Travel to Florida

1^st Dec – South Carolina

After spending a fantastic four weeks with Louise we left Oxford, NC to drive 280 miles into South Carolina.  Louise’s dog Tazer, volunteered to accompany us and made himself comfortable in the RV as we were getting ready to leave.

We appeared to have a slow puncture in one of the RV tyres so we made a detour via a local tyre garage but fortunately it was only a leaking valve.  (A similar problem in Yuma last year but on a different tyre).

At the end of the drive we found a campsite on Lake Marion, it was a beautiful site for an RV park but the long term residence were not very tidy with their sites, it gave a bad overall appearance, but as it was right on the side of the lake it meant Paul could get in a couple of hours fishing before the sun set.  We knew we were in the southern states now as we were surrounded by trees with Spanish moss hanging from them.

2^nd Dec – Through Georgia

The following day we continued on the I-95 all the way through Georgia and into Florida.  The temperature gradually rose to a balmy 23C and we were back into T-shirts.

We camped in St Augustine and thought to drive the 3 miles into the town that evening to see the beach and the town’s Xmas lights.  Unfortunately the re-occurring battery problem with car raised its head again.  This was the 5^th time the battery was flat so we stayed in the RV for the evening; which was probably just as well as it started to rain.

3^rd Dec – Daytona Beach

We bought and fitted a new car battery and then continued on the I-95 to Port Orange.  

The temperature was rising and Paul was into his shorts again (not a pretty sight). 

Mid- afternoon we drove out to spend time on Daytona Beach ie sipping cocktails and watch the sun set on the waves etc. Ha! It was not to be.  A fog bank came in with visibility down to 50yds and a temperature drop of about 20 degrees. 

High tide meant the beach was closed to traffic.  We are destined not to enjoy the sunny Florida coast line.

4^th Dec – Palm Bay

In the morning we continued south on the I-95 towards Miami.  This time we stopped at Palm Bay to visit friends, Maggie and Grant, whom we met when we first began travelling in August 2012. When we arrived at their house we were greeted by another German Shepherd, this one was named Krieger.

At this point we had travelled over 600 miles on the I-95.

5^th Dec – Indian River & Sebastian Inlet

We got up early (ie 7am) to watch the Orion space shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral.  Maggie & Grants back garden makes a perfect place to watch space shuttle take-offs – except on this occasion there was too much low cloud to see anything.  So we watched it on TV.

Later in the day Maggie drove us onto the barrier island and we followed the Indian River south to  Sebastian Inlet. From the shore we watched people fishing, pelicans and dolphins and surfers riding the waves.  It had turned into a lovely sunny day and just how you expect “the Sunshine State” to be.

6^th Dec – Cape Canaveral

Maggie drove north up along the Indian River up to Cape Canaveral.  We stopped to walk on Cocoa Beach where there was a couple having some wedding photos taken.  However Paul chose to photograph the cheeky Racoon that was hanging around the café.  When we stopped for a meal near the docks we spotted a Corvette Car Rally group parking up and had a close up look at some of the vehicles.

7^th Dec – Fort Christmas

Grant drove us up to Fort Christmas in the morning where there was a big Christmas Market in the grounds of the historic Fort.  The Fort was founded on 25 Dec 1837 and was one of 200 forts built during the Seminole Indian War.  These forts were positioned to be a day’s march from each other.  The reconstructed Fort and old buildings were interesting to walk around.

 

 

We also learnt that Florida is the oldest cattle-raising state and were a chief supplier of cattle during the Civil War.  Florida Ranchers currently raise the third largest number of cattle east of the Mississippi.  The cowboys used herd dogs and also developed their own breed of horse called a’ Florida Cracker Horse’.

8^th Dec – Travel to Clearwater

We said our farewells to Maggie & Grant and set off west towards Clearwater near Tampa Bay. 

It poured with rain all day!

We arrived at the campsite where our friends Charlie and Doreen, from Michigan, were staying.  This campground is to be our home for the next month or so.

9^th – 21^st Dec – Clearwater, FL

We spent the next 2 weeks getting to know the area as well as meeting people at the campground and getting involved with activities. One regular visitor to our home is “Oreo” a black and white cat. We have been Ten Pin Bowling with about 12 other residence.

Many of the residents are French Canadian escaping the cold northern weather.

On the days that we do not go out we sit by the pool or in the hot tub.(its a hard life being retired)

One day Charlie took us out to see his Aircraft business near Lakeland where they repair aircraft etc.

We also had a day out to Tarpon Springs.  This town grew up around the Sea Sponge industry and was populated by Greeks so there were many Greek Restaurants around the docks.  Sponges are still harvested from this area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Campground activities included a Cookie Bake, 10 pin bowling, line dancing, karaoke, and playing cards in the evening.  We have learnt 2 new card games – Euchre and Auction 45 and everyone was very friendly and patient at teaching us the new games.

