A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 15 – July 29:
After Breakfast this morning, I packed up my things and headed east out of Little Rock on I-40 for 30 minutes to visit the Lonoke County Museum in Lonoke, AR but they were closed. So, I continued east on I-40 for another 45 minutes to visit the Central Delta Railroad Museum located in Brinkley, AR. This museum is housed in the restored 1912 Union Railroad Depot and displays antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia related to the influence of the railroad on the Monroe County area over the years, dating from the early 1800s.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Continuing east on I-40 for another 25 miles, I visited the St. Francis County Museum located in Forest City, AR. This museum has recently been moved into the Historic 1906 Rush-Gates house and displays artifacts from Dr. J. O. Rush, such as his medical clinic, a Native American room, including many pre-historic items from Dr. Rush’s collection, a parlor room, and a ’Hall of Schools’ room depicting the evolution of the St. Francis County education system over the years. Other display rooms include a genealogy room and a railroad room.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Now it was another 45-minute drive east on I-40, across the famous Mississippi River (the border), to visit the Metal Museum located adjacent to De Soto Park in Memphis, TN. I had visited Memphis on another road trip, but most of the museums I had visited on that trip revolved around Elvis Presley and the Country Music Industry. I found that the Metal Museum is very unusual and is dedicated to the art of ornamental metal design. The museum displays a wide range of metal artwork ranging from jewelry to weathervanes, swords, unique BBQ devices, and many others. The museum offers visitors an opportunity to watch a blacksmith at work forging metal artwork of all types. His creative ability is simply amazing!
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was just a few blocks drive from the Metal Museum to where I visited the Edge Motor Museum located in downtown Memphis. This museum displays a variety of some 25+ sport and muscle cars dating from a 1913 Ford T Runabout, that tell the story of the American Sport Car from the prospective of their historical and cultural significance.
The cars come from different sources, and the selection is rotated from time to time as other cars become available for display.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Over a couple of streets from the Edge Motor Museum I visited the Fire Museum of Memphis. This museum is situated in the restored 1910 Fire House #1 and displays fire engines, firefighting equipment, and memorabilia dating from the late 1800s. A unique ‘Fire Simulation Room’ demonstrates how residential fires can start and how the local fire departments fight and control those fires. Interactive firefighting stations are available for the education of persons of all ages.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
My plan was to visit the PT Boats Museum located in Germantown on my way out of Memphis, but they were closed. Bummer! I had been looking forward to that museum as I love the WWII version of ‘David vs. Goliath’ with the small plywood PT Boat up against the giant Japanese Battleship. Oh well, maybe next time I’m in the area. So, now it was southeast on US-72 another 10 miles to visit the Morton Museum of Collierville History located in Collierville, TN. This small museum displays antique artifacts and memorabilia related to the Bellevue Female College that operated in Collierville from 1872–1904 and the many lives that this educational institution touched over the years.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
On my way out of Collierville, I stopped to take a photo of the Battle of Collierville historical marker. The marker describes one of the bloodiest Civil War Battles, for control of Collierville’s Union Supply Base, to take place in Shelby County during that war.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
Continuing east on US-72 for about an hour, I crossed the border into Mississippi and wanted to tour the Cocoa Cola Bottling plant located in Corinth, MS but there were no tours today. So, not to be discouraged, I drove over to visit the Historic Corinth Depot (also known as the Corinth Crossroads Museum) there in Corinth. This museum is housed in the third railroad depot to be built on this site (1st -1857, 2nd -1912 & 3rd-1960), and displays antique railroad artifacts and many Civil War memorabilia related to the fight for control of this strategic railroad crossroad during historic that war.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was almost time to head for the motel for the evening, there in Corinth, so I gave Greta (My Garmin) the address. But on the way I spotted the local Cracker Barrel and stopped for a plate of their Crusted Fried Pork Chop with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and one of their famous biscuits with butter and honey for dessert. Yummmm! I can’t eat all that food at one sitting. That means there was plenty left over for another delicious meal tomorrow evening.
Photo Credit:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/pork+chops+greenbean+cass arole+potatos+gravy
By the time I got to the motel, there in Corinth, I was ready to relax and I recorded today’s activities. No TV tonight, as I was tired and ready for a good night’s sleep. So, ZZZZ…..
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 