The Road Home

Once we got back into the Hyundai Ron had the bright idea to enter Baker City into the Navigator. When it showed ‘only’ 1100 miles we decided it was time to pick up the pace and try to get there in two days. Of course the shortest route was I70 through Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah. A last check of the road reports and off we went. That afternoon and evening we left KC Mo and went through Kansas, back into Missouri, Iowa and finally Lincoln, Nebraska. For entertainment we tried to watch the lunar eclipse on a beautiful clear night.

When we reached Lincoln the thermometer read 8 degrees, fortunately above zero. We lit for the evening at a Comfort Suites hotel and tried to stay warm. One of the things we forgot about was that liquid freezes in below freezing weather. We have been drinking Xango juice for a couple of months and truly enjoyed our Xango slushies the next morning. The one thing that made me fall in love with the next few states was the 75 MPH speed limits in them. Ron was able to set the cruise on 85 and fly through the last ‘1100’ miles. We reached Baker City at 7:30 Friday evening.

As they say in the NFL though, after further review… Ron checked our mileage records in our planner and discovered that the Navigator was a pathological liar. The short 621 mile segment from Albuquerque was actually 744 miles according to those mileage records. So after checking we found out that from the time we left Little Rock at 9:30 Wednesday morning until Friday night we covered 1950 miles, days of 639, 589 and 722 miles. It does explain why certain portions of Connie’s anatomy are somewhat painful right now.
We are going to relax with our son’s family for a few days and be grandparents while we process the trip. Those thoughts will be next.

Beale Street, Graceland and Buck O'Neil

Sun Records Studio

Beale Street

The Memphis Pyramid - Home of U of Memphis Hoops

More Beale Street

Tuesday took us to Memphis, Tennessee. We decided to skip our intended stop at Branson a day earlier, and Memphis provided us the reason why. We decided to travel during the winter to see some sunshine. We saw lots of sun, but this is the time of the year that tourist areas are somewhat slow while artists get a little sun themselves. What that means to us is Memphis was a fairly dead town. We did the tourist things, wandering down Beale Street, around Peabody Place and going to Sun Studios, whose owner made one of the smartest financial moves of all times by selling the contract of a young singer for $50,000. How was he to know that young Elvis Aron Presley would have the career that he did? We did travel to Graceland and take some pictures from outside, but since neither of us are very big Elvis fans we decided against spending $55 for the tour.

Graceland

The biggest disappointment about Memphis was pulling into the parking lot to visit Mud Island and the Mississippi River Museum and being told that it was closed. Winter trip timing strikes again.
We left Memphis and headed for Little Rock, Arkansas where Ron attended the Quest for Authentic Manhood meeting at Fellowship Bible Church. Our church is hoping to start this men’s ministry and it was good to see how it is presented at the church where it started. Because it was done at 6:00 in the AM it left us plenty of time to get to our next destination, Kansas City, MO, and the Negro League Baseball Museum.
Because Ron is such a sports fan, and in particular a baseball fan, any trip to a hall of fame or sports museum is a must, therefore we headed north into the frigid Midwest. Unfortunately photography is forbidden in the museum so we do not have any pictures. It is a wonderful display of a time in our country that we did not adhere to the principle that all men are created equal. Black baseball players were forbidden from playing in the “Major” Leagues (i.e. white baseball) from the late 1880s until Jackie Robinson debited for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

The first black man to coach in the majors was Buck On"Neil who was a tremendous ambassador for the sport and the face of the museum until his death in 2006. During that time they had their own professional leagues with teams mostly owned by black people. In the words of one player, the good thing about this league was that it created the second largest black owned business in the country. Also the places that they did business with were black owned. The bad side to this is that players like Josh Gibson, possibly the greatest home run hitter in the history of the game, did not get the chance to play against Babe Ruth or the great pitchers of the white leagues.
On the other side of the building was a jazz museum where we saw displays about mixing music in a sound studio and others devoted to the great jazz artists of yesteryear. Musicians like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker were represented. It was an interesting contrast to the trip to the Country Music Museum.

