A Few Days on the Carolina Coast

Anyone know what these fields of yellow blossoms are?

The Clam Chowder Festival at Carolina Beach was really fun - music, beautiful weather and delicious clam chowder to sample.  Just a nice relaxing afternoon.  We drove from there through Georgetown and on toward Charleston.  We drove through 

Isle of Palms because we had not been there - just another pretty beach town.  I keep looking for those small beach towns from the past.  Tell me if you know of some.

When we are in the area we always go to Calabash - a little shopping and dinner in one of the many seafood restaurants.  

Charleston was beautiful with all the spring flowers and trees.  We found a parking space for Elsewhere on the street!  and enjoyed walking for a couple of hours.  There were three outdoor weddings taking place - two in Battery Park. 

Charleston Tea Plantation

Patriots Point is always a great place if you're patriotic or interested in military history.  

The drive to Wadmalaw Island was nice - like a step back in time.  The Charleston Tea Plantation is really interesting - we took the trolley tour.  It is the only place in the country where tea is commercially grown.  Met some nice people from England who insisted I should try milk in my tea - I did - don't think I like it.

Charleston Tea Plantation

I really wanted to go to Firefly Distillery - they make Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka - Southerners really like their sweet tea.  We were in the area on Monday and they were closed.  My two Seestahs and I were there a couple of years ago - a fun place to visit even if you don't buy their Vodka.

Life is good.

These were in our yard when we got home.

  

Shades of the Past Rod Run - Pigeon Forge

Thursday morning, September 4 - on the way to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to the Shades of the Past Rod Run.  Driving Elsewhere (motorhome) but not taking a car this time.  We love Pigeon Forge - been there many, many times.  We found a great RV Campground - Foothills RV Park - very nice, extremely clean.  Yep, that is Elsewhere sitting up on the hilltop.

We rode the Trolley - enjoying all the cars lining the street and in the parking lots and the people sitting in lawn chairs watching the cars go by.  Amazing to see that many cars and people.

Friday - spent the day at the Car Show - really good show and lots of vendors.  Hot - but I did manage to find a shade tree.  Had I been the judge this Black 1953 Buick Skylark Convertible would have been the winner.  So beautifully restored and not like all the others - guess I just like something different.  Who is the dude with the cowboy hat??

I really, really like this 56 Ford - wouldn't it be fun to just drive this one everywhere?

My brother #3 arrived Friday night about 8:30 - he had a few choice words about the traffic!  He and Ken spent all day Saturday at the Car Show - I spent most of the day riding the Trolleys around town looking at the cars and people.  Pigeon Forge has grown so much in the past few years.

We went to Shoney's for dinner - really good ribs.  And best of all Brother #3 bought a whole Shoney's strawberry pie to go.  We had a late night dessert before he decided to drive home about 9:30 PM!  He didn't take the pie but I had to promise to bring it home on Sunday.

Drove through Gatlinburg and on through the mountains and home.  A very, very good trip indeed.

Good to go - good to get home.  Where to next? 

Three Quilts Came Home with Us...

Elsewhere (the Motorhome) didn't get much rest!  We just got home from a few days in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia.  One of the most beautiful areas of our country - and the Mennonite people are so very nice.  But...we may have to put a stop to going to their annual sale since we can't resist buying beautiful quilts!!!  Only three came home with us - we justify this extravagance by knowing that all the quilts, furniture and other items are made and donated by the Mennonite people and all proceeds go to charities.

Making Ice Cream by riding a bicycle

If you ever get a chance - you should go to one of these events - delicious food, all kinds of beautiful handmade things...and some great music.  Apple Butter, Pies, Cakes, Ice Cream. They churn the ice cream by riding a bicycle hooked up to the ice cream maker!

There are numerous sales all over the US and some in Canada.

We spent some time in Harrisonburg - beautiful town - home of James Madison University, Eastern Mennonite University --- and the Virginia Quilt Museum.  Yep we did go to the Quilt Museum - how in the world did they make those wonderful quilts back then without all our nice tools?  Guess it took a long time.

Ken went to the tractor pull Saturday night since it was conveniently located at the same location as the Auction Sale - and we were enjoying one of their campsites - even had wi-fi.

