Last week Meg and I left my Mom's condo around 6pm and began driving home like normal. However on the way I began telling Meghan about a cemetery I had been looking up in Aberdeen, MS and Meghan said, this is paraphrasing but close enough, "we should go there, want to?" And I said "yeah, do you mean now?" And she said "yeah" and I said "yeah" and so we changed direction and highway and began driving south. It was about 7pm on Friday and we had work at 5am on Sunday so this had to be a quick trip. Also we had nothing with us. Meg called a hotel in Tupelo to get a room and I went inside a Walmart to get toothbrushes, tooth paste, and a few other essentials. When I came back out I called my Mom, who was waiting for us to call her when we got home, so she would know not to expect the call for awhile.
Funny thing is when I made the Natchez Trace trip I purposely made sure we wouldn't be driving it at night because it is very dark and there are a lot of deer and I know my luck... So guess what road the GPS decided we should take between 9-11pm. Yup. Guess what we saw: a lot of deer and one super adorable fox. We also made it just fine with only one or two real serious brake checks. The room was nice but there was one problem... we were right across from the elevator and Gypsy Rover was determined to keep us safe from the dinging of the elevator bell with all her might. So we turned up the air and put the tv on to try and block the sound of the elevator and that worked pretty well.
Having had such good success with Hunt's Donuts in Branson I searched for best coffee in Tupelo and Strange Brew popped up, even better it was five minutes away.
I got their signature drink the Albino Squirrel with white chocolate and hazelnut while I got Meg a Darth Mocha or as it described it: "the latte you are looking for." And we each got a parfait.
Then we began driving the rest of the way to Aberdeen and the Old Aberdeen Cemetery to look for two specific graves. However I did not realize there were two cemeteries and we ended up spending some time in the Odd Fellows Cemetery before finding the one we really wanted. In the Odd Fellows cemetery we saw two graves that grabbed our attention they were from the same family, Terrell. One had a weeping angel lying over a grave the other had a woman with her fist held high.
Then the grave of James Ronnie Warren, cobbler, which featured a shoe flower pot with beautiful flowers in it. I also stopped by the intricately designed grave of Karen Rye who died young at the age of 55.
Having not found either of the two graves I had come to find we began trying to find a more specific location and that was when we learned we were in the wrong cemetery. Across the street was the Old Aberdeen Cemetery which I had just assumed was also another name for the Odd Fellows. In the old Aberdeen Cemetery the oldest grave is from 1838 when Abel Pierson was buried on the property. The first record of this being a public cemetery was in 1845 when graves were being sold by the city for $5. In 1979 the cemetery was certified as a historically significant abandoned cemetery. In the 1920s the Cemetery Care Organization used the Aberdeen Examiner to publicize the name of the people who helped and donated to the care of the cemetery. Today it is definitely being maintained in fact the ground crew was there and doing an excellent job.
The first grave we were looking for was Alice, wife of Needham Whitfeld. Urban legend says that Alice loved her rocking chair and knitting and that she died while knitting. Also legend goes that she is buried in her favorite chair. The second grave we were looking for was Mary Points who was killed in a fire in 1852. On the grave her image looks as those it is on fire. Her stone is toppled over and has a crack in it but can still be seen.
On our way to our next stop, because now we were looking for things on our route back home, we passed a cute small town square in Houston, MS which a memorial stone explained was named by Joel Pinson in honor of his friend Sam Houston. Joel donated the 80 acres that the town was started on.
And then we reached Vardaman, Mississippi the Sweet Potato capital of the world. They have a festival in November so we can go back sometime for the festival. But for today we got a sweet potato cheesecake and some pies and sweet potato sausage balls.
A fun roadside gimmick that I have seen listed in several places is the hot and cold water towers. You know when you have water towers dotting your landscape why not have a little fun? Bad angle but one says hot and one says cold Ruleville, MS.
Now it was getting late because we had spent way more time at the cemetery than I planned so we started toward TN and Memphis to catch I-40 and go home. On the way as we were driving along a small country highway we looked to our right and saw what we could only describe as a baby tornado. We now know it was a dust devil caused by the warm earth and an updraft of air.
We made our last stop in Nesbit, MS to see snowball throwing polar bears outside an ice cream stand. And we were going to get ice cream but they had a really high fee for using credit cards and we opted not to pay it.
