On the Road

Nothing exciting to report today.  Just lots of driving.  I'm reduced once again to pictures of state signs as I cross over. 




And the occasional interesting thing (only in Texas...this guy had these giant guns in his front yard with the cows).  At least the weather isn't very hot.  In the high 60's so it has been comfortable.  And I have a good audio book to help pass the time.

What I've seen of the Texas panhandle is what I thought the whole state looked like before I saw the southern part.  Flat, full of farms and ranches, mostly brown, and boring.  And windy again.

Once I got into New Mexico, the landscape started to get more interesting anyway.  Tomorrow I will head to the petrified forest, after lots more driving.  This is not the fun part of the trip.  But, I'm getting excited to get home again now that it is getting closer.  Should be back in a couple days!!  Feels like I've been gone a long time. 

Heading Home

The rest of the buses are to the right

4/28  Interesting couple of days.  I got up after the storm to clear, sunny skies.  I tried to go to Graceland in Memphis.  To make a long story short, I never got inside the mansion.  The regular parking lot was empty when I went in so I thought it would be a good tour.  Only, as I got to the entrance, they were unloading 7, count 'em 7, buses full of kids.  It would have taken me 1 1/2 hours to get the shuttle that takes you to the mansion, so I took a pass on the whole thing instead.  I then headed to downtown Memphis to check out Beale street and take the tour of the Gibson guitar factory.  The factory was closed, and most of downtown was blocked off for a music festival they were having over the weekend.  I finally found a place to park a ways a way thinking we could at least walk down and see how flooded the Mississippi was, but we were stopped.  Seems you couldn't even walk down there.  I found a park farther away by the river, but got stuck with a local who wouldn't shut up and insisted he walk with us, but he walked very slowly.  So we finally gave up and headed down the road to Little Rock.  The wind damage  and flooding was fairly extensive.  Every creek, river and lake was to the top of it's banks and over.  Several roofs and signs had been blown down. The farmer's fields were all flooded.  I tried to take some pictures, but it didn't do justice to how bad the damage was.

Me in front of the "Little Rock"

Later, in Little Rock, I met up with a snow bird friend who was heading home from Seal Beach.  We caught a ride on her free hotel shuttle to the River Market area, and had the funniest (unintentionally) southern gentleman as a driver.  He ended up giving us an impromptu tour of town.  We laughed and enjoyed him on the way to a wonderful dinner, after which he picked us up and continued the tour on the way back to the hotel.  Besides him being entertaining, we got a good look around town.  And learned a lot about Clinton.  I ended up staying over at the dog friendly hotel with my friend. 

4/29  We got an early start this morning, but it was soon delayed.  I had unplugged the trailer connection and forgotten to reconnect it when I drove off.  The cable dragged along the ground for several miles before I noticed it.  The connectors in the plug were completely worn away which meant I had no lights on the trailer; brakes, or turning, as well as no connection to operate the brakes or charge up the trailer.  So I had to find a place to fix it.  That wasn't too hard to do, and as usual, I met and chatted with some very interesting locals in the process.  And it turned out to be a cheap fix.

As we had started the day, there was a large caravan of electic company trucks.  There had to be 40 of them.  As they got off the freeway, I followed them and took a picture.  I believe they were from different areas rendevoing in town to try to get the power back for the people that had lost it.  The rest of the day was spent driving.  Not too boring, but boring.  Lots of green, gentle hills, farms, more farms.  And wind....really strong wind.  I saw two 18 wheelers blown over.  As I write this, I am in the  Wal Mart parking lot being rocked by the wind.  Yes...I ended up at Wal Mart tonight.  At least the price is right.

The Storm

Off the TV last night

What an interesting day.  The storm hit overnight as predicted.  From the safety of the hotel room, I only heard some loud thunder in the early hours of the morning, even though it was raining very hard when we woke up....early.  The rain stopped fairly early as well.  I reorganized the truck, and we headed off.  I only had time to do one thing before trying to beat the storm to Memphis, so I did the tour at the Grand Ole Opry.  So glad I did.  Quite a treat seeing the backstage and standing on the circle where so many famous country singers have stood.  The guide even had us sing a song so we could say "I was asked to sing at the Grand Ole Opry".  Very cool.  While in there, the rain started again for round two, with lots of thunder.

