Home is where the heart is, and the grandson and family.....

We left our friends Ken and Marion early Friday morning heading for Frederick Maryland to see our niece Abby.  the ride through West Virginia on 68 was beautiful.  The countryside is gorgeous.  And it finally sunk in with me what the Cumberland Gap is.  It is huge and a real defined gap that 68 passes through.

Some beautiful West Virginia countryside along I-68

More West Virginia countryside

We arrived at Flying Dog brewery in Frederick MD and got a tour from our niece Abby who does marketing for them.  We also got a chance to sample many Flying Dog brews.  I liked the Heiffie's the most.

Abby with her Aunt Elaine

Abby in her office!

Abby and Uncle Joe at the tasting bar

After a nice visit and lunch in downtown Frederick, we stayed at my cousin's Vic and Vicky's house in Carlisle PA Friday night.  Saturday was our last day on the road as we did the last leg of our trip from Carlisle PA to Worcester MA.  I said to Elaine that after not thinking about home or work for three weeks, my brain slowly started to re-engage with those familiar thoughts.
We arrived safely home Saturday night at 7 PM, did a brief check of the house and headed out for Mexican food for dinner.  We thought this was a suitable end to our cross country sampling of Mexican restaurants.  The food was good, but I thought the salsa in Arizona was tastier.  I had two Margaritas ands Elaine drove us home from the restaurant.
The next day  our grandson Luke came to visit, bringing his Mom and Dad along also.

Elaine and Luke

Some brief final notes:

This has been the first blog I have ever done. It was fun, but I had a hard time carving out computer time to write.  All of the blogs except the last two were written riding shotgun while Elaine drove.  I found it hard to use a mouse in a moving vehicle, so there is probably room for some kind of invention here.

Blogging while riding  shotgun

Elaine driving while I wax poetic

Some stats:
Our trip was 6900 miles long.  We consumed about 865 gallons of gas.  And we were on the road for 22 days.  We averaged 8 miles to the gallon.

I finally know my average miles per gallon!

We really enjoyed this trip.  A trip we have talked about taking for many years.  I think the best part of the trip is being with someone you really love 24/7.  That sounds corny, but normal tugs of everyday life only puts a couple together a few hours a day.  This trip we were glued at the hip and we enjoyed it!  (GPS arguments not withstanding)

One final note:  When we first started planning the trip, we said we needed a theme for the trip.  And the theme could not be related to RV repair!  We tossed it around , even thought perhaps we would visit all the presidential libraries along the way.  As it turned out, the theme naturally evolved into visiting with old friends.  Once again the best laid plans happen when you play it by ear.

West Virginia, Mountain Moma, Take Me Home

We met Ken and Marion Hanscom in Massachusetts.  Ken and I worked together at Quantum in Shrewsbury.  And we both decided to purchase used Class C rv's in 1999.  We then went on camping trips and have been friends since.  Ken and Marion retired to West Virginia, near Elkins.  It is one gorgeous countryside.  We stayed with them for two nights after the Trace.  Marion cooked some delicious meals, Ken mixed some great drinks, and we had a great time catching up on our respective lives.

Ken & Marion have great rv hospitality facilities.

Elaine and Marion slaving over the hot stove.

Ken preparing some libations.

A view out their back porch

A view up the street.

The four hombres

The Natchez Trace, A leisurely tour of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee

In the 1800’s, riverboat men would guide barges down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. When they got to Natchez Mississippi they would sell the barges for their wood, and march back up to the head waters of these rivers using a local trail called the Natchez Trace.  Today the trace is a limited access highway where speed limit is restricted to 50 mph.  There are well documented historic sites, overlooks, and campgrounds all marked by mile markers which mark every one of the 440 miles of the Trace.

Rosalie Mansion, Natchez MS

Oak Square Natchez MS

We decidied to drive the Trace as compensation for our determined trek through Texas.  We visited an antebellum mansion in Natchez, camped two nights on the trace in Jackson, MS and Fall Hallow, TN. and visited some local museums along the trace.

Camping Timberville campground near Jackson MS

Swamps along the Trace

Museum along the Trace

Cash register inb Museum(family joke)

Antique peddle powered wood lathe at museum.

We got off the Trace at mile marker 400 in Fall Hollow.  Camping in Fall Hallow Village Tuesday night, we made it to our good friends house near Elkins, West Virginia the next day.

New Orleans: Interesting sights, good food, and good music.

After the JSC tour, we continued East into Louisiana.  We found a very nice private RV park about an hour west of New Orleans at Sulfur LA.  Elaine was driving and I was navigating.  Garmin could not find the town for the park, so we used old fashion directions out of Woodalls RV Camping directory.  I was anxious without gps assistance, but Elaine assured me that old fashion directions should be fine.  We found the park very easily and headed out to sample the fish dinners at a local restaurant.  The oil spill has not affected towns west of New Orleans and the nice shrimp and crab dinner supported that claim.

