Indiana-headed home

 

Well, this trip has been halted.  Last Thursday we received a call from our daughter, Kristen.  She was checking on the house and noticed water coming out the back door.  A water connection to the refrigerator had broken and the house was flooded.  She got right on the problem, turned off the water to the house and contacted a local water damage company.  We were headed to Fredericksburg for the Labor Day weekend and waited to hear how things were going at home.  The water damage people worked thru the holiday weekend.  Carpet throughout the house is gone; furniture is out on the patio.  Our daughters have been fantastic; our neighbors have kept the grounds and animals watered.  What a mess!  We couldn’t be further away….

So now we are headed home.  First, however, we have to drop off my quilting machine in Carroll, Iowa for maintenance.  This was a scheduled stop during our trip but was supposed to happen further down the line.  Once the machine is gone then we are plotting the quickest route home!

I sure am glad I enjoy staying in our travel trailer.  We will be living in it for awhile once we get home until repairs can be made!

We are in Crawfordsville, Indiana tonight.  Thunderstorms last night and today.  Beautiful scenery…lots of old barns.  Saw one today in Kentucky with a quilt on it!  It was a heart block!  I have been working on the appliqué on Cactus Rose and one is done! Only 15 more to go 🙂  Tomorrow we will be in Rock Island, Illinois and Carroll, Iowa on Thursday.  We will be doing this trip again and I am logging the places I want to see.  Fraser was excited to see wild turkeys today in Kentucky….right on the road, 8 of them!

Beautiful KOA here is Crawfordsville….wish we could spend some more time here; would like to see the Indianapolis Raceway and maybe a Colts football game!  Next time…..

Wytheville VA – Friday

We arrived in Wytheville yesterday and today is RACE DAY!!!  We got back down to Bristol around 3:00 and were in time to watch the last of the qualifying for the Nationwide Race and all of the qualifying for the Sprint Cup Race.  About 10 mins. after qualifying was done, the rains came!  We all ran for cover and 15 mins. later it was all over.  The dryers came out on the track and the race finally started around 9:00 pm.  The Bristol track is a .5 mile (same size as our old Mesa Marin track) and it is so cool to be able to see the whole track.  It looks pretty crowded when you get 40 race cars on it and that sound of roaring engines is truly awesome!  The rains held off and all 250 laps were run with Ryan Blaney beating out Kyle Busch at the very end.  Seeing a race here at Bristol is an experience not to be forgotten!  Parking was in nearby fields, farms, back yards, front yards.  We had to walk a little bