Day 40 - Drive home

Seeing the last of the fall leaves...more on the ground than on the trees. 

We have traveled over 4986 miles on this trip....4986 in the RV plus 2186  miles we traveled in the Jeep....a LOT!

We have used more than 641 gallons of diesel fuel with prices ranging from $3.74 to $5.10 per gallon. 

We had 18 overnight stays, a few repeated in each direction, most 1 to 3

nights. The exception was Palm Springs where we stayed in a Timeshare 7 nights.

We traveled through 8 states, VA, AZ, TN, AK, OK, TX, NM, CA.  Mike and Joanne had AL and FL instead of VA. 

We visited (not just drove thru but stopped) more than 25 cities and towns.

We attended a baseball game and 2 rodeos, rode up the mountain in two different Tramways, visited many museums, restaurants, and Route 66 landmarks, as well as several National Parks and a few state parks. 

We watched 13 episodes of Only Murders in the Building. 

I'm sure there is more but that will have to do for now. We are 60 miles from home and Gus...lots of dog kisses...lots of unloading the RV to do and lots of laundry to do. 

Day 39 - Drive to Warrior's Path State Park

 We are on our final leg home. Today we will get as far as Bristol, TN. We are enjoying the fall colors through the bug splattered windows of the RV. 

We stopped for fuel at Buc-ees...if you have never been to Buc-ee's you may be missing out on an interesting experience. There are at least 120 fuel pumps, including diesel gas at every pump. No tractor trailers allowed but RVs are and there is plenty of room to maneuver the rig. 

The store is huge with lots of food, gifts, etc...just about everything except the kitchen sink!  

We have one more fuel stop tomorrow to get us home but it won't be a Buc-ee's.  

We stayed at Warrior's Path State Park, about 20 miles west of Bristol and just a few miles off I-81. It is almost half-way between Jerry's home and ours.  325 miles more to get home.

Day 38 - Back to Murfreesboro

 We are on our way to Murfreesboro where our trip officially started. That is where we picked up Mike and Joanne, where they left their car at Jim's brother's home. This is the last leg of what has been an incredible trip. We have done a lot, seen a lot, had a lot of laughs.

We said goodbye for now to Mike & Joanne. They headed to stay with friends Debbie & Tony for the night, then home in the morning. We have a few days to go...2 days' drive to get home. In the meantime, we 

enjoyed a quiet evening with Jerry, Heidi, and Bonnie Roo.  

Day 37 - Drive to Memphis

 Our drive today was a little less rainy but still more than we cared to see. We stopped for fuel along the way and at a rest stop for Jim to stretch. At first we thought about stopping for lunch but we were only an hour away from the campground so opted to keep going and have lunch once we were set up. We are in a campground that sits on the edge of the Mississippi River. Although the river is very low, barges still move up and down the river throughout the day. 

This is what everyone looks like after eating lunch (except me since I took the picture).  

The campground was only half full when we got here but it is filling up fast. Of course this is Friday so many people may be coming in for the weekend.  We will be leaving very early tomorrow to drive to Jerry and Heidi's home in Murfreesboro. 

One of the campers that rolled in is actually a tiny home on wheels, possibly built in Fredericksburg VA. 

After some short naps we all hopped in the car for one more day of being tourists. First we visited Mud Island to see the Mississippi River laid out through the park. 

The water is not flowing so that was disappointing but we did get some good views of the actual river and the city of Memphis.  

From there we drove to Graceland so Mike and Joanne could see the outside of the house viewed from the street. It was too late in the day for any tour. Then we went to Marlowe's Restaurant where Elvis visited during his last few years. 

Guy Fieri paid a visit several years ago as part of Diners Drive-ins and Dives.  We got to sit in the Elvis booth for dinner and enjoyed BBQ dinners.

It was a little challenging to get back to the campground due to lane closures and construction but our funniest traffic challenge was 2 turtles crossing the road in the campground.

 

Day 36 - Drive to Texarkana

 We have been dealing with rain showers the last few days but it hasn't hindered us from seeing the sights. This morning we woke to pouring rain so packing up the RV was not much fun in the rain. Our destination is a military campground outside Texarkana. At first we planned to cut cross country to avoid Dallas but the weather pushed us to stick with the interstate roads. That means driving through Dallas. The traffic actually wasn't bad going through the city. It helped that rush hour was over...10 am going by the downtown area.

We stopped for fuel at the last Buc-ees on our way out of the region. We won't see another until we get to Tennessee.  

We were supposed to stay at a military campground near Texarkana, TX. When Mike called to confirm and get directions he was told that the base is on lockdown and no one was being allowed on base except authorized personnel.  We started looking for another place to stay the night. We finally found a place just a few miles off the interstate with full hookups and sites available...Texarkana RV Park. They even have a very new bath house for showers, etc.  The rain stopped for a while at least and we are watching Only Murders in the Building...Season 3 Episode 5 to start with. Tomorrow we will get a very early start so we can have some time in Memphis. 

Day 35 - Visit Waco

 Our first stop this morning was to the Magnolia Table where we hoped to have breakfast. However the wait was over 60 minutes so we opted to go elsewhere for breakfast. Butter My Biscuits is where we landed for a very filling breakfast. 

From there we went to the Magnolia Market & Silos. Wow!!! The place is huge with lots going on. There are food trucks around the courtyard, many small shops, each with a different focus, the main market which has so many products for sale. Outside there is a mini ball field and an area for corn hole as well as outdoor tables for dining. 

Our next stop was the Texas Rangers Museum.  We watched a 45 minute movie on the history of the Texas Rangers and learned about their interactions with Indians, Mexicans, etc. 

Lunch was at The Twisted Root Burger along with about 100 HS band kids in town for a competition today.  The place was crazy!

After lunch we went to the Dr Pepper Museum. They showed a lot about the history of soda in general and Dr Pepper specifically and at the end of the tour we were given a free glass of Dr Pepper or 7-up or Root Beer.

At the end of the day we found the Cottonland Castle that Chip and Joanna Gaines restored and checked out the outside, which is beautiful.