Ozark NSR- Alley Springs- 17 July 2013

Our next stop in the Ozark NSR was Alley Springs. We enjoyed this site allot more than Big Springs. While the camp site had a bit more shade, the surrounding area seemed a bit more secluded.   We wish we could have stayed at least one more day to take advantage of a trip down the river, but that will have to wait for another time.

 Like many sites in the Ozark NSR, this site too has a spring. This spring however has an addition of a Mill from the 1800's. It is also a paleo Indian site. With 81 million gallons of water flowing through this spring it makes perfect  sense to build a mill on the site. The old mill is no longer in use but it still stands and you can tour the mill and the surrounding  pond. If you are really up to it you can take the 1.5 hike, which we did, once again early morning is the best time to do this sort of thing in the summer. Bring plenty of water as you will need it. The views of the mill and pond are really nice from this hike.

  If you time it right, after your hike go to the visitor center not too far from the mill. They sell nice cold Sioux City Sarsaparilla. After that hike I can tell you it went down real nice. If you are rock hound like us you will see nice examples of chert, pockets of druzzy quartz and inter layered stromatolites.

                                                                             Alley Springs

                                               

                                                                  Alley Springs Mill

                                                  View of Springs & Mill from above on trail

 

                                                       Nice cold refreshing drinks after hike

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Ozark NSR- Round Springs-18 July 2013

On our way to Montauk State Park we stopped at another site in the Ozark NSR, Round Springs. Named after a round opening where a sinkhole formed over the spring's where it comes out from the ground. The annual average output from this spring depends on the annual rain fall but it averages about 26 million gallons a day.

  The visitor center is currently closed but you can walk around the spring and the cavern ( where a number of bats live). During our visit we were the only people around the spring and it was very peaceful. Because we were the only ones around we were lucky enough to see a river otter. We watched him/her swim around the spring for a long time and it was high point of our visit to this spring.

                                                              Round Springs

                                                                Round Springs

                                                                River Otter

                                                                  Bat Cavern

 

 

 

 

 

Ozark National Scenic River (NSR)- Big Springs 16 July 2013

 Ozark National Seneic River is comprised of many different sections  One of these is the Big Springs area. Big Springs is the largest spring in Missouri and one of the largest in the world with a daily average flow of 286 million gallons.

  We took a hike around and above the springs early in the morning, which by the way is the only way to do this hike in the middle of July. Along the way we saw many deer and birds. It was a very nice hike and got the ole heart pumping along. By the time we were done we were ready for breakfast.

 If you do not want to cook, then the lodge provides a pretty good meal as well. All in all it was a pretty nice stay at this site and we saw a number of deer and other critters. Although I have to say the deer are pretty darn small.

                                                                  Big Springs

                                         
                                                                      Big Springs

                                                 Deer in the river near the springs

                                                     View from above the springs

Memphis, TN- 15 July 2013

 After  the National Parks Travelers Club convention  we pointed Tricera-Pod (our Forest  River RV) towards Memphis, TN and T.O. Fuller SP just outside the city. We left  Tricera-Pod in the care of the camp host.  Beale Street in Memphis is allot like Bourbon Street in New Orleans with the exception there is allot of good BBQ and Blues music.  After getting a great catfish dinner and ribs at Blue City Cafe ( Memphis' most famous BBQ joint-Rendezvous was closed), but having met some locals from Memphis at the convention they said Blue City Cafe just as good as the Rendezvous, we decided to give it a try, we were not disappointed.

 After lunch the weather turned bad for awhile and as we stood under an awning to wait out the down pour we heard some great blues music coming from BB Kings across the street from Blue City Cafe. We decided that was the place to be.  A group of ten college students were playing their hearts out  and wish we could have stayed longer to listen to them but we had an appointment to see the march of the ducks at the famous Peabody Hotel .

 Every day at 11am and 5pm the famous Peabody ducks march to and from the main lobby as they have done for almost 80 years now.  We had a front row seat, or I should say a balcony seat right above the fountain where the ducks march to and from the roof each day. The big show began on time at 5pm but the four female and one male ducks had other plans. As they were being herded to the elevators a few of them got away from the Duck Master and it took some time before they were gathered up and on their way to the roof top home for the night.

 After all the great food, drinks and duck march we called it a night. Our stay in the Peabody Hotel was very nice, although an expensive one, but  it is a once in a life time adventure and it is one more item we can check off our bucket list.