Alison was invited to join the Red Hat ladies for lunch.  Everyone dressed up in purple with red hats and accessories.

 

 

In the morning we will head down to Tampa ready to board our cruise liner. A five day cruise to the Bahamas would be a very different Christmas for us.
We wish all our readers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. 

Oxford NC

19^th – 30th Nov – Oxford, NC, Part 2

The weather got colder and colder and we were glad to be staying in the house as we watched parts of northern USA (Buffalo, near the Canadian border) receive 70 inches of snow!  The temperature inside the RV got below freezing a couple of times and we checked it each day to ensure everything was alright.  We were nice and cosy in the house.

Clarence took Paul fishing several times and they caught some nice sized Blue Gill and Catfish which provided a tasty dinner on a couple of nights.

Alison was kept occupied taking Tazer, the big German Shepard dog, for walks.

We had some maintenance work done on the RV.  Paul did some tasks around the garden such as leave blowing and building a fire pit around an old tree stump which burned and smouldered for a week.

Eventually the visa extension we applied for

back in July, came through – literally on the last day that our current visa ran out!  That allows us to stay until the end of April 2015.  
30^th November is the official end of the hurricane season so we prepared for our trip down to Florida for the winter. 

We say our goodbyes to Louise and Clarence in the morning and get on the road again.

North Carolina

30^th Oct – Oxford, NC

We set off for the 240 mile drive east to Oxford NC just north of Durham, to stay with eldest daughter Louise for the next few weeks.  We drove the RV up the drive with just enough room to turn it around.  We then spent the next half hour trying to get it out of the mud as the gravel didn’t support the RVs full 12 tons.

The path.

For the first week or so we had some lovely warm sunny weather and Paul and Clarence were out doing odd jobs in the garden including laying paving bricks for a new garden path to the front door.

1^st Nov – Halloween Party

Scary

 

 

We were invited to a Halloween Party.  We had no costumes to wear so we improvised with some face paint……..

14^th Nov – THE Party

Tears of Joy

A proud Dad

It was Louise’s big Four Zero on the 13^th so we went out for a meal to celebrate.  However a surprise party had been in the planning for a couple of months for the following evening.  So on the pre-text of a girl’s night out, her friend Trudi took Louise and Alison to the local bar and restaurant, ‘Georges’, to meet a few friends for the evening. 

Unbeknown to Louise, Paul and Clarence had spent the afternoon at the airport collecting Fiona, a childhood friend she’d not seen for 9 years, and Rachel, Louise’s sister who had flown in from UK that day. 

Rachel, Louise, Fiona

An emotional reaction from Louise as the two of them walked into the bar totally unexpected. The party continued with many other friends in attendance until one in the morning with dancing and karaoke.

15^th Nov – The day after the Party

Empty Beer Tube in centre

Redneck bar

With the house prepared for the extra visitors for the night we spent the night in the RV.  Unfortunately a cold front had come in for the weekend and it was not the most cosy of nights for us. The day was spent inside the house chatting and catching up with news.  In the evening we went 10-pin bowling were they served beer in a "Tube".  On the way home we stopped at a Redneck Bar called ‘Munching Marvin’s’ (something along the lines of a local village pub in UK).  The entertainment not only included the singer with his guitar but also one of the locals chatting up Fiona(!).

16^th – 18^th Nov - Farewells

Fiona flew back to Colorado on 16^th and Rachel stayed for another two days before returning to UK on 18^th.  This was the first visit to North Carolina for Rachel and it was great to spend time with both the girls together.

 

Red Neck Country

15^th – 18th October – Davy Crockett Birthplace SP

We travelled north, up the I-75, passed Knoxville and then the I-81 to Baileyton, eastern Tennessee. We spent a few days here and visited the Birthplace of Davy Crockett which is now a State Park. 

The old cabin was there by the river and a small museum explained some facts about this legendary figure. He gained a reputation as a hunter and one year he was credited with killing over 100 bears.  He married twice and had 8 children. His grand-parents were killed by Indians and although he did not care much for them he did support their cause about the way they were treated by the Government when he was a Congressman. He died in 1836, at the age of 50 at The Alamo in Texas.

19^th – 21^st October – Panther Creek SP

We then moved to Panther Creek campground on the shores of Cherokee Lake for a few days. This park had some lovely hiking trails and we went out in the kayak on the Tuesday.

Pigeon Forge, TN

22^nd – 25^th October – Shopping/Lodging/Dining

We travelled down to Pigeon Forge to meet up with our friends from Michigan, Charlie and Doreen.

