From New Orleans we headed north beyond Baton Rouge (french for “red stick”) up the Great River Road (U.S 61), across the Louisiana border (we thought we had left the state for good this time) and into Mississippi. We pulled into Natchez State Park (beautiful wooded campground on a fishing lake) and noticed one of the trailer tires was extremely low…we were lucky we didn’t have a blow out. One of the tires had worn very badly (we could see the steel belts in one spot) and needed replacement…we put the spare on and saw the sights in Natchez (antebellum mansions, Mississippi River views,
historic downtown for walking, and a cool blues joint/restaurant called ‘Biscuits ‘n Blues’). No one could help us in small town Natchez, so we drove another fifty miles north to Vicksburg. After we spent a day touring the Vicksburg Military Park (civil war) and the historic downtown/waterfront area (photo on left is the Old Courthouse), a local garage checked the toe-in and confirmed the trailer axle was out of alignment (possibly due to hitting a curb at the Walmart in Prince George, B.C. last summer), which was causing the tire to wear unevenly. They put us in touch with a big rig truck facility in Monroe, Louisiana that had the press that could bend the axle so that it had the correct toe-in and camber. So, here we were headed west, back into Louisiana. $450 later, we had two straight axles on the trailer and a new tire, and after spending one night in Monroe, we headed north into Arkansas, another state neither one of us had ever visited. We were headed to see some long lost friends in Little Rock.
After staying a night at Cane Creek State Park, another beautiful campground on a gorgeous lake, we pulled our rig into Tom and Martha’s place on the outskirts of Little Rock. Tom had to break out the chain saw and fall some small ones so we could wedge our camper in, but the end result was a primo spot at “Rains State Park” for several nights. We first met Tom in 1999 when we were all visiting Sacramento for a soils engineering workshop - Tom proudly lays claim to being the matchmaker that brought us together for the first time at Fannie Ann’s in Old Sacramento. We enjoyed the Hot Springs area for a day, touring the historical bath houses and going on a "duck" tour. The "duck" is a WWII era amphibious vehicle that they've converted to give tours. Tom and Martha brought us to an Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball game where we ran into our good friend, Ted Danson (Sammy) who was there
with his wife Mary Steinbergen (sp?). So, after the game, Debbie proceeded to play paparazzi and rushed right over in his face and snapped this photo! Just kidding, She stayed her distance and used a zoom along with MOST of the other people. We also toured the Clinton Presidential Library (referred to as the President's "double-wide" by some of the locals because of its boxy architecture) which was quite impressive and included a close replica of the Oval Office. It was time to say goodbye to our gracious hosts and friends and head north to the Arkansas Ozark town of Harrison.Harrison is only miles from the pristine Buffalo River (designated a National River), which flows unimpeded (no dams) for about 135 miles (http://www.nps.gov/buff/). It was May and there had been some decent rains recently so we decided to float the 25-mile stretch called ‘Ponca to Pruitt’ on the upper part of the river with one overnight. We paid an outfitter to move our truck from the put-in to the take-out, which worked out great. The river in this stretch is lined with deep woods, and towering limestone bluffs with alternating sections of rapids and pools. Box turtles were everywhere on downed logs and rocks lining the banks. Blue herons glided from fishing spot to fishing spot as we chased them down river. We even had the opportunity
to negotiate some rapids (Class I) in our inflatable Sea Eagle Paddleski, which was a first. It handled great and we’re both curious how it will do in bigger rapids. Even though it had rained recently, we had to get out of the boat in a couple of spots and tow it over the shoals – we could have used about 6 more inches of water. One interesting river stop was a short hike to scenic Hemmed-in-Hollow Falls. We were glad we floated this popular stretch during the week as we could imagine the “combat paddling” that would ensure during the weekend. This river was everything we thought it would be – a real treat.From Harrison, we drove north out of beautiful Arkansas and crossed into Missouri. Neither one of us had ever been to the hilly Ozark town of Branson, and we only stayed here a couple nights. Branson is very developed with its outlet malls, restaurants, and seemingly endless country and western theaters, but also has several large lakes/state parks nearby for water sports. We weren’t particularly interested in any of the shows and prices were steep, but we did enjoy a street fair in Old Branson.
From Branson, we headed east on an unremarkable trip across southern Missouri. We crossed the Mississippi River, immediately followed by the Ohio River at Cairo, which brought us into western Kentucky. After a long day of driving we crashed for a night in a Walmart parking lot, then drove east to Bowling Green the next day. Bowling Green is home to the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant (the Cadillac XLR is also assembled here). For $5 you get a guided one-hour tour of the assembly lines where they turn out 150 Corvettes a day, looking better than ever. Neither one of us had ever been through an automotive plant before, so it was a great experience, especially when manufacturing in the U.S. is in decline. Also worthwhile was the Corvette museum across the street, where for an extra $500 you can take delivery of your new Corvette with a special ceremony.
Just a short drive from Bowling Green is Mammoth Cave National Park. This is the longest cave system in the world, which is its main claim to fame. What Mammoth doesn’t have a lot of are stalactites/mites and other formations. Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is still our caves favorite, with Wind Cave in South Dakota a close second.
From Mammoth we headed northeast into the beautiful Kentucky Bluegrass region with stops at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace and his boyhood home. We stopped in Frankfort for several nights while we visited with Deb’s cousin Peter and wife Anne over the Memorial Day weekend. 
Peter showed us the town and the surrounding areas including the state capitol building, Rebecca Ruth’s Candy (love those bourbon balls), the Kentucky Horse Farm, and the Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery. The Kentucky horse country is beautiful with elaborate barns that are probably nicer than many people's houses.Also while we were in the area, we took a day trip to the Louisville area to have dinner with Deb’s high school friend Laura and her husband Dan at 4th Street Live (a really unique downtown nightlife scene), and also to tour some of the local attractions. Laura and her family left the CA life because it was getting too built up and crowded, for the mellower life of Kentucky about 4 years ago and they love it. They are currently building a new house on 5 acres in horse country which we can't wait to see our next time through. Next, it will be time for the horses!
We especially enjoyed the tour of the Louisville Slugger factory, where they craft many of the professional’s bats, and a visit to Churchill Downs (Kentucky Derby fame) to watch a few thoroughbred races. 
We spent our final night in Kentucky at beautiful Natural Bridges State Park to hike and bike, then headed into Virginia deep into the Blue Ridge Mountains.
