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| Ready for Christmas-in November |
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| Wild hair guy |
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| Dressed for Success |
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| Tired out from playing with Grandpa |
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Jonah
Pat and Elaine's 1st Great Adventure Comes to an End!
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| Map of our route. We saw a LOT of the country! |
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| Home, Sweet Home |
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
The Road to Colorado
Memphis to Eastern Oklahoma
After a stormy night that included strong winds, thunder,
and lightning (but no rain), we left Memphis under a high wind warning. This made driving while towing 34’ 5th
wheel a little dicey: but Pat handled the stress just fine. Initially, Arkansas was just as I
expected: mostly flat, some rolling
hills, not too interesting. However,
right before we reached Little Rock, we headed up and into the foothills of the
Ozarks. Little Rock itself sits on a river
surrounded by hills and looks like a really pretty place. From there across the rest of Arkansas to
Oklahoma it was beautiful. Lots of
hills, rivers, and many trees still had very colorful leaves. Pat and I think we really need to return and
explore more of this area and Missouri (which we missed entirely). We spent the night in another RV park set
among trees which still retained a fair amount of bright foliage.
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| RV park in Sallisaw, Oklahoma |
Got an early start for a long, boring day traveling across
Oklahoma planning to spend the night on the Oklahoma/Texas border. It wasn’t the most exciting drive; but it was
not as dull as we expected. Rolling
hills and rivers continued until we reached Oklahoma City and then it flattened
out quickly. We took a slight detour off
of I-40 (which we’d been on since Knoxville, TN) to head ten miles south to
Corn, Oklahoma. VERY small farming
community where Pat’s mom lived as a little girl (get this: she was born in Maize (Indian word for Corn),
Kansas and moved from there to Corn, Oklahoma!). At this point, we realized we were going to
arrive in our campground right about noon (and have nothing to do of any
interest in this remote location).
We had planned a fairly short drive the next day to Amarillo, TX, so we
decided to ignore our overnight RV reservation in Elk City, OK and push on
through to Amarillo. It didn’t hurt that
I was helping out with the driving again.
We thought about it and realized that I hadn’t driven pulling “the 5th”
since the Maine Turnpike (back in September).
No particular reason, just shorter drives or places that Pat, being the
nice guy he is, just didn’t want me to have to deal with. So, together we hauled on to Amarillo (a
total of 450 miles that day).
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| Sunset in Amarillo, Texas |
Amarillo, Texas to Pueblo, Colorado…….uh, I mean Loveland,
Colorado
We had another long day of driving planned from Amarillo to
Pueblo, Colorado; so, we got up early and left right at sunrise. I have to say that the panhandle of Texas is
pretty barren and pretty remote. We
drove and drove and FINALLY saw some hills in the distance. I joked with Pat that they were probably in
New Mexico. Turns out, not a joke, they
were in New Mexico! Crossing the border
into New Mexico, we got back into the Mountain Time Zone (gained an hour) which
both Sara and Emily are in, so now we don’t have to try to figure out what time
it is anywhere except in Oregon! Went
around a slight curve (road pretty flat and straight) and there were beautiful
snow-capped mountains lined up in the distance.
YES, we are back in the WEST!!!
Finally, hit the Colorado state line while crossing a 7,500 foot high mountain pass in
road construction. After that, the
freeway got flat and straight again, so we pulled over on an on-ramp and switched
drivers (so now I’m driving). By the
next exit, we were headed up and down hills and around curves. Then it flattened out again; however, we were
in a “high gusting winds” section for the next 30 miles! We switched drivers, as planned, at a rest
area located about a quarter mile AFTER the wind warning area. Due to our early start, we realized we would
reach Pueblo at about noon. Now, Pueblo
is about 350 miles from Amarillo, so we had already driven a fair way
(particularly when towing a vehicle). Loveland,
Colorado (where we stay when visiting Sara and Drew) is about 150 miles from
Pueblo and includes driving through the heart of both Colorado Springs and
Denver. WHAT TO DO? Spend afternoon in RV park located 10 miles
north of a city that we knew nothing about OR spend the afternoon driving to
our final destination. We went for it
and pulled into Loveland nine hours and 500 miles after we left Amarillo. We are so glad we did; we’ve both commented
on how much this feels like home (we spent a month in this park in the summer)
and we are settled in for the next three weeks.
