The Wrap Up

We had a great trip. That isn't to say it didn't come without challenges....(think 3 people in a confined space for 21 days...!) Brooke was ready to come home first (at 14 days out, she was ready.) I was ready as soon as the truck headed west and Dave, well, I think he'd enjoy still being out there!
Here are some facts and a few opinions from the travelers.

Miles traveled: 8038

Underestimated: fuel costs (didn't underestimate MPG, but underestimated miles traveled)
incidentals such as toll road fees, parking lot fees, maintenance items, i.e.
windshield wipers, oil change for truck, entry fees to state parks.

Overestimated: food costs

Cheapest Gasoline: South Carolina. $ 2.36

Most expensive gasoline: California. Nowhere else was gas above $3.

Cheapest campground: Natchez State Park, MS. $18 That was with full hookups.

Prettiest Interstate drive: I-68 across Northern Maryland and West Virginia.

Places we'd like to visit again:
Dave: Pennsylvania and Ouray/Durango, CO
Stacy: Pennsylvania and Kentucky
Brooke: Pennsylvania and New Orleans

Favorite Meal on the trip:
Dave: Sunny's BBQ, Tallahassee, FL
Stacy: Mrs. Wilkes Dining House, Savannah, GA (Southern Comfort Food)
Brooke: The Outlaw, Ouray, CO (grilled chicken linquine)

Rocky Mountain High...Colorado

This is Ouray. It is a beautiful little town nestled in a valley with mountains all around. It is a popular destination for people who enjoy four-wheeling, mountain biking or just enjoy being in a beautiful place.

Here is a view of the town from the road that leads in.

We left Ouray and headed south to Durango. It is 72 miles but covers three 11,000 passes. That was interesting with a trailer...:) Good thing I trust Dave's driving because there were many places where it was a sheer drop off on one side. Not the most comfortable feeling.

This is on the road from Ouray to Durango.

The last shot....Monument Valley, Arizona. We left Durango at 8 am on Friday and arrived home at 11:20 pm. Distance: 900 miles. Driving time 16 hours.

America's Heartland... Missouri and Kansas

Here are some typical scenes of the vast farmland we saw. It was very warm and humid.

Lots of farms such as this one.

This is Kansas....Amber waves of grain. I'm sure that this is what Francis Scott Key was referring to when he wrote the words to the classic "America the Beautiful."

Meet me in St. Louie, Louie

We have officially turned West and here is the Arch, a symbol of the westward expansion.

I would have enjoyed going up in the arch, but Brooke said "uh uh..." much too claustrophobic for her liking.

Paducah, Kentucky

We were in Kentucky a few days ago and we're back again as we head from Nashville to points west. This is a very cute riverfront town. We were all primed and ready to do a little antique shopping and get a bite to eat. Um, No. We forgot it was Sunday and folks, this is the Bible Belt. Everything was closed so we just looked around, took a few pictures and moved on.

This is a downtown street in Paducah.

This is right downtown which borders the riverfront. The Ohio and Tennessee rivers meet here. Here is a wall that has places cut out (you can drive through and down to the river) that large sections can be placed in, just in case the river rises to flood stage. I have never seen anything quite like it, but it may be common back there. There are definitely more rivers than we see out West.

Here is the riverfront, taken from the large entrance in the wall. This is a large port.

Nashville...downtown

Saturday afternoon we headed downtown. Us and a few thousand other tourists! We found out that American Idol was holding auditions there in Nashville. Apparently hotel rooms were scarce and the downtown area was just crawling with people. It was hot and humid, but that didn't slow them down. The downtown area we went to was mainly Western themed shops and clubs. We got hot and tired of walking so we inquired where we could go do do REAL shopping, not the tourist stuff. We were sent to a nice little shopping district over by Vanderbilt University. Brooke found something at a little boutique over there that she had been looking for for a long time. (hard to describe. come by and check it out when we get home, it will be in her room.) I found a pair of shoes. Well, I did need a souvenir from Nashville and I thought shoes would be a better choice than a T shirt from Dolly Parton's Tourist trinkets. Just sayin'.