Shortly after that we crossed back in to TN near Memphis to catch I-40 home but first we needed to stop for dinner. Meg found a brewery called Meddlesome Brewing which conveniently had a food truck, Flying Sobie's Hen House, out back. So we had half a cornish hen with Memphis Gold barbecue sauce and a flight of house beer. Delicous.
Now with most sports cancelled because of Covid 19 a lot of channels have begun showing classic games. well we found a radio station playing a classic radio broadcast of Game 1 on the 1967 World Series. There we were in the seventh inning with Bob Gibson pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals and Harry Caray and Pee Wee Reese were announcing. So many names were familiar like Lou Brock who went 4 for 4 with two runs scored. Roger Maris one of my baseball heroes, Tim McCarver, and the versatile Carl Yastrzemski. Gibson was well on his way to a complete game and ten strike out game. Sadly we lost the station early in the ninth inning and returned to music.
A couple days later at home we had the cheesecake and a crowler of Meddlesome's Under Pressure.
Next trip is a drive north to Ohio. Not a new state because technically we already stood in Ohio but this way we really get to see the state.
Way back in March when the country shut down and my road trips got put on hold I was in the middle of a series of road trips to visit seven Churches in seven States ( Seven Churches Part One). This past weekend I picked up where I left off by heading out to Arkansas to visit Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison, AR. But I couldn't just drive there and back so I looked up a few things along the way.. and out of the way... and then on the way back since we were coming back a totally different route.
We started out early on a Friday heading West on I 40 but before we got on the highway we stopped at a Sudden Service just a few blocks before the 40 West ramp in down town Nashville. And I am glad we did! The store was very clean and the multiple coffee options were all recently brewed. Not only that but they had a full dairy selection for your coffee. You know it's the little things in life like being able to get milk instead of half and half for coffee that can really set the mood for a day. Anyway that is now my coffee stop for future road trips.
We made good time on I 40 without speeding because the stretch of I 40 between Nashville and Memphis is prone to speed traps... like a lot of them. We discovered that when we took a day trip to Memphis earlier this year. Once we entered Arkansas we started on a series of small "highways" through the state and towards the Ozarks. We were amused by the town signs that also included population counts. I think the lowest one we saw had a little under 200. We mostly passed large fields of various crops but what stood out the most was the rice fields. They had large white pipes surrounding them, which I thought were sandbags at to hold in water before I realized what it was and pumps spaced out along the fields. I never realized how big a crop rice was for Arkansas but apparently something close to 50% of US rice is grown in Arkansas. Arkansas has over 4,000 farms with most of them being family owned.
As we entered Arkansas we saw signs for a town called Marked Tree which was too far out of our way for a detour but the name was certainly interesting enough to look up some info about it. The town was named for a tree that marked a spot where Native Americans could cross the St. Francis River. The tree fell into the river in 1890 but the name remained.
So as you can imagine when driving on small roads through tiny towns and past large fields of rice, corn, soy, and wheat there weren't many places to stop. Add to that Covid 19 and the fact that some gas stations and small convenience stores/ restaurants were closed meant even less places to stop. Well I had to use the bathroom and we weren't finding any place to stop. Then we pulled into the tiny town of Oil Trough. There we found their City Hall and I pulled over to ask to use the bathroom. The kind woman inside said she drives those roads every day and totally understood and let us use the bathroom. Oil Trough was so named because the area was filled with bears and early settlers would drain the oil from the bears into troughs. The post office opened in 1832 under the name Pleasant Island but it was officially changed to Oil Trough in 1849.
Continuing out of Oil Trough we began to leave the White River Lands and approached the hills of the Ozarks and there we entered Rosie Arkansas. Rosie, again under a different name, had the first post office in Independence County when it opened December 29, 1819. One of the town's founders, John Dodd wanted to name the town Edna after his daughter but instead it was called Rosie because of all the flowers blooming.
