Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

Looking thru our book of all the places you need to visit while you are traveling around the country Holland, Michigan is mentioned with their windmills and Tulip Festival (scheduled for May 5-14 this year) - so what the heck.  We are camped here in Decatur, MI about 40 miles south of Holland and figured let's go.  Our 1 day here and so we set off north thru the very cute town of Paw Paw and on up to Alleghan (a cemetery to do) and then on to Holland.  Looking for fields of beautiful tulips - well not exactly - we were warned on news night before that the tulips opened early and are going fast... but they still showed some so 1st off we never did find the fields, then after hours (3 1/2) of searching for tulips between looking for new p trap for RV - let's see we stopped at Ace Hardware, Lowe's, Holland RV, Camp America (rv parts supplies) and finally Menard's (our hero) - they didn't have the exact thing but close enough!  Hey, Menard's is a wonderful hardware

Trekking northwest we found a small park in Gas City, Indiana... cute little place with Garfield the cat as the main attraction!  The one thing I liked was that all the street signs were oil derricks!  Very cute idea and they can be seen before passing the street you want!  Very nice! There is a Garfield Trail but since the weather was rainy and windy and cold we did not visit the surrounding communities looking for Garfield in each one!  This is the town Garfield's creator was from and that is why he is such a big part of the town.

The passport that you can use is free and the only requirements are 1) you visit this particular site - includes Wright's Cycle store and 2) you visit 7 of the 14 sites around the area.  Due to an appointment to get our step fixed we were unable to get to 7 of the sites but the sites we did visit were so much fun!  This National Park site is fairly new (2005) and has excellent exhibits.  The Wright Bros were so much more than just bicycle owners and the 1st to actually fly an airplane... From the time they were children they were always interested in "things" and learning and their parents encouraged their interests.  Quite a story and worth every minute.  Too bad children are not all raised with such encouraging parents!  Dayton has done a wonderful job of now trying to promote this family and their contribution to the world and they are doing a great job.  Not sure what else there is to see in Dayton and don't really care at this time since we are leaving area but

Have to comment of Dayton brochure advertising their town - it is probably one of the BEST I have ever seen!  I have seen a lot but this one is so well done explaining what to see, where etc!  Kudos for Dayton.  Seeing as Dayton is the birthplace of aviation they have what is known as the "Aviation Trail" - if you visit 7 of the 14 sites you are entitled to a free avibear.. stuffed bear with aviation jacket and goggles. very cute and best part is all but 4 are Free!  The 4 that are not are also National Historic Sites... Anyway, we began by going to the National Air Force Museum!  This place is huge and has 3 gigantic buildings beginning with the early years onto the rocket age including displays of the Berlin airlift, and Bob Hope's contribution to the troops!  We spent way too much time here and although the "passport" needed to get stamped at the various places does not expire our time was only this 1 day so had to move along... Even if you are not an aviat

A visit to this Capitol building proved to be very nice.  Only allowed an hour (underground parking $2.00 each hour) however we did go over our limit.. too much to take in here.  They do offer tours on the hour or a recording you can carry around to have things explained.  We chose the self-guided tour and found this building to be beautiful and complex and fun.  It is quite large and spread out on 3 floors with an atrium in the center they were setting up for some program.  The inside is all carved marble from all over tastefully done.  Completed in 1861 it has been renovated of course and restored and it is one of my favorites - I love the grand staircases and the idea there are hidden rooms and stairs all over the place - a good workout visiting this place!  It is said Wm. McKinley who was Gov of OH before becoming President used to stand outside and wave across to the street to his wife each day.  They have him standing out there now and it's a funny note but what the heck.  T

Since we were informed we could not leave Cincinnati area without trying the "Cincinnati Chili"  and we do as we are told (sometimes) we tried it!  Look at Early's face.. We had the best time!  Went to this little fast food place called Skyline in Wilmington and had the Best service!  Early tried the regular size 5 way and I did a small 3 way... Sounds odd and it is but what a GREAT experience.  We both enjoyed it too!  The reason this is special is due to the secret ingredients in the chili which include chocolate, cinnamon and cloves and no beans - however if you go 5 way you get beans and diced onion.  It was very good and before we left the manager brought us over "goody" bags of little samples with a menu to take with us with the story behind the recipe!  You can't beat it for friendliness and good service and tasty besides!  I especially liked having different sizes so you didn't have to buy more just so you might splurge more or have some to take

There are times we are blessed and this was one of those days!! Not only did we have the day to sightsee but the weather was picture perfect and we took advantage of the nice day to see what we could... began at Fountain Square downtown. There were numerous displays of how people have taken trash to make "art" out of it and this display was made with pieces of old doors.  Then down to their beautiful waterfront park - oh my goodness that place is so pretty with spring in her new dress!  Walked up on the suspension bridge over the Ohio River and watched many walking back and forth over the river.  All sorts of folks out enjoying the day and then on up to Mount Adams with lovely view of the city and river.  This town reminded us of Seattle with their football stadium right next to  their baseball stadium and US Bank arena next to that---- guess all these stadiums sitting empty most of the year is not an issue?  Seems a bit crazy but guess that is the new way nowadays.. anyway