Nashville....The Grand Ole Opry, what else?!

Here we are at The Grand Ole Opry after a stressful commute in stopped freeway traffic. We were hoping that we hadn't driven umpteen thousand miles to miss the show because of a freeway being closed. But,alas, the freeway opened up and away we flew to the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. The Opry used to be at the Ryman, many years ago (as the last year was 1971) but it was brought back into service after the big flood in Spring of this year. The Opryhouse was severely flooded and the show was brought back to the Ryman. It is a very neat historic building. I imagine it was moved in later years because it had gotten too small. We sat on church style pews. The accoustics were awesome.

Here is Dave and Brooke, waiting for the show to start. I didn't realize that the Opry is also a radio show. It is broadcast live. So, you watch and listen to the announcer do the advertising between songs. The stage is being changed while you watch and made ready for the next performers. It was very interesting to watch.

Here is Minnie Pearl and her escort before the show. She actually did the first introductions before the show.

Here's a inside shot. Dave was down at the stage looking back towards the audience. The audience is always welcome to take pictures at any time during the show. They don't mind anyone coming down as close as they'd like to take pictures of the singers. They DO mind videos. Brooke missed that memo. :)

Ok, Opening act was Marty Stuart. He's the one with the big hair going on in the middle of the photo.

We had a surprise visit by Mary Chapin Carpenter. She was in town doing another show and popped in to the Opry. We found out she lives in the mountains outside of Charlottesville. I'm sure she's Kelsey and Wesley's neighbor....

This is Little Jimmy Dickens singing a song about Raggedy Ann. He must be over 80 years old.

Riders in the Sky....think "Sons of the Pioneers". We enjoyed them!

Ok, all you folks our age, remember Mel Tillis from the 70's? He sounds the same but looks much older, imagine that.

Here are the Opry backup singers. They usually stood in the back, in fact, Dave didn't see them until about half the show was over. This time they're up front.

This is Jesse McReynolds and The Virginia Boys. They did some absolutely awesome Bluegrass. The young lady in the middle is his granddaughter, she sang with him. Jesse was phenomenal on the mandolin. In fact, this group was the only group who got a standing ovation and then performed an encore.

The Opry show is a smattering of many types of Country/Western music. There is something from every era, that way it appeals to every age group there. We enjoyed it very much! It was definitely "an experience".

Kentucky...Unbridled Spirit

This is the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. There is a campground at the park and that is where we stayed. Kentucky is beautiful. Around Lexington, there are lots of horse farms. The fencing is mainly black. The houses are mainly large and you can smell the MONEY!

This statue is at the horse park. I believe it's life size.

Just a quick view of one of the many horse barns we saw.

Lush greenery here. It was hot and humid, thus keeping things very green. We left Lexington and headed South through Bowling Green and then into Nashville.

West Virginia, Mountain Mama, take me home.....country roads...

We left Pennsylvania and headed to West Virginia. I forgot we would go through a part of Maryland...did any of you remember that there's a little Northwestern part of Maryland that borders Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia? Well, it's absolutely beautiful. The Interstate is 68 and it is the prettiest one we've been on this whole trip. West Virginia has a lot of mountains, at least the part we traveled through. Our gas mileage took a hit yesterday, we were only getting 9.4 on one tank we checked.

Here is the road we're taking to Coopers Rock State Park near Morgantown, WV.

This is the view from our campsite. It was cooler there in WV. I guess because we were in the mountains. Nice to have a respite from the warm weather.

Here's the 'stream sitting pretty in West VA.

The next day in Amish territory

I took a picture of this sign because I never want to forget the most delicious homemade ice cream we had there. Their little store is right by their house and barn and we were waited on by some nice teen aged Amish girls. There were hymns playing and verses framed on the walls. Of course I wanted some pictures inside, but my better judgement took over and I didn't even try to sneak. I have more respect for Amish teenagers than I do for grown ups playing Elvis. (if confused, refer back to my first blog entry.)

