lighting of the walkway to the museum is made to look like runway lights.
Inside you find 36 aircraft in a number of hangars. The most famed early Beechcraft airplanes are known as staggerwings – as their biplane wings are slightly offset from each other.
These airplanes are quite rare, but the museum has a nice collection of them.
This airplane is known as Serial Number 1 – Travel Air Mystery Ship.
The next hangar have some Twin Beechs in addition to the biplanes.
The final hangar was the largest, with a great collection of single engine aircraft.
Also included in the collection is a cutaway to show the frame of the aircraft.
They are beautiful little airplanes.
The final stop on our tour of their museum was an all composite Beechcraft Model 2000A Starship. This unusually shaped airplane was one of the first carbon fiber frames, as well as rear facing engines and propellers.
The Beechcraft Heritage Museum is a nice stop for any aviation enthusiasts.
Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky & Tennessee – May 2019 – Waterfall Tour
The Cumberland Plateau is situated just west of the Appalachian Mountains, running from Kentucky through Tennessee and into Alabama.
The area has a number of highlights including this natural bridge in southern Kentucky.
The Cumberland Falls is the most famed natural feature of southern Kentucky. They claim to have the 2nd most volume of water for a waterfalls in the eastern United States (a far second to Niagara Falls).
From below the rush of the water is impressive.
Just south of Byrdstown, Tennessee is the Obey River Recreation Area.
Cummins Falls is a 75′ high waterfall on the Blackburn Fork River in Jackson County, Tennessee. This waterfall has two options for viewing – one is the overlook seen here. The second is to go down to the river and wade for 1/2 mile in the river to get to the waterfalls. Because of high water conditions (and not being prepared for wading waist high in water), we opted for the overlook view only.
Burgess Falls is on the aptly named Falling Water River in east central Tennessee. This remains of an old bridge crosses the river just above the series of waterfalls.
There are some cascades before you arrive at this falls, nearly 80′ high.
But the main Burgess Falls is this impressive 136′ drop into the ravine.
Not far from Burgess Falls is Falls Creek Falls. It is the highest free fall waterfall east of the Mississippi, dropping an impressive 256′.
A closer view of the top.
A robust hike into the ravine gives a totally different perspective.
Within the same park is this nice cliff and small falls.
Also in Tennessee is the Rock Island State Park. It has a number of features including this falls along the Caney Fork.
This falls once powered this historic cotton mill.
The Caney Fork continues down. Depending on the release of water from the dam it can look like those, or be totally submersed in water.
The highlight of the Rock Island State Park are the Great Falls. Here it appears the entire hillside is the waterfalls, with water seemingly coming from everywhere along the hillside.
This closeup of the smaller cascade portion show the beauty of the falls.
Finally we had a bonus waterfalls early in the morning in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The Rutledge Falls is on a church’s property but they welcome visitors to come check them out.
Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky Mountains – Late Fall 2016 Road Trip – Day 9
It was a very winding road from Boone, North Carolina passing through Mountain City on the way. Mountain City had numerous Christmas tree farms preparing the trees for delivery to the holiday sale lots. The two lane road curved through the hills with gorgeous views of trees in autumn colors and valleys with low lying fog.
Our travel continued to the South Holston Dam, an earth-and-rock filled dam 285 feet high reaching 1,600 feet across the South Fork Holston River in Bristol, Tennessee. Construction of South Holston Dam began in 1942 and was completed in 1950 by the TVA to serve as a hydroelectric facility. We drove across the top of the dam to reach the visitor center which had a lot of information for us to learn about the history of the TVA and the South Holston Dam. The height of the dam also offered a beautiful scene of the sun shone through the trees with the fog settled over the river and giving a misty look of the colorful hills.
A short drive from the dam is Osceola Island and Weir Dam Recreation Area. The weir dam (a dam designed to pool water behind it while also allowing water to flow over) helps control the water along a river, allowing engineers to measure the amount of water moving along the river, and also helps oxygenate the water. It also makes for a pretty sight.
On an average day water gently tumbles over the ends but this isn’t always the case. The nearby South Holston Dam releases water from time to time as part of their hydroelectric operations. When this happens, three things happen: a loud siren plays a sound that echoes for miles down the river, bright yellow lights begin to flash on a sign cautioning visitors about the sudden increase in flood waters, and the water starts to rage across the top of the weir dam.
The weir dam was built by the TVA for the purpose to revitalize the river by adding oxygen to the water to promote a healthy environment for fish, insects, and the river. The weir dam had rows of concrete horizontal barriers across the width of the river with interlocking wooden timber walls. The water that flows over the top of the weir falls over its side and acts like a natural waterfall creating oxygen that is added to the river.
The weir is an interesting sight that also attracts fishermen.Men were fishing from the footbridge and within the river. The fly fishermen stood thigh high in the river casting their lines in a rhythmic wave even though it was only 29o F. A short walk across the rusty metal footbridge is Osceola Island with additional walking trails but we crossed the bridge to the island only for new photo angles of the weir dam.
Afterwards we drove into the town of Bristol, Tennessee, or perhaps Bristol, Virginia since the state border between Virginia and Tennessee divides the town. A sign straddles State Street so that south of the street sign is the state of Tennessee and property north of the street sign is Virginia. Flags of each state hung on their respective sides of the street. Having recently seen the Geico commercial we tried to spot the painted marker on State Street, but did not find it.
Then off we raced to Bristol Motor Speedway to see an old NASCAR racetrack that was built in 1960. The structure looks like a football stadium from the outside but has a capacity to hold 162,000 spectators. Bristol Motor Speedway is the fourth largest sports venue in America and the eighth largest in the world.
Finding the stadium open we walked into the bleachers amazed at the size of this immense stadium. The concrete oval short track was set below in the center of the stadium. It must be deafening to be here for a race with the noise of the crowd on metal bleachers and the thundering roar of the car engines within these enclosed walls.
The Natural Tunnel in Duffield, Virginia was next on our list to see. A trail at the visitor center led us downhill to the creek and train tracks. Natural Tunnel State Park is a Virginia state park, centered on the Natural Tunnel, a massive naturally formed cave that is so large it is used as a railroad tunnel through the Appalachian Mountains.
It is the first tunnel that I have seen that was not man-made and bricked. The Natural tunnel, which is up to 200 feet wide and 80 feet high, began to form from a small river, now called Stock Creek that was diverted underground and continued to erode the tunnel over millions of years continuing to this day. Time will eventually wear away the rock ceiling until it falls and forms a gap between the hills of the mountain.
Local folklore of the area tells of a Cherokee maiden and a Shawnee brave who had been forbidden to marry by their respective tribes, jumped to their deaths from the highest pinnacle above the Natural Tunnel. The place is now known as Lover’s Leap after the couple sneaked away at night to climb the peak waiting until morning to jump from the cliff so that they could be together in the afterlife.
This seems to be a popular tale because we have heard this story before with multiple peaks known as Lover’s Leap. We hiked to the pinnacle of Lover’s Leap overlooking the park. Looking down over the edge at Lover’s Leap from this point most definitely certified death should anyone jumped from this cliff.
After we hiked back, we went to McDonald’s for our usual order of chicken sandwiches with sweet tea before continuing on to the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, the southeastern end of the famous passage of Cumberland Gap that led west. The Cumberland Gap is a National Historical Park located in Middlesboro, Kentucky at the border of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Cumberland Gap is a natural break in the Appalachian Mountains.
We started our adventure of this park by driving a four-mile road to Pinnacle Overlook, an elevation of 2,440 ft. This overlook provided a great view of the tri-state park and the Cumberland Gap. The Cumberland Gap was a trail used by elk and bison to the salt springs. Native tribes marked the trail before Dr. Thomas Walker who worked for the Loyal Land Surveyors documented the route through the gap in 1750.
The Appalachian Mountains made it difficult to move westward but the Cumberland Gap allowed westward passage beginning in the 1770’s. Daniel Boone who was born near Reading, Pennsylvania made his first passage through the gap in 1769. Boone with thirty men was commissioned to mark out the Wilderness Trail from the Holston River in Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap in 1775. The significance of the Cumberland Gap was dubbed as the “Gibraltar of America” by Ulysses S. Grant.
The Object Lessen Road was a path that brought attention to the importance of a road through the Cumberland Gap to people in the 1920’s. We hiked the Object Lessen Trail until we reached the intersection of Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness Trail. A large boulder at the crossing of these trails had a bronze plaque mounted on the face of the rock dedicated to Daniel Boone. Since the sun was beginning to set we left the park and traveled through the mountains to reach our hotel in Hazard, Kentucky.
Nashville – National Parks Road Trip – Day 23
The drive from Florence, Alabama was only about 2 hours in the cool rain. Once we arrived we went to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds for a massive flea market/antique show. We came home with a couple of small treasures, but most importantly it filled the time until 10 AM when the Lane Motor Museum opened
We arrived at the Lane Motor Museum on Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville, opting for tickets for the main museum and the basement tour. The museum boasts a collection of more than 350 cars on display. Lane is known for collecting the unusual and rare cars.
The museum was divided in sections of cars made by country. Cars from Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, South America and the United States were seen. This is not your typical car museum! Lane Motor Museum features unique cars, bicycles, and motorcycles.
I found the futuristic cars from the 50’s and 60’s interesting. Cars with two heads, two engines, three wheels, cars that fold in half and even one run by a propeller, a car that could be driven forward from either end, and an amphibious vehicle were some of the exceptional vehicles exhibited.
The basement tour provided a tour guide for us since this area is a working garage and cars were on lifts and tools were loosely strewn about. The guide led us through the garage and announced that Lane is proud that all their cars are road ready. He went on about the history and acquisition of many of the individual cars. Some of these cars are driven in road rallies and have won.
Since it was lunchtime we headed downtown, but quickly found the tourist areas packed with faux cowboys and cowgirls in the cowgirl skirts and boots, so we continued to a non touristy area on the west side, finding lunch at the Blackstone Brewery. We both had a great meal away from the multitude of tourists.
From here it was a short drive past Vanderbilt University and to find a craft show in Centennial Park, which is also home to the Parthenon of Tennessee. This building houses an art gallery and museum and also looks like the Parthenon in Greece. We left to discover more of this city and stumbled on a playground with a very large dragon that spiraled through the park that offered a climbing structure with an artistic flair. The dragon was covered in mosaic tile making it very colorful.
Our next stop was at music row where we walked the block to see the music studios. Dedicated markers and decorated guitars standing at the studios granted information about the country artists for us to read along the way. The guitars had to be at least 10 feet tall.
We walked on to find statues of a giant microphone that I posed as though I was singing into and also a bronze piano and statue of Owen Bradley playing the piano.
Owen Bradley, a country music record producer helped to create the “Nashville Sound” with Chet Atkins. The Nashville sound replaced the honky tonk sound with smooth background vocals. Chet Atkins also has a bronze statue of him playing a guitar and an empty stool next to him so that you can sit and play along.
We drove to the baseball field for the Nashville Sounds, a AAA team. A Segway tour proceeded through as we inspected the monstrous guitar used as the field’s scoreboard. Then we moved on to find the store for the TV program Antique Archeology. We got close to the area but crowds jammed the streets and walkways so we moved on.
Nearby is the Tennesse State Capital, complete with a civil war statue. It never ceases to amaze me how much the south celebrates a war they lost, sort of like British celebrating the 4th of July. It was here we managed to photobomb a wedding.
We made it to the Residence Inn near the airport about 5 pm. We went to Elaine’s for dinner to find that Elaine’s was celebrating a milestone in business and provided a jazz band for entertainment with a special menu. We had braised short ribs with grits and rosemary lemon chicken with sweet potato hash. Dinner was good but we felt as if we were being pushed out the door.
RDZ Photography 