Time to catch up again

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post so I would think it is time to get you caught up as to where we are and what we have been doing. 

In the last episode we were in the Knoxville area staying at an RV park in the Smokies.  We had a great visit there celebrating Thanksgiving with my nephew and his family, who live in the area, plus seeing my neice and her family who came in, with their RV, for the holiday.  In addition, being there a month allowed us to spend a lot of time with our youngest daughter Kim.  On the 13th of December we moved back to the Nashville area to spend Christmas with our friends Richard and Cheryl, so that is where you find us now. 

Since arriving here we have done a couple of outings with them.  The first was a trip to Lynchburg, Tennessee to the Jack Daniel’s distillery.  I had been there something like 25 years ago and remembered a little from the tour but nothing about seeing the town.  It has changed significantly in that the distillery has added a huge visitor center and the tour seemed to be more involved and much longer.  What is so fascinating about this place is that it was built in a dry county, no liquor is sold.  So for the distillery to get its license a special law had to be passed, about 100 years ago, that allowed it to produce liquor but not to sell it on the premises.  This meant, when I last visited, you ended the tour with a cup of lemonade, not a sample of Jack Daniel’s.  That has changed due to some creative legal interpretation of the laws.  They now offer an “enhanced” tour that you pay $10 for and at the end get to sample the products.  Not sure how that gets around the law, but it has something to do with paying for the tour, go figure!  Next you can buy bottles of their product and then you get the whiskey for free!  That is how they get around the county law.  You are buying the bottle not the whiskey.  Still do not understand it, but I have got to believe the county is lenient to Jack Daniel’s as it has to be the largest employer in the area and it does bring in a lot of tourists.  Now sadly we went on Sunday and there are no liquor sales allowed in Tennessee so we did not get to do any tasting.  The tour was great and seeing the little of town of Lynchburg was fun.

Next up was a visit to the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas decorations.  Now this was impressive.  Outside the hotel at the main entrance they have encased all the trees in lights.  It is just amazing to see how many lights are involved and how detailed the installation was. It was difficult to get a picture that would show the scene so I stole this one from their website

Here are the lights I thought were the most impressive in how detailed the installation is

Here is one from inside

If you have never been to this hotel it is impressive, if just to walk around and see everything that is inside.  Just a couple of years ago it was shut down for over a year because the whole first floor was under water when Nashville was hit by flooding.  They have done a wonderful job of restoring the place.  When we were here back in November we went to the Opry Mills mall, which is next door and noticed that a levee has been built on the river side of the hotel to protect it from future flooding.

We are here until after New Years and then will try to find someplace warmer as it is getting a little cold here in Tennessee.

Merry Christmas!

Ford vs. Ford

 

Here is my latest rant.  While we are here in the Knoxville area it was time to get an oil change on our truck.  I normally go to Ford dealers to get this done as they do a nice multipoint inspection and, hopefully, use factory recommended parts and supplies.  I know I probably pay a little more, but I think it is worth it.  For a diesel engine and oil change is a little pricey as it holds 15 quarts of oil.  At dealers I have paid $80 to $100 for this service.

Here in Knoxville there are two Ford dealers that are near our RV park.  One is Ted Russell Ford in Knoxville and the other is Lenoir City Ford.  I decided to go with Ted Russell as it was closer to some other places that we were going to that day.  We showed up for the appointment and I learned that they charge $138 for an oil change.  I asked if they did something additional on an oil change that would justify that cost and was told no, that is their normal charge.  Against by better judgment I went ahead with the oil change.  After the multipoint inspection was completed the service advisor comes to me and tells me I need new wipers (I knew that and told him I would replace on my own), the air cleaner was close to being replaced (I knew that and felt it could wait until next time) and lastly he tells me the rear brakes need replacing.  The service guy advised that the rotors could still be machined so the repair should be done.  He quoted me a price of $391 for just rear brakes.  I know the brakes and rotors on this truck are huge but that price seemed unreasonable.  I told him I would think about it.

