Oklahoma City, OK

Climb every mountain. I don't think the road will ever level off. It wasn't as high up today but a steady up and down over cement roads that were terrible. We are at Rockwell RV Park, not the nicest place we've stayed but it will suffice. Just a mass of RV's with a few trees to help keep it a tiny bit cooler. It was 90 today but there was a nice breeze and no humidity. It is still hot for us but many locals are dressed in jeans and long sleeves, I melted just looking at them. The sun never set until almost 9! We are looking at a couple more places in the 1000 Places to See Before You Die book. Hope to check off a couple more places tomorrow. We will have to live a very long life to see all 1000;-) Figure we have around 950 more to go. Hope to have pictures tomorrow. No Face book here, it isn't allowed, part of the rules so will have to wait until Tue to post there. Closing in on 10--off to bed.

On to Oklahoma

Well it's on to oklahoma city, for a few days, I finally parked next to a man that hasn't been to Alaska ! Even the volunteer park ranger at Hot Springs has been there. Not too many out of state plates at the campgrounds, people are only traveling a few states it seems. So have gotten to be the talk of most sites as the ones from Maine, they lay in wait for us to go for our walk to talk to us . I probably could of got a good price for my 'Patriots logo camp chairs' from the guy next to us, he really liked them he said.. The trailer is hauling pretty nice, I weighed it loaded before we left and it was about 100lbs heavy. so I emptied the fresh water tank, and that took care of that. I've got to give credit to Jo-Ann for her expertise at packing it with all the necessities and keeping it light..We been averaging about 12mpg. on relatively level roads, and trying to keep it at 60mph, seems to work best for mileage and handling. Haven't used any E85 ethanol gas yet,as the price diff. isn't worth the chance of the poor performance I think I would get hauling a trailer. Don't want to take a chance of anything fouling up on this leg to alaska, Will try it on the way home probably..Well that's all for now..here's a few more pics..

Russellville, AR

These last pictures are of the bath house tour we took. The men's side was more elaborate than the women's. There was a gym with machines to work various muscles and an out door patio where the men could sunbath nude and the women could enjoy the air in the shade to preserve their skin. The ceiling over the statue was stain glass, ornate and in the mens side. There were "needle" showers and other scary looking devices we weren't sure what they were or even that we wanted to know what they were for ;-) The water that enters the building is 147 degrees and had to be cooled down to use in the baths. There are still springs outside that you can feel how hot the water is. The water is supposed to be 4,000 years old which is why it is so pure. Very long line to enjoy bath/massage so didn't take advantage it was tempting though.

Russellville, AR

A couple of pictures of our campsite in Hot Springs National Park. Had full hook ups and was only $10 a night! A real bargain. The others will be of the view from the observation tower.

Russellville, AR

We're still in AR! North of Hot Springs. We'll be here just tonight then onward to OK. We crossed both the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River in one day. Both brownish but impressive in size. The spas in Hot Springs were interesting. They still have a bath house that offers baths and a massage. We did a tour of one, hard to imagine how popular these were in the day. There is a very tall ovservation tower that we went up in, can see all over the city great view of the mountains. Ate at McClard's BBQ, a favorite of Bill Clinton and had the waitress he always requests. Did a luncheon cruise on Lake Hamilton, a man made lake that is 14 miles long. It has two dams, one on either end. The humidity has broken, it is still quite warm probably around 90 as I type this. This is just a short stop. We did some house work and laundry (are you happy Sara?) not an exciting day but necessary. As promised we'll post some pictures.

Hot Springs, AR

We are still in AR. The campground we are staying at has no internet. We are at a Starbucks waiting to take a little luncheon river boat cruise. Will be at a campground, still in AR, that has internet access so will post more tomorrow and add pictures. The hot humid weather is supposed to break today. Woke to refreshing temps in the 60's, aahh!

Off to Hot springs,arkansas

Man-O-Man is it Humid down here, I think We'll got to Hot Springs where it's cooler . I hear there's an Alligator farm and petting Zoo, "You Don't Suppose?" Oh well Maybe a spa , Masssage, and a 'wax job'

Later, O & Jo

Graceland

Just a couple more.

Graceland

Still more pics.

Graceland

A few more pics of other displays.

Graceland

This lady, back to in the photo, and her husband, guy with red shirt and baseball cap, sat with us at the Patsy Cline show in Nashville. They arrived at Graceland just about the same time we did. We ran into them all the time we were at Graceland.

Horn Lake, MS

Today we went to Graceland. Neither of us are huge Elvis fans but we managed to spend 4+ hours there. It was well worth the time to go. Very fascinating place, hard to imagine what it must have been like during the day. The mansion is spectacular. The furnishings, drapes wall coverings etc are unbelievable. One room was covered in fabric--on the walls and pleated on the ceiling. A stairwells walls were carpeted. The "Jungle Room" had a wall with a fountain and all of the furniture was heavy and the wood was animal shaped. There was so much opulence and yet it was a home, down to earth kitchen area and a lived in look to it all. The grounds are lush but not over done. A small pool, a basic swing set but a huge paddock area with horses. Room after room of memorabilia; costumes, gold records, movie scripts, letters, receipts, and various awards he won.

There were other included tours; the airplanes, the motor vehicles, just movies and just his military career. Tons of gift shops of course and a couple of restaurants. Every where you go there is Elvis music playing and usually a video of some sort.

We picked a good day to go. When we drove by yesterday there were long lines. Today we didn't have to wait for anything.

Still warm and humid. Had a couple of good thunder storms. One while we were at Graceland having lunch and another this evening while I was doing laundry. This area has above average rain fall this spring. It is supposed to clear in the next day or so.

Memphis, TN

Just a few more pictures of us in Memphis.

Horn Lake, MS

The weather cleared up for the afternoon so off to Memphis we went. First stop was Sun Studio for a tour of studio where Elvis recorded his first record. Many others recorded there, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison are two. This is again a working studio. They do tours during the day and record at night. From there we went to the water front--the great Mississippi River. Not too much to see, a River Queen ship and a couple of bridges. Still it was impressive to see the River. We then went to Beale Street. This was Sunday afternoon and the place was hopping! Two city blocks are barricaded and only pedestrian traffic is allowed. All of the bars have live music blaring out of the doorways, on the patios or in one case right on the sidewalk. It seemed to be the place where the locals go to be seen. Women out in their "finest" and lots of men checking things out ;-) We had lunch at Pig with an Attitude. BBQ was yummy--even Owen had to admit it was good though he went to Beale Street a little reluctantly. From there we went to Rock & Soul Museum for another tour. It's hard to be in Memphis and not appreciate the roots of so much music history. Lots of pictures but will only publish a few. Off to Graceland tomorrow.