Full Circle: Back in Nashville
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
As far as my bucket list/scavenger hunt was concerned, Friday, July 8, 2011, was a most excellent day. Anytime you can scratch off two Presidential gravesites, a state capitol, and pair of Presidential homes, off your checklist, you’re doing quite well. Add to that mix two more eateries that had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and you’ve really got something! The only problem was that I had had such a great time just hanging out with Jamie during the course of our week-long trip, I was just sad to see it come to an end. Read the rest of this entry »
With all of the traveling, site-seeing, and eating that we had already accomplished, it was amazing that so far we had only been gone for one weekend. And since this fine Monday in 2011 was July 4 – aka Independence Day – I still had one more day of non-vacation to cash in on before I would begin getting docked. This day was purposely designed to be a very quiet one. Thinking that there might not be a lot open on the holiday, I timed it so that we could spend the bulk of this day on the road. Jamie and I slept in a little bit and didn’t actually depart our motel in Memphis until about 10:30am – at which time it was a blazing 101 degrees outside. We had a long drive from Memphis to Hope, Arkansas. Other than our initial drive from Cincinnati, this would be the longest un-interrupted drive within the trip. 
Only future history will reveal how President Bill Clinton’s administration is viewed and rated. The sex scandal that led to his becoming only the second President in American history to be impeached is just too fresh in our minds. But even with the periodic scandals that marred his administration from 1993-2001, Clinton still ranks high in the list of all-time greatest Presidents and left office with relatively high approval ratings. His accomplishments in the areas of foreign and domestic policy have been unmatched since the days of Ronald Reagan. In my view, he was also the most fiscally responsible President that we have had in the last 50 years. 
Metropolis was cool. The Super Museum was amazing. The celebrity encounters were quite successful. And it was fun hanging out with my pal Dean. But still, if there was anything that had tipped the scales in convincing me to make the trip to this remote area of Illinois, it was the fact that I was going to have to get there one day anyway. That is, I was going to have to get to the neighboring city of Paducah, Kentucky, if I had any hopes of ever completing my Vice-Presidential grave visits and photo collection. 
I agree with the meteorologists and kick aside the silly Summer Solstice theory (placing the first day of Summer on June 21) that the United States adheres to. Summer begins when the months start beginning with the letter ‘J’ – discounting January of course. We transitioned very nicely from the rain that seemed to fall every single day of May to temperatures that hovered around 100 degrees in the early parts of the month. So as the month began on the Wednesday the 1st and I took Jamie home following our Colorado trip, I began to plan a few trips for the Summer months, whilst listening to Beck and the Crash Test Dummies on the iPod.