Tuesday January 6, 2009
Our mileage when we left Ralph’s driveway was 73,897 km. Left Stoney Creek at about 9pm after locking our bikes securely – 4 locks – on the back on the RV. Much thanks to Rose for storing RV and to Ralph for helping us install bike racks. Sure enjoyed the big spaghetti dinner send off too!! Patsy was still recovering from the tarp incident...high winds and grommits on the tarp are not a good combination for the paint...hindsight is 20-20! The tarp was to protect the RV from our northern weather conditions. It did its jobs vis a vis no water entered the RV from melting snow. Who knew the tarp would rub the paint and bang up the finish especially on the hood. We are trying to see the bright side...visioning several air brushed fairies dancing on the hood!! Help us manifest this dream!!
The weather was – well a snowstorm but it did threaten worse weather below the lakes. So, we decided to travel on the 401 to Windsor. Fortunately slow drivin’ and good navigation got us through the freezing rain and snow from London to Windsor. We took the tunnel from Windsor to Detroit as recommended by CAA...we have to tell you it was not easy to find our way. There was a round about route through Windsor and a huge detour in Detroit....through dark rather scary streets – and we had to stop for gas. The upside was the border crossing had no line up...the guard was great and took only a few minutes...yay!!! Marilyn said we "were the good guys"!
Wednesday, January 7
About 5 am on I-75 Ohio below Toledo stopped in a rest area south of Findlay...snow and very windy...Got up and left around 3:30pm. First stop was at a Cracker Barrel in Lima, Ohio. We rented ‘Dark Angels’ by Karline Koen. This is an audio book – Helps pass the time during long distance driving. Patsy got coffee but they had no idea how to make hot tea!! We made it to Dayton Ohio by 5pm and arrived in Pendleton, KY by 9:50 pm to purchase $10 gas. We were looking for propane but no luck! Marilyn drove around Cincinatti. This trip even at night took quite a while but by 10:30 pm the roads were clear and the weather much better. We finally slept at a Visitor’s Centre after Louisville, KY. The 275 – 300 miles meant we had driven through Michigan, Ohio and into Kentucky.
Thursday, January 8
After fi
nding propane, at a Yogi Bear campsite where we fed a flock of hungry but friendly ducks, we visited Mammoth Cave National Park ! The ranger who d
id the tour was a great guy! Marilyn took the ‘Niagara Tour’ for $10 US. We stayed in the park from about 11:45 to 4pm. While in the park we saw several white tail dear. The Mammoth Cave has a variety of formations in rooms up to 200 feet wide and 192 feet wide; the deepest pit is 105 feet. The cave contains more than 350 miles of underground passages.
Wohoo!! Finally we arrived in Nashville late that night but we still went dancing of course...the Wild Horse Saloon was really neat but the band only played two songs then finished. Surprising to see horses upside down dancing on the ceiling and more lights than you can imagine. They could have hosted U2. The huge dance floor was as big as a gym for line dancing. Very few people at the Wild Horse that night, so we headed up the street to look for a bar called Tootsies.
Our mileage when we left Ralph’s driveway was 73,897 km. Left Stoney Creek at about 9pm after locking our bikes securely – 4 locks – on the back on the RV. Much thanks to Rose for storing RV and to Ralph for helping us install bike racks. Sure enjoyed the big spaghetti dinner send off too!! Patsy was still recovering from the tarp incident...high winds and grommits on the tarp are not a good combination for the paint...hindsight is 20-20! The tarp was to protect the RV from our northern weather conditions. It did its jobs vis a vis no water entered the RV from melting snow. Who knew the tarp would rub the paint and bang up the finish especially on the hood. We are trying to see the bright side...visioning several air brushed fairies dancing on the hood!! Help us manifest this dream!!
The weather was – well a snowstorm but it did threaten worse weather below the lakes. So, we decided to travel on the 401 to Windsor. Fortunately slow drivin’ and good navigation got us through the freezing rain and snow from London to Windsor. We took the tunnel from Windsor to Detroit as recommended by CAA...we have to tell you it was not easy to find our way. There was a round about route through Windsor and a huge detour in Detroit....through dark rather scary streets – and we had to stop for gas. The upside was the border crossing had no line up...the guard was great and took only a few minutes...yay!!! Marilyn said we "were the good guys"!
