"North To Alaska" - click to play.
73 and sunny Starting mileage: 0. Ending mileage: 434
We had planned to leave at 6:00 a.m. We actually pulled out at 7:00 a.m. Not too bad. We got into a little bit of morning drive traffic, but easily managed our way through it. We pulled onto U.S. 78 with only one problem.....David almost blew past the exit we needed. He was thinking it was 10 miles farther down the road. I was kind enough to ask him where he was going before he passed the exit.
We didn't eat breakfast and agreed to stop at Jack's on 78 near the entrance to the new I-22 Corridor. As we got out, I noticed this beautiful 1937 Ford pickup truck. How did I know it was a '37? The tag read Daves37.
David paid for breakfast with a twenty. They actually ran it through a machine to see if it was counterfeit. Didn't know they had machines for that now. Back on the road again.
We decided to head north via I-22/US 78 toward Memphis. We hate driving the US 78 portion of the road in Memphis, so we decided to get off the interstate in Mississippi near Memphis and pick up I-55 North. But there was a lot of road to be covered before Memphis!
We stopped for fuel near New Albany, MS. The sunny skies had given way to heavy wind, rain, and nasty skies. If you know me you know I hate storms. So you know I'm not kidding, here's how the sky looked! That's my outside mirror in the photo. The wind was blowing us around on the interstate, especially when we got sucked in a draft by an 18 wheeler!
We crossed into Mississippi and decided to visit the rest area. The one on I-22 is really nice. Beautifully landscaped, too.
Onward we go! We knew we would see bears on this trip. There are many of them in the western U.S., Canada, and Alaska. What we didn't expect was to see a small black bear in Mississippi! Unfortunately for the bear, it tried to cross the interstate at Byhalia and didn't make it.
I got to singing "Ode To Billie Joe" when we crossed the Talihatchi River. Got it stuck in my head. Fortunately it was on my iPad and I could play it to finally get it out of my head! I don't like "ear worms!"
It was about noon when we left the interestate, so we decided to stop in Southhaven, MS for lunch. Nothing special for lunch and we were back on the road at 12:45 p.m. Off to find I-55 and it was a quick trip! Headed north again.
We still had to go through Memphis on I-55, just not on US 78. Thank You Very Much!
We didn't have time to visit Elvis, so we kept heading north. We saw this weird pyramid along the road. I can't find any information on it. So strange! It was near a truck parking area. If you know about it, please let us know.
Once you start across the Mississippi River, you run through the state of Arkansas in the middle of the bridge. We crossed the bridge at 1:12 p.m.
Driving, driving driving, bored, sleepy, wanting a nap. However, the assistant navigator decided to take her place for the job meaning I was now the chief navigator and dog sitter again. Chrissy, our mini-dachshund took up her place.
She went from this:
Napping next to David to:
making sure we were headed in the right direction! Unfortunately, neither the GPS and I paid any attention to her. I should have because we were not on the right road. Yes, we could have gotten to our destination using them and we did, but that wasn't the way were going. We were to take a shortcut in Tennessee and use some good roads to cut about 100 miles off our day of 400+ miles. I was so excited about leaving for Alaska, I wasn't paying attention and David had no clue which route I had chosen for this day. He just knew we were stopping somewhere in Missouri for the night.
2:27 p.m. Missouri!
Just before we stopped for fuel again in Scott City, MO, we saw many road signs the state had put up. You've seen the electronic signs that warn you of upcoming road construction? They were using them with great messages to stop texting and to buckle up. The best of them all was "BUCKLE UP! WINDSHIELDS HURT!"
Sometimes you just need to stop and get off the road to take a break. We were now on a "backroad" in Missouri with a dog who needed to "powder her nose." We kept looking for a place to stop. Chrissy got very insistent and we stopped at a cemetery. She took care of her business outside the cemetery and we stretched our legs among the tombstones. It was quiet there!
