Hot Springs, Arkansas

Is the hustle and bustle of Big D getting you down? Then consider reviving yourself with a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It’s just a few hours northeast of Dallas, which makes it the perfect weekend getaway destination. And if you really want to pamper yourself, you can kick back, relax and let Eagle Trailways do the driving.

Hot Springs was named for the natural spring water that flows out of the ground at a temperature of 147°F. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, visitors flocked to the bathhouses in Hot Springs National Park, the first federally protected area in the national park system, to bathe in the healing thermal waters.

These early bathhouses were closed by the late 1940s. But today, you can make an appointment at one of the Hot Springs spas to enjoy a therapeutic thermal experience in either a sitz bath or steam cabinet. After you’ve refreshed yourself, you can go to the public fountain located near the old bathhouses to fill up containers with some of the cool and delicious mineral water that also flows from the local springs.

While in Hot Springs National Park, you’ll also want to take advantage of the many outdoor recreational opportunities available. These include championship golf and tennis, scenic walking trails, excellent bass and trout fishing and year-round water sports on Lake Ouachita, Lake Catherine or Lake Hamilton. And if you’re traveling with kids, you may want to take them to Magic Springs and Crystal Falls, an amusement part that offers an array of fun things to do, from riding roller coasters and splashing in wave pools to listening to live music.

With summer just around the corner, Hot Springs is an ideal place to rejuvenate. And if you travel in a group with Eagle Trailways, you can save money and have fun doing it on motor coaches that are roomy, comfortable and packed with amenities such as reclining seats, VHS/DVD players and restrooms.  So what are you waiting for? Make your reservations to today!

And “Take the bus” is the best thing to do!

Beale Street in Memphis

Are you an Elvis Presley fan? Then you’ve got to go to Memphis –doubly so if you also happen to love the blues. Imagine the good times you, your family and friends could have visiting Elvis’ Graceland mansion in the blues capital of the world on an Eagle bus.

Memphis is located in southwestern Tennessee, not far from where the Mississippi and Wolf rivers converge. It was founded in 1819 by a trio of men that included Andrew Jackson, who would go on to become the seventh president of the United States in 1829. The city was named in honor of the ancient capital of Egypt, which sat on the banks of another major river, the Nile.

The city did not become famous until the mid-1950s, which was when its adopted son, Elvis Presley, first hit the American music scene. Though the man who would one day be the “King of Rock and Roll” was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, he considered Memphis, the city to which he and his family moved when he was a teenager, to be his home. Elvis bought Graceland in 1957 and lived most of his life there. The property was officially opened to the public in 1982, five years after Elvis died in 1977.

Graceland houses the King’s customized private airplanes, as well as his car collection, costumes and many gold records. The only part of the mansion that is not open to the public is the upper floor, which contains Elvis’ bedroom and his beloved daughter Lisa Marie’s nursery. Graceland is popular with tourists throughout the year, but especially around January 8 and August 16, the King’s birth and death dates.

After you’ve had a chance to commune with the spirit of Elvis, you may want to shimmy over to Beale Street in downtown Memphis. This area is famous for its many bars and clubs which feature live blues music.  The area pulsates with the spirit of other music greats such as Muddy Waters, who described the relationship of blues and rock through this song title: “The Blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll.”

Spring is the perfect time to visit Memphis before the heat of summer takes over the city. It’s a friendly, relaxed place where you and your guests can celebrate the lives of artists who created two distinctly American music genres. And Eagle Trailways can get you there in style and comfort for a lot less than you might think. Contact us today and rock on to Memphis!

Just want to extend our deepest thanks to you for your bus service. Mr. Jesse Valenzuela was prompt, polite, courteous…we arrived early in Austin and returned on time to Farmers Branch.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you again and enjoy the week,

Anne Acuna
Director
Farmers Branch Chamber of Commerce

Orlando is the largest inland city and the fifth largest overall in the state of Florida. Europeans began to settle the area in 1836. Before then, Orlando was home to Native American tribes such as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.  Before it became known by its current name (which occurred in 1857), Orlando was named Jernigan after the first permanent settler Aaron Jernigan, a prominent cattleman.

The city’s two most famous attractions are Walt Disney World Resort, which is located approximately 21 miles southwest of downtown Orlando in Lake Buena Vista and the Universal Orlando Resort. The latter is actually an amalgam of  Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. An overlooked theme park in the area is Gatorland, a 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve that is known as the “Alligator Capital of the World.”

