Road Trip Part 1: Houston to Atlanta

Having dropped Gretchen at the pet ranch for two weeks and loaded up the roof box, borrowed from a colleague of mine, and required to cope with our additional two passengers we were off to pick up in Atlanta. Stuart and I set off reasonably early on Sunday morning in order to drive out of Texas into Arkansas. As always most of our day was spent getting out of Texas. We tried to take a different road to what we have done before but there are limitations. We saw good old Sam Houston again and managed to stopped off at the jerky place we had visited last year. We even passed an Atlanta on the way out of Texas, but it was no where near the one we were heading for!

Sam Houston Statue

Atlanta, TX

Just at the border of Texas and Arkansas there is a town named Texarkana – guess where it gets it name from?! I thought it was going to be an interesting place to see but was sorely disappointed! So since the main street runs along the border there are different State laws – the Texas side is dry, but the Arkansas side is not, so as you can imagine there are lots of bars up one side of the street and none up the other.

That first night we had booked a B&B in a place called Hot Springs not too far from a place called Little Rock. Hot Springs sits on the edge of a big lake and we noticed there were lots of campgrounds and cheap looking hotels. It was strange because as we got closer to Hot Springs, well at least the old Hot Springs, the less people were around.

Our B&B had come as the best rating on Trip Advisor and when we arrived, from a distance, it looked like it was in an old house, but actually the old house was a ruin and the rooms were in a motel style complex around the derelict building. Our room was called ‘Geography’ and it was like a mini suite with kitchenette, living room, bedroom and bathroom. It was absolutely fine but not quite what we expected. That night we walked into the main drag to look for something for dinner. The choice was pretty slim and after about 9 hours of driving we didn't want anything too fussy or too long so we settled for a Mexican and that way we could have a frozen margarita each! As we walked we noticed that all the big old hotels were now closed and slowly becoming ruins that is why there was no options on accommodation. We assume it is because the lake development, we passed, is now taking all the tourists away. However, the only buildings still looking good were the old bath houses (now you can understand the name of the town) and the enormous federal building standing up on the hill looking down on Hot Springs.

The next morning breakfast was brought to our door in a basket, ccontaining orange juice, yogurts, a mini bagel with some Philadelphia cheese and a huge cinnamon bun. We sat outside our room and we were soon joined by a cat. This local moggy was like none other I have known. He (or she) was thoroughly enjoying eating our empty yogurt pots, eating philli cheese off Stuarts finger and even tucked into a bit of cinnamon bun, and looked decidedly upset when we got up and left.

That morning Stuart had book us into one of the hot baths for a mineral soak. Except for us having to purchase their expensive flip flops for Stuart, it was lovely. They had four public baths that varied in temperature and you could just go in and out while they served you iced water. There was not many people there and the ones that were, were pretty old and I think eastern European. After I was in the changing room getting dressed and in there was an elderly lady and she was huffing and puffing. She had brought along a bikini to wear in the baths, however, it was nearly as old as she was and all the elastic and support had gone so it was really quite indecent. She knew this and asked me what I thought. I said it was pretty revealing and so she said do I think she should wear her bra as well. Well her bra was a brown silky thing – quite fancy for a lady of her age and it certainly didn't help with her bikini issues! In the end she walked into the pool area with her towel held up to her chest – goodness only knows how she got into the water.

Next stop on our escapade was Memphis, Tennessee – the home of Elvis. Just as were leaving the outskirts of Hot Springs I spotted a rock shop. I had to make a big u-turn to come back to it but it was like a rock persons dream. When we actually go there we realised that most of what were seeing were bits of glass – just lots of different coloured chunks, however, it was still beautiful to look at all as a collection. Stuart could not believe we had already found rocks to look at day 2 of the holiday!

We stayed in the centre of Memphis in a big hotel. I was slightly worried about the roof box being too high for the valet car parking but the guy assured us it was going to be fine! That night we took a walk along the Mississippi and went in search of some good BBQ which Memphis is known for. We found some good food in a place that didn't look much from the outside but all tasted good inside with the pork ribs falling off the bone. Later that night we went to check out the nightlife as there is a party street (Beale Street) that reminded us of Bourbon Street in New Orleans but not quite as smelly. Most of the bars had live music and some of it was better than others. In the end we found a place that we could get a seat and there was a guy playing blues. It was really quite good and a fine way to complete the evening.

The next morning I got up to run along the river, and I thoroughly enjoyed the cooler weather. After we walked to a breakfast place, Cockadoos, around the corner where Stu decided to experience another must have of the south – catfish and grits – yuk!! I opted for eggs, boring and safe! Lets just say he ate them but didn’t choose to have them again on the holiday.

Memphis BBQ. Stuart enjoying his rack!	Night time in Memphis (remarkably similar to New Orleans)
	Catfish & Grits

One can’t come to Memphis without seeing the home of Elvis Presley so we did the cheap tourist thing of looking over the wall at his house and through the railings to the park with his aeroplane etc. We saw the bar Stuart had been to many years ago with Walter from work when they were travelling back after being in Oklahoma with Kerr-McGee. After doing that Stuart did want to see Sun Studios where many famous musicians have started their careers, including Elvis, but he is probably not the most famous. We were there in time for the first tour and waited with the crowds – even though it not holiday season there was a surprising amount people there. The tour lasted about an hour and was really good. The guy doing the tour was extremely enthusiastic and really glad we went. In the actual studio they said you could pose with the old microphone so I made Stu stand up with it so I could get his picture – he looked very comfortable doing his Elvis impression! Obviously we had to pick up a souvenir – a fridge magnet!

