Last time you read about the start of the trip, but now we are on the middle portion. If you are just tuning in I’d suggest first reading No More Cookies 🙁 That will bring you up to speed for this post. Hope you enjoy!
Day 6, May 2
Getting up this morning wasn’t that tough and after about an hour of snoozing I left the hotel. It seemed like at 5:30am no one else was awake but me which I found strange since it was such a large hotel. Anyways I headed off.
I didn’t stop at all until I reached Shilo National Battlefield. Once there I watched the ‘award winning film’ and it was indeed the best one so far, but it was also 30 minutes. That put me over my time for the location and I had to leave shortly afterwards. Basically the battle went like this: The Confederates pushed the Union army back from Shilo after the Union army took it. Thinking they had won, the Confederates tried for the ultimate victory only to be surprised by unexpected Union troops. 13k reinforcements to be exact. So the Confederates ended up losing because they didn’t have good intel. They headed back to Corinth, but more on that later. The park is actually pretty big, but because of poor planning and the fact that the movie explained it all meant I didn’t have time / need to visit all the locations.
Next I headed to Brices Cross Roads National Military Park. It is basically a 1 acre plot of land with some memorial statues and an 8 mile auto tour route nearby. Before I got there I went to the Shilo interpretive center (not the same as the battlefield visitors center), where I watched another movie about the life in Corinth, Mississippi. Basically Corinth was a big trade hub for the Confederates and held their supply lines. Suddenly 18k wounded confederates showed up from the Shilo battle and disease spread fast. Many wounded died because the medical practices were awful and not super practical. One account from a nurse said that a guy had to get his arm cut off or he would die, however he would still die from his arm getting cut off. Sooooo…just dodge everything. Eventually the Union troops liberated the slaves at Corinth by having another epic battle and that severed the railroad supply lines from the Confederates.
After learning all this I saw the Brices Crossroads National Military Park and then headed to the Natchez Trace Parkway. Once there I was expecting some offices and a stamp like at the George Washington Parkway, but instead I was met with a movie (about the highway, a display about the highway, and a gift store! The movie was about how Native Americans used this path, then the Kentucks (people from Kentucky). In 1909 a bunch of curious women mapped it out. They said enough is enough! We should pave this to preserve the history of this epic path.
The next place was Elvis Presley’s Birthplace. Kind of like meh going into it, but you can’t go to Tupelo and ignore the Elvis stuff. His house threw out some Herbert Hoover vibes and I can’t tell who was worse off. Both grew up super poor and then later became famous. (President vs Rock & Roll King). Next I went to the church where I learned what a typical Elvis Sunday looked like. They showed a film about it that is ‘exclusive’ to that one theater in the world. This church is where Elvis started his debut in singing / using the guitar. If you walked in the doors of this church you were expected to participate all out. I got to take my picture next to the very same pulpit that Elvis once touched! I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge fan of singing along to the gospel music from the film. After the church I saw a movie on Elvis’s early life. What he did growing up and such. Finally I went to the gift shop and picked up a some souvenirs. Overall this is THE place for Elvis fans, but with the catch that it’s a bit meh to anyone not particularly interested in Elvis like me.
After the Elvis Birthplace I was going to see the Elvis statue. When I got to the park I was very underwhelmed because the statue was so small and it had started to drizzle rain. I also got 2 severe weather alerts “you have a risk of severe weather in your area” coupled with 7 nearby lighting strikes. So I booked it to the next location because I was concerned it would start hailing. I’m generally ok with wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, but not hail! I decided to skip the rest of Tupelo and head to Oxford for lunch. (Was less than 100 miles away that had a decent looking burger restaurant).
Getting there proved to be rather tough as it was raining so hard I had to slow down from 70mph to 40mph just so I wouldn’t get blown off the road/hydroplane. Everyone had their hazards on too. A bunch of cars pulled off the highway and that sucked for them because looking at the radar made it seem like waiting it out would take ages. So I pressed on. Eventually I made it to Oxford where I had a Swag Burger at the Oxford Burger Company. It’s just like a regular burger, but with fried mozzarella for the cheese. After lunch I got 6 average sized sugar cookies from a neat little cookie store to replenish my stock, as well as a cup of chocolate ice cream. Before leaving I decided to just head to the hotel as it would take 3.5 more hours of driving. On the way I passed the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid in Memphis and drove over the Mississippi River.
The Arkansas highway is littered with potholes and while avoiding them is relatively easy if you stay in your lane, it is annoying when switching as they are right on the center dotted line. They range from fist sized to about 5 ft across 2inches down. At 7:33pm I got to my hotel after a cool 578miles of driving. See you tomorrow!