We continued through other small towns until we reached our first stop: Gravity BrewWorks in Big Flat Arkansas. It is a Nano-brewery that opened in 2013 and has been serving up small batch brews in their tasting room and outdoor beer garden. Owned by Bill Riffle and Tony Guinn they pride themselves in the fresh ingredients of their beer and their brewing system which as the name suggests is processed using gravity. Instead of pumping the beer they use gravity flow or CO2 pressure. The brewery was very welcoming with a good sized parking lot and some absolutely beautiful flowers out front. Due to Covid-19 we needed to wear masks/cover face until we had ordered and had our beverage. Once we ordered we took our flights outside to the garden area. They have made good use of the slow period caused by Covid and did some work including fully fencing off the back which was awesome because we got to let the dogs run free and play for a bit which thrilled Gypsy and annoyed Domino :-)
We brought a growler of the red ale home with us to enjoy Saturday night or Sunday when we got home. We knew we would have to drink it quickly since they use fresh ingredients and avoid preservatives.
Next we arrived at Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison, Arkansas. Again due to Covid 19 we needed to wear masks inside and they had a map of the body of the Church showing where people could sit in order to distance during mass. In one pew they had taped the number 4 meaning a family of four could sit together then a space and then a two at the other side of the pew. My Mom lit a candle while I looked around the Church. I kneeled in one of the pews to say a prayer before leaving. More about that when I write the blog post about the second half of the Churches.
Our next stop was to continue our drive through the Ozarks until we reached the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks: far below us was the Buffalo River, our first National River according to an act of Congress in 1972. If we faced the right way we could see 40 miles away to Missouri.
Visiting in June we had a beautiful view with varied greens on the fields and trees and then mountains far in the distance. As we stood and enjoyed the view we wondered how beautiful would it also be in fall as leaves changed color and gave way to reds and orange, we had actually commented on that several times as we drove the state.
Originally we were going to stop between here and our next stop but it was early enough that I thought we can keep going so we drove back down the same winding highway to another area of the Ozarks that Meg and I had previously visited but my Mom had not. We drove to Eureka Springs to see the large Christ of the Ozarks and a piece of the Berlin Wall. The statue was built by Gerard Smith who originally saw it as the feature of a religious themed amusement park however only Christ and a large amphitheater were built. The statue was finished in 1966 and is a little over 65 feet high.
Right before you arrive at Christ of the Ozarks on your right is a 10x10 piece of the Berlin Wall. The Wall separated East and West Berlin from 1961-1989. At night artists would graffiti the wall with different works of art and messages. This slab quotes Psalm 23 "though I walk through a dark valley I am not afraid."
I was thinking we may be able to see sunset behind the Christ of the Ozarks statue but the good thang and bad thing about summer months is long days. So we decided to keep moving on to the next state and we could stop there for the night. So we turned north out of Arkansas but still in the Ozarks to Missouri.
We were on our way to Marshfield but it was too far to make it before dark and we stopped at a Laquinta in Branson, MO on Shepherd of the Hills Expwy. The road is named for the book by Harold Bell Wright which was later made in to a silent film and then a movie with John Wayne. A quick summary was that it was about a Pastor who travelled to the Ozarks and fell in love with the simple life and people of the Ozarks. The ironic thing about that is that Branson MO is basically a giant amusement park and attraction center filled with restaurants, bars, theaters, mini golf, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museums. The simple life of the Ozarks and its people are no where to be found amid the lights and marquees. That all said it looks like a fun place to visit but not with two dogs and when social distancing is the best course due to Covid 19. We placed a to go order from the Applebee's and picked it up to bring it back to the hotel room. The restaurant was open for dine in but we didn't want to leave the dogs alone and we were tired.
The next morning the hotel was not serving breakfast but did put together to-go bags which had a muffin, fruit cup, and granola bar. However we were looking for some good coffee to start the day so I looked up the best coffee in Branson and found Hurt's Donuts. We checked out and drove over. Out front was an ambulance decorated for the donut company complete with sprinkle storage areas and a jelly fill section. Inside was a variety of funny signs that kept us entertained while we waited on an appropriately social distanced line. While we waited on line one of the cashier's parents came in with balloons and flowers and began singing Happy Birthday and I want to say a little more than half the line also joined in, I mean it's one of those songs that you just need to. My Mom started a conversation and we discovered that their family was filled twins. I ordered a large coffee with just milk and a salted caramel donut.
That was the good start we needed and we began our drive to Marshfield, MO> The small town where on November 20, 1889 Edwin Hubbel was born. Hubbel is one of the most important American Astronomers. Credited with discovering both that what were at one time thought to be gas clouds are actually distant galaxies beyond the Milky Way and that the Universe is expanding. He is also the namesake of the Hubbel Telescope and standing in front of Marshfield City Hall is a replica of space telescope. As we were looking at the telescope Meg noticed that the moon was still visible in the morning sky
Next up was just going home but we had time for one last stop at the Bronze Owl Brewery in Popular Bluff, MO.
