Monday, August 31st

We left Greenville, Texas without breakfast or even coffee this morning. We thought we could find a café, nothing but fast food, finally in McKinney we found a family run cafe "Bill Smith's Cafe" & had a decent breakfast. McKinney is a historic town so we drove down to the town square and look it over, Museum and the house that we wanted to look at was not open today. We found that to be true in Savannah as well, closed on Mondays. 😒. We stayed on Highway 382 Jacksboro Texas and then south on Highway 281 to Mineral Wells. Joy found us a nice motel "Days Inn," it is nice and the price was right. The country across from Greensville to Mineral Wells was cattle country with a little farming. It looks very dry here.  There is a beautiful old hotel here in Monroe Wells. It is huge but it is not in use at the present time and it is pretty rundown. It would take a lot of money to restore it. Don good searched it and it is "Bakers Hotel" Mineral

Wells, TX. We shared a steak tonight at the Mesquite Pit, it was really good and the first steak that we have had since we left home five weeks ago today. But we are in Texas and that is what you do in Texas, right?

Sunday, August 30th

We got up and went to the 8 o'clock service at White Ferry Rd., Church of Christ. They use no instruments but the music was beautiful,  it sounded like a choir. The preacher talked about making our Christianity affect our lives. The topic was on abortion and how we need to step up as Christians and get involved in this. Phil Robertson was sitting in the back row, (Duck Commander). We went to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then we hit the road. Stopped in Shreveport, LA for a Starbucks. Joy had given us "Chill-its" to keep our heads cool, it is made out of cloth and you soak it in water, probably what the Harley riders wear 😉 anyhow, today was the hottest day that we have had to try it out and they did help. We went on interstate 20 from West Monroe to the turn off at Tyler, Texas. Then we took highway 69 to Greenville, Texas. We went to see the movie "War Room", it is a very good movie. We would encourage all of you to see it. After that we ate Mexican food. We got out of the trees and swamps of Louisiana and into the grass land of Texas. 

Saturday, August 29th

We ate a little breakfast at the motel and left for Arkansas. Road 82 miles to the border and crossed over into Arkansas. On our way west the farmland change two more farming. Cotton, corn, Milo, soy beans and rice. We sauce and fishponds. We stopped in at a John Deere dealership and Don ask some questions about what the crocs were. We saw a plantation house built in 1871, "Heathman Plantation"  we crossed over the Mississippi it to Arkansas and turn south to West Monroe, home of "Duck Commander."  The farms on west side of the Mississippi were mostly corn soy beans and rice lots of rice and they were harvesting it with big John Deere combines like we would use for wheat. We stopped in a little town & had a terrible hamburger, I didn't think you could mess up a hamburger so bad, but I was wrong & they charged 50 cents for 1 little ring. We found the "Duck Commander"  store & mostly looked. Since we were just 40 miles from it Paco wanted us to come really bad, it didn't take us long to shop. We came down Hwy 165.  We heard at Willy's Diner the food is really good. We are going to find out. 

Friday, August 28th

We left Harry, Rosie & Vince about 10:30,  came Hwy 22 west until it joined Hwy 82, we came north in it to Tuscaloosa, AL, home of the U of A. Then the Hwy turned west. We stopped in Columbus, Mississippi & ate really good catfish. We came 82 more miles & stopped for the night, the latest we have traveled on this trip. The countryside is beautiful, it has changed from very hilly & timber with people not making their living off the land to land where people make a living from the land growing cotton, hay & cattle.  The sunset was gorgeous, red, could that be from the fires in the NW?? & the moon was coming up in the east. Harry called to see how far we made it, such nice people, they are. Vince calls Don "Preacher" it's cute. 

Thursday, August 27th

We got to bed past midnight last night, the Guest House is equipped with everything so the wash is done, I think almost everything with us was dirty!!  This morning we visited after breakfast & later we all went to Hotseshoe Bend National Park, this is where Andrew Jackson & soldiers fought & defeated the Creek Indians. This destroyed the great Creek Nation.   From there we drove around the countryside where Rosie & her family was raised. At one time this was farm & grass land, now it is back to thick timber. We came back home & visited, great time with great people. Last night we watched the tribute of Elvis, 'He Touched Me" story of Elvis & his life & his love for gospel music. 

Wednesday, August 26th

We left Colmbus, GA & went to Opelika, Alabama where we had breakfast, we got to Harry & Rosie's about 10:30. They live about 6 miles from Wadley, they came out to meet us. They built two lovely homes, one is a Guest House, it is beautiful. The home they live in is nice with polished cement floors that are beautiful. Vince, their son that lived with us for a while when we lived at Star came to see us, it is so good to see him with his life straightened out & serving Jesus. We walked down to the Tallapoosa River & it was a nice walk. Rosie was raised here on this prosperity & 

said she swam in the river as a girl, then she mentioned Water Moccasin & Copper Heads & I was much more cautious!!  We went into town for a delicious dinner. It is so nice to be with good people. 

Tuesday, August 25th

Before we left Dublin a gal told me that the High School got in trouble for praying before a ballgame so the band played Amazing Grace. I said good for them!!

We left there & rode to Crochran & ate breakfast where we split ham & eggs at a  little Grill, booths on one side & the cook cooking on the other, probably 20 feet wide & 30 or so long, it was a step back in time. 😊. Then we went to Andersonville, purposely to see the Civil War POW Museum & Cemetery.  The prison was 450 acres in size & had as many as 30,000 people in it at one time. Union soldiers died at about 100 a day, over 15,000 died & were buried there. In the pic where the markers are about an inch or two apart, they were buried in a trench. SO SAD!!  It is a museum for all POW's of war, they looked to see if Don's Uncle Frank's name was there but it wasn't but they said they didn't have all the names.  After that we came on to Columbus, GA, on the way we saw cotton fields, maybe peanuts, some dairy  cows, lots of goats & a few horses. 

Columbus is home to Ft. Benning

, a huge Army base. Tomorrow we will go to our friends, Harry & Rosie Collins, they are truckers & had a daughter & family living in Star & attended our church when they came through.  We are in a Days Inn, older but clean & has wifi  😄. Some pics