Arkansas, Missouri & Kansas

On Saturday morning we left Memphis for the long drive to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We had to backtrack for 40 miles on the Blues Highway back into Mississippi. I thought that this time we’d see the crossroads sign at the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 49, but no luck.

On the way through southern Arkansas we found this swamp with cypress trees, and stopped to take a picture. We stopped for a late lunch along the way, and finally got to our hotel a little after 4:00 PM. We thought about going over to the Hot Springs National Park, but we were both too tired. We’ll do it in the morning.

We woke up really early on Sunday morning, but mostly because of the daylight savings time change. We had breakfast at the hotel and made it over to the park by 8:00 AM. Because the Visitor’s Center didn’t open until 9:00 AM, we drove the Hot Springs Mountain Drive, a scenic loop that overlooks the town and Bathhouse Row. The leaves are turning and it was a lovely drive.

The eight bathhouses, built between 1892 and 1927, are the main attraction at the park. Behind the bathhouses, on the hill, is a half-mile paved trail called the Grand Promenade. We walked the bathhouse row, admiring the architecture, and then walked the length of the Promenade, waiting for the Visitor’s Center to open.

Out in front of the Fordyce Bathhouse, I found this fountain. The water comes out at about 140 degrees.

At the end of the Grand Promenade one of the springs is allowed to flow down the mountain into a small waterfall.

The Visitor’s Center is the old Fordyce Bathhouse. The rooms and windows have been restored, so you can see what it was like. Kathy and I both appreciated the scripture verse on the wall in the main lobby.

The Fordyce is not a working spa; only two of the houses still allow you to soak. The Buckstaff Bathhouse, in continuous operation since 1912, offers the traditional baths and steam. The Quapaw Baths and Spa offers a more modern, communal soaking experience. We didn’t do either, though. The stained glass ceiling here was over the Fordyce waiting area. The actual soaking was done in large, private bathtubs, in small stalls running around the sides of the waiting area.

Below is one of the wall features in the men’s steam area.

After the soaking, the clients would be wrapped in towels and then lie, or sit in a “cooling” room. The windows below are in the cooling room in the women’s bath.

The Arkansas Scenic 7 Byway

Sunday morning we set out for Eureka Springs in the upper-left corner of Arkansas. The Arkansas Scenic 7 Byway is a 300-or-so mile scenic drive that runs north-to-south across nearly the entire state of Arkansas. Driving this was one of my bucket-list items. 

North of Hot Springs the road goes through the Ouachita National Forest. The town of Russellville lies in a valley about half-way to Eureka Springs. We stopped there and had lunch at The Old Bank, which is literally an old bank that has been converted to a restaurant. We had a good, reasonably-priced lunch.

The road climbs north after Russellville into the Ozark and St. Francis National Forests. The leaves were all turning colors and every corner brought a new sight. There were not a lot of cars on the road, and so we took our time, pulling out at the overlooks and just enjoying the drive.

I’ve mentioned before that Kathy and I listen to recorded books as we drive. In Arkansas, we’ve been listening to Stephen Hunter’s Earl Swagger thriller called Hot Springs, about gambling and corruption in 1947. Hunter has actually written a dozen or so books featuring the Swagger family, father Earl and son Bobby Lee. The movie Shooter, staring Mark Wahlberg as Bobby Lee, was later made into a streaming series. 

In any event, Kathy and I are both fans of Hunter’s books, and so on our way to Eureka Springs, we had to stop by Blue Eye, the Swagger family home town.

Because I putt along at 40 or 50 miles per hour, we again got into our hotel, the Inn of the Ozarks, pretty late. Both of us were tired and so we had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, and then turned in.

Our Monday drive from Eureka Springs, Arkansas to Wichita, Kansas, wasn’t as spectacular as the drive through the Ozarks, but, once we got out of the forest it went a lot faster, even though we still kept to non-highway roads. Our hotel stay didn’t include breakfast, so we stopped at the Cubs Cafe and had some great fresh-squeezed orange juice with our breakfast. 

We got into Wichita before 2:00 PM. As we got nearer and nearer, it got darker and darker, and the wind was really intense. When we checked the weather app on our phones, we found out that the whole area was under a tornado watch. That’s a first for us. 

We bought some Chick Fil-A for dinner and took it back to our room. Looking at the news on our phones, we noticed that our Wednesday stop, Pagosa Springs, was under an evacuation order because of severe flooding. I tried calling our hotel, and found the cell service disrupted. Since I was able to cancel for free, up until midnight, I cancelled our booking (with Booking.com) and rerouted to Taos, New Mexico instead.

Watching the flooding in South Florida on the news tonight, we can’t help feeling a little like the Children of Israel walking through the Red Sea. In almost two months on the road we’ve had just a small scattering of rain, and haven’t had to really change our plans at all.

