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

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!

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.

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)

Day 33 - 35 Small Town America

The last few days have been filled with living life in small town America and living life on a small farm.  We've eaten out at places like the Hot Rod Cafe (a small 1950's diner), watching fireworks after eating and listening to an Elvis  impersonator sing 'Love Me Tender' and other Elvis songs. My cell phone was dead so I was unable to take pictures :(

One day this past week Sondra and I went to beautiful downtown Monroe (the town they live in).  It was an ecletric little downtown area, a couple blocks on one street.  Mixed in with small boutique type stores was the Monroe Police Department, the city newspaper and other businesses.  We ate lunch at The Cotton Cafe...they had delish salads (as well as other items). We found this cute little place, styled more like a coffee shop with assorted places to relax and enjoy your meal while chit-chatting with friends at tables or relaxing on a sofa while studying or using your wi-fi.  Sondra had a Greek Salad, while I had this delicious Spinach Salad

At The Cotton Cafe in Monroe GA (Spinach Salad)

Another day we went to the Mall of Georgia - according to one article I read on the internet this mall is second only to the Mall of America in Minneapolis MN for profitability.  It was sad to see one of my favorite stores, Coldwater Creek, going out of business...I was told by the salesperson the entire company is folding up.  After doing some serious shopping we went by our friends son's home and saw him for the first time in 25 years (when he was about 9) and met his wife and children.  After this we stopped at Sam's Club and then met friends of our friends for our night out explained in the first paragraph.

Sunday we went to church (YEA, 2 Sundays in a row). It was a small church of about 25 very friendly people but then you have to remember there is a small church on every corner in the south!.  The sermon was great and the music was awesome (a mix of old and new). We spent a quiet afternoon at home, took naps, listened to the thunder and rain outside and enjoyed pizza for dinner.

Day 31 - 32 Monroe, GA

We arrived at our friends in Georgia just before noon on Wednesday.   It is so good to see them after almost 25 years.  They have a beautiful home on 18 acres, with horses and a dozen chickens.  We awoke this morning also to a mama deer and her baby roaming the yard.

Life is very relaxed here, we spent the last couple of days just kicking back and chitchatting.  Their daughter and her boyfriend came over for dinner last night....Sondra made this for us for dessert - YUMMY. 

Strawberry-Blueberry Tart

Today we drove around and saw some sights.....we visited a peanut store which had all kinds of local nuts in many shapes and forms.  We also stopped in a couple local hardware stores which held many fun decorative items as well as the usual hardware.....fun stores to peruse.  We then stopped for dinner at 'Hot Rod Diner', a 50s style diner....it was in the town of Social Circle....we also passed through the town of  Between.....fun places, very small towns!!

Day 29 - 30 Family and Friends

We ended up going into Anderson yesterday where we had lunch/dinner at a local to the South restaurant - Fatz Cafe.  We enjoyed dining somewhere different and getting a taste of southern cooking.  Hubs had fish/chips and I had Shrimp Gumbo and a baked potato loaded. Food was awesome and the service even better.  We give them a 5+ star rating.  After lunch hubs went to the movies and I ran some errands (can't get away from those pesky errands even on vacation).

Tuesday we made another trip back to Anderson for gas and ice for the ice chest + to get some subs for lunch. Then we just came back to the KOA for some R&R before we hit the road again tomorrow. We've had a restful and peaceful stay here and except getting eaten up my mosquitos and the humidity it was a great time.

Some pictures of friends we've stayed with over the past month....most of our friends live out of state.  Most are California transplants to another part of this great country...some are people hubs worked with, some are friends from church, some family.

Friends in Colorado

Family in Minnessota (this day we were at Mount Rushmore)

Niece in Pittsburgh

Friends in Mechanicsburg PA
(sorryr Kathy I can't find the pic with you in it)

More of the friend in Mechanicsburg 

Friends in Virginia

Family in Wisconsin