The weather forecast is for snow tomorrow night and temperatures are supposed to
drop to the mid-teens, so we will be busy winterizing tomorrow.
Hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving surrounded by friends and family.
Memphis
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| Mississippi River and Memphis from "the 5th" |
Left Nashville and headed west across Tennessee to
Memphis. I have to say that Tennessee is
a really pretty state. Lots of hills,
trees, etc. although it does flatten out as you get closer to Memphis and the Mississippi
River. Once again, Pat found us an
amazing RV Park. We are parked right ON
the Mississippi! We are actually in
Arkansas on the west bank of the river.
We crossed over the levee and the RV Park is in the Mississippi River
flood plain (they assured us that when the Mississippi does flood, they have
plenty of notice (and time) to evacuate!).
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| View from my windows in "the 5th" |
We are parked on a bend in the river and can look upriver and see Memphis in
the distance and look downriver and see forested river banks.
You hear about all the traffic on the
Mississippi; but you have to see it believe it.
There are tugs pushing barges and other types of commercial watercraft
all day and all night. It is really amazing
to watch!
Memphis is the first city on our trip that I didn’t really
like. The setting along the Mississippi
is lovely and, of course, I really liked the bridges across the river. However, the city itself just isn’t very
appealing or exciting. Lots of abandoned
buildings even in the central city and if anyone wanted a photo of why zoning
laws are needed, a picture of Memphis would be perfect. It was just depressing.
I did enjoy our visit though. The Beale Street music area was lively and
attractive. We drove by Sun Records
where, according to Pat, all the greats got their start (Elvis, Johnny Cash,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison) and then headed for Graceland.
I enjoyed our visit to Graceland. At first I was surprised by how small the
house is; but then I realized that Elvis died in 1977, and by 1970’s standards,
the house was quite large (however, the McMansions of today totally dwarf
it!). The furniture and fixtures
(lights, etc.) were really over the top except in the kitchen.
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| Living Room (didn't look comfortable!) |
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| Jungle Room |
Pat keeps commenting on how plain the kitchen
was and I keep telling him, they weren’t really into granite countertops in the
70’s! Anyway, it was a fun tour and it
is amazing to see how many different awards, gold records, etc. that he won
(and to see some of those outlandish performance costumes up close and
personal!).
We went directly from Graceland to the National Civil Rights Museum (yes, there was a little bit of culture shock between the
two). The museum itself is across the
street from the hotel where Martin Luther King was assassinated.
It is partially housed in the rooming house
where James Earl Ray stayed and where he presumably shot from. It includes massive exhibits and timelines
around the assassination as well as history of the civil rights movement in the
United States. Very interesting and
moving.
From there, we headed across the street for some Memphis
barbeque. This was on a game Saturday
and Pat was wearing his UO Duck t-shirt.
As we were walking, a young man calls out, “Go Ducks!” Turns out he just graduated from the UO last
spring, was headed to a bar to watch the game, and pulled up his light
sweatshirt to show us HIS duck t-shirt.
It’s really a small world.
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| Memphis BBQ Joint |
The
barbeque was awesome. We headed back to
“the 5th” to pack up for five straight days of non-stop driving
across the country back to Colorado for Thanksgiving.
Sara and Jonah
Nashville was all about family. It was great to spend time with Sara and
Jonah. Actually, most of our time was
spent with Jonah while Sara attended her work conference. We stayed at the hotel with them and provided
on-site “daycare” for Jonah.
He’s changed so much in the two months since we left
Colorado. He holds his head up, almost
sits by himself, laughs, giggles, babbles, and, of course, lets you know when
he’s not happy with life.
He’s also
decided that Pat is his biggest “toy”.
All Pat has to do is talk and Jonah’s head snaps around and he gets this
great big goofy smile on his face! The
two of them spent hours entertaining each other.
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| Jonah does Mexican! |
It was hard to see them off at the airport; but, we plan to be in Colorado in a week ourselves, so we’ll see the two of them (and Drew) soon.
