Spring Break? - April 2-6, 2010

On March 31, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary!  Wow, time really flies when you're happy.  Last year, for our 1st wedding anniversary (and the Marine's Spring Break from college), the Marine surprised the Biologist by suggesting that we take a trip to New York City, and also visit several adjacent states while up that way so we could add some new historical marker icons to our waymarking grid.  For this year's Spring Break, the Marine suggested we go on another waymarking adventure.  It's not that he loves waymarking, but he loves the Biologist and making her happy.  Isn't he wonderful?  So, this year we decided to make a trip through the southern U.S. states to get historical marker icons for Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Hmmm, maybe Spring BREAK isn't the best name for this adventure because I think we're going to really need a Break by the time we get home.

DAY 1:  Today we decided to hit the road dark and early.  Our goal was to leave the house by 6am.  We actually got out the door by 5:45.  We were so proud of ourselves.  Twenty miles into the trip, the Biologist turned on the laptop that we have set up on a mount in the waymobile.  As she went to log on to the waymarking site, she said to the Marine, "Uh oh, where's our wireless card?"  He replied, "It's in the computer bag, isn't it?"  The Biologist replied, "Probably.  Where's the computer bag?"  He just looked at her for a moment, then said, "Didn't you bring it?"  Oh boy.  So 40 additional miles and an hour later, after a detour back home, we were finally back to the point where the Biologist first decided to try to log onto the waymarking site.  Our adventure had truly begun..

 We made tracks through Florida and Alabama, but had to make a quick stop to admire a Doppler Weather Radar at the Mobile Regional Airport in Alabama.

Then we booked it for the Magnolia State where we found our first Mississippi Historical Marker about the "Salem Methodist Campground" -- the oldest regularly held Methodist camp meeting in Mississippi, what a Superlative find!  There was also a cute little Methodist Church at the campground site, so we took some coords and photos for it as well.  By this time, we were starting to feel the effects of our early start and made our way to Jackson, Mississippi, to bed down for the night.

DAY 2:  We left Jackson at about 9am and made our way toward Louisiana.  As we approached Vicksburg, we saw signs for the National Park Service's Vicksburg National Military Park and decided to check it out.  We bought a cd at the Visitor Center and passed through the Freestanding Arches at the park's entrance and began the driving tour describing the historic Civil War Battle and Siege of Vicksburg.  What an amazing piece of history.  It was hard to imagine the beauty and peacefulness of the present day Spring scenery dotted with splashes of pink flowers from the blooming redbud trees ever having been the site of such a large and bloody battle.  We even stood on the spot where General Pemberton (Confederacy) and General Grant (Union) stood and attempted to negotiate the surrender of Confederate forces.  We had expected to spend 3 hours here, but it turned into 6 hours.  Well worth the time.

It was after 3:30pm when we left Vicksburg and made our way to Louisiana.  As we drove through Tallulah, we spotted a Googie sign, a Louisiana Historical Marker about the city on the Madison Parish Courthouse grounds where we also discovered a Civil War Memorial and a lovely Gazebo.

From Tallulah, we headed north to Arkansas and spotted two more Louisiana Historical Markers.  As we passed through the town of Transylvania, we had a good laugh at their Water Tower, but started getting creeped out by all the signs in town inviting us to stop and visit.  Yea, I don't think so!

We booked it to Arkansas post haste and found a Geodesic Dome house and three Arkansas Historical Markers in the little town of Eudora.  By now we were exhausted, but there were no good hotels in the area.  So onward we drove to El Dorado, Arkansas, where we found a nice hotel and a Mexican restaurant with some very tasty food.


DAY 3:  Today it was time to make our way to Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Yes, I know I said Texas twice.  But come on, you know they say everything's bigger in Texas, so we had to visit it twice!  As we passed through DeKalb, Texas, we spotted an already claimed Texas Historical Marker that we visited.  Before we knew it, however, we were in Oklahoma where we visited the small town of Idabel.  Idabel may be small, but it is the home of at least two beautiful houses that are on the National Register of Historic Places and that have Oklahoma Historical Markers on their front lawns.  We especially loved the Barnes-Stevenson House.  What a beauty!

On our second pass through Texas, we stopped at the old New Haven Cemetery, a Worldwide Cemetery with a Texas Historical Marker. Then into the city of Clarksville where we found two more Texas Historical Markers, one at the Home of Colonel DeMorse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and another at the First Baptist Church of Clarksville.  We also found an Architectural Remnant of the Red River County Courthouse's old cupola and a Zinc Headstone in the Clarksville Cemetery.

By now it was time to make tracks east and begin our journey toward home.  However, as we were driving the Biologist was checking out the Newest Groups on the waymarking site and noticed a new group had been formed to establish a category for the Graves of Texas Rangers.  Oh boy!  What if that gets approved?  Then we'll have to either come back to Texas or search high and low for a Texas Ranger gravesite located outside the state of Texas.  A quick Google search resulted in the discovery of such a gravesite in New Boston, Texas, which we were quickly approaching.  We made a short detour to the Read Hill Cemetery, another Worldwide Cemetery and the final resting place of Texas Ranger Dan LaFayette McDuffie, which was denoted with the presence of a Texas Historical Marker about his life.

We left New Boston and decided to push forth to Shreveport, Louisiana, before stopping for the night.  We found a Hampton Inn, our favorite place to stay while on the road, grabbed some dinner, then settled down to watch the Amazing Race.  I'm not really sure why we felt compelled to watch this show.  It feels like we're participating in our own version of the race.

DAY 4:  This morning we set the alarm for an early start and made our way to The Big Easy.  Neither of us had been to the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina nor had we ever been to the French Quarter.  Since we were going to pass by the area on our way home anyway, we decided to make a detour and spend an afternoon and evening exploring Bourbon Street and the rest of the French Quarter.  We hit town at around 2:00 pm, checked into our downtown hotel, and walked out the door and onto Bourbon Street.  Our first stop was for a couple of frozen drinks, a Hurricane for the Marine and a Mango Daiquiri for the Biologist.  Yum!

We spent a few hours walking up and down the streets of the French Quarter, wandered into the historic St. Louis Cathedral, and walked along the waterfront before heading back to the hotel for a little rest before dinner.  Then back to Bourbon Street and Sammy's restaurant where the Marine enjoyed a nice Jambalaya while the Biologist, a vegetarian, enjoyed a varied vegetable dinner.  On the way to the restaurant and on the way back to the hotel, we took some time to stop and waymark quite a few of the Neon Signs along Bourbon Street.  Quite an interesting experience.

 DAY 5:  Today we headed for home.  The only stops we made today were at a few rest areas and gas stations in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  This whirlwind waymarking adventure was a lot of fun, but very exhausting.  We were sure glad when we reached Jacksonville.  Dorothy was right, there's no place like home.