Day 7

Day 7
The day was pretty much rainy and ugly, We woke up to very heavy rain,  Curtis saw a massive storm on his phone weather app hoovering right over us.  After the rain briefly stopped, it was still pretty windy and ugly. We did walk across the street to check out the beach and the Ramada Hotel pool.  The beach was at a red Flag day.  Which meant not safe to play in the water.  We mostly just looked at the sand and water.

The Ramada pool is significant because back in the day, Curtis and his missionary buddies snuck into that pool in the night and jumped off.  They had a big man made rock cliff that they climbed up and jumped into the pool in the middle of the night.  After seeing the whole set up, I'm thinking it wasn't a wise choice  since they jumped into the shallow end of the pool. It was just an ugly windy, rainy day so we went back and spent most the day in the RV, although the Destin West RV park was pretty nice.  It was well landscaped and very tidy.  Later in the day we downloaded the game of life onto a tablet and started playing that.  We were having a good time.

We went over to the Restaurant near our RV Park "FUDPUCKERS" This had been around since Curtis' previous FL life, and he took Dax there a few years ago when they took a trip here.  Dax was able to hold an alligator, it was a baby with it's mouth taped shut.

They didn't have Alligators to hold that day, but we did have some Alligator for lunch.  It was deep friend and tasted like Chicken, just a little chewy. We liked it. 

 Curtis was regularly checking the weather on his phone.  It was a massive storm, and he wanted to see when the weather would clear so we could eventually go to the beach. While this is all happening the rain is coming down extremely heavy.  The last time I saw this much rain was when I lived in Hawaii and it flooded the town.  I highly suspected there was going to be flooding with that much heavy rain coming down without any let up.  We were almost finished with the game of Life when the phone is telling us that there is a tornado warning for Okaloosa county, People in RV's or mobile homes to seek shelter in a secure building.  We thought about it for about a minute and decided we would rather be safe than sorry.  We made a mad dash to gather a few things up, disconnect the RV from the hookups, secure everything in the RV and headed across the street. So we headed over to the Ramada Inn and checked in.  The kids were pretty freaked out over the tornado warning.  We did have a beautiful ocean view room.  Too bad it was such a windy ugly night.  Curtis tried to go out and watch the storm for a minute, but it was too ugly he came right back in.

We eventually went to bed and it was a wild night.  There was some woman making noise in the hall about 1:00 a.m..Curtis went out to see what it was about since we didn't know if we were having a true emergency.  Anyway it was just odd and she was looking for someone in the Military??? She asked Curtis if he was in the military?

The storm continued to worsen and kept waking us up most throughout the night.  There was thunder and lightening right on top of us and the rain pounded and the wind howled.  I knew at that point that the thunder and lightning crashing on top of us that we made the right decision to leave the RV pack and check in the hotel.

Day 6

We had a restful night after camping out in front of the Howards front yard.  When Trey woke up in the morning the first thing he said was he wanted to go back inside and play pool.

 Curtis went to the Howards Real Estate office to meet their team and check things out. We stayed back at the RV and got caught up on school work. When Curtis came back we headed over to the US space and Rocket center in Huntsville. Amanda knows the CEO over there and she hooked us up with some VIP passes. There were lots of hands on exhibits the kids could play with and a few simulators that were supposed to simulate g forces and a mission to Mars. I sat out because they make me sick. I was happy to let Dax and Dad do the g force one while Trey played on a playground. Trey loved the simulator that he rode on.  Same with the mission to Mars. Trey kept telling me I needed to ride that one. Curtis kept assuring the kids that I did not need to ride those. He knows me well enough to know not to put me on those rides. We also went into the room with space artifacts. When you walk in they have a MASSIVE rocket of some sort (I think it was called the Saturn) on its side taking up most the room. Unbelievable how those things are engineered and built,  then actually go into space. We then watched an IMAX movie about the universe and these massive telescopes in the middle of no where. It made me fell like a tiny spec in this vast universe.  It was a good field trip. I think we would have stayed a little longer but we felt like we needed to get out of there because of tornado warnings.  The schools were starting to close. We headed south to the panhandle of Florida.  this is where Curtis served his mission and he has been telling me about how beautiful it is since our first date.  He was very excited to go back and bring his family.  It was windy on the way down, but we missed the rain. Once we  we arrived at the RV park about 9:00 p.m. we immediately got out and walked across the street to the beach. The sand is white and very fine. The kids can't wait to play in it.

Day 5

Memphis TN- We woke up and headed over to see Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. The exterior of the home and the grounds were beautiful, but the inside was WHOA. That is something else.  I cannot even begin to describe the outlandish gaudiness of the interior.  The home is exactly how Elvis left it when he died in 1977, but even for 70's decor, it was still over the top.  I underestimated how flamboyant Elvis was until I saw his home and costumes.  During the home tour, there was a recording of his daughter Lisa Marie talking about Elvis.  She said he only met guests downstairs (we were not allowed upstairs), and he was always fully dressed with Jewels and all when he came down.  She said he jingled when he came down the stairs he wore so much Jewelry.  Curtis's favorite part was his TV room, but I think my favorite part was the dining room.  The rest was just extremely flamboyant.