Early is getting better at planning - ha! and gave us a few extra days in Lexington area to do some actual 'Sightseeing"... what fun.. drove out to Ashland, Henry Clay's estate back in the 1800's. and as it is now a National Historical Site expected a big fence or something but no.  No tours on Sunday but it is obviously a place where the locals like to go.. a pretty park like estate and lots of picnic'ers... We read all the reader boards and walked the grounds but all buildings locked up tight.  Lovely in a very pretty neighborhood.  Fun to see these old places and know that there is some history preserved. ha!  So much is torn down for rebuilding now.  Old Henry was quite a guy; against slavery due to moral reasons but then understood the need for slaves financially.  He was one of Abe Lincoln's favorite people and was quoted by Lincoln more than 41 times in one speech! We just keep learning so much as we travel and guess that is part of what makes this life

Kentucky is famous for it's bourbon so decided to take a tour of one of their factories and ended up doing 3 tours of Wild Turkey, 4 Roses and Buffalo Trace.  Oh my, we were really bourbon'd out but learned quite a bit.  All 3 tours were different and so picked up a little bit more from each tour.  One this is certain; it is a BIG industry although most of the manufacturers have very few employees.  Buffalo Trace still does a lot by manpower so they had the most employees but so much is automated and most of the work is sitting and letting the stuff age in barrels.  There are warehouses filled with the stuff!  Oh my goodness, at 500+ barrels a day and the stuff has to age 4 to 10 years or more you do the math... it's wild but then there are farmers that grow all that corn (has to 51% or more corn to qualify as bourbon, rye and barley - the barley comes from MT and the rye mostly from Canada - then the truckers who haul all this stuff and the barrel makers - now let's s

One of the great things about the town of Lexington is every thing here is "horsey"... they have a wonderful small park in town that celebrates the Thoroughbred horses from the beginning.. there are placque along the park that explain various peoples role in horse racing since the beginning of our country dating back as far as Geo. Washington. A few others are Bing Crosby, Queen Elizabeth, Samuel D Riddle, Sam Hildreth and many, many more.  I is a pretty little park and since it was a nice day quite a number of folks out enjoying the day! Fun, free thing to do and interesting to boot!

When you are new to an area and want to get a bit of the flavor of the place you find places like this that say Puccini's Smiling Teeth!  So of course we went there and it was delicious!! Different but oh my, nice to have pizza again too. ha!  Enjoyed it very much and glad we went there after our hours of sight seeing! ha!  On a Sunday most places are closed up especially in this part of the country!  They believe in a day off, only wish more places were the same although makes it tough for folks like us just passing thru. ha!

This is our 2nd visit to this perfectly lovely area and memory did not fail... it is just as pretty as I remembered from 1st visit 6 yrs ago!  Where does the time go????  This campground is only one close to Lexington and in one of the prettiest areas with horse farms surrounding park!  A little on the pricey side but then we are in "horse" country!!  I have never been a horsey person but I love this and so far we have only been out cemetery shopping for ancestors of Earl's.  Met the greatest couple who were so helpful in finding a long lost family cemetery that really made our trip!  Real Kentucky hospitality!  Off for more excitement today and tomorrow before we head east...

Another item on the bucket list is now crossed off!  This National Park is here in the southweestern part of the beautiful State of Kentucky.  It was absolutely a picture perfect day and we wandered over trails and finally took a cave tour to see the "frozen Niagara".  About a 2 hour tour with 500 stairs!  Most stairs were all down in about 250 ft under ground.  It was a sold out tour as most were today.  This is spring break for a lot of schools around here so places are packed with children.  Very cool tour although because the cave is so deep there are not a lot of places where the water seeps in to create the stiligmites and stilagmites.  Love the National Parks so this was a treat.  Back on the road tomorrow; Kentucky Horse Park here we come... yippee!

One of the items on Earl's bucket list for many years has been the tour of the corvette factory!  Finally made it and was interesting.  Of course I could not tell the difference between a car costing $70,000 and $100,000 but then cars don't do too much for me... Fun though talking to some of the other folks on the tour.  Glad we were able to finally get this done. 

Given 1 day to do Nashville is hardly enough time to do much but we did best we could... 1st stop was The Grand Ole Opry!  Wanted to see about seeing a show but since we are camped 100 miles away and shows are only at night we didn't go there... Did enjoy the visit though and glad we came. They have a mall and hotel all built around the Grand Ole Opry so your whole trip can be spent right there.  Amazing but am sure there are some country fans who that would appeal to... We are too old and most of the "stars" we know are now in Hillbilly Heaven!  Still enjoyed the whole visit and perhaps one day we'll be able to plan better so we are able to take in a show.

Although we are not familiar with the current country stars we are both familiar with a lot of the older ones and so wanted to stop by here!  Oh my what a thrill!  Thought we would get thru fairly quickly but no way, hours later we emerged back onto the street and lost out on stopping at The Hermitage (on my bucket list).. but this was so much fun.  They set up a few changing displays so we had the privilage to see a special display on Chet Atkins and Buck Owens and unfortunately did not get to see the Patsy Cline display that will be there in Aug 2012.  We did see Elvis 24 carat gold plated cadillac and piano!  It was so much fun seeing short videos including Roy Rogers and Marty Robbins.  It was well worth the visit and although we could have spent days in Nashville seeing everything it is just a good excuse to come back again some time.  Very cool and well worth the time and $...

One of the things we try to do is visit all the various State Capital buildings and so our one day in Nashville had to include this stop!  A few stairs but worth the visit.  Small state house compared to some we have seen but then the State of TN doesn't gouge their constituents either.  Only tax is 5% sales tax with no state income tax and not even much for property taxes.  Part time legislators.. Andrew Jackson and Andrew Johnson are both prominent here and although the Union took over the Capital during the Civil War they did not damage it... however there are bullet holes in one of the inside columns and a chip in the marble handrail from when a vote was due to be made to allow blacks the right to vote and the reps wanted to leave and shots rang out to keep them from leaving. Of course they won but oh my!  One note is this state house didn't have to be burnt to the ground for them to build it out of stone and steel inside with little woodwork - still nice and sturdy and si

One more little plug on Dolly; the people here love her so much and are so thankful they put up this statue dedicated to her at the county courthouse in Sevier County!  Nice tribute the woman who has given so much - JOBS!!  I was never a big fan of hers but she is quite talented and certainly very giving and Smart!   

It is a perfectly lovely morning and we hate to be rolling away from TN but really we aren't going far.  Will be crossing state lines today into the gorgeous state of Kentucky and I am so excited.  Fell in love with that state the 1st time we were there in 06.  However, we will be staying very near the border and have a full agenda which includes crossing back into TN to see some of the wonderful Nashville sites.  There is just so darn much to see and do in this country of ours and no way to get to it all but we are making an effort to get to some of it anyway. ha!  Here it is a travel day and I feel like I need a down day but no time.ha!  Have to keep the wheels a rollin.

Finally made it to the Great Smokey Mountains and oh my goodness what a lovely day!  This is truly a beauty and we were so blessed with a nice day.  Drove up to entrance near Gatlinburg and over to the Newound Gap at Elev 5,046 ft.  Not like the Rockies or Sierra's but oh so pretty with trees budding and dogwood bursting with flowers along the way.  It was a nice leisurely ride.  All went well until we decided to go to "Cades Cove" for our picnic lunch and this being Easter.  You might say we were not original in our idea... there were so many people and cars on the road it was impossible to find a parking space at the picnic area so we went on and looked for a pull out which we found overlooking a lovely meadow.  Again, not original!  All was fine until we ended up behind someone who was completely selfish and drove at 5mph!! for about 7 of the 11 miles... It was inconsiderate to say the least; not that you want to travel at 50 but we had a line of cars as far as the

Dolly Parton has certainly done a lot for the folks in this town besides bringing the Dixie Stampede dinner show!  We enjoyed the show and the meal which you eat without any silverware!  Interesting and wasn't sure how that would be done but amazingly it was and we enjoyed it all.  A braized game hen; smoked pork, corn on the cob, potato and buscuit and wonderful creamy veggie soup and a wonderful apple turnover! oh my goodness and an interactive show to boot!  Fun times but no pics allowed during show.  When Dolly brought Dollywood to the area it created the all important "job" and since then Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have really grown up and are now holiday destinations for folks from all these southern states besides as far away as MI and OH.. we talked to several of these folks and learned people return time and again they have so much fun!

Not having any idea of what to expect we were quite surprised to find this little town tucked into the base of the Great Smokey Mountains to be a lively tourist town.  Thought it would be more of the mountain folks and their craftmanship and there is some of that but there is a happy holiday type atmosphere with rides; fudge shops; moonshine tasting; motels and just about anything else you can imagine.

Original plans had us headed for an overnight stay at Walmart after first crossing into TN from Georgia but decided to push on to this Lovely setting instead.  So glad we did. Although day was lovely as we were traveling from Georgia there were dark clouds gathering on the horizon.  No sooner did we get set up and settled and tucked in for the night then the sky opened up and boy oh boy what a storm!!  We could see the lightening strikes through the blinds! It was wild but we were safe and warm and the next day we awoke to this scene above.  Can't ask for much more!!  Excited to be in this part of the state finally.

After reviewing plans decided to go to High Falls State Park afterall.  It is nearly like coming home since we have been here a few times before... On the way here noticed lack of charging so will have to take RV into shop for new alternator! ugh.. Well, we'll see what happens.  Meantime, enjoying lovely park with very little flowers left of the spring.............