Every Valentine’s Day weekend we take a little trip. This
year was no exception. It was also our first road trip of the year. Our
destination was Memphis. Although we’d passed through Memphis a couple of times
in the past, this was our first time actually stopping in the area. But first
we had to get there…
At this point we set the GPS for the city of Metropolis –
which celebrates its name with a Superman-themed town. Getting there proved to
be difficult. The GPS took us a different way than what our Google maps had
shown. In fact the roads we were on weren’t even on the maps. We never even
found the road we were “supposed” to take. And that was a little disheartening
because Metropolis was located in Massac County, which just happened to be the
final county in Illinois that we needed to get to. At some point we entered it.
But we wanted to get a picture of the sign. So we drove another four miles out
of our way to find the one I knew was there. But we got it! Illinois marked our fourth completed state. Only 46 more to go! We then headed into town to see the Superman sights. In addition to Superman himself, there are also statues of Lois Lane and Kryptonite. There's even a Superman soda machine.
We headed west towards the small city of Lovelaceville. Its
location is very close to an (almost) four-way county corner of McCracken,
Ballard, Carlise and Graves. We picked up the other three and continued south
on HWY 307. Along the way we picked up Hickman and Fulton Counties. Once we
reached Fulton County we headed west towards the city of Hickman. From there we
headed south, crossing into Tennessee and picking up Lake County.
We continued south on HWY 78 towards the city of Dyersburg.
We picked up Obion and Dyer Counties on the way. We then stopped for gas in the
city of Fowlkes. At this point we had to get off the main roads in order to
pick up Crockett County. Once we crossed in we then headed west to pick up
Lauderdale County and get back on the main roads. From there we headed towards
the city of Brownsville. We ended up driving into Haywood County, and through
the small city of Nutbush – birthplace of Tina Turner. Unfortunately it was too
dark to get a picture of the “Tina Turner Highway” sign. But we were on it!
From there we headed straight to our hotel in Southaven,
Mississippi – which is just south or Memphis. We picked up Tipton and Fayette
Counties along the way. Our resting place for the next two nights was the Hilton
Garden Inn Memphis/Southhaven. We ordered a pizza and relaxed in our room for
the evening.
After leaving Graceland we headed south on HWY 61 for a
little side trip. We entered Tunica County, and stopped in the city of Tunica
for lunch at Church’s Chicken. While eating in the car, we continued south,
picking up Coahoma, then taking a side road a few miles in to pick up Quitman
county to the east.
After leaving Clarksdale we continued south into Bolivar County. Once we reached the city of Shaw, we got off the highway because the border for Sunflower County was only one block away. Once we got it we got back on the road and continued south, entering Washington County, where we stopped at the Jim Henson Museum/Chamber of Commerce for the city of Leland. It was pretty cool to see. And admission is free!
Once we left Leland we headed west, crossing the Mississippi
River into Arkansas and Chicot County. From there we went a few miles inland
before heading south on HWY 65 through the city of Eudora, followed by the
Louisiana state line. We only spent about 10 minutes in Louisiana. But we
managed to go through two Parishes. Louisiana doesn’t have counties. They have
Parishes, which are the virtual equivalent of counties. And once we crossed the
state line we found ourselves in the Parish of East Carroll. About five miles
to the west we crossed into (You guessed it) West Carroll Parish. From there we
briefly drove through the tiny town of Kilbourne before heading back north back
into Arkansas.
From there we more or less headed back to our hotel. We went
north and east, picking up Monroe, Phillips, Lee and St. Francis Counties along
the way before we got on I-40 towards Memphis. We had one final stop however.
As we approached the city of Midway we got off the interstate, went a mile or
two north and crossed into Cross County – our final new county of the day.
Feeling quite satisfied we stopped for a late bite to eat at Memphis Barbecue - which
ironically is in Horn Lake, Mississippi, just south of Memphis. After a long
day of driving we retired back to our hotel for the night.
From there we drove a few miles to the Lorraine Motel, the
sight of the assassination of Martin Luther King. The motel has since been
converted into a Civil Rights Museum. But the exterior of the Motel remains
unchanged. Like Sun Studio, we had the run of the place, as there were
literally no other people around. It was very surreal. Apparently a woman was
evicted from the motel in 1988 when it was converted into a museum. She’s been
protesting ever since. Although her sign was there, there was no sign of her.
After leaving the Lorraine Motel it was time to go home. We
had a little over 10 hours of driving to do. Of course we also had a few more
counties to reach. We started off by getting on I-55 north. But instead of
following the interstate system all the way home, we got off near the city of
Gilmore and headed northwest on HWY 63. A few miles later we crossed into
Poinsett County. Shortly thereafter we turned north onto HWY 135 and drove through
the small cities of Lepanto and Rivervale before crossing into Craighead
County. We continued north on HWY 139, drove through the tiny city of Black Oak
(while singing a few lines from “Jim Dandy,” and wondering how a rock group
could hail from a city of just 231 people) and crossed over the Missouri border
and into Dunklin County. We continued a few miles further until we reached HWY
412 near the city of Cardwell. From there we took a left turn, drove a few
blocks, crossed the St. Francis River, and found ourselves back in Arkansas
again – and Greene County. This was to be our last new county of the trip. At
that point we put home in the GPS and headed north. Our commute ended up being
a couple of hours longer thanks to an ice storm in Missouri (which caused about
a dozen accidents on our highway) as well as a snowstorm that covered nearly
all of Illinois. Thankfully we missed the brunt of it. And the roads were
relatively cleaned off by the time we drove through.But it was nonetheless a
rough ride.
We arrived home at 9:55, watched the mid-season premiere of “The
Walking Dead” and went to bed. Our first excursion of the year netted 47 new counties. So what’s next? Well we have a little trip
planned for late March/early April. We’ll be heading to Universal Studios in
Florida. And since the trip is by car, there will be new counties to pick up
along the way. We’ll see you there!
NEW COUNTIES - 47
TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2016 - 47
ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 1312
7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 1312 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 1314.
7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 1312 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 1314.
