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Pigeon Forge

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We’d never been to Pigeon Forge and had no idea what to expect. The area seemed sort of like a cross between Disney and Vegas (but with no casinos!). We stayed at Riverbend Campground which was a nice park in a convenient location.

Since we were only there for one day we decided to take a Shine and Wine Tour to get an idea of what the area is like. You know the song that says someone is as smooth as Tennessee whiskey? We’re not sure that’s actually a compliment!! From the whiskeys we tried, we would not use the word smooth to describe them!!!

Memphis Revisited

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We decided to stop in Memphis for a few days on our way east. We had visited over 20 years ago and loved staying at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park so we knew we’d stay there again. It is a nice RV Park right on the bank of the Mississippi River. They have an open area with benches on the river that are nice to sit at and watch the river flow and the barges go up and down!

If you’re in Memphis a walk down Beale Street is required! We went on a Monday afternoon so it was pretty slow there, but we did find a live band and a great lunch at BB Kings!

Then we decided to walk to The Lorraine Motel, where MLK was assassinated (also known today as the National Civil Rights Museum). It was a quick half mile walk and definitely worth seeing the site of such a tragic day in history.

One of the many ‘must see’ locations in Memphis is Sun Studio. Known worldwide as “The Birthplace of Rock n Roll”, this is where so many music legends got their start. Sun Studio is where Elvis made his first recordings and kept company with early blues, rock, and country artists like Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf … and even U2 … just to name a ‘few’! It’s amazing to just stand in the same space and see the simplicity, yet sense the magnitude these artists had on the music industry.

Fort Worth, TX

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After seeing an amazing Solar Eclipse just east of Dallas we decided to backtrack for a few days to see a good friend of ours from Maryland who is living in Fort Worth. We had such a great time catching up with Josh Daughaday and seeing him play at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar. We also had lunch the next day at Shady Oak BBQ. The barbecue was excellent and it was nice to spend more time visiting.

We also visited the Fort Worth Stockyards. As we were walking around we had this strange desire to wear a cowboy hat and boots, and walk around with a beer. We skipped the hat and boots but did go with the beer! Then we figured we had to get some barbecue and stopped at Riscky’s. The food was good but not as good as we’d hoped for.

As a valued added bonus, right next to the campground we were staying at is the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base … which happened to be hosting the Blue Angels for a weekend air show! We actually got to see the show several times while they were practicing for a few days prior to the weekend shows!

Dealey Plaza

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While we were in Texas for the eclipse we decided to take a day trip to Dallas to visit Dealey Plaza, the site of JFK’s assassination. We purchased tickets for The Sixth Floor Museum online ahead of time, which was a good thing since it sold out early every day we were there. We’re not sure if it’s always busy, but a lot people were in town for the eclipse so maybe that’s why?

We got to the area a little early and walked around Dealey Plaza first. Seeing the area first made the museum more interesting since we had a better understanding of the layout.

The museum is well done and definitely worth a visit. It explains a lot about the era and the political environment during JFK’s presidency. It also has a lot of information about the conspiracy theories surrounding his assassination and the different investigations that were completed.

Solar Eclipse

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Yes! We got to experience the Total Solar Eclipse! We are staying at a Thousand Trails park on Lake Tawakoni, about 60 miles east of Dallas. The park itself is probably the nicest Thousand Trails park we’ve ever been in. We got here several days before the eclipse and had a chance to relax. It’s nice to actually ‘camp’ again. We even sat outside around a fire for a little while one night!

We’d been watching the local weather and unfortunately they were calling for heavy cloud cover for the day of the eclipse. We woke up that morning to almost total cloud cover but decided to go set up near the lake to watch the eclipse anyway. We figured even if we couldn’t see the sun we’d at least experience the darkness during totality.

About an hour before the start of the eclipse it was still completely cloudy and we had a hard time finding the sun. Then as the eclipse began the clouds moved and we started getting glimpses of the sun!!! Luckily those glimpses kept getting bigger and we were able to see the full sun for most of the eclipse! We also experienced 4 minutes of totality, which is hard to explain but is awe-inspiring!! Another thing that was pretty cool was an intense solar flare that was easily visible to the naked eye!