Later that day I called the other Ford dealer, Lenoir City Ford, and asked them what they charge for a one axle brake job on a Super Duty pickup.  I was told it would be around $250.  I set up an appointment for Tuesday of this week.  I went to the dealership and spoke with the nicest service advisor.  I told him what had gone on and that I was told I needed rear brakes.  He said they would first have the service tech take a look at the brakes and determine what had to be done.  About 45 minutes later the advisor brings me out to the truck, with the tires off, and the service tech tells me that the brakes on the rear are about 50% used and the fronts are showing even less wear.  As the truck has 51,000 miles on it that would mean I do not need brakes for  probably 12 to 18 months.  I took a look and thanked them.  I got the truck back and there was NO CHARGE!!!

So, a huge shout out to Lenoir City Ford and big $%^$ to Ted Russell Ford!

Let’s Get Caught Up

 

As I mentioned previously my blogs during this holiday season would be sporadic as we are visiting with friends in family in the Nashville and Knoxville areas.  It has been about a month since my last posting so I think it is time to get caught up.

The week before Thanksgiving we moved from Nashville to Knoxville where we will be spending a month.  If you are an avid follower of this blog you will know that our youngest daughter recently moved to Knoxville and my nephew, and his family, have resided here for a number of years.  Because of this we thought having Thanksgiving here would be a great family reunion.  However up until a a few weeks before Thanksgiving did we realize just how fantastic it would be.  Originally it was to be Fran and I, our daughter Kim, our daughter Kelly (from Ohio), my nephews family and some relatives from his wife’s family.  As the holiday approached we were excited to learn that our oldest daughter Katie, now living in Portland, would be able to come for a week and my niece (from Houston) would be coming with her family in their RV.  So for Thanksgiving we had a total of 23 people!

It was so great seeing just about everybody on my side of the family and being able to spend a week with our three daughters.  As it will not be possible for all of our kids to get together with us for Christmas we celebrated a little early, the day before Thanksgiving.

Here is the best part of the week

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!

Extended Warranties

 

This posting is more a rant than anything.  Since there is a lull in our traveling adventures I thought it a good time to discuss this issue.

I have never been a big fan of extended warranties and rarely have ever purchased them.  For our fifth wheel I had a different thought process and went ahead with the purchase.  I have experience with RV’s and was concerned how an RV would hold up using it on a full time basis for a number of years.  Because of this we decided to purchase the extended warranty that Jayco was offering.  We purchased the “platinum” package which included the following:

Mechanical warranty - includes all the working items in the rig.

Paint and fabric protection – a coating was applied to the exterior of the rig and stain protection was applied to the carpet and furniture inside the rig.  With that application we get protection from stains and such for the warranty.

Tire and wheel protection – this gives us coverage on the trailer tires and wheels from road hazards and covers the truck as well.

Roadside assistance – provides for towing to a repair facility, fuel, lockout, etc.

The dealer did explain the package to us but we now learn was a little vague in that explanation and did not tell us some things.  We did receive a booklet that fully explains the coverage which brings up some of the issues that we are having.

First, let me start with the roadside assistance.  Prior to buying the fifth wheel we had AAA roadside assistance for 25 years.  I had not been aware that the AAA coverage we had did not cover the RV and that you had to add that coverage which was very costly as we had a family membership.  Instead I purchased coverage from Good Sam that covered both the RV and our vehicles.  When we purchased the fifth wheel I learned that Jayco gave us membership in Coach-Net (similar to Good Sam) and that our extended warranty had roadside assistance included.  I can remember telling the sales person that this feature would save me money as I would cancel my Good Sam roadside assistance and he agreed.  Well, not so fast!  About six months into our adventure, before our Coach-Net membership expired, I read in the extended warranty handbook that the roadside assistance applied to the RV at any time but only to the truck when it was towing the rig.  This meant that if I needed assistance while driving around town I would not be covered.  I called the carrier to clarify this and was told that the rig must be connected to the truck for the truck to be covered.  So I now had to make sure we had proper coverage when our Coach-Net membership expired and chose to go back to Good Sam at $100 per year.

