Day 31 - 8/23

Unloaded and cleaned up.

Started at about 1000 this morning with unloading the RV, and then worked on washing the outside of the RV and the Jeep.  They were both trashed - as it was a hard month.  Got the outsides done at about 1900 and all that remains is to vacuum the inside, put some silicon on the slides and then flush out the black water tank.  Then it will be ready to go again.

Mom and Dad will be leaving for Balmer (Baltimore) tomorrow.

I think Walmart is going to love me as I am loading up a bushel basket of pictures.

Day 30 - 8/22 (Last Day)

Well this will be the last day on the road, but I still have 3 days to rest before going back to work.

Definition of REST: to clean the RV, unload the RV, clean the jeep, wash clothes, sort and file pictures, and dry out the wet camping stuff.  Not the REST you were probably thinking of.

When we get home either today or Monday, I will update on the final travel stats and such.

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Final Vacation Tracker

Well got home Sunday at approx. 1800.  Unloaded some stuff, got showers and went out to eat. 

Vacation is over.

Interesting Facts:

- Miles traveled: 6,963 miles

- Gallons of gas used:  947.15 gallons

- Miles/Gallon AVG: 7.4 mpg

- Worst MPG on leg: 4.5 mpg (mountains are a killer)

- Best MPG on leg: 12.2 mpg (lotta downhill and flat)

- Total fuel Cost: $2582.11

- States visited: Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina.

- Types of weather seen: fog, rain, sleet, hail, snow, more rain, flooding, sunny, hot, damn hot (but dry), hot and humid,

- Pictures taken:  9,000 +


All pictures can be found online at Walmart.com, accessible thru either my Facebook Wall (once all are uploaded) or send me an email and I will return you a link. (email- tsjosh@cox.net)

Day 29 - 8/21

Plans for today include lunch with Mom's friend and then a driving tour of the area.  Watched the local news and the weather is for a clear warm day.  So we set up camp finially: chairs, rug, table, and wood for the fire.

Well we made it to lunch at

Thanks to May and Louis for a wonderful lunch.

After Lunch we were heading into downtown for our tour and it was just a pouring, so we decided to head back to the RV and fire up the good ole campfire (see earlier post on proper campfires).

Campsite during setup (notice the sun and the shadow, they will both be short lived)

So this is our cammpsite (notice the rain). 

Needed to roll the chairs on their side to get the water off and maybe they will dry out.  Tomorrow it is going to be messy putting stuff away, just something else to clean when we are home.

Location Update

Asheville, NC

About 6 hours of windshield time will get us back to Chesapeake, VA. 

Estimated time of arrival at home will be Sunday at approx. 1600.

Day 28 - 8/20

Got up at 0800, disconnected and left Nashville around 0915 - heading for Asheville North Carolina.

Arrived at the KOA in NC around 1530 (accounting for the 1 hr time shift back to eastern time). Now we are on regular time, no more worring about clock shifts. I finially know what time it is!!

Nothing much happened today after getting to the campground and getting setup. We did do a tour of the campground and this is the nicest one we have been at on the trip. I guess we will have to get pictures tomorrow after lunch.

Oh lunch - it will be with a friend of mine at a Bar-B-Que joint. And you know what Tom says about Carolina Bar-B-Que, "It always taste better in Carolina".

Day 27 - 8/19

Work called this morning while we were still in bed (on Joshuas phone).  It showed as a restricted call so we ignored it for a while, then Joshua checked the message and found out it was Tony (I needed to call Mr. Flemming).  So I returned the call after breakfast/lunch and it was something about another position in the shipyard.  First I heard about this!  Guess I will find out what is going on after I get back to work next week.  Now if I can only remember when I need to go back to work and how to get there!!

Oh well - it is off sightseeing for a while.

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Went to the Country Hall of Fame and Museum.  Actually I thought it woud be larger.  The Country Hall of Fame is actually a single large circular room that holds all the Bronze plaques of the inductees.  Then the rest of the building was the museum.

Then as part of the tour we went over to RCA Studio B

Then it was back to the Hall of Fame for the rest of the tour.

Everything was really nice, and we all had a good time!!

Then for dinner it was off to the Ole Country Store for some good viddles by lamp oil light

(at the Cracker Barrel).

Tomorrow it is off to our last stop in North Carolina before heading home.  Hard to believe the month is almost over.  I really need to do this again next year.

Pictures from the Opry Last Night

Nashville - 8/18

So it rained all day today.  So we rested and finially got up around 11 AM.  Had pancakes and eggs for Lunch, then rested some more.  Then around 2 PM, Joshua and I set off to find the Parthenon.  First we went to the Camping Mecca (Camping World) to buy some parts to fix a few windows and then stopped for gas.  Still raining we went on a search and found it, however we arrived at 1640 and they closed at 1630.  All we were able to do was to look around the outside of the building.  Maybe tomorrow we will venture back.

