johnboystravelblog

In May of 2017 I headed towards Branson, Missouri to start what I call the “Texas Loop,” a roughly 6-week swing through the south-central United States.  After spending the second night on the road in Memphis, Tennessee (and having lunch at an awesome rib joint there which wasn’t open the day I tried to eat at while visiting Memphis the year before) I headed north on some scenic roads which would take me through northwest Tennessee before crossing over into Missouri.

As I drove through Covington, TN, about a half hour north of Memphis, I saw this facility on my right:

I stopped and after doing some quick research on my smartphone discovered that after it’s expansion in 2013 this was the largest ice cream factory in the world (you are only seeing a small part of it).  It is owned by Unilever and, as you can see, produces a wide variety of frozen treats.  Unfortunately there were no tours offered.  If nothing else I wanted to ask them why I can’t buy Good Humor Toasted Almond bars (my all-time favorite) in North Carolina….

While doing research for this post I found that the claim to “largest ice cream factory in the world” now belongs to a plant in Bakersfield, California.  That plant, owned by Nestle, covers 650,000 square feet and churns out (pun intended) 70 million gallons of ice cream and 98 million dozen frozen snacks each year!  Nestle owns Dreyer’s, the most popular ice cream brand in the western US, whereas Unilever owns Breyer’s, which is the most popular brand in the eastern US (where Dreyer’s is sold under the name Edy’s).

 

 

In May of 2017 I made an overnight stop in Memphis, Tennessee on my way to Branson, Missouri to start my 6-week “Texas Loop,” a short trip through the south-central United States.  While in Memphis I revisited the location where something happened to me the year before and has become yet another amusing JohnBoy story.  Let me start back in late May, 2016 when I stopped for a few nights in Memphis on my way back home from a short trip to the southeast US.

I was staying at an Airbnb east of town and my first full day there I headed out to see the city for the first time.  My first stop was Overton Park, a large city park only a few blocks from where I was staying.  And when I say large I mean large – 342 acres, or an area roughly 10 city blocks by 13 city blocks.

(Photo credit: Overton Park Conservancy)

Among other things Overton Park features two art museums, the Memphis Zoo and a 9-hole golf course.  The eastern portion of the park is heavily wooded.  I stopped at Overton Park to find the “Bike Gate,” which I believe had been mentioned in my AAA Tourbook.  The Bike Gate is a project by Memphis artist Tylur French (and yes, that’s how he spells his first name) which was completed in early 2014.

I entered the park from the south (Poplar Avenue) entrance.  Not long after driving in to the park I saw this sign…

… so I knew I was on the right track.  After making a right turn at the intersection I soon saw where the road would enter the nearby woods in the distance:

I drove past the barricade, which was open wide enough to let my car pass through (these photos were taken later in the day), and followed a very nice paved road into the woods.

I came to two forks in the road (with no signage) and opted to turn right both times.

I soon came to the end of the road at what appeared to be a park maintenance facility.  I decided maybe this was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be and turned around to retreat.  When I got back out to the barricade it was, much to my dismay, closed and locked.  A dilemma…

I walked past the gate to a nearby signboard which had flyers posted for upcoming events.  It was only about 8 o’clock in the morning but I called the only phone number I could find for the park office and got a recording.  I left a message explaining my plight and asked if they would please, please, please send someone to liberate me and promised I would never do it again.

While I was waiting I saw two maintenance workers emptying trash barrels at the nearby children’s play area and walked over to explain my situation.  They fortunately had keys for the lock and were able to open the barricade and let me out.  Turns out the barricade WAS a bike gate, designed to only let pedestrians and bicyclists pass in order to traverse the nicely paved paths without being endangered by vehicular traffic (like me).  To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi – “This is not the bike gate you’re looking for”.  I asked the worker where the artistic Bike Gate was and he advised me to exit the park where I had come in, turn left and proceed around to the East side of the park.

I followed his instructions and sure enough, there it was, with a convenient parking lot nearby.  There were stern signs warning of substantial fines for driving on the pedestrian paths (oops), and a short walk away was the object I had been seeking.

Mr. French gathered almost 300 bikes of all kinds – basic adult and child size bicycles, tricycles, Big Wheels, tandem bikes (for 2) and even a penny-farthing bike (with a huge wheel in the front and a tiny wheel in the back).  He painted them bright colors, welded them together and they were hoisted above an arch on a sturdy set of metal pillars.

Mission accomplished.

I continued my visit in Memphis without further incarceration and will post those photos later this year (Beale Street, Graceland and several other interesting places).

When I returned to the park in early 2017 I discovered that donors had contributed money to construct a much more aesthetically pleasing barrier at the inside-the-park entrance to the pedestrian paths to keep wayward tourists (like me) out.

No photo.

I have put this off way too long.  I have once again neglected to live up to my promise to post pictures from prior trips over the winter.  I have run out of excuses and will start posting pictures tomorrow.

I have my 2019 trip booked and will be leaving Durham in late June to drive north and visit Acadia National Park in Maine, then cross into Canada to spend 7 weeks driving primarily on scenic roads in the Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland – I will not be going to Labrador) as well as portions of Quebec and Ontario provinces.

This trip was inspired by a book given to me by my friends Eric and Shawn.  I am really looking forward to my trip and will hopefully be posting pictures just about every day.

This has absolutely nothing to do with me or my travels but I heard about it on NPR and found it very amusing.