Florida, Alabama, Louisiana & Mississippi

On Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and set out for Biloxi, Mississippi, driving on the back roads of Florida’s panhandle, keeping as close as possible to the coast. In the town of Mary Esther, just outside of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, we stopped at a Piggly Wiggly to stock up on sodas. I’m not sure why, but visiting a Piggly Wiggly has been on my bucket list for a long time.

We were able to find my soda (diet Mug Root Bear at $5.99 for a case of twelve), but couldn’t find Kathy’s Orange Crush. One weird thing, though; as we drove through town, all of the streets had piles of dead branches in the front yards, just as if everyone had decided to trim their trees at the same time.

After crossing the bridge into Pensacola, (what a beautiful bay, shining in the morning sunlight), we started noticing a number of street signs knocked askew, houses without shingles on the roof, and large trees knocked down. I commented to Kathy that it looked like a tornado had come through. She got on the phone to Google and found that it was the damage caused by hurricane Isaias, just a few weeks ago; the same hurricane that knocked down trees on the Blue Ridge Parkway when we were there.

Just before we crossed into Alabama, near Perdido Key in Florida, we stopped by a Walmart Supercenter to see if we could find Kathy’s sodas there. Although we rarely visit Walmart at home, we’ve become something like aficianados on this trip. In addition to Kathy’s Orange Crush, look what else we found. I didn’t know that they still made these.

When we crossed into Alabama, our other bucket list item was to try fried green tomatoes. I did some Web research, and the name that kept coming up was Lucy Buffet’s Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lucy is Jimmy Buffet’s little sister. We found the restaurant just after noon and ordered the tomatoes. They were pretty good, but nothing life-changing (However Kathy loved them).

After the appetizer we both had the half-po’boy and bowl of gumbo special. I had the shrimp po’boy with chicken and sausage gumbo, while Kathy had the oyster po’boy with the shrimp and crab gumbo. I have to say that the gulf shrimp were large, fresh, and delicious, nothing like those I’ve had in California, or even in Florida.

After lunch we drove through the tunnel under Mobile Bay, which I found terrifying, and then down the coast to Mississippi. Instead of corn fields or cane fields, we started driving by cotton fields.

As usual, Kathy wanted to feel the cotton with her own hands, so we stopped and she picked a little.

The closer we got to Biloxi, the more traffic we encountered. Instead of the relative isolation of the Forgotten Coast and its understated bungalows, the shore was covered with huge condominium towers. As we got closer to Biloxi, these were replaced with casino resorts.

Our hotel, the Hyatt Place, was about a mile down the coast road from the Biloxi casino strip, about a block from the Biloxi lighthouse. We walked down to the lighthouse and took a picture. Then, we walked across to the boardwalk, and looked at the statue of Fred Haise, a Biloxi native who was one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. We continued down the beach, walking on the boardwalk, under the freeway and towards the casinos in search of something to eat for dinner. 

We didn’t find anything, so we decided just to head back to our hotel and snack on chips. As we were walking back, with the setting sun, from behind the casinos came first one shrimp boat, then four more. They had their lights on and their nets out, and it looked just like scene from the book we were listening to as we drove: Forrest Gump.

New Iberia, Louisiana

On Wednesday we left Biloxi under cloudless skies and headed for New Iberia, Louisiana. New Iberia is the home of author James Lee Burke, as well as his fictional detective Dave Roubicheaux. Nearby Avery Island is the home to the Tabasco hot sauce company.

We got to the Holiday Inn in New Iberia around 1:30 in the afternoon. Because we didn’t belong to the customer loyalty program, they said we’d have to wait until 3:00 PM to check in. Since it didn’t cost anything (other than a few extra spam emails), Kathy signed up and we got right in.

Our first stop was Avery Island where we took the Tabasco factory tour. Tabasco hot sauce is made by aging the pepper mash in special white oak barrels, outfitted with stainless steel lasts, for around three years. Here’s a picture of the warehouse where the barrels are aged. Each barrel has a thick layer of salt on top. I’m not sure why.

Avery Island is not actually an island at all. Instead, it is the top of a giant salt mountain, almost as high as Mount Everest. This was the site of the first rock-salt mine in North America. Until 2021, the mine produced salt for de-icing roads as well as for the manufacture of Tobasco.

The best part of the tour was the last stop where we got to see the assembly line used for bottling, labeling, and packaging. Kathy said it reminded her of the I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode.

After the tour we visited the gift shop to get some treats for the folks at home. On the way out, Kathy wanted to get a picture of this small swamp with the cypress trees. She really likes the way cypress trees look in a swamp.

For dinner, we drove to downtown New Iberia and ate at the Cane River Pecan Company Pie Bar. We did get some pie to take home, but they serve regular food as well. After dinner, we visited the James Lee Burke statue and took a walk along Bayou Teche.

