As our National '12 acts of kindness' tour continues we took off (packed much lighter) on April 17th. Being we didn't need winter clothing and other misc things we didn't use the first time around, we got smarter on what to leave behind. Replacing Jay's ski clothes are his golf clubs in the event that he gets to play golf along the way.
April 17 we headed to Branson, Missouri with the intention of seeing my niece Carolyn, who goes to school at
Barnabas Prep. We got to meet her friends, take her to lunch and tour her school. Time well spent. It was a great start to the 2nd leg of our 48 state tour. Our red My Power of One EMPOWER shirt raises money for special needs individuals. www.mypowerofone.com
From Branson, we traveled into Arkansas (our 16th state) and stayed the night in Little Rock. After a 1 night stay on we went into Memphis, Tennessee (state #17) the next day for a stop at Beale Street and a tour of Graceland. Neither Jay nor I had ever been to Memphis before. It was quite a treat. We ate some of their famed BBQ (which was just so-so; but hey, we are from Kansas City!) and listened to some Blues. Jay spent the next morning touring Elvis's home which he thoroughly enjoyed. We also drove by the famous Sun Studios.
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A little side trip into Clarksdale, Mississippi (state #18) through Jackson, the state capitol and on into Slidell, Louisiana (state #19) allowed for a lot of photo op stops. The MS state capitol was quite impressive and Clarksdale had a blues club that we affixed one of our EMPOWER stickers on their front door along with the many many others. As we travel we like a mixture of history, site seeing old and new and tasting of the local food.
After staying one night in Slidell, Louisiana we headed to New Orleans where we walked the French Quarters and had lunch; a very colorful place to people watch.
From New Orleans, we drove along the gulf coast. There were lots of beautiful southern mansions and photo op stops from Biloxi on into Mobile, Alabama (state #20).
As we made it through Mobile, Alabama we stopped at Spanish Fort for a tour of the Battleship Memorial Park. Pretty impressive place and definitely worth our stop.
From there we drove into the panhandle of Florida (state #21) and through Destin and Santa Rosa Beach. We stayed at a nice RV park in Freeport, Florida that had plenty of room to walk Miss Kacy. The next day we drove through the capitol of Florida, Tallahassee and on into Madison to spend the night at another neat RV Park,
Yogi Bear Jellystone RV park. Super stop after 6 days of continuous driving.
Finally we headed over to Jacksonville, Florida and on up into Georgia (state #22) to stay a few days on Tybee Island. We needed some rest and non driving time before we headed into Macon, Georgia for an act of kindness. We are very grateful to reunite with our friends Patsy & Russell Fellows in Macon and spend some time at The Special Children's Day this coming Friday at Lake Tabernacle. We will interview several individuals for the feature documentary film "Heartbeat" that we are making this year as we travel all 48 states. Exciting times.....
Leaving Tybee Island in Georgia we swirled through Savannah, took pictures in
Bonaventure cemetery and at the Forrest Gump bench site in Chippewa square and had lunch at a five star
restaurant called
Lili's. Such a picturesque city, Savannah is. We've been here before but liked it equally well the 2nd time.
As we are headed to Macon, we decided to stop part way in a lovely little RV park for the night. Super quiet, peaceful and just what we needed before we headed to a busy couple of days in Macon.
April 27th we headed to Lake Tabernacle outside of Macon, Georgia. We met our guest hosts, Patsy and Russell Fellows at the caretakers home so they could guide us into the RV portion of the property. We had the blessing of being the only ones to stay there for THREE nights. It was glorious. A true slice of heaven with a 15 acre lake surrounded by nature. (our cup of tea)
Patsy and Russell treated us like Royalty the three days we were there. True southern hospitality.
Thursday was prep day for the Act of Kindness event we were attending. We mowed and cleaned and did whatever was needed to prepare for 1,000 people the next day. The Special Children's Day was celebrating its 25th year sponsored by the Tabernacle Baptist church of Macon. As Friday arrived we set our alarm early and were ready when the 38 school buses arrived with 1000 special needs children, teachers, parents, caretakers and volunteers. It was a life changing day. Here are some of the volunteers:
We had the good fortune of filming 7 interviews for the feature documentary film, Heartbeat we are making about this journey. Elliott Dunwody was our local camera guy who came to help. He even took drone footage of the event as a bonus. This is Elliott and me watching on his IPad as the drone flies over.
Doing good in the world is the My Power of One way of being. It is our mission to lift up those that are doing good and encourage all others to begin, one act, one day at a time. We've now created the My Power of One International Act of Kindness Day on May 5th. It is our intent to visit an animal rescue center and donate money on May 5th as a gift from one of our donors and ourselves for our act of kindness.
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Leaving Macon, we felt fully satisfied by our time there. It was both restorative and heart warming all at once. The take away for me was in order to be a giver of good deeds it is equally important to be a receiver of good deeds. I often excel at the giving side but forget I need to be available to receive other's acts of kindness as well. Thank you Patsy and Russel for that valuable lesson. We are forever indebted.
After our time in Macon, we headed towards northern Florida for a week of rest. On the way we chose to spend the night in Dothan, Alabama. We attempted to attend a blues and chowder festival but $30/head was too expensive so we opted for a light dinner and return to one more night in an RV park before we got to Florida.
We rented a home on the Bay in Santa Rosa beach, Florida for 1 week. This actually truly is our view. I may not leave.....
Next week we head east...... for more adventure!
