Vacation 2012
10 July - 9 August
a tour of places in eastern USA
the R-pod travel trailer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a map of our travels (click on map for larger version)
In McAllen, Texas immediately before we started this trip.
Page 1
We started on this trip in the late afternoon of Monday, 9 July.
Getting all preparations made took longer than anticipated, and after that I decided to just - get out of town.
The plan was to drive straight through to get east and start the vacation when we got far from home.
We drove through the night via Houston and then north on US highways which were not Interstates to Texarkana at the border of Texas and Arkansas.
From there we drove across Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River into Tennessee at Memphis.
By this time it was light enough for photography, so here the photographic description starts.
a sign at a gas station in Arkansas.
a view of the Memphis, TN skyline when crossing the Mississippi River bridge
first crossing of the Mississippi River - from Arkansas to Tennessee
Note the finger of land coming from the river bank on the right. This is a projection built by the US Army Corps of Engineers
to force the water into the main channel and cause the current to run faster, keeping the main channel from silting up.
These projections are among the features which make navigating the river in small craft hazardous.
The glass pyramid on the Memphis side of the river. It is 321 ft tall and is a 60 percent replica of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
It has been used as a sports arena and meeting site. Current plans are for it to become a Bass Pro Shop megastore to open in late 2013 .
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Rest stop on IH 40 just west of Nashville - The folks in Tennessee take their music seriously
from the back secure parking area where we were offered a place to park the Rpod.
The Dave Kirk dealership - good friendly service.
While waiting for the initial evaluation I asked a member of the sales staff to fully acquaint me with
the Chevy Volt. If I would have had the money in pocket I would have bought one.
They are very well thought out cars.
the differential gears which were gouged.
Since this was a warranty repair we were provided with a loaner vehicle (big Silverado pickup)
to drive while the dealership was working on our Suburban.
To pass the time while repairs were made, we visited the public library - a good place to relax.
A person at the Library told us that they had an excellent playhouse in town, and the current production was being performed that very afternoon.
It was a fairly short drive to the KOA camp in Sweetwater TN where we had planned to stop for the night
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update 6 June 2013
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The
This is a fairly new building - beautiful inside and outside.
It has a well appointed coffee shop and a small used book store. Of course we found some things to add to our personal library there.
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The Cumberland County Playhouse - where we saw a live production of the musical The Music Man
It was beautifully done.
where we stayed while the Suburban was being fixed.
Repair work done - re-hitching the Rpod preparing to leave.
We almost hated to leave. The people of Crossville were uniformly pleasant and helpful.
before the trouble with the Suburban was discovered. It is just west of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park
and a good jumping off place to get an early start at visiting the park and other sites of interest.
Camped at the KOA campground in Sweetwater, TN
by some measures this was the beginning of the vacation proper.
We spent one night here - cleaned the spattered oil off the Rpod and the next day did proper vacation things.
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