If museums are more your speed, Orlando has several art museums including:

• the Orlando Museum of Art,
• the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art,
• the Orlando Science Center,
• the International Trolley and Train Museum, and
• Ripley’s Believe It or Not Orlando Odditorium.

Otherwise, you can visit the botanical gardens located in and around the city, such as the World of Orchids or the University of Central Florida Arboretum which contains more than 600 species of plants in cultivated gardens. Or you can spend a lazy afternoon or two taking in a few rounds of golf at one of Orlando’s many of courses.

The bottom line is however you decide to structure your travel itinerary, you’ll never be without fun and exciting options in Orlando.  And by booking your travel on Eagle Trailways, you not only save money, but also give yourself and your family/guests the opportunity to see more of the great Southeast than would ever be possible by plane. Contact us today and let us show you more of the world for less!

When Austin was originally founded in the 1830s, settlers called it Waterloo. In 1839, the city was chosen to become the capital of the Republic of Texas and was renamed after Stephen F. Austin, the hero of the Texas  revolutionary war against Mexico. In recent years, Austin has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States and is now the 14th largest overall.

Part of what gives this place its vibrancy is its diverse mixture of residents, which includes everything from government employees to business people to high-tech and blue-collar workers and creatives, who come from all over the state, country and globe. While the official city slogan promotes it as the  “Live Music Capital of the World” in honor of such events as the South by Southwest Music Festival, Austinites have unofficially promoted a second slogan, “Keep Austin Weird” that celebrates the alternative lifestyles for which the city has also become famous.

While in Austin, you and your guests can enjoying the city’s many beautiful outdoor recreation areas such as Zilker Park, Mt. Bonnell and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. You can also tour the Texas State Capitol, the LBJ Library and Museum and the campus of the University of Texas. And if you’re in the city on Saturday, April 28, you can participate in that quintessential Austin event, Eeyore’s Birthday Party. Intended as a kind of free-form festival to welcome spring, the Party attracts thousands of people every year who come to eat, drink beer, enjoy games and join a gigantic drum circle that plays until sundown.

Eagle Trailways offers unparalleled transportation service to Austin as well as any other city in the United States and Canada that you might want to visit. With Eagle, the only limit is your travel imagination. Let us show you how easy it is to experience something new anytime you want and for less than you might expect.

Glenn Leslie with another tour
in Branson, Missouri

“One year I picked up a group of senior citizens out of a small town north of Dallas. We were heading up to Branson, Missouri, on a week’s tour for the entertainment there.

“All through the week, we were all having a really good time. I was getting along with the group great. They were having fun because I had been to Branson so many times that a lot of the casts of the shows that we were going to, knew me and recognized me and would call me by name. We’d come in the back door and even some of the stars who were some of my fishing buddies were up there. I’d come in and here they would come over there and slap me on the back and say “Hey Glenn, how you doin?” And the group was just getting a charge out of that. Nearly every theatre we would walk in, you’d recognize one of the cast members and they would come over and greet me. We’d shake hands and hug and everything else. How you doin? Get caught up. That just tickled them silly. And they would talk about that the rest of the night.

“One afternoon they only had one show that evening and that was on the Branson Belle, the river boat up there. So that afternoon a bunch of the group wanted to go shopping. They all didn’t want to go shopping in the same place though. So I told them, “There is two or three different malls and there is downtown. So we will just decide who wants to go where and we’ll start at one end and we’ll drop you off and a couple of two or three hours later we will come back through and pick you up. Then we’ll all get together to go to the show.” That was good. They thought that was a good idea.

“So we did. We gathered everybody up and went out and made the first drop at a mall. I counted heads so I knew how many to pickup on the way back. We went up the strip and went to the second mall and counted heads there. Then we went on downtown as there were a few that wanted to do shopping in old Branson. So we went down there.

Glenn ensuring the comfort
of Eagle passengers

“Well, I bounced out of there after we unloaded the ones that wanted to stop downtown. I bounced out real quick and went over and talked to him for a minute. While I was talking to him somebody else came over, then comes somebody else from the church that knew me, and then someone else and before you knew it was like an old reunion. I was getting my back slapped, my hand shook, my neck hugged. We visited for a little bit, real short and brief.

“And then I bounced back into the bus and the seniors group leader was sitting up on the front set of seats. And he was just looking at me real curiously. We started to pull off because the ones on the bus wanted to take a short tour around the lake and some other points of interest. The group leader just kept looking at me real strange. I finally said “Sir, what is the matter?” He said, “I am just sitting here trying to figure.” “What’s that? Maybe I can help,” I said. “I don’t know,” he says, “is there anyone in this town you do not know?

