Kentucky - Tennessee Weekend - May 2009

Kentucky/Tennessee

Trip

May 8, 9, & 10th, 2009

Debe, Micah, & Chelcy

It is always fun, going to Kentucky/Tennessee to see my family and friends. This would be my first for the 2009 year. It was college graduation for my niece and nephew so off for a four hour drive I went. Micah rode with me then we stopped at SEMO college in Cape Girardeau to pick up his girlfriend Chelcy. Whenever there is time and we are hungry, it is a stop in Sikeston, Missouri for the home of the throwed rolls. Yes, Lamberts. Be sure to go hungry because you get enough food to eat for a week. So, lets get this short trip started with a big meal.

Micah and Chelcy on the train in front of the restaurant. Lamberts use to be closer to Highway 55 but as the customers grew, they had to go to bigger and better. You can still find the restaurant right off the Sikeston exit but be sure to be prepared to wait if you come during dinner time.

We got seated and it was time for those delicious rolls. Within a few minutes, hot rolls were flying through the air. Thank goodness we had Micah to catch them as they heaved them across the room. Oh, don't forget to get some molasses for your roll when they come around. lol

Not only are the meals huge, check out the size of those drink cups. lol

After we got to Tennessee, it was off to my mom's to get settled in and a good night sleep. Tickets were limited for the graduation so we chose to just visit back home and head to the graduation party after the graduation. Once we were up, it was out the door. Me, Micah and Chelcy looked for a place for breakfast. Places have gotten limited with the local Whistlin Pig and Travelers Inn closed down. But lo and behold, the old Daily Queen in South Fulton was now a "Pappys" so we stopped in and checked it out. Nothing like going to the south, eating out and having biscuits and gravy. And that is what we had. Below is Micah and Chelcy at Pappys for breakfast.
Next it was off to my hometown, Hickman, Kentucky. After a quick visit at my dads, it was time to show Chelcy the big city. lol Since that would only take about 10 minutes, I thought showing her a few landmarks might take some time. First stop, one of the highest areas in Hickman and where you can see the beautiful court house that Hickman has. The court house still has a working clock, thanks to Steve Callison. But the renovation of it in the past few years really makes it look elegant and historic.

From this same point you could see the river where it has flooded behind the old downtown area. If you would like to see Hickman's downtown area, just rent/buy the movie, "The River Rat," as the production team for the movie came in and shot many scenes from the downtown area. They also shot a couple scenes from this very lookout. Since that time (which I think was filmed in the 80's) downtown Hickman has taken a hit with many buildings being torn down taking away the old country look of "downtown!" Next, it was off to see the flooding river. The Mississippi runs right through Hickman and whenever the river is high, Hickman's Harbor has to take action.

From this picture below, you can see that the flood gates have been installed in the sea wall. (this is only one of the areas where the flood gates were installed). In this area, you could always drive through the opening and around into the harbor. People put their boats in the water in this area as they can fish, ski, or just head out to the sand bars for the day. But for now, the water is to high which makes it very dangerous.

If the flood gates are not installed, we can have drive through that opening in the sea wall and end up coming out of the harbor in the area below (photo on the left) This is also the Coast Guard station in Hickman. (that is the Coast Guard boat in the photo) In the right photo is where the road is normally if the water wasn't so high. (a local doing some fishing now) So as you can see, there was no way to drive around the harbor, behind the sea wall while the river is high.

Hickman also has a ferry boat that runs from the end of the harbor area, into open river and over to Dorena, Missouri. Something I rode on many times as a kid when my uncle drove the boat. I have also crossed this ferry coming from my home now. But, as you can see in the below photos, the ferry landing is also flooded making the ferry boat shut down. In the left photo, you can see Bunge Corporation in the distance. In the right photo, those are kids swimming in the flood waters. You can click on the photo to enlarge them and you will also be able to see the signs on the road to mark how high the flood water is.

Oh, and I just can't go to Hickman without stopping for a quick view of the high school. The look has changed some but it still mostly is the same. Fulton County High School brings back fond memories for me and driving by the school and stopping, lets those memories come alive in my mind. Of course, there are some I had rather forget also. lolAnd below, you can see the High School sign that tells everyone what is going on. They were getting ready to finish the 2008/09 school year with all of their activities while as you can tell. This was not there when we were in school. Our parents had to depend on their responsible kids to bring home the notices for activities. Some did, some didn't. lol
There is nothing like leaving town, only to see a tractor crossing sign. I have to admit, this wasn't there when I was growing up. Micah and Chelcy were so fascinated by it, they had me turn around and go back to get a picture. lol I mean, forget the deer crossing signs, if you hit a tractor you are in much worse shape so at least they post it. lol (I think farmers wear ball caps though. lol)

Ok, enough of the hometown Kentucky visit so back to South Fulton, Tennessee to hear about the graduation and go to my niece's graduation party. The photos from the graduation show that University of Tennessee in Martin, the closest college, has a lot of students. Below is the graduating class of 2009.
And somewhere in that crowd is my nephew Dusty Hickerson and my niece Kady Elliott.

In the above photo is my nephew, Dusty while in the below picture is my niece Kady. Both the photos show them receiving their Bachelor Degree diplomas. Way to go guys!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a photo of my mom with her grand kids after graduation.

And here is a picture of my niece Kady with her brother Derrick, mother Joyce, and her other brother Chase.

Now it is on to the party. Kady had a nice crowd for her graduation party and there was plenty of food. In the following pictures you will see a lot of family and friends as they all celebrated Kady's graduation with food and fellowship. What a great time we had.

I guess I should mention that the last photo is of my sister's best friend Lisa who also came to the graduation party. I think in this photo she was celebrating her single life as just a few weeks later - that single life was gone. So as you can see, it was a great weekend of visiting with family and friends. The next day, May 10th, it was back on the road, back to SEMO where we dropped off Chelcy and then back to Wentzville, MO. It was a delight to see everyone and have some great food to go with it. This will be my first of at least three trips to KY/TN this year and I look forward to each one of them with different agendas for each trip.

Thanks, blog followers, for taking this back home trip with me. No, all of our trips aren't elaborate, around the world trips. Some are just to visit the ones we love and cherish. So hopefully you got a little look into that side of our travels also. Thanks again for taking another short journey with me.

THE END