30 April ‘09

Thursday

We had enough of a break in the weather yesterday that we finally got out on the water.  It had been a long time since we’ve had the kayak on the water, but even with a heavy cloud cover we quickly decided to go for it.  Lake Freeman has been a draw ever since we pulled up to its shore, all we had to do was wait and hope for a day or two so that we could put-in.  Lake Freeman is part of the Tippecanoe River system, so it has a current and if there is a wind, you’ve got a double fight once you get into the water. Fortunately, two days before we checkout, the wind dropped to a breeze and the water opened up for a very nice paddle.  We were out for about 2 hours and really enjoyed ourselves.  The only negative of the paddle was as we were coming back across the lake.  We were now fighting the current by crossing it and we were being hit with a stronger wind that kept throwing water at us off of the rising paddles.  All and all, we had a great day…

Now the day before that, we decided to go see a movie.  The problem with going to a movie here is that the only theater in town (Monticello) is showing Hanna Montana.  Well that wasn’t the only “Picture House” around so we drove another 30 miles to East and a much larger town.  Logansport is about 3 times larger than Monticello and we knew that we could find a theatre complex for sure.  Boy were we surprised… Yep, they have a theatre, and it happens to be the same size as the one in Monticello, and it is showing the same movie….NUTS!!! 

Today we also had a chance to say "Hi" to some friends that we haven't seen for a loooonnnngggg time.  It was really great to make contact with Paul and Denise and we hope to see both of them soon as we journey further East. 

Well tomorrow morning we will find our way to Goshen, Indiana and join with the Holiday Ramblerin Ramblers for our rally...lets hope that I learn a lot during the next week.

26 April ‘09

Sunday

The roads in Indiana have proven to be the worst roads we’ve been on.  We were totally surprised by the roughness of the highways, especially on I-65 which we’ve traveled on for some time.  They are soooo rough that at one time we had to pull off the highway and tighten all the screws that hold the TV in above our seats.  Then I happened to notice that the fan would quit running for awhile and then start up again after we hit another of the bone jarring bumps.  Not only would the fan giving us trouble but the back camera was doing the same thing….off/on/off/on…  It seems we’ve got a short circuit somewhere and the bumpy roads are not helping.  When we pulled into our campground we found out that we really did have a problem.  When it came time to “dump the air”, the switch wouldn’t activate and we couldn’t dump.  Checking the hydraulic jack’s, they didn’t have electrical power either…then we found that the exterior step wouldn’t extend…”S___t !!!”  And of course, we were about as unlevel as we could be.  This was turning out to be one of the toughest days we’ve had for some time.  The wind was gusting between 15-40mph and the temperature was maintaining a solid 80 degrees. 

Well I’ve got to try and find out what kind of problem we’ve got and get it fixed.  I started with the wiring under the dash.  With 8 screws I’ve got the radio, air/conditioning and fan switch, and 3 other switches all out on the floor.  Now I can check the connections on these and follow the wires back under the dashboard.  Unfortunately I found NOTHING…  Next I started checking all the different electrical boxes in the outside driver’s compartment.  Hell there are so many wires that just go no-where that I was just hoping that they weren’t the problem so I left them be.

  Then there was the “hundreds” of fuses…I checked all of them to no avail.  Soooo, I put the lid back onto this large fuse/wire box…”WAIT, DID THE STEPS JUST GO OUT???”  Yep, they did, all was back.  I ran around to the door, got up into the seat to dump the air and…”NOTHING !!!”.  Back out and try to do it all again.  Well it worked, so I left the lid off the electrical box and everything is working for now.  We’ve dumped the air, dropped the jacks, and the step is out…we’re here, comfortable, and trying to find out just what “the problem” is.

The wind hasn’t let up one bit over the last 3 days and tonight it is starting to rain just as hard.  I was hoping to get our problem under control but I guess we’ll have to wait until we get up to Goshen.  In Goshen we’ll have someone that will be of great help and we’ll welcome every bit of it. 

Now, who can help with the weather???

25 April ‘09

Saturday

After leaving Louisville, our journey heads towards Goshen, Indiana.  This route took us through Indianapolis.  Now I’ll bet there are very few who would continue through Indianapolis and not find their way to the suburb, Speedway, and the Internationally famous race track, “The Indianapolis Motor Speedway”.  Well we took the detour and soon found ourselves going through their museum.  I would bet that they have a car from every 500 race that ever took place at the “Brickyard”. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway complex was built in 1909 as a gravel-and-tar track and hosted a few small events before the promoters decided to focus on just one major event.   If by chance it had rained prior to or during one of the races, the track would almost become impassable.  It did cause a few deaths because of it, so the track was paved with 3.2 million bricks.  Even today there’s an area around the finish line that has some of the original bricks. The first “500” was held at the Speedway on Memorial Day, 1911 and who knows how long they will continue.

While we were enjoying ourselves in the museum, we got a call to board a bus for a drive around the track.  We joined 8 or 9 others and drove through the gates and onto “The” track.  The start of our ride took us through turn 3 and then onto the straight-away…  Looking out the front windshield of the bus at the track, showed the straightaway as being FOREVERRR….  The speeds that the Indy cars reach on this length of raceway is amazing and then they have a couple of corners to go through…AMAZING TWICE !!!  And then the run towards screaming crowds at The Grandstands, the Pagoda, and then the CHECKERED FLAG.

  As I was standing at the front window of the bus taking pictures, the driver asked if I wanted to open the door and stick my camera out for a picture….”sure”…  He stopped the bus, opened the door, and said with a wink…”Don’t step out”….  Hell, I fell out, it was an accident I swear…  so I was “THE” only one that actually got out on the track and it was at the finish line too (we’ve got to keep that a secret..). 

Back at the museum we enjoyed the opportunity to sit in one of the Indy Cars (a very special one…you know, no motor, wood floor/seat…all the necessities).

  Just as exciting as the cars in the museum to me, were the paintings of Leroy Neiman.

  What a talent…  We did have a great time, short but good.  Well time had come and we had to continue onto Monticello.  Our campground for the rest of the week is White Oaks and sits on the shores of Lake Freeman.    

24 April ‘09

Friday

Sometimes it seems that you are never at the right spot at the right time, and in Louisville we are 2 weeks early AND two days late…  Two days before we arrived, Louisville enjoyed their “Thunder Over Louisville” fireworks show.  We have been told that it is THE largest fireworks display in the country.    The best seat for the show is “anywhere downtown”…  They have two weeks of celebration prior to the big race at Churchill Downs and “Derby Day”… 

This morning we drove out to Churchill Downs to take in the museum and track.  We heard that we wouldn’t be able to go out to see the grandstands

and track because “the trainers are working with the Derby horses” but when we purchased our entry tickets they told us the tour to the track would take place in “20 minutes”.  That announcement made our day… 

I’ve been a little surprised by names that have continuously come up…  Living in the Pacific Northwest, we have always read, visited, and traveled the waters of Lewis and Clark that related to “our area”.  Traveling through Tennessee and Kentucky their names and reputations are still with us as in our visiting the monument to York.  Well Clark has come up again…

The track is named for John and Henry Churchill, who leased 80 acres of land to their nephew, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. (grandson of explorer William Clark). Clark was president of the Louisville Jockey Club in 1874. His father-in-law, Richard Ten Broeck, was a horse breeder and trainer, and introduced Clark to horse racing.  Clark ran the racing club for about 3 years but had trouble making enough money to do the necessary expansion.  He found a buyer by the name of Applegate.  Applegate sold the track in 1902 to Charles Grainger who really took charge and made Churchill Downs what it is today.  A new clubhouse was built, the highly recognizable “twin spires” were added,

and the length of today’s track was completed.  Today, Churchill Downs covers 147 acres and reaches crowds of 150,000 highly energetic fans that want to flock to the wagering booths at Derby day. 

One more spot that I we see on TV while watching the race, is the Paddock, were we'll see the "Saddle Up" call again this year. 

I found this note of history to be interesting…On June 5, 1907, African American jockey James Lee set a record that has never been beaten when he won the entire six-race card at Churchill Downs.

The tour to the grounds didn’t disappoint, it was great.  We did have a chance to see a “retired” Derby horse, but unfortunately neither Louise nor I can remember her name…but she was really beautiful and did a great job of coming in 4^th on her day at “The Show”. 

22 April ‘09

Wednesday

While walking around Louisville we happened upon a large bronze statue overlooking the Ohio River.  "His name was York - just York, nothing more, for he was a slave who had no legal right to own anything, even a last name.  York was a slave, the personal body servant of Captain William Clark. York had been born into the Clark household and probably began his service to William Clark as a young boy.  They were reported to be about the same age, but York was a servant to young William Clark.   When William Clark joined with Meriwether Lewis to search for a route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, he took his slave with him. York worked alongside the other men. He carried a gun and hunted for food like the others. He shared in the dangers, work, and he traveled to the shore of the Pacific Ocean.

 York was the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, served as an equal member of the team, and was granted freedoms and responsibilities beyond anything he had known back East. When the expedition encountered Indians who had never seen a black man before, York was a marvel to them.  His black complexion was seen as a mark of great honor.  The very thing which marked York as mere property and a slave in the United States was seen as a sign of special worth and dignity by the Natives. The Arikara, for instance, were astonished at the Black man and considered him "big medicine." When the expedition returned to the United States every member received not just the money and land they were promised by the government, but double portions of land and money.  Only York received no payment.  As a slave, he was owed nothing.  All of his work was the property of his master, William Clark.  York and Clark soon moved apart and never made contact with each other again. 

Today was a day we would walk a lot…  After taking in the river front, we headed back into town again to check out what Louisville offered for lunch.  Bristol’s was going to be our choice, and what a great choice it was…  We not only had a great meal, but we had a server that went above and beyond to make us welcome to Louisville.  We stopped into a shop just across the street from the restaurant.  They had a large display of “Derby Hats”

and we just had to check them out seeing as how the Derby was coming up next week.

Located in the heart of historic downtown Louisville, Kentucky, we walked over to the Muhammad Ali Center. 

 It was set up as a cultural attraction and international education center inspired by the ideals of the hometown hero Muhammad Ali.  They put together a great collection of pre-Ali to Ali today.  Unfortunately we didn’t have to time to do the center justice, but we sure hope that the next time we get back we will find more time to enjoy it. 

We had previously made arrangements to view “The Kentucky Story” at the Kentucky Center and Brown Theatre.  I was expecting it to be like “Flying Over Washington”, but it really let me down…it would rate “Fair” and barely worth the $6. 

OK, our last stop for the day…The Louisville Slugger Museum and manufacturing plant.

