Year: 2015

158,000 Logging Trucks

Finally Got One

We have now taken photos in 15 different Washington Counties, but if you think about it, with a lot of planning and careful staging, don’t you think you could take 15 different photos around the same county? I’ve always had that thought. So for the last several weeks I hoped to have found a Washington County sign that included the state we were in.

Well, today it happened, and it didn’t matter because in Louisiana the counties are called parishes and as far as I know that is the only state that does that. Not only that we are not even going to use the photo either as we found a better photo op just a few miles further down the road.

On our 400 miles drive today through Mississippi, Louisiana & Alabama we passed or were passed by about 158,000 empty or full logging trucks. Somewhere between Georgetown and Monticello, Mississippi the Emperor passed through the 158,000 mile mark.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 84

Motoring Challenge Points 5, Approx Miles Driven 400
Totals So Far: 140 points & 7120 miles

Teddy Bear Town

City - Onward, MS

I admit that the above photo has been manipulated. Donna took my picture with my head through one hole and then took another when I stuck head through the other hole. I then merged the two. If you look closely you’ll notice that the Challenge Poster is upside down on the left and right side up on the right.

We got 6 Challenges today, but only 3 went for points. Three went for replacements including the one above of Onward, MS. Just by happenstance did we manage to stop at the Onward Store that is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and it wasn’t until we read the literature on the outside by the door that we decided to toss poor little Oliver, Georgia to the side. The reason we call stuffed toy bears Teddy Bears happened right near here in 1902 – The Story of the Teddy Bear.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 82

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 315
Totals So Far: 135 points & 6720 miles

Population Less Than 100 Again

Destination - Population Less Than 100

Our first try for this “Destination” was of the sign for a place called Doodlum in Virginia that had a population of 34. The sign looked very professionally done, but it was most definitely not state issued and Doodlum wasn’t on the state map.

The second, attempt just the other day, was a sign for the town of Goodnight in Missouri that had a population of 18. The sign looked state issued, but the town itself wasn’t listed on the state’s official transportation map.

Morrison Bluff, Arkansas has the real deal state issued sign and was on the map too.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 80

Motoring Challenge Points 7, Approx Miles Driven 388
Totals So Far: 132 points & 6405 miles

Off Day

Clinton Museum, Fayetteville, AR

We got a little lost in Fayetteville looking for a way out of town after the Courthouse photo and stumbled on this unassuming house. It wasn’t open yet, so we couldn’t go in to drop off the Trump for America bumper stickers.

We did the loop to Eureka Springs in the morning and in the afternoon we washed some clothes and then visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I didn’t get most of the modern stuff, but I did enjoy the visit. Afterwards we walked a bit of the attached trail system.

Tomorrow it is back on the road.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 78

Motoring Challenge Points 2, Approx Miles Driven 135
Totals So Far: 125 points & 6015 miles

157,000 Walmarts

Moss Motors Distributors - Swope Automotive, Springfield, MO

One of this year’s category of Challenges is getting 5 Moss Motors Distributors. I combed through the 273 addresses of them in the 20 states we are visiting on the trip to see if we were driving anywhere near them. The big winners were 2 cities in VA and one in MO. We took pictures of all 4 in Virginia and used 3, the other one was just a couple of garage doors and a regular front door with the three digit address.

Because we already had one in the bag from the June trip to Moss Motors, we only needed to get one of the two that were located in Springfield, Missouri. We followed our GPS and it zigged and zagged us through north Springfield’s industrial area before leading us right to the first one. We took the picture just in case for some reason we couldn’t locate number two, the one we really wanted. Swope Automotive is owned by a fellow named Tom Swope who was the 2nd place finisher in last year’s Motoring Challenge. We were kind of hoping he would be open and not off chasing Challenge points like us. We pulled in and the OPEN sign was flashing – cool. The door was locked and the little sign with hours had Closed next to Saturday and Sunday. Oh, well, at least we did get the picture we wanted.

We are spending the night in Bentonville, Arkansas which is the home of Walmart. This means there is a Walmart or Sam’s Club on every street corner in town for a total of 157,000 locations in a place with only 40,000 residents. Sometime just before crossing into Kansas from Missouri the Emperor passed the 157K mile mark.

After a week of averaging 282 miles a day we are taking a break by spending 2 nights here in Bentonville. So we don’t lose our edge, we are treating tomorrow like the cyclists do on a rest day during the Tour de France, we will go for a shorter drive. Probably drive a 100 mile loop and visit Eureka Springs.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 74

Motoring Challenge Points 7, Approx Miles Driven 280
Totals So Far: 123 points & 5880 miles

Replacements

Destination - Worlds Largest, Rocking Chair

Even though we took seven photos today towards the Motoring Challenge, we only picked up 5 points. This is because nothing is final until I mail off the CD of photos to Moss, any photo taken or posted here is subject to being replaced.

A chance read in the Missouri Travel Guide led us to the photo above of the World’s Largest Rocking Chair on Old Route 66 which is replacing (possibly for now) the World’s Largest Peanut from Georgia. The Popeye’s Picnic one below replaces the lame one we took the other day.

Sometimes the changes happen before we even finish driving for the day. Today’s state of Missouri is one such case. Right after we crossed the Mississippi River there was a nice, but typical, Welcome To The State sign, so we took the photo just to check that objective off. Later in the day as we drove the last stretch of road, which just happened to be Old Route 66, I noticed that the nice little Historic Byway signs had the state’s name in it. We both liked this idea better.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 72

Motoring Challenge Points 5, Approx Miles Driven 315
Totals So Far: 116 points & 5600 miles

Tiny Washington Monument

Tiny Washngton MonumentStarted in Kentucky in the rain, crossed the Ohio River into Indiana and the sun came out, so the top went down. It stayed down until after lunch in French Lick. It stayed up for the rest of the way to tonight’s destination, Mt. Vernon, IL.

French Lick was not at all like we pictured in our heads. We thought small town USA, but what we found was Disney-esque mixed with historic, mixed with wanting to be a real tourist destination. We ate lunch at a newish place called 33 Brick Street which is trying to play on Larry Bird’s jersey number to bring in the clientele. I don’t know how it’s doing, but judging by the lunch crowd at 12 noon today, not so good as Donna and I were the only customers in the joint and I’m betting our $13 lunch check didn’t even cover the cost of serving it to us.

When I was standing in the lobby of the hotel I noticed what looked like a small replica of the Washington Monument through the door next to I-57/64. I asked the desk clerk what the deal was with the tiny monument and she explained the Washington connection to me, we are in a town that has the same name as the plantation owned by the Father of Our Country, Mt. Vernon. Duh! She said it gets even better, the Ford dealership in town is run from a replica of that plantation home.

After dinner we drove over and took a photo and tried to sort of recreate our real Washington Monument photo from 3 days ago, I’m going to use it as one of my two Sneak Peek Bonus photos for July-Oct.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 68

Motoring Challenge Points 6, Approx Miles Driven 335
Totals So Far: 111 points & 5285 miles