Back in January of 2019 a gentleman in Iowa won $1 with an Iowa “Stinking Rich” lottery ticket.  He promptly drove down to lottery headquarters and asked for (or perhaps demanded) an oversized check like big-money winners get:

(Photo credit: dailymail.co.uk)

 

… or as my first GPS unit was fond of saying – “When possible make a legal U-turn”.

I saw this story online earlier today.  This was the result of a rockslide in southwest Colorado between Cortez and Telluride (literally on Route 145, which I traveled more than once in 2017).  This is one of the boulders which destroyed a section of the highway.  It will have to be blasted into smaller pieces for removal and the highway will be closed for the foreseeable future:

(Photos credit:  Colorado Department of Transportation)

So beware when signs advise you to “Watch for Fallen Rocks”

 

 

My friend and I took a break from our 4-day visit to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando in January 2018 to make a day-trip to Kennedy Space Center out on the coast.

These are the engines which launched the Gemini spacecraft:

This is the actual Apollo 14 Command module:

This is a model of America’s newest heavy-lifting rocket, the Space Launch System (or SLS):

This is a Dragon capsule which is used primarily to carry cargo to the International Space Station:

After visiting the various indoor and outdoor displays at the Visitor Center we boarded a bus to visit other areas of the facility (noteably Mission Control and drive-bys of the “crawler” which carries rockets to the launch pad and the launch pads themselves).

If you are at all interested in the space program I highly recommend a visit to KSC!

My friend and I took a break from our 4-day visit to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando in January 2018 to make a day-trip to Kennedy Space Center out on the coast.

Everyone probably recognizes this astronaut wanna-be:

Here are some shots of the Space Shuttle Atlantis:

This is a model of the Hubble telescope:

This is part of the left-side body panel  from the ill-fated Shuttle Challenger which exploded shortly after liftoff in January 1986:

These are the cockpit window frames from Shuttle Columbia which was destroyed on re-entry in February 2003.

This was part of a very tasteful tribute to astronauts which were lost during the Shuttle program.  Others areas at KSC had tributes to men and women from other programs in America’s quest to study outer space.

 

Here are photos taken in January, 2018 at Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.  I have previously posted photos from the Harry Potter portions of the park but there is much more there to see.  There are three main areas to the park and we spent 4 days walking through two of them.  The third park is mainly a water park and since it was mid-January the days were cool and some of the nights got chilly, so that area wasn’t open the day we tried to go.  Believe me, there is PLENTY to see in the other two areas.  We had a “pay-for-two-days and get two days free” ticket which I recommend if you want to visit the Harry Potter areas.  They are split between the two parks and that ticket allows you to ride the “Hogwart Express” train between them.  As you will see, there are many other theme areas in the park and I didn’t even take pictures in some of them.

I was glad we were there 4 days so we didn’t feel rushed.  We rode most of the rides, some more than once.  There is an app you can download to your smartphone which provides wait times to help you plan your day “on the fly”.  We didn’t ride either of the big roller coasters (1 in each park) but enjoyed most of the other rides, many of which feature videos with special effects.

One of the areas which was recommended to me by my friends Shawn and Eric was the “Dudley Do-Right” ride, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance.

Here are photos taken in January, 2018 at Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.  I have previously posted photos from the Harry Potter portions of the park but there is much more there to see.  There are three main areas to the park and we spent 4 days walking through two of them.  The third park is mainly a water park and since it was mid-January the days were cool and some of the nights got chilly, so that area wasn’t open the day we tried to go.  Believe me, there is PLENTY to see in the other two areas.  We had a “pay-for-two-days and get two days free” ticket which I recommend if you want to visit the Harry Potter areas.  They are split between the two parks and that ticket allows you to ride the “Hogwart Express” train between them.  As you will see, there are many other theme areas in the park and I didn’t even take pictures in some of them.

I was glad we were there 4 days so we didn’t feel rushed.  We rode most of the rides, some more than once.  There is an app you can download to your smartphone which provides wait times to help you plan your day “on the fly”.  We didn’t ride either of the big roller coasters (1 in each park) but enjoyed most of the other rides, many of which feature videos with special effects.

My friend from Pennsylvania who went with me knew a little-known fact about the “Men in Black” ride.  As you are passing through the entry line to wait for your turn on the ride there is a point where you look down into a mock up of the “control room” which was featured in the movie.  When you are finished with the ride, and if you ask (and there are staff members available) you may be escorted down to this room where you may then roam around and take pictures (as we did).  Another tip – if you take the “single rider” shortcut lines you may miss some of the staging areas (like the control room).  Many of the rides (especially in the Harry Potter areas) have a variety of things to entertain you while you wait in the queue (like going through the bank at one of the Harry Potter rides, or moving pictures in the Harry Potter castle) so while it may expedite your getting on a ride, you may miss out on some interesting aspects of the park.

Back in January of 2018 I spent a week in Orlando.  Most of that week was spent at the Universal Studios theme park there.  The main reason I went was that a good friend from when I lived in Pennsylvania came along on the trip and he wanted to see “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” arguably the most popular attraction at the park.  He loaned me copies of all 7 Harry Potter movies and I binge-watched them starting January 2, less than two weeks before we visited the park.

Today I am only posting photos I took in the Harry Potter areas.  Tomorrow I will post photos from other areas and later in the week I will post photos from our day-trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.