                                                             View of Beale Street

 

 

                                                              B B King Club

                                       
                                                 Listening to the Blues on the street

 
                                           The famous ducks at the Peabody Hotel

 

Shiloh National Military Park-14 July 2013

Most people have heard of the battle of Gettysburg, but for many Shiloh is one of those lesser known battles. Some say Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War and in many ways this is true, but with the Union victory at Shiloh the major water way of the Tennessee river would not have been secured.  Along with the Mississippi River, the Tennessee was a major cause way providing supplies to the southern cause.
  Over a day period Union and Southern forces battled each other. On the first day Southern forces pushed General Grant back to a point that the Union was in peril of losing it's toe hold to the area. With the coming of night, each army stopped to regroup, collect their wounded and plan for the next days battle. While General Grant sat under a tree smoking his cigar and whittling on a pieces of wood, General Sherman came up and  "Took a whopping today General" Gant respond " Yes, whoop em tomorrow though". During the night the Union army received re-enforcements that turned the battle into a Union victory the next day.
  We attended a Ranger talked in one of the most hotly contended portions of the battle, "The Hornets Nest" so called because the Southern troops marched into a hail of canon and rifle fire that the sound of the bullets in the air sounded like hornets.
 This is a battlefield that takes about three hours or more to get the full view. There are a number of Ranger lectures on the battlefield that give one a better understand of what occurred there.

 

 

                                                                Shiloh Church

 

 

                                                 Many artifacts from the battlefield

 

                                                 Ranger talk at the Hornets Nest

Corinth Civil War Intrepretive Center- 13 July 2013

 We stayed in the town of Corinth, MS and just a few miles from the hotel is the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center.  The siege of Corinth is part of the Shiloh National Battlefield and a number of smaller battles took place in this town. At the time of the battle there were only 1500 people living there and while the town is in the heart of the Confederacy, many of the local folks were loyal to the Union.  The Southern Army was forced out of the town by the Union and during the occupation by both forces they suffered greatly. Food and water was so scarce that many of the troops became  so sick they died. Soldiers were forced to drink water found in the hoof pints of horses and it was said that the water was so bad that horses refused to drink it.
  During the Union occupation a large community of former slaves built a community were they grew crops and attended schools both for children and adults. For many of these former slaves it was the first time they earned their own money. After the Union left the Corinth, MS they left with them.

Tennessee River Museum-11 July 2013

In the town of Savannah, TN you will find a very interest museum and for the price of $3 you get allot of bang for that $3. The exhibit covers the local region of the area which covers fossils found in the area, woodland Native Americans ( this is by far the largest of the exhibits), Civil War along the Tennessee River, and the local cultured pearl industry (yes TN is the only place in the United States the grows cultured pearls) and the Trail of Tears.  There are two huge petrified tree trunks on the outside of the museum worth seeing. We spent about two hours in the small, but very filled museum.

 

                                                                 Petrified wood log

                                           Part of a collection of over 400 plus Arrow Heads

 

                                             One of only ten known Native stone figures made by                                      Americans

 

 

                                                  Buttons made from cultured pearls

Natchez Trace Parkway-12 July 2013

 Started our day at the Pharr Indian Mounds along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Ranger gave a very nice lecture on the Native peoples who built the mounds. She presented Native peoples, then and now, in a very respectful way and with honor.  If you are interested in Native culture and mound building the Natchez Trace Parkway is one place you should visit. In addition to Native mounds you will find many other Native sites to visit along the Trace.
  After the mounds we visited the Trace Visitor Center to get our stamps. By this time we were a bit hungry so we ran into town, Tupelo, MS. There are several places one can eat, Blue Canoe or The Neon Pig and a few others I can not recall now. We ate at the Neon Pig. It is one of those places that will give you a heart attack, but the food is great. All locally grown food is severed here, it is also a butcher shop. We had a smash burger, sirloin, smoked bacon and cured ham all ground together and cooked. They add onions and a special sauce they make. Boy it was good.
  Then it was off to a couple Civil War sites, Tupelo and Brices Cross Road. Not much to see at the Tupelo site, one monument and two canons. The local community has spread out so much that this is the only thing one can see at this site. It is so small there is no parking close by so you can read the markers that are there. I took a few pictures of the site while we sat at a red light.
  Brices Cross Roads is a much better site. There is a good visitor center where one should start at, watch the film and then make your way to the battlefield.
 The last stop of the day was the Chickasaw Village along the Natchez Trace. The outline of the village is the only thing you can see here but a few markers tell the tale of life in the village.
 It is very hot in Mississippi in July so by this time we had drained our water supply and it was time to head back to our hotel room in Corinth, MS.

                                                               Chickasaw Village