Day 41: La Crosse, WI to Badlands NP

Stops:

The Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

Badlands NP, SD

Every town has to have that one thing that brings in the visitors and the tourism.  For Mitchell, SD it's the World's Only Corn Palace.  No, the palace isn't made entirely of corn but it has murals decorated from corn cobs and grains from the local region.

The process takes some time as the old murals are stripped starting in late May and the new murals are laid out in August and finish up in October. Every year has a different theme, this year was "We Celebrate." By the way, it's not cheap to do the new murals either.  It costs $130k every year.  There are 12 different colors of corn used and special fields laid aside just to grow the corn.  It's quite a process to keep up every year.  If you are thinking, what about a drought? Does that affect the murals? The answer is yes.  In fact, in 2006, because of severe drought, there were no new murals.

The palace was built in 1892 to show the world that South Dakota had a healthy agricultural climate.  Did you know that the corn palace we see today is not the original.  In fact, this is the third iteration of it.  

We made it just in time to the Badlands NP to catch the sunset, and I mean just in time as I literally had 10 mins to get the following pictures.

Once the sun went down, we tried to find a campsite, but the Badlands only has campsites at opposite ends.  We went to the one towards our entrance but it was full.  The other one was of gravel road over 20 miles away. No thanks.  

We decided to go to the ranger program at the amphitheater instead.  We learned about the park, but even better, we learned about the National Grasslands.  Mostly they are located in the Great Plains region of the US, but there are little areas in California, Oregon, and Washington for example.  You can take your car 35 ft from the center of any road on the grasslands and disperse camp up to 350 ft away from the center of any road.  It just so happens that Buffalo Gap Grasslands is just outside of The Badlands.  After the ranger talk, we tried to find a road in Buffalo Gap and we ended up finding a road to a trailhead and stayed at the trailhead for the night.  Another night, another problem solved and complete privacy and silence to boot.

Day 40: Spring Green WI to Lacrosse, WI

Stops:

House on the Rock, Spring Green, WI

Don Q inn, Dodgeville, WI.

Located in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin is probably the ultimate roadside attraction, The House on the Rock.  Yes, it is a house built on and into a pinnacle rock with an asian decor and very low ceilings built by Alex Jordan, Jr. as his dream house.  Alex wasn't short either, so it is unsure why the low ceilings. Not only is it a weird house but it is also a bizarre collection of stuff.  By stuff I mean a collection of dolls and dollhouses, the worlds largest carousel, mechanical music machines and much, much more.

When you enter the property, you are greeted with giant planters that have giant dragons and serpents on them.  

There are 3 tours you can take, but we got there late enough, we only were allowed to take one tour, mainly the house itself.  

As you start the tour, you see the Japanese Gardens complete with koi fish and lily pads and a little bridge and waterfall. 

The first house you enter was the original house.  It wasn't very big, but I would consider it a rocking bachelor pad.

Then you go up a 375 ft long ramp into the House.  You notice that some of the walls are the rock itself and once again, the low ceilings and the asian decor.  

The House contains many mechanical music machines, fireplaces, and even a 3 story tall bookcase, and lots of stained glass windows, some used on the walls and some used as tables.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the House is the Infinity Room which juts out over 218 ft from the House unsupported on the bottom and contains 3000 windows.  It really does look like an endless room.

Just up the road is a crazier-than-most fantasy room hotel.  One of the suites is a church steeple. Others include a hot air balloon, a dungeon, an igloo, a geisha garden, and so much more.   These suites are called "fanatasuites."  

The place is so crazy, they use a large airplane as their road sign.  Once featured in a TV ad with Farrah Fawcett's, she left her signature on the fuselage.  Unfortunately, on a recent paint job, the painters painted over the signature.  They tried to fix it trying to remove a layer of paint but it didn't really work well.  The hotel also has a 300 ft underground tunnel that connects it to the nearby restaurant.

Inside the main lobby you can see pictures of the rooms and there are a bunch of dentist and barber chairs around a fireplace.  

