Texas to Florida

Last stop in Dallas was the 6th Floor museum at Dealey Plaza, located on the 6th and 7th floors of the building formerly known as the Texas School Book Depository. If that doesn't ring any bells to you, its the place from where the shots that assassinated President John F. Kennedy were allegedly fired back in 1963. The building is now home to a museum, documenting the assassination but also the life, times and legacy of the person that was JFK.

Photo of "Dealey Plaza 2003" by Brodie319
Weather wasn't so good when we visited !

With a long drive ahead of us we awoke the next morning to several inches of snow and sub zero temperatures, and despite leaving Dallas at 11 am the highways were still covered in a mix of deep wet slush and hard packed ice patches. Driving conditions went from "bad" to "worst ever" whenever the big eighteen wheeler trucks overtook in the outside lane, spraying our car and everyone else with very thick and heavy slush which temporarily reduced visibility to nothing for several seconds at a time until they passed. It was by far the worst conditions we have driven in but gradually improved as the day progressed, though we picked up several stone chips on the windscreen along the way from rock salt.

The restored Fordyce Bathhouse. now a visitor centre

Our destination was the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and we arrived safely that night though it was incredibly cold again. The city was the boyhood home of former President Bill Clinton, but it is most famous for the natural hot springs that it is named after. Downtown is designated and preserved as a National Park, centred around Bathhouse Row with its collection of old time bath houses. The Fordyce house has been restored and serves as the visitor centre for the National Parks Service, giving a unique glimpse back in time to what life was like in the early 1900's. As a great way to relax and warm up, we "took the waters" ourselves at the Quapaw Bathhouse, one of only two houses that are still open to the public today for bathing.

The tyre sidewall completely blownout

Leaving Hot Springs the weather had warmed up ready for our two day drive back to Florida. Unfortunately within twenty minutes of our early start that day we hit a huge pothole - recently created by the cold weather - which instantly blew out the front right tyre on the rental car and left us stranded at the side of the road. We quickly changed the wheel but the spare was one of those skinny space saver types, and with no nearby location to swap the car out, the rental company directed us back to Hot Springs to a Walmart to have the tyre replaced. We were back on our way by midday but as if to rub salt into the wounds, when we passed the pothole for the second time there was a local road maintenance crew filling it in. Moral of this story should be don't bother getting up so early, but we'll just put it down to bad luck.

We like Cedar Key !

As it turns out we were not too late getting in that night to Mobile, Alabama, which was just a one night stopover before another not-quite-so-long day to reach Cedar Key in Florida. We stopped here back in January and its a place that really captured our heart, so we thoroughly enjoyed returning to somewhere that we've been previously - though the no-see-um's (midges) were more prolific than last time.

A few hours drive brought us in to Orlando where we finally exchanged that rental car for another one, which should be our last one. The previous car served us well considering what we put it through but we're pleased to have exchanged it especially as the rental company upgraded us for free to a better car for our last two weeks. Time is running out fast, and even though the big mileages are done we have a few things still to look forward to which we'll post about before we leave the USA on 24th March. Meanwhile here is a new photo album on Facebook including some previous photos from earlier in Texas.