On Thursday morning, instead of eating the breakfast our hotel provided, we drove back downtown to eat at Victor’s Cafeteria, where Dave Robicheaux and his friend Cletus Purcell often have breakfast.

Victor’s has been a New Iberia institution for years. It was closed briefly in 2024, but is now open again. The food is great and unbelievably inexpensive. Kathy’s BLT with egg was only $6.00. I had a three-egg ham, sausage, and bacon omelette with grits (which I haven’t eaten since I lived in Savannah), coffee, and two biscuits.  

In addition to the food, there is memorabilia on all of the walls, including an homage to Dave Robicheaux’s bait shop.

Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi

After breakfast, we took off for Vicksburg. We actually signed up for a one-hour swamp tour near Lafayette, but once we got going, we realized we wouldn’t have time. Instead, we got on the Great River Road, (going North this time), and headed for Natchez, Mississippi. Natchez is a famous, old Mississippi town on the bluffs overlooking the river, about half-way between New Orleans and Vicksburg.

Natchez was the home of author Greg Iles, who died in 2025. His Penn Cage books, such as the Natchez Burning Trilogy, are all set in Natchez. We got there a little after noon, so we drove up to the cemetery to see the Turning Angel statue, which was the title of the second Penn Cage book.

After walking along the bluff, we took a look at Edelweiss, a real house that was featured prominently in several of Iles’ novels. After using the house fictitiously, he purchased, and remodeled it, using it as his writing studio.

After a great lunch of shrimp po’boys at Wardo’s on Broadway, we hit the road again, headed north to Vicksburg. In Vicksburg we stayed at the Bazinsky House, a B&B in a remodeled Civil War era building in downtown Vicksburg. 

We got to the B&B at 4:00 PM, so we didn’t have a lot of time to go sightseeing. We got in our car and headed to the Vicksburg National Military Park. We got there at 4:15 and the ranger at the gate said that we could only stay until 5:00 PM when the park closed. 

Because of the time limitation, we really couldn’t get out and visit the different memorials. Instead, we just drove the sixteen miles and finished two minutes before the 5:00 PM deadline.

For dinner, we went to downtown Vicksburg and ate in a nice pub. I had peperoni pizza and Kathy had gnocchi with boiled peanuts.

Up the Blues Highway to Memphis, Tennessee

Our host prepared us breakfast at 8:30 AM, so we got started a little later than we planned in the morning. Today’s trip would take us up the Mississippi Delta on Highway 61, known as the Blues Highway. Before we left, we went directly across the street and took a picture of the old courthouse, which is now a museum.

This is the same courthouse shown in the picture below, with Union troops parading in front.

There are several pilgrimage sites along the Blues Highway. You can see the crossroads where Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar mastery. You might visit Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi and listen to live music every night. There are two or three museums devoted to the blues, as well as to R&B music.

We drove by the crossroads, but couldn’t find the marker. I think, perhaps, we got on the wrong road by mistake. We didn’t really have time for any of the rest, so we drove straight through, stopping only in Tunica to eat lunch at the world famous Blue and White Restaurant. I had “chicken-fried fried chicken with gravy”, some potato salad and some onion rings. Kathy had a shrimp burrito and cole slaw.

We finally got to our Memphis hotel after 4:00 PM. Tomorrow we’re heading for Arkansas.

Orchids, Everglades & the Forgotten Coast

On Thursday we left Marathon, Florida to spend two days in the Everglades National Park. For the last few days, we’ve listened to Susan Orlean’s 1998 non-fiction book called The Orchid Thief. The book focuses on the arrest and trial of John Laroche for poaching rare orchids from the Facahatchee Strand State Preserve in South Florida.

The book goes into quite a bit of depth about the orchid culture in Florida. One of the main characters is Robert (Bob) Fuchs, the owner of the RF Orchids Nursery. On our way to the Everglades National Park, Kathy noticed that we would pass right by the nursery, so, we stopped in.

The grounds are huge. There are dozens of different shade houses, containing thousands and thousands of plants. We spent quite a bit of time browsing around and looking at the various types of orchids.

Here are some white and yellow ones that I especially liked.

When we went into the office, we found that Bob Fuchs himself was there and he took a picture with us.

He was very cordial and even gave Kathy and autographed copy of his book.

I, however, was just happy to get a picture with this guy in the garden.

The Everglades National Park is the third largest park in the continental United States, after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It covers most of southern Florida and has several different entrances. We went in at the southern-most entrance because we were staying in the park at the town of Flamingo.

The drive to Flamingo from the entrance is about 43 miles. There are different trails along the road, and so we stopped and hiked when we came across them. This is the Mahogany Hammock Trail, a half-mile boardwalk loop through one of the “islands” in the sea of grass and water.  