Before I begin the blog I have a few things to say about current events:
1. To all my friends I am so glad I have friends from all over and I mean all over the world- from different backgrounds and cultures. I love you and I value you. Every person has something to offer this world every person has worth.
2. Don't let the message of the protestors get drowned out by the noise of the rioters.
3. I'm not anti-cop by saying the first two things. I'm pro-cop because I have a family member who is a cop and bad acts by bad cops make her job harder and more dangerous.
4. No one should be judged by the worst example of their group whether that is occupation, race, or nationality.
I think getting out of your town, county, state and so on- meeting people who are different from you can really help our country.
The original plan for this road trip was a nice relaxing three day trip to South Carolina. But work has been very busy and as a result Meg and I had work on Sunday. So what had been a three day trip became a two day trip. It was hard but very doable. The main objective in the quest to drive all 48 contiguous states was South Carolina with a secondary objective of stopping in Georgia on the way home because we had driven through it on the way to FL but hadn't had any stops.
A few years ago when the Total Solar Eclipse crossed the US I was introduced to the hobby of painting rocks. Meg and I were in Lake Girardeau Missouri and we found two eclipse themed rocks. We looked at the rocks and then googled it. It seemed like a fun way for people to share their adventure and experience so I decided to try my hand at it with this trip. Two of the rocks I made specifically for stops on the trip. The other two were more generic that I could leave anywhere. On the back/bottom I wrote #drivethe48 and jorkeohane.blogspot. Maybe someone will find one of them and read the blog :-) At first I was unhappy with my South Carolina flag but it grew on me as time went by.
We spent Thursday night at my Mom's place in Nashville since all three of us and both dogs were making the trip and left early on Friday. We had an easy six hours before we would reach our first destination in South Carolina and it was a nice drive as we drove down 40 until we turned off toward North Carolina across the state and into South Carolina to Greenville, SC. The first order of business was to get some lunch so we stopped at Iron Hill Brewing where we split two flights and I ordered the delicious pub burger.
On the way out Meg bought a four pack of one of their beers: Pog Champ. Two things about this beer 1. pogs and this beer are awesome and 2. Whiskeytown looks like he could have modeled the can.
And then we headed over to our main reason to visit Greenville: The Medusa Tree. The tree is over 80 years old and growing out of a cliff exposing its impressive root system. The tree is in Reedy River Falls Park. We entered the park and walked over a tension bridge which brought us to a fantastic view of Reedy Falls. The weather was awesome so lots of people were out enjoying the park and the day. There was a lot of construction around the park and I commented on it to my Mom. I think a man who was in the park with his two young children and wife overheard me because he came over and started talking with me about how he was from NY and they don't know what they have that they should stop trying to grow and be like NY. I told him we were also originally from NY and that I agreed with him. Then we went back to trying to find the tree. I was having a hard time following the directions I had online, I think the construction actually blocked the path I needed. My Mom stopped to ask a few people about the tree but they had no idea what she was talking about. But then Meghan spotted the tree from across a green. We walked up to get a good look at the tree and I left one of the painted rocks there.
On the way out of town we passed a statue that somehow- and I am not sure how- Meg realized was Shoeless Joe Jackson. So I pulled the car over and got out for a better look. Sure enough she was right. Turns out Jackson got started playing for a team called the Greenville Spinners and it was there that he got his nickname. His new spikes were hurting his feet so he took off the shoes and went to bat without shoes. A fan noticed it and the rest is history. Shoeless Joe always maintained his innocence in the 1919 scandal that caused him and seven teammates to be banned from baseball. Major League Baseball is one of the things I miss the most about NY. Nashville does have a minor league team, The Sounds, that I have seen a few times but it isn't the same. We had two teams to watch and many many great memories at both Shea and Yankee Stadium. During our senior year of high school Meg and I had worked together to write a report outlining baseball and how it mirrored current events through out the 20th century.
Our next stop was in Columbia, SC to see two public works of art by Warren Edward Johnson. The first one was a 39 foot tall fire hydrant where Gypsy Rover got to practice her "sit and stay." And the second was across the parking lot, Tunnelvision, a mesmerizing wall mural of a road through a mountain.