A+ RV Park, Sulpur LA

This rv park was new.  It was easily one of the nicest private parks we had stayed in.  We had excellent wi-fi access and even decided to do some laundry.  Now that is an exciting Saturday night on the road!

Swampland west of New Orleans

Sunday we headed to a private rv park on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.  After checking in we piled into a cab and headed downtown for an afternoon and evening in the French Quarter.

Andrew Jackson , French Quarter

Posing in park at Jackson Square in the French Quarter

The French Quarter during the afternoon hours consisted of leisurely tours of historic sites, ornate building architecture, and our first sampling of the local drink called a Hurricane at Pat O’briens bar next to the Preservation Jazz Hall.

Fancy iron grillwork decorate many buildings

Our first Hurricane drink at Pat O'Briens

Preservation Hall right next to Pat O'Briens

As the sun set, we ate another wonderful seafood dinner at Oceana Grill Restaurant.  We both thought that the crab cakes and tuna steak smothered with shrimp were the best dinners of the trip.

Grilled Ahi Tuna "La Boheme"

"Jazzy" Crab Cake Platter

A real treat in the French Quarter are the street bands on Royal street. We were lucky to catch Dorren Jazz New Orleans on Royal Street  http://www.doreensjazz.com/index.htm  If I were a talent scout, there are two bands that I would definitely give some national exposure to.  The good food and music put us in a relaxed mood and we strolled  Bourban street taking in all the renowned ‘theatre” that the French Quarter is known for.

Johnson Space Center, Houston,

Another attraction that I have always wanted to visit in Houston is the NASA Johnson Space Center.  It was Saturday morning.  We woke up after a pleasant night sleeping at Stephen Austin State Park.  We were warned that the boy scouts might keep us awake, but we did not hear them.  Heading East, we traveled through Houston and then 25 miles south to JSC.

Downtown Houston

Downtown Houston competing with Mt Rushmore

The Space Center has a private company that runs a visiter center and tram tour of the center.  We visited three main attractions: Mission Control, the full scale mockup building, and the Saturn IV building.  Mission Control had the feel of visiting the NBC television studios in NYC.   As an engineer I viewed the campus as somewhat past its time in history.  I wondered what it would look like if we would re-purpose NASA and all the national labs towards energy independence and high speed transportation systems.  Now that would be an exciting tour.

Mission Control

Mission control building

Mobile machine shop, tough duty!

Roll of duck tape on top of cabinet in full scale mockup lab

Mars rovers for manned for future manned missions

Full scale mockup lab

Saturn IV main engine exhaust nozzle

Training jets at visitors entrance

We were glad to have visited the center, saying that we saw the control room where history was made back in 1969.

West Texas is flat...Oct 14-15

We headed East out of Tucson on I-10 Thursday morning saying goodbye to our old stomping grounds where we spent the first 5 years of our marriage, had Francesca, and had a good run with the U of A.  We knew the drive ahead was going to be hopefully uneventful through West Texas.  It's like medicine, you have to just hunker down and do it.  

A hill just east of Tucson

Rolling hills soon gave way to flat, brown landscape.  Making a push to get through Texas, we had decided to change our original plans and aim for sites in San Antonio and Houston rather than spend time in New Mexico.  We had missed the one day they open White Sands Trinity site by one week.  Also caving at Carlsbad did not interest us either.  So we loaded an audio book into the CD player and headed East.

West Texas...flat with hills in the distance

Around 6 PM we located Balmoryae State Park on the Garmen and headed for that for the night.  It turned out to be a very nice camping ground with water and electric hookups for RVs.

Our campsite at Balmorhea State Park in Texas

The next morning,, Friday, Oct 15,  we continued East on I-10.  As we did in Kansas, we passed huge wind farms.  So why can't we have wind farms on the many hills of Massachusetts?

A wind farm in West Texas

That afternoon we arrived at San Antonio and for the first time we saw the Alamo. Two thoughts struck us: One, for a place that had a fierce battle, it was now a peaceful oasis in the center of downtown San Antonio.  Second thought, it was amazing that so much had been preserved in the center of such a modern downtown.

At the Alamo

Alamo

Outside compound wall at the Alamo in downtown San Antonio

We continued East for another hour and once again found a nice state park, Stephen Austin State Park in San Felipe, Texas about an hour west of Houston.  Have I mentioned that we really like state parks and prefer them to private campgrounds.  And the nice surprise for us are the amount of state parks that have water and electric hookups.

Our campsite west of Houston at Stephen Austin State Park