  Surprising to us it was locate on Main Street, Louisville.  Brass commemorative Home Plates were imbedded in concrete just outside of the museum for such baseball greats as Babe Ruth

and softball great Dr. Dot Richardson and others.  Inside you could purchase Louisville Bats with your signature etched into it, tour the plant were they spin the bats to perfection, and…for a dollar, you could take swings at 10 balls in the batting cage to see what you could do with a 40mph baseball coming at you.   

I must say, it has been a long time since I’ve had a bat in my hand and…I didn’t do too bad at hitting a few back to the fence with some force (I did it twice…). 

21 April ‘09

Tuesday

We left Mammoth Cave’s on a bright and sunny morning that we hoped would stay…it didn’t…  Driving up I-65 toward Louisville, Louise came up with a stop that we thought we would enjoy  the boyhood home of Abe Lincoln.  Just outside of Hodgenville, we arrived at The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site. 

It had been a long journey since his birth on February 12, 1809 in a small cabin near a mill that is now Hodgenville, Kentucky.   The park is located in a forested setting on what was once Sinking Spring Farm, which had been purchased for $200 in 1808 by Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. Abraham (Abe) was born soon afterwards and spent his first two and a half years here before moving to a farm on Knob Creek about 10 miles to the north.  Although it was cool, overcast, and off and on rain, we enjoyed the drive through the brilliant green Kentucky countryside.  I must say however, the roads we traveled off of the Interstate were very narrow and kept me on my toes the whole time we were driving to and from the Lincoln sites.
The park consists of a visitors’ center, the birthplace memorial and Sinking Spring. As we have seen all over this part of Kentucky, the forest has been terribly damaged by the ice storm in January and many areas of the park have been closed because of danger from falling branches still hanging above trails and open areas. Unfortunately, the park facility at Knob Creek was closed due to ice storm damage. 

One more thing, this last March 13^th, the US Mint issued a new Lincoln One-Cent coin that has a re-design of the Lincoln cabin. 

Leaving the Lincoln Historic Site behind we continued on those same narrow roads on our way to Makers Mark in Loretto, Kentucky about 30 miles further off of the main roads.  I’m sure they don’t travel many of these roads with motor homes and larger trucks.  They are narrow roads and there are NO shoulders

5 miles outside of Loretto and following a long driveway we found ourselves arriving at Maker’s Mark Distillery.  Unfortunately for us, they didn’t have a parking area that could handle a motor home with a toad.  We tried to make a U-turn but found ourselves caught half in and half out of the parking lot.  Fortunately we weren’t in a position of blocking anyone right away, but we still had to un-hook the toad pretty quickly.  After getting the car parked we took the coach over to the side of the driveway and finally felt we were set to go in and join a tour. 

Maker’s Mark Bourbon Distillery is in a beautiful surrounding of dark green hills, a crystal clear stream, and buildings that date back to the early 1920’s.  One of the buildings was called the “first package” store in Kentucky and it just happens to be here at Marker's Mark. 

Those that wanted to re-fill their bottles or flasks would pull up to this building and purchase their needs.  Something of interest about the distillery, bottling, and warehouse buildings, they are all painted in a dark charcoal coloring with dark red shutters.  The dark charcoal color is perfect because of the black mold that all distilleries produce and cover all the buildings and trees within 100 yards of the brewing area.  This tour was much quicker than the one we took at Jack Daniel’s but on this one we were awarded with a tasting room that we could actually taste Maker’s Mark Bourbon.  One more tasting was offered during the tour…sample the mash… 

 The first tank of mash had a sweeter taste to it.  The second tasted a little like a “stale beer” and the last one was just plain sour.  Maker’s Mark also has made it’s self a recognizable mark…the red waxing seal it receives at the end of the bottling process.

  I’ll say one thing, I did enjoy the tour here at Maker’s Mark but I still enjoy J/D more….what can I say??? 

For some reason I had a heck of a day “feeling” the directions we were traveling today.  It could have been that the narrow and undulating roads kept me holding the wheel tight and eyes close to the coach.  I just felt lost all day.  Finally we intercepted with I-65 again and headed the last 20 miles toward Louisville and our next campground.

20 April ‘09

Monday

We had another night of off and on rain.  As we slept(?) the rain would come down with vengeance, and then it would come down with the sound of a droplet the size of a baseball…BLOP, BLOP, BLOP…  I have to say, we have had better sleep.  Just after 10am we drove off to tour the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The National Corvette Museum is perfectly located directly across the highway from the GM plant that manufactures the Corvette.  While we were there, they had 4 Vett’s all ready for the new owners to accept delivery.  One of the couples taking delivery was walking through the museum with their son and daughter in law as we were walking in.  Their conversation indicated that it was to be their 2^nd or 3^rd time taking delivery of their new car.  Lots of excitement…  Of course the first thing you do when coming into a museum like this, is to watch a video.  The video was titled The History of the Corvette and was worth the 15 minutes that it took to watch it.

Following the video you walk out into the display area that feature the Corvettes in realistic period settings

such as a 1960’s Mobile Station and etc…  Then it was onto a large interactive Pitcrew Challenge that puts you in the pits with the chance to set a record for changing a tire or fueling the car before it jets out onto the track again…  Another display was set with all the original (except one..) Corvette Pace Cars from around the world races…  I was amazed at the amount of Vett’s that were on “Temporary Display” by the private owners around the country.  All of the Pace Cars (except one…) are owned by General Motors Company. 