Apple Fest at some small town on the way home - bought several varieties - some I have not seen before.  I only took a short nap - accidentally fell asleep while reading on the sofa - what a way to travel!

Street Rod Nationals Plus. August 1 - 4, 2013

Wednesday, July 31 - We had Elsewhere loaded and ready to ride at 6:15 AM!  Headed to the 44th Annual Street Rod Nationals Plus. August 1 - 4, 2013, at Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky with Leslie and Frank - who are so much more than just good friends!  They are taking their amazing '57 Chevy to the show.  I haven't seen it yet - it was in the trailer and ready to go when we met them to go to Kentucky.  They pulled the trailer with a pick up truck.

All went well until we got about half way - uh oh!  truck problems - thought it might be the transmission.  The two guys scratched their heads - discussed their options - pull it with Elsewhere?  leave the truck?  Whatever it takes we are going to this car show!  Guess the truck decided it was best to go ahead and pull the trailer.  For some reason it made it the rest of the way just fine.

Got there in time for Leslie and Frank to get the car registered and parked in the secure area at Papa John Stadium.  We had reserved a space in one of the parking lots at the Expo Center.   It was set up for motorhomes.  Really nice to park there so we didn't have to drive to the car show. Leslie and Frank had already made reservation at a hotel about 3 miles away - they headed out with the dear gps - hope they found it.  

Dinner time - Texas Roadhouse!  Only problem was when I put it in the GPS I didn't notice that it was the Texas Roadhouse at the airport!  Oh well - ya just gotta start over and try again.  Found it - the ribs were excellent.

Long day!  We're excited about the show tomorrow.  There are street rods and old cars of all kinds all over this city.  Which one do I want?

A Real Mud Sale! Too Many Quilts

We finally made it to an Amish Mud Sale!  We started a couple of times, got sidetracked and went elsewhere in Elsewhere (our motorhome)!   We left Thursday morning - stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast - always good.

A beautiful drive until we got to somewhere on Interstate 81 in West Virginia - sat in traffic for two hours - hardly moving at all. Finally decided to stop in Martinsburg for the night and leave early Friday for Pennsylvania.  We spent the night at Cracker Barrel - nice quiet area.  Watched a movie - nice evening.  We did run the generator all night since it was hot and humid.  Very comfortable evening.

We were on the road at 5:15 AM - determined to make it to the sale this time.  We got to Bird in Hand (yes that is the name of the town) just as the sale was starting.  I have never seen so much mud in my life - it must have rained all day Thursday.  They were putting sawdust down by the truck loads.  A real Mud Sale!  There were several tents with auctions going on - selling horses, carts, buggies, tools, furniture, antiques, flowers, saddles and Quilts!  Lots of quilts - all kinds of quilts.  Big ones, Little ones, new ones, old ones. So much fun looking at all the quilts and talking to all the nice people.  

I think we may have to have some kind of intervention or something - we absolutely can NOT continue to go to these sales!  We don't seem to be able to resist the beautiful quilts.  I know - it is weird since I make quilts - why should we want more?  I think it's because I know how much time and hard work goes into a beautiful quilt.  And Ken bids more often than I do - he really should be helping me resist!  I really hate to put into writing how many quilts we bought - but maybe that will be the first step to our recovery!  We bought 5 quilts - large quilts - beautiful hand quilted quilts.  I don't have pictures yet - check back later.  

One of the quilts is a beautiful whole cloth quilt.  It really should have sold for three times what we paid for it.  After we bought it, an Amish lady sitting right in front of us turned to me and said, "That was my quilt".  She was so nice and so pleased that we loved her quilt so much.  She gave me her name and permission to put her name on the quilt label.  I told her that I realized how much work was in her quilt and how beautiful it is.  A very special quilt.  But where oh where will I put all the quilts?

We made a (probably very wise) decision not to go to the Mud Sale on Saturday.  It was in a town a few miles away - Refton.  We drove by on Friday afternoon and decided to keep driving so we wouldn't be tempted to bring home more quilts.  

