Throwback Time, Part II, 1998 Family Road Trip concluded

Small Town, USA, Mendenhall, Mississippi

Sun, June 28 – From Jackson, Mississippi to Lake Charles

Lanie and I took off in the morning for Mendenhall, about 30 miles SE of Jackson, the furthest point East on our long vacation journey.

…. The West Mississippi countryside remained quite the same (rolling hills and... forests) all the way to the border and into Louisiana North and East of Baton Rouge… 

Motoring down a Mississippi back road

…. We toured an Antebellum plantation called “Rosedown”, which was very nice, restored in the late 1950’s with most of its original décor and furnishings intact.

At Rosedown Plantation

… We proceeded on Hwy 10 to the River’s Edge and crossed on a Ferry……
 …. Wound our way down thru Cajun land, drove thru Opelousas and then down to Lafayette where we ate dinner at a restaurant called Prejeans.  Atmosphere was great, but loud, with a real live Cajun band

….. Adorning the restaurant entrance was “Al the Alligator”, killed and stuffed in 1981, all 14ft and 800 lbs of him…

(In a return visit by Lanie and I to Prejeans in 2014, Old Al was still hanging out over the entrance…see current day picture below taken from a Restaurant review site)

Just Call him "Al".... Prejeans Restaurant, Lafayette, LA

Mon, June 29 – Lake Charles area

We visited with Billy and Peggy at their house…

…. In the evening I rode with Billy down toward the gulf where we bought fresh shrimp right off the docks.  Billy then cooked us up a dinner of breaded fried shrimp…

…. Returned to camp and the symphony of night in the Bayou – loud and busy like a jungle!

Tue, June 30, Lake Charles/Lafayette area

Started out the day with “Billy’s Swamp Tour”.  Billy took us out to the (Jones) family hunting island across a beautiful deep, dark bayou…  Didn’t see any gators, but Billy hooked a young Cottonmouth…

Billy and I "lining" his boat across the Jones family swamp/Bayou

The hunting camp was pretty primitive….. but the island itself and the surrounding swamp was quite interesting, teeming with activity…

Wed. July 1, Lake Charles and Lafayette areas

Morning time, Lanie and I went out to the Catholic cemetery in Westlake where we searched for and found the gravesite for Lanie's  Great Grandmother....

(This being a family history trip of sorts, our girls got used to Mom and Dad taking off to various cemeteries looking for ancestors... Sometimes we drug them with us right into the graveyards... Often they were hardly overjoyed by these visits; but they coped without any later therapy required)

Drove back to Sam Houston Jones State Park in mid-evening... Billy and Peggy came out... we all went down to the water's edge, where Billy tried to coax the critter (resident gator) toward the shore... He (the Gator) actually came up to about 10 feet from shore, but you couldn't see much...

Thur, Jul 2… From LK Charles to Texarkana, Ark.

Had to leave the beautiful State of Louisiana today.  In the early morning, Lanie and I went down to Westlake to pick up boudin sausage to grill later in Okie City… We then said our good byes to Billy, Peggy and their son, Will. They were good hosts, very gracious and helpful.

…. Just South of Sibley we saw a road sign saying “Yellowpine Rd”, turned down it and found the charming old Yellopine Christian Church.

(Yellowpine is the little town up near Shreveport where Lanie's Grandmother grew up).

…  Texarkana is a very unique town with a post-office bldg. straddling the Ark/Tex state line and a main avenue, Stateline… with Ark. businesses on the East Side and Texas businesses on the West side…  Also noticed many drive-up beer shops along Stateline Ave, all on the Ark. side. – Maybe Texas doesn’t allow them, who knows?

Friday, July 3, From Texarkana to Okl. City

…. Turned West at DeQueen and drove into SE Oklahoma, which was also rolling countryside and very woodsy.  There was a lot of logging activity going on…. Even saw a few Weyerhaueser operations, as well as Georgia Pacific and other lumber Co’s familiar to Oregon and the Northwest….

We searched the cemetery at Broken Bow, OK and located the gravesites for Lanie’s great great grandparents….   (Yes, another cemetery tour on our family history tour)

From Broken Bow we headed West on State Hwy 3 to Antlers, then North on the Indian Nation Turnpike to Henryetta and from there to a KOA campground 15 mi. East of Okl. City….

At night barbecued some chicken breasts and boudin sausage – The Boudin was very good stuffed with brown rice, meat, onions and spices.

Saturday, July 4^th – Okl City and Corn

Lanie and I woke up early to a beautiful blue sky and decided to head out to Corn in the morning..... Corn is a tidy little town  (settled by Mennonites in late 1800’s, my Mom’s paternal ancestors among them) out on the West plains.

… We found the gravestones for Mom’s Grandparents

 (And Yes, another cemetery… note, the girls slept in and decided to stay at the KOA in Okie City.. They were on to us and our cemetery trips by this time)

Returned to the trailer just past noon and girls were ready to go to the Water Park…

… Around 5, Lanie and I returned to the Water Park… but the girls weren’t ready to leave yet, so we went to the Memorial Site for the 1995 Bombing    (Of the Oklahoma City Federal Building)… The remains of the Federal building are surrounded by a chain link fence which is covered with notes and personal memorials to the bombing victims… Very moving…

Memorial Fence at Okl City Federal Bldg

… Went …. To Tinker AFB… for the 4^th of July fireworks…  I enjoyed first hand looks at the B1 and B52 bombers as well as the AWACS plane…..

