Map from end of Day #15 - 7/6/05
Location: New Orleans, LA

2 GUYS, 1 CAR, 3500 MILES, 15 DAYS, NO CRISTAL CHAMPAGNE

Come with Mike and Lee as they travel accross the great American south. This website will give you exclusive access to their trip, their stories, and their pictures. Follow the fun-mobile on the map above as Mike and Lee drive across the south. Each day we will have a little video recap, a couple choice photos, and the song of the day. Check in daily for updates. Last updated: 7/10/2005 10:58:52 AM pacific time TRIP COMPLETED, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Pre-Trip Projection So most people graduate college and take a trip to Europe. We decided to take the route less traveled. We decided to go where no Jew has been before…. The Dirty South. The trip was originally planned as a 30 day RV trip that would take us from LA to Boston. It was planned the southwest airline plane home from Indiana in April. This is not the typical road trip your mom or dad went on as a kid. This road trip has been planned to the point where we can tell you what time of the day we will be changing highways in any city. A state of the art GPS system will let us know exactly where we are and let us know as soon as we make a wrong turn. You may still be asking, Why not Europe? My response would be, how can you go see someone else’s country before you have seen your own? I guess it is time to see how the other half of the country, that still thinks they won civil war, lives. Projections: I would guess that we will get lost 12 times. I would guess that 11 of the times it is Mike’s fault. I bet we get pulled over 4 times. I bet we get 0 speeding tickets.

VIDEO: Mike recaps Day-1

Alabama Sign

Gulfport Mississippi

Lee takes the first picture

On the car in FL

Our first hotel!

Welcome to Florida!

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Whoever invented the south definitely liked trees. There are trees everywhere here. Today started off pretty funny. The GPS wasn’t working this morning so we ended up getting lost in a bad neighborhood of New Orleans. That was great. It started working then stopped so we had to do some old school navigation by hand. When we got the GPS back online we discovered that we were about 35 miles off course. We got to see a cool part of Louisiana and Mississippi. We spent the rest of the drive heading east just on top of the Gulf of Mexico and trying to buy a new GPS receiver. It was a long drive… Small country roads and a little traffic. Plenty of Wal Marts, Waffle restaurants, and Winn-Dixie supermarkets. We passed one Office Max (that’s where we bought the GPS receiver). My favorite city so far has to be Gulfport, Mississippi. There were huge plantation style homes right across the street from the Gulf. The sand is so white and the water is warm and calm… but not too clean. Panama City Beach is something like a cheaper Acapulco. Families appear to go to the beach during the day and then play mini golf at night. There are tons of mini golf courses and little carnival rides. I thought dinner was just fine. We ate at LEE’S CHOICE on a boardwalk just over the Gulf. Goodnight Florida!

Wake up call at 8:45AM. After our continental breakfast at Dennys we left the hotel at about 10:30. I would say that we were lost by about 10:38. The GPS was not working so I missed a turn. (And Allegro called so I was distracted). We drove for about 20 minutes through a neighborhood where Mike claims to have seen one white person but I did not see any. Then once we got back on the pre-programmed GPS route Mike told me to go the wrong way. Might have been the best detour ever. Drove right along the Gulf of Mexico. It was cool to see how all of the houses were raised so they don’t flood. Southern Mississippi was beautiful. There were huge houses along the gulf and the sand on the beaches was white. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Waveland, Mississippi to get water and sunscreen. Lunch was at a Subway in Ocean Springs Mississippi. In Alabama we toured the USS Alabama. This ship was a part of two major US wars, WWII and Vietnam. While touring the ship we wondered how someone like Allegro could move around that ship without hitting his head on anything. It takes us another 4 hours to drive 100 miles because Mike has to stop at every electronic store to buy a new GPS even though the GPS works perfectly. We finally make it to Panama City at 9:45 and go to dinner at Pineapple Willy’s. Probably the worst food I have eaten in my life. Is the juice worth the squeeze?

VIDEO: Charleston street performers sing the Mike and Lee song

Almost died taking this photo

FSU Film School

FSU Stadium

Gas station hic

Horse eating at 80mph on highway

Panama City Beach

Road in Florida

Wacky truck in traffic

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Okay. This 8:45am thing isn’t rally working out, but I am getting really good at answering the wakeup call. We were put in a smoking room last night because the 90 year old woman who works at the front desk screwed up. Her boss gave us $10 off. I spent it on a margarita last night. Another nice woman at the Travel Lodge continental breakfast (doughnuts and juice) had some good life advice. She suggested a cure to Alzheimer’s Disease… simply use your brain more often. Great, thanks. Women are so weird. We visited FSU today in Tallahassee, FL. I took a picture in front of the film school here. That was funny. Back in high school they rejected me because I mailed in my application some 3 days late. The picture will go well in a frame next to the letter. There are some really cool roads in Florida. There are trees and green grass everywhere! We plan on having dinner in Savannah, GA and then getting into our cozy bed and breakfast in Charleston, SC around 11pm local time. I’m looking forward to a day off of driving tomorrow. We will spend the whole day in Charleston. See you at cheese and wine tomorrow afternoon in the lobby. So long from 18.37ft, 30.36degN, 80.24degW, 82mph (I love GPS).

Longest fucking drive ever! Only took about 14 hours. If anyone was going to bet who the morning person would be, I doubt anyone would have bet me. So far I have been the first one up, the first one in the shower, and taken the morning driving shift both days. After taking a picture in the middle of the street (which has been nominated for picture of the trip), we stayed in Tallahassee for about an hour. Nicest football stadium I have ever seen on a college campus. I later found out that it was the largest free standing brick structure. We took some quick pics there and had some lunch. The only major city between Tallahassee and our dinner stop of Savanna Georgia was Jacksonville Florida. It had some beautiful scenery and we made a quick stop there but it was nothing special. We ate dinner at the Cotton Exchange, a seafood restaurant on the Savanna River. It was definitely better than last night but will not be nominated for dinner of the trip. After leaving Savanna I realized that the famous park bench from Forest Gump was there. Of course it was in Mike’s itinerary that he printed out. No matter what he says, it was his fault we didn’t see it. Before we left we got the same advice from everyone… Do not take the back roads. Well thanks to Mikes “incredible” navigation skills and our GPS system, we wound up in the back roads on a detour that the GPS must have thought was a shortcut. It was dark with forests and small homes. Mike was quoted saying “If you were navigating we probably would have been able to avoid this”. Just shows who the better navigator is.

VIDEO: Lee recaps day 3

Charleston at night	Do it	Fort Sumter cruise	Fort Sumter flags	Hey now Lee!	Lee and Jordan Grossbart in Charleston bar
Mike is stuck	Nice swamp	Rav4, Mr. Taho, and Mike	Road to Charleston Plantation	Stapes making copies in Mount Pleasant, SC	We spent $150 here

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Good morning Charleston! We slept in a bit today, not getting started until well after 11am. Lee, of course, woke up first and we got started with a tour of Fort Sumter (the spot where the war of northern aggression (as they jokingly put it here) began. It’s a 30 minute boat ride into the middle of the harbor to get to the fort. We had a nice view of the whole city. We learned about how the civil war affected the Charleston area. It’s wild to think that the United States was fighting itself. Next Lee and I visited a plantation. It was $14 a person to visit so we decided not to go on the property, but instead took some photos just outside. These things are huge places and obviously still cash cows. It has absolutely beautiful grounds… We’ll have to come back on the 25th anniversary road trip. Lee wanted to go on a walking ghost tour of the city. I thought it would be really scary, but it wasn’t bad. We got to learn about the ghosts haunting Charleston. One supposedly is just a torso. We walked down so many quaint cobblestone streets. It was perfect. We had a tour guide in training on our tour. He wouldn’t stop talking to Lee and I, but I know he meant well. Nice guy. Plus he was kinda cute. Nightlife in Charleston is great! All the southern cuties and their retarded looking boyfriends come out to booze it up. Looked like everyone preferred beer. Lee and I did it with Kettle and tonic. Right? Basically made up for the savings at the plantation in about 5 minutes. The fish here is great. I had the grouper and Lee had the Mahi for dinner. We ran into Jordan Grossbart’s lookalike in our first bar. Look how he holds a beer just like Jordan in the photo above. We visited a couple other spots, but my favorite was the Market Pavillion hotel roof bar. Hot! Awesome views of the whole city. Some $200 later Lee and I returned to the hotel, made some good drunk calls and hit the sac.