Before leaving Columbia we stopped at a small brewery hoping to get a drink and rest the dogs for a little bit since Domino, more so than Gypsy, gets stressed in the car. However while states are opening up River Rat Brew Company was still to go only. But they have some amazing names to their beers so I decided to be daring. I asked if I was only going to try one beer of theirs in a growler which would they recommend. The answer was Dogs on Surfboards. So I ordered a growler of the New England IPA and tucked it away in the growler cooler with the Pog Champ cat from Iron Hill. We did also get a six pack of their Astronaut Sauce because it is a great name and a great looking can.
And then we were on our way again to Latta, SC home of the earliest Cotton Press. It was built sometime around 1798 and oxen or mules would turn the press in order to bale the cotton. Its original location was at Berry's Crossing along highway 38 but it was moved to one of the Berry ancestors homes in 1948 to preserve it. On November 15, 1972 the press was added to the National Historic Registry. It was raining pretty hard and the field was very muddy so I couldn't get to close.
We then drove to Florence, SC to spend the night at the Laquinta Inn which is always a great spot welcoming of pets. Sadly because of Covid-19 they didn't have their breakfast though they had a "grab and go" which would probably be yogurt and maybe some fruit. It didn't matter too much because we were starting early the next day so weren't going to be spending time on breakfast anyway.
The next morning we drove to Lake City, South Carolina, and the tomb and memorial to Dr. Ronald E McNair. Dr. McNair was a physicist and NASA Astronaut whose life was tragically cut short in 1986 when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded. On his tomb is a quote:
"I urge you today to go forth with the knowledge that you are better than enough, to go forth with the desire to accomplish, with the desire to contribute to our society go forth with a willingness to fight and a will to win." 1984 Commencement at University of SC
Behind Dr. McNair on the memorial are the many different facets and areas of his life that made him who he was: symbols for his family, faith, love of music, physics, astronomy, and tae kwon do. He didn't just speak that quote above he lived it. When he was nine years old at the local library a librarian refused to allow him to check out books threatening to call his mother and the police if he did not leave. He waited. I don't know details of the encounter between him, the librarian, the police, and his mother, but I do know he took out the books. In 1967 he graduated from High School as the Valedictorian and in 1971 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Physics Magna cum Laude from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. In 1976 Ronald received his Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and became nationally recognized for his work in Laser Physics. In 1978 Dr. McNair was selected by NASA for the Astronaut program and in February of 1984 he became the second African America to fly in space (the first was Colonel Guy Bluford in 1983). On January 28, 1986 Dr. McNair was on his second space flight aboard the Challenger when just 73 seconds after take off the Space Shuttle disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean. Dr. McNair left behind a wife, two small children, and a legacy of brilliance and determination.
I mention Dr. McNair's love of music he was an avid saxophone player and had been scheduled to be the first man to play saxophone in space when he was going to play along with Jean Michel Jarre via telecast at Jarre's Houston Concert. The piece, Last Rendez-Vous is now also called Ron's piece. Here is video from the concert with Kirk Whalum, American jazz saxophonist and song writer, playing Ron's Piece:
I left behind one of my rocks there. I had painted it all black like the night sky with small silver dots representing the stars. On it I wrote "Ad Astra" which translates "to the stars".
Our next stop was a multi town- Turbeville, Manning, and Summerton- quest to trace the history of Francis Marion "the Swamp Fox" and the role he played in South Carolina's part of the American Revolution. The murals are done by several different artists and beside each mural was a plaque explaining the mural's historical significance and giving the name of the artist.
The first of the three towns we arrived at was Turbeville, SC. There were two murals in Turbeville. One showed the burning of a local estate home. The second showed Francis Marion speaking with local farmers and pioneers to recruit them to his cause.
We also stopped at a small tourism office and memorial park in Tuberville. It got us thinking about our own small town in TN and how we have so much history to share as well. It would be nice to have some place to educate visitors and locals on the historical significance of our town like Tuberville has done with the wall murals and their role in the American Revolution. The memorial also recognized the lives lost to war from the town. Among the names several stood out, there were two who I assumed were brothers William and Irwin Gibbons who passed away within days of each other during the European campaign in WWII. I could only find Sgt. Irwin on Find A Grave. Another name that stood out was William Coker since the main road we were on was named for his family. William was a Private First Class who was killed in action in the Phillipines Find A Grave. Another Coker, SGT Clifton, was killed in action in Guam Find A Grave. And then there was Carroll Turbeville who died in action at Leyte Find A Grave.