Yup, definitely one of the weirdest hotels I have ever been to.

Day 31: Charleston, SC to Summerville, SC

Stops:

Fort Sumter National Monument,Charleston,SC

USS Yorktown, Patriots Point, SC

Magnolia and Bethany Cemeteries, Charleston,SC

The Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge  merges Charleston,SC to Mount Pleasant, SC. crossing the Cooper River. It is the 3rd longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western Hemisphere with a span of 1546 ft long. It also makes for a picturesque scene.  When I was last here in 1983, it did not exist, so I was quite surprised to see it.  It was relatively new opening in July 2005. 

Nearby is Patriots Point, location of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier and the boat to Fort Sumter. When I was here at the age of ten as part of my Cub Scout group, it was never called Patriots Point.  It was just a dock, but the USS Yorktown was still there.

We decided to visit Fort Sumter first because we didn't know if the cloudy weather would hold up.  It did.  In terms of the Civil War, Fort Sumter and South Carolina played an essential role.  In December 1860, SC seceded from the Union, thus creating the Confederacy. It was the first state to do so. The Confederate Army was born and states were picking sides.   On April 12, 1861, the Confederate Army fired the first shots on the Union fort, Fort Sumter, starting the first shots of the Civil War.  The Union Army surrendered 34 hours later after being bombarded from all sides.  Now the fort was a Confederate stronghold. The Union Army tried several times during the war to take back the fort but were unsuccessful.  Only towards the end of the Civil War did the Confederates give up the fort and abandon it when they found out they were going to lose the war.  

At almost 10 football fields long, the USS Yorktown is permanently docked at Patriots Point, along with  the destroyer, USS Laffey, and the submarine,USS Clamagore.  Known as the "Fighting Lady" of WWII, this aircraft carrier is almost ten football fields long and weighs 27000 tons.  The USS Yorktown also fought in many epic Japanese battles facing many Kamikaze planes. It also did tours in the Vietnam War.  It was used in the recovery of Apollo 8. It was finally decommissioned in 1970.

When I was ten, we stayed overnight on the Yorktown. I remember sleeping in one of the rooms reserved for higher ranking officers.  It had a set of bunks and its own sink.  The deck under the hanger deck was wide open and we ate in the mess hall.  We had church service in the aircraft elevator shaft. Today, things are different.  I can't get into the officer's quarters, the deck below the hanger deck is full  of exhibits and planes, the hanger deck had fewer planes and no helicopters.  They had setup a tour and marked the paths and setup mannequins and plexiglassed entrances to rooms.  When I was here in 1983, it was wide open and if you can get into it, you would.  Hide and go seek had a whole new meaning.

Charleston has a very unique area known as Rainbow Row, a series of historic houses painted in pastel colors and showcases what houses looked like in the early days after the Civil War.  Here is a small sample.  

Finally, based in Tripadvisor, we went to Magnolia cemetery. It is the location is 5 Confederate generals and amongst other residents.  Surrounded from oak trees with Spanish moss, it's exactly what I expected when I think of the South.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the cemetery was only open for 10 min before the gates were locked, so we hurried through it and thus the lack of photos.  There are no maps here, so unless you know where to go, you need more time here to discover the graves and the history.  It is unfortunate that the cemetery is located and an area of town that seems a little sketchy.  As cool as the cemetery is, we didn't want to get locked in so we left right at 6 pm when it closed.  Still, we saw many old graves and tombstones from the 1800's of men, women, and children. It was clear that children had a hard time surviving back then.

Day 30: Gatlinburg, TN to Charleston, SC

TStops:

Great Smokey Mountains National Park,TN/NC

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

The Great Smokey Mountains NP is actually split almost equally across Tennessee and North Carolina and the largest  NP east of the Rockies just over a half million acres.  It is located within a day's drive for 2/3 of the population of America.  It is also the most visited park with 11 million visitors annually.  I'm sure the reason is because of its closeness to so many people, and of course it's beauty.

