We're on the road!

We left Spring Hill Thursday morning, May 3, 2012 and traveled to southern SC. Unfortunately we did not get out of Florida before love bug season. They splattered the front of the RV. Yuck! Here's Dan cleaning them off.

On Friday we proceeded on to Myrtle Beach. Our son Doug with Mary, Daimen, and Cheyenne joined us with their trailer. Our daughter Donna with Jessica and Chris, who live in Myrtle Beach, came over after school and stayed with us. We had fun swimming, walking on the beach, and playing miniature golf and ping pong. We also found time to play Kings Corners, Rummikub and Spite and Malice. We were able to see the super moon on Saturday night over the ocean. It was a magnificent sight but I forgot to take a picture! We had thundershowers late in the evening, but by Sunday the weather was beautiful again. Doug and Donna cooked a delicious breakfast on Sunday morning including bacon, sausage, eggs, and pancakes. I made the toast. (We trained them well!!) Here's Daimen and Doug busy at work.

After breakfast they headed off to see The Avengers. Everyone thought it was a great movie.

The kids were kind enough to pose for a photo. Front row: Cheyenne (10) & Daimen (14)

Back row: Mary (16), Jessica (15), Chris (13)



We left SC Monday morning and headed west through SC to the western edge of NC near the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It rained throughout the night and was dreary in the morning. Although the forecast for the day was for scattered thundershowers we grabbed the umbrella and left for the park. The road from the campground to the park included the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. On a clear day it would have been a beautiful drive, but it was mostly foggy that morning.

The park was created in 1934 and includes a little over 500,000 acres. Elevations extend from 870 feet to 6,643 feet. We visited the southeastern section of the park including the Oconuluftee (meaning: by the river)Visitor Center, the Mountain Farm Museum, and the Mingus Mill. It was very interesting to learn about the area and the people who lived there. We also took a three mile walk along the Oconaluftee River to the city of Cherokee which is in the middle of the Cherokee Indian Reservation. This is the visitor center.

The Mountain Farm Museum replicates a 19th century farm including a farmhouse, barn, corn crib, apple house, springhouse, sorghum molasses mill, working blacksmith shop, and garden. A group of fourth grade students dressed in costume were getting hands on experiences including cooking at the farmhouse. It was interesting to watch. This is the farmhouse.

 The path to the river cut through a field behind the farm buildings. It was a peaceful walk with lots of fern and moss and some wildflowers with a few small hills. The river was very clear and moving swiftly. Just as we returned to the visitor center it started to drizzle, but it didn't amount to anything.

After the walk we drove about 1/2 mile to Mingus Mill, a historical grist mill that uses a water powered turbine instead of a water wheel to power all of the machinery in the building. Corn was ground to cornmeal and sold to visitors. The miller explained the process and we were able to walk all around inside and out and feel the rumble of the grist mill in action.

We didn't get to see all of the park in one day so we hope to go back another time. On the way home the scenes on the Blue Ridge Parkway were much better. This is a view from an elevation of 5150. There were about eight levels of mountains in the distance that didn't really show up on the picture.

Today we drove from western NC to Nashville, TN. We went through some heavy rain in the mountains of eastern TN. When we stopped at the TN visitor center to get a map and Nashville info we were greeted by a lady who gave us a moon pie and invited us to the Moon Pie Festival later this month. A photographer took our picture with the moon pie lady. Maybe we'll be part of their article in the paper! As we traveled west the skies cleared, and by the time we got to Nashville it was sunny and 77 degrees. Tomorrow we are doing a Grayline tour of the city. We haven't been here for many years and thought it would be a good way to see all the sights. They will pick us up at the campground so we don't have to drive into the city.

We are now in the central time zone. We have traveled 1090 miles on our journey. So far we have been blessed with mostly good weather. We hope that we don't encounter any harsh spring storms.