Saturday, 28 June 2008
Friday, 27 June 2008
Shenandoah to Harpers Ferry
June 24. 08
Time marches on and so do we, we travelled 285 miles northward, our biggest one day hit yet and we are now in the Shenandoah Valley.
We have a site with half hearted TV and not very quick internet so this week we are not making internet phone calls and we are relying on the stuff we canned back in Spain (English TV) for late evening entertainment!
Our new TV has a built in digital decoder as does the DVD recorder which is also multi regional, it will play English recordings as well as USA. Cute innit?
Next year in the spring, the USA will give up analogue broadcasting the same day as we will in UK.
The campgound we are on now has four very poor analogue signals for the TV and no digital signal, so I think that next year this site may be short of customers.
We have, of course, been into the Shenandoah National Park for a trudge or two, some of it accompanied by the park ranger (free) and a free “lecture” about the black bear. Bears are resident in this part of the world and one needs to know what to do if you encounter one! No! Running like hell is not the way to deal with the situation.
Everyone else has seen black bears in the wild except us, well perhaps not everyone but quite a lot have. It’s the time of year when mother is out with very cuddly young so they are normally in groups of three.
Lots of deer to be seen, many chipmunks and squirrels and even a turtle crossing the road. I didn’t think that they had turtles here but the ranger assured us that they do. I have been known to stop and help them across the road but this one took me by surprise but I managed not to run him over.
Movin’ on tomorrow, another 100 miles further north towards Pennsylvania. We are going to Harpers Ferry which is a National Historical Park. We have almost overdosed on National Parks but they are always relaxing and stress free, and very picturesque and interesting.
This trip has mainly taken us through mountainous regions so we have made the most of it. We reckon that next time in the Autumn we will be travelling down the East coast and will have a sea-side sort of trip followed by a final rush back from Florida. It will be winter by then but not in Florida, Florida does not “do” winter.
Golf carts are what you use when playing golf, s’obvious innit?
Wrong, golf carts are what you rent when you go away for a relaxing and healthy camping weekend. It saves you having to walk around the campsite.
Camp ground owners often have them with a pickup truck type of flat bed behind and often they are also fitted with a “tipper” body
We are seeing Americans pulling their caravans (travel trailers) behind their trucks, and sitting in the truck bed is often a golf buggy!
Men being men, we have to start tarting these things up, its what men do! So now instead of the boring beige, you can have metallic blue, metal flake finishes, big alloy wheels and I see a couple with obviously larger engines and jacked up suspension with big knobbly tires! No! Honest, I kid you not.
Not long now before there is a V8 special dragster version. (I’ve just been told that they are already drag racing them!
Some idiots who do not own their own rent them from the camp site, at ridiculously high rates. Why don’t they get bicycles like we have?
Gonna be hot again tomorrow, 90f is the prediction but that’s O.K. We will be travelling with the windows shut tight and the air con running. Mr and Mrs America are now having serious discussions about whether it’s more economical to drive with the windows shut and the air con running or should they turn off the air and open a window. For those who have not thought about this very seriously, (and how many of us have?) the open window creates drag and makes the car (truck) less efficient. Nor can you condition all that air for no cost. Who was it who said “There is no such thing as a free lunch”? Yes, I did check the net but could not find the answer in three seconds flat, how unusual.
HARPERS FERRY
June 27th 08
Well, what a painless two hours that was, we were at our new site before noon without fuss.
It’s now Friday evening and we are reminded that Mr and Mrs America do like to get away for the weekend, the camp ground is filling very rapidly now and as normal those good folks have all brought fuel for the camp fire. It’s the way things are done out here and every pitch has a fire pit with logs readily available at the site shop.
The pool is a bit cool but it didn’t stop us on Wednesday evening but I will bet that it will be jammed solid with a million children this evening, perhaps not for me thanks!
Harpers Ferry is located where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet, on the border of West Virginia and Maryland. It is where the national armoury used to be until John Brown decided to make a final play for the freedom of all slaves here in 1859. It is his spirit that “goes marching on” and his body that “lies mouldering in the grave. ” His actions probably caused the civil war that ended slavery, in spite of him being executed.
Just for the record, John Brown’s last stand lasted a bare 36 hours and the only person killed by his small bunch of freedom fighters was a freed slave. Most ironic.