This video shows the early cloud cover clearing up, then the dramatic change in light during totality!!! To watch the video, click on this link: https://youtu.be/Y13-iecqQ8s

Carlsbad Caverns

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We always keep an eye on the weather as we’re traveling and noticed that one of our travel days was going to have some strong winds with gusts of up to 50 miles an hour. Since we were going to be traveling through an area that often has strong cross winds and dust storms we decided to rethink our travel plans.

We generally plan short travel days and when we looked at our trip on RV Trip Wizard we realized we could combine 2 days travel into 1 and stay an extra night at Roswell. Fortunately, Trailer Village had the night available due to a cancellation.

With an extra day in Roswell we decided to drive to Carlsbad Caverns which was about 90 miles away. WOW – so glad we did!! It made us happy we had to rearrange our travels.

The main viewing area of the Caverns is called The Big Room and there are 2 ways to get there. You can take an elevator, or you can walk down through the Natural Entrance Trail. This trail is listed as being strenuous and extremely steep (downhill). We decided to give it a try and again are so glad we did! I wouldn’t call it strenuous, but it was dark and somewhat steep in areas. What an incredible way to enter the cave. The pictures will never do this justice, but we tried!!

The Natural Entrance Trail

The Big Room

Roswell, NM

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We thought Tombstone was hokey? Roswell is the epitome of it!!!

Another stop on our way to Texas for the eclipse. One of those places that you’ve heard about all your life so you just have to stop and visit if you go by!

As you drive around town there are a bunch of alien sculptures and pictures which are fun to see.

We visited the International UFO Museum and Research Center which has a lot of information about the “Roswell Incident” as well as other UFO sightings.

Then, we had lunch at the only McDonalds that’s shaped like a space ship!!

So … you may ask, do we believe …. ?

Alamogordo, NM

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Another stop on our way toward Texas for the Solar Eclipse.

The main reason we stopped here was that it was a convenient stop on the way East, but we did want to see White Sands National Park. The White Sands in the middle of the desert is beautiful in a very surreal way.

This area is known for its pistachio farms (who knew?!?) so when we found a pistachio wine at a local winery, we had to try it! We liked it and bought two bottles to take home as well as a really good Chardonnay.

Then we had a great dinner at D. H. LesCombes Winery & Bistro. We went early for a wine tasting and found a Chenin Blanc to share at dinner, which was very tasty!

But the highlight of this stop was actually a community theatre production of Rent!! We love Rent and have seen it many times, including on Broadway. So when we happened to notice a sign on the highway for the local production we knew we had to go. We gotta say, it was great, especially for community theater!! (Maureen was probably the best we’ve ever seen!!) Alamogordo Music Theater,Flickinger Center for the Performing Arts

Shakespeare Ghost Town

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Another fun stay at a Harvest Host, this one was very different from any of the others we’ve stayed at!

Shakespeare Ghost Town is an abandoned mining town in Lordsburg, NM. The town and buildings were purchased by the Hill family in 1935 and it has been passed down in the family since. The family maintains the buildings as well as they can while still keeping the original look and feel of the early mining days.

We took a tour with Dave, one of the owners. His knowledge of the town is amazing and you can tell how much he cherishes it by the care he has taken of it and how he shares it with others.

It was interesting to see how historic towns have evolved over the years. Our visit to Bisbee showed us an old mining town that has become a hippy-tourist area where the old buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops. Tombstone is a tourist attraction where they try to recreate the feel of the original town by reconstructing some of the bars and scenes. Shakespeare Ghost Town has a more authentic feel to it and may be a better way to understand what it was actually like to live in that time.

Tombstone

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The town of Tombstone is about 25 miles from Bisbee so, of course, we HAD to visit it while we were there. It was fun to see all the historic buildings and how the town has been maintained to look like it did 150 years ago.

The re-enactment of the gunfight at The OK Corral was a must-see! It was a little hokey (well, maybe a lot!) but still interesting.

Then we had lunch at Big Nose Kate’s bar and restaurant. It’s on the same site that Doc Holliday’s romantic interest had a bar back in the day. The food was fine and the atmosphere was fun!