Graceland

We began our day driving across Tennessee to get to Memphis. As we drove away from our campsite we counted 12 churches in a six mile stretch in Gallatin, TN. We are in a motel tonight after four nights of camping, the wi-fi so good so I have finally been able to upload all our pictures to date to the Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3dsnlo1clw9woli/AAAxWbXtNqPfcu2vDGk9scOxa?dl=0

Many people think Graceland, home of Elvis, is tacky. I love to tour houses. I have been known to your stop at open houses for new homes  even though I will never leave my current tiny house. I especially love to tour  historic house and that is what Graceland is. First, I love the front exterior facade, such a perfect example of a fine Southern home.

The interior wax decorated as it was when Elvis died in 1977. That 1970s decor brought me back to my own childhood. The shagg carpet, the kitchen appliances, and the heavy glass ashtrays. As most of you know I am very sentimental, and that house ignited fond childhood memories. The poolroom is covered in 30 yards of fabric from ceiling all the way down the walls. 

Audiobooks Completed: Us Against You by Fredrick Bachman (even better than Beartown)

Wildlife:

2 white heron

1hawk

7 deer (twin fawns) We ate our breakfast watching deer this morning.

1 Roadkill 

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

We spent Tuesday night in the Smokmont Campground. It was very full. More beautiful vistas this morning as we drive through the park. My mother read that the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the busiest in the country and it seemed like it. Tons of cars on the roads at 8:15am driving and even more parked for hiking trails. There is no park entrance fee so that is part of why it’s so busy. 

Drove toward Nashville today. Staying at Bledsoe Creek State Park tonight. I’m really impressed with this park. They had informative ranger led talk this afternoon, it’s handicap accessible with two trails, bathrooms and campsites for wheelchair access. This is also the first park that recycles and makes an effort to conserve energy. I should’t Say that b/c the National parks to date have skylights in all their bathrooms and actual lights don’t turn on until dark. There are tons of deer in this park. 

When we first got here, we thought the temperature and humidity were bearable. After an hour we decided we would need to be in a motel as we make our way to Memphis and then New Orleans. It was still 93 degrees at 7pm. We had a dramatic thunder and lightning storm last night, but the tents held in the wind. 

A few things I noticed all the men smoke in Tennessee, and I’ve seen some very scary looking men here. Not big and scary, but lanky, crazy-eyed, stringy hair scary. 

Wildlife:

2turkey

A bat

7 deer ( 1 fawn)

3 roadkill 

Blue Ridge Parkway

Two gorgeous days in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Ranger just stopped to tell us a bear was in campground last night and to make sure our food and dishes etc are packed up before bed.
To date my mom has saved our adventure 40.00 so far with her Golden Age National Parks Pass for which She only paid 10.00 in approximately 2008.

As we were getting in the BRP on Tuesday morning we met a man whose property abuts the Parkway and he said he has had 7 bear in his yard to date this year and one was scratching at his door after a particularly aromatic meal wafted through his exhaust fan. He has two dogs that chased the bear off, and one he has thousands of dollars in vet bills because of bear tussles. I really want to see a bear! 

The Blue Ridge Parkway is amazing. Both Skyline Drive and Blue RidgeParkway were built by the CivilIan Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s and I am so grateful. As soon as we get cell service again, I want to know what machinery was available in the 1930s to build roads, because these parkways are amazing; sometimes you are traveling along a Ridge with drop offs on both sides, the Stone walls, tunnels and the road through dense forests seem like a feet of engineering. 

Besides AWE at the spectacular scenery; I was feeling so grateful that someone had the foresight to preserve this land. Every National Park I’ve been to and that is not many to date, I think the same thing. And also grateful that I get to see it with my own eyes. Honestly, Photos can not do these places justice. 

I have come across another cultural difference since Virginia. All the women -only one man- who assist me in a convenience store or Grocery Store call me the most sweet names: hun, sweetie,  darlin. Yesterday I walked into a convenience store in North Carolina and the clerk practically shouted “hello, beautiful” and then complimented my dress & when she gave me the key to the bathroom called me “love bug.” I am unaccustomed to being called “love bug” by anyone let alone strangers, but I must say I walk away from each of these interactions with a warm feeling like these women have my back. 

The town of Cherokee was great, it’s located in the Cherokee Indian Reservation We went to the Cherokee Indian Museum in the afternoon and then in the evening I went to Unto These Hills which was an outdoor Theater production of the history of the Cherokee. It was excellent!!!

Wildlife:

Day 1

2turkeys
A deer
Woodchuck
Many butterflies

Day 2

5 Deer ( 2 were fawns)

1 hawk

A turkey

A fox

0 roadkill

Day 1 Wildlife:


Day 2Wildlife :

Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park

Our short day turned into a very long day and we are acting like newbie campers. We spent the day driving through Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive. The views were spectacular. The speed limit is 35 miles per hour the whole way.  We thought it would be a 3 1/2 drive. We did stop at Luray Caverns and did a guided cavern tour which was a 1 1/2 hour.

 It just took so long, then the campground we thought we would stay at was almost 30 more miles further. When we got there it was very rundown so we continued further. Finally after a 10 hour day we found a campground Montebello, VA, and got set up. 

It’s so remote that we have no cell service. The camp store was closed when we arrived and the nearest store to buy food is a Dollar  General 15-20 more miles away, so we ate cereal and yogurt for dinner. The road that Saara (gps) took us on was a one lane, curvy trail through the woods that looked like dirt but my mother who was driving said was paved. At one point the road went up a hill that you couldn’t see the other side of. It was like the top of a triangle. Day four was rough!

