Colorado Springs

Internet is good here in Colorado Springs, so try to get this out.  Arrived here in Colorado and has been quite cool.  In the 40's at night.  We had to get out our long sleeve shirts and coats for awhile.  Yesterday John & I took the dogs and drove around the Garden of the Gods.  It is a beautiful area with red rocks and lots of green trees.  It too has a balancing rock.  It just reminded us of Arches National Park in Utah.  Went to our niece's (Bud and Betty's daughter Melanie) and had a nice visit and went out to dinner.  This is a big city with lots to do.  We looked at our itinerary for trip next year and since we start out here in Colorado Springs we will be doing a lot of the stuff we wanted to see, so we will check out other things and do something we aren't doing then.  Moved to our next campground=only a short distance away and really nice here.  Last campground was old, not much room and glad we only had to be there one night.  JVP

traveling through the rain

Today is Sept 4th.  We have left Arkansas in the rain.  The hurricane is passing through leaving rain and we want to leave before it gets really bad.  Monday the guys went fishing and caught a few little fish, also got the truck stuck in mud getting boat down into water.  We were going to the rescue but they flagged a guy down and he pulled them out.  After that Sissy & I went to Little Rock to the Clinton Library.  It was a very nice museum of his days in White House and things given to him. History of his and Hillary's growing up. Had a great Southern pot roast dinner with way to much food.  Got a chance to visit with Dorothy (she lost her husband, John's cousin this past fall) and also with Patsy and daughter(another cousin).  Wednesday was another long day of driving especially with the rain through Kansas.  Seen a lot of crops-corn, soybeans, sunflowers and one they grow a lot of but we don't know what it is.  Today we awoke to sunshine and another 300 mile day of driving to Colorado.  It is just in the 70's and a nice cool breeze.  Haven't had much internet service the last few days so haven't been able to write.  We'll be in Colorado Springs tomorrow to visit with our niece.

Little Rock, Arkansas

 Well, we have spent the last few days here in England, Ark with John's cousins. We parked the motor home in their driveway and hooked up to electricity as it is quite warm and humid here.  Floyd and Sissy took us to dinner that evening to eat catfish and fried dill pickles.  Delicious!

John, Floyd and I went for a drive out to some lakes to check out the fishing situation.  The only trouble was it was a long ride after driving all day.  The next day we went to cousin Charles and Peggy's house up by Heber Springs. It was a nice day and a lot of people out on the lake for the holiday weekend.  A tornado came through this spring very near their home and saw all the trees laying like toothpicks along side the hills as we went for BBQ lunch.  Sissy has kept us full of Southern Cooking.  Had cornbread, beans, chicken & dumplings, and pecan pie to name a few.  We are definitely going to have to get back on a diet when we get home.  We have been watching the hurricane and wondering if we were staying too long here in Arkansas. Thanks for all the calls and the concern. So far we are safe. JVP

Touring in Nashville

After our long day of checking out Nashville we went to dinner at Night Life, which is a couple doors down from our campground.  We had a good buffet dinner=I was surprised at the sweet green beans and have enjoyed the sweet tea here in the South.  The show was good and we enjoyed it.  We spent the day seeing Andrew Jackson's home called the Hermitage.  Ladies dressed in Southern dresses and hats showed us around the plantation house.  It was nice to see the furniture and rooms.  Then we went out to the gardens and grave yard.  The gardens were just beautiful and had a lot of spices that they used to cure illnesses with in olden days.  It had rained a little before we went outside.  Could have spent more time seeing the grounds but had to get back for dinner.  Today Aug 28 Th Thursday we went to breakfast at Bob Evan's.  They had things to buy just like Cracker Barrel.  Breakfast was good and something different than we'd had.  Then we went over to see the Opry Hotel.  We were surprised how big it was and expected to see just a beautiful lobby.  Well it is a huge atrium in middle of square hotel rooms.  It has a river with a boat ride around the hotel, something like the river walk in San  Antonio.  Next time we will eat there=looks like a great place to spend more time.  So glad we got to see it.  Went back and went to Camping World which is right next door to us practically and got a few things we need.  Tonight we are in West Memphis, Arkansas.  Pat & Elmon and us stayed here at the Tom Sawyer Mississippi River Park 4 years ago.  We look out our front window and see the river.  Have seen a barge go down river all ready.  We are waiting for it to cool off before thinking  about dinner.