19 April ‘09

Sunday

Our time had run out in Nashville, so we decided to travel up to Kentucky and stay three nights at Mammoth Cave National Park.  It was only a 90 mile run north, but we really wanted to see Mammoth Cave.  After setting up camp, we noticed that all the campsites had a large pile of wood available to them.  Driving in we noticed a lot of trees and branches down so we’re guessing that’s where all the wood has come from.  In talking with the Ranger we found out that this last January they had a disastrous ice storm that took out all the trees.  It took the Rangers 3 days to get the road cleared enough to get into the Information Center.  Well we’re the glad recipients of this fine fire wood.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had a fire and a long time since we’ve had the opportunity to roast marshmallows…they were so good…  On one our our drives around the park we came upon one of the two ferries that cross the Green River. 

 Unfortunately they can't take any RV's...

This morning we got the early awakening of heavy rain on the top of the coach.  We had planned to hike into one of the caves but when I checked the time, I almost changed my mind.  I don’t mind an early morning alarm, but this was just plain nuts.  I did get back to sleep and get a little more rest and when the time to get up did arrive, I was a little more agreeable.  We knew that the cave tour that we wanted to take left at 10am, so about 9 we went down to buy our tickets.  We wanted to take The Grand Tour.  The Grand Tour covers 4 miles in just over 4 hours and reaches a depth of 280ft.  We’ll have over 670 steps and have hills that will “stress you” as you climb over Mt. Everest (whatever that means). 

 They tell us this is physically demanding hike (which we need…) and will expose us to gypsum encrusted halls, twisting canyons, narrow passages,

 underground hills, vast chambers, waterfalls, and tapestries of dripstone. 

Well we did find some of it to be demanding and physical, but overall it was a great day for a hike (especially underground…).  It would have been nice to have come out and find the sun shining, but that didn’t happen.  Fact is, we had to run for the car.  Thank God we had taken it, because this morning we had debated whether or not too because we are only camped about a ½ mile away and thought we could handle the walk back without any problem. 

Over 10,000 years ago, the Paleo-Indians we hunting in this area along the Green River and most likely used the Mammoth Caves for shelter.  They think the next to arrive were the Late Archaic and Early woodland Indians from 4 to 2,000 years ago.  Around 1816 the caves became a tourist interest.  The guides through the caves were the enslaved people from the owners of the land holding the caves.  With over 365 miles of surveyed passageways, the Mammoth Cave is over twice as long as any know cave.  The Geologists think there could be 600 miles of yet undiscovered passageways to come. 

Well no fire in the pit tonight.  It’s still buried in about 2 inches of rain and we’re expecting more tonight sometime.  By the way, this camp ground only offers “no hook-up sites so we’re (I hate to use this term…) DRY CAMPING…

17 April ‘09

Friday

Following a quick breakfast, we drove over to tour the Gaylord Opryland Resort.  Our campground is just a mile down the road, but with all the walking we did the last couple of days and the walking we will be doing tonight, we decided to drive to the resort.  Boy it was a good thing too…  Once inside of the resort we knew that we just had to take in every inch of this magnificent building, and it was a couple of inches too. 

 Fact is, it covers over four acres and most of the four acres is covered in glass.  The roof spreads out over some of the most beautiful gardens we have ever seen.  Flowers of every imaginable type,

 flowering trees and not flowering trees, palm trees of all shape and size, and the waterfalls... 

 AMAZING!!!  Even tho we had just finished our coffee at home, we had to have another to sit, relax, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the resort.  I must say this too, it is a good thing that they have “you are here” maps everywhere…we could have gotten lost many times.  After a couple of hours at the resort, we headed back out to the car.  With the Ole Opry House just next door, we wanted to scope out our best option for parking for tonight’s performance.  Also right across the large parking area is the shopping mall I mentioned a couple of days ago.  Well with the opportunity to look things over, we struck a plan.  We would go over to the Opry House at 5:30 for our 7:pm performance, find a great parking spot, walk over the mall, have a slow relaxing dinner at one of their nice restaurants, and then walk across the street, pass our tickets to the young lady, stroll down the aisle to our seat, sit back and enjoy the show.   The Grand Ole Opry stage show is still a live radio program, and it has commercials…  We weren’t aware of this until one of our neighbor campers told us after going to the show the night before.  I must admit, it does kind of break into the flow of things a little, but it still allows a good time.  For the 2 hour show we had 4 host (or is it host’s, or hosttest…?)  The first host was Mike Snider and the guests were Jeannie Seely, and Dean Brody.  Dean Brody was appearing for the first time at the Ole Opry and was quite a hit.  He introduced himself as being from Vancouver, BC.  Louise and I thought he was pretty damn good too.  The second host was “Little” Jimmy Dickens

with Bobby Osborne and The Rocky Top X-Press, and Darius Rucker.  Darius Rucker was the best contemporary entertainer we had all night, and I could listen to one of his CD’s anytime.  Then last but not least, we had Rick Skaggs as the host and Jimmy C. Newman and The Whites.  We didn’t mind the “commercials” and the entertainment was very good.  Are we glad we did it? Yes, would we do it again…I think so.

