Open Roads

Recently I embarked on a great adventure.

Best friends, a Honda, and a traveling gnome. 

 Open Roads, Open Skies, Open Minds and we ventured out and embraced it. 

We decided to spend the last week we both had free to drive up through Tennessee to visit Memphis and Nashville. 

We would stop in Hot Springs and camp, then drive to memphis for two days, then camp in Nashville for a couple days, finish up there and stop to camp in Missouri on the way back home. 

We made a plan, routed, budgeted, and shopped, the weather was supposed to stay above 33 so we were all set. 

Also, Poppy The traveling Gnome joined us on our adventure and He will have another post of his very own, very soon.

The plan didn't last long, and 8 states later, our structured trip truly evolved into an adventure. 

Day 1: We set out in the morning and took to the roads, ready for the journey..or so we thought. The first day was spent driving out of Texas and into Arkansas. We made a couple of stops for breakfast and to play tag in random parking lots just because we could. 

We arrived in Hot Springs early in the evening and got to explore a bit. Our GPS took us into another section of the park so we took a few moments to play on a giant see-saw and race on out-of-bounds RC runways. We walked the town, awed by the steaming fountains and street drains and toured the bathhouse which was very interesting, then headed to set up camp. It was a bit rough because the weather had already slipped past the forecasted low and was still dropping. After setting up the campsite we ventured out for dinner and came across a New York style pizza place nestled  in the back streets of little Hot Springs. We ate to our heart's (or rather our belly's) content and settled in for the night. 

Mr. Sam Houston

Perfect venue for a game of tag

Perry took over when Alan got sleepy

Breakfast Selfies

Hot Springs National Park

Yay for giant see-saws

Hot springs

Hot Guy :)

Old fashioned gym

Tiny door

We filled up with spring water

Sun set over Hot Springs

Poppy enjoying the view

Day 2: We woke up to frost coated tents. The temps had dropped down below 21 and the day was hard to start, but nonetheless we packed up and made our way up to the observation tower. From three stories up we could see all of Hot Springs. Next we drove to Memphis where we had a Picnic lunch on the Mississippi River. We settled in at the cabin, made a spaghetti and meatball dinner together then hit the town. Being in Memphis, we wanted to check out Beale Street. Turns out it was really cold and most venues were 21+ so we did what we could; which mostly meant ordering soda and finding other ways to entertain ourselves. This is where the Planking was born. From then on, we made a habit out of planking random places throughout the rest of the trip. 

Cozy morning

Chilly morning

Hot springs from observation tower

Cooking 

Beale street

The planking begins:
Location: Beale Street 

Day 3: On the second day in Memphis Alan came to my room and woke me up early and we watched the sun rise through the trees before we went back to our rooms to sleep for a couple more hours. I woke up to Alan cooking my favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy, he is the best.  What a day! A few of my favorite things all in one morning. After breakfast I got to try out my new hammock which made for a nice, relaxing morning. We headed back into the town to visit and tour the Gibson Guitar factory. I don't know much about guitars, but I love music and was really entertained by the tour. I really loved seeing how happy it made Alan to play the guitars. After our tour, we found a grassy park area near a church and had a picnic lunch. This was a really pleasant moment, having a picnic lunch with my best friend in Memphis...that is until we were approached by a man who claimed it was his birthday. Long story short, some guy, an inmate most likely, was prayed over and we were short three more dollars and a partial bag of chips. We knew he was deceiving us, but it wasn't worth the trouble.. It was a little frustrating and a shaking experience.. the rest of the day went similarly. It was growing colder and we both started to feel a little under the weather and frankly bummed. Back at the cabin we figured we would redeem the day with cookies and a fire in the fireplace. Unfortunately the firewood was wet and the cookies were crappy and our spirits still low. The solution? Panda. Panda Express, the solution to any bad day.  