So why is it called the Smokey Mountains?  It's not because of smog pollution, although there is some of that there now.  It's from the fog that hangs there and appears as large smoke plumes which are a result of plants exhaling chemicals that have high vapor pressure.  The fog and haze gives the mountains a blueish appearance, despite all the green trees.

The 3rd highest peak in the park is called Clingman's Dome.  The 360 degree viewpoint is worth the short, but steep hike. Get there at sunrise or sunset or shortly after for an amazing view. Along the way, you may run into snails on the path.

70 miles of The Appalachian Trail go through the park and AT hikers have said it to be the most beautiful part of the AT trail.  Part of the trail goes next to Clingman's Dome.  Another part goes by Newfound Gap where you cross from one state to the other.  We decided to hike from Indian Gap to Newfound Gap, about a 3.4 mile in and out.  During the process, we crossed from state to state.  Newfound Gap is where FDR declared the Smokies as a National Park.

The road follows a stream most of the way and I recommend stopping at least once and listen and watch it. So relaxing.

At the Oconaluftee Visitors Centers is a great example of a a 19th century farmstead.  It'll make you appreciate the modern coveniences of today, but have you missing the organic food and a closeness to the land.

Here, you can also catch the Blue Ridge Parkway as well.  It is the starting point and goes all the way north to Shenandoah NP in Virginia.  Noted as America's scenic byway, I will disagree here and say that I've  seen much more scenic drives in both New York State and the Western USA, but we did part of the byway and enjoyed it.  

The next part of our journey was completely unplanned, but purely based on wanting to travel coast to coast. Charleston, SC, here we come.

We stopped at a rest stop at some point near Columbia, SC to try to make a quick mac and cheese dish in Moby, but all the while I had a strange vibe with a man staring at us for almost our entire time there.  Why was he there for so long? Did people at rest stops really rest for 30 to 40 min? I know I never have. We usually go to the bathroom and get some travel info and then leave.  I wrote it off, but as we were just about ready with our mac and cheese, some guy came up to the van and started staring inside.  I thought he was casing us looking for weapons or valuables, but I've got a hot pot of macaroni that I'm mixing up with cheese and can't do much.  He proceeds to to ask for help with something and I told him that I'm a little busy at the moment.  He leaves, but I'm already creeped out, so we serve up the mac into bowls and make an immediate run for it down the highway, never looking back.  I mean isn't that how these things get started. A stranger lures you outside of your safe area and then bad things happen.  We have pepper spray with us, and this is the first time I had considered using it.  Note to self...don't stay too long at rest areas. They really ought to call these "short break and get the hell out" areas.

We finally arrived in Charleston where my memory was suddenly jogged about palmetto bugs. That's probably because of all the palmetto trees and SC's state flag.  My wife had never heard of these but basically, they are flying cockroaches.  Just as soon as we found our Wal-Mart for the night and got out of the van, sure enough, there it was....and they aren't scared of people either. They will come after you.

Day 29: Crossville, TN to Gatlinburg, TN

Stops:

Knoxville, TN

Gatlinburg, TN

When I was a kid growing up in Georgia, my family had sometimes driven pass Knoxville, TN. We never really stopped there but I knew that Knoxville was the site of the World's Fair.  It actually was a World's Fair within my lifetime. 

Back in 1982, exhibits from all over the world were there showcasing uses of energy as the theme was an energy exposition.  It was also were the Rubik's cube was introduced.  Constructed on the grounds was a 221 ft tower with a 5 story sphere known as the Sunsphere.  It still stands there today and going to the observation deck is free.

Nearby is the Museum of Art (also free) and worth a short 30 to 45 min of your time. Downtown Knoxville is only a few blocks away and there is a free trolley you can take or just walk.  Here is a market where food, crafts, arts, souvenirs, and others knick-knacks are sold.  For those of you familiar with Portland's Saturday Market, it is very similar.

