Monday, July 14, 2014

July 14 - More Pictures - Kentucky, Missouri

Churhill Downs
From front: Doris and Otis (Sister/Brother)
Sherry Otis' daughter
Howard and Ken (Doris' husband)
(Doris and Otis are aunt/uncle of Howard)

University of Louisville
(Lyons Ave where Archie Warren grew up
 was located on now UL property)
Archie was Howard's grandfather
Sunset over St. Louis Missouri

Sunday, July 13, 2014

July 13 - Pictures from Tennesse - Kentucky


7-8-2014 Tennessee Border














7-8-1204 Tennessee River
7-8-2014 Entering Nashville TN














7-8-2014 Country Music Hall of Fame

7-9-2014 Kentucky Border
7-10.2014 University of Louisville

Saturday, July 12, 2014

July 10 - 11 Long Lost Relatives and Ancestry Iinformation

Up early on Wednesday morning we met with the hubs Aunt Doris (daughter of Archie Hillary Warren and his second wife, Lillie).  Archie was married twice the first time to Emma. Emma bore him 3 children - 2 boys and 1 girl.  But sadly Emma died young (age 29) after purchasing some medicine that was no good from a medicine man.  Archie eventually remarried....and he and his 2nd wife had 2 more boys and a girl. Lilllie died at the age of 39 from a blood clot on her leg.  It's an interesting story that spans years of 1900 time.  The story continues at a later date (if anyone is interested).,

Howard, Kenneth and Doris, moi
Aunt Doris and hubby Ken were our tour guides yesterday Wednesday and Otis/his daughter Sherry joined us the next day.  We went to Cheddar's (popular eating place) for supper Wednesday night.  And then Doris and Ken took us to their son's home in another part of Louisville where we visited for hours on end.  Back to our KOA by 10pm we were exhausted.

Preparing to quickly jump into bed and get some shut eye as the next day was going to be just as busy as this one - I managed to lose her footing and take a tumble....leaving me with some aches and pains but hurting my pride more than anything else.

A little sore on Friday we hit Ken and Doris' house about 10am, Otis and his daughter joined us a little while later and we talked, exchanged notes, and had fun for several hours before going to lunch at Denny's,  Saying our good-byes to Otis and Sherry we then hoped in the car with Doris and Ken for a quick spin around the University of Kentucky campus and many sports fields....these same fields were the place's where the Warren children of the early 1900's went to school and played.  Doris and Ken have lived within 5 miles of where they grew up so many years ago (1930's).  It was a fun and interesting day.  But sadly all good days must come to an end and we left around 4pm for Branson, Missouri area....with a stop in St. Louis to get a good nights sleep.

Spending Saturday night in Springfield Missouri and then onto Branson to see what the sights and the day have to show us.

Having trouble uploading pictures....will post more of Kentucky when we get a better internet connection.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

July 9 - Nashville Tennessee - Sightseeing

We gave serious thought to taking a tour of Nashville today but after reading through the brochures and seeing where the tours would take us we figured we could do it ourselves. So we put the van in gear and drove into downtown (costs for tours ran up to almost $150 per person with an average of $50+ per person - we have better things to do with that kind of money!).  The drive into Nashville was much worse than the drive around town and a few one-way streets, a few parking lots that were all reserved parking.  Other than that I'd recommend your own 'tour' of Nashville.  We saw places like the Capitol, Country Music Hall of Fame and the Riverfront (among others).  We've been to Nashville before and been by Graceland, Grand Ole Opry and did a Riverboat ride so saw no need to redo these.
2014,07.08 Tennessee - driving into Nashville

Country Music Hall of Fame
LP Field @ the Riverwalk
Riverwalk - much work being done

Tennessee River






Tuesday, July 8, 2014

June 7 and 8 - Monroe, GA to Nashville TN

8 little baby chick almost old enough to be let loose
Cows
After a wonderful 12 days we left our great friends on the farm in Georgia for more sights never seen before by us.  Our first day back in 'the saddle' (our van) started out pretty rough and slowly went downhill. After rising early and time spent loading everything back into the van we could not find our keys...a half hour looking for them did not produce anything.  We finally decided since we could survive without them (Howard had brought an extra key just in case) to just leave and have our friends mail us the keys if they found them. Back on the road again we 'trucked right along' just fine until we hit Atlanta...even with our new GPS we seemed to get lost and ended up going south to Florida instead of north to Tennessee.  A hundred miles later we realized what we'd done and turned around.
Jo