The town of Harpers Ferry is well preserved and all the National Park staff in the town are dressed in period costume, and along with the other Park Rangers, are as helpful as one could only dream about. All in all, a very nice experience. Today we had another of those guided hikes where there was just Freda and I and the Ranger, but man, it was hot! The young Ranger was impressed by our fitness and on returning at the end of the tour, said that it was the fastest time he has ever done for that hike.
DONT FORGET TO VIEW THE PICTURES AT
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog11Pics
You may have to hold down the ctrl key to go to the site and then you can view them as a slide show by clicking the appropriate button.
Time marches on and so do we, we travelled 285 miles northward, our biggest one day hit yet and we are now in the Shenandoah Valley.
We have a site with half hearted TV and not very quick internet so this week we are not making internet phone calls and we are relying on the stuff we canned back in Spain (English TV) for late evening entertainment!
Our new TV has a built in digital decoder as does the DVD recorder which is also multi regional, it will play English recordings as well as USA. Cute innit?
Next year in the spring, the USA will give up analogue broadcasting the same day as we will in UK.
The campgound we are on now has four very poor analogue signals for the TV and no digital signal, so I think that next year this site may be short of customers.
We have, of course, been into the Shenandoah National Park for a trudge or two, some of it accompanied by the park ranger (free) and a free “lecture” about the black bear. Bears are resident in this part of the world and one needs to know what to do if you encounter one! No! Running like hell is not the way to deal with the situation.
Everyone else has seen black bears in the wild except us, well perhaps not everyone but quite a lot have. It’s the time of year when mother is out with very cuddly young so they are normally in groups of three.
Lots of deer to be seen, many chipmunks and squirrels and even a turtle crossing the road. I didn’t think that they had turtles here but the ranger assured us that they do. I have been known to stop and help them across the road but this one took me by surprise but I managed not to run him over.
Movin’ on tomorrow, another 100 miles further north towards Pennsylvania. We are going to Harpers Ferry which is a National Historical Park. We have almost overdosed on National Parks but they are always relaxing and stress free, and very picturesque and interesting.
This trip has mainly taken us through mountainous regions so we have made the most of it. We reckon that next time in the Autumn we will be travelling down the East coast and will have a sea-side sort of trip followed by a final rush back from Florida. It will be winter by then but not in Florida, Florida does not “do” winter.
Golf carts are what you use when playing golf, s’obvious innit?
Wrong, golf carts are what you rent when you go away for a relaxing and healthy camping weekend. It saves you having to walk around the campsite.
Camp ground owners often have them with a pickup truck type of flat bed behind and often they are also fitted with a “tipper” body
We are seeing Americans pulling their caravans (travel trailers) behind their trucks, and sitting in the truck bed is often a golf buggy!
Men being men, we have to start tarting these things up, its what men do! So now instead of the boring beige, you can have metallic blue, metal flake finishes, big alloy wheels and I see a couple with obviously larger engines and jacked up suspension with big knobbly tires! No! Honest, I kid you not.
Not long now before there is a V8 special dragster version. (I’ve just been told that they are already drag racing them!
Some idiots who do not own their own rent them from the camp site, at ridiculously high rates. Why don’t they get bicycles like we have?
Gonna be hot again tomorrow, 90f is the prediction but that’s O.K. We will be travelling with the windows shut tight and the air con running. Mr and Mrs America are now having serious discussions about whether it’s more economical to drive with the windows shut and the air con running or should they turn off the air and open a window. For those who have not thought about this very seriously, (and how many of us have?) the open window creates drag and makes the car (truck) less efficient. Nor can you condition all that air for no cost. Who was it who said “There is no such thing as a free lunch”? Yes, I did check the net but could not find the answer in three seconds flat, how unusual.
HARPERS FERRY
June 27th 08
Well, what a painless two hours that was, we were at our new site before noon without fuss.
It’s now Friday evening and we are reminded that Mr and Mrs America do like to get away for the weekend, the camp ground is filling very rapidly now and as normal those good folks have all brought fuel for the camp fire. It’s the way things are done out here and every pitch has a fire pit with logs readily available at the site shop.
The pool is a bit cool but it didn’t stop us on Wednesday evening but I will bet that it will be jammed solid with a million children this evening, perhaps not for me thanks!
Harpers Ferry is located where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet, on the border of West Virginia and Maryland. It is where the national armoury used to be until John Brown decided to make a final play for the freedom of all slaves here in 1859. It is his spirit that “goes marching on” and his body that “lies mouldering in the grave. ” His actions probably caused the civil war that ended slavery, in spite of him being executed.
Just for the record, John Brown’s last stand lasted a bare 36 hours and the only person killed by his small bunch of freedom fighters was a freed slave. Most ironic.
The town of Harpers Ferry is well preserved and all the National Park staff in the town are dressed in period costume, and along with the other Park Rangers, are as helpful as one could only dream about. All in all, a very nice experience. Today we had another of those guided hikes where there was just Freda and I and the Ranger, but man, it was hot! The young Ranger was impressed by our fitness and on returning at the end of the tour, said that it was the fastest time he has ever done for that hike.
DONT FORGET TO VIEW THE PICTURES AT
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog11Pics
You may have to hold down the ctrl key to go to the site and then you can view them as a slide show by clicking the appropriate button.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Heading North but slooowley
June 10
It’s hot!! The temperature today is predicted to reach 94f with high humidity.
A large part of America is experiencing higher than normal temps and we are very glad to have air con in our ‘house’ but we did see on this morning’s news that the temp for Colorado was minus 15f and we also saw snow (on TV) in Washington state.
During the warm (hot!) evenings we have seen fireflies, something we have never seen before, a quick flash of a bright light, then it’s gone. I don’t think that is the kind of thing you would ever see in a zoo, just as you would not see flying fish actually flying in a zoo. I remember being amazed when I first saw flying fish actually flying (in the Mediterranean sea) and I have not seen them since so they must be quite rare too!
We were shopping a day or two back and passing the vegetables section in the supermarket, when we heard the sound of thunder and then the crack of lightning closely followed by a spray of water onto the veg! The sound effects were the warning to step back before the “storm.” Perhaps at a supermarket near you next week!
The pool at the campground in Nashville is not heated but with the continuous hot weather, stepping into the water is like stepping into a warm bath. The sun reflects off the water and it is possible to burn extremely quickly as you swim, we soon learnt to wait until almost six pm when there was a shadow across the pool to avoid getting toasted.
We had the grand tour of Nashville in the air con bus with various stops along the way. We stopped at the “Country Music Hall of Fame” where we saw more gold records than you would believe could exist. We also went to the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry was based for many years before moving to its new home in 1974. The name refers to the radio programme, so it can move home and keep it’s name.
We booked to go and see the show at the Grand Old Opry at the one performance of the week that was being televised, probably the best show as only the best acts would be shown. Even the big stars got to do no more than three numbers so if you didn’t like some one’s style, you only had to put up with it for a few minutes! I think Freda summed it up well, they started with the old, old has beens and worked their way to a more current crop of wannabes.
The show was good and a different style of theatre to what we are accustomed to. Just to make sure we had done it to death, the following day we did the back stage tour. Grand Ole Opry, over and out!!
On our way down to Nashville, I was studying the Exit Guide and noted that we would soon pass into another time zone. I mentioned this to Freda who said, “Yes, just seen the sign at the roadside” (she was driving).
A little later in a Mexican restauraunt we asked the manager for a time check. “Ten after two” he said. That’s what we had! That’s funny, we thought we had just crossed the line and had to alter our clocks and watches!
For the next couple of days, everything we went to started an hour late, but it wasn’t until we went to the Opry show that we discovered that the Mexican had given us a bum steer!
Don’t forget the photo’s at
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog10Pics
Remember to hold down the CTRL key as you click!
June 12
We have now travelled to Kentucky, land of the horse. We could tell we were in Kentucky because the first thing we noted next to the visitor centre (on the state border) was a horse race track. Americans seem to race horses on loose packed dirt but this was a grass track which I think is unusual over here.
On our way from Tennessee we passed through Bowling Green City where the Chevrolet Corvette is made. We had seen on the webcam that the place had a huge car park and so we stopped to have a look for a while. We spent time in the Corvette museum and then one mile away at the GM factory where we had an excellent tour of the assembly lines, where they produce about 145 Corvettes per day, and the new very whizz Cadillac sports car, almost hand built only making about eight per day, at hundred grand a “pop“. It might be interesting to check European prices for that and the 06 Corvette that is priced here at a very reasonable $60,000.
Onwards to Cave City where the campground we had booked turned out to be very disappointing, and after setting up and finding the electric hookup didn’t work, which was the last straw, I told the owner what I thought of his place then moved on to a “proper” campground, Yogi’s Jellystone Park” which is much better.