The in-park Flamingo Lodge was originally built and expanded in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Built in the Modern/Mission 66 style, it eventually grew to over 100 rooms and bungalows. However, Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma did so much damage that the lodge (and visitor’s center) were demolished in 2005.

From 2005 until 2023, there was no lodging inside the park. In 2023 the new lodge, restaurant, and visitor’s center opened. The new lodge has 24 units, and is constructed from durable, repurposed shipping containers elevated on 13-foot concrete pillars to withstand storm surges, sea-level rise, and high winds. That sounds kind of grim, but the units are actually very comfortable and elegant.

As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday, October 22 is our 54th wedding anniversary. We splurged on dinner last night in Marathon. However in the morning my brother Gary sent me this text from my mother’s journal. It was really a blessing.

Back Country Boat Ride

On Friday, we spent the day exploring the park. At 11:00 AM we took a 90-minute boat ride into the “back country”. The trip took us through three different kinds of ecosystems: the estuary, mangrove, and cypress areas. We saw lots of different kinds of trees and birds. We got a glimpse of a crocodile in one of the little inlets, but couldn’t see more than his eyes and snout from quite a distance.

While we were waiting to board the boat, we walked over to the Florida Bay (salt-water) side of the marina and watched some big tarpon jumping, and this manatee coming up for air.

At the end of our tour, just as we were coming into the marina, a large crocodile swam right past our boat. Kathy and I wondered if the tour operators kept it in reserve in the event that the customers were disappointed. 

All in all it was a good tour and we were both glad we took it. After lunch we decided to drive out to some other trails we’d read about. As we left Flamingo, it started to lightly rain. When we finally got to the trail though, it was raining buckets. We decided to skip the hike. By the time we got back to Flamingo, it had stopped raining. Rather than turn around once again, we had dinner at the lodge restaurant, and went back to our room.

Driving to the West Coast

On Saturday we got up early, and I sat outside on the balcony and watched the sun rise. The restaurant served breakfast starting at 8:00 AM, and we were among the first in line.

Flamingo is notorious for its mosquitos. I wasn’t bothered too much, but Kathy had two bites in the first few minutes we were there, despite dousing ourselves with bug spray. Since then, she never travels without self-protection.

It was a long, but pretty drive from Flamingo to Sarasota on the Gulf Coast. To get there, you have to first drive east almost to Miami and then turn around and drive west across the state on the highway called Alligator Alley or the Tamiami Trail. 

Hoping to see some alligators in addition to the crocodiles we had seen in Flamingo, we stopped by the Shark Valley entrance to the park. However, to explore the park from this entrance, you have to take a tram tour, and we really didn’t feel that we had the time.

We got to Sarasota around 4:00 PM. Our hotel was right across the street from the airport. Near Sarasota, in Bradenton, one of our old friends, Leona Karni, who is a missionary from Calvary Chapel, invited us over to her house for dinner. It was wonderful reconnecting, and listening to all of her stories.

Finally Flamingos

We had another long drive on Sunday, up the west coast of Florida, from Sarasota to Perry. About half way between these two towns lies the Crystal River, a set of springs that are the refuge of Florida’s manatee population during the cold winter months. To break up the trip we decided to stop for lunch and see some animals.

We had several different state parks to choose from, many of which allow you to swim with the manatees. Neither of us was up for that, so we finally chose to visit the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. Like the Turtle Center in Marathon, this park rehabilitates injured wildlife.

Just as there are no falls in Klamath Falls, Oregon, there are no Flamingos in Flamingo, Florida. However at Homosassa we got to see a few. They are truly beautiful.

We saw an alligator, a couple of manatees, two Florida panthers, a Florida black bear, and quite a few different kinds of birds, including two eagles. It was a nice break half-way through our day.

We had some pizza for lunch and reached Perry about 5:00 PM.

The Forgotten Coast

On Monday we left Perry after breakfast and headed towards Destin, Florida, which is close to Pensacola on the west coast. Instead of traveling inland, through the capital, Tallahassee, we hugged the coast, stopping at a few parks, as well as the towns of Carrabelle and St. George Island. The part of Florida is called the Forgotten Coast, since it isn’t inundated with high-rises like much of the rest of Florida’s West Coast.

At one of the parks we stopped at, Kathy got to happily swing for a while.

This is what it looked like from her point of view.

On St. George Island we stopped to look at the light house and collect some shells on the beach.

In the town of Carrabelle, we visited the world’s smallest police station, shopped for sea glass, and had a nice lunch in a small cafe, Carrabelle Junction. Like the other off-the-beaten-path places we’ve eaten at, they only took cash.

We reached our hotel in Destin around 4:30, unpacked and went across the street for a nice dinner. In the morning we’ll be leaving Florida for Mississippi, Alabama, and then Louisiana.