A Quick Trip To Indiana

We've been preparing for this trip north since the fall, when we discovered a couple front seams on our trailer coming apart. This was the biggest problem we've had to date, and as it turns out is a $7,000 fix! The frame has too much flex at the front hitch and expansion joint. BUMMER...we were 6 months out of warranty...after several conversations with the manufacturer, we agreed to drive the trailer to them if they did the repairs free of charge. I have a feeling, they didn't want one of their "new" lines showing up on the news coming apart on a freeway somewhere.

We made the best of the "side trip" to Indiana (as if anything is really a side-trip for us anymore : )

We planned stops in Shreveport, LA; Jackson, MS; Memphis and Nashville, TN; Louisville, KY and ending in Sharonville, Ohio. (GO REDS!!!)

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On our way out of Texas, we decided to stop at NASA Houston. Glad we did. Very amazing place.

These were some HUGE rockets. I was overwhelmed by the size of this thing, which ultimately just carried this tiny cramped capsule of people in the front end.

There was a lot to see and do. The space program has lost a lot of it's luster and funding...that's a shame : ( There was a lot to see and learn here, some great docu-films and the best part...everything is REAL! Sorry Disney. We like your parks too, but there's nothing like the real thing baby : )

We learned quite a bit about the future of the space program as well.

Like what the next spacemen might actually look like...boy is the program in trouble!

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Next (short) stop was Shreveport, LA. as I mentioned in the previous blog, we were very pleasantly surprised at the southern hospitality. No matter if it was a rest area, gas station, cafe, campground, coffee shop or retail store...everyone was just plain nice. For the most part, happy people interested in the things going on around them.

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 For music lover Sheila, Memphis and Nashville were must stops!

Memphis was up first. We stayed at the Graceland RV Resort (yes, right next door to Graceland).

Of all the music tours this was the most interesting to me. I did not grow up listening to Elvis, and knew very little about him. I came away with a huge appreciation for his place in music history.

 

 We obviously toured the Presley "Mansion". I was surprised by how "unmansion" like it was by today's standards. I mean that as a compliment. Most rooms were no larger than today's average sizes. In fact, the kitchen was about half the size of our old house in Davenport. The furnishings though were a hoot! Wall to wall carpeting took on a whole new meaning, as a lot of walls and ceilings were carpeted. We saw the famed jungle room (living room) which again was not very large, but decorated with a jungle theme. There was a billiards room with wall to wall to ceiling fabric. And the basement (again half as big as our old Davenport house) was covered in mirrors and multiple "tiny" T.V.'s : )

 The grounds around the Presley Estate had several sitting or meditation areas. He loved to have his fun, but liked his quiet spaces also.

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For the first time, we decided to take an actual tour bus in Nashville. Just too much to see, and we only had a day. The  8-hour tour consisted of downtown Nashville, the Ryman Theater, Country Music Hall of Fame, the Historic Grand Old Opry and the Opryland Hotel.

 

Two things stood out above everything we saw. The history of the "circle of wood", we had our picture taken in it (above). Every country music singer who is anybody, has once stood in this circle. The circle moved to the Ryman Theater when the Grand Old Opry flooded and then moved back when it re-opened.

The second thing I'll remember is the Opryland Hotel. There is no way I can do it justice in these photos. We are already planning to get back there and stay a weekend in the hotel. It is one HUGE nature preserve in a completely controlled environment. The waterfalls recycle and naturally filter the river that contains water from hundreds of oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds and streams from all over the world.

(Yes, Lake Roosevelt, WA is listed as a water donor)

 

 

The picture below is the best view in "Tennessee".
You can see the Capital Building in the background center.

The tour guides very much over did the "flood" in Nashville though (in our humble opinion). We understand there was a flood, and a lot of historical artifacts were indeed lost. The Opry was closed and remodeled, etc...but in light of all the other disasters happening around the world, we didn't think we needed to be reminded of this one every fifteen minutes. To do the flood "justice", the image below shows the water line on the concrete (left hand side). It's a lighter concrete (the black arrow is kind of a reference point). This is the main entry for all performers at the Opry. The image on the right is one of dressing rooms. (we had a backstage pass to see everything).

 

 The picture below is of the Original Ryman theater. This very old building has the second best acoustics in the world (Mormon Tabernacle is #1). WOW!