Nashville Skyline

For us 50 somethings two of the best - Poco and the Eagles

"The King" Not just another pretty rock star

The Hall of Fame - Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Charlie Daniels at the CD museum and gift shop

What the well dressed country star should wear

The Nudie Suit

The Ryman Auditorium

Recreation of old Fort Nashborough

We left SC and set sail for Music Row. Enroute we hit the worst weather of the trip so far, a heavy mist that turned into a torrential downpour by the time we reached Knoxville. Ron would have liked to head over the U of Tennessee campus to see Neyland Stadium, but the rainfall said no. Neyland is one of the largest football stadiums in the nation seating over 102,000 fans. We continued on I40 finally settling on a place called Lefty’s BBQ for dinner, where Ron discovered gleefully that the Daytona 500 was showing on the TV there. Of course we had to extend our stop to finish the race. We finally stopped about 30 miles east of Nashville and prepared for our assault on the Music City.
After our continental breakfast at the Hampton we headed for the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. Country music fan, or not, this is an incredible display of one of the most enduring styles of music which has also birthed other styles, including one called rock and roll. We took the self-guided tour through which takes about 2-3 hours depending on how fast you can read. There also were two different movies, one showing country music and TV, and the other featuring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on the road.
After the HOF we just meandered around the downtown area taking pictures of the old Ryman Auditorium and some of the old buildings, as well as Reliant Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. We went through the Charlie Daniels Museum and gift shop and visited another Hard Rock Café. After this we went to Opryland USA. This is a huge complex that shows that someone is making major coin from country music. A quick tour and another gift shop visit and off down the road we went, heading for Beale Street.

Apologies

For those of you following our trip I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this week. We have accelarated to Warp Speed as the road trip and being in the Santa Fe have started to grow weary. Here is a quick update and we will post Saturday from Baker City.
We left Round O about 1000 Sunday morning after returning to pick up the toothbrush charger that Ron left behind. We have been to Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Kansas City and are now in the Comfort Suites in Lincoln, Nebraska. We have seen The Country Music HOF, Opryland, the Ryman, Graceland. Beale Street, the Negro League Museum and Jazz Museum. We have had a couple of legs that would have been nice to do over, especially the part where we blew past the Shiloh Battlefield in Tennessee, despite having dinner in the middle of it. Yesterday we looked at the Navigator and realized that by the end of the day that we would only be 1100 miles from Oregon, although we passed by it on Hwy 29 last night. That set our minds to be stupid and grind it out late last night, and over the next two days. Fortunately the eclipse last night kept Connie occupied so she did not pay close attention to how stiff she was getting. So, Friday night we land in Baker City for several days and then head for Newberg next week.

Like I said more in-depth posts coming Saturday. Bye.

On The Road Again

As I write this we are in the Hampton Inn at Lebanon, Tennessee, about 30 miles outside of Nashville. Yes, we are on our way westward towards home. We left Round O, South Carolina at about 1030 this morning (Sunday). We would have left earlier but for a return trip to pick up the toothbrush charger that someone left behind. Tomorrow we will tour the Country Music Hall of Fame and the head for Memphis. Again we have altered our route, this time in a very major way. We have eliminated our stop at Branson and hope to veer north and enter Oregon via I84 and stop in Baker City to visit our eldest and his family. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, although today was something of a teaser, since it was 60 degrees at home and we were driving through torrential rains in Tennessee.

Shoeless Joe Jackson's Refurbished Home

The plaque outside Shoeless Joe Jackson Field

Today's drive also little sidetrip. Because Ron's favorite is Field of Dreams, a trip to Greenville SC had to be made. There lived Shoeless Joe in his days after baseball. We visited Shoeless Joe Jackson Memorial Park where he played for a textile team as a 13 year old. We also went to downtown Greenville where the newly built West End Field sits. Across the street from the stadium sits the former home the late Shoeless Joe, a structure that has been relocated and renovated by Trademark Properties Of Charleston. Owner Richard Davis was trying to answer his son's question about Joe's absence from the baseball hall of fame. This led to the moving and renovation for the tv series The Real Estate Pros. In the future it will house the Shoeles Joe Jackson museum.

Stevie Blocker testing out his new 70 HP motor (and his mother's nerves) on the Edisto

David Blocker may have pins, screws and a plate in his ankle but his frying skills are undiminished.