16 April ‘09

Thursday

9am and we were on “Tommy’s” Sightseeing Tour and heading downtown Nashville.  We were but 2 on a bus of 22 which made for almost a full bus (2 short).  It was comfortable but not like riding around in our own “bus”.  This is a one man operation all the way, but he does it pretty well.  Even while giving us some details about this or that, he was able to take phone calls from those that want to tour with him tomorrow or sometime in the near future.  As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, Tommy is a charming guy, a non-stop talker, and quite a comedian, but we found out today that he is killing himself with heavy smoking, stress, and being overweight.  Fortunately he didn’t smoke on the bus, but when we stopped…

Nashville is not only big in music, but one of the largest printing cities in the country, and is huge in higher education fields as well.  Tommy didn’t give us the “Normal” tour that we’ve had through other tour companies, but much more personal.  We spent at least 2 hours in Nashville touring the blocks on blocks of amazing architecture,

history, and entertainment establishments.  One of our stops was at the “Train Station”.  The train station was in need of a lot of work or they could take the easy way out and destroy it seeing as how they didn’t have a need for the station anymore.  The passenger trains quit coming into Nashville quite a few years ago so taking the station down seemed to be the answer.  Well a hotel chain took another look at this ole building and decided to take on a huge project and what a project they completed.  Tommy wanted us to take a close-up look at this one, so he pulled up to the front door and told us to head inside. 

These people did an amazing job of bring this incredible building up to the jewel it is today. 

Following our time in town, Tommy took us out into the neighborhoods of the stars. 

This wasn’t my thing, but we did see one home that I’m glad we saw.  It sat on about 30 acres, had 3 guest homes, a small personal chapel, and the main house.  All were painted white and had red roofs, and didn’t match the size of some of the others we saw, but it still belonged to Dolly Parton. 

Arriving back at the campground, Louise and I decided to head back to Nashville and get a closer look.  The first stop was head on down to “Music Row”, order a couple of beers, and listen to the up-and-coming music stars of tomorrow.  Seeing as how we drove into town we decided to just visit 3 establishments, have a total of a beer each, and yell “YeeHaa” a lot…we had a great time. 

In between “establishments”, we walked some of the streets looking in to see what was going on, but at 4 in the afternoon, not much except back up on Broadway.  We did stop by “ Fort Nashborough”.  Fort Nashborough was established in 1779 just a few hundred yards further West on the banks of the Cumberland River. 

The fort is much smaller today but it sure makes a statement sitting between the Cumberland River and all the towering skyscrapers of the city. 

Stop two was about 4 miles further out of the city at the park where they have constructed a full size copy of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. 

 For some reason this wasn’t part of Tommy’s tour and I’ll be darned if I can figure way not…it is very well done. 

Unfortunately the original shows it’s age but is going through some major repair, while here in Nashville the Acropolis is just like new.  They even have an amazing statue of Athena in the middle of the structure which in the original it was missing. 

The one thing that was missing here in Nashville was the Acropolis sitting high on the hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea far below…

Stop 3 was one that I wanted to make.  We had passed by the State Capital building earlier with Tommy and I had noticed a location that I thought would make a good picture so back into town we went.  The Capital Building does sit at the top of a hill and sprawling down below is a wonderful stretch of park land. 

The green grass, the monuments of the Civil War, WWI, and WWII, a beautiful sounding Carillion and lots and lots of fountains completed the landscape. 

Well with time getting moving on, and the sun dipping below the horizon, Louise had 2 more stops she wanted to make…Trader Joe’s and Costco. 

15 April ‘09

Wednesday

This morning we drove to the end of the Natchez Trace on our drive up to Nashville.  That Parkway is really something special.  As we approached the last 10 miles, the speed limit dropped from 50 to 40 and the roadway became one turn after another as we rambled up and over the hills of Tennessee.  I had set our GPS for a particular Wal-Mart in Hermitage but once we got there we were informed that we couldn’t stay overnight…  What a bummer…  Sooo, we grabbed a little lunch, checked out a couple of campgrounds through the phone book, and set out for our new site…Two Rivers Campground.  We had looked at Two Rivers before but really didn’t want to pay the fee but here we are…  I don’t know why I feel I have to go the cheap way but when in an area like Disneyland or “Nashville” you bite the bullet. 

Two Rivers is about a mile from The Grand Ole Opry and right next door to Camping World so I can not only get entertained at the Opry I can spend spend at Camping World.  We’ve already signed up for a couple of interesting things here in Nashville.  In the morning we are going out with “Tommy” of Tommy’s Sightseeing Tours.  We’re going out to see Nashville, a trip through downtown to see the State Capital, Painters Alley, the Hall of Fame and, and, and,….and then onto see the “Celebrity” homes, like Brooks & Dunn, dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, and, and, and…  Tommy sells himself as “taking a tour with comedian and charmin “Tommy Garmon.

Right across the parking lot from The Grand Ole Opry is a huge Outlet Mall.  Now if other “Outlet Malls” were to market their goods in a mall of this grandeur, there would be happier customers to come by with monies to spend.  I happened to find 2 pairs of shoes.  For those of you who know how hard it is for me to find shoes know that I would most likely buy any shoe I could find, and that I did. 

14 April ‘09

Tuesday

The Sunday afternoon that we drove into Columbia, Louise got all excited when she saw one of her favorite grocery stores from Europe…”ALDI”.  “Aldi is here !!!”  Unfortunately it took a week before we got back there.  This is one of the stores that in order to get a shopping cart, you have to insert a quarter.  In Europe we had to insert a Euro (approx: $1.35).  One of the advantages for the store is that in order to get your deposit back you have to take your cart back up to the store and not leave it someplace in the parking lot.  We always found good values at Aldi Europe, and again we found values we couldn’t pass here as well. 

It was a good stop.  By the way, they told us that there are over 1000 Aldi stores on the East coast…who would have guessed? 

In the morning we pull out and travel the Natchez Trace to Nashville and then onto Wal-Mart in Hermitage for a couple of days.  After breakfast this morning, Louise started gathering up the laundry as another 10 days have passed and the basket has grown to the max.  I started reading the weather reports and decided to start placing things in the basement while the sun was still shining.  Tonight we are both watching the Biggest Loser, Dancing With The Stars, and American Idol and all the while making and eating dinner and then washing up all the dishes. 

13 April ‘09

Monday

We’ve been here (in the Hohenwald area) for over a week already.  It’s been long enough for us to fill the gas tank of our car 3 times and only have half a tank left now, we’ve been on the road.  One of our destinations was a drive to Lynchburg so that we could visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery.  Ole Jack, at the age of 13, was gave the distillery by an adult friend.  His friend was a local pastor and a distiller in a dry county of Tennessee.  His congregation gave him a choice…the distillery or them.  He chose the congregation and Jack got the distillery.  In 1866 Jack was able to license the distillery and become the first “licensed distillery” in the state of Tennessee.  After finding that he (Jack) didn’t have a feel for numbers, he decided to bring his cousin Lem Motlow into the business.  Lem had a head for numbers and soon was doing all the distillery’s bookkeeping.  In 1907, due to Jacks failing health, he took over the day to day running of the “Jack Daniel’s Distillery”. 

 In 1947, Lem gave the business to his children following his death.  Jack Daniels died in 1911 from blood poisoning that resulted from an infection that allegedly began from an injury resulting from kicking the office safe…  It’s an interesting life and story that developed a great whisky that is still one of the favorites around the world today. 

Jack did change the location of the original still when he found the underground spring that is used for today’s water source.  This spring flows out of a cave and is “totally pure” all the way into the distillery. 

 It was a great find…  the tour we took started at the site where they stack and burn Sugar Maple 2”x2”x4’ stakes to make the charcoal that will be used to filter the pure “moonshine”. 

Climbing the stairs to the first part of the distillery, we arrived at the “Number 4, 5, 6, and 7” pots. 

 From these pots come the pure 140 plus moonshine that will be transferred to the large charcoal vats.  Our guide did lift the top of one of these vats to waif the amazing aroma to our ready nose…what a great smell.  Our next stop was at one of the 17 huge warehouses.  It was interesting to learn that the higher up in the warehouse the deeper color of the whiskey and the more mellow the taste.  

Now it’s time to hit the “tasting” room.  The only problem is this county is a “DRY COUNTY”…  We were offered lemonade !!! 

All kidding aside, we really did enjoy this tour and highly recommend it to all that come close to Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Besides, Lynchburg is a wonderful town to walk around in and mix with the great people of this community. 

 They have some fine restaurants, a great museum dedicated to the Tennessee Walking Horse, and lots of stores waiting to honor your visit.  Louise and I didn’t know much about the Tennessee Walking Horse but after a short video and a tour through the museum we found ourselves looking forward to seeing and learning more of them. 

11 April ‘09

Saturday

Tennessee has really been a “new” state for us in many ways and being around the Amish is just one.  I don’t know that we could find a section set aside for horse and buggy at the local grocery stores in Washington State.   I find it comforting that the Amish have followed a life style that really works for them.  Louise and I have driven out into the farm areas where the Amish and the non-Amish work hard to produce their crops and maintain their livestock for sale and their own use.  As we drove the roads around the farms, we knew we were in Amish territory by the droppings on the road in front of us, the blue laundry on the clothes lines, and the lack of electricity going to their homes.  We did stop by a couple of “Amish Stores”, but we were totally disappointed because of the “Antiques” (JUNK) that the non-Amish were peddling.   We found we could find the Amish goods at their farms and all of that was to be of the Amish quality we would expect. 

10 April ‘09

Friday

I’ve mentioned it before, but our campground is located just off of the Natchez Trace Parkway and we’ve been able to travel it quite a lot in the last week (at least about 50 miles out  and back of the 444 total).  It’s just like driving through a city park, but it only goes in two directions…north and south.  Driving on the beautiful 2 lane road of wide grass areas, deciduous trees just coming into leaf and bloom, and the local wild life, especially the Tennessee turkeys trolling the grass for food makes for another great journey.  All along the “Trace” they have markers and monuments to turn off to for information about those that traveled before us.  One of these is the monument and grave site of Meriwether Lewis. 

President Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis to the Governorship of the Upper Louisiana Territory in 1808 but that seems to have been a problem.  After being at odds with General James Wilkinson, the top ranking officer in the U.S. Army, and his own Lt. Governor, Frederick Bates, Meriwether decided to travel back to Washington to explain his actions to President Jefferson.  In staying overnight at a camp on the Natchez Trace, a shot rang out in the early morning…on October 11, 1809 Meriwether Lewis was dead.  Was he murdered or did he shoot himself, this is a question that is still being asked today (even when it is well known that Meriwether was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head)…

On one of our trips up the Trace, we were notified over radio that we were just about to have a large thunderstorm converge on us, and it will be bring with it ¾ to 1 inch hail.  Also we were receiving a tornado “warning” for our area so we decided to look for cover…  A little further up the Trace we found an outlet which lead us to an over-pass to duck under…safe again (with 5 other cars). 