Wouldn't this make a neat set of cards? This mailbox was RIGHT beside the road, making it easy to get a good shot.

Can you see the laundry on the line? It was raining like crazy and they were all wet. We figured they just get rinsed good before they eventually dry out. We saw lots of laundry hanging on lines, even in the rain.

This is the same place but zoomed out. One thing we noticed back there is that the farms were very close to the roads. Also, everything was neat and tidy. I guess they really do believe that "cleanliness is next to godliness." They are very good with flowers, too. Lots of the homes have beautiful flower gardens all around the house. On our drive we stopped at a house that advertised "Lapp's Toys". (small sign) We went in and it was fairly dark inside considering it was a very rainy day and the fact that these Amish were very strict about no electricity. There were the neatest things for children in the shop. There were wooden pull toys, Amish clothes that would fit the American Girl doll, handmade high chairs, cradles, well, you get the picture. We had to splurge a little on The Grandchildren....:)

Amish Paradise

Greetings from Lancaster County, PA. This is beautiful country! There are farms everywhere you turn. Amish people are living their lives right in front of us. Here we are at our RV park and this is the view from the front of the trailer. Buggies are everywhere. Here are Grandpa and Grandma Stoltzfus...just kidding, I have no idea what their names are, just sounded good. I caught them rising out of their rocking chairs, not too flattering of a pose.

This is Lydia. Well, maybe not Lydia, but she sure looks like one to me. She is riding a bicycle/scooter so she can get around in a dress. These are quite common. She is wearing the traditional navy blue but is being safety conscious in her bright safety vest.

We are now at our RV park and this is the view from the back of our trailer. Quite picturesque would you say? Today, we went to a dairy farm that sells milk products and homemade ice cream. Oh boy. It was absolutely wonderful, and it should be considering the fact it was made with 14 % fat. We plan on going back tomorrow and making complete pigs of ourselves. (again)

Here is a typical view from one of the many back roads. More to come.....

Virginia: Ruckersville, Madison, Friends and Family

Such a nice couple! Looks like they are posing for Good Housekeeping. Here we are at Wesley and Kelsey's. We arrived in Virginia on Friday evening. Phillip and Ronda graciously allowed us to park our trailer at their home in Madison. Madison is 9 miles from Ruckersville, where Wes and Kels live. Saturday we spent the day with Wes and Kelsey. She fixed us a delicious brunch and a wonderful dinner.

Wesley had finished grilling the chicken, so he came in, sat down, picked up his knife and fork. He then told me to take his picture for my blog!! How could I resist such a perfect photo-op? He really isn't this demanding in real life. (so they say...)

That evening, they invited a few folks over for homemade ice cream. Here is David and Janelle visiting with Wesley about some music Kelsey wanted us to sing. (imagine that...Kelsey wanting to sing?!) Well, we did sing and it sounded pretty good for only having one piece of music for 14 singers. Not quite up to par for Sunday morning, but we had fun practicing.

Here's a few of the folks at Wes and Kelsey's. That's Caleb Steinc on the left, Jeremy at the far back and some girls on the couch.

The girls on the couch: Shauna, Brooke, Kels and Rachelle.

Fast forward to Monday night. We are at Phillip and Ronda's for dinner. Here we are sitting around the living room. Left to right: Jeremy, Cory, Wade, Amy, Aubrey and Kelsey.

Aubrey, Wes, Kelsey.

This is Ace Collision, the business Phillip owns, and where Wesley works. While we were there, Wesley noticed that the paint was peeling on the hood of Dave's truck. He said he wanted to paint it for us. (No, we didn't hint or ask! :) So, late Sunday night the guys were out at the shop stripping the hood and primering it. (late as in 1 am) Wesley finished it Monday morning. It looks so nice and we appreciated it very much.

Here is Phillip and Ronda's charming farmhouse where they allowed us to park the trailer. We even had full hook-ups! Yes, this one site campground comes highly recommended.