Spring Break Road Trip

Christine and I just returned from our Spring Break road trip.  What a blast.  We loaded the Jeep with two overnight bags and some snacks.  We left Monday night at 8pm with no plan other than we wanted to head West.  We drove to Memphis and decided to keep on going.  We crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas, stopping to get gas and McDonald's coffee west of West Memphis, Arkansas.  Since it was dark, we stayed on the interstate.  (We wanted to drive on backroads when we could to see the real America). 

We made it to Little Rock, Arkansas, stopping to get coffee at a Waffle House.  It was probably 2am by then.  Since we were both still wide awake, we kept on truckin'...er, Jeepin'.  Around 4am, it was time to rest.  Luckily, there was a rest area just up the road.  We pulled in and got three hours of shut eye.  When we woke up, dawn was just breaking.  We realized then that we were in the Ozark Mountains.  We headed toward Ft. Smith, Arkansas and soon crossed into Oklahoma.

Since it was daylight, I wanted to get off the interstate.  US Hwy. 64 was our first non-interstate route of our trip.  We continued West though Muldrow and Sallisaw, Oklahoma.  Next were Vian, Carlisle and Gore.  We crossed the Akansas River at Webbers Falls and entered Muskogee County.  There's an old country song by Merle Haggard called "Okie from Muskogee".  As it turns out, Muskogee is the home of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Since I had never been to Kansas, we decided to head North from Muskogee.  We found Hwy. 69 and headed towards Wagoner, OK.  Next were Mazie and Chouteau, named for French fur trader Auguste Pierre Chouteau.  We continued on to Vinita, OK., where we encountered the "Mother Road" Route 66.  We stayed on Route 66 through Miami, Oklahoma, Commerce, Oklahoma, (home of Mickey Mantle).  We passed a statue erected in his honor on Route 66.  We followed 66 north to Quapaw, Oklahoma, eventually crossing into Kansas.

We made it to Baxter Springs, Kansas where we decided it was time to start looking for a hotel for the night.  We didn't have many agreeable options, so we continued on to Riverton, where we turned right to head east towards Joplin, Missouri.

Once in Joplin, we found a Motel 6 on Range Line Road.  It was very clean.  The staff was friendly.  We were exausted, so we unloded the Jeep and crashed for the night.  The next morning, it was COLD.  I went for a 30 minute run around the parking lot, then went up the road to McDonald's for coffee and breakfast.  We decided to do some shopping, so we headed to the Academy Sports and to Northpark Mall.  After that, we ate at a Chick-fil-A. 

Once on vacation in Gulf Shores, we drove to Foley, Alabama to eat at a Lambert's Restaraunt.  I knew there was one in Sikeston, MO., so we had our next destination in mind.  We drove up Interstate 44 to US 65 where we exited the interstate and drove South to US 60.  We stayed on US 60 East across Missouri, encountering the cites of Rogersville, Fordland, Mansfield, Norwood, Mountain Grove, Cabool, Poplar Bluff, Dexter and eventually Sikeston.  Unfortunately, we got to Lambert's 20 minutes late.  It closed at 9pm.  I had already decided that if we didn't make it, we would surprise my Mom and Dad in Henderson, KY., my hometown.  Monday is my Mom's birthday, and it would be cool to watch my beloved UK Wildcats play Ohio State with my Dad on Friday.  It just so happens that US 60 runs through Henderson.  Well, the bridge across the Mississippi River south of Cairo, IL was closed, so we had to drive up Interstate 57 to cross the Mississippi into Illinois.

Once in Illinois, we followed I-57 to Marion, IL, where we exited onto IL-13.  We followed this road through Harrisburg, (where we stopped for McDonald's coffee), to Shawneetown, where we finally crossed the Ohio River into the Commonweath of Kentucky.

From here, we took KY-56 to Morganfield, where we again met US 60.  We followed US 60 through Waverly, Corydon, and eventually to our destination of Henderson, KY.

We awoke Thursday morning at Mom & Dad's where we played Rook and watched the first four games of the sweet sixteen.  Arizona beat Duke (woohoo), Florida beat BYU (Go SEC), UCONN beat San Diego State, and Butler beat Wisconsin.  Friday, I ran two miles, then we went to Evansville, Indiana to take Mom out for her birthday.  We ate at Longhorn Steakhouse after shopping at Eastland Mall.  Traveling to Indiana brought our Spring Break total states visited count (including Tennessee) to Eight.  We returned to Henderson in time to see North Carolina Beat Marquette, VCU beat Florida State, Kansas beat Richmond, and best of all UK BEAT OHIO STATE.  After another game of Rook, it was time for bed.

We got up this morning ready to take backroads back home to Tennessee.  We traveled south on US 41A to Providence, KY where we picked up KY-109 to Hopkinsville.  We hit US 41 North of Ft. Campbell and followed it to the Tennessee State Line and eventually to Riverside Drive in Clarksville, TN.  Fom there we took TN-48 back home to Dickson County, Tennessee.

Tennessee Pianoman