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 Onward to Louisville! Kentucky is an absolutely beautiful state. We took an entire day and just drove around the countryside. Ultimately we had a few covered bridges that we wanted to look for. Kentucky has the most surviving covered bridges.

 

Lastly, we stopped at the oldest and original "settlement" in Kentucky. This fort was very interesting to walk through. Fantastic job of making you feel (and explaining) what it was like to live here long ago.

 

 

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WHEW!!! that pretty much gets me to where we currently reside...Sharonville, Ohio : )

We saw a TON of stuff this week. It was almost a blur. So I'll leave you with that and this image...

We along with thousands of others are a permanent part of this old Kentucky covered bridge : )

(ST+ST)

Thanks for reading!

One Year Anniversary!

Funny how fast a year goes by. As of this week we moved into our new home on wheels a year ago. No regrets. We love what we're doing and how we're doing it : )

 I'm sending this blog from our extended stay hotel in Sharonville, Ohio. Just outside Cincinnati, home of my beloved Reds (we will be catching a couple games while we're here). The trailer is in Elkheart, Indiana being repaired for the next 2 weeks. (There were a lot of things on our list).

After thousands of miles and dozens of campgrounds these things are pretty clear to us.

1. This type of traveling is not really cheap.

 When we set out to do this, we had a budget and a plan to stay within that budget. We thought this would be a much less expensive way to live and get to see the country. We underestimated the cost of almost everything. We have managed to trim a few dollars off what we were spending before the move, but not nearly what we had hoped...yet. We continue to adjust and learn how to make the most of every dollar. Fuel is the big killer, as you would expect...

2. Drivers in almost every state, on almost every highway, seem to have a death wish.

 We've traveled lots of interstates, highways and county roads. Through mountains, deserts, cities and residential neighborhoods in over 20 states in the last year alone. It's really getting scary out here. Texas so far was the worst, but we have seen all kinds of near misses, fender benders and fatal accidents in almost every state we've traveled. So far we've only been in involved in the near misses...a couple times by inches...it's a crazy place out here in the concrete jungle. We've seen some crazy things with cell phone users, truckers and people texting. Lane change blinkers, breaks and just slowing down are a thing of the past. Because we are over 50 feet in length, most times we get an extra look from crazy drivers before getting cutoff or pushed around.

3. There really is such a thing as Southern Hospitality.
We found that without exception most areas we traveled in the southern states – people were just plain nicer – no better way to put it.

4. We do miss family and friends : )

For the most part we are dealing with family and friend separation, with more frequent visits. Leaving the trailer and flying around (see over budget above : ) or making sure some of our camping selections will be close for visiting. Winter is the hardest, as we will always stay south and have to fly to visit. We also fly Shelby to us if it makes sense in her busy schedule. We are flying her and a girlfriend (Nicole) into Jamaica Beach in June and are really excited about that!


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One of our favorite spots in Galveston to just hang out for a couple hours and shoot some pool was "Woody's".  One of the few places still on the ocean-side seawall, usually completely open with a deck over the ocean. Much quieter than most of the "kids" hangouts further down the beach.

Like my custom t-shirt design? Think I could sell a few of these? Sheila "hand"made it on the spot : )


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Many years ago, Sheila and I had what they call a "trick" or steerable kite. We purchased it in a Seattle kite store. We used it quite a bit and finally wore it out. As you can imagine, Galveston has several shops devoted to kites. We stopped in one, looked around and came out with a $200 steerable kite.
If you enjoy kite flying, your next one really should be steerable. You'll never go back to the single string "watch it blow in the air" kite. They hold competitions with these kites, playing "tag" and acrobatics.

 

This new one is larger than our old one, so it grabs more air. And literally pulled us down the beach when we were in the strongest wind window. You can actually "stack" these kites together if you wanted, but I don't think we could handle the pull. We had a blast though, and look forward to our next launch : )

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Our neighbors had a wonderful outdoor dinner for eight on our last night in Galveston. Thanks Mike and Rose, we had a blast and look forward to our first reunion down the road somewhere.

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I'll close this and keep it short as I'm already working on the next one.

As I've mentioned in the past, Sheila loves to visit our furry neighbors and sometimes brings them home with her. This is Barbie...we spent the afternoon barbiesitting : )

 Thanks for reading!