… The fireworks were quite good on a perfect, warm evening – Very festive occasion, but such a contrast with the somber atmosphere around the Fed Bldg memorial…

Sunday, July 5 – From Oklahoma City to Wichita (Cheney St Park)

Left around noon for Kansas…  Terrain continued to flatten out as we approached Wichita…. ….There are farms everywhere, even right in the city limits of Wichita. We drove out West of town about 20 miles or so to Cheney State Park….

… took off in the mid-evening for Maize, which is where Mom lived as a very young girl…

(We’ve always considered it kind of a strange coincidence that my Grandmother grew up in Maize, KS, while Grampa was from Corn, OK)

Our Tent Trailer set up at Cheney State Park near Wichita

Mon, July6 –

Morning dawned clear and beautiful, but quite a bit muggier than the day before…  I left around mid-morning for a “Family History day”….. drove back to Maize… to look around some…. Then I worked my way back to Wichita, visiting several addresses where Mom lived…. Next drove to… Maple Grove cemetery… (Many of my Mom’s ancestors, including her Mom, my grandmother, are buried here)…

… Drove back to the campground….  and found Lanie and the girls just finishing their 2^nd session at the beach   (park had a large lake near the campground)…

…. We left for Jim (Mom’s cousin) and Winnie’s house… and I took Lanie and the girls thru the South edge of town and then up Hillside Ave to show them Maple Grove Cemetery  (Girls were likely groaning quietly in the back seats).  …had a nice visit and dinner with Jim and Winnie (and their 3 grandchildren)… 

Cousin Jim, a music teacher,  showing me one of his musical instruments... I am not a musician, and have no idea what this was, nor any capability of actually playing it..

…. Returned to the campground after dark to find heat lightning flashing across the sky – The lightning increased as we went to bed and built steadily into a full fledged Midwest thunderstorm …. with lightning all over, booming thunder, and high winds swirling thru the treetops and shaking our trailer….. 

 (”Uh oh, Dorothy, we ARE in Kansas after all”… but thankfully the violent storm did not bring with it a Twister, though I did make one dash to the concrete block restroom building in between Thunder claps to check out the tornado shelter, just in case!)

…  thunder did die down about 4 AM, but all in all a very fitful night of sleeping.

Tue, July 7 – From Wichita to Sidney, Nebr.

…. We proceeded into Nebraska where we found the “fields of corn stretching as far as the eye could see” that I really expected, but didn’t see much of, in Kansas……

… Headed West after dinner and noticed the sky darkening as we went thru N. Platte and later approached Ogalalla. There was an ugly dark cluster with lightning flashing to our left as we neared Ogalalla and Sara said it looked a lot like a tornado could come out of it.  Lanie also had little trouble picturing a tornado.  I didn’t think it (the sky) was dark enough, but I punched out the tape to get a local radio station… and it turns out they were right!  ….

(Lanie and Sara… and Emily too....have always been smarter and often a bit more perceptive than me)

… the radio guy was talking about a tornado warning (right about the time Dorothy clutching Toto popped into my subconsciousness)  for a tornado spotted 10 miles south of town and moving North and East    (basically right toward our present location on I80)….

… Since we were East of Town and the tornado was moving NE, we decided to keep moving West… Ran into a lot of rain and wind on the backside of the severe storm  system, but it lightened up after that and we proceeded 60 more miles to Sidney…..  We were kind of glad to be leaving the Midwest.

Wed, Jul 8 – From Sidney to Salt Lake area (Lagoon Campground in Farmington)

Headed West for Wyoming…  Wyoming was pretty much as we’d envisioned it, open rangeland, but more beautiful than I’d thought, particularly as we climbed from Cheyenne to the highest point on I80, near Laramie, which was at 8,600 feet…   wound our way thru the Wasatch Mtns on I84 and in to the Great Salt Lake Basin just south of Ogden… Set up the trailer at the Lagoon campground……

 (Lagoon is a an amusement park and campground about 15 miles or so North of Salt Lake City)

Thur, Jul 9 – Salt Lake City area

Genaology day for Lanie and I, getting an early start at the SLC Family History (Center) while the girls slept in…  Before Noon we returned to the trailer to find the girls up and ready to go to the amusement park…

… fixed lunch – Then we went back to the (Family History) Library…

Fri. Jul 10 – Salt Lake City area

(Same as day before; parents to Family History Library, kids chilling at the Lagoon Amusement Park.. worked fine for all parties..)

Sat, July 11 – From SLC to Eugene!

Set off in the early morning for Burns  (Oregon) -- Weather was great all the way up through Northern Utah, through Idah and into Eastern Oregon….

…. Got into Burns around 5 and decided to push on toward home…

Three Sisters from the road near Sisters, Oregon (note, this pic was taken on a  latter day trip)

… We’d been to many new and beautiful places on our long trek, but the best was truly saved for last.  From the majestic mountains of the Cascades to the cool forested roads leading up to the Santiam Pass to the stunning sunset that greeted us as we crested the Santiam summit, the Oregon landscape once again was the prettiest we’d seen……

… We wound down thru the familiar curves along McKenzie River Highway, arriving home at 10:30 PM.  At 16 hours & 780 miles, it was easily the longest travel day our our long trek…

Trip summary #1, 14 states, nearly 8,300 miles on the Windstar

And Summary #2, all our stops with the Tent trailer

(I still keep these types of records for our current day travels with Bertha and the 5th.. it's the "Accountant" in me that makes me do it... though now I use Excel)