“I had to laugh. It almost seemed that way you know. He was just absolutely baffled.”

U. Glenn Leslie has been with Eagle Trailways for 24 years and currently handles company operations. In 1991 he took a short break from the charter business to work with some friends in Branson and was singing lead for the Texan’s Country Music Review. He had the privilege to work with many entertainers that were his heroes back in his childhood.

Shreveport is located on the banks of the Red River and is the the largest city in northern Louisiana. It was founded in 1836 by the Shreve Town Company, which was charged with establishing a settlement at the crossroads of the Red River and the Texas Trail, a land route that took travelers into the newly independent Republic of Texas.

The area around Shreveport has many lakes and rivers which makes it a perfect place for outdoor recreational activities.  Cross Lake and Bickham Dickson Park are just two of the many places in and around the city that offer opportunities for boating, fishing and hiking. And if you enjoy mountain biking, you’ll definitely want to explore the 8-mile Red River Bicycle Trail that begins near downtown Shreveport and ends at the Charles and Marie Hamel Memorial Park.

If you are a golfer, Shreveport offers a huge variety of golf courses to challenge duffers, professionals and everyone in between. The 9-hole courses include Champion Links at the Champion Links Course and the Jerry course at the Jerry Tim Brooks Golf course. An even greater array of 18-hole courses exist and include public facilities like the Querbes Park Golf Course and private ones at numerous country clubs around the city.

You may think that you don’t have the time to plan and coordinate a trip to Shreveport–or anyplace else you might want to visit. But when you book an Eagle Trailways bus, you can leave the driving and the pickups to us and focus on making your getaway the best and most memorable it can be. Contact us and let us show you just how easy and economical it is to travel the Eagle Way.

Photo credit:  Brian Bussie of Photos by Brian, LLC

Fredericksburg was founded by a group of German pioneers in 1846. Over 150 years later, the German influence is still quite strong, as evidenced by the many German bakeries and restaurants you’ll find all over the city. The area is also home to some of the finest wineries in the country. You can see it by rental car or bike or take a Wine Trail tour to sample some of the delectable offerings.

If are looking to commune with nature, Fredericksburg is also known for its abundant variety of spring wildflowers.  You can also go for a hike in the Enchanted Rock State National Area. Trails  If you like rock-climbing, you may want to hoist yourself up Enchanted Rock itself, a pink granite exfoliation dome that rises 425 feet above ground and is one of the largest underground rock formations uncovered by erosion in the United States.

History buffs will delight in the National Museum of the Pacific War, which is considered to be one of the finest war museums in the country. It first began as a tribute to Chester A. Nimitz, a Fredericksburg local and five-star admiral in the United States Navy. But now, it is known for showcasing the stories of the participants in the Pacific theater of World War II.

At Eagle Trailways, we take pride in the top-notch transportation services we offer as well as in showing you the best that Texas has to offer to travelers like you. So when you’re planning your next getaway with family, friends or your favorite organization, give Eagle a call and let us be your guide to the destinations that make the Lone Star State a place like no other.

Photo credit: Photolitherland Chris Litherland

Marble Falls sits on the shores of Lake Marble Falls, one of a string of lakes along the Colorado River in central Texas Hill Country. It sits directly between Lake LBJ to the North and Lake Travis the South. The falls are three distinct formations at the head of the canyon with a drop of approximately 50 feet through limestone strata. They, along with the natural lake, were covered over when the Colorado River was dammed in 1951.

The City of Marble Falls was founded in 1887 by a former Indian fighter and Confederate general named Adam Rankin Johnson. The city made history 30 years after its founding in 1917 by electing the first woman mayor three years before women were allowed to vote. When the Max Starcke Dam was completed in 1951, the falls which gave the city its name were submerged under what has since become known as Lake Marble Falls.

The area is a popular vacation destination not only for people who enjoy nature, but also campers, fishermen, hunters, boaters and water skiers. Marble Falls is also a Texas watersport hotspot that boasts one of the largest drag boat races in the United States every August. But no matter who you are, the city has accommodations to suit your individual preferences from cabins to bed and breakfast inns and motels.

When you’re ready to plan your Marble Falls weekend escape, don’t forget to make a booking with Eagle Trailways. Our motor coaches are as comfortable and reliable as they are economical. And our service is second to none. So what are you waiting for? Contact us today!