David asked me how many more miles we had to go and I said about 100. He gave me a "look" and said this day was only supposed to be 350 miles and we were already past that. I was confused until I looked at my Mapquest papers. We were headed to the right place, just on the wrong road. Can I say he wasn't happy with me at this point? Not happy at all. He's always said if I said "Uh-oh, we were about 50 miles in the wrong direction" and he was close! We weren't exactly in the wrong direction, but it wasn't quite right either. We finally arrived at the campground at 4:38 p.m.
Cape Camping & RV Park1900 N. Kingshighway Street
We decided to head north via I-22/US 78 toward Memphis. We hate driving the US 78 portion of the road in Memphis, so we decided to get off the interstate in Mississippi near Memphis and pick up I-55 North. But there was a lot of road to be covered before Memphis!
We stopped for fuel near New Albany, MS. The sunny skies had given way to heavy wind, rain, and nasty skies. If you know me you know I hate storms. So you know I'm not kidding, here's how the sky looked! That's my outside mirror in the photo. The wind was blowing us around on the interstate, especially when we got sucked in a draft by an 18 wheeler!
We crossed into Mississippi and decided to visit the rest area. The one on I-22 is really nice. Beautifully landscaped, too.
Onward we go! We knew we would see bears on this trip. There are many of them in the western U.S., Canada, and Alaska. What we didn't expect was to see a small black bear in Mississippi! Unfortunately for the bear, it tried to cross the interstate at Byhalia and didn't make it.
I got to singing "Ode To Billie Joe" when we crossed the Talihatchi River. Got it stuck in my head. Fortunately it was on my iPad and I could play it to finally get it out of my head! I don't like "ear worms!"
It was about noon when we left the interestate, so we decided to stop in Southhaven, MS for lunch. Nothing special for lunch and we were back on the road at 12:45 p.m. Off to find I-55 and it was a quick trip! Headed north again.
We still had to go through Memphis on I-55, just not on US 78. Thank You Very Much!
We didn't have time to visit Elvis, so we kept heading north. We saw this weird pyramid along the road. I can't find any information on it. So strange! It was near a truck parking area. If you know about it, please let us know.
Once you start across the Mississippi River, you run through the state of Arkansas in the middle of the bridge. We crossed the bridge at 1:12 p.m.
Driving, driving driving, bored, sleepy, wanting a nap. However, the assistant navigator decided to take her place for the job meaning I was now the chief navigator and dog sitter again. Chrissy, our mini-dachshund took up her place.
She went from this:
making sure we were headed in the right direction! Unfortunately, neither the GPS and I paid any attention to her. I should have because we were not on the right road. Yes, we could have gotten to our destination using them and we did, but that wasn't the way were going. We were to take a shortcut in Tennessee and use some good roads to cut about 100 miles off our day of 400+ miles. I was so excited about leaving for Alaska, I wasn't paying attention and David had no clue which route I had chosen for this day. He just knew we were stopping somewhere in Missouri for the night.
2:27 p.m. Missouri!
Just before we stopped for fuel again in Scott City, MO, we saw many road signs the state had put up. You've seen the electronic signs that warn you of upcoming road construction? They were using them with great messages to stop texting and to buckle up. The best of them all was "BUCKLE UP! WINDSHIELDS HURT!"
Sometimes you just need to stop and get off the road to take a break. We were now on a "backroad" in Missouri with a dog who needed to "powder her nose." We kept looking for a place to stop. Chrissy got very insistent and we stopped at a cemetery. She took care of her business outside the cemetery and we stretched our legs among the tombstones. It was quiet there!
David asked me how many more miles we had to go and I said about 100. He gave me a "look" and said this day was only supposed to be 350 miles and we were already past that. I was confused until I looked at my Mapquest papers. We were headed to the right place, just on the wrong road. Can I say he wasn't happy with me at this point? Not happy at all. He's always said if I said "Uh-oh, we were about 50 miles in the wrong direction" and he was close! We weren't exactly in the wrong direction, but it wasn't quite right either. We finally arrived at the campground at 4:38 p.m.
Gape Girardeau , MO 63701
We decided on breakfast for dinner. We also decided it would be an early bedtime as we were planning to leave at 7:00 a.m. the next morning.
TTFN!
Jenny :)
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