Totally from an early morning and much going wrong we pulled into a Shoney's just north of Atlanta and had lunch.  Howard handed me the key to the car and I was to wait for him while he paid the bill.....and wait I did.  Once in the van I dropped the lone key on the floor and leaned down to pick it up and it was NO WHERE to be found.  We spent a good half hour tearing everything apart and ended up calling our insurance carrier, Allstate, to arrange for a tow truck.  The gal was not  very helpful and wanted to know what she was suppose to do.  Well, duh, maybe just tell me what we should do.  We pay extra for roadside assistance on the vehicle but was told we had a $50 deductible (which we'd never been told before) and that we would have to pay the entire bill upfront and then request a reimbursement when we get home.  Me thinks we will go back to AAA once we get home and that Allstate will no longer carry our insurance!  While waiting for the tow truck to show up (45 - 60 minute wait) we finally found the key....between the pages of a book that was on the floor!  Sheesh!!! Quick call to the tow company to cancel and on our way.

Lookout Mountain, Georgia-Tennessee border
We found a KOA in the Lookout Mountains on the Georgia/Tennessee border (near Chattanooga).  Not one of the nicest Koa's we've stayed in but it worked out after an exhausting day.  The view from our cabin was AWESOME but the temperatures there did not cool down much until almost midnight.  Hard sleeping in such warm weather with an AC unit that did not cool down much.  Sleep was good once midnight hit though :)  (P.S. while unloading the van we found the first set of keys buried under a bunch of stuff!)

7-8-2014 Driving into Tennessee
Woke up Tuesday morning feeling refreshed and thankful the one bad day of our trip was behind us.  From now on we expect everything to go smoothly....with no big glitches.  We left by 8:30am and headed northwest to Nashville.  Beautiful drive!  We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast and enjoyed some good old fashion cooking.  The music in the background was an old hymn, The Old Rugged Cross....only in the south would we be able to enjoy this while eating.

On through Nashville and just north of it we pulled into another KOA....much nicer than last nights. Good AC in our cabin and a TV also.  What happened to good old fashion tent camping?  :)  But we figure we've 'paid our dues' and it's time to enjoy the fresh air in comfort!  Internet connections at all KOA's is a BIG plus too!

I sit on the  porch in front of our cabin and enjoy hearing the children play in the pool across from us, also enjoy the beauty of Tennessee greenery.  Life could not be any better.  We'll probably stay here two nights and go into Nashville on Wednesday to check out the sights....we've been once before and did the touristy things then but we've never been to Dollywood and Howard would really like to do that.

P.S. OPPS, no Dollywood - just found out it's a 3 and a half hour drive from here in Pigeon Forge TN and is not on our way to Kentucky.  Oh well, maybe I can find somewhere to do some SERIOUS shopping!


Sunday, July 6, 2014

July 3 through 6 - Wandering through Georgia

Farm life is different - on the one hand it is quiet, peaceful and calming on the other hand it can be busy.  It's miles to the closest anything and it's even a hefty walk to the mailbox or to a neighbors.  A trip to mailbox/neighbors is only a golf cart away though, which makes things fairly easy.

Horses on our friends' farm
Crooked Tail


















The last few days have been busy - a Paparazzi show in our friends' home with a few of her friends on Thursday evening; a picnic and fireworks provided by the churches in the city of Monroe, held on the local school's football field and open to the public kept us busy for several hours Friday afternoon and evening. Literally thousands of people came out for free hot dogs, cotton candy, funnel cake, popcorn and tons of fun things to do - like water dunking (good on a warm evening), crafts for the kids and more. Loud bands and music topped everything off.....and the grand finale was the fireworks! What a great time we had!

Some of the crowds
Sunday was church and just relaxing.....tomorrow (Monday) we head out north again hitting Tennessee and Kentucky.


Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Day 36-38 - Odds and Ends

Today - July 2 it was:

  • Outback Steak House for lunch - a Blooming Onion to share and a delicious Aussie Chicken Salad in honor of my Aussie friend :) 
  • A stop at Verizon because my battery in my Android kept dying on me (easy fix, too many tabs in my internet browser open and running in the background. Some free advice on getting the pics on my Tablet to sync with my laptop.
  • A Paparazzi Show tonight for Sondra's friends.


Yesterday - July 1 it was:

  • A much needed haircut!  Was kind of leery about letting someone new cut my hair but it looks great! Made trip to the hairdressers in a golf cart! (less than a mile down a country road)
  • A trip to Lori's (friend's daughters) to pick up some items.
  • Laundry, laundry and more laundry
  • A few errands needed to be ran - including a trip to Home Depot and others
  • Fried Green Tomatoes and Squash Patties for supper

Monday - June 30 it was:

  • Errands - Sam's Club (picked up a GPS for the remainder of our trip) 
  • Visit to friend's friends.....this is an 82year old man and a 78year old woman who grow their own food and basically almost live off the land.

In the future - more exciting posts than this one and tons of pictures.(sic)