Location: Cabin in Memphis

Safety is first in the guitar factory

Poppy liked Gibson

My guy

Backwards planking

Location: Memphis adjacent to Beale

My Eagle Scout and his fire

Day 4: After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, we finished up in memphis with the National Civil Right's museum. That was really cool, it was bizarre standing so close to where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.. so crazy. What's Memphis without some BBQ? We had lunch at a little BBQ place before moving on towards Nashville. The expected low for the night was 5 degrees, so camping did not sound appealing and we began looking for other lodging options. We discovered Alan has a cousin nearby who offered us a place to stay in her apartment. We arrived in Nashville a little late to really do anything, so we decided to try the Adventure Science Center. We got the discount price, but only had 20 minutes before they closed. Turns out that was the best 20 minutes of the whole trip. Running around a science center with my best friend was so much fun and ABSOLUTELY worth the 6 dollars. Unfortunately, I dropped my drivers license somewhere and they closed so I couldn't get it back and now we were in Nashville and I had no ID. We found a really neat coffee shop and discovered they sold Virgil's Cream Soda, which is by far the best I've ever tasted. We explored the catacombs of the building the coffee shop was in and came across a distillery. Obviously we couldn't drink anything and to be honest, I didn't want to drink anything, but we thought it would be kinda cool to take the tour. They had to check our IDs because there is a tasting portion of the tour that we would have to opt out of if we were under 21. This was fine with me, but I had totally forgotten that I had left my ID at the science center..so this is basically how the embarrassing encounter went down:

The man: "Can I see your ID?" 

Me: "um..actually I just left my ID at a children's museum."

..It was so embarrassing...Not because I couldn't taste the alcohol, but because it sounded like I was making an excuse for the fact that I was under-age. 

Anyway, after the tour we went to a little burger joint in town called The Pharmacy and wow, what good burgers! We decided to continue the fun by planking in front of the sign and after maybe the funniest mishap ever, we continued onward to meet Alan's cousin Laura. 

I was standing in Africa!

Rosa Parks

Out that window is where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, to the right was the last room he stayed in before he died

The artery exhibit at the Adventure Science Center

Pre Plank

The effort

"I'll just stand here and be the normal one"

"actually, I'll try"
Location: The Pharmacy

whoops

Day 5: We started out the day touring the little town where Laura goes to school and it was quite fun; coffee, depots, and antique stores. I called the Science center to give them my information in case they found my ID and told them we would stop by later that day before heading to GA. We had donuts for breakfast at two different donut shops because theres an ongoing debate in the town over which is best. We took part in the out-of-towners taste test(not actually a real thing) and came up with our favorite of the two.

We recommend Ralph's.

 After breakfast and exploring, we headed to Georgia. My dad lives there and after a recent reunion and effort to be a dad again I figured it would be nice to see him. So since it was too cold to camp and he offered a place for us to stay, we headed to stay with my father. When Loading the car, I saw my face poking out from beneath the passenger seat, MY ID!! It was a praise God moment.. He had definitely answered prayers. We traveled through Chattanooga and walked through the battle site and there was an AMAZING view! After watching the sun set on the town we headed back down and stopped by this really cute little BBQ place where I tried BBQ Tacos for the first time. Pretty Good. After Good food and Good laughs we headed to GA. We arrived at my Dad's Just in time for homemade pizza. It was a little quiet because we are all pretty quiet, it was really nice to see him again. Also, snaps to Alan for staying with strangers just to be support for me. 

Add caption

Location: train car in Cookeville

Day 6: The last day. We slept in and it was a slow morning. Had a very nice breakfast prepared by my father before heading out. But not before we were given gas money and lots of snacks. Onward we went. With a long driving day ahead we took to the roads. We stopped for coffee and planked with Poppy(which had a tragic ending) then drove down through Atlanta, then Alabama, and we were so close to Pensacola that we thought "why not?!?". We drove down and watched the sun set over the water while dancing and playing in the white sand. We walked out into the water, it was super chilly, but totally worth it. So Worth it. We had a quick dinner at Whataburger before driving home. 

It was a long day of driving, and we made it home around 3AM, but it was a great trip and Such an awesome adventure. I couldn't have asked for a better traveling companion or best friend. 

A happy reunion

Poppy likes coffee

He's my favorite

Got a mug from mugs

Location: Mugs coffee in Georgia

Poppy wanted to plank.. then he had an accident and broke his leg off

THe sun set as we came over the bridge into Pensacola

Poppy likes the white sand beach

Just a Few more random travel/Scenic shots

It got a little cold I guess...

Location: Random place in Tennessee with an AWESOME view!

States visited:
Texas
Arkansas
Tennessee
Georgia
Alabama
Florida
Mississippi
Louisiana

It may have been a crazy idea that turned into a crazy adventure, but I couldn't have asked for a better person to spend it with nor would I trade it or him for anything.


Heres to Adventure, my life teammate, adventure partner, and best friend.