Not having to drive anywhere this day was great because I was able to sleep in until 9:30. Somehow Mike stayed asleep until 11. As I was getting ready to just leave and go to the Confederate Museum he got up and we went to Fort Sumter. We saw where the first shots of the Civil War were shot. We then went to the Magnolia Plantation, but didn’t go in. We just took some pics as if we were there. Our hotel had a wine and cheese hour from 4-6 that we attended. One thing on the trip that I was really looking forward to was the Ghosts of Charleston Tour. It was a little disappointing. Although the tour mostly had adults on it, it was a little childish From what we heard, Hank’s was the big hot spot in town. Dinner and drinks there cost a pretty penny, but it was a great dinner. We were then told to go to Henrys for some live music. The live music was a guy with a guitar and harmonica around his neck. It bar seemed to be a local hangout. We left and walked around the city. There were not many people out during the day, but there were a lot out at night. Somehow we wound up at the top of some hotel that had a really nice bar. We had another drink there and then called it a night. Twinkle, twinkle.

VIDEO: Lee recaps day 4

A plantation road	A town down	Atlanta at night	Charleston hotel	Cotton is king house	Dinner in Atlanta
Lee took this photo behind a couple	Mile 1000	Road in South Carolina	Slave house	A covered bridge	Stone Mountain
Again, we spent too much money	They wanted us to take their picture We're still not sure why	Top of Stone Mountain

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Not going to lie. It was pretty hard to wake up today. Lee again got rolling first and around 10am we began to make our way to Atlanta, GA. We drove some back roads and got to see some small towns like Whitepond and Blacksville. That was interesting. The GPS alerted us to a plantation just before Agusta, GA. It happened to be the plantation of the guy who coined the phrase in the Senate “Cotton is king.” Pretty wild to see his house and his HUUUUUGE piece of land. We drove past the Agusta National Golf Course and had lunch on a cool country main street in a pizza place. On the way into Atlanta, Lee thought it would be fun to see Stone Mountain. All we knew about the place was that there was a monument carved to the leaders of the Confederacy and that the town was the birthplace of the KKK. Turns out that Stone Mountain is a huge modern amusement park renovated for the 1996 Olympics. 1,000’s of families were taking boat rides, camping, and picnicking. Stone Mountain is amazing. It’s a 1,500ft rock in the middle of nowhere. We took the ride to the top and got a great view of Atlanta (too bad for the fog, the view could have been better). Night in Atown was fun. We met up with AHS alum Cori Diamond and her girlfriend who are out here interning at CNN. We had dinner and drinks and then headed to the club to dance to the tunes of the Atown rappers. My dance moves were crazy! Again I passed out in my clothes and I’m not entirely sure how the night ended. All I do know is Lee and I are for sure tearing up the south!

The ride started off in the rain. Of course mike is working on something in the car and then decides to check the GPS and we are not on the right road. As soon as we get to the right road it was an incredible road. The smaller highways off of the main highways are the way to go. Seeing small-town America is interesting. People are wearing overalls and just sitting on their front porches. Some had confederate flags in front of their houses. I don’t really understand what that means? Are they saying they are not American? Do they want to bring back slavery? We passed through a town called Lee, but there was no sign. We had lunch at an alternative rock pizza joint in Augusta Georgia (Home of the PGA Masters). On the way to Atlanta I kinda remembered from my history class that Stone Mountain was just outside of Georgia. I know as the place of the re-birth of the KKK. Well so far it has been one of the best stops of the trip. It is a huge campground/lake/amusement park. It was pretty wild that we have driven for 4 days and not seen any hills then all of a sudden there is just this big rock that comes out of nowhere. Our GPS told us we would be in Atlanta by 3:30, but we didn’t make it in until 9. Definitely wanted to nap before we went out, but that didn’t happen. We had dinner at Vickery’s Bar and Grill. Best dinner of the trip! I had the almond crusted salmon with a soy based spicy bbq sauce. It was definitely the best meal so far, even though we have had some good ones. Cori Diamond and her intern from CNN met us toward the end of dinner for some cocktails. From there we went to the Sutra Lounge. Great times, lots of jokes, lots of fun.

VIDEO: A southern Braves usher dancing

A jewish guy asked us for directions at a light.	Took us 1 hour to find this spot at the game	Centenial Olympic Park	Look... we're Coke people	Found UofA's Coronado dorm in Atlanta	Lee eating at the Varsity drive in
Lees family	Rapper Little John	The Varsity	The World of Coke	Turner Field

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

What a day in beautiful Atlanta. I’d have to say that the highlight today was the Braves game. We had nice seats way above home plate. The only problem was that parking sucks at the stadium. We arrived late in the 1st and didn’t get in until the top of the 6th. But we did get a really cool parking spot, check it out. The budget got a big save today because Lee’s family kindly took us out to dinner. It was a great meal and it helped us recover from the last 2 nights of partying. Finally we had our first night of just relaxing. We took a Jacuzzi and then I passed out in bed while Lee was up typing his log. It was a nice day to catch up on some rest and see the last bit of Atlanta.

When the phone rang at 10:15 to wake us up I thought that there was no way in hell that we would make it to lunch or the baseball game. But, like always, I got up first, took a shower, and was ready to go before Mike even woke up. We had lunch at The Varsity, it is the biggest drive-in restaurant in the country. It also serves more coke than anywhere else in the country. The Varsity parking lot was the site of the first car accident of the trip! Mike was driving down a one-way, narrow two lane road and scrapped our side mirror against another car. The guy didn’t follow us, so I guess he did not care. The baseball game was great. The only thing that sucked was that it took 45 minutes to park the car from the time we got off the freeway. So we sat down kinda late. Either way the game was fun, I am pretty sure the stadium is fairly new. After the game came the most random part of the trip. We were driving to Coca-Cola World and are stopped at a red light when all of a sudden my cousin and uncle from L.A. crossed the street. I have not seen them since his bar mitzvah in april, and then I just see them crossing the street in Atlanta. Next, Mike and I toured Coca-Cola world and got to drink coke from all over the world. It was also interesting to see all the coke commercials over the past 50 years. I just realized that coke tries to brainwash everyone into thinking coke is the most refreshing drink. From there we went to dinner with my aunt and uncle. It was nice to have a dinner under budget for once ;-). After dinner we drove around the city and checked out Centennial Olympic Park. To be honest, it wasn’t that great. It was fairly small, I am sure it was real cool during the Olympics, but it wasn’t that great now. After a relaxing Jacuzzi session it was an early night.

VIDEO: Mike recaps day 6

Tuskegee Airmen	Auburn University	Civil rights memorial	CNN Center
Lee can't get on his mini CNN ID badge	Gay street Auburn	MLK lived here & Montgomery bus boycott lauched here	It's pouring at dinner... we're up the creek!

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

I woke up this morning with a great feeling for the day. First off, I was up first and had a chance to do Yoga while Lee was in the shower. We headed off to CNN and got a cool behind the scenes tour of their studios. From behind glass we could see the anchors broadcast the news. That was fun. Like I mentioned, it felt like luck was on our side. So, at the gas station I bought a lottery ticket… of course… we won nothing. The drive today was shorter than we’re used to. We had a chance to see Auburn University and the site where the Tuskegee Airmen trained. That was interesting especially after hearing about these black pilots on TV documentaries. We got in around 4pm but decided to take a quick nap. Then we drove by MLK’s house, the White House of the Confederacy, the Civil Rights Memorial, and got to see some other parts of the city we may not have thought to see. Montgomery is a great city. A calm center where the AL state capital is, the north (lower income) and the south part (higher income). You get the picture. It was another complete day, despite the lottery loss we had a good day!