We decided to drive through Lancaster - usually a nice town to visit.  Not this time.  They were having a street festival so the downtown streets were closed.  Took quite a while to get through town.  There are lots of "Rotaries" (we call them traffic circles). Thing is up there they use the Rotary very differently than we do.  It seems to be a free for all - jump in and hope for the best while they all keep going.  Not sure they understand what yield means.  I guess it helped that Elsewhere is a lot bigger than most of them!

We were exhausted by the time we survived the closed streets and Rotaries so we found the closest Walmart for the night.  We always ask permission - and they're always so nice.  Sometimes they cannot allow overnight stays because of city ordinance or not owning the lot.  When that happens they go out of their way to tell us where we can stay nearby.  

Saturday morning we drove to Gettysburg - took the two hour bus tour.  Very interesting.   The North Carolina Memorial on the battlefield is one of the most beautiful. It was created by Gutzon Borglum - who also created Mount Rushmore.  The views are spectacular.  This photo is the Eisenhower Farm - President and Mrs. Eisenhower donated their farm to the National Park Service.  This year is the 150th anniversary of The Battle of Gettysburg - lots of special events.  

We stopped by The Round Barn - only 8 miles west of Gettysburg.  Unusual and rare - huge round barn built around a silo.  They sell fruits and vegetables and all kinds of crafts and unusual foods.  We walked up to the second floor and took this photo.  Bet it was fun to watch this barn being built. Check it out at roundbarngettysburg.com.

Good to go - good to get home!  Elsewhere took good care of us.  Oh - I almost forgot!  I drove Elsewhere.  Decided it was about time.  I kept it between the lines!  Fun.

Elsewhere...Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama

Which is better?  Going?  Or coming home?

We just got home from a trip in our motorhome, "Elsewhere".  Hard to explain to people who don't travel in an RV - it's a different lifestyle - we meet the nicest, most interesting people.  

Great trip - just a few little blips - like wanting to tear the new GPS into a thousand pieces.  Electronics are just wonderful.  We reached the absolute limit with the one we bought recently - returned it and bought a different brand.  This one seems to think it's fun to send us on the backroads - seriously.  For a few miles we were on narrow two lane - some one lane roads - I'm sure were were going in circles.  Time to get out the Atlas and shut her up.  We gave her one more chance and she seemed to realize that it was do or die - she behaved for the rest of the trip.  She is still on probation - any more backroads and she's outta here!  You don't want to know what we named her.

Lookout Mountain Incline Railway!!!  It really is as steep as it looks - fun ride - spectacular view from the top.   “America’s Most Amazing Mile,” -  trolley-style cars climb  almost straight up Lookout Mountain at a 72.7% grade!   Interesting history - hard to believe we had never been there before.

We spent the night in Chattanooga - very nice Walmart parking lot.  RVers don't stay at Walmart to save money - it is just so convenient - there are Walmarts everywhere so we don't spend time searching for a campground. There are usually several RV's spending the night.  Since we're self contained we don't need anything except a safe place to park.  Of course it is usually expensive because we think of things we want from Walmart!  We call ahead and ask permission - and they are always extremely nice.  We just started doing this recently after hearing so many others talk about it.   Makes good business sense for Walmart - brings in RV business and keeps customers happy. 

Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama - fun place - it is amazing what people leave on planes and buses.  Does anybody get to their destination with their stuff?  Huge stock of jewelry of all kinds - all kinds of electronics - computers, iPads, cameras, games.  Thousands of books, clothes of all kinds - some household items.  Even some saddles.  Good prices if you find what you want.  I bought some books - great selection of all kinds of books.  

Can you tell? - I like to go to weird places.  Someday I want to go to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where the US Air Force sends their outdated and decommissioned planes to rest.  "The Boneyard," as the location is known, covers 2,600 acres and houses over 4,200 military aircraft valued at roughly $35 billion dollars.  I just know that would be a fun place to visit.

The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama is great.  Loved seeing all that space stuff.  We saw two IMAX movies - excellent. Popcorn was good too.  I didn't realize until our visit that adults can go to SpaceCamp - maybe I can go?  Maybe not?  