 Buddy was somehow wrapped up in this blanket, we laughed so hard. I don't think he thought it was funny, though.  It is quite warm here and some humidity.  The park here lets you wash clothes for free so since nobody else was using the 2 machines here by us, I did a couple loads.  Pat, I can't remember but wash room has air conditioning now.  JVP

Nashville, Tn

Tues Aug 26th arrived here at 2 Rivers Campground.  It has rained here before we came and is cloudy today.  We had lunch at Canney's Fish Camp Rest.  We split a catfish lunch and watched the real catfish swim around in the pool in middle of rest.  Tried fried dill pickles for appetizer which were good but don't compare to ones in Arkansas.  That evening we went to Grand Ole Opera to see Tues evening program.  We didn't recognize any of the performers names but then don't follow Country much.  It is a real live radio broadcast so has an announcer and commercials and sponsors.  They had 8 performers do their program for 15 minutes(2 hour program). You can bring in drinks and food from concession stand and sit in padded bench seats.  We enjoyed the music and just being there.  Afterwards we went to Applebees and had appetizers(our dinner), since we were still full from  lunch.  Today we got up to cloudy skies again and no rain yet.  We went on a van tour called Tommy's.  He first took us downtown to see the stadium, state capitol building, the Batman building, Charlie Daniels Museum, Wild Horse Saloon, Coyote Ugly and the old train building which is now a national registry hotel.  It was beautiful stained glass and building.  We got to see a room which has a nice view and was $399 a night.  Tommy was quite a joker and kept us entertained and very informative about Nashville.  Next we went to some stars homes.  What big huge things and in Millions of dollars on very large property.  We drove by Tim McGraw's house and he was driving out as we came up.  He rolled down the window so we could see him and waved to us.  What great timing.  Saw Dolly Parton' s small home, Trisha Yearwood's, and many others.  Was a really nice tour. JVP

traveling days

We have spent last two days traveling and Internet too slow to post.  We left Ann Arbor after spending Sun evening with Mei & Andrew.  They took us to their favorite Thai Restaurant.  I had mine with no spice kind of like a chicken stir fry.  John had something more spicy.  We'd try it again.  Made plans to meet again maybe for Christmas and played a few games of cribbage before we left for motor home.  Covered 3 states and 380 miles today. Left Michigan, through Ohio and ended up in Louisville, Kentucky.  Roads have been real rough worse than Maritime Providences of last year.  Stayed at a real nice big KOA in Louisville but it was quite expensive($50) a night.  We thought about staying another day but decided too expensive since we weren't using all their facilities.  Had a really nice pool & spa, playground and such.  Had breakfast at a Waffle House this morning.  John had his usual waffle and me my cheesy eggs and raisin toast.  Hitting Cracker Barrel, Waffle House and things we like but don't  have at home.  Drove 156 miles to Nashville, Tenn.  Roads are getting better but these drivers are fast.  You should see how fast the trucks go down the road and there are alot of them back here on the roads.  We didn't see any horses in Kentucky-guess we weren't in the right area.  We aren't much on baseball or horse racing otherwise Louisville would have been Ok.  Saw some tobacco plants growing in fields today and a small barn where they were drying.  Also saw some whiskey distilling plants, GM plant and Fruit of the Loom today while driving. Diesel is $3.97 today.  Weather is cloudy and in 70's but humid and wind blowing.  May have a thunder storm and rain later tonight from Fay.  Staying put here in Nashville for a few days to rest up and lots to do here.  These are a few pictures that we took before we left Ann Arbor.  We stopped at a Apple Cider stand, tasted cider and had apple donuts. Yum   JVP

Last Days at Ann Arbor

Sat Aug 23rd.  We went to Sam's Club to see what's different here in Michigan.  Didn't find too much or that we could cart back home.  Took a ride down town and had lunch at seafood rest.  They had the best fish & chips we've ever had, even in the Maritime Providences.  John had a Cobb salad with shrimp and crab on it.  We had Mei & Andrew out for spaghetti dinner since both had worked that day.  I made a peach pie (uses my Jiffy pie crust mix) and was so yummy.  We played some cribbage, a very close game, down to the last few pegs.  Then we showed them how to play Spinner's (domino game).  It was very hot & humid yesterday and last night we had some RAIN.  Of coarse we weren't expecting it since stars were out and chairs got wet.  Today is sunny but not so humid and chairs are dried out, so we can put them away.  Ann Arbor is a nice town and we've enjoyed the tree lined streets (trees have even begun to change colors since we've been here).  Houses have big unfenced yards, gardens and flowers.  Everywhere there are parks with lakes or ponds around every corner.  The drivers here are very pushy.  They ride on your bumper at high speeds 3 0r 4 in a row and don't go around just stay there. Their streets are full of pot holes, cracks -sooo Calif. roads are NOT that bad.  We haven't had time to explore the north of Michigan where there is another large Great Lake, Lake Superior. Lots of rural settings and light houses -just to far to drive in a day.  I wanted to include a few more pictures but I am going to take some tonight and edit this post later. I will include some of the campground. The KOA inspectors were here with their new Fifthwheel Trailer and Truck all painted in the KOA colors. They inspected the campground and gave them the President award for excellence. We were impressed. JVP