 

These guys from the parking lot like the weathe

As we headed down the 40 toward Memphis, we ran through the second, and then the third storm.  The radio had several tornado warnings, even one of those with the loud noise that interrupts programming.  The trouble was, it kept referring to counties, and I had no idea which county I was in.  Tons of rain and lightning on the road which made it hard to see.  The only time I got really nervous was when it got really dark, and was raining really hard with lots of wind.  Pretty scary after all those warnings.  But pretty exciting.  It's so cool to see that kind of weather since we have nothing like it at home.  The sky was changing constantly and I  kept busy watching for that infamous funnel cloud.  As fun as it was, in a weird way, I sure wouldn't want to live here and have to deal with this all the time.  There has been a lot of flooding too.  All the creeks and rivers have overflowed their banks.  The Mississippi was amazingly wide.  Too wide from the flooding.  There were lots of trees down and other signs of wind damage.  I'm at a KOA tonight.  There was a sign on the door about where to go if the sirens went off which meant a tornado was coming.  As I write this, the wind has gotten very strong and the rain is pounding again even though last I heard the serious threat was gone.  This sure isn't the boredom I was expecting on the 40.

The Great Smokey Mountains

4/25  This morning the fog was heavy over the mountains, so we took our time getting started.  Did a bit of cleaning up.  That will be one good thing about getting home.  Getting cleaned up.  The truck and trailer and us are getting a bit the worse for wear.  Everything needs a good cleaning.

The weather was nice (warm, not hot) again, but with threatening clouds and occasional sprinkles.  I finished the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Kind of sad to see it end.  I dragged it out as long as possible by stopping in every pullout.  There were a lot.  Ran into some nice people at a couple of them.  Tonight we are in the beginning of the Great Smokey Mountains in a campground. 

A lot of people ask me how it is to travel alone.  I don't feel alone, I have Cash.  He is more company than you can imagine.  I have long conversations with him and we discuss what we are going to do for the day.  He never disagrees with me, or argues, or gets grumpy.  The ideal, of course, would be to have a soul mate to travel with who loves to do everything you do.  But that isn't always possible.  So it's better to go alone than not go at all.  But I wouldn't want to do it all alone...without Cash.  He is also the main reason I get into conversations with so many people.  He breaks the ice.  There are some things I haven't done, like eating in restaurants rather than tv dinners in the trailer, that are better done with someone.  It can be harder to get yourself to do some things alone.  It's easier if there is someone there to give you a push.  On the other hand, I've been able to pull over and stop at will, do exactly what I want, when I want, and best of all, I've met and talked with a lot more people than I ever would have if I had been traveling with someone.  I have to admit, before I left I wasn't sure how it would work out and I was nervous about the whole thing, but It's turned out to be a good trip.   I wish there was a way to stay on the road, and at the same time, be at home too.  I enjoy both.  I want it all.

4/26    There was a pretty good rainstorm overnight, but it had stopped by the time we got up.  As we started up the road into the Great Smokey Mountains, the fog rolled in.  Got one picture before visibility tuned to zero.  Following the road down again, it cleared up and we took one last hike on a dog friendly trail near the end of the park.  The road was beautiful and the wild flowers were out in force.  But the wind was also forceful.  There is a big storm coming and this was the beginning of it.

The Great Smokey Mountains

I was loving the whole drive, when all of a sudden, I got tired of it.  I was ready to head home.  So we did.

I  feel like the best part of the trip is over.  There will be long stretches of driving from here to home.  I made it to Nashville after a prettier drive than I expected.  By all reports, the impending storm is a big one.  Lightening, flood watches and tornado warnings.  The worst of the storm is coming in the middle of the night and the local radio station I was listening to, recommeded sleeping in the storm cellar, or bathtub but at least be sure and be in a sturdy building.  I decided it was probably smarter for me to get a hotel room than stay in the little, flimsy trailer.  So I did.  Now I'm wondering if I would have been safer in the trailer.  There are some strange types hanging around here.  Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter.  As an example of some of the cute, funny things you see on the road, we went by this farm with this cute trailer set up on the hill for all to see.  Someone gets into the spirit of the season. 

Wild Turkey, bad picture. 

The road was almost empty in the morning.  I guess everyone was in church.  We had about an hour of driving with no one around, then there was a detour because of roadwork.  Well, me being me, I got lost.  Ended up going way too far east and it took over an hour to work our way back.  Interesting stuff on the way though.  I usually find things when I'm lost that make it a lot less painful. By the time we got back on the parkway, around 1:00, there were lots of people around.  It was a beautiful day and the locals came out to picnic and enjoy the day.  Lots of bicycles and motorcycles on the road too.

I found a nice, what I thought was short, hike.  Turned out I misread the sign and it was longer than I thought, but we found our way back thanks to help from some other people on the trail.  It wound through woods, along a stream then into a meadow before ending at a pond. 

When we got to the meadow, Cash found something to roll in.

 

This is the result. 

You can't tell too much from the picture, but it is very green.  Most likely....cow poop.  Thank heavens my olfactory sense sucks.  I ended up trying to wash him off in the pond, then at the stream and finally shampooed him on the side of the road with the little shower on the outside of the trailer.  I still had to wash the inside of his ears when we got to camp.  Fun stuff.


I ended up driving a bit farther than I planned.  It was such a pretty day and I wanted to see the sights in the nice afternoon sun.  The scenery was spectacular.  I wish I could do it justice. With all the stuff that went wrong, it still turned into a very nice day.

Still on the Parkway

These are just starting to bloom

It rained off and on all night, but had stopped by the time I got up around 6:30.  Since I was at the Dixie Caverns and a tour was only $7, I had to do it.  Turned out, I was the only one on the tour.  And guess what...the tour guide was on Spring Break.  His had just started (high school).  The tour was kind of fun, then we headed back to the Parkway at the same place we had gotten off the night before and took a short hike not too far down the road.

Today's section was different than the last couple days.  It runs along a community of farms.   There were nice ones, and not so nice ones.  Looked to be mostly hay and cows.  Very picturesque.  Also several houses tucked up into the woods.   It was a pretty drive still.  As long as there aren't any stores or signs, just lots of scenery, it's pretty.  The weather had cleared up and it turned into a nice day.....for awhile.

Then the fog came in.  Heavy.  By the time we got to what should have been the most picturesque view, according to the guide book,  the visibility was about 10 feet.  It was around 3:30 anyway, so we got off the parkway and within minutes found a wonderful KOA where we are spending the night.  And had another TV dinner for dinner.  That will be another nice thing about getting home,  real food. 

Blue Ridge Day 3

4/22    We woke up to rain this morning.  It was kind enough to stop by the time I closed up the camper and we started on down the road.  But...we started a hike to the top of Sharp Top Mountain and the rain started again when we were half way up.  Fortunately, it was more like a drizzle and I had brought my raincoat. 

Part of the view from the top

The view at  the top was not what it could have been with all the clouds.  We started from those little buildings in the middle, by the lake .  All in all still a nice hike.



 It rained off and on all day.  Not enough to really mess things up.  But not too many pictures today.  We got off the parkway at Roanoke and found a campground for the night at the Dixie Caverns.  Ran into some examples of  "blue ridge mountain men" at the grocery.  Several were shopping there.  I chatted with a guy in line for a couple minutes who had the long beard, long hair, overalls, and heavy accent.  He was complaining that his kids wouldn't listen to him.  Reminded me again, we really are all alike and have the same problems.

Rain over the Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge Parkway Day 1 and 2

Can you see the people on the hill on the left?