Mildred Thomas - Roberta's long time friend

David & Rita's Dock and covered fishing area David & Rita Blocker and granddaughter Connestee

Stevie Blocker and wife Jeanie with her daughter, granddaughters and great-grandchildren

We left after having our last couple of days of family time. Friday we went to the Edisto River camp of David & Rita Blocker, Ron’s oldest nephew and his wife. The fishing camp on the river is a real Colleton County tradition. They build a screened in, and partially enclosed, building that serves as sort of a vacation home. Needless to say, it is built on stilts to keep it safe during high water times. There is also a floating dock as well as a lounging area on the riverbank, as well as a boat launch. Fishing is a major hobby in the area, although horseback riding is very popular also. David showed us pictures of catfish that he has caught in the river, running 25 pounds and more. Even though David is still in a boot and on crutches due to a fall from his roof this winter, he still had his brother Stevie take him out in the boat to check his shad nets.

Betty and Bryant Rhode

Summer house to beat the heat.

The Two Sisters

For lunch we had fried catfish nuggets, Edisto grits, fried shad roe, French fries and various sweet stuff. David showed that he had not lost his touch as we had a wonderful feast. We had a pretty good crowd as we were joined by both of Ron’s sisters, Betty’s husband Bryant, Roberta’s longtime friend Mildred Thomas, and Roberta’s younger son Stevie, and his family. It put us within one Blocker child from meeting them all.

On Saturday, our last day in SC we went to the alumni vs varsity softball game in Walterboro. The school is now called Colleton County HS, but before it consolidated with Ruffin HS it was known as Walterboro HS, a name that locals would still like to see on the buildings. It was an opportunity for Ron to see his two grand-nieces, Calli and Erin Driggers, play. Calli is a senior at CCHS, and her sister graduated from USC-Upstate in 2006. After the game we had last family dinner at Roberta’s place. On the last night we finally got a chance to meet the baby of the Blocker family, daughter Laurie. It also was the time to say our last goodbyes to the Driggers family and Ron’s niece Bonnie.

Roberta's baby girl Laurie and her friend Pete

It was pretty hard to say goodbye even though we have been away from home for more than 5 weeks. During the 4 weeks we were in Round O we got to know family that Ron had met in 1962, and except for a couple of visits from family members since that time he had not seen them. For Connie it was chance to meet the faces that matched then names that Roberta mentioned in her stories about her kids. They are all wonderful people and we look forward to another visit, maybe next year.

Charleston Part 2 and Middleton Place Plantation

The remaining house at Middleton place.

If it feels like the posts are coming hard and heavy lately it is because our time in beautiful South Carolina is rapidly coming to a close, and it is time to hit the road back to the Northwest. Today (Thursday) is a down day for travelling. We are putting our stuff together, including 4 boxes that we are sending back home via UPS. Not only did we overpack, but we bought like goofy tourists. A trip to Walterboro for an oil change and tire rotation is the big trip for the day. Friday will bring us to the Edisto River for fishing and a catfish fry at David and Rita Blocker’s place on the river. David is Ron’s nephew and Roberta’s eldest son. After the family fish fry tomorrow we have softball games to attend Saturday in Walterboro. It will be our only chance to see Ron’s grandnieces Erin and Calli play. Erin is a 2006 graduate of USC-Upstate and Calli is a senior at Colleton County High. This will be followed by one last family dinner before we leave for Greenville.

On Tuesday we visited Charleston one more time. We did the largest ball of string thing again by visiting Trademark Properties on Market St. They are the company featured on the original tv series Flip This House and the Real Estate Pros, both shows that we enjoy watching. So proving, once again, that Ron is an uber-geek we had to visit and buy a tee-shirt. It was not a total waste of time since we found out that “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s home is in Greenville SC, not Charleston as we thought. Shoeless Joe was a major league baseball player who was caught up in a scandal, though not guilty, in the 1919 World Series and has never been given his due place in the Hall of Fame. He is also one of the main characters in the movie Field of Dreams, probably Ron’s all-time favorite. So our exit route from South Carolina has since changed.

We also spent one last trip to the old marketplace and then went out Ashley River Road to go back to the 1800s and Middleton Place.

