The Great Smoky Mountains and A Good Man

 Hanging out in Smoky Meadows Campground for a couple of days - just outside the boundaries of he park, we did some R and R.  One day of just plain lounging around by the creek next to our campsite and then another day of rafting.  Despite the photo below, it was more floating than rapids.  We had a few good runs over rapids but hey... we were in it for the enjoyment of being on the river in the wilderness and that expectation was certainly met!

Tuesday we drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We had a great time, stopping at several pullouts ostensibly to get out of the way of the cars and motorcycles behind us but really just to enjoy the views. The views ARE spectacular, but just try capturing their splendor on camera! We drove out to Clingman's Dome and planned to hike up to the lookout. Larry, of course, took off up the hill leaving me to struggle on (I encourage that behavior, especially on set trails like this, one way up, one way down, and no chance of getting lost.  Let's face it I'm slowwww.) So pretty soon I hooked up with a 90 year old WWII veteran who had been deserted by his family too. We stopped at all 5 benches, but we made it to the lookout tower finally. On the way I learned a bit about Ed and when we got to the top of the tower, he got a standing ovation and several people took our pictures (I guess they thought I was related.) I'm not sure who got who up the trail, but it was a lot more fun with Ed by my side!

From there we drove on to Davey Crockett's Birthplace State Park.  There's nothing original left there. They've put up a replica of a period cabin and a small visitor center.  The 50's generation must be their main clientele, half the visitor center was dedicated to Disney memorabilia... coon skin caps, lunch pails, period Golden Books and coloring books.  But it was a great campground to stop at for the night so we lost nothing.

Wednesday - A Good Man 
 What do you know about President Andrew Johnson? I admit I knew next to nothing about him. I knew he became president after Abraham Lincoln's assassination and that he was impeached, but wasn't convicted by one vote. Today we visited his home in Greeneville, Tennessee and I walked away with great respect for the man. (The 5 Democrats who joined the Republicans to defeat the impeachment, I now know, were never reelected for their perfidy.  At least one of them was profiled in JFK's "Profiles in Courage".)

Some quick facts:
~He was a tailor of some skill, and his tailor shop was the political gathering place in Greeneville.
~He served in every political office available ... alderman, mayor, state representative, state governor, US Representative, US Senator, Vice President, President, and US Senator again (the only president ever to return to the Senate after serving as President.)
~He strongly supported education in Tennessee and pushed laws to provide public education for all children.
 ~He argued vociferously against secession and he stayed in the US Senate even after Tennessee seceded. 
~Lincoln chose him as Vice President because of his strong support of the US Constitution and "Andy was a good man who supported state's rights."
 ~He was impeached because he vetoed two bills passed by the Democrats one that would have kept White Southerners from voting - he wanted to reintegrate the Southern states into the Union not punish them, and the Democrats wanted to exact harsh punishments.
 
I learned a lot about the man and the period, but then whole books have been written about  the subject. Larry, as always, bought one which I also intend to read later.

The ride to Fancy Gap, Va and our jump off point for the Blue Ridge Parkway was uneventful, after we had some discussion over which route to take.... scenic and windy or Interstates and fast.  We ended up with the quick route.  We wanted to arrive before dark.

 (Sorry some of the pix are sideways, having issues with uploading pix to the internet.)

picnic with a view

Me and Ed... trudging up the hill.

replica of Davey Crockett's Birthplace

It's all about the railroads...

We've been visiting Civil War battle sites for the last 4 days and I could go on and on boring you with the details for the battles at Shiloh, Corinth, Chattanooga and Chickamauga. 

But really, the story of these battles is that they were about control of the crossroads for the railroads.  Without those crossroads, the south couldn't get their cotton to the harbors to ship off to England and other consumers.  Without those crossroads, they couldn't ship the grain from Tennessee to the cities that needed them on the East Coast. Without those crossroads, the South couldn't move their troops, except by foot or horseback to where they needed to be.

So in 1862 the Northern generals first plotted and planned to take Corinth -Shiloh was the South's attempt to keep them from reaching Corinth. When the Southern generals failed to stop Grant, they fell back to Corinth and a good old fashioned siege occurred till the South finally retreated, burning the town but leaving the tracks.

In 1863 the Northern generals set their eyes on Chattanooga, another crossroads town. And again the South tried to stop them at Chickamauga, and failed.  Instead of cutting the Northern forces off before they could reach Chattanooga, they actually pushed them towards the town.

These were all very bloody conflicts, thousands of young men ages 18-24 lost their lives fighting for their respective causes in the conflicts At Chattanooga and Chickamauga 6 generals also lost their lives - back then they actually put themselves in harms way. And the newly re- United States lost  a whole generation of brilliant and not so brilliant, kind and not so kind young men who would never have a family or see their children grow to adulthood.  Imagine what our world might have been like if those men had had the opportunity to grow to be old.  What might they have discovered, invented, built, created?  That's the true cost of war.




Before Shiloh and our Civil War travels, we stopped at Memphis and had a more lighthearted two days - although Memphis is the sight of Martin Luther King's assassination so we had to visit the Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum that is attached. Sobering.  But we also visited the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum and in the afternoon break from the thunderstorms that have been following us, the Memphis Botanic Gardens - I'm a sucker for Roses and Japanese gardens.  Then of course there was the obligatory nod to barbeque... and an evening of fun drinking a few beers and watching a rather good Elvis Impersonator at the Jerry Lee Lewis Bar. We got so far as to drive to the entrance of Graceland but when it was $15 just to park your car, we turned around and headed back out to the Pink Palace and the 3D showing of Jerusalem instead.