We left Turbeville talking about how if we ever hit the lotto we would try and open a small museum in our town. I even have a property in mind that would be perfect. We would be able to display artifacts and even testimonials to comment on the significant historical, political, and agricultural aspects of Coopertown. I would also seek town permission to build a giant barrel (Coopers are barrel makers and in early census records many of the coopers in Robertson county lived in this geographical area hence the name.) :-)
The next town we arrived at was Manning which had the majority of the murals. For some more back ground and info Francis Marion was a military officer in the Continental Army and once the army was pushed out of South Carolina after the Battle of Camden Marion, or the Swamp Fox, stayed in South Carolina with his own militia. Rather than march into battle as was customary at that time Swamp Fox and his men used guerrilla warfare and would ambush and then retreat from enemy forces using the various swamps of SC as their hiding grounds. Him and his men are credited in the lineage of US Army Special Forces specifically the Green Berets.
One of the murals that stood out to me in Manning was the mural from Ox Swamp when Marion and his men lead the British on a 26 mile trek through the swamps as they tried and failed to catch him. It was there that Francis Marion was dubbed the Swamp Fox.
My favorite of all the murals was also in Manning. It was a simple mural of Francis Marion gazing into the water. Instead of his own reflection looking back at him there is an image of the fox. The artist Terry Smith from Land 'O Lakes Florida who did a number of the murals also inserted himself at the bottom left corner.
If you are ever near Manning I recommend taking time to find all 12 murals.
Next was Summerton where the last few murals were located on buildings across the street from each other were two murals one of a Patriot and one of a Redcoat.
There were several other murals in Summerton as well including one four paneled mural displaying Swamp Fox and his men's role in the Siege of Fort Watson.
After leaving Summerton we hit the road again but only for a little bit before we stopped at "Smith's." We had been seeing signs for Smith's since well before Turbeville listing all the delicious treats that could be found at this Exxon station and shop right off the highway. We stopped and sure enough inside the store was a variety of home made treats from Cajun style peanuts to fudge and everything in between. Next door was an ice cream shop that had Hershey's Ice Cream. We stopped inside to get waffle cones, a perfect lunch for a road trip. I've never realized before that Hershey's Ice Cream is different from Hershey's Chocolate I assumed it was an off shoot. But nope it was founded in 1894 by five brothers with no relation to Milton Hershey.
Our next and originally final stop was in Walterboro, SC, at Low Country Regional Airport. There we found a memorial to the Tuskegee Airmen who trained at the airfield before leaving for Europe during WWII. The Memorial was constructed by the Hiram E. Mann Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. in honor of Mann who trained at Walterboro and flew 48 combat missions during WWII.
The state quarter honoring the Airmen captures their accomplishments simply: "they fought two wars." The unit was a result of segregation rules in the military. Out of it they created one of the greatest fighting forces in US history. They were tested and questioned and challenged every step of the way in ways that no other airmen were.
That was our last planned stop. We began a path back to TN this time through Georgia. But as it happens we found some interesting sites along the way for example this old Police car in Olar, SC.
And then there was a vertical sun dial in Barnwell County, SC, which is accurate to within 2 minutes on June 22nd and within 16 minutes on other days.
Finally we had one more unscheduled stop. Saturday May 30th at 2:30 pm SpaceX was set to become the first private company to launch astronauts into space. It would also mark the first time in nine years that American Astronauts would be launched from American soil. So we pulled over at Georgia rest stop #63 in Columbia County and we watched on my phone as the Falcon Nine carrying the Dragon Capsule with Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley inside left Cape Canaveral Florida. Here is a link to my past blog post about the Launch of the Falcon Heavy.
This launch had been rescheduled from Wednesday. Had it been changed to Friday this would be a much different blog because I would have absolutely driven to Cape Canaveral to watch the rocket in person. However having to work on Sunday meant there was no way I could make the 12 hour drive home in time to get to work, unfortunately.
After that it was a straight drive home with just one stop at Johnny's Pizza and Sub in Kennesaw, GA, to eat dinner. Then we got ourselves and our exhausted pups home.