8:15 wake up call! Earliest of the trip. I realized that as far as time management goes, it is more beneficial to have Mike shower first so that I do not have to wait around as much in the morning. By 10:15am we were at CNN’s headquarters. It was an awesome tour. We were able to watch the news live from behind the anchors. At school I would wake up everyday and watch Kathleen Kennedy and Renee San Miguel broadcast the headline news in the morning. Today I was able to watch Kathleen Kennedy broadcast the news live just a few feet away. On the way to Montgomery, Alabama we made a few stops. First, we stopped in Tuskegee. This is where they trained the African American pilots for WWII. It wasn’t my favorite stop but it was kind of interesting. We also drove through Auburn where the University of Auburn is. It was a huge campus. Their football stadium looked very similar to Arizona’s. When we got into Montgomery I just passed out for an hour. I definitely have not been getting anywhere near the amount of sleep I have been used to after taking three classes last semester and then having the last 2 months off (Except for when Allegro’s dad made us wake up at 5AM to go to his commissioning ceremony). After my quick nap we drove around for a bit and then got some dinner. While we were at dinner it rained harder than I have ever seen it rain before. But by the time we left, it was fine out. It is 9PM now, 7PM Pacific and I am about to go to sleep the earliest I have gone since probably 2nd grade. Booyaa

VIDEO: We drive in a huge Birmingham thunderstorm

ATM in middle of nowhere	Monument in Kelly Ingrahm Park	Downtown Birmingham	Nashville Grand Ole Opry	At Hard Rock dinner Lee sat in Hulk Hogan's seat!
Nashville at night	Montgomery hotel	Spot where Rosa Parks was arrested	Sloss Furnaces in a thunderstorm	Welcome to Tennessee

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Today was probably the most prolific of the trip. We began early this morning in Montgomery with a tour of the Rosa Parks Museum. I highly recommend this site to anyone visiting Montgomery, AL. The museum was very high tech and included a full size bus with large video monitors in the windows. We stood outside the bus and watched a reenactment of Rosa’s now famous moment. It looked like we were watching real people on the bus. It’s incredible to go through these very normal towns/cities and learn about their very dark histories. Things used to be very different out here and I’m starting to grasp what things must have been like for blacks just some 40 years ago. The afternoon took us to Birmingham, AL where we toured Vulcan Park which is a huge monument and statue dedicated to the iron works which virtually made the city. We learned that Birmingham didn’t really exist until just after the Civil War when people learned that they could mine iron here. Then we left for Kelly Ingram Park (the site where the famous pictures of blacks being attacked by police dogs and high power water hoses were taken). It’s right across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (where 4 black girls were killed in a bombing). This city has a troubled past. We got caught in a huge thunderstorm leaving Birmingham. I think it was the worst weather I’ve ever driven in. Tonight we will see the Grand Ole Opry country show in Nashville. It’s supposed to be very exciting. Lee will be able to talk more about it in his log. He’s driving now as I type. It’s been another great day!

Wow, what a long day. We woke up at 8:15 to go see the Rosa Parks museum that is a black away from where Rosa Parks was arrested for not moving to the back of da bus. The tour had a simulation of the actual event. There was a real bus in the museum with video screens to allow you to see inside the bus as they re-enacted it. From there we drove to Birmingham, AL. Our first stop there was at Vulcan Park. It is a huge statue of a Greek god that has represented Birmingham since the city began just after the Civil War. Next we went to see some of the sites from the civil rights movement, such as the site where the police and firefighters were hosing down protestors. We drove by the Sloss Furnaces but by this point it was raining way too hard to get out of the car. As we were trying to leave the city it rained harder than any rain I have ever been in. You know how when you see lightning you hear thunder a few seconds later? Well we were so close to the lightning that there was no delay in sound. You can watch the video of the day for more details. After eating a quick lunch at Sonic Burger in Gardendale, AL we continued to Nashville, TN. We went to a country music concert at the historic Grand Ole Opry. It was a great show even though I have no interest in country music. The only song I recognized was the one from the beginning of the movie ‘The Big Lebowski’. The highlight of the show was a good old fashioned “Cheek Off”. Two of the members of a band tried to out do each other by playing beats on their cheeks. It was pretty funny. After the show we went to dinner at the Hard Rock Café in downtown Nashville. It was one of the nicest ones I have been to and had a lot of country music memorabilia in it. After dinner we took a lot of nice scenery shots. I have taken some amazing night shots on this trip thanks to everything Ken Neely taught me (High School Photo Teacher). Haha. I would say that between Mike and I we have taken about 500 pictures so far this trip. Clickity Clank.