And Look the Gornicke Family pulled in three spots down.

Day 26 - 8/18

It is just past midnight our time and I am trying to program the direct TV receiver, I guess we left it for too long without power and it lost the setting I had put in earlier.  Of course I didn't write the information down so I am now doing it all from scratch again.

But while I work on this, guess what is coming our way....... AGAIN.........

Wow!!

Grand Ole Opry

There is only 2 types of good music in the world,

Country and Western: and we heard both!!

Went and saw the Grand Ole Opry at the War Memorial Auditorium in downtown Nashville tonight.  The normal location is currently being renovated because of the flood and will not be opened for shows until approximately 01 October.  The War Memorial Auditorium is one of the original homes of the Opry from about 1935 - 1942 (I may have to look this up and modify as necessary).  So in retrospect I guess it was better being there.

Anyhow, everyone enjoyed the show.  Even the one hold out who I thought would not like going there at all.  Now he wants to go out and get himself a cowboy hat and buy some country CD's.  I think Joshua really enjoyed himself.

Next thing I guess is going to be cow tipping and sh@# kicking.

Location Update #4

Been driving since Arizona (serious driving), and today is the first time we have had WiFi for some time.  I will be back dating several days of information after the concert tonight (Maybe).

I think I killed Dad.  We pulled into the KOA, got set up, had a quick bite and he passed out on the floor.  2+ days of driving and sleeping in parking lots must of caught up to him.

Today we are in Nashville 8/17

Just to keep you up to date, we have a concert tonight at 7 PM in downtown Nashville....

Any guesses as to what the weather is like ........

Oh, did I mention that we got a break on the camping fees .........

as the campground is still recovering from the earlier floods that affected Nashville.

AND NOW IT IS JUST POURING!!

As it just started.....

as it continues. 

I think this is going to be a wet trip into Nashville.

Day 25 - 8/17

Woke up at 0900 today, a little later than I wanted but it was some good Walmart sleeping.  These stops are some of Joshua's favorite camping spots.  (pull in, no setup, and right to bed).

Only 2-3 hours until we reach Nashville KOA.

I think everyone is looking for a break.

Day 24 - 8/16

Got up at the Rest Stop at 0800 and headed east for a Wal-Mart parking Lot, about a 13 hour drive.


The plan was to eat sandwiches on the road and then make tuna helper at a rest stop for dinner. However around lunchtime we spotted a Cracker Barrel and pulled in there for a cooked meal. Food was really good and everyone enjoyed themselves. Afterwards it was back in the RV and off to the Walmart where we slep for the night.  This was better sleeping for the evening as we didn't have to worry about the multitude of trucks passing only the occassional Walmart employee moving around shopping carts in the parking lot.

Day 23 - 8/15

Sharen was up at the crack of dawn to catch her flight out of Arizona.  While he Aunt and Uncle took her to the airport the rest of the crew slept in.  We finially got up and readied the RV (ie. turned on the air conditioners to cool it down) and after Uncle Tom and Aunt Jean arrived back from the airport, we said out goodbyes and headed out for Nashville.  (This is going to be a straight thru drive to Nashville, with only stops for gas, food, and parking lot camping.  I didn't really tell everyone how bad it is going to suck, I decided they can figure it out in about 20 hours or so.)

So we left about 0900 or so and DROVE ........

DROVE ..............

DROVE ..............

and DROVE some more until we stopped at about 0230 the following day at a rest stop for some sleep.  I don't think everyone would of minded it too much,, but we had several time zone changes (3 hours) and it wasn't really as late as everyone thought it was.

So we slept at a REST AREA until 0800.  Was a little hard falling asleep as we were so close to the highway you could hear and feel the semi's wizzing by outside the RV.

Day 22 - 8/14

Spent the day in Arizona with Aunt Jean and Uncle Tom.

Uncle Tom took us on a tour of Tuscon, which turned out to be pretty nice. Got to see the airplane graveyard here at the Air Force Base, and we also visited the local National Park and were able to spen some time in the desert.

By the way ------ IT IS HOT HERE. Although it is a dry heat, IT IS HOT!!

 

Day 21 - 8/13

Left the Grand Canyon today.  It is going to be a 9+ hour drive to Aunt Jean and Uncle Tom's, so we decided to take the most direct route and skip some of the planned sightseeing.  So we cut out the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest as everyone is kinda tired of looking at rocks and such.  But as a trade off we added a drive thru Sedona Arizona - as Kathy (sister) said it is a pretty drive.


KATHY - PRETTY DRIVE YES, HOWEVER YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THE ROAD!!

...... and this was only one of many signs that extended the down hill run for about 20 miles.  Fastest speed obtained 20 MPH and that was even scary.

But all in all it was a pretty nice drive - Thanks Kathy!!