Home Sweet Home!

We arrived home safely in good health and motor home ran great. We have been busy unpacking motor home, doing laundry and getting back into routine at home. We had a great time seeing friends and relatives. Weather was mostly hot & humid. We enjoyed our cool weather in Washington and Upper Michigan. We never did find the perfect tomato but did have some good ones. Patti (my cousin in Virginia) had the best homegrown from a friend. Our favorite place we visited was Michigan. We did enjoy Traverse City, Mackinaw City and Island. The water was so clear and blue just like Hawaii. We saw Lake Michigan, Superior, and Huron.

Enjoyed seeing my 94 year old uncle and his wife in Chicago and my 90 year old Aunt in Virginia.

John enjoyed his hunting gophers in Montana and riding a horse in Virginia although he has now decided his horse days are about over (not too easy on his back). We saw some fall leaves starting to turn in the East and saw a great stretch of gold, red and orange in North Carolina. Want to thank everyone we visited for their hospitality and friendship. You were all wonderful and make our vacation very memorable. Next year is going to be different, I have some idea's but still have to put it all together. Love you all. John & Virginia

traveling west

Spent the night here in Amarillo Texas at Wonderland RV Park where we have camped before. It is pretty nice outside. We went to the Texan Rest. and and had our steak dinner and watched a young fellow eat his 72 oz steak, roll, salad and another side in an hour, so he got his dinner free. $72 for that big steak. I'm sure I'd be sick after all that. Today is Monday and we did another 300 mile drive to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is overcast here and may get some thundershowers and in the 80's. We're going to spend today and tomorrow here to rest up before we finish up our trip home. Probably be home on Thursday. John wants to have some New Mexican food which consists of red & green chiles (nothing like our Mexican food).

Oklahoma City

We left Arkansa this morning of Sept 11th and ran into a few rain showers. We have had a nice visit here with Floyd and Sissy. We set up our motorhome in front of their garage/shop and had a lunch. Floyd took us on a ride in the farm country. We checked out the rice and soybean fields and cotton. Not a lot of cotton like there use to be. We had our catfish dinner and fried dill pickles so we are happy campers. Sissy and I drove into Little Rock to have lunch the next day and do a Walmart shopping while the guys went to a sporting goods store and McDonald's for lunch. We had a good Southern BBQ dinner of ribs and pork sandwich and Sissy's yummy banana pudding for desert. It was good to be here and visit with them and their family. Charles (john's other cousin has just had surgery and is in his mountain home recovering and not up to company yet so we didn't get to see them, at this time. Weather here has been hot and humid and mosquitoes just love me.

Sat. Sept 11 we are here in Rcokwell RV park, Oklahoma City where we have stayed before. It is quite warm here but a breeze so not quite so hot. Traveled over 300 miles today so glad to stop for a while before heading on to Amarillo Texas tomorrow. Our heart's go out to all the families of the 911 attack on this very special day, may God bless them and give them peace.

Heading HOME

SUN., We are here at Bob's in the country and Ron, Patti and Aunt Freda came up for the day. Bob BBQ'ed steaks and we had a great visit and food. They all hadn't seen the house so they were impressed with all that been done. We got Aunt Freda into the cart and took her over there. I had fixed a fresh peach pie and we finished eating that before they left for home and we played another game of golf. Mon After breakfast we packed up a lunch and headed over to the ranch where Ripley is boarded. John got a good lesson on brushing and getting horses ready to ride and he took a ride with Sandra. The brown horse is Sandra's Ripley and John's white horse if Sarri. They had a good ride while Bob & I played a game of cribbage and looked at magazines. We had BBQ'ed chicken and left overs for dinner and headed for the porch on the new house for some wine, sunset and visiting. Our weather has been perfect while we have been here-so nice to have some cool air for a change. We've enjoyed visiting everybody here in Virginia. Today we left early for our trip home. Sandra fixed a good breakfast to start us on our way. We are camped here tonight in Tennessee and have a good days drive again tomorrow. Headed for Little Rock to see John's cousins and have some cat fish. Today is in the 90's again with clouds so we may have thunder showers tonight.