Wildlife:

1bunny

Lots of trout

Lots of butterflies 

2 Roadkill 

Harper’s Ferry

We had a great visit with my sister in Harpers Ferry. The weather was literally perfect. I am so surprised, the two previous trips to the Virginia’s were so hot & humid, and I wilt in the humidity. We had done all of the historic sites and hiked and floated 2 years ago. We decided to spend the day at Moulton Park on the Shenandoah River canoeing and picnicking.sadly, when we got to the park we found out that my sister could have gotten permits for us to camp there for the two nights for 20.00 per night. 😚 

My sister introduced me to two new foods. The first was pepperoni rolls, which is miner food because it’s a simple, filling meal that doesn’t need to be chilled or heated and can be easily carried into the mines. They were good but supper filling. 

The second new food was bologna cake. My sister first heard of this in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. She found a recipe and has been making it for special occasions since. She was so happy I was going to try it, you slice it and eat it on crackers. It tastes like bologna. 

My nephew’s graduation party was so fun.

Wildlife: 

2 buzzards

1 deer

3 turtles

 Roadkill 1 

The Allegheny Mts.

Day 2 went well only a five hour drive to Harpers Ferry. The Allegheny Mountains are beautiful.

More guidelines for the road trip, buy gas only from gas stations on the same side of road that we are traveling. Oddly, the only serious traffic jams we hit were in Massachusetts on Rt 495 all the way through to the Mass pike exit. So far the rest of the trip as been nice. 

I know this is only Pennsylvania but I am already noticing differences. At one of our two hour marks we stopped at a convenience store to use the restroom and there was a whole line of what appeared to be slot machines. I asked the clerk and she said they were indeed gambling machines. The rest of the country may be far more religious than New England, but we are far more  puritanical. At 10am there were three people at these machines. Is it really necessary to be gambling at a convenience store before lunch?

However, I am also noticing how much towns are committed to parks and recreation. We stopped at a town park outside of  Harrisburg, PA. to have our lunch. I’ve never seen a town park like it in New England. It had a pool, a stadium for football & soccer, a volleyball pit, tennis courts, bathrooms with picnic tables, a field house, and practice fields in back. It was beautifully landscaped. It was multi generational, we saw people of every age group using the facilities. Micah kept saying it was a school facility, but there was no school and the sign had the town’s name. My mother said that is was very much like Minnesota and the Midwest, towns value and spend a lot on public space.

Sadly, we are in a motel for the two nights here in Harpers Ferry. The weather is perfect here, in fact I thought Harley’s Ferry was always hot and humid based on our last trip two years ago when it was 99 degrees with 100% humidity. No, this whole weekend is high of 80 degrees and dry.  It’s absolutely the perfect camping weather. However, they are getting 79.00 a night to camp and we could get a motel room for 1.00 less, and since this is an economy trip, we go where the bed is cheapest.

Wildlife:
2 deer
2 roadkill (deer)

Waterfalls Everywhere

Day one of our trip went well. We have settled a few issues My mom and I switch driving responsibilities every two hours. At the two hour mark we stop use rest rooms and I stretch. Micah is the DJ and navigator middle-man between driver and digital navigation. After much debate the gps voice will be called Sara, I had Micah check settings to see if we could change the voice to a male voice with British accent, no luck. We also decided that if you have nothing nice to say you should say nothing. You can imagine who prompted this rule.

Our trip began with the song East Bound and Down by Jerry Reed
The lyrics are so appropriate for a road trip. 

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.


We made it to Watkins Glen after a seven hour drive from home. This is my third summer going through NY and honestly it never gets old. So beautiful.
 Unfortunately, The weather forecast was rain and thunder showers all night so we are in a motel tonight. We met on and off showers on the road all day. There are waterfall all over this place. This is one just alone side the main road.

When we got to the state park the gorge trail was closed due to flooding. So Micah and I hiked another trail, which was beautiful but most waterfalls were not visible but very much audible, which was just a tease.

The ranger said that the rain tonight might keep the gorge trail closed again tomorrow so I decided that we will stop here on our way home so we can camp in the park and hike the gorge trail.

Wildlife: 

2 deer

1 roadkill (woodchuck)

Our Road Trip

I decided on this trip because this will be the last summer that Micah will be free for the whole summer. Now that he is fourteen, he is anxious to start working. We had considered a trip to Italy-Greece trip, but he will be able to get a few weeks for that trip but a whole summer will never be possible again.

We began by making a list of places and then Liza suggested the Roadtrippers App . I plugged in the places we wanted to visit and it built our trip. We are going south first because my nephew graduated from High School this year and we wanted to celebrate with him.

follow this link to go to our trip map.
https://maps.roadtrippers.com/?lat=39.25848&lng=-97.60775&z=3&a2=t!24792881&utm_source=messa

Micah was not thrilled with the idea of this trip unless it involved an RV. I did research on renting and even buying a used one, but my mother (the accountant) ran the numbers and we decided that after we paid for the RV, put gas in it at probably 100.00 a day, and parked it at a camp ground (those sites are more expensive) we could be in a hotel each night cheaper than the RV. So the Camry Hybrid’s trunk is filled with our camping gear, the backseat has our one suitcase and the food bags. If the weathers good we camp and if the weather predicts rain we get a motel for the night.

This will be a nature and history trip. We plan to see all the National Parks, except the Grand Canyon because all three of us have already seen it, and we want to visit all the major historic sites.

I also really want to see how the rest of the country lives. I get the sense from contemporary politics that I might be sheltered  having lived in New England my whole life.

Here is the link to the Dropbox if you want to see the pictures of our trip.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3dsnlo1clw9woli/AAAxWbXtNqPfcu2vDGk9scOxa?dl=0

If you have a place that you think we might like add it to the the comments below this post.



*NOTE* I am writing this blog on my iPhone 6s so please forgive any typos, I will edit the entire blog when I get home to a full size computer.