5 April ‘09

Sunday

While we were traveling in Florida we received an email from some friends that we had met a couple of years ago in Cabo San Lucas.  Brett and Karen told us in their email that they were now living and working in Tennessee and if we were in the area….  Well here we aarrrre….  All kidding aside, Louise and I were excited to see them again.  They did a lot of searching around the states before they decided Columbia, Tennessee was the perfect spot for them to set up roots, and we can definitely see why.  The moment we drove into Tennessee Louise pointed out that the hills reminded her of the close cut green grass hills of Austria.  We found Austria to be amazing and now Tennessee is fitting the same fine glove.  As we drove the roads out to Brett and Karen’s

new home we were excited for what we saw.  Finally arriving at the entrance to their property and home, we were met with a welcome, a great smile and hug.  They both look great and their new home is really nice brick two story…  Karen spent a lot of time searching the internet for the right place and then when she found one, two, or three they toured the state checking them out.  Finally she found THE right place to call home.  Just as we were about ready to enter into the house, a rooster crowed…”THEY’VE GOT CHICKENS”…  Yep, they’ve got about a dozen chickens and one rooster that live in their private fenced yard and hen house.

  Louise and I really found ourselves being pampered and well fed over the 5 hours we were there.  Unfortunately time flies when you’re having fun, but we had to head back to the coach before the thunderstorm settled in.  After saying our “Good-bye’s” to Brett and Karen, we headed back home via the Natchez Trace Parkway.  About getting about half way down the Trace, we were caught by the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever been in. Once we got back to the safety? of the coach, we found ourselves right in the middle of a tornado watch… 

Fortunately the “Watch” was released just before bed time but it didn’t make sleeping any easier.   

4 April ‘09

Saturday

This morning we were planning to pull out of Mountain Lakes Resort and head off to our next site in Tennessee, but in doing a little reading this morning, I found one more location I wanted to see before we left.  We heard about the Little River Canyon National Reserve earlier but with the weather being so unpredictable we weren’t able to make the trip up to see it, but this morning…  We drove up to Fort Payne, had a treat, a cup of coffee, and then found the National Park office to pick up a map of the canyon area.  The Little River Canyon is the deepest and longest canyon east of the Mississippi and has a powerful river flowing through it. 

 The Little River flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in the northeast corner of Alabama. The river and canyon systems are spectacular Appalachian Plateau landscapes all year long. Forested, waterfalls, canyon rims and bluffs, stream pools, boulders, and sandstone cliffs offer settings for a variety of beautiful settings to enjoy.  A special place in the Southern Appalachians.  Grace’s High Fall is the highest waterfall in the canyon and the most photographed site in the canyon so I too had to sight in on her. 

 About 2/3’s of the way down the rim road, we were coming over a hill and all of a sudden we were looking directly at a huge MUSHROOM sitting right in front of us.   

 I’m glad we took the time to drive up to the canyon, and I’m glad we did it with enough time to pack up and start for Columbia, Tennessee. 

Some good friends of ours have just moved to Columbia and told us that this weekend was their “Mule Days” celebration.  Well by the time we got there we had missed everything but the clean up…and you know what I mean when you go to the “Mule” days… 

 Anyway, we parked for the night at Wal-Mart and got a good night’s rest before continuing on to our campsite at Thousand Trails NACO, at Natchez Trace Wilderness Preserve, in Hohenwald, Tennessee.  This is a HUGE campground and sits on Chief Creek Lake, although none of the campsites sit anywhere near the lake, there is good access to it for those of us that want to use it.  I mentioned that this place was huge, and it is large, but when the ranger at the gate tells you that “your site is about 4 miles down this road…”  Well it wasn’t 4 miles, but it is by far more distant than any we have ever been at before.  Another thing that has surprised us a little, the closest community, town, city, or gas station is about 15 miles away… 

3 April ‘09

Friday

We’ve been told so many times that we shouldn’t leave this area before visiting the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.   The drive up to Huntsville has almost become commonplace, we’ve driven it so much, but we are really looking forward to the Space and Rocket Center.  Pulling up to the FREE parking lot, we passed by a large parking area that was set aside for 18 International teams that were here to race their “Moon Buggy’s”. 

All the “buggies” were to quickly transport 2 people, one male and one female, through a ½ mile obstacle-coarse that ran through and around the Rocket Park.  The Moonbuggy race was inspired by the actual lunar roving vehicle project.  The original lunar rover was successfully built by NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center here in Huntsville.  The Moonbuggy Race challenges students to design and build a human-powered vehicle, and in meeting the challenge, they will learn how to deal with real world engineering problems. 

After entering the main building, we were told to follow the winding staircase to the displays on the second level and then return about an hour later and go over to the IMAX Theater for our showing of Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon.  As soon as we rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, we found a Saturn V rocket hanging 10 feet over our heads...IMPRESSIVE !!! 

There are 2 more outside, but this one…WOW !!!  You’re really up close and personal on this one.  Strolling under the Saturn V we studied examples of the engines of the Saturn V

and other rockets that have launched to space from around the country.  We also entered into the Quarantine trailer that was used after the first moon landing.  It was nothing more than a 24 foot Airstream that had its wheels removed, but was also 4 times larger than the capsule that the 3 astronauts has to live in during their space journey to and from the moon.   The time arrived a lot quicker than we thought it would for us to head over to the IMAX, but over-all we did see and digest most of what we wanted to on this floor.  As I wrote, our movie was “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon”.  We’ve had a chance to see a lot of IMAX presentations and this one rates towards the top of those we’ve seen…it was really good. 