Wednesday, January 7
About 5 am on I-75 Ohio below Toledo stopped in a rest area south of Findlay...snow and very windy...Got up and left around 3:30pm. First stop was at a Cracker Barrel in Lima, Ohio. We rented ‘Dark Angels’ by Karline Koen. This is an audio book – Helps pass the time during long distance driving. Patsy got coffee but they had no idea how to make hot tea!! We made it to Dayton Ohio by 5pm and arrived in Pendleton, KY by 9:50 pm to purchase $10 gas. We were looking for propane but no luck! Marilyn drove around Cincinatti. This trip even at night took quite a while but by 10:30 pm the roads were clear and the weather much better. We finally slept at a Visitor’s Centre after Louisville, KY. The 275 – 300 miles meant we had driven through Michigan, Ohio and into Kentucky.
Thursday, January 8
After fi
nding propane, at a Yogi Bear campsite where we fed a flock of hungry but friendly ducks, we visited Mammoth Cave National Park ! The ranger who d
id the tour was a great guy! Marilyn took the ‘Niagara Tour’ for $10 US. We stayed in the park from about 11:45 to 4pm. While in the park we saw several white tail dear. The Mammoth Cave has a variety of formations in rooms up to 200 feet wide and 192 feet wide; the deepest pit is 105 feet. The cave contains more than 350 miles of underground passages. Wohoo!! Finally we arrived in Nashville late that night but we still went dancing of course...the Wild Horse Saloon was really neat but the band only played two songs then finished. Surprising to see horses upside down dancing on the ceiling and more lights than you can imagine. They could have hosted U2. The huge dance floor was as big as a gym for line dancing. Very few people at the Wild Horse that night, so we headed up the street to look for a bar called Tootsies.
Instead we found Patsy’s favourite bar called Legends. The band was great and we danced til the wee hour. We actually slept in RV on street from about 4am till 8am, then Patsy moved RV out to a parking lot near the Opryland.
Friday, January 9
Okay so we snoozed most of day...are becoming nocturnal creatures? We decided to check out the Grand ole opry – look for tickets! We went over to Grand Ole Opry at Opryland but the show was downtown at the Ryman Theatre, Nashville. The Ryman is very close to wherer we almost wore out our dancin’ boots the night before! Yes we got tickets and we saw Vince Gill, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Melissa Lawson, Little Jimmie Dickens, the Grascals, George Hamilton IV and V...all in all 16 acts on this radio show!
Friday, January 9
Okay so we snoozed most of day...are becoming nocturnal creatures? We decided to check out the Grand ole opry – look for tickets! We went over to Grand Ole Opry at Opryland but the show was downtown at the Ryman Theatre, Nashville. The Ryman is very close to wherer we almost wore out our dancin’ boots the night before! Yes we got tickets and we saw Vince Gill, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith, Melissa Lawson, Little Jimmie Dickens, the Grascals, George Hamilton IV and V...all in all 16 acts on this radio show!
The announcer was Eddie Stubbs. It was better than we thought it would be and very interesting with loads of talent and history! Then we just had to finished off the evening into the wee hours with what else? Dancing!!!
Saturday, January 10
That night we slept in front of classy restaurant - The Smith House - The owner woke us up and asked us to move RV before dinner hour...no problem. We moved the van and found a perfect spot on the street with lots of people heading to a game. We had brunch of bacon, eggs and toast around 3:30pm. Then tea and coffee at an ice cream shop but aren't we good - no ice cream. Followed this relaxing event with shopping as we checked out some cowboy boots at a shop but settled on pocket knives for each of us: we have room for those...Oh yes, and a guitar shaped fly swatter for the RV. Hence the pact of 'not buying much- instead remembering what we would have bought by taking pictures. Alright, first things first, we had much needed showers at the downtown Y-for free but had to be out in 20 minutes...felt great to be clean. Patsy had a much needed nap, then we went out after supper for more - you guessed it - dancing!
Sunday, January 11
Wow we got to bed by about 7am...we talked about Patsy's Dad - anniversary of his death - such a great man he was! Went for a drive to check out the Opryland Hotel. What an amazing complex. Then we parked across street. Only left Nashville around supper time for you normal folks (breakfast for us..hehehe) but we found a station to dump sewage from the RV around Huntsville on I-65 at the entrance to Alabama. Stopped in Tuscaloosa Alabama to sleep around 11:20pm at a rest station. We drove about 200 miles that evening.
Monday, January 12
After driving to Meridian, Mississippi we found a Walmart plaza. There we shopped, washed the RV, caught up on laundry duty, gassed up at 1.49 gallon - the best price to date!! Then continued driving after our supper as far as the Welcome Center just inside the state of Louisiana - 160 miles, just north of Slidell.
Tuesday, January 13
In Slidell we found more propane after an intricate two hour search...it's cold in them thar hills, ya know!!!
Saturday, January 10
That night we slept in front of classy restaurant - The Smith House - The owner woke us up and asked us to move RV before dinner hour...no problem. We moved the van and found a perfect spot on the street with lots of people heading to a game. We had brunch of bacon, eggs and toast around 3:30pm. Then tea and coffee at an ice cream shop but aren't we good - no ice cream. Followed this relaxing event with shopping as we checked out some cowboy boots at a shop but settled on pocket knives for each of us: we have room for those...Oh yes, and a guitar shaped fly swatter for the RV. Hence the pact of 'not buying much- instead remembering what we would have bought by taking pictures. Alright, first things first, we had much needed showers at the downtown Y-for free but had to be out in 20 minutes...felt great to be clean. Patsy had a much needed nap, then we went out after supper for more - you guessed it - dancing!
Sunday, January 11
Wow we got to bed by about 7am...we talked about Patsy's Dad - anniversary of his death - such a great man he was! Went for a drive to check out the Opryland Hotel. What an amazing complex. Then we parked across street. Only left Nashville around supper time for you normal folks (breakfast for us..hehehe) but we found a station to dump sewage from the RV around Huntsville on I-65 at the entrance to Alabama. Stopped in Tuscaloosa Alabama to sleep around 11:20pm at a rest station. We drove about 200 miles that evening.
Monday, January 12
After driving to Meridian, Mississippi we found a Walmart plaza. There we shopped, washed the RV, caught up on laundry duty, gassed up at 1.49 gallon - the best price to date!! Then continued driving after our supper as far as the Welcome Center just inside the state of Louisiana - 160 miles, just north of Slidell.
Tuesday, January 13
In Slidell we found more propane after an intricate two hour search...it's cold in them thar hills, ya know!!!
La Fontaine Bleue State Park provided a place for an afternoon hike in the bayou and marsh. We sighted the nest of a Horned Owl.
After the park we headed onto the causeway over Lake Pontchartrain - 28 miles long! There were great views of New Orleans while the sun was setting over the lake. Our great parking spot in New Orleans turned out to be too dark and scary later at night, so we moved the RV to a more public and well lit place next to many government buildings with cameras. Now we had the right and perfect spot! Since the RV and bikes were safe, we headed out to check out the dancing and music on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. It was exciting even on a Tuesday but we just might have overdone it - just a little - wandered back through Harrah's Casino - didn't loose, didn't win, didn't play - proud of ourselves once again...
Wednesday, January 14
Marilyn moved the RV this morning all the way through the Warehouse District and then the Garden District to find Whole Foods. She needed a few gluten free items. Both these districts have recoverd well from the hurricane with the exception of the sidewalks and the roads. They sure could use some love and care! We went to a park near the zoo for brunch and returned to the Warehouse District for a tour of the Glass Factory and Gallery. Unfortunately there was not too much happening there but we did see beautiful pieces of art that we had no room for!! Then proceeding on foot we took a nice long walk of several hours past the Convention Centre and Riverwalk. This walk held many wonders, a paddlewheel boat, a huge train of 4 barges being pushed by one tug boat, homeless men looking for handouts, horse and buggies called caleche, artists in the square, street musicians, mimes and many boutiques, as well as the famous Cafe du Monde at the French Market. Believe it we had our first dinner out. A fabulous dinner at Margaritaville and we headed back to the RV via Bourbon street - ok we didn't dance that long.
Wednesday, January 14
Marilyn moved the RV this morning all the way through the Warehouse District and then the Garden District to find Whole Foods. She needed a few gluten free items. Both these districts have recoverd well from the hurricane with the exception of the sidewalks and the roads. They sure could use some love and care! We went to a park near the zoo for brunch and returned to the Warehouse District for a tour of the Glass Factory and Gallery. Unfortunately there was not too much happening there but we did see beautiful pieces of art that we had no room for!! Then proceeding on foot we took a nice long walk of several hours past the Convention Centre and Riverwalk. This walk held many wonders, a paddlewheel boat, a huge train of 4 barges being pushed by one tug boat, homeless men looking for handouts, horse and buggies called caleche, artists in the square, street musicians, mimes and many boutiques, as well as the famous Cafe du Monde at the French Market. Believe it we had our first dinner out. A fabulous dinner at Margaritaville and we headed back to the RV via Bourbon street - ok we didn't dance that long.
Just finished reading all about your adventures! I am so excited for you and Marilyn, totally jealous. So much dancing!! Love it !!
ReplyDeleteDance a few for me ok?! I almost felt like showing up there! Have fun, be safe , listen to your intuition, your Dad, Mom and all the others are your angels making sure you have lots of fun!! keep sharing your adventures! Love you!! Mary-Kim
This is wonderful!!!...I also thought about Dad on the 11th and smile with all the amazing stories I thought about, he is so proud of you big sister, keep on trucking!!!!
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