Whew! We finished the Southern Loop!

March 14, 2016 / Ed Armstrong

This is our trip to Southern Texas and then east to see the southern US.

We finished our loop through the Deep South and made it back to Amarillo, Texas! We were gone almost 7 weeks on this trip. We drove 2,157 miles to go from Amarillo, to the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, and then east to Savannah, Georgia. We next went to Gaffney, South Carolina so I could attend Camp Freightliner. I now have the t-shirt showing that I survived Camp Freightliner!

This is our return trip back through the Deep South!

We drove 1,593 miles to go from Savannah, Georgia back to Amarillo. We traveled through 11 different states! We did not spend much time in Arkansas or Oklahoma on the return trip. We put in some long driving days to get back to Texas. We saw some wonderful sights along the way, however, still have many more places we would like to visit!

Driving a total of 3,750 miles through 11 states is certainly a long trip. Next time, I would like to spend some extended time at many of the locations we visited. Now, I need to plan our next trip!

Walmart and Clinton House

October 26, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Charlene in front of the first Walmart store.

Today we drove to Bentonville and went through the Walmart Museum. We really enjoyed it! It was quite amazing to see the stores that Sam Walton started and how fast Walmart expanded. It was impressive to see the Presidential Medal of Freedom that he received. Having grown up with a parents that had small businesses, it was truly shocking to see how fast Walmart grew. The miracle from Arkansas has had a worldwide impact. Not too many people can claim that achievement.

I had fun seeing Sam Walton’s famous old truck that he drove around despite being quite wealthy. I liked his truck.

Sam Walton’s old truck he used to drive everywhere.

Presidential Medal of Freedom given to Sam Walton.

After going through the Walmart Museum, we drove back to Fayetteville and went to the Clinton House. Please do not laugh at us. Bill and Hillary were both faculty members at the University of Arkansas in the mid-70s and we toured the house where they were married and lived as faculty members. How many people can say they have been in Bill and Hillary’s kitchen? Or bathroom? Or bedroom?

Clinton House in Fayetteville.

The hog statue at the Clinton House.

Arkansas!

October 25, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Penguin Ed’s is well-known for their barbecue.

Today, we started the day enjoying a pancake breakfast at our RV park in Branson. Then, we packed up the motorhome and headed south to Arkansas. We were driving through the Ozark Mountains, so we were going up and down and winding all around. We stopped in Fayetteville and got set up in our new RV park.

SEC football is fantastic, although it would be hard for me to root for Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas had a football game yesterday with Auburn that went into 4 overtimes! Arkansas won the game, but the RV park was a bit slow to empty out today as it was filled with Razorback fans celebrating their win. The park owner told us to be sure to arrive after noon so we would have a place to park.

The razorback statue is in many, many photos!

The leaves have changed colors all over campus.

After connecting the coach to electric and water, we headed out to find a place to eat. The RV park owner recommended a near-by barbeque restaurant called Penguin Ed’s. The Sunday special was a bowl mixture of Fritos, beans, pulled pork, and coleslaw. It sounded a little weird, but we went for the new Arkansas cultural experience and ordered the special. I enjoyed it, but Charlene had a little more trouble eating it. She ate the pork, but did not really care for the other ingredients. Oh well, we tried it.

The red leaves are impressive!

We next went to the University of Arkansas campus. I remember a number of years ago when Arkansas beat Arizona in basketball during the NCAA tournament. President Bill Clinton was rooting for Arkansas, so I have not necessarily been in love with the University of Arkansas since that game.

We found their football stadium and walked all around campus. We walked around their Old Main building and found their gate to the university. There were beautiful trees changing color all over campus.

This is the famous gate for the campus.

The fall leaves are so beautiful!