Virginia Days

Thurs, Ron & Patti, who live in Richmond, Virginia took the day off and we started off by doing some shopping. Ron & John went to Northern Tool Supply and Dad didn't buy a thing. Patti and I went to Ben Franklin and Stein Mart and we did buy. Next we had lunch at Olive Garden and went to see Aunt Freda. Ron & Patti came to see our motor home and we took care of the dogs dinner and potty break. We met them for pizza down town and had a lovely dinner out on the patio. Friday we arrived here at cousin Bob's, in the country. We had wine time and dinner and checked out the progress at the Big House they are building. Took John & Bob a while to hook us up to electricity but a cool front has come through and it is so nice outside. Only in the 70's and 50's at night. The breeze is so cool and nice and great to have the windows open and no humidity. We're still working on John's cough. Sat took a ride but weren't too successful with our plans. We first visited a grinding water mill but not enough water in the stream to make it work, off to see a general store in another town and it is out of business. Looked for a place to eat lunch and had to settle for a Hardee's ( like our Carls Jr.) but food was cold and lousy. Next we drove to an apple farm and we did get apples but quite expensive (a tourist place). Arrived home and rested before we went over to New House sat on front porch and watched the sun set. We had a late dinner and showed them how to play golf.

Relative visit in Richmond, Va

We are parked in a small mobile home park just outside of Richman. Not great place but we are 15 min away from my cousin's house. It is in the 90's here and of course it is humid. John is just soaking wet after he hooks up the motor home. Went with Patty and her husband Ron to have lunch downtown close to their new offices. Aunt Freda was there too. I'm not sure she knows who we are but she looks real good and her new apt. is real cute and she is happy there. Went to the new offices which are in an old tobacco where house. It is just amazing what re doing these buildings can look like. Sun, All of us went to church and then out for lunch to celebrate Aunt Freda's birthday. My other cousins Bob & Sandra came from the mountain and Patti's 2 sons and their families. Took Aunt Freda home and the rest of us visited at the house until early evening. Monday We drove the motor home around Washington DC here to Annapolis. We are in a park about 15 miles away. We met with Kevin in the evening and he took us on a city tour. We had a great buffet dinner with a lot of Southern dishes=a lot of seafood=crab, mussels, crawdads, clams and such. Afterward we went to a little ice cream shop. The people there kind of adopted him as part of their family. Ice cream was so good. Tues We met Kevin and Brian of a tour of Annapolis=Kevin has graduated and Brian is in his 2nd year. We toured the grounds and several buildings. Got to see what one of the rooms looks like and the dorm building is just huge. It is a beautiful building with marble floors and chandeliers. We got to watch all the guys join in the quad and march to lunch. It was quite a sight. We had lunch with Kevin in the cafe and he had to leave to go to a rowing trip, so we looked over the museum, did some shopping in the store and down town. They have a beautiful school and we feel quite proud to know 2 of the cadets there.

last days in Georgia

Drove into Savnnah and we saw several of the beautiful squares and drove across the bridge. We didn't do any tourist stuff since we have been here a couple of times. Clyde showed us several of his properties and houses they had lived in. Went to Crab Shack for lunch which really is a shack and not like our chain rest in Calif. Ginny had a plate of crawdad's, crab, shrimp, mussels, sausage, corn and potatoes. Cylde and I had crab and shrimp and John had a shrimp salad. Later when it cooled off John & Clyde went out on the lake and caught a few bass. Ginny & I fished from the dock house. She baited the hook with crickets, worms and minnows for me. I caught a few brille which are a type of perch. Every Thursday is fresh water fish day at the rest. so that's where all the fish go. Thurs, We went to breakfast with Clyde at his little place downtown where he has coffee and meets with the guys while Ginny gets to sleep in. Clyde showed us some peanut plants on the way home. We had lunch in their youngest son's restaurant. Went down the street from Keith's Restaurant and visited the Claxton Fruitcake Capital of the World. We ate the fish we caught the night before. Ginny & I went and got our nails done and than we drove to a little town and got some fresh green peanuts to make boiled peanuts with and 24 pounds of shrimp for $2.75 Lb. which Miss Ginny popped the heads off and put in the freezer. While the peanuts boiled John & Clyde tried fishing again but no luck this time. The peanuts were really good and nothing like the ones we have had before in the street stands. We met Clyde's oldest son Keith and his family and had a nice visit around the kitchen bar. We have had such a good time here learning to fish. eat Southern Food, enjoy their beautiful home and ponds and meet their family. We are moving our way up the coast to Virginia to see relatives tomorrow.