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| Jonah loves to "get naked" |
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Nashville
So, here we are. It's Saturday night and we are really living it up in Music City (in "the 5th" watching football on TV - do we know how to live it up or what?!?). We arrived yesterday and our RV park is right down the road from the Grand Old Opry and the Opryland Hotel. After we got all set up, we decided to go out and have lunch. This was Pat's choice (note the menu options):
The actual menu was slightly more extensive; however, I still felt my best options were fried pickles and crab cakes from the appetizer menu with a side of "campfire" potatoes. Pat (always the more adventuresome eater) had something with wild boar sausage in it. The inside decor was also really special (tomorrow's, currently live, catfish dinner included).
Can't wait to see Sara and Jonah tomorrow.
We head for Nashville........and Sara and Jonah
Leaving Ohio and headed for Tennessee. We’ve been to Tennessee before and think it’s
a beautiful state; however, we are really looking forward to this trip – we get
to see Sara and Jonah!!! Sara has a
work-related conference in Nashville and, since she’s still breast-feeding,
Jonah has to attend as well. We
willingly adjusted our itinerary (we’ve become amazingly flexible in
retirement!) to meet them there and provide on-site daycare for Jonah while
Sara attends her meeting.
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| Notice the "Duck" jammies! |
So, we turn south. As
we approach Cincinnati, we make a slight miscue: we're in the wrong lane to take the interstate that circles the outside of the city and instead are going straight through the middle of the city (at about 9 a.m.) pulling a 34' 5th wheel along behind us. Needless to say, we were a little freaked out! Turns out that it was a
good goof. The interstate through
Cincinnati was fine and the city itself is surrounded by hills and sits right
on the river with a very pretty downtown.
Plus, Pat got to see all the sports stadiums/arenas along the river. Then there’s a great bridge across the river
into Kentucky (remember how I love bridges?).
Our trip then took us straight through Lexington, KY with lots of hills
and horse country and on into Tennessee which is also quite hilly (almost
mountainous!). A really beautiful
drive. I kept apologizing to Pat since
he spent his birthday driving for 5 hours; but it turns out he really liked the
scenic drive. Arrived safely in
Knoxville. Our RV park is really pretty
with lots of trees; very park-like.
However, it is full of people.
Turns out Tennessee is playing Auburn on Saturday and there are LOTS of
people from Alabama here. I’m glad we’re
leaving Friday morning…I have the feeling there’s going to be a lot of partying
going on Friday night and Saturday…if you think football is big in Eugene, you
should see it in the South!
The only reason we are in Knoxville is for my genealogy.
Knoxville itself is a very pretty city that sits
on the Tennessee River and is surrounded by hills; but there’s not a lot to do
here unless there’s a game on! One of my
three families that crossed on the Oregon Trail originated here; however, I’ve
never been able to push the lines back any further, and doing research here
didn’t get me any more leads. Oh well,
on to Nashville and Sara and Jonah.
Surprising Ohio!
OK, so my stereotype of Ohio was a large industrialized area around the Great Lakes and flat land everywhere else. Not so! We are, once again, in a very pretty RV Park on a hill about 10 miles south of Canton and 50 miles south of Cleveland. The entire east side of the state that we’ve been in is hilly with leaves that are still really brilliant in places. Also, immediately east of here is the largest concentration of Amish and Mennonites in the United States (not in the Amish country of Pennsylvania where all the tourism is!). Kent State University (where National Guard members shot student Vietnam war protestors) is also quite close by.
We did spend quite a bit of time driving around the various counties that my ancestors lived in. We were consistently amazed at how hilly, how beautiful, and how very, very rural the area is. Even today, we drove 20 miles off the only major road to get to a the county seat of one of these counties. The town was very small (about 2,000 people) and completely isolated from any town of any size whatsoever. The Amish country is full of pretty farms and buggies of every possible kind.
Pat and I love old buildings. Don't get me wrong, there are some newer buildings I'm very fond of; but old buildings just have so much character and you can almost see, hear, smell, sense, all the history that has happened within there walls. I also managed to push my Halley line back by two generations in one of them. Just look at the insides of two of these county courthouses!
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| Morgan County, Ohio |
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| Wayne County, Ohio |
And, when was the last time a building was built that looked like this?
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| Morgan County, Ohio |
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