Day 7, May 3
Today I got up on time for once and headed to Little Rock. It took about 30 minutes, but I still had to contend with the annoying semi trucks. I was going to Little Rock Central High School. This was the first school that was desegregated by order of the Supreme Court. When they tried to go to school, the Governor of Arkansas tried to prevent them from entering, by using the National Guard, but President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division in to protect the students as they went to school.
Once at the park I found myself following really strict covid rules, which was probably a good idea. I walked around the visitors center and relearned a lot. I learned about this in school, but to be here in person was really interesting. There was a little phone booth that you could listen to some of the stories from the Little Rock Nine. These were the nine students that went to the school at the time. I had to pry myself away from it so I could stick to my carefully laid out schedule. I then walked to the school and snapped a picture. It is still being used as a school so I wasn’t able to go inside without a tour (I wasn’t able to do the tour either since it is only at 1pm.)
After that I headed to Hope, Arkansas to see Bill Clinton’s birthplace home. Despite being born into a somewhat poor family, his house happens to be the largest presidential home that I’ve been to so far. The ranger at this park is Eric and he is from Hartford, Connecticut. We chatted for ages and it was nice to meet him. The movie for this park was good and featured none other than Bill Clinton himself. I think that is a first since people like George Washington didn’t have a tv yet. I wonder what George Washington’s voice sounds like?
After the Clinton house I spared no time getting to Austin (Texas), but on the way I decided to stop for dinner. The impromptu plan was to go to a burger restaurant just north of Tyler (Texas), but then I called geography expert Paul for any better options and he suggested Stanley’s BBQ. They have the best ribs ever. When at the register I forgot to order ribs and got pulled pork instead! Sorry Paul! I thought it was a good sandwich, but not my favorite.
Getting out of Tyler was INFURIATING. There are so many stoplights! Eventually I made it back to the main Texas highway and headed to Austin. It was great and I didn’t stop once all the way to Cousin Ashley’s house. Once at Ashley’s house we chatted for a bit and I got ready for bed. That was it for today! 550miles, but not much else! See you tomorrow!
Day 8, May 4
I woke up reasonably on time and proceeded with not much delay to drive down to the San Antonio Missions National Historic Site. It also happens to be a world heritage site too. Once I got there I realized there was no visitors center…or was there? It was pretty fascinating and I walked around. After seeing most of the remnants of buildings I went up to 2 of the park rangers who wear building a wall and asked where the visitors center was. One of the guys googled the correct location, but before I headed over I checked out the church. From the outside it looked sort of ruined, but once you go inside its obvious that is just a ruse. It was beautiful inside and nicely organized.
After seeing the church I headed to the visitors center to get my stamp, but right as I got there the announced the ranger tour! Lucky me! I hooped into that and was greeted by Bill. He had worked there for 7 years and was very passionate about the missions. We were at the San Juan Mission. It is a huuuuuge fortress like structure with the mission church on the inside.
Basically the Spanish missionaries walked north into the middle of Texas and recruited the Indians (what they were called at the time). Once you walked through the gates of the mission it was expected of you to forget your previous life, culture, religion, gods, language…and assimilate into the Spanish culture and embrace Christianity. That’s a hard sell, but with living in the hot Texas plains as a scavenger with hostile tribes like the Apaches and Comanches you didn’t really have a choice. There was a wall around the church part mainly for protection and to keep the church vibe going strong. The idea behind all of this was to bring people in, convert them, teach them a trade like farming or blacksmithing, then letting everyone out to live life and pay TAXES. The end game was for the Spanish King to get more money by expanding the population. (I think that’s a good way of putting it). Usually the fort would exist for about 8 years then be abandoned or taken apart, which left the land as it was before.
After the missions the plan was to go to San Antonio proper and see the Alamo. Sort of like Tulepo / Elvis you can’t go to San Antonio and not see the Alamo. To get in I needed a free ticket. Before going inside I was forced to take one of those bogus souvenir pictures in front of the door. From my view you would only see the wood of the door in the picture and not the entire front, which is what I think most tourists would want in their picture. The inside without a tour is nothing special. It’s really empty with only one real plaque in the back commemorating the heroes who died defending it. I suppose the tour would make it more interesting, but I didn’t really care much about that. The gift shop is low key much larger than the Alamo itself. Overall the whole place is built for tourists and less for history whereas the San Antonio Missions is more about history and less about tourism in my opinion.
Apparently the Riverwalk is something else that is a must see in S.A.. It’s a river through the heart of S.A. the you can walk along and shop. There are also good restaurants that line the river. A S.A. local at the San Antonio Missions suggested the Mexican food restaurant Rio Rio, but google maps said it was closed. I had lunch at a Tex-Mex place and they gave me a 24oz margarita and that wasn’t even the largest one! During lunch I had an unreal waiter (good thing) and ended up right next to Rio Rio…which was open! Ah, maybe next time.