Here in Kentucky we seem to be too early for this event or too late for that event and so it is proving to be a quiet couple of days except that we are only a few miles from the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave.
This cave is HUGE and very cold. The network has 379 miles actually mapped and all connected, and work is still going on exploring. It is the longest cave system in the world, and there are five levels. Only the bottom level has water in it.
We have been down a few caves in our time and we should have remembered just how cold you can get when you are underground for over an hour; caves the world over seem to be at around 54 f and after a surface temp of 90 plus, we felt a bit uncomfortable with a temperature drop close to 40f but the tour was well worth the goose bumps. The caves are run by the National Parks Service. We can always recommend anything that they do, always done well, always good value and sometimes even free!
Today June 12th we took the guided walk in the woods close to the Mamoth Cavern, This was a pleasant experience for no charge at all. The ranger, a former university tutor, told us all kinds of stuff but we had a job to hear him over the sound of the cicadas.
These cicadas in this part of the world take seventeen years underground to mature to the flying stage. No one here has seen a cicada (of this type) for sixteen years and this is their year to emerge, one and a half million per acre!! The males live for 14 days, the females about a month. In about 6 weeks they are all gone, and peace will return. The tree frogs were struggling to make themselves heard above the din.
Northwards tomorrow to Lexington, more miles on the clock. The Ford has done 3700 miles so far and has proved to be very comfortable if not economical. Having compared notes with a Chevy owner with a similar truck, but regular gas (petrol to most of you), as opposed to our diesel, it seemed that he was getting seven to the gallon! We decided we were doin’ OK after all!
I took my wife out to dinner tonite (do you like the American spelling?)
It was one of those “all you can eat without bursting” things and good food too. I felt pleased with the bill (check) at $8 a head, can this place get any cheaper?
June 13
Onwards today to Lexington and on the way a visit the birthplace and boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln, an interesting short stop and chance later to consider it all as we sat housebound during a monumental thunderstorm.
Today ( June 15th, Fathers day) we went to the Kentucky Horse Park, a sort of horsey theme park. I’m not a horse nut but still found it very interesting with lots to see, and they made it very entertaining. This is like Disney for horse freaks but all good fun!
Moving day tomorrow, the crazy high temperatures have calmed down a bit and at last we are below the ninety mark, much more comfortable. We should be able to move in comfort and then have a blog post.
16th June and we are now in West Virginia after a simple 140 mile three hour trudge up the interstate. This a nice site with Wi-Fi and lovely weather.
More soon! I must remember to tell you about golf carts next time!!
Don’t forget to see the photo’s at http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog10Pics
Whilst holding down the CTRL key
It’s hot!! The temperature today is predicted to reach 94f with high humidity.
A large part of America is experiencing higher than normal temps and we are very glad to have air con in our ‘house’ but we did see on this morning’s news that the temp for Colorado was minus 15f and we also saw snow (on TV) in Washington state.
During the warm (hot!) evenings we have seen fireflies, something we have never seen before, a quick flash of a bright light, then it’s gone. I don’t think that is the kind of thing you would ever see in a zoo, just as you would not see flying fish actually flying in a zoo. I remember being amazed when I first saw flying fish actually flying (in the Mediterranean sea) and I have not seen them since so they must be quite rare too!
We were shopping a day or two back and passing the vegetables section in the supermarket, when we heard the sound of thunder and then the crack of lightning closely followed by a spray of water onto the veg! The sound effects were the warning to step back before the “storm.” Perhaps at a supermarket near you next week!
The pool at the campground in Nashville is not heated but with the continuous hot weather, stepping into the water is like stepping into a warm bath. The sun reflects off the water and it is possible to burn extremely quickly as you swim, we soon learnt to wait until almost six pm when there was a shadow across the pool to avoid getting toasted.
We had the grand tour of Nashville in the air con bus with various stops along the way. We stopped at the “Country Music Hall of Fame” where we saw more gold records than you would believe could exist. We also went to the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry was based for many years before moving to its new home in 1974. The name refers to the radio programme, so it can move home and keep it’s name.
We booked to go and see the show at the Grand Old Opry at the one performance of the week that was being televised, probably the best show as only the best acts would be shown. Even the big stars got to do no more than three numbers so if you didn’t like some one’s style, you only had to put up with it for a few minutes! I think Freda summed it up well, they started with the old, old has beens and worked their way to a more current crop of wannabes.