4/20  The first stop out of town today was at Great Falls park.  It's where the Potomac drops 80 feet.  The river was fairly high and fast with the recent rains.  We took a nice walk along the banks of the river before heading toward the mountains.  There are some very nice farms along the way with rolling hills, horses, barns, big houses, and flowering trees.  Also a lot of vineyards which surprised me.



The storm that was expected today has held off and only made for pretty skies with big, puffy clouds. The trees don't have many leaves yet at this altitude (3000 ft), but it works out nicely since this way I can see through the trees to the glorious vistas beyond.  By stopping at every turnout,  I don't think I will make much time on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  So far on the first part of it, Skyline Drive, I've averaged 25 miles an hour.  Let's see...at 550 or so more miles.....

Stayed at a National Park campground tonight and did my first couple miles on the Appalachian trail.  Cash ran into some not very shy deer and there was a standoff till I broke it up.  Good thing I had him on a leash.







4/21    Didn't make much time today either, but that isn't my goal anyway. We took some time out from driving and took a couple hikes.  After several weeks in the flat lands, I'm really enjoying being in the mountains again.  It feels good to be hiking.  Seems like a long time since I did any.  Almost forgot how much I enjoy it.

So far the drive hasn't been boring at all.  The amount and type of foliage on the trees depends on altitude.  The higher you go, the less foliage.  The lower altitudes have the new green leaves and lots of dogwood blooming.  And in some areas there are evergreens.   Keeps the drive interesting that way.  You never know what is around the corner. The Blue Ridge Parkway isn't as well kept up as the Skyline Drive/Shenandoah National Park.  I assume that's because the one is a national park and the other is just run by the National Park Service.  Besides, the Parkway is 5 times as long. 

Stopped at the only campground open on the Parkway itself.  There are 2 other campers here.   Tomorrow I'll have to pull off the parkway to one of the towns nearby and stay at an RV park.  Time for a shower anyway.  Not to mention internet.

Still in Washington, DC

Annapolis harbor and downtown

What started out as an afterthought, has turned into one of my favorite places on this trip.  I keep going to the office and saying....one more day.  There is so much to see and do around here.  Like yesterday, I drove the 30 minutes to Annapolis.  My good friend, Don, graduated from there a few (maybe several) years ago and suggested I go visit it, since I was so close.  I took his advice and I'm very grateful I did.  It's not just the academy there, the whole town has that historic village feel to it.  I parked at the harbor, and Cash and I walked all over town from there.  Only got lost one time. 

Then I left him in the car and I went onto the Naval Academy grounds. Any one, with ID, is welcome to visit.  The grounds, buildings, midshipmen, atmosphere, everything about it is very impressive.  You can feel the tradition oozing out of every brick.

Today, I got brave enough to drive into town.  It was raining as we started out, but stopped during the time we were in town.  We went to Arlington National Cemetery.  Dogs are welcome there.  What a massive place.  I had no idea it was that big.  Rather pretty too, with a lot of trees in bloom.  Also impressive.  Everything about this town is impressive.  Makes you want to sing "My country 'tis of thee" all the time.  Or the "Star Spangled Banner."  But that's a good thing.  Got to see all the famous graves and caught the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

Preparing for a funeral

There was a funeral in progress in one of the areas, with the casket on a horse drawn carriage and the Washington monument in the background.  A rather moving sight.



My Garmin managed to get lost and took me through town almost the whole way back.  That was a good thing.  I got to see some of the residential parts of town.  I only went through one area that looked iffy.  The rest was very nice with brick, Georgian homes and flowering trees in every yard.  Narrow streets that aren't meant for that much traffic though.  I wouldn't want to have to commute there.


I've had a bit of down time to regroup and get ready for the trip home.  I have very mixed feelings about that.  A part of me wants to stay on the road, another wants to go home.  Since I have another week or two, I guess both sides will get what they want. 

Feeling Very Patiotic

I'm having difficulty putting down how today made me feel.  The last week has been rather emotional as far as feelings for my country go, having seen the places where we started and where we fought the British and each other.   It culminated this morning with a visit to the National Mall. I felt a fierce pride in all we have gone through to get where we are today. We have much to be proud of. 


I left Cash at the trailer with a girl coming in every 3 hours to walk him.  I drove to the Metro subway station, and after help from several kind people, emerged in the Capitol.  Not too many people there at first, but by noon it was jammed with people from all over the world.  I heard many different languages being spoken. 

An etching from the Vietnam Wall

Everything was even bigger and grander than I had expected. Which meant it was a lot of walking to see it all.   And I did see a lot of it.  The white house, the capitol building (the reflecting pool is dry), the Washington monument (the reflecting pool is being redone), the Lincoln monument, the WWII memorial, the Korean war memorial and the Vietnam memorial. That one meant a lot since I had grown up during that time and it was a part of my personal history.

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum

I went into a couple of the Smithsonian museums.  It would take many days to do them all.  The most impressive thing I saw was the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.  Almost brings tears to the eyes.  And Julia Child's kitchen was a treat. 

After all the bad weather yesterday, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day.  People were out all over, playing various outdoor games, jogging, biking and, of course, walking.  A very American day.

Just Missed the Cherry Blossoms

4-15   This morning, we took the drive back to historic Jamestown.  It had closed by the time I got there the day before.  They did a wonderful job of making you feel what it must have been like for the original settlers.  That was the point of the Colonial Parkway drive to get there.  No sign of homes or businesses on the way to get you in the mood to appreciate what they went through.  We have some pretty tough ancestors. 

Pet Cemetery at Tyler's

Shirley Plantation

Then we took route 5 up to Fredricksburg.  There are several of the old plantations along that road that are open to the public.  Most of them are still privately owned.  Rather sad, I think, that they got to the point where they allow tourists to overrun their home during the daylight hours at $10 a pop.  I doubt if I'd want to do that.  Privacy means more to me.  I did get to see president John Tyler's grandson.  He was showing a bus of schoolkids through his home.

Stopped at the KOA in Fredricksburg and got laundry and various housekeeping chores caught up.  Then in the evening I went to a free concert at the rec room.  They had a 3 piece bluegrass group there playing the bass, autoharp and the guitar.  Only about a dozen people came, but it was fun.  A definite taste of the south again. 

4-16    Woke up to rain.  I figured since the weather was so bad, I should get my trailer tires fixed before I headed home.  Took several calls to find the right size.  Turns out, the tire guys think the axle is bent because all the wear was on the inside.  The inside was bald while the outside still had plenty of tread on them.  I'll need to take that up with the manufacturer when I get home.

Drove around the Fredericksburg battlefields, (in the rain) then headed on up to DC.  The traffic south out of  DC was unbelievable.  60 miles of stop and go.  On a Saturday afternoon.  Fortunately, I was going north. I have an almost perfect spot here at this campsite (Cherry Hill Park) with good reception, so I'll sit out the rain today and then spend a couple days here before starting homeward.  I think I'm ready.  I have been having mixed feelings about the trip lately.  I'm enjoying everything, but at the same time, I miss home, the comforts and friends. 

Williamsburg

Well...I said good-bye to the outer banks this morning.  I would like to come back here sometime and spend a bit of time.  Settle into the laid back mood of it.  As it is..I have places to go, things to see.

The first thing we saw today was at Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers memorial.  Pretty interesting, till the 5 bus loads of kids showed up.  Fortunately, we were almost done by then.  They have it marked out where the actual first flight was.  However, the hill where they practiced gliding, was moved!!  Seems it was sand based, and shifted over time, so they rebuilt the hill in it's original spot and stabilized it. And I thought they only did that to man-made things.

Dogwood

 

We drove on up through Virginia Beach.  Pretty beach with a wonderful walkway.  But I've done a bunch of beaches so far this trip, so we kept on moving.  The drive was wonderful.  It's such a pretty state and all the trees are getting their bright green new spring leaves and the dogwoods and azaleas were in bloom everywhere.

I got was going to drive straight through to DC, but got sidetracked. At the last minute, I took the road to  Yorktown and Jamestown.  Even though I'm not much of a history buff, I'm finding it fascinating to see the country where so much of our history began.  It will be a good base for DC where so much of our current history is being made.

Surf At Last...Sort of

Hatteras from the ferry

Going to Hatteras from Ocracoke required another ferry.  We got on fairly promptly and after a 45 minute trip, arrived at the farthest part of the outer banks it's possible to drive to from the mainland.  (Does that make sense?)  The town of Hatteras.  There are no chain stores, or large hotels.  Most of the shops appear to be  local owned. 

Some parts of the island are so narrow you can stand in the middle and see both sides. I see what the charm is in the outer banks.  What I've seen so far (up to Rodanthe) is a village atmosphere with the people living here liking the quiet, away from the rat race.  At least now while very few tourists are here.  I imagine it's a different story in the summer.  But the season only runs from Father's day to the end of August.

Enjoing the wind on the sound side.

I played it safe and drove to the KOA in Rodanthe to stay the night.  There actually appeared to be surf so I finally rented a board.  Turns out, the water is pretty cold here.  The guy gave me gloves that were huge and booties that were even bigger to use along with the board.  Needless to say, by the time I got in the water, the tide had gotten to it and with a new board, new waves, and those huge, heavy gloves, I only got one wave before I gave up.  Still...it felt good to get wet.  I chatted for awhile with a couple women close to my age that ran the local surf shop.  Kind of a surf day.

Later, we ran down and checked out the sunset over the Pamlico sound.  Another pretty sunset and another nice day.

The sun setting on the Outer Banks

The Outer Banks

A foggy Myrtle Beach

4-11    Once again, plans don't always go the way you want.  I am planning (hah) to take the ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke.  Ocracoke is at the beginning of the Outer Banks and the only way to get there is fly, or take the ferry.  I had to make a reservation to be sure I got on, even though this time of year it isn't busy at all.  It only goes 2x a day.  So I planned (there's that word again) to drive part way to Cedar Island (total distance 250 non interstate miles) and find a campground to stay in to break up the drive.  We went along the coast and checked out Myrtle Beach along the way.  It looks pretty much like all the other beach towns along the east coast.  High rise hotels along the oceanfront with a few public beach access places and lots and lots of tourist stores.  This one was really quiet.  No spring break and the weather wasn't all that great for most beachgoers.  I thought it was though.  Nice and cool.  Still shorts, but comfortable.  Getting out of the heat at last.

So we drove....and drove.  I stopped in a couple campgrounds, but they were more like permanent places, no overnight.  And one was just a big dirt lot all locked up.  I almost stopped at Wal-Mart but was hoping to get a shower, everything well charged up, and some laundry done.  So we kept driving.  Finally, around 8 o'clock at night, we got to the end of the road by the ferry dock.  There is a campground here that has plenty of spaces.  I hate to think what it costs.  I'll find out in the morning when I go to pay for it.  But at least we have a place to sleep and little chance we'll miss the 1:oo pm ferry. 

That's us...half way back and crammed in

4-12     The camping spot turned out to be reasonable ($25).  After talking to the very nice, southern sounding ladies that handle the ferry reservations, they got me on the earlier ferry.  So I finally got to the Outer Banks.  The first town, or rather, village, is Ocracoke. It's the off season so the crowds are minimal.  This place has more normal (not rich) folk than some of the other beach towns I've been by.  It's very small and Cash and I walked around the village and also a nature trail not too far out of town. 

Ocracoke village

We didn't do the beach much because of the high winds.  The blowing sand is down at his face level, so we just took a look and left.  The weather has been very windy, but cooler.  The campground I'm staying in is the first one that's given me pause.  There are some of the "normal" folk living here year round I think.  In very beat up looking trailers.  The campground and store are for sale if anyone is interested.  You also get all the feral cats running around.

We did run back down to the beach for a very pretty sunset.  I had to stop while writing this and kill about 2 dozen mosquitos.  They hadn't been too bad lately so I got lazy and left the door open.  That's what I get.  And they got me.