Tomorrow we are off to the Great Smoky Mountains.  We had intended to go to Gatlinburg, but when we discovered it would cost us over $50 a night to stay there... in Serendipity, not a hotel, we rerouted ourselves to the south and are going to Bryson City, North Carolina.  We've been promised a creekside site with full hookups for $30.  We're there for the park, not the Dollywood stuff, so we don't mind missing that part of Tennessee.

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas is a beautiful city.  The city founders showed great restraint in their public buildings.  Not that they’re unassuming, the Old State House is a Greek Revival-style structure and is nationally recognized as the backdrop for President Bill Clinton's 1992 and 1996 election-night celebrations.

The current capitol building designed in the Neo-classical style, was built over a century ago as a replica of the US Capitol and has been used in many movies as a stand in.

And the famous, or infamous? Little Rock Senior High School was built in 1927 in – you guessed it, Gothic Revival style at a cost of $1.5 million. Later it was renamed Little Rock Central High, and was hailed as the most expensive, most beautiful, and largest high school in the nation.  There are statues of four figures over the front entrance that represent ambition, personality, opportunity and preparation. Its opening earned national publicity with nearly 20,000 people attending the dedication ceremony. (If you didn’t know it was a high school you would think it was a college building. )

Historic events in the 1950s changed education at Central High School and throughout the United States – Governor Faubus of Arkansas called in the National Guard to prevent nine black students attempting to attend LRCHS from entering the school in 1957.  They left only to return after President Eisenhower called in units from the U.S. 101^st Airborne to enforce the integration of the school. A fragile truce was held throughout the school year, but as Melba Patillo, one of the Little Rock Nine stated “After three full days inside Central, I know that integration is a much bigger word than I thought.”

In September 1958, Governor Faubus invoked newly passed state laws to forestall further desegregation and closed Little Rock’s four high schools: Central High, Hall High, Little Rock Technical High (a white school), and Horace Mann (a black school). A total of 3,665 students, both black and white, were denied a free public education for an entire year and blamed the closing on the Federal Government – which he maintained violated Arkansas state’s rights.  A group of Little Rock women formed the Women’s Emergency Committee in their goal to get the school district reopened so their children could get an education. You can watch a dvd about their heroic efforts: The Giants Wore White Gloves.

Little Rock is also the site of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library.  It’s starkly modern building is patterned after the Trinity University Library in Dublin, Ireland. We literally were blown into it by a rather vicious thunderstorm that felled trees throughout the city.  I guess because they admired our courage or stupidity for coming in regardless, we were given free admittance and spent several hours wandering through the building.  I’m an unabashed Democrat and I thought Bill did a darn good job as president – you might disagree – but even I noticed that really, nothing negative was said about Bill.  Even the Monica Lewinsky scandal and impeachment trials were pretty well glossed over. I guess if it’s your library, you can try to downplay the bad stuff.  Look at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.  Just try to find much out about the Watergate trial and the missing seventeen minutes.

We were lucky to be at the library while a Chihuly Glass Exhibit was on display.  There are 2 permanent pieces of his glass in the library, but many more on display. I was enchanted by many of them and snapped off several pictures, not the glass LOL.  

I also took time to photograph an intimate table setting used for State Dinners and the menus …. Thought I might actually attempt my own “state dinner” with one of the (less complicated) menus for the fun of it!

Little Rock Central High School

Arkansas Capitol

Clinton Library with Chihuli red glass

can't wait to try this at home!

 

 

Open Your Eyes

Leaving Kansas City, we finally turned our back on Bleeding Kansas, visiting Osawatomie, Kansas as our last stop.  Osawatomie was John Brown’s unofficial headquarters in Kansas.  His half-sister and her preacher husband resided there and it gave him a place to retreat to during his forays into southern leaning communities.  From there, when he felt he had succeeded in his mission… Kansas was accepted into the Union as a free state, he headed back to Virginia where he lead the botched raid on Harper’s Ferry and found himself caught, convicted and eventually hanged for his efforts to steal the rifles there and lead a slave rebellion.

Heading east into Missouri after bidding good bye to John Brown and his ilk, we got a bit mislaid and instead of finding ourselves in Lake of the Ozarks, we ended up at Pomme de Terre State Park.  Pomme de Terre lived up to its name… apple of the land.  The park was wrapped around one of the many tributaries leading out from Lake of the Ozarks and we had it almost to ourselves with a great view of the lake through the trees.  Mama geese and lots of baby goslings wandered through the campground, far outnumbering the campers.

We were supposed to find ourselves in Little Rock the next night.  But along the way, we found ourselves crossing Buffalo National River and had to stop.  It is our goal to see as much of the out of the way treasures as we can on this trip.  Buffalo National River is definitely a treasure.  In June it seems quiet, we had no trouble finding a camping spot near the river.  People come here to float down the river, in canoes, in kayaks, in inner tubes, or just put a chair in the river and cool their heels.  There are a few hiking trails to be sure, but the slow current and shallow water make it the perfect place for a family water vacation. Thunderstorms kept us from renting a kayak, but when the weather cleared we donned our water shoes and headed down to the river ourselves to frolic in the water then stretch out on our towels to just enjoy watching the floaters and dragon flies and rippling water going by.

9 days in and at least 3 days behind schedule, we are thoroughly enjoying our slow jaunt across Middle America.  We were watching the Jimmy Fallon last night while finishing our laundry and one of the comics was disparaging Kansas.  "You can fall asleep for three hours behind the wheel and never hit anyone, just run out of gas."  He's obviously made no effort to find Kansas. There's lots to see and lots to learn about American history if you choose to open your eyes.  The same can be said of any of our states, and we intend to open our eyes and do just that. 

 John Brown in Kansas

 

Pomme de Terre State Park, Missouri

Buffalo National River, Arkansas

 

The minnows cleaning my feet, just lie "The Bachelor"!