We then went out to his backyard where there were some other buildings, a trophy room, racquetball court (which actually had more trophies and costumes).  I was surprised at how many trophies, gold records, etc he had.  He was also extremely generous with his money.  There were several cashed checks of $1000 each to charities he had given to.  The city of Memphis also gave him a huge award for his generosity. I liked seeing the office where his dad and assistants worked.  It was fun to see all the old office equipment from the 70s.  His yard was beautiful, and Lisa Marie's swing set was still there.  It was very similar to the ones my friends had from the '70s.  His pool was beautiful, but not very big.  Then we ended up at his grave, with his parents and grandma.  It was fun to see it all and I'm glad we did.  Now I can scratch that off my bucket list.

Next, we were headed to Huntsville, AL to see Curtis' friends Travis and Amanda Howard. Curtis knows them from his Real Estate Group. We drove through a corner of Mississippi which we were very excited to see and experience.  We just wanted to enjoy and feel the country folk as they live.  We ate some good southern food at "Grandma's Iron Skillet.  I couldn't barely understand the employees in the restaurant but we loved the experience of being around them. We were surprised to see more than a few armadillos dead on the side of the road.

We finally reached Huntsville, AL, and parked the RV in front of Howard's beautiful new home. They said cousin Ed of the Griswolds had arrived.   They were happy to see Curtis and meet the fam.  We went to dinner with them at Moe's BBQ.  Amanda had just gotten a new sporty convertible Mercedes Benz.  We went in two cars the kids rode in Amanda's new sporty number.  The kids loved it.  Trey was laughing and saying, "this is the most epicist car,"  Amanda thought he was hilarious.  Back at the house, Trey loved playing with their pool table.  He played by himself for quite a while, shooting the balls into the pockets. The kids also enjoyed their pet bunny "peppermint" the frogs in their backyard, and their dog Bear.  Everyone had a good time that night.

Graceland TV room

Graceland Dining room

Graceland Jungle Room

Graceland Kitchen.

Bathroom inside Elvis' airplane

Record/Trophy room at Graceland    

Day 4

After having a truly restful night's sleep at a truck stop somewhere between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, MO we headed to Memphis, TN. We passed through Arkansas but didn't see much. Very green,  mostly drove through the middle of nowhere.  we had about a 3 hr drive. We arrived in Memphis and it was all about Elvis.  We stayed at the Graceland RV park, which was right next door to the visitor center and his airplanes.

We arrived and got set up, the weather was perfect so we opened all the windows.  I had Derek start working on his schoolwork on the table next to a window in the RV. He looked out and noticed our RV neighbor and he said "great and 80 yr old sunbathing". It wouldn't have been so bad except the neighbors were extremely close and the windows were wide open. I'm sure he heard Derek's comment. He was a senior citizen,  but I doubt he was 80. We tried to lay low from them for the night.

Next, we went to dinner at Marlowe's. It was an award-winning BBQ place recommended by the RV park. It had also been on the food network.  one of the best parts was that they picked us up in a pink limo from our space at the RV park.

We got to the restaurant and it too was all about Elvis. Elvis music playing,  pictures and memorabilia.  I  ordered the catfish,  Trey and; Derek had mac and cheese, and Dax had a bbq baked potato. Curtis had some other BBQ thing with fried okra. It was all excellent.  Derek kept eating Curtis' okra. The BbQ was the most tender, tasty BbQ I have ever put in my mouth. The fried catfish had the most perfect seasoning and wasn't greasy at all. No complaints from Trey either. He is pretty picky about his mac and cheese. 

We were stuffed full but we wanted to try their dessert inspired by Elvis.  it was some kind of peanut butter banana foster over a doughnut. Basically, a doughnut covered in bananas, vanilla ice cream, and caramel, drizzled with peanut butter and whipped cream.  Yum. All those flavors mixed together was a party for the mouth. The food was amazing. I wish we could have it again.


 .. ..

Day 3- Navoo written by Dax

In the morning, the family finished up our Nauvoo part of the national tour. We woke up in Iowa, then went for an early-morning carriage ride around the entire town, followed by a trip to the old bakery in Nauvoo, Illinois. The ladies there were very sweet, and even shared some sweets. Next, our family toured the pioneering basics building, or something along the lines, and made our own strand of rope and found out just how barrels were made. We, then, much to the kids' pleasure, went to the Browning gun shop, the origin of the famous Browning rifle.

Carriage Ride

Trey and Curtis on Carriage

Browning Gun Shop

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Making Rope

 (It was all a bit dull but nice to see such church history.) We then said our goodbyes to Nauvoo. After the Johnsons finished that part, we drove down the great big Mississippi river, and even played in it a bit, too. We found clams and skipped rocks, which all felt very nice - and Tom Sawyer'y. Once we got back onto the road, we went to the Carthage jail and took the Joseph Smith tour. It was all quite a story to see, and a bit of a shock to see in person. After the tour, we drove for a bit more, crossing the 'sipi a couple more times, and drove to St. Louis so we could catch a ball game. It was a great game for the Cardinals, and there were a LOT of fans there. We passed the Arches and other monuments on the way, and they were impressive! To wrap off the night, we drove down near Cape Gerard and slept at a truck stop (of which Dad now thinks Pixar should make a movie of).

Day 2

Spent the first night in an RV park. It got a bit chilly, but once we figured out the heater the RV felt great. It was nice to have breakfast right here in the RV we didn't have to go find a place.

One of the Water Falls at Starved Rock.

Outside Starved Rock, IL

Hiking through Starved Rock

 We started out the day going to Starved Rock state park. We walked around exploring the canyons and waterfalls. The kids had fun doing leaf races in the little streams. The place had a cool setup. Stairs were put in to climb the canyons.  By the end of the hike, our step trackers said we were at 35 flights of stairs. There were these really cute plants that looked like little umbrellas.

Cute Umbrella Plants

At one point Trey was getting tired and he said: "I need to get to the RV" like he has an important meeting or something. We then set out to look for lunch. We ended up in this tiny town, Ladd, IL it seemed like there used to be 4 restaurants, but they had all closed except for one, Softtails bar and grill. When we walked in, it looked like just a bar, not even sure if the kids could be in there. We moved to the back where they actually had tables and lunch menus. It was totally a small town mom and pop, but nice to experience something different.
     We then continued our 2-hour journey to Nauvoo, IL. It rained most of the drive and was kind of windy. We passed tons of farms with huge silos.  It is fun to see these new landscapes. We were happy to arrive in Nauvoo.  It is located right along the Mississippi river. The view from the temple is beautiful.

Nauvoo Temple

 I am surprised at how pretty it is in Nauvoo.  We arrived about 5:00 p.m. as most of the events were closing. We did go to the visitor center and watched a movie about Nauvoo.  We had the entire theater to ourselves.  We then watched a little play done by the Senior Missionaries.  It was funny and the kids enjoyed it too. Craig and Becky Ririe were in it. They are some old friends from Flagstaff, they are here serving a mission. It was really fun to see them again.

Me with Becky Ririe, my old YW President

  We ended the night by crossing over the Mississippi river to our RV park in Keokuk, IOWA. We hit Walmart for some much-needed food/supplies for the RV. In the morning we will head back over to Navoo to really experience it.

everything was in bloom and beautiful

playing along the banks of the Mississippi River, they found clams

Acting like boys chucking rocks into the Mississippi

While we were driving we saw all the different trees in bloom.  Dax came up with a game. When we came up across an interesting-looking tree (many looked different than what we were used to in Arizona) we had to come up with a name that described the tree.  For example "Sea Urchin Tree" or "Popcorn tree"

Day 1 Johnson Family Funormous Vacation

Luggage all lined up and ready to go

Sky Harbor Airport ready to fly to Chicago

Rise and shine 4:30 a.m. The kids woke up easily and were excited about our trip.  Out the door and headed to the airport by 5:00. Arrived in Chicago at about 12:15 then got a taxi to take us to the RV center.  The taxi driver was a nice man named Sam with seven kids, originally from the country Georgia. After a 45 min drive through Chicago we got to the RV place and the taxi driver was interested in taking his family on an RV so he peeked inside one they had sitting out front. The RV manager came out and was so rude to him telling him he just cleaned the RV and how would he like it if he dirtied up his taxi. He was a terrible jerk. Then we had to wait well over an hr to finally get the RV.  They would help someone and over and over and over they kept telling us we were 3rd in line.  Anyway we finally signed off, had the keys and the kids were thrilled.

Waiting patiently in Cold Chicago for our RV

We nixed the idea of seeing much in Chicago. The traffic was terrible, and we had a late start so we just wanted to get out of there. The only thing we really wanted to do before we left was have authentic Chicago pizza. Curtis knew of a place, Gino's East. We headed that way parking the RV in a city with no parking was an adventure in itself. We finally arrived at about 4:00, and we were starved. The pizza was great. I think the secret is their crust maybe it had about a pound of butter in it, I don't know but it was tasty. Then we got back into the "Betty FORD video game rehab center" and headed south. Our next stop is Starved Rock State Park. The weather in Chicago was beautiful by their standards, high in mid-40s. I was glad I brought my coat.

Yum Authentic Chicago Pizza