VIDEO: On Beale St., Lee recaps Day 8

2000 miles!	President Andrew Jackson's grave	Beale St. Memphis, TN	Mike & Lee reinact the battle of Shiloh	Nashville hotel
We felt bad so we went to Europe today outside Nashville	Shiloh, TN	Sun sets on day 8	This held up the highway for 30 minutes	A wild turkey at Shiloh

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Today we embarked on another US history day. The morning took us to the home of President and General Andrew Jackson. His grave says General I guess he was more proud of that? Lee and I couldn’t figure that part out. He owned a huge plantation and we got to see the insides of his home. He had it pretty good. The afternoon brought us to Shiloh, TN home of a great Civil War Battle. As we got there the Park Ranger was shutting down the cash register so we didn’t have to pay a thing! Mark that one in the budget Lee! Shiloh is gigantic. I can’t believe these people marched and lugged cannons around this place. For history’s sake, Lee and I reenacted a battle. I portrayed the North and was victorious pushing Lee into a retreat. In the morning we’ll bury the dead. In the evening I enjoyed some good BBQ ribs on the famous Beale Street. Our hotel is right on the Mississippi river. Tomorrow we’ll need to find some Indians to help us caulk the car and float over to Arkansas on our continuing journey out west on the Oregon Trail.

Well it was another extremely busy day. We got up and went to the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s plantation. I feel like this would be a good ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ question. It was kind of weird that the tour guides kept referring to him as General Jackson, not President Jackson. It was an interesting plantation and the biggest one we have seen yet, but I think I am all plantationed out. There is only so many times you can see a huge plot of land and imagine the days when cotton grew everywhere. From The Hermitage, we drove to Memphis and stopped at Shiloh Military Park on the way there. I remembered reading Shiloh for my DCE (Huge project Sr. year of HS). It was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. After that fact I really don’t remember anything else about it. To be honest, I am not even sure if I read the book, but I pretended I did. We arrived in Memphis at about 9pm. Beale Street is the big street in this city. They compare it to Burbon Street in New Orleans but only smaller. I guess in 4 days I can let you know how it compares. Wednesday night must have been biker night because the whole street was filled up and down with bikers. I don’t know anything about bikes but some of them were pretty cool looking. There is a perpendicular street that runs through Beale Street, on the far side of the street were all the Black bikers. Kind of odd. We ate at the Blues City Café for a traditional southern meal. We hung out on Beale Street for a bit and then got some sleep.

VIDEO: Mike and Lee cross the Mississippi!

Best Roast Beef of the trip!	AR Capitol looks like DC	Arkansas state sign on bridge	Clinton Library	Doesn't get much more classic than this @ Graceland	Elvis' Plane not too bad
A truck towing a truck, towing a truck, towing a truck	Elvis' living room	Lee and Elvis	Lorraine Motel	Our Memphis hotel	Site of MLK's assassination

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

Quite an interesting day... We began things in the morning at Elvis’s Graceland Mansion. Boy did he know how to live. Racquetball courts, horses, pool, shag carpet walls and ceilings, full service kitchen… the man really had a blast up to the end. We got to see his 1,000’s of awards and gold records, private huge jet, toured his home, and paid our respects at his gravesite. Before we left Memphis we possibly had the best sandwich of the trip at a place called Alice’s Urban Market. I took a picture of it for you. See above. Next we visited the Lorraine Motel which was the site of MLK’s assignation. The motel front is built into the National Civil Rights museum. It’s crazy looking. Lee and I felt like we had enough civil rights education thus far so we snapped some photos and headed over to Arkansas! The start of the drive into Arkansas reminded me of Camarillo, CA. It looked similar. We got into Arkansas in the early evening and had a chance to snap a photo in front of Clinton’s Presidential Museum (which we plan on visiting tomorrow) and by the Arkansas State Capitol Building. It looks very similar to DC’s Capitol Building. Dinner was great in Little Rock’s Rivermarket District. The idea was to do laundry after dinner, but Lee and I just passed out. An hour later we woke up and headed over to the laundry room. Both machines were taken so we headed back to the room. On the way back down the hall a woman opened a door to tell something to her boyfriend who had just left for ice. She was in a t-shirt and her underwear. She saw me, screamed, and closed the door quickly. An odd end to a busy day and I only have 1 more pair of clean underwear…Thank you, thank you very much.