Georgia Days

Here we are at Metter Georgia at Clyde & Ginny's property. It is quite warm and humid here but it is beautiful. We can look out of our motorhome and see ponds everywhere with fish, birds and trees. John got to see a deer and wild turkeys on his ride yesterday. Clyde took us on a ride to see them harvesting tobacco and then went to the barns where they cook the leaves. Had lunch at their son's restaurant and had really good chicken and can't believe the fresh vegetables and food they serve there. I did some laundry and we all helped Ginny put 2 bushels of corn away in the freezer. That is ALOT of corn but they use it for their Low Country Boil for church and family. John has gone fishing two nights in a row and caught several nice bass.

Last Days of Yogi

Sun= Denny & Mary have today off so we all went into town to Huddle House and had breakfast. It reminded us of our Waffle House but maybe a step above. John did have his waffle and I had a very good chicken fried steak. We went to the Smoky Mountains National Park visitor center near there and went through their farming village. Went back to coaches and looked after the dogs until about 3 when we left for Pigeon Forge to go see Dolly Parton's show, the Dixie Stampede. We had a good dinner which you eat with your hands=chicken, pork, corn, potatoe, biscuit and apple turnover. The show is the North against the South, alot of beautiful horses, costumed riders and we all had a good time. We started home and found the only road through the mountains was closed. We waited in the visitor center for a while. decided if we would wait it out or not but never did get much information. We think they had a rock slide and road wasn't to be opened till morning so we drove back to Pidgeon Forge and took the long was home and got home by 10ish instead of 8:30. Thanks to John's GPS we did find one road which was a little short cut. Mon-had a quick breakfast and headed out with Clyde & Ginny to their place in Georgia. It was a long drive but got here about 6. It is real hot here in the 90's. Clyde took us for a short ride around the property before we turned in for the night. Thank you so much Denny and Mary for your hospitality, at the Yogi in the Smokies RV Park

Rainy Days and Friends

Thurs, 19th, Denny & Mary managed to get the afternoon off and then we all rode over to a restaurant in Georgia called The Dillard House. It is a family style Southern cooking and boy did we eat. We had fried and BBQ chicken, pork chops, ham, melon, tomatoes, cole slaw, creamed corn, fried okra, mashed acorn squash, lima beans, fried potatoes , pineapple fritters and for desert strawberry cobbler with ice cream. We stopped by a produce market on the way home and got some peaches, corn and tomatoes. It was raining when we came out of rest. but stopped by the time we got to the market.

Friday- We went to Cherokee Museum and saw the story of Trail of Tears where the Cherokee Indians were forced off their land and moved to Oklahoma. They were a peaceful nation of farmers and traders, had their own written language and half of them died on the way there. The schools here are beautiful and they are starting to teach the new generation of Cherokee their language and customs. Clyde & Ginny fixed a Low Country Boil for dinner which cooking corn, potatoes, sausage and shrimp in a big pot of boiling water. It was great and we had so much to eat and plenty for leftovers if we ever get time to eat them here. Afterwards we had a campfire, talked about fun times we've had on our trips and had fresh raspberry pie from the berries we picked in Michigan.

Sat John & I went into town for breakfast and went through a couple of shops before is started to rain. It rained all day so we kicked back in the motor home and let John rest. His cough is getting better each day. The rain sounded so nice on top of motor home along with the acorns banging on the top too. That afternoon we had Indian fry bread taco's for dinner. We took a ride around town a bit and then hiked up the 159 steps to the Mingus Falls. They were just beautiful and so glad we made the hike.

Yogi in the Smokies

As we drove into camp Yogi Bear in the Smokies it started to sprinkle and by the time we were done checking in it was raining. Denny and Mary (friends who work the RV camp) came back from lunch and Denny took us to our spot. We hooked up electricity and took a short nap while we could hear the rain on the roof. Ginny & Clyde are here from Georgia. We met them on a Fantasy Tour in the Canadian Maritime Providences and will go home with them to Georgia near Savanna, for a few days. We have some kind of tree that we are parked under that drops things on us. Sounds like marbles or rocks hitting the roof.

Wed- Clyde and Ginny took us on a ride through Smoky Mountains to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge about an hour away. Both towns are full of hotels, restaurants, water parks, all kinds of activities for the kids and shopping for us adults as well, shows like in Vegas or Branson. We drove to the end and went through the Smokey Mountain Knife Store. They had two floors of all kinds of knives, antique and new, swords of all kinds even from Lord of the Rings, a really nice kitchen shop with good knives, pans, food and novelty stuff. Then we went to a BBQ restaurant and had our big meal of the day. When we got home we sat around camp fire with wine and visited with Denny & Mary. John also had to have his smores and they were good.

Our camp is in the Cherokee Reservation thus the cities name of Cherokee. We are in the trees and next to a river where you can fish and tube down it. We saw a guy walk by with a big trout the other day (4 Lbs). We have a lot of beautiful big yellow butterflies in camp with an occasional orange or black. The Smokies are beautifully wooded mountains and when it gets hot the mist rises up the mountains and it looks like smoke. It is nice to hear the river when you open your door and we've had some kind of shower every day. The town is much bigger than I expected with all kind of Indian pottery, baskets and such and is interesting to hear their story (more about that later). The Indians have bears here that are painted like the horses we saw in Oklahoma and the Buffalo in the Black Hills.

North Carolina

Hi to all, We left Ann Arbor Michigan Monday morning the 16th. Drove through Ohio, and into Kentucky, about 375 miles. Tuesday we drove to Cherokee, North Carolina, and into Camp Yogi in the Smokies, where our friends, Denny and Mary are working for the summer. We will be here for 6 days and leave on Monday. I will post more later, we are heading out to go see Gatlinburg, about 1 hour over the mountains.

Our visit in Ann Arbor

We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel and went grocery shopping at a Meijer (local grocery store). Has everything in there, (Wall-mart) so had a good time looking around. Bought a peach raspberry pie for dessert which went good with our BBQ. Played a game of golf (cards) and were going to have a fire but got to late.

Sat we had breakfast late and let them sleep in on their days off. Mei and us went to the Farmers Market and got tomatoes and some other veggies and I got a bouquet of Asters that are pink, purple and white. We went home and picked up Andrew and went to Pot Belly's fast food restaurant, which is similar to our Quizzino's. Then we went raspberry picking. They were really ripe-both of us picked about 2 qts. While I was picking a bright green frog jumped on my jug and then back into the raspberry bushes. He sure scared me. It is quite warm out and humid. My ear is still plugged up and now John has a sore throat. We went to a little place near them and had Italian food. It was good but were impressed with their 30 inch pizza. If 3 people can eat it in 30 min. it's free. Looks like a great idea for a party. Guys beat us at cribbage again. Sun Even warmer today and high humidity. Mei fixed us breakfast then we took a tour of Andrew's hospital, Very big and modern. Then we were off to see where Mei's lab is. We were surprised at how big a place it was and all the different types of testing they do there. Mei was on the Today show for about 30 seconds showing how they test the different water filters and if they live up to their claims. We shared photos of trips, families and such. We also went to The Creamery where they make gelato and cheeses. Had a tour but was really hot in there since they don't have air. John lasted about 5 min and several others left too. Mei, Andrew and I stuck it out and watched them make mozzarella, and strawberry gelato of which we sampled.There was also a bakery next door where we bought some good french bread and also saw the fancy wedding cakes they bake. We had Tai food for dinner, played another game of cards and said our good bys. We have had a great time in Michigan.

Here We Are

We arrived here in Ann Arbor and as soon as we pulled into camp it started to sprinkle. We checked and got the electricity hooked up it started to pour. We took a nap and listened to the rain. We have just kicked back here so far=done laundry, got my hair cut and nails done. Mei fixed dinner for us last night and we played a game of cribbage which the boys won. Also showed one another our pictures. Today has been partly cloudy and in the 80's with humidity. We're going to BBQ steaks for everybody tonight after they both get home from work. Not much else to report.

Macinaw City Days

Sun We ate breakfast and relaxed. We took the trolley tour of Mackinaw City and the surrounding area-us and one other couple. We rode across the Mackinaw bridge-West is Lake Michigan and East is Lake Huron. The lakes are so clear and aqua blue in color. We have eaten the whitefish from the Lakes and it is very good. Also had a seafood dinner with whitefish, perch and wall-eye. Monday, we took a drive and went to the Soo locks. which are located between Canada and US at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan's oldest city. We woke up to rain showers and John was walking dogs when it really started to pour and had to change his pants, shoes and hat. It was a great 2 hour tour and now we have been on 3 of the Great Lakes=Lake Superior. We had to be raised 23 ft to get through the locks which only took about 15 minutes. There was a big German freighter that went through in the other lock. We saw a large steel plant on the Canadian side=they make steel for a lot of places probably cars in Michigan and else where. Also a huge long rock building that is an electrical plant=the longest one in the US. We have had great cool weather up here in the UP (upper peninsula) and enjoyed the lakes and scenery. We would recommend traveling Michigan. We now need to come back for the Spectacular Falls that are in the UP. Michigan in the Fall would be especially delightful with all the colors. JVP

Michigan Days

We arrived here at Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City. Our campground has 800 spots and we are on Lake Huron and can see the Mackinaw Bridge. It is a small city which has about 4 blocks of restaurants and souvenirs. On Sat we took the ferry to Mackinaw Island-there are 3 different companies all the same price and take same time. We took the catamarin but was fun to watch the jet boat ferry with the big spray behind. First thing you see is the big white hotel the Grand Hotel. It reminds me of seeing the Empress Hotel in Vancouver. We can see the hotel way over here in the campground, sitting on the side of the mountain. No cars are allowed on the island so you either walk, ride a bike which you can rent or bring yours over on the ferry, or horse and buggy. You have never seen so many bikes in one place. We took a cart ride with two horses pulling and toured the island. There are alot of hills so glad we could just sit back and enjoy things. There is a fort here which French & English occupied. They have costumed people and show how life was. It cost extra and we have been in one like it before and seen the muskets loaded and fired and how life was in these forts. Mackinaw City is know for its liliacs.

The guides get up early and wash and groom their teams for the day =usually 5 0r 6 horses and work 13 hour days. we changed teams of horses at the top of the hill and got 3 Belgian horses to take us back into town. Rooms are over $300 a night and honeymoon suite costs $3000 a night but it comes with a chef and butler. Everything that is delivered anywhere is done by horse and cart. We had a beautiful ride through the forest which is the first National Park. We had a drink and snack in the Pink Pony Bar & Grill, walked through the shops and headed back home on the ferry. There are lots of fudge shops each with their own recipes here and we tried alot of them but we were full of samples and didn't need to buy any. We had dinner in town=had a pizza which was good but all pizza's up here have thin crust and different stuff on them. There was a beautiful shop next door with woodsy furniture, decor and such but it was first class and just beautiful stuff.