FROM THE SMOKIES TO THE SHENANDOAHS

We have been tearing up the highway (or should I say tires?) making our way back east from Texas.  It has been a fairly uneventful trip except for some tire problems.  (You will see the picture below).  We had a great time in Tennessee, enjoying the Spring beauty in the Smoky Mountains and taking in a stroll through Gatlinburg.  It is hard to believe that each state has such distinctive but incredible beauty.  The trees, mountains and waterfalls in the Smokies are next to none in the spring when trees are blooming, many in purple.  We spent four days in Tennessee at the bottom of Douglas Dam.  I have included two really nice pictures taken from the top and bottom of the dam.
From the Smokies we drove to Virginia and spent one night at Natural Bridge, VA, to break up the trip since both Tennessee and Virginia are very WIDE states!
We are now in Virginia at Camp AP Hill, a military base about 70 miles south of DC.  It is a little further away from DC than I wanted to be, but the price was right!  So we will be here until Friday when we leave for Ocean City to see the kids and grandkids, we are anxious for that!  We will be in OC for a week and then will head south to South Carolina.
We spent the afternoon yesterday in the lovely town of Fredericksburg, VA and found it to be really charming.  The closer we get to DC we see more of a Williamsburg look in the towns and everything is so neat and clean. The base here is out in the middle of nowhere, so we have to travel at least half and hour to see anything of interest.  On Tuesday we are going to take the commuter train into DC, but the visit will have to be short since we have a dog that needs walked!  We hope to take in the National Archives and possibly one of the Smithsonian Museums. 
It is hard to believe that our trip is coming to an end, but we still have a lot to look forward to, like friends and family.
Enjoy the pics below:

 Douglas Dam from above

 

 Douglas Lake with the Smokies in the background

 Barklee watching for Dad to return home

Tom's destroyed tire, turned inside out!

 

Tom sighted this one of many turkeys!



INTO THE LAND OF DOLLY PARTON!

The last two days have been ones of travel.  We have covered about 600 miles in two days, which is a lot when you are pulling a camper!  We left our campground in Arkansas early Wednesday morning trying to get ahead of a storm, and we did.  It was a pretty rough storm with a very cold front behind it, so we hit the road early in the morning.  That day we had to drive around Little Rock and Memphis...hopefully around and not through.  Little Rock went really well, and actually so did Memphis.  Crossing the Mississippi was neat and I-40 through Memphis was not bad.  The sun came out and it was really a nice trip.  I was rather euphoric when I thought about how well the trip was going and how beautiful it was along the interstate with the trees blooming and the skies so blue.  We were about 2 miles from a gas stop when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Tom pulled off the road with the camper.  Uh-oh...I sure hope he did not run out of gas!  The phone rang and it was Tom telling me that he heard a loud crash and had to pull over.  Well, as it turned out, he had a blowout.  One of the campers four tires was in shreds strewn along the last quarter mile of the edge of the highway.  It took off the trim of the skirting of the campers and left black marks all along the side of the camper from the shreds of the tire coming off.  From what I have heard, every camper has a horror story about a blowout.  Some worse than others, and ours was pretty mild.  Tom was able to get the camper off the road in a safe spot. God has us in the palm of His hand, and I am SO glad! So we called Good Sam's emergency road service and they came and changed the tire for us.  (At no cost).  So we then drove to our spot for the night, LaQuinta...no camping that night since we were doing so much driving.  We spent a restful night, got good sleep, a new spare, and were off for the rest of our trek across Tennessee.
Tennessee is a REALLY wide state when you are driving from west to east.  We got into the Knoxville area around five in the evening and into our BEAUTIFUL campground shortly thereafter.
It is right on the edge of the Smoky Mountains on a river.  The Tennessee Valley Authority has locations along many of the larger rivers in Tennessee with hydroelectic plants and this is one of them.  Some of these areas have campgrounds and they are really nice.  And the price is right, $11 a night for seniors.  (Sometimes it is helpful to be a senior!).  So we are here for about 4 days and hope to check out Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Smoky Mountain National Park.  This site is one of the prettiest yet.
Here are a few pictures from the state of Tennessee......

 Signs right outside our camper window....eegads!

 Our lovely spot

 Sign on mirror in women's bathroom....only in Tennessee!

 Truckers must drink a lot of coffee!

 

Is this a still on the roof??????



WE ARE IN ARKANSAS!!!!

After six and one half months in Texas, we have officially left the state (Which is no easy task considering its' size!)...and arrived last night in Arkansas, halfway between Hope and Little Rock at Degray Lake Resort State Park.  It is really, really nice.  The weather has been great and we have been enjoying Mother Nature here in the park.  We have two laid back days here before we leave on Thursday for Tennessee.  It is so nice to hear the birds early in the morning and the crickets at night!  It is very green here, they have had the necessary rain, unlike Texas where whole lakes have dried up.  I really will miss Texas, though. 
We are going to change our route home a little.  We were going to spend a week at Camp Meade outside of DC but after looking at the map and the incredibly busy roads that we would have to take around Baltimore and DC with the BIG camper, we decided to do things a little differently.  We are going to stay at Fort A P Hill in Virginia which is much easier to get to and less miles, which will save us some money.  It costs 50 cents a mile to tow the camper so we need to conserve gas when we can!  We can get to DC from A P Hill so I hope to make two trips to see some of the sights I have never seen.  Then it will be an easy trip over to Ocean City around the beginning of May to visit the kids.  I think I will even get to watch the grands a few times while Mom and Dad work!  That will be fun.  So the plan is to get up on Thursday, drive through Little Rock and Memphis to Jackson, TN and spend the night IN A MOTEL...YAY!  What luxury, and then onto a Tennessee Valley Authority campground near Knoxville near Sevierville, Tn and not far from Gatlinburg.  From there onto Fort A P Hill.  Phew, lots of driving but the scenery is magnificent this time of year.
Below are a few pics that I took here at the park.  I hope that you like them.

 I have never seen a black and white duck!

 Dogwood in bloom

 Sun glistening on the lake

HOLY COW!!! WE'RE IN COWTOWN!!!

Well, it appears that we are making our last stop in Texas here in Ft. Worth.  And quite a stop it has been.  This may be the most beautiful area yet.  This part of the state has a lot of wealth.. the buildings here are just amazing and the homes are incredible.  It is very clean and has lots and lots to do.  We are camping on beautiful Benbrook Lake just on the outskirts of Ft. Worth.  We have been staying in a lot of Army Corps of Engineer parks since they are very inexpensive....$14 a night, which is pretty darn good.  And they are usually on a lake.  The view out of our camper window is so peaceful.  Especially in the mornings.
Last night we went into the Fort Worth Stockyards which is probably the #1 attraction in the area.  They still do a cattle drive down the main street just like in the old days.  The longhorns parade down the street just a few feet from you.  It is like going back in time and really amazing.  They do this twice a day every day of the year except for two.  I did notice that they walk right past two big signs that say "Armour" and "Swift"...that would make me a little uncomfortable if I was 1600 pounds of beef!  There is a funny picture below of one longhorns right behind another..well, you will see!
It is a fascinating place to visit...the street is lined with hundreds of people waiting for the big event.  The picture of the little boys with their balloon 'horns" is cute....
Another highlight of this visit was Tom's reunion with an old Navy buddy, Johnny Pegg and his wife, Annette.  Tom and Johnny served on the aircraft carrier Intrepid 43 years ago, and they still recognized each other after all these years!  They are really nice people and live in Witchita Falls Texas.
We will be leaving here on Monday morning and saying goodbye to Texas......we have been here for almost seven months and has been such a great experience.  Texans have a lot of pride and I can understand why....they fought really hard to become a state and love where they live.
We will be spending three nights in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, not far from Little Rock at a state park there.  After that we will be making two stops in Western and Eastern Tennessee.  Plan to be at Ft. Meade in Maryland around the 26th and Ocean City by the 3rd of May.
I am also including a picture of Barklee.  He did not want to be left out.  Catch ya later!
Jackie and Tom

 

 Good motivation to keep moving!

A WALK ALONG THE RIVER

Today was a beautiful day, especially in light of the fact that there is a crazy winter storm raging above us in the plain states.  There are severe weather warnings for us tonight, but the day was just perfect.  We had a chance to take a nice walk along the Guadalupe River.

The quiet time reminded me of a wonderful poem that I recently read that was written by a man named Wendell Berry. My friend Katie introduced his poetry to me and I just love it. I think that the following poem perfectly describes the day. Enjoy.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.      



TEXAS TOURISTS

As our days in Texas dwindle down to a precious few, we are cramming in everything we can while we can.  On Thursday we went to downtown San Antonio and went to the Alamo.  It was a great day to visit with no long lines.  With me being such a history buff, it was a very interesting visit.  The thought of 192 men voluntarily giving up their lives knowing that they would not come out of the Alamo alive is amazing to me.  Texas history is incredibly interesting. I don't know of any other state that fought so hard to become a state and then a part of the United States.
On Friday we went to Austin and visited the State Capitol and the Museum of Texas History.  The Capitol building is one of the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen.  It is made of granite and has a pinkish/brownish tint and is massive.  We actually got to go into the Senate and House Chambers.  It was quite a visit.
Today we drove to the beautiful Hill Country town of Fredericksburg that is VERY popular with the tourists.  It was settled by the Germans and is a really unique place.  It sits up in wine country, I never realized that Texas had so many wineries.  After that we took a driving tour of the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall and then took a tour of the Texas White House.  You can actually go through the home of the Johnsons, right into their bedroom, living room and LBJ's office.  I never realized that he was only 64 when he died.  His ranch is 600 acres and is absolutely gorgeous. No wonder he spent 25% of his time there while he was president!  He and Lady Bird are buried on the property along with ALL of the rest of their ancestors.
Tomorrow we leave here for our last stop in Texas, which is Cowtown (Fort Worth)...can't wait to see it, they actually still have cattle drives down the streets...the pictures should be great.
In the meantime, here our some pics from the last few days.....quite a few pics today.

 Monument to Alamo Heroes

 Where LBJ went to school on the ranch

 Tombstones of LBJ and Lady Bird

 Presidential jet

 Texas White House

Bluebonnets

 Deer just outside our camper

 Jackie modeling hat

 Barklee modeling his new socks

 Our campground overlooks Canyon Lake

 Are his socks cool or what????

Next post coming from Fort Worth!!!