This area is on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains and is one continuous sprawl of theme parks, amusements, shops, motels etc.Trolley buses travel up and down the main drag. At every stop an automated message tells you what is there – however it is always the same “shoping, dining, lodging”. At this time of year the area is very popular as people come to see the Smoky Mountains in the Fall Colours. However this year is a late Fall so the full splendour is not yet fully on show.

23^rd – Oktoberfest – Gatlinburg

The four of us took the trolley to the next town of Gatlinburg for the Oktoberfest up on Ober Mountain accessible via the Tramway. We enjoyed a meal with German-style musical entertainment. Audience participation was encouraged and Alison having been sampling the Moonshine Liquor earlier was invited out on the dance floor by one of the band members.

24^th – 25^th – Pigeon Forge            

The trolley buses are a great way to get around the towns and save the hassle of parking. They also enabled a guilt free sampling of the local moonshine which we all enjoyed (big improvement from Kentucky Bourbon!). 


There were about 12 different flavours to try and even at our mature age we had to provide ID each time. 

We took in a couple of shows in the evenings.  The Ole Smoky   Opry Variety Show was very enjoyable.The Hatfield and McCoy Show, was a comedy song and dance show, and included dinner.  Alison was ‘volunteered’ to go up on stage – this time Paul was dragged along too.
 (It’s that moonshine that does it).

North Carolina

26^th – 29^th Oct – Chimney Rock, NC

The four of us set off in our respective RVs to travel the I-40 over the Appalachian Mountains into North Carolina, heading for a campground near Chimney Rock, south east of Asheville.

On the Monday we visited Chimney Rock state park and travelled up the 26-storey elevator inside the mountain.  At a height of 2,280 feet we had a beautiful view down the Hickory Nut Gorge and over Lake Lure.  Lake Lure is where the 1987 film Dirty Dancing was made starring Patrick Swayze.  Some scenes in the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans, with Daniel Day-Lewis, were filmed at Chimney Rock too.

The village had some interesting shops and we had lunch by the river on this lovely sunny day.

On the Tuesday Charlie and Doreen set off for warmer climes; south towards Florida.  We spent the next two days chilling out and taking the kayak out on Lake Lure. 

30^th Oct – Oxford, NC

We then set off for the 240 mile drive east to Oxford, just north of Durham to stay with Louise for the next few weeks.

Chattanooga, TN

5^th – 11^th Oct – Tim’s Ford Lake

Cotton

We travelled further east, passing fields of cotton. Arriving at Tim’s Ford Lake State Park, nr Winchester, staying at Fairview Devil’s Step campground.

Alison & JD were the same height

This place just happened to be a half hour from Jack Daniels Distillery so on Tuesday (7^th) we did the ‘Sampling Tour’.
The Tour started at the burners, where they burn maple tree wood into small pieces of charcoal through which the famous ‘brew’ is filtered to give it its unique taste.  The barrels the whiskey is matured in have charred interiors too which further ads to the distinct flavour.  Further into the tour we entered the filter room containing the huge vats of dripping whiskey and charcoal and the aroma was quite intoxicating.  All Jack Daniels whiskey is made here using the iron-free water from a local spring that filters through the limestone hills.  Jack Daniels died before the Prohibition years when he kicked his large metal safe, broke his toe, and got gangrene.  Unlike the distillery we visited in Kentucky, Jack Daniels distillery was closed during the Prohibition Years of 1920-33.  However unlike the Kentucky Bourbon, at least these samples of Whiskey were palatable!

Tim’s Ford Lake

All week the weather alternated between hot/humid or thunder/lightning.  We took the kayak out on the lake on 3 of the days.  On the Friday (10^th) we got caught in one of the thunderstorms.  We had just found a nice little spot on the shoreline for lunch when the thunder started.  So we took cover under the trees.  It rained incessantly for 1½ hours.  Even sitting under the kayak we got drenched.

Heritage Day

Saturday was Heritage Day at the State Park.  There was Clog dancing, blue grass music, craftsmen and a small re-enactment which involved a very loud cannon.  Alison had a go at throwing a spear using an Atlatl.  This was a carrier for the spear giving more leverage to the throw and was used by the Cherokee and Chickasaw prior to European settlement.  In the evening we were going to sit by the campfire with our neighbours Vikki and Ernest, but the rain meant we all had to sit under the RV awning and watch the fire from a short distance.

12^th – 14^th Oct – Chattanooga

Our next campsite was not far, just over an hour’s drive down the I-24, and was sited on the Tennessee River, which is 652 miles long and eventually travels through Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky to join the Mississippi river (via the Ohio River).

 

 The weather was cloudy and stormy on the Monday when we drove to the city of Chattanooga on the Tennessee/Georgia border.  Our first visit was Ruby Falls on Lookout Mountain.  It was Columbus Day in USA (ie a holiday) and the rest of the world was also visiting the Falls! 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruby Falls

The tour guides coped well with the crowds but we had to do a lot of standing around on the underground tour, as we waited for previous tours to come back along the one-way path through the caves.  We were treated to a music and light show when we finally reached the 145ft high Ruby Falls waterfall which is 1120ft below the surface of the mountain.