The first stop of the day was Graceland. Elvis had one of the most remarkable lives and one of the most interesting stories to go with it. First off, Elvis Enterprises, Inc., the company that runs everything now must be one of the most profitable businesses in the world. They charge so much money and there were hundreds and hundreds of people there. His house was amazing for the time period in which it was occupied. We have some pretty good pictures of it. From there we went to the site where Martin Luther King was shot. Although we did not go in, we were able to see the hotel room that he stayed in the balcony area where he was shot. Outside was some crazy woman who has been protesting the museum which is connected to the hotel. She has been protesting for 17 years. So I guess she has just been sitting there for 17 years. From there it was a quick shot to Little Rock, Arkansas. I would have to say that of all the cities we have been to so far the one that I would definitely not go back to is Little Rock. It just did not have much going on except for the Bill Clinton Museum. On the way to dinner we stopped at the state capital which is an exact replica of the nation’s capital. We ate dinner at Bosco’s which was right on the water. After dinner we were planning on doing laundry. We got back to the room and both just fell asleep. Then Mike woke up and hour later and woke me up to go do laundry. We were both so tired but walked down to do laundry. It took forever find the laundry room and once we did, it was being used. We were over it and just went to sleep.

VIDEO: SPECIAL (from May 2005 Washington DC trip) Lee impersonates Adam Allegro. Check it out!

Thank God we made it to this gas station!	Arkansas sign	Mike atop hot springs AR	OK Bomb memorial at night	Goodnight day 10	Hot Springs, AR
Hot water!	Our laundry room	Lee's in the Oval Office	Oklahoma sign	Planters plant	We missed the Spiro Mounds

Mike's Log

Lee's Log

The day began with Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library. Very cool. Very modern. Worth the trip for sure. It provided a very personal look into the President’s personal and professional life. After the library we had what Lee claims was the best sandwich of the trip. I respectfully disagree, but he is welcome to that opinion. The drive from Little Rock to Hot Springs was very nice. Hot Springs, AR is a city and US National Park built on top of natural hot springs. Water leaks down into the earth is heated and then comes back up. Before the invention of modern medicine the city served as a medicinal retreat where people were treated with steam and hot mineral waters. We touched and drank the water. Very hot, the cool water was good tasting. The drive from Hot Springs to Oklahoma City, OK was a long one. We nearly ran out of gas along the way and some 30 miles after the empty light found a small station to refill. You filled up then paid. That was odd to see. Oklahoma City seems nice. We had dinner in a nice neighborhood called The Brickyard which surrounds a nice baseball stadium. Before bed we walked through the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It was very touching at night. We will visit the museum tomorrow. We stayed up very late doing laundry, but at least I have clean socks now. Time to catch up on some sleep.

Wow, well I just finished driving the whole way from Little Rock to Oklahoma City. The day started off at the Clinton’s Presidential Library. It was a very nice building and had basically everything that ever had to do with Bill Clinton’s presidency and life. My favorite part was the picture of him in college with a full beard. Another cool part was that it had his schedule from everyday of his presidency. So you could see what he was doing at every minute. It is pretty crazy how was life is planned to the minute. From there we went to the Hot Springs about an hour outside of Little Rock. It wasn’t the best stop of the trip, but it wasn’t the worst. Natural water was coming out of the ground at 140 degrees, which is really hot! Then I drove all the way to Oklahoma City. I was just on a driving high and didn’t want to stop. We had our first gas scare of the trip. Our gas light went on for the first time and then it took about 30 miles for us to find a gas station. The GPS bailed us out of that one. There was a bank with a confederate flag hanging right across the street from the gas station. We attempted to stop and the Spiro Mound State Park, which contains ancient Indian Burial Mounds, but they were closed when we got there. We got into Oklahoma City around 10PM, just as the minor league baseball game was getting out at Bricktown Ballpark. It is definitely the hot thing to do in this city on a Friday night. There is a lot of nice bars and restaurants right around the park. We ate dinner in the area then went to the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. It was good thing I talked to H (my college professor / Chapter Advisor) because he told me to go to the memorial at night. It was very moving and nice to see it all lit up at night. We are going back in the morning to tour the inside of the memorial. And after 10 days we finally get some laundry done.