We’re off! After a frantic rush to get everything loaded into the RV and get on the road, I forgot to take a picture of the RV, Boat, and family in front of the house before we left. As a next best thing, I stopped in Clinton, Missouri and captured the following. We were off and other than a tear in the tarp of the boat, we had no isssues! Arrived at Table Rock about 1:30A and ready for some rest and a great week of vacation with the coolest family in the world!
A week after the awesome trip back from Florida, we are gearing up for several more adventures. First is the St. Louis Cardinals v the Kansas City Royals w/ Robert, Prosser and Teri and then it’s off to Table Rock for a week w/ family. More to come…
It was an AWESOME three day adventure across the S.E. United States. I got to see states that I had only flown over in the past in detail and saw some BEAUTIFUL scenary. But at the end of the day best part of the trip was pulling in and having Mara, Max, and Jen come out and give me a hug and welcome me home! I am a truly blessed guy!
It is now beginning to storm and I am ultra grateful that I covered almost 1400 miles with only a few raindrops in Florida and no major issues.
Thanks for letting me share this story with those who have followed along. If you take one thing away from this it is to not sit on the side lines of life. Go create your own adventure and live life to the fullest!
As I crossed the state line into my sixth and final State of the trip (Missouri), I was struck by how beautiful the Southern part of Missouri was. Northern Florida was nice as was Mississippi and I love the huge bodies of water in Northern Louisana and Southern Arkansas which made me want to return with the wakeboard boat, but seeing Table Rock lake and the Southern part of Missouri reminded me why I love this state.
I had commented in a previous post about the countless roadside produce and ‘collectable’ shops in Alabama and how I was suprised there were SO MANY. As I traveled through Northern Arkansas I was stuck again but this time it was on the ‘rock’ stores. There must have been 30 of these places that sold pallets of rock. Some were small and others covered acres and acres of pallets full of pre-sorted rocks.
It got me to thinking… some of us think our jobs are difficult or we have a tough way to go of it occassionally. Imagine working in a geographic area where the best job is the finding, sorting, and stacking rocks! I loved my job before I left for this trip but after seeing and thinking about this I REALLY love my job!
What would a Cisco PTO be without at lest one conference call. After my ‘slight’ detour to see “The Cave”, I figured out that I was likely not going to make it to the next moderate size town (Harrison, AR) so I stopped at the local diner in Marshall, AR (population 1,313). The first thing that I realized when I sat down was that there was no mobile broadband service (gulp!). Then I realized that I had no wirelss service without roaming…
Forty five minutes later (can’t wait to see that cell bill!) and the at the conclusion of a great call with Brett Galloway and his executive staff regarding Managed Services, I wrapped things up and jumped back on the bike for the final miles through Northern Arkansas. For any of you who ride motorcycles, I would highly recommend this part of the country. Big sweeping turns and lots of decent rolling hills in the middle.
P.S. Yes, that is a rain suit and no, it is not an outfit leftover from the 70’s. Fashion was not on the top of my list as I got ready to drive through what I thought was going to be 6-8 hours of rain.
After seeing 14 signs for the “World’s Largest Natural Bridge” and gently reminding myself that this was suppose to be an ‘Adventure’, I decided I had to check out “The Bridge”. We’ll the adventure is GETTING to the bridge. This had to be the steepest, narrowest, twistiest (is that a word?) road I have ever been on. There was a sign warning “No RV’s, Buses, vehicles w/ trails and a I went down it I could not help but think about the poor soul who went down this ‘path’ and had to be drug/towed backwards out! Upon arriving my first thought was ‘this is cool but not nearly as big as the ‘natural bridge’ on Lake Powell.
Almost as interesting were the two caves. I was curious as I climbed up close if animals still use them for shelter?
Cool none the less and worth the 15 minute detour!
After crashing for the night in Little Rock, I got up early to make the last leg of the trip. After a less than healthy breakfast at Waffle House, I called Jen who informed me that it had was still raining after three days and they were calling for more storms (yee ha!). As I approached the Ozark Mountains in Northern Arkansas, it looked like solid rain for the next 100 miles so I doned the ‘ultra rain suit’ but somehow it held off and I made it through without getting soaked. I had much to be grateful for on this trip — getting through the mountains with no rain was just one of them!
Everything about the last leg of this trip was BEAUTIFUL! The landscape, the huge lakes (or river?), the sunset! Everything! I did learn two things… A. There might be even more bugs in Arkansas than Missouri and you can’t order a beer w/ dinner after … not sure what time in Arkansas on a Sunday night.
That’s all for now. Will publish more from the last leg of the trip through N. Arkansas, Southern Missouri and to the house!
Thanks for letting me share the experience w/ all of you!
Everything about the last leg of this trip was BEAUTIFUL! The landscape, the huge lakes (or river?), the sunset! Everything! I did learn two things… A. There might be even more bugs in Arkansas than Missouri and you can’t order a beer w/ dinner after … not sure what time in Arkansas on a Sunday night.