We hadn’t really planned where we were going from there but Stuart had read about Chattanooga and it seemed like a good place to stop the night before we had to be in Atlanta. On the way we did take a little detour to see the place where unclaimed baggage goes! The warehouse was in a place called Scottsboro and it was quite an experience. What surprised me was the fact they were even selling underwear! I mean this has been worn by someone else - yuk! There was a lot of electrical items some better priced than others. We looked at the cameras to see if I could get a new one but decided not too (at the end of the holiday this was a mistake as my camera gave up the ghost!).

Chattanooga, the place of the choo choo, used to be a really smelly place from pollution but now a days it looked really nice and regenerated. The scenery as we headed east was becoming more hilly as were driving towards the Appalachians. Again with no idea where to stay except for knowing we needed somewhere where we could park car plus roof box we let the GPS guide us and found a very smart b&b called, Bluff View Inn, on the bluff looking down on the centre of town. Again they were very busy but had a choice of two rooms and so we selected the one called the ‘Highlander’! There was an old rail bridge that you could walk over to look at the Tennessee River, which we were now on. That night we found a nice bistro that served fish and big glasses of wine followed by an ice cream at the local Ben & Jerry’s shop.

The next morning I took a run along the Tennessee as they had a good river path, most of it within the trees so difficult to see the river, but it was still nice. The only downside with our accommodation was the breakfast – it was dreadful yet it should have been great since it was in the ‘complex’ it had its own bakery/restaurant!

Not far from Chattanooga was an escarpment with a place called Rock City and Ruby Falls. I think this was at least our third set of caverns since we moved to the States but they were good just not as good as those in New Mexico. What was different about Ruby Falls was the 145ft waterfall that flows underground. Rock City, a top lookout mountain, was a maze garden between the rocks and had a lookout point that claimed you could see seven states from the view point. We didn’t think you could see all seven but it was still impressive.

	Ruby Falls displayed in coloured lights as it tumbled from the ceiling of the cave.
Rock City A panoramic view across some of the ’seven’ states below:

….and 5 different ways to ‘outcrop’!

It was only a couple hours down to Atlanta from there and so we would be in good time to meet Dad and Sam off their late flight in. We stopped off for a driving break and booking ready opportunity at a lake – I think it was Lake Acworth, but we just followed the signs off the freeway to this place. There was absolutely no one around and it was lovely and sunny.

States driven through so far (6): Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia

Mileage to date: approximately 1,000 miles

Houston, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202562720634909943131.0004b569a15234c19e251&msa=0&ll=33.811102,-86.011963&spn=3.778732,4.938354

Beach Palooza

So a long time ago Amy, Laura and I signed up for the Beach Palooza in Galveston.  It was a 3 mile obstacle course along the beach and was just meant to be a fun event.  However, on the week of the event my two companions pulled out!  It was on the Saturday before we were going on holiday so I still wanted to do it even if it wasn’t going to be quite as much fun as with them all.  Stu and Gretchen were my supporters.  There were a lot of people there and most of them were in fancy dress – not boring me! 

The race started and within about  3 metres of the start line I could already hear people moaning about running on the sand – but it really wasn't that bad.  Very quickly I was near the front of my wave of people  and for the first 1.5 mile it was just running on the sand, it wasn’t until you started to head back that the obstacles started.  There were high jumps, which I delicately swung my legs over, things to crawl under and over.  Jumping between platforms, that were decidedly wobbly, negotiating a web of elastic rope, then a cargo net wall.  By the time I got to the cargo net I had already caught the previous wave of participants!  The last part was running in and out of water and sand piles with the finale jumping over burning logs before crawl through some artic waters (arctic water in Texas during the summer – not very likely!).

It was over in less than thirty minutes and even my support team was surprised to see me back so quickly!  It was fun but would have been better with other chums!  Never mind I have the Warrior Dash to look forward to in November with Amy.

Old Work Colleagues Together Again

We had a wonderful visit from the IT duo – Di and Joyce.  They coordinated their flights so Joyce’s company limousine deliver them both to our door.  By the time I got home from work they had already popped the cork and tucking into wine.  Friday night we decided on a quiet one since Joyce had flown in from Aberdeen so Stuart made his famous pizza.

As with all their visits we had to spend some hours at the mall – Stuart opted out so the three girls embarked on the outlet malls at 290.  Joyce bought the Levi shop out of jeans for all the family.  I think the shop assistant thought all her Christmas’s had come at once assuming she gets commission per sale.  Many of the other shops suffered a similar ambush by Joyce and by the time we came away Di had nothing, I had a few things and Joyce – well we had to help her carry all her bags!  There is nothing better to do after shopping than go for a pedicure.  This being Joyce’s first pedicure there was much giggling and hilarity.  I think the Vietnamese girls didn't know what to make of us!

Since the weather was really quite comfortable (all things relative) we headed to Miller Outdoor theatre to watch a Japanese band banging on drums - Kaminari Taiko.  We took a deluxe picnic with lots of olives and cheeses, wine and more and ate like kings and queens.  Gretchen was lucky and got to have some nice eats as well.  Since the event was over quite early and as per tradition we headed off to the Gingerman pub and bumped into many familiar faces.

Stu and I did our usual cycle on the Sunday leaving the ladies to sleep.  And although Stuart had thought he had got out of shopping Joyce announced she was having doubts about the size of jeans she had bought for Kate, her daughter.  This time Stu took them back and to my amazement when they returned many hours later there were more shopping bags than when they left!!!

Before packing Joyce off to her hotel in Downtown Houston we managed a bit of a bbq and pool session, including making paper boats to race (I cant actually remember why the paper boats).

What a fab weekend!