We spent the night in the U.S. Space and Rocket Campground - beautiful - quiet and peaceful.  Nice evening.

We had not heard of Ave Maria Grotto in Culman, Alabama - truly amazing and inspiring.  Benedictine Monk - Brother Joseph Zoettl began building the miniatures as a hobby in the 1890's.  He built them of colored glass, marbles, cold cream jars, punctured commode floats, wrecked marble, broken bathroom tile, costume jewelry that people sent from all every state in the union and from many foreign countries. Brother Joseph continued his work for over 40 years - Hh built his last model, the Basilica in Lourdes, at the age of 80, in 1958.  Hope you can see it someday.

Spent the night somewhere in Alabama - really not sure where we were - guess that new GPS could have told us (maybe).  Watched a DVD and enjoyed a quiet evening after spending some money at another Walmart somewhere in Alabama.

We and a GPS on her best behavior chose a different route coming home today.  We went to the huge Anderson, SC Flea market - didn't stay long - was not impressed at all.  Only thing we bought was a red lace oak tree (think that's what she called it).  Just because it's pretty.

Good trip.

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Elsewhere is Here

Can it really be March 20, 2013?  Guess I'm probably not the only one who feels like I'm in a time machine going way too fast!  

Since I can't travel ALL the time this blog needs to reinvent itself to include my life when I'm not in the motor home or car or plane or boat - but just living life at home.  As much as I do love traveling - I love home and family even more.  

Our new motor home needs a name - we never named any of the previous ones - but somehow this one seems to want a name.  Elsewhere!  Perfect.  When we're in the motorhome we are not at home - we are Elsewhere!!!  But he is surely not a Saint!  and definitely is a He.  Elsewhere is very young - just got him a couple of weeks ago.  We had looked at motor homes for six weeks - found exactly the floorplan we wanted - then could NOT find one anywhere.  Worn out from looking we decided to just keep the one we had - after all we really liked it...

March 8 -Loaded up and left for a trip to a Pennsylvania Mud Sale (more about that later).  I was in the back taking a nap (not all that unusual) when the Man yelled "Wake Up"!  Seems there was a Camping World in Roanoke, Virginia right alongside the Interstate.  Should we stop?  Why not?  Well...we pulled into the parking lot - right behind a motorhome that had just been delivered - not even washed and put on the lot.  What kind of motorhome?  The exact one we had been looking for!  Really?  We looked at several others just 'cause that's the way we are - have to make sure.  But it was meant to be, don't you think?  

The people at Camping World of Roanoke were great - gave us a good deal trading in our Class C for the Class A.  Cleaned up Elsewhere - hooked us up in their service area - parked our Class C next door with the doors facing so we could "move in"!  Didn't take long.  So we spent our first night with Elsewhere at Camping World of Roanoke.

We spent some time getting to know Elsewhere before heading north to Pennsylvania - didn't make it in time for the mud sale - we'll put that on the list for the future.

Boondocked at a Walmart somewhere in Pennsylvania.  There were five other RV's there - our own little community.  Did some shopping in Walmart - ate supper at Sam's - walked back to Elsewhere and started the generator - watched a blu ray movie.  Perfect Day.

Sunday in Lancaster and Intercourse, Pennsylvania.  Lots of Amish horses and buggies on the road - families walking - children playing.  Such a peaceful life they seem to live.  We spent the day walking around the town of Intercourse - smaller and more enjoyable than the city of Lancaster.

The Man found the quilt of his dreams - at Miller's Quilts in Intercourse.  He has wanted a Mariner's Compass quilt since he first saw one a couple of years ago.  I had plans to make it for him - but not until the really big Double Wedding Ring for Son 2 and wife is finished (yes, it will be finished one day)!  This quilt is amazing - pieced and hand quilted by an Amish lady.  He is a happy man.  

Drove to Hershey, Pa - really nice, leisurely day.  Spent the night in Hershey Campground - quiet, wooded.  

Headed south Monday morning with a few stops on the way.  We went back by Camping World of Roanoke - to ask a few more questions about Elsewhere.

Got home and realized that Elsewhere barely fits in our tallest building - the Man will have to make some modifications or building additions to accommodate our newest addition.