Milepost 2904: Aunt Helen’s House

We arrived at Aunt Helen’s house around 1pm on August 17 after spending the night at the Daytona KOA. It turns out we were nearly in Aunt Alice’s backyard!!! But, we wanted to at least look decent and have some laundry done before showing up.

We spent a week at Aunt Helen’s house and enjoyed visiting with Aunt Helen, Uncle Vic, Aunt Alice, and cousins Carol and Jim. We played A LOT of cards and shared many memories of days gone by.

The boys play at Carol & Jim’s: Uncle Vic, John, Jim, Adam

                                     “Nasty Nova,” One of Aunt Helen’s cats (Note the frown.)

Nova gets brushed, Lexie watches

While there, Jim helped John make a replacement for the broken mirror, the carpet dried by miracle (“It is SO hot and humid in Florida, you don’t have to iron. The wrinkles get steamed out…”), and our other little things were taken care of.

We had lots of thunder and saw a little lightening… And we saw more rain during our stay than California receives in a year! It was great. I think the only time I saw more water was when I was in the middle of the ocean..!!!

Pretty butterflies abound in Florida.

Milepost 2889: Florida, At Last!

Today was spent driving and driving… The lower end of the I-75 wasn’t so interesting, the I-10 is also rather dull, although both highways are pretty much like freeways… We had some “excitement” on the I-95  once in Florida in the form of a traffic tie-up that lasted quite some time – But we’ve made it! We’re almost at Aunt Helen’s house!

So, tonight when we got to camp, we caught up on laundry and a few other chores in preparation of our visit, since we will arrive there tomorrow.

We DO have a few repairs to do once there… We discovered a leak in the air conditioner during the most recent rainstorm; we broke a mirror backing into a camping spot (oops!); the entry carpet is muddy and saturated with water, so it needs serious cleaning…. Among other small issues.

Milepost 2587: Notorious Andersonville

After a rainy night in Georgia, we got to a late start. It was still raining pretty hard in the morning, and driving the motorhome in pounding rain isn’t fun. When we finally started out, a joint decision was made to visit Andersonville, the notorious Confederate POW camp – only a “short distance” out of the way. As we drove, we encountered more pelting rain and a road crew working on a large tree that had taken out some power lines. Traffic had come to a halt, so we ate our lunch while sitting in traffic.

We got to the POW Museum around 1pm, watched the 2 videos, browsed the exhibits, and took the audio-guided tour of the camp itself and the cemetery in our car due to the rain. It was both tragic and fascinating. We left much enlightened, and very wet around 5pm.

 

Captured soldiers built their own shelters.

The cemetery: dead soldiers buried shoulder to shoulder in pits… There are thousands of them.

We spent the night in Ashburn, GA.

Milepost 2443: Anne Gives Up!

Trying to navigate the roads in Tennessee, that is! We decided to leave the highway in search of an advertised “Elephant Sanctuary” in Hohenwald, picturesque Fayetteville, and the town of Lynchburg.

Covered Bridge over the Duck River:

           

The Elephant Sanctuary was closed on Tuesdays, of course, we photographed Fayetteville as we drove through because it was getting late, and we didn’t want to miss our Lynchburg stop: the Jack Daniel’s Distillery Tour! We made it just in time.

The tour was fascinating. We were told how whiskey is distilled and the history of the company and its founder. It turns out the distillery is located in a “dry” county! (That means no alcoholic beverages can be sold in stores, bars, or restaurants.)

   

            Jack Daniel’s: It’s all in the water!

We entered Georgia at 8:20pm and spent the night in Dalton, Georgia.

Milepost 2161: We Found Casey Jones

We crossed over into Tennessee today.

It was tough finding someplace with Internet we could use the past few days – That’s why several posts are added all at once. Written daily, posted when we can.

Our most notable stop today was the Casey Jones Museum in Tennessee. It turns out he was more than just folklore. He was an actual train engineer until his death in 1900 when he lost his life to save his whole trainload of passengers. His home was included in the museum as well as a replica of his engine. By the way, the engine survived the accident and several more later, until its retirement.

We spent the night somewhere east of the Tennessee River, off the I-40.

Milepost 1948: We’re in Palastine!

Our first and only stop of the day was at Ft Smith, Arkansas. My maps didn’t agree about which state it’s in, but, we found the old fort in Arkansas. It turns out the “South East” is filled with old forts like California has missions! We enjoyed our visit to the fort – We spent nearly 5 hours there.

 

Ft Smith Commissary            Ft Smith Courthouse & Jail Museum

Afterwards, we drove, and drove, and drove, and drove…. The countryside was lovely today, and in the late afternoon/evening we were treated to thunder showers! Tonight we are staying in Palestine, Arkansas.

Aunt Helen, Aunt Alice, and Uncle Vic are doing well and will get home tonight.