Next issue is the tire and wheel protection.  You may remember my post regarding a tire on our rig shredding while we were driving in Florida.  I filed a claim with our extended warranty and told them I did not know what caused the tire to blow out.  I did not remember anything on the road.  WRONG ANSWER! CLAIM DENIED!   Per the policy I had to prove a road hazard (such as pot hole, debris, etc.).  I was furious as this is one of the reasons why I am against extended warranties, they make it so difficult to file a claim.  I contacted the dealership who sold us the policy to vent my frustration and was told the sales person would check on the matter.  He requested all my documentation so he could follow up with the carrier.  He told me that in the future I should contact him first before filing a claim so he could “help me” with my story to the carrier.  He was able to get us reimbursement but only as a “customer goodwill” gesture and not an actual approval of the claim.

Last issue, paint protection.  I noticed that the front fiberglass cap our rig was showing signs of oxidization.  I looked in our coverage booklet and it states that front and end caps are not covered.  I contacted the carrier to verify this and was told to file a claim, which I did.  Of course it was denied.  This one I did not repair it but rather have been working the issue with cleaners and wax and have improved the situation a little.  While I was talking to our Jayco dealer on the tire issue I mentioned the front cap issue and he was surprised to hear that it was not covered.  Sure, now you know!  He contacted the carrier who covers this issue and was told that they plan to include this in their coverage and to make it retroactive, however he could not provide me with anything, in writing, to confirm this.  We will see.  Also, while talking to him about this paint protection I mentioned that I like how the trailer stays clean and shiny because of the coating applied and that our graphics are covered under the policy as this is a big issue with RV’s as they get older.  He immediately says, “You do know the graphics are not covered, just the fiberglass walls?”.  I told him he had to be kidding me as I specifically remember telling him that the coverage for the graphics was a big reason why I decided to go forward with this option.  We had a “discussion” for a few minutes but I know, at this point, nothing was going to come of it and we still have coverage on many other things as part of the policy, but again I was misled.

I have not filed a mechanical claim yet as the original warranty just expired.  He assured me that those types of claims are easy, especially if you go to a Jayco dealer as they will the claim for us.  We will see!

Nashville, TN

 

My blog is going to be somewhat sporadic over the next couple of months as we are sticking around the Nashville/Knoxville area until early January.  Presently we are just outside Nashville visiting with friends.  Our friends moved here last year and my buddy has not had the time to set up his woodworking shop since the move.  All his stuff was still in boxes.  He finally had some time and asked me to help him out with building out his shop in an attached garage at their new house.  In return he helped me put suspension air bags on our truck, which is the next part of my story.

I have been going back on forth on the issue of putting air bags on the truck suspension.  With these on you inflate them to help the load when towing the trailer.  As we have a one ton truck the suspension is really sturdy to begin with so I was not sure if the need was there and did not want to incur the cost.  Recently I was talking with two other RV’ers and both of them told me how it smoothed out the ride when you get a “washboard” type road.  When you get these little bumps on a highway they get exaggerated when towing the trailer and you bounce up and down.  With that information and learning that their was a rebate on the air bags I was looking it, I went ahead with the purchase. 

Prior to the purchase I read the instruction manual online and it indicated that the installation was fairly easy with no drilling involved and probably would take about 2 hours.  They were correct in that there was no drilling but their instructions were not as clear, when we actually began the install, so a lot of time was spent in trying to figure out what they meant.  It took us about 10 hours over two days to get the air bags installed  and then another 4 hours to get the air compressor and air lines installed.  It all worked well and it passed all tests with the last one being an actual tow with the trailer.  I did attach the trailer to the truck and tried the bags with the weight of the trailer and they worked fine, I just have not driven with the trailer attached.