Further east into Tennessee, is Sevierville. I've never heard of the town, but if you are a Dolly Parton fan, this is the town's main allure. It is also the starting point of the road to the Great Smokey Mountains NP.  Dolly's influence is all over this road.  I'm surprised they didn't name it Dolly Parton Parkway.  You pass up Dollywood amusement park and Dolly Partons Splash ( a water park) in Pigeon Forge.  Anyway remember watching a rather cheesy movie with Dolly and Lee Majors called Smokey Mountain Christmas? It was based on a cabin in the Smokey Mountains.  Now, I see why.  The other notable thing is the number of pancake houses per capita. I believe this road to contain the most pancake houses per capita than anywhere else in the USA.  While the history of why all the pancake houses is not really known, B and I believe it to be related to the loggers that use to work here. Lumberjacks and pancakes, makes sense right?

The road finally ends in Gatlinburg.  I like to call Gatlinburg, the town like Vegas but without all the casinos.  It is overly commercialized.  In fact the whole road from Sevierville to Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg is that way.  The three towns boasts that they have over 14000 rooms for people to stay in.  It's clear that tourism is the main industry here. There are 5 Ripleys museums here. I think more than any place I've been too.  But with 11 million visitors to the Smokey mountains every year, you'd be foolish not to cash in on this cash cow.

The thing we dislike the most is the amount of commercialism literally outside the park entrance.  I'm glad the NPS could protect the lands as the Smokeys are worth protecting from commercialism. 

Being a Georgia boy myself, I grew up watching the Dukes of Hazzard TV show.  Heck, my parents even bought me bed sheets and pillow cases with the Duke Boys and the General Lee on it.  So when I found out there was a free museum called Cooter's Place, naturally I had to go.  The actor playing Cooter, Ben Jones, owns the museum.  There is a small set of memorabilia, his autobiography, and one of the General Lees used in the TV show.

The Smokeys also have a rich history of Moonshiners and stills.  In Gatlinburg, you can get lots and lots of free samples of moonshine ranging from 40 proof to 100 proof and pure to flavored moonshine.  If you've ever watch the Discovery Channel's show, Moonshiners, you know about the dangers of moonshine from exploding stills to being caught by the po-po.  However, the two Moonshine operations (Davy Crocketts and Ole Smoky Moonshine) here are legal and made in reliable copper stills.  Sold in mason jars, they retain their country hillbilly origins.  12 samples for free is all you need, trust me! Cost is about $25 for a mason jar full of moonshine.

There is also one brewery in town, tucked away towards the back corner of a small shopping strip. Smokey Mountain Brewery makes great beer. I personally liked their Cherokee Amber.

Gatlinburg is surely a party town at night with its many bars and restaurants, but we didn't partake of this as I wanted to get up early and get into the park for the true reason we came there, to see the park and hike it. We ended up finding a parking spot on a street where there were no parking meters or limits on how long you can park and slept incognito again.

Day 28: Hurricane Mills, TN to Crossville, TN

Stops:

Nashville, TN

Mammoth Caves National Park, KY

For a moment, you might think that the picture below is from Athens, Greece, but you'd be wrong.  It is actually a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, TN.  It was built for the 1897 Centennial Exposition. Inside you will find a full scale replace statue of the goddess Athena.  The structure also houses the art museum.

A short 2 hour drive from Nashville takes you to central Kentucky, where Mammoth Cave NPis located.

If you have only one day here, take the Historic Tour and the New Entrance tour.  Some of the other tours, which are more hands-on and involve true spelunking, walking to and in underground rivers, and crawling through tiny holes, sometimes less than a foot tall require advanced reservations many months ahead for the summer months. 

The Historic Tour takes you to the Natural Entrance of the cave.  As of 2013, 400 miles of cave have been discovered.  The cave is a work in progress and explorers continue to find new passageways and rooms.  This makes the cave the longest cave system in the world.

When you enter the cave fromte Natural entrance, you will immediately realize why the cave is called what it is.  The rooms are huge and the tunnels are wide--of mammoth proportions.  However, the cave is mostly featureless and lacking of decorations.  This is due to the sandstone and shake cap which makes it impenetrable to water and thus no stalactites and stalagmites.   However, there are a few places where there was no cap and here you will see some of these decorations.