The show was good and a different style of theatre to what we are accustomed to. Just to make sure we had done it to death, the following day we did the back stage tour. Grand Ole Opry, over and out!!
On our way down to Nashville, I was studying the Exit Guide and noted that we would soon pass into another time zone. I mentioned this to Freda who said, “Yes, just seen the sign at the roadside” (she was driving).
A little later in a Mexican restauraunt we asked the manager for a time check. “Ten after two” he said. That’s what we had! That’s funny, we thought we had just crossed the line and had to alter our clocks and watches!
For the next couple of days, everything we went to started an hour late, but it wasn’t until we went to the Opry show that we discovered that the Mexican had given us a bum steer!
Don’t forget the photo’s at
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog10Pics
Remember to hold down the CTRL key as you click!
June 12
We have now travelled to Kentucky, land of the horse. We could tell we were in Kentucky because the first thing we noted next to the visitor centre (on the state border) was a horse race track. Americans seem to race horses on loose packed dirt but this was a grass track which I think is unusual over here.
On our way from Tennessee we passed through Bowling Green City where the Chevrolet Corvette is made. We had seen on the webcam that the place had a huge car park and so we stopped to have a look for a while. We spent time in the Corvette museum and then one mile away at the GM factory where we had an excellent tour of the assembly lines, where they produce about 145 Corvettes per day, and the new very whizz Cadillac sports car, almost hand built only making about eight per day, at hundred grand a “pop“. It might be interesting to check European prices for that and the 06 Corvette that is priced here at a very reasonable $60,000.
Onwards to Cave City where the campground we had booked turned out to be very disappointing, and after setting up and finding the electric hookup didn’t work, which was the last straw, I told the owner what I thought of his place then moved on to a “proper” campground, Yogi’s Jellystone Park” which is much better.
Here in Kentucky we seem to be too early for this event or too late for that event and so it is proving to be a quiet couple of days except that we are only a few miles from the world’s longest cave system, Mammoth Cave.
This cave is HUGE and very cold. The network has 379 miles actually mapped and all connected, and work is still going on exploring. It is the longest cave system in the world, and there are five levels. Only the bottom level has water in it.
We have been down a few caves in our time and we should have remembered just how cold you can get when you are underground for over an hour; caves the world over seem to be at around 54 f and after a surface temp of 90 plus, we felt a bit uncomfortable with a temperature drop close to 40f but the tour was well worth the goose bumps. The caves are run by the National Parks Service. We can always recommend anything that they do, always done well, always good value and sometimes even free!
Today June 12th we took the guided walk in the woods close to the Mamoth Cavern, This was a pleasant experience for no charge at all. The ranger, a former university tutor, told us all kinds of stuff but we had a job to hear him over the sound of the cicadas.
These cicadas in this part of the world take seventeen years underground to mature to the flying stage. No one here has seen a cicada (of this type) for sixteen years and this is their year to emerge, one and a half million per acre!! The males live for 14 days, the females about a month. In about 6 weeks they are all gone, and peace will return. The tree frogs were struggling to make themselves heard above the din.
Northwards tomorrow to Lexington, more miles on the clock. The Ford has done 3700 miles so far and has proved to be very comfortable if not economical. Having compared notes with a Chevy owner with a similar truck, but regular gas (petrol to most of you), as opposed to our diesel, it seemed that he was getting seven to the gallon! We decided we were doin’ OK after all!
I took my wife out to dinner tonite (do you like the American spelling?)
It was one of those “all you can eat without bursting” things and good food too. I felt pleased with the bill (check) at $8 a head, can this place get any cheaper?
June 13
Onwards today to Lexington and on the way a visit the birthplace and boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln, an interesting short stop and chance later to consider it all as we sat housebound during a monumental thunderstorm.
Today ( June 15th, Fathers day) we went to the Kentucky Horse Park, a sort of horsey theme park. I’m not a horse nut but still found it very interesting with lots to see, and they made it very entertaining. This is like Disney for horse freaks but all good fun!
Moving day tomorrow, the crazy high temperatures have calmed down a bit and at last we are below the ninety mark, much more comfortable. We should be able to move in comfort and then have a blog post.
16th June and we are now in West Virginia after a simple 140 mile three hour trudge up the interstate. This a nice site with Wi-Fi and lovely weather.
More soon! I must remember to tell you about golf carts next time!!
Don’t forget to see the photo’s at http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog10Pics
Whilst holding down the CTRL key
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Nashville, our most southerly point
27th May
We are currently at Pigeon Forge, a holiday resort 200 miles east of Nashville, just for a short stop on our way there.
This place was described to us as a tourist trap but with a place like this, you can be sure that everyone is trying very hard to be competitive, so everything is crazy cheap. We did a deal with a show and dinner combined and it all was half price, they seem to be into “all you can eat” buffets here, $21 for an all you can eat dinner and a good musical show has to be good value. It was a good fun night out.
We had two days in the Smoky Mountains; one day we went up to 6000 ft and covered lots of miles in the truck, but did get to walk a little of the Appalachian Trail, wending our way “homewards” at the end of the afternoon very tired.
The following day started with breakfast at IHOP, (International House Of Pancakes.) This was the real deal, true American stuff from a chain we have used many times before, always very clean, always excellently cooked food, always at an extremely good price.
Today we went into the Smoky Mountains to drive the one-way Roaring Fork Motor Trail, which was a bit narrow and undulating but just about passable with the wide truck! We did a lovely walk to a waterfalls, a bit over 1½ miles each way, through the woods on rough terrain, but ultimately worth the effort and took some superb pictures.
Later on round the “motor trail, ” we found that at 8ft 10 wide and 22ft long we were a bit unwieldy. When it came to a bend with a tight turn onto a narrow bridge with no parapets, things got a little scary and at one point we were on the edge rail of the bridge, I decided the best way to deal with the remainder of the trail was to “fold in” the door mirrors so that we could get between the trees without damaging the mirrors!
June 1
We had planned to move on to Nashville next and it was pure chance that there is a major music festival on this coming week.
We arrived at our “new” home and after a meal we rushed to the entertainments hall on the camp site. Initially we were both a little disappointed to find the “entertainment” was a single musician but sat for a few minutes to give him an opportunity. We sat enthralled till the end of the evening. He played guitar until a string broke, then, totally unfazed, he switched to the banjo and played “blue grass.” He also sung, extremely well.
He told us that the following evening he would be playing with his buddies, at “Cowboy Town.”
We duly travelled to “Cowboy Town” on Saturday to be entertained in a very “down home” manner with a gunfight, a good meal and some excellent music around the camp fire. What a lot of fun that was! At the end of the evening there were us two and about fourteen others sitting round the fire joining in as best we could as night fell. Wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
You can give the guys a try by clicking the following link and you can hear their music. They are called Wilson County Line.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=169671908
June 2nd
There is a cafe nearby where the rich and famous go, not for snob value but for top class food. We found this place in one of our books and set off for breakfast.
The book and website said the building was no great shakes but the food was without compare. So it was (is). The “Loveless Cafe” treated us to a breakfast that was of astonishing quality for a realistic price. We spent $30 for the two of us but it was an extraordinary experience. Past customers, with their autographed pics on the wall included Princess Anne, Al Gore and whoever else you could think of.
www.lovelesscafe.com for those who would like to check it out and my pal Brian might like a visit there on his next trip to Nashville.
Our next port of call today was “Lane Motor Museum.” I thought that for three dollars, I’ll try anything, so we paid our money. Once inside we just took root, it was an amazing top quality collection of stuff we had never even heard of and we were totally absorbed for two hours, having expected to be there for only a short time.
We find lots of this “stuff” on the net and also in the Book. Oh! Yes, we have some books. One has to have the “One thousand things to do before you pop your clogs”. (I’ll explain later Fredy.) and as we are here we bought the version that is 1000 things to do in the USA. Our bible is the Rough Guide to the USA, absolutely brilliant.
We also have another book, Interstate Exit Directory, this is a book that tells you what lurks at the next motorway exit.
Now, why would you want a book like that?
Well, if you are 52 feet long you don’t want to get off the main drag and find you can’t park to get food, or find diesel, etc.
This strange book tells us where we can exit and find a diesel pump THAT WE CAN GET AT, and where we can park to eat. You can always find places to eat but can you park? I should explain that most US gas stations don’t sell diesel, so we have to hunt a bit hard to find one. I suppose about 1 in 10 do, so you will understand the problem.
We stopped at one truck stop and took a little while to sort out how things are done but we parked after some deliberation and saw all the trucks lined up along the gantry where they could have “conditioned air” blown in through the side window without running the engine. We also discovered the “Iron Skillet” cafe where you could “pig out” over lunch for not a lot!
We had new neighbours arrive Sunday. The bus rolled in to the adjoining pitch just before our evening meal. In true American style, the bus stayed, all 42 Feet of it (That’s about 14 metres), just the two folks on board pulling a Honda CRV 4x4 behind. They had just driven down from New Jersey for the Nashville Music Festival.
I am in awe of how much money these guys have to burn. The expense never seems to worry them at all! It must be the conditioned reflex of an English person. I know that the American troops refer to our English troops as “the poor people”. Perhaps they are right.
These guys certainly have some mega large “camping” outfits. We have seen some with a truck similar to ours, towing a VERY large 40ft fifth wheeler behind and behind that? Another trailer with the Harley Davidson aboard.
I looked at this thing of a crazy length and decided that with that kind of set-up, there would not be a hope in hell of reversing it!!!
There will be a photo of a train of three in the slide show.
Those pulling a travel trailer (caravan) or fifth wheel have all learnt the skill of reversing. They just back up onto their pitches in one go without any thought. It always seemed to me that it was a life skill that you needed to learn for this kind of life, and yet we have seen hundreds of Brits who have not a clue about how to reverse a trailer and have no intention of learning. They push them, well try pushing mine! Mine weighs in at six and a half tons.
We have heard a lot of great traditional country music since we’ve been here, and one thing we have noted is that they always include a gospel song or two. Gospel music was a big part of the roots of country music. They all seem to be believers in this part of the world, and they are proud of it. There was a Nascar race on TV on Sunday and not only is the National Anthem sung before the race, but they also recited the Lord’s Prayer. Sadly it wouldn’t work at the British Grand Prix.
A tour guide said to me yesterday that this is the Bible belt and Nashville is the very buckle of that belt.
It’s hot, hot, hot and praise the Lord for air-conditioning. All the shops are air-conditioned, in fact, anywhere indoors is, even the music barn on the campground. Life would be unpleasant without it, and we also have it in our Fifth wheeler. You just need a break from the heat now and then (94 f yesterday with 78% humidity).
Don’t forget to view the slide show at
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog9
We have “done” “The Grand Ole Opry” this week but more next time about that
We are currently at Pigeon Forge, a holiday resort 200 miles east of Nashville, just for a short stop on our way there.
This place was described to us as a tourist trap but with a place like this, you can be sure that everyone is trying very hard to be competitive, so everything is crazy cheap. We did a deal with a show and dinner combined and it all was half price, they seem to be into “all you can eat” buffets here, $21 for an all you can eat dinner and a good musical show has to be good value. It was a good fun night out.
We had two days in the Smoky Mountains; one day we went up to 6000 ft and covered lots of miles in the truck, but did get to walk a little of the Appalachian Trail, wending our way “homewards” at the end of the afternoon very tired.
The following day started with breakfast at IHOP, (International House Of Pancakes.) This was the real deal, true American stuff from a chain we have used many times before, always very clean, always excellently cooked food, always at an extremely good price.
Today we went into the Smoky Mountains to drive the one-way Roaring Fork Motor Trail, which was a bit narrow and undulating but just about passable with the wide truck! We did a lovely walk to a waterfalls, a bit over 1½ miles each way, through the woods on rough terrain, but ultimately worth the effort and took some superb pictures.
Later on round the “motor trail, ” we found that at 8ft 10 wide and 22ft long we were a bit unwieldy. When it came to a bend with a tight turn onto a narrow bridge with no parapets, things got a little scary and at one point we were on the edge rail of the bridge, I decided the best way to deal with the remainder of the trail was to “fold in” the door mirrors so that we could get between the trees without damaging the mirrors!
June 1
We had planned to move on to Nashville next and it was pure chance that there is a major music festival on this coming week.
We arrived at our “new” home and after a meal we rushed to the entertainments hall on the camp site. Initially we were both a little disappointed to find the “entertainment” was a single musician but sat for a few minutes to give him an opportunity. We sat enthralled till the end of the evening. He played guitar until a string broke, then, totally unfazed, he switched to the banjo and played “blue grass.” He also sung, extremely well.
He told us that the following evening he would be playing with his buddies, at “Cowboy Town.”