Now with the Saturn V display area behind and the IMAX movie finished, we head over to the GAMES and personal entertainment area…  We contemplated going on the G-Force Accelerator which spins you up to 3 times gravity but we had already had that experience at Disneyland, so we opted for the Shuttle cockpit trainer.  We sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, took the “joy-stick” in hand, and landed the Shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base, California… 

2 April '09

Friday

After such a wonderful sunny day we had yesterday, this morning has shown us that the stormy weather is still around.  We’ve turned to the weather channel a couple of times this morning and we have seen that we’re not having some of the tough weather that a lot of the country is having.  Anyway, we decided to stay close, so while I’m doing a little “home work” on the computer I’m enjoying myself at the convection oven as well.  I had the urge to bake, so bake I did.  I just finished baking peanut butter and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. 

 Now while they’re cooling I’ll finish up yesterday’s journey.

Leaving Brindlee Mountain 15 miles behind us, we arrived at the Huntsville.  Just by chance we happened to leave the freeway at the same exit as AAA has their new offices.  This last Monday morning we decided to re-join the AAA to take advantage of their great maps and tour books.  We’ve always enjoyed having both of them, but for some reason we let the membership lapse.  Now with a new membership card and a stack of new materials…we’re ready.  Our next stop, Huntsville Visitor Center.  They were very helpful in getting all the local tourist information in our hands including a walking map of the historical homes of Huntsville. 

 I’ve written before of the historical homes of some of the southern states we’ve visited, but this was the first stop that we could see so many of them on a walking tour.  In 1810 Leroy Pope, Huntsville’s first land developer, arrived in the area to set up office.  He named the area “Twickenham” after the home of the poet Alexander Pope.  In 1812 anti-British sentiment was rising because of the War caused the name to change to Huntsville in honor of its first settler.  Soooo, the area that we were walking was called the “Twickenham Historic District”. 

 Twickenham is one of the largest concentrations of antebellum homes in the South.  We walked the sidewalks and streets admiring these fine residences’ that were built between 1870 and 1930.  It is the only predominantly Victorian neighborhood remaining in the city.  While on our walk, we saw “dwellings” of modest one and two-story vernacular Victorian homes, Bungalows of the 1920-30’s, cape Cods, and a few Ranch style homes of the 50’s.  One of the homes was used as the headquarters for Federal Army General Ormsby Mitchel during the Civil War. 

 Remember, yesterday was a great day for a walk, in the low to mid 70’s and lots of great sunshine. 

Our next stop was at the hardware store…  Harrison Brothers hardware store was established in 1879 and still open for business today.

 The only difference is that the store is run by volunteers and the profits go to the Historic Huntsville Foundation.  The foundation took over ownership after the last living family member John Harrison, passed away in 1983.  The National Cash Register is supposed to be well over 100 years old as well. 

 They still use it…no receipt, but they still put the daily cash into it.  Let’s just hope that it doesn’t permanently lock up one of these times. 

1 April ‘09

Wednesday

We read and heard about some really interesting places to visit in Huntsville, Alabama so we set out today to see some of them.  The first was a complete surprise, as we didn’t even know that they existed.  First off, I guess we have to say that it was because of our GPS that we found them and it was because our GPS had AGAIN taken us on another round-about trip…  We were traveling through some back-roads and when finally, on a highway we finally joined up with, we noticed across a large plat of land and through some trees, a “parking lot” full of FIRE TRUCKS…  Of course we were on the wrong road to check this out.  About a mile further up the road we could take another joining highway back and find out more about these trucks.  We had heard about a great tour through a large Fire truck manufacturer and we thought that we might have just fallen onto it.  As we pulled closer to the field holding the trucks, we saw that these weren’t new so we hadn’t found the manufacturer, but what had we found?  Well you don’t know until you drive up the drive and walk into the office and ask…  Louise said that we would probably be graciously asked to leave, but the moment we entered the lobby we were made to feel like long lost “family”.  Standing behind a beautiful “desk” (the front end of a fire truck) stood Rachell (Branlett), and Allison (Harris).  I kid you not, the moment they heard us ask “what have you got here?” they went into action (like getting the long lost family up to date starting with a cup of coffee, soft drink or water?).  In a “nut shell” explanation; Brindlee Mountain fire Apparatus buy, sell, lease, service, and refurbish fire trucks and apparatus relating to the needs of the fire departments around the WORLD.  Brindlee buys and resells over 150 used vehicles each year from this location in Alabama.  We hadn’t been there but 10 minutes and James Wessel came out and introduced himself to us. 

The first thing James did was to ask is to have lunch.  Unfortunately we had to turn them down because of our limited time, but undeterred; he then personally gave us a tour of the one of the shops and told us the history of his company. 

Seven years ago, James found a need following a situation he was in, borrowed some money from his mother to buy his first fire truck in need of refurbishing, and the rest is history.  This is quite an operation, small but mighty, all employees feeling like family, and darn proud of their work…you know, a great American dream come true.  While out taking a couple of pictures in the yard,

a young man came out to introduce himself and let us know that he and his family are and where Holiday Rambler people…Billy Claunch is the VP of sales, and he like everyone we’ve met today, couldn’t have made our day any better.  By the way, the picture of the pumper at the lake was one that I “borrowed” from their web site.  

More about today tomorrow