The last thing of the day was to pick up some authentic pecans from Seguin, Tx at Pape’s Pecan House. This store is the best store to ever sell pecans and they have the worlds largest nutcracker collection. There are so many different types ranging from the regular Christmas ones to Star Wars, Star Trek, Looney Tunes, Presidents, random creations, and so much more. There is also a memory table (I can’t think of a better word) of Pape that started the collection and about his life as a pecan farmer.
After checking out the collection I proceeded to get a bunch of pecan bags, but since I’m a complete novice at pecan buying (plus the fact I don’t like them) I incurred the help of the woman working there. She suggested the chopped pecans as most people don’t like to get them whole and some prefer larger chunks to smaller dices. There is also a station to shell pecans for yourself. they would be fresher than the pre-bagged ones, but those bags were somehow more expensive so I stuck with the pre-bagged ones. I also got some peach jam for myself. Going to the Pecan house just about wrapped up the day, but then I had one of my famous change of plans and I headed north to Burnet to see uncle Bill!
I haven’t seen Bill in years so it was nice to catch up. I also got to see the new house which looks awesome I must say. The house was quiet since Aunt Christi was in Albuquerque visiting family. I just missed seeing her too! Next time I visit Austin visiting the Bill house properly will totally be in the plan. After dinner with Bill I headed back to Ashley’s house and awaited tomorrow.
Day 9, May 5
Today I slept in until 8am or so. You see there was a rather giant lightning storm forecasted yesterday for today so I wanted to wait awhile to see if the weather changed at all. Seeing an opportunity and still wanting my stamp I went.
The drive to Waco, Tx went pretty well for about 90 miles, but then for the last 15 or so miles I hit rain, rain, and more rain. It wasn’t bad though. I was on my way to the Mammoth Site National Monument. Almost immediately after I arrived the full force of the storm hit and there was lightning galore as well as a tornado warning and a ton of rain. The rangers didn’t allow anyone on the tour until 30 minutes of no lighting had passed. During that time I filled out a junior ranger booklet! Eventually the rain and lightning subsided and I got to visit the site.
It is an active dig site for woolly mammoth bones. Some time a few hundred thousand years ago it is theorized that a baby woolly mammoth got stuck in the mud and when the herd came to help a sudden flash flood wiped them out or a predator came and attacked while they were vulnerable. Also a camel somehow made it into the dig site. It was really interesting and kind of like the mammoth site in South Dakota except the South Dakota one is a bit bigger. It is currently still being excavated by Baylor University. Once my group got back from the dig site (it is about 300 yards away from the visitors center) I headed back to my car and set off to the Dr. Pepper museum.
It is sort of in downtown Waco and like the name implies its a history / collectible museum about Dr. Pepper! I walked around and saw all sorts of weird stuff like Dr. Pepper bikes, umbrellas, a train made of can parts, a lot of weird 1970’s advertisements and so many more memorabilia. Luckily, 7 Up is under the Dr. Pepper brand so I wasn’t without something to drink. (I hate Dr. Pepper) With the purchase of a ticket you get a free drink of your choice from the soda fountain. I got a 7UP float with rainbow sherbet. It was interesting and really good.
Unfortunately for me when it was time to leave to go have lunch I found that the rain and lightning had returned so I got almost soaked running to my car. Fortunately I wasn’t hit by lightning.
For lunch I was going to Cupp’s Drive In with Sara and her husband Bob (Sara is Paul’s sister). She taught at Baylor for 30 years! Anyways, the restaurant is a small family owned diner styled burger joint that had been there for a long time. It was totally worth it and we talked for a good while about all sorts of things. After lunch the plan was to head to the LBJ presidential library, but it became quickly evident that that wouldn’t work as I would arrive after 4pm and the last tour was at 4pm. So I ditched the library tour and headed back to Ashley’s. On the way I encountered more rain and lightning, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle with my expert driving skills. I think that the Austin day trip portion of the drive went very well! I got to see everything I wanted in both San Antonio and Waco, plus all the family.
Stats
- Estimated miles: 1,547mi
- Actual miles: 1,640mi
- Tornados spotted: 0
- Gas stations visited: probably 5
- Best restaurant (for this blog segment): Cupp’s Drive In
- 3rd worst hotel of all time: in Lonoke, AR
- Title changes: 5
That’s it for this edition of the Home to Philmont 2022 Part 2 segment. I tried to go for 2500 words or less for an easier read, however I’m still over 3100 which is annoying. I just have a few more days to cover and then I’m done. Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned!
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