We duly travelled to “Cowboy Town” on Saturday to be entertained in a very “down home” manner with a gunfight, a good meal and some excellent music around the camp fire. What a lot of fun that was! At the end of the evening there were us two and about fourteen others sitting round the fire joining in as best we could as night fell. Wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
You can give the guys a try by clicking the following link and you can hear their music. They are called Wilson County Line.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=169671908
June 2nd
There is a cafe nearby where the rich and famous go, not for snob value but for top class food. We found this place in one of our books and set off for breakfast.
The book and website said the building was no great shakes but the food was without compare. So it was (is). The “Loveless Cafe” treated us to a breakfast that was of astonishing quality for a realistic price. We spent $30 for the two of us but it was an extraordinary experience. Past customers, with their autographed pics on the wall included Princess Anne, Al Gore and whoever else you could think of.
www.lovelesscafe.com for those who would like to check it out and my pal Brian might like a visit there on his next trip to Nashville.
Our next port of call today was “Lane Motor Museum.” I thought that for three dollars, I’ll try anything, so we paid our money. Once inside we just took root, it was an amazing top quality collection of stuff we had never even heard of and we were totally absorbed for two hours, having expected to be there for only a short time.
We find lots of this “stuff” on the net and also in the Book. Oh! Yes, we have some books. One has to have the “One thousand things to do before you pop your clogs”. (I’ll explain later Fredy.) and as we are here we bought the version that is 1000 things to do in the USA. Our bible is the Rough Guide to the USA, absolutely brilliant.
We also have another book, Interstate Exit Directory, this is a book that tells you what lurks at the next motorway exit.
Now, why would you want a book like that?
Well, if you are 52 feet long you don’t want to get off the main drag and find you can’t park to get food, or find diesel, etc.
This strange book tells us where we can exit and find a diesel pump THAT WE CAN GET AT, and where we can park to eat. You can always find places to eat but can you park? I should explain that most US gas stations don’t sell diesel, so we have to hunt a bit hard to find one. I suppose about 1 in 10 do, so you will understand the problem.
We stopped at one truck stop and took a little while to sort out how things are done but we parked after some deliberation and saw all the trucks lined up along the gantry where they could have “conditioned air” blown in through the side window without running the engine. We also discovered the “Iron Skillet” cafe where you could “pig out” over lunch for not a lot!
We had new neighbours arrive Sunday. The bus rolled in to the adjoining pitch just before our evening meal. In true American style, the bus stayed, all 42 Feet of it (That’s about 14 metres), just the two folks on board pulling a Honda CRV 4x4 behind. They had just driven down from New Jersey for the Nashville Music Festival.
I am in awe of how much money these guys have to burn. The expense never seems to worry them at all! It must be the conditioned reflex of an English person. I know that the American troops refer to our English troops as “the poor people”. Perhaps they are right.
These guys certainly have some mega large “camping” outfits. We have seen some with a truck similar to ours, towing a VERY large 40ft fifth wheeler behind and behind that? Another trailer with the Harley Davidson aboard.
I looked at this thing of a crazy length and decided that with that kind of set-up, there would not be a hope in hell of reversing it!!!
There will be a photo of a train of three in the slide show.
Those pulling a travel trailer (caravan) or fifth wheel have all learnt the skill of reversing. They just back up onto their pitches in one go without any thought. It always seemed to me that it was a life skill that you needed to learn for this kind of life, and yet we have seen hundreds of Brits who have not a clue about how to reverse a trailer and have no intention of learning. They push them, well try pushing mine! Mine weighs in at six and a half tons.
We have heard a lot of great traditional country music since we’ve been here, and one thing we have noted is that they always include a gospel song or two. Gospel music was a big part of the roots of country music. They all seem to be believers in this part of the world, and they are proud of it. There was a Nascar race on TV on Sunday and not only is the National Anthem sung before the race, but they also recited the Lord’s Prayer. Sadly it wouldn’t work at the British Grand Prix.
A tour guide said to me yesterday that this is the Bible belt and Nashville is the very buckle of that belt.
It’s hot, hot, hot and praise the Lord for air-conditioning. All the shops are air-conditioned, in fact, anywhere indoors is, even the music barn on the campground. Life would be unpleasant without it, and we also have it in our Fifth wheeler. You just need a break from the heat now and then (94 f yesterday with 78% humidity).
Don’t forget to view the slide show at
http://picasaweb.google.com/arthur.croasdell/Blog9
We have “done” “The Grand Ole Opry” this week but more next time about that
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