 

 

Chattanooga below

By the time we came back out onto the surface the cloud had lifted and we could see the city and the twisty bends of the Tennessee River below. We then continued up the mountain to Point Park which commemorated the Civil War ‘Battle for Chattanooga’ of November 1863.  Over a two day period Confederate Soldiers held the top of the mountain against Union Troops but eventually had to retreat back down the mountain into Georgia.  Chattanooga was a key railroad point from the north, carrying supplies down to this southern region which Sherman used as a base for his march to Atlanta.

Chattanooga Choo-Choo

We drove back down the mountain to see the ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo’ (of course).  A hotel has been created at the railway station using train carriages for rooms. 




The “Choo-Choo” got the nickname when the first passenger train set off from Cincinnati to Chattanooga in March 1880.  Both Glen Miller and the Andrew Sisters contributed to making the tune famous in the 1940s.

Tennessee

2^nd Oct – Memphis, TN

We head south west towards Memphis in Tennessee but end up in Arkansas as the campsite we choose is in West Memphis just across the Mississippi River.  Three states meet here; Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.  When we arrived it was sunny, hot and humid.  Within an hour of arriving the clouds had built up and we had a thunderstorm with a Tornado Watch warning with more thunderstorms through the night.

3^rd Oct – Graceland's

Back of Elvis's house

The storms had cleared the air and it was a lovely fresh morning as we drove back over the Mississippi to visit Graceland’s, the place Elvis Presley called home for 20 years.  The house and gardens are on one side of the road; everything else such as parking, ticket sales, car museum, aircraft, shops etc on the other side.

 

We had to queue 30 minutes for the minibus to take us across the road and up the 100yds drive way to the house.  Every visitor is issued with an iPad and headphones to aid their tour. 

The iPad had 360 degree views of each room and everyone listened intently to their own audio so there was almost complete silence as we walked around.  We joined a continuous line of people through the downstairs and basement rooms which are open to the public. 

 

Outside in the gardens it was less crowded.  Then another queue for the mini bus back across the road.  If they had built an underpass to cross the road and let us walk we could have saved ourselves nearly an hour.

 

 

Elvis’s first record (That’s Alright Mama) was released 60 years ago in 1954 and it is amazing that nearly 40 years after his death so many people are still visiting this place (us included). 

Isaac Hayes Gold plated Caddy

After lunch we headed to ‘Soulsville’ the Stax Soul Music Museum, which sits on the site of the former Stax recording studios and learnt what an important part this company played in developing some of the Soul singers of the 60s such as Otis Reading, Wilson Picket and Isaac Hayes.

 

 

The Beatles considered recording here during their visit to USA in 1964 but fans got hold of the news which made it impractical.  In a city with racial segregation at the time the company prided themselves in being inter-racial in their operations.  During the night of the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis in April 1968, the recording studios escaped unscathed despite heavy looting in the vicinity. 

 

Despite the success of the 60s the owner lost everything, including his home, when the company folded in the mid-70s.

We then headed to Beale Street for a visit to the Rock n Soul Music Museum which is associated with the Smithsonian Institute.  This covered the history of the development of music in Memphis with particular emphasis on the 50s, 60s & 70s and Rock & Roll as well as Soul Music.  With such ‘big names’ recording in the city in those years the place must have been “really rockin’”. 

We spent a couple of hours along the busy bar-lined street were live music was being performed in several places.

4^th Oct – Shiloh National Battlefield

The drive from Memphis to the campsite near Savannah didn’t take long so that left time to visit the Shiloh National Battlefield in the afternoon. 

The 50 minute orientation film explained this early battle of the American Civil War. During the two day battle on 6/7 April 1862, 3200 soldiers died and more died from their wounds later. Over 23,000 in all either died, were wounded or classed as missing. During the first day the Confederates captured 2100 Union soldiers and managed to push General Ulysses Grant back to the landing point on the Tennessee River where he had arrived with troops.  More Union troops arrived overnight and they were able to push the Confederates back by the end of the following day.  It then placed the Union in a position of strength to later capture the town of Corinth, in Mississippi, which was the crossroads for the train lines from north/south and east/west.

We drove around the battlefield area which had numerous commemorative plaques and statues to the fallen.

Notable survivors of Shiloh included, J W Powell, who went on to become a renowned explorer of the Wild West, rafting down the Grand Canyon; L Wallace who later wrote the novel Ben Hur; and H Stanley who afterwards travelled to Africa and found Livingstone.

 

 

 

 Tomorrow we move on to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery.