Memphis KOA Journey, Marion, Arkansas
10-24-2024 to 11-7-2024
We traded a beautiful, spacious state park stay for a cramped, parking lot stay at a KOA by a noisy interstate. Reason for this unlikely trade was learning that the state park has no internet and very limited cell service. So we chose the KOA because we wanted to watch the election returns and the World Series.
After we got in the mode of being Memphis site seerers, it turned out ok. Our first sightseeing walk was the Big River Crossing, the longest (about a mile) public pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the Mississippi. Great views and nice grassy trail at the end.
Entrance
View from the river crossing
We went to Tom Lee Park several times, either combined with sight seeing or as the primary destination. It is a long strip along the Mississippi River that's fun to walk. There's a statue of Tom Lee, who saved 32 people in 1925 after a steamer capsized. Tom Lee was in a small skiff and couldn't swim.
The highlight of our sightseeing was the National Civil Rights Museum connected to the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was killed. It was amazingly done, and covered everything from the beginnings of slavery through all the events of the civil rights movement. It did a good job covering Malcom X and the Black Panthers. I didn't expect to be as stirred by all the exbibits as I was. Television coverage playing along with well staged events and sit-ins. Speeches from many participants on both sides, and of course many MLK speeches in his own voice.
letter from the Birmingham jail
MLK's last speech was as part of the garbage worker's strike in Memphis.
Throughout the museum there were life size exhibits from the era - one bus with lifelike driver telling Rosa Parks to go to the back of the bus; one bombed out bus from the freedom rides. All along there were very interesting details I never knew (or didn't remember). There was a video about the garbage workers' strike showing on the side of an actual garbage truck from the time.
Part of the exhibit was the room where MLK was staying when he was shot. This is the outside of the Hotel.
We managed to get to two parks with the type of hikes we're used to. Only problem was we spent more time in the car to get there and back than we did hiking. The next two pictures are from Nesbit Park - Stanky Creek Trails. The second picture is Scott pointing out yellow marker. We didn't get lost despite the not so visible markers.
The Meeman-Shelby State Park trails were especially nice. We did the Woodland Trail Loop Hike. This park was another one without cell service or internet.
We finally got our absentee ballots on Nov 2 after the post office closed. We mailed them back on Nov 4 via priority overnight mail. Figuring out how to register to vote as full-time RVers with a mailing address in Livingston, TX, was a process in itself. Then getting the ballots was another time consuming process. We gave the Polk County Clerk the address of where we thought we'd be at the time she told us the ballots would be mailed out. But they were mailed earlier and the park sent them back because we weren't there. But Polk County called us here to let us know our ballots had been returned and mailed them again to where we are now. We got them just in time. Very accommodating election officials in Polk County. Someday we'll have to visit our home base.
It was very windy most of the week, and Annie reacted to the rocking and noise of the wind like she does during a storm. So she had a stressful week. It didn't help that she only had 3 of her normal type walks in the woods. Also, my sprained left wrist is better, but still has a long way to go. I can't do anything that involves twisting. Scott makes a great sous chef and sous everything else.
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