The cave was originally used to mine saltpeter, a common ingredient in gunpowder, by slaves.  Once the wars were done and there was noncore need for saltpeter, the cave owner, needed to find another way to make money and resorted to tourism.

Back then, only the rich and educated could make and afford a trip to see the cave.   They would graffiti their names on the ceiling as a reward for the journey or hire a slave to do it for them. Because the slaves were not allowed to learn how to write, getting hired forced them to learn how to write.

My favorite of the tours is the New Entrance tour as it takes you to a sinkhole that was blasted out and led to the pretty decorations.  The entrance into the New Entrances requires going down many steep shafts via steep stairs and in very narrow spaces. Very exciting. 

My favorite part of the Historic tour is called Fat Man's Misery. Once the spot where a river ran through, the bottom part of the river ran faster carving a narrow slit into the rock, leaving the top part wider but not so tall and less than a foot width at the bottom.

Mammoth Caves also is trying to combat White Nose Syndrome.  Every participant on every tour must walk across a biomat at the end of the tour. WNS has a 90 to 100% fatality rate for bats, so it is a very serious issue, no exceptions.

Onward to our overnight destination ar the Crossville, TN Wal-Mart.

Day 25: Elk City, OK to Hot Springs, AR

Stops:

Elk City, OK

Clinton, OK

Hydro, OK

Oklahoma City, OK

Most of our route today on I40 follows the famous Route 66, America's Main Street, or at least the Oklahoma section.  Route 66 goes from Chicago to Los Angeles, traversing Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. However, we have already crossed Rt. 66 a few times already in New Mexico and Texas.

The popularity of Rt. 66 created some of our least favorite things today like parking meters, highway patrol, and hitchhikers.  Parking meters were needed to create a reason for turnover outside of businesses due to limited parking spaces. Highway patrol were needed because of people speeding and a significant increase in automobile related fatalities every year on Rt. 66.  Hitchhikers were actually 

military men trying to get home to see their families before being shipped off to war.  With fuel rationing, this was the only way for them to see their families.

However, Rt. 66 created helped to spread some of our favorite things too like soda fountains, mom and pop diners, and drive in theaters, teardrop trailers, and station wagons used for family road trips, and my favorite, the '57 Chevy with the big tail fins.

Sadly Rt. 66 came to an end when it was realized that America needed 4 lane highways with no stop signs. There are many parts of Rt. 66 which are unmaintained with weeds growing out of the road and pieces of the road breaking away due to Mother Nature reclaiming it.

We stopped at one of the giant Rt. 66 signs in Elk City, OK to get a picture and continued to Clinton, OK to see the largest Route 66 museum.  The ladies running the museum were very friendly and loved to talk. Stop in for a visit, the museum is nicely done.

Our next stop was in Hydro, OK, where we had to take a picture of the famous Lucille's gas station. It is one of only two upper-story, out-thrust porch style stations still left in Oklahoma.  The station was named after Lucille Hamons who was known as the Mother of the Mother Road due to her friendliness.

On a more serious note, we stopped in Oklahoma City at the bombing site of the Alfred P.  Murrah federal building in April 19, 1995 to pay our respects. 168 people, including children, lost their lives that day of the truck bombing between 9:01 AM to 9:03 AM.  The truck was parked on 5th street when it exploded.  Today, there is a reflection pool where 5th street used to be.  You can also parts of the foundation from the federal building that were badly damaged, a lone tree that survived known as the survivor tree, where the children's daycare was, and a field of symbolic bronze and stone chairs representing each person that died according to what floor they were on. The smaller chairs represented the children.  B and I both left there with a heavy heart and a tear in our eye.  The memorial is very powerful.

When you cross into Arkansas, there seems to be a distinct change in scenery.  Suddenly, there are lots of trees and bodies of water. It's really quite beautiful.  The area is referred to as the Ozarks.

We finally called it a night at the one and only campsite for Hot Springs NP, dreaming of hot spring baths we were going to get tomorrow.