We are here for another week or so and then move to Knoxville for a month to celebrate Thanksgiving with our entire family, my nephew, my niece and many others, so it should be fun.  After that we come back to Nashville to celebrate Christmas with our friends.

Tom Sawyer’s RV Park

 

We are now in West Memphis, Arkansas at Tom Sawyer’s RV park.  This park is one of our top 5 parks and this is our third visit.  As for amenities the park is nothing special and the town is not one you want to visit, but what the park has is amazing views of the Mississippi River and the barges going by.  You can read more about it and see some pictures from my posting last year  http://charlandrv.blogspot.com/2011/02/mississippi-river.html.

This year the river is really low but the barges are still able to get by.  Here is a picture of the view from our window.

The brown you see on the other side of the water is the river bed.  Normally that is covered by water.

In my last posting I mentioned how the park gets flooded every year and that when we were here then the river was on the rise.  Yesterday I was talking with the owner and he showed me the high water mark from the flood last year.  It was on a building up at the entrance to the park, which is some distance from the normal banks of the river.  He said it crested at 48 feet, which was a record since he has owned the park.  I then asked how they prepare for the flood and the damage after.  He said they have “seasons” at the park.  First there is winter, where they do get some overnight RV traffic.  Then there is flood, when the river rises and floods a good part of the park.  Next is recovery, this is where they put everything back and clean up.  Finally there is the money season, which is what we are currently in.  This is their peak time of year where all the spaces are generally full most nights.

To prepare for the flood they have to remove all the picnic tables, benches and take off the electrical boxes at each site.  Recovery means returning all those items plus clearing away any debris that may have stayed behind and replacing gravel on the roadways and sites.  It is amazing that they do this each year but from I understand this is an investment for the owner and not his source of income, so I guess it gives him some leeway in keeping the park open.

Tupelo, Mississippi

 

OK, I know you are saying it in your head so let’s do it, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. Because of that catchy song I think I could spell Mississippi before I could spell the state I lived in, California!

Quick, what is Tupelo known for?

That’s right, the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  Shame on you if you had to look at my answer.

Tupelo was a good stopping point on our way to Memphis and it had something to see.  We found a beautiful small RV park on the edge of town that has a fantastic weekly rate.  The park has lots of trees but I was amazed that we are able to position our rig in the space so that we could use our roof mounted satellite for TV.

The weather has just been perfect so far, except for one partially rainy day.  The days are fall like with hardly any humidity and the nights are cool. 

Today we visited the Elvis birthplace and museum.  It is a very nice facility that includes the home he was born in, the church his family attended, a memorial chapel and a small museum.  As Elvis was only in Tupelo for the first 13 years of his life you can imagine the museum does not have much to display.  The house is still at the original place where it was built.  They bought the land around the house to build the museum and they moved the church to the site.  It was a nice visit and I would recommend it if you are passing through here.  I would not go of my way to come visit it, unlike Graceland, which is a really cool place to see.

So, I will give you pictures so you can say you have seen it.  No admission cost on my blog!

This is the original Assembly of God church his family worshipped in.  It was moved to this site from a few blocks away.

Inside the church.

Statue of Elvis at 13.

The house where Elvis was born.  A two room “shotgun” style home.

Front room of house.

Back room of house.

Here is some trivia for you.  The Presley family only lived in this house for a few years as Vernon Presley (Elvis’s father) went to prison for forging a check and the house was foreclosed on.  They moved to a couple of other places in Tupelo before moving to Memphis in 1948, when Elvis was 13.

For his 11th birthday his mother took him to Tupelo Hardware for his birthday present.  Elvis really wanted a .22 rifle but the owner of the store cautioned the mother about such a purchase for safety concerns and recommended a guitar.  Elvis was disappointed but realized the guitar was the only thing his mother would buy or he would get nothing.  As they say, the rest is history!  The Tupelo Hardware store is still in its original location and run by the same family.

Montgomery Sightseeing

On Monday we decided to venture out into Montgomery and take in some of the sights.  As it was Columbus Day many of the buildings were closed, which was OK with us as we have grown a little of tired of museums and historical places for the time being.  Instead we took a trolley tour of the town which drove by the sights and explained the history.  Later we walked around and took some pictures. 

The downtown portion of Montgomery is very nicely maintained and worth a visit.  They have a policy of not tearing down the old buildings but rather rehab them and put new businesses in.  Most of the things to see in town relate to the civil rights movement.  You have the Rosa Parks museum, The Civil Rights museum, the church where Martin Luther King Jr., was pastor and the house where he lived.  They also have Old Alabamatown, which is a restored portion of the city that dates back to its founding.  The state capitol is also here along with the White House of the Confederacy.

Not sure if you can make this out but this is an old building inside of a new one. As the policy is to keep old buildings, and this was the original state supreme court, they kept the building and then built a modern structure around it.  Beyond the glass you can see the marble stairway and beyond that the front of the original building.

State Capitol

Church where King was pastor from 1954 to 1960.

Neat fountain in front of the National Civil Rights Museum.  This is stone with water running over the top and falling down the sides.  Carved into the top is a timeline of events in the civil rights movement.

The White House of the Confederacy.

This is a fountain in downtown that was placed over a natural spring.  This was where the slave auction was held on Wednesdays at noon.

We had heard about two restaurants that were a must to try out while in Montgomery.  The first is Dreamland BBQ which is famous for its ribs.  The original Dreamland is in Tuscaloosa but they now have others in the state.  I tried their ribs but was not impressed. 

The second restaurant is Chris’s Hot Dogs.  The is the oldest restaurant in Montgomery.  It was started in 1917 and is still family owned and run.  Their hot dogs have mustard, onions, sauerkraut and their own chili sauce.  Very messy, but very good.  The restaurant looks like it has been there since 1917!  Highly recommend this place.

Fire Ants!

 

This past Thursday we moved from Carabelle, Florida to Hope Hull, Alabama, which is just outside Montgomery.  The drive was uneventful but scenic as the route, via our GPS, was on state highways and county roads, so the trip took a little longer but took us through some small towns.

The park is nothing special but meets our needs.  It is basically a park for RV’ers to stop overnight as it is right off Interstate 65.  The spaces are a nice size and the weekly rate is the cheapest we have ever paid, so that is nice.  The one thing they do have here is fire ants, which, to the best of my knowledge, is my first experience with them.  In California  we had larger red ants and in Illinois we had regular black ants.  These fire ants are interesting in that they build big mounds of dirt and from the surface nothing seems unusual until you disturb the mound, then all HELL breaks loose.  The park owner warned us about them and said he tries to keep up with the mounds by pouring gasoline on them.  They are called fire ants as their bite/sting feels like a burn.  We have not had any issue with them getting into the trailer, but I had a run in with them on Saturday morning.  I was moving our outdoor mat and did not see that an ant mound had been created underneath it and when I moved the mat the ants starting coming out.  I did not notice them on the mat until I looked down and saw a bunch on my sandals and feet.  I quickly brushed them off but a few of them bit me.  It is a small sting but went away quickly and no other issues.  So now I watch where I am walking.

There is a large mound of them in the space across the road from us so I took a picture of the mound undisturbed then I moved the dirt (with a long stick) and took another picture of the ants that came out.  Hopefully you can see them'.

Before

After

If Wikipedia is to be believed these ants came to the US here in Alabama on a cargo ship that arrived in Mobile. 

Carrabelle, Florida

 

We continue our loop through the south and decided to explore the gulf coast of Florida.  We have been doing a lot of sightseeing lately and thought it might be nice to just relax near some water (like we are stressed!).  I picked out a little RV park right on the water in Carrabelle, Florida.  It is about 50 miles south of Tallahassee.  But first let me tell you about our drive here.

The drive was uneventful until we were about 30 miles from the park on a two lane state highway.  I had heard a sound but thought it was from trucks or another vehicle on the road as our vehicle was handling fine and I noticed no issues.  Further down the road I was looking out the side mirror to check traffic and noticed the car behind us weaving a little and I saw bits of rubber bouncing on the roadway.  As I saw that I noticed that one of the tires on the trailer, drivers side, was flat.  The trailer was tracking straight and the flat was not noticeable in the handling of the truck.  I then started looking for a place to pull over as the shoulder on the roadway was not sufficient to stop the truck and trailer without blocking the road.  After a couple of miles I finally found a place large enough to get fully off the road.  The trailer tire had completely shredded with only a little rubber left around the rim.  I called Good Sam roadside assistance and after some problems finding someone to come out a tow truck showed up to change our tire.  When he pulled off the tire he found the rest of the tire wrapped around the drum.  The electrical connections for the trailer brakes on that wheel had become disconnected, but other than that it did not appear there was any other damage.  After about 2 hours we were back on the road.

What is left of the tire.

At the RV park I did a closer inspection and was able to fix the electrical connections. A tire has been ordered from a local dealer. This was the first flat tire on a RV that we have owned.  Now we will be seeing how well the extended warranty plan we purchased works as it does include tire and wheel protection.

The park is nothing special except that it sits right the water.  We were not able to get one of the back in water sites but yesterday we were able to move to a site that faces the water so we do have a nice view.

Sunrise over the gulf.

The RV park from a pier they have.

Not sure if you can make it out but on each of the pilings there is a pelican perched on the top.

Sightseeing in St. Augustine

 

Today is moving day.  We are driving west through the panhandle of Florida to Carrabelle, Florida, which is on the gulf coast.

Yesterday we did some sightseeing in St. Augustine to finish up our stay here.  The day turned out to be very hot and humid so walking around created some discomfort, but hey that is Florida!

We went back to the historic district and ended up taking a tour of the Father O’Reilly house.  This was a house built by the parish priest back in the 1700’s and later became a convent for French nuns.  What was interesting about this place was the tour guide and the obsession with being “The Oldest House” in St. Augustine or in America.  There is already an attraction in St. Augustine called “The oldest house in America”.  It is just a couple of blocks from the Father O’Reilly house, but this tour guide told us the State of Florida did some recent testing on the foundation of the Father O’Reilly house and the tests indicate this house is actually older.  Now this is only the foundation as the house itself has been rebuilt many times over the years. 

Father O’Reilly house

From there we went to the fort built by the Spanish to guard the city.  This is an amazing stone structure that sits near the water.  It has a large moat surrounding it with draw bridges and cannon placements on all sides of the roof.  It is now a national monument and was quite interesting.

Inside the fort

The courtyard from the roof

Cannon placements and view from the roof

Difficult to show in a picture but from the wall of the fort to the gray line on the right of the picture is the moat that surrounds the fort (now grass).

Following the fort we made one last stop on our way back to our RV and you can read about that in my personal note post that I posted yesterday.

A Personal Note

 

Preface: My main motivation for starting this blog was to keep my mother and step-father up to date on where we were at and let them in on all places and things we are seeing.  My step-father has become a fairly good user of the computer and the internet (although it is dial-up!) and they both enjoy the pictures.  Along the way I have picked up many additional followers and the blog has become a useful vehicle to keep our family and friends up to date on what we are doing.  For this posting, as my parents are avid readers, I am making a personal post directly to my mother as her birthday is next week.  For the rest of you, you are welcome to read this post as well.

Mom,

Today Fran and I did some sightseeing in St. Augustine, Florida.  This city is the oldest city in the U.S., as it was settled by the Spanish back in 1565.  The Spanish sailed here from Spain and landed on the shores of North America at what is now called St. Augustine and set up a city.  Where they landed they held a mass as a Catholic priest was on the voyage.  After they settled and formed the city a chapel was built on the site and a version of that chapel still stands.  We visited the landing site and chapel today and we purchased a St. Anthony votive candle and lit it in your name at the chapel.  It will burn for six days.  A card from us regarding this candle will be arriving shortly.

Here are the pictures

This is the spot where the Spanish landed.  As a monument they have erected a 280 foot cross.

The current chapel on the site.

Inside of the chapel.

Your candle.'

Happy Birthday Mom!

St. Augustine, Florida

We are now in St. Augustine, the oldest city in America.  Before I go into our activities here let me give you the back story.  I had been working on various routes to loop us through the south so we end up in Nashville the beginning of November where we are visiting with some friends.  My plan was to take us to the gulf coast but hurricane Isaac made us change those plans and go further east into Savannah.  We had already decided to not go deep into Florida on this trip but rather do that another time, most likely then end of next year.  So, looking at the map I figured we would go to Jacksonville and then go west to Tallahassee and then up into Alabama then to Tennessee.   I did my usual research of parks in the Jacksonville area (Trailer Life directory and RV Park Reviews) and decided on a park called Pecan Place RV Park.  It was a few miles outside Jacksonville, got favorable reviews and was fairly new.  Meanwhile I had contacted a former co-worker of mine who lives in Jacksonville and is retired to see if we could meet up.  I told him where we were staying and he said that it was out by the airport.  I was not aware of this so I went to Google maps satellite view and expanded the aerial map of the park and sure enough, there is the Jacksonville airport 1 mile away.  The RV park is on a direct line with the main runway, so you are either going to get noise from planes landing or taking off.  Based on the map, too close.  My friend recommended going to St. Augustine as it was fairly close.  I had thought it was farther but actually the St. Augustine RV park is only 38 miles from Jacksonville.  So here we are in St. Augustine.  It is a nice RV park amongst the trees and only 6 miles from the historic district.

First outing was a visit to the World Golf Hall of Fame.  Fran was not interested so I did this one on my own.  They have built a beautiful village where the Hall of Fame is located but sadly it appears the economy has affected the project.  Many buildings for offices and/or stores are empty and planned developments have not been built.  The Hall of Fame was informative and enjoyable.  As part of your admission they give you a chance to hit a ball onto an island green 135 yards away.  I had the distance but was a little left, so in the water it went!

Here are some pictures from the Hall of Fame

  Hall of Fame building

The wall of members

I thought this was cool, the Masters Trophy

This is my fourth hall of fame, baseball, football, hockey and now golf.  So far the best is the baseball hall of fame.

On Sunday we took a drive into the historic district.  As it was Fran’s birthday we had reservations for lunch and went early to walk around the shops and sights in the old city.

Neat old streets with lots of bars, restaurants and shops.

The oaks with Spanish moss are just beautiful.

We had lunch at the Columbia Restaurant, Spanish tapas.

It was hot and somewhat humid so after lunch we headed back to the air conditioned comfort of our RV.  We most likely will do another outing or two into the district before we leave.

Today I was able to meet up with my former co-worker and we had a great lunch and had time to catch up.  It had be 6 years since we last saw each other.  Time flies when you are retired!

From Sea to Shining Sea

On Tuesday we left Stone Mountain, Georgia and drove to Savannah, Georgia and will be here for a week or so.  With this drive it marks a milestone for us in that we have driven cross country within one year.  You may remember that in January of this year we camped on the Pacific ocean in Ventura, California.  Here is a picture from that trip.

Ventura, California

Now being in Savannah we are at the Atlantic ocean.  While we are not camping on the beach we are just a few miles down the road.  Today we went exploring nearby Tybee Island, so here is a picture of the Atlantic ocean to complete our cross country trek.

Atlantic ocean as seen from the top of the Tybee Lighthouse.

On Tybee Island we went to an interesting restaurant for lunch, The Crab Shack.  It was mentioned in our Road Food book as being somewhat unusual and it is.  It is built as a shack with most of the tables outside on decks.  Each table has its own garbage can under the table with hole in the top of the table so you can put your shells, beer bottles, etc.  They have an alligator pond out front where you can feed the gators.  Here are some pictures of the place.

Gators!!

Following lunch we toured the Tybee Lighthouse and Museum.  We climbed the 174 steps to the top of the lighthouse!

To finish this post off here is an updated map of our journey to date.

Exploring Atlanta

We are finishing up our stay in the Atlanta area so I thought I would get you caught up with our activities here.  First let me start with the park where we are staying.  In the last post I mentioned we are staying at Stone Mountain Park and there was an arts and crafts festival here for the weekend, the Yellow Daisy Festival.  From what I read it is supposed to be the third largest arts and craft festival held in the US and has over 400 vendors.  It started on Thursday and ended on Sunday.  We went to it on Thursday and was surprised to see a large turnout for a weekday afternoon.  It is a very large festival but nice to walk around as the booths are in the woods.  Thank goodness we went to the festival on Thursday as on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the crowds were enormous!!! On both Friday and Sunday we left the park in the morning and the traffic coming into the park was backed up for miles.  Fortunately on Friday we came back in the evening so there was no traffic getting back in, but on Sunday we tried to get back in the park around 1:30pm and the traffic was still backed up for miles at the main entrance.  I remembered there was a back entrance and went to that gate and fortunately we were able to sneak into the line quickly, but the main road for that gate was also backed up for miles.  Not sure where they parked everyone. 

Friday we took a trip into downtown Atlanta via the Marta system.  We visited the Atlanta Aquarium, World of Coke and walked through Olympic Centennial Park.  Let get my complaining out first.  Both the aquarium and World of Coke were overpriced.  The aquarium is close to $40 per person and Coke is $16.  We had only wanted to do these two but if you plan on doing at least three attractions (CNN Tour and a couple of museums) there is a city pass that is only $69 per person for 5 attractions.  Now that would be worth it, but not what we wanted to do.

The aquarium is really nice.  It has the best presentation I have ever seen for this type of venue.  It had a great dolphin show and the their ocean section was outstanding.

Outside view of the aquarium

Great display of jellyfish!

From the aquarium we went next door to the Word of Coke.  I was not happy with the cost but as we did the experience I began to wonder why we paid at all, this all a big promotion for their company, one of the largest corporations in the world and we paid $16 to be told that!  Nice, but not worth the entrance fee.  Their was a section that was a big lead up to showing you the vault where the secret formula for coke is kept. It took about 15 minutes of hype before the big reveal and then you are let out.  Great for the kids, not so much for the adults.  I will save you $16, here is a picture of the vault.

As Coke is bottled by local bottling operations you only get to see a sample line which is bottling an 8 ounce bottle of Coke that you get at the end of the tour.  Probably the best part of the tour was at the end they have a room where you can sample all of Coke’s products from all over the world.  There must have been close to a couple hundred soft drinks.  The best is the new Coke fountain dispenser that is computerized.  You pick what type of Coke you want then another menu comes up and you get to pick different flavors and types.  It gives you something like 110 choices of Coke products.  Some fast food chains and mini-marts are starting to put these machines in.  I tried Diet Coke with orange and vanilla, OUTSTANDING!

We left Coke and walked back to the Marta station via Olympic Centennial Park.  This was the park built for the Olympics and where the bombing occurred.  What a very beautiful park.

On Saturday we went to see the laser show the park puts on at the carving on the mountain.  What a great evening.  You bring your chair or blanket and sit out on a lawn in front of the mountain and watch a 45 minute laser show that uses the mountain and carving as its screen.  There are even some fireworks as part of the show. 

On the lawn in front of the mountain.

Lastly, today we climbed to the top of the mountain.  It is about a mile hike up, not too bad until the end where it gets fairly steep.  The reward is a 360 degree view of the Atlanta area as this is the highest point in the Atlanta metro area.

Atlanta in the distance as seen from the top of Stone Mountain

WE DID IT!!!!