Back Home

After 6,969 miles in the coach and untold miles touring in the truck, and after 81 days, we’re back home in Rome, bringing our trip to a conclusion. And what a trip it’s been! Looking back over the trip, it’s been a saga of scenery – mountains, waterfalls, coasts, and canyons; of thoroughfares – highways, byways, and railroads; national parks, state parks, and historical sites – punctuated by hiking, dining, entertainment, and meeting fellow travelers. In addition, it was a great history lesson; we learned a lot about the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery and the Oregon Trail pioneers. And we have a great deal of appreciation for the courage and determination of these explorers and pioneers. George lists these places and events as his “best of trip” winners: Country Coach and Boeing factory tours, the volcanic features in Sisters and Bend, OR, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, OR, Golden Spike National Historical Site in Promontory Point, UT; the Canadian railroads and the Fraser and Thompson Canyons, Mt. Revelstoke, and Yoho National Park in British Columbia (especially hiking the Hoodoos Trail and our gorgeous comp site on the river – now the main photo of our blog); Glacier National Park with the Highline Trail hike, and visiting the Minuteman Missile Historical Site and the Clinton Presidential Library. Didn’t leave out many places, did he? And I guess that about sums it up: we enjoyed every place we visited, and we appreciate having the good health and circumstances to be able to make a trip such as this. We especially appreciate our friends who were interested in following our trip on our blog.

Elvis Presley's Graceland

These last few days of our trip seem to be combining very different venues – from a presidential library in Little Rock to Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, TN. Visiting Graceland was nostalgic, looking back at Elvis’s career and listening to his songs. Graceland evoked a previous era with its furnishings, replete with shag carpets and gold colored appliances in the kitchen. However, most of the tour focused on memorabilia including a hall of gold and platinum records, an award from the City of Memphis for Elvis’s philanthropy, and his proudest award, a 1970 Young Man of the Year award from the Jaycee’s. The tour ended in the Meditation Garden where Elvis is buried, along with his parents and grandmother. There is also a memorial to his twin brother who died at birth. We couldn’t be in Memphis without eating BBQ so we went to Corky’s, recommended by friends who previously lived in Memphis, to get their famous dry-rub BBQ ribs. M-m-m-m GOOD!

William J. Clinton Presidential Center

Heading south from Branson to Little Rock was more of a task than the 170 miles indicate; it was a very curvy, hilly road and took longer than we expected. But we should be used to that kind of road by now! We spent about half a day at the Clinton Library watching the introductory video, viewing the displays, listening to the tapes, and also hearing an 87 year old lady who is an artist tell about the replica of the Clinton cabinet room. Some of the highlights of the center to Irene include seeing the duplicate of the Oval Office and the Christmas display from the White House, including a crystal Christmas tree created by Dale Chihuly, and listening to the artist friend of the Clintons tell about the Cabinet room and her attendance at the Inauguration. For George the highlight of visiting the center was briefly reliving a happier time in the country.