Words do not do justice to Middleton Place so I will insert this extract from their website and attach pictures:

Middleton Place was established early in the life of the Carolina colony and served as a base of operations for a great Low Country planter family and was home to a dynamic African-American slave community. Begun in 1741 by Henry Middleton, President of the First Continental Congress, the 60-acre landscaped garden was both an intellectual and emotional focus for successive generations of Middletons. Until 1865, the garden was nurtured and embellished by Henry's son, Arthur Middleton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; Arthur Middleton's son, Henry Middleton, who was Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Minister to Russia; and Governor Henry Middleton's son, Williams Middleton, who signed the Ordinance of Secession. Despite long absences prompted by education abroad, military service, and public and diplomatic careers, Middleton family members have always returned to this Ashley River plantation.
The development and prosperity of the Gardens changed drastically during Williams Middleton's ownership. In signing the Ordinance of Secession, he endorsed the last Confederate cause; a failed attempt at independence that eventually led to the destruction of Middleton Place. On February 22, 1865, a detachment of the 56th New York Volunteer Regiment burned and looted the house and gardens. All that remained was the south dependency building, which is today the Middleton Place House Museum.
Two decades after the Civil War, during the great Charleston earthquake of 1886, Middleton Place was dealt yet another destructive blow. The Garden's terraces were ripped open and the water in the Butterfly Lakes was sucked dry, reshaping in just minutes what had taken scores of slaves a decade to build.
The Civil War and the great earthquake of 1886 had taken its toll, and Middleton Place Gardens lay overgrown and neglected until inherited by J.J. Pringle Smith in 1916. He soon began the massive project of restoring the Gardens to their original splendor of the mid-eighteenth century. The restoration of these elegant and beautiful Gardens gained national attention, and on the occasion of the Garden's bicentennial anniversary in 1941, The Garden Club of America awarded the Bulkley Medal to Middleton Place "in commemoration of Two Hundred Years of enduring Beauty." Fifty years later, the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has heightened that distinction, naming Middleton Place one of six U.S. gardens of international importance.
In 1974, J.J. Pringle Smith's heirs established the non-profit Middleton Place Foundation, which now owns the Middleton Place National Historic Landmark. Today, Middleton Place is a thriving restoration or eighteenth and nineteenth century plantation life. Having survived wars, earthquakes, and hurricanes, including Hurricane Hugo in September of 1989, Middleton Place remains a resilient masterpiece of landscape design and a well-preserved plantation that demonstrates two centuries of plantation life.

The remains of the original house.

Remains of the North Flank house

The family tomb

The Rice Mill Pond Bridge

Reflections in the Rice Mill Pond

What is being reflected

The plantation chapel

Slave cemetary

Blooming Magnolia Tree

Magnolia Blossom

Monster oak with Spanish Moss

Rice pond in the background

Walkwat by the reflection pond

Gator at rest

We spent about two hours walking around and taking pictures of this magnificent property. The only thing that cut our journey here short was dusk.

We have decided that Charleston is a city that we must visit again, spending much more time just walking the streets around the battery. I talked to a person a couple of nights ago who has a house in the Battery area that dates back to 1695. At some point in the future we will return and spend time at a bed & breakfast here so we can just soak in the history of this area.

Around Walterboro

Walterboro is the county seat of Colleton County South Carolina. It was founded in 1784 by rice growers looking for a location for summer homes. During that time living near the rice paddies in the summertime was dangerous due to Malaria mosquitoes. It was originally named Hickory Valley and then renamed Walterboro after two of its original founders. In 1817 it became th county seat and was incorporated as a city in 1826. In addition it has been a part of historyand a backdrop for movies. Nearby Lowcountry Regional Airport was formally known as Walterboro Army Airfield, where the Tuskegee Airmen trained. They were the black pilots that formed a very successful fighter squadron during WWII, and were beloved, eventually, by bomber crews for not losing one bomber during their escort of them.
The movies Radio and Forrest Gump both had scenes filmed in the area. Radio was mostly shot on location her since Anderson SC, where it actually occurred had lost its seventies feel. The football stadium and practice field, as well as Radio’s church were a part of our Monday tour of the town.
The town has a beautiful old downtown area that retains a lot of its old ambiance, including Hyatt’s Drugstore with an old fashioned soda fountain. It does have a Walmart and a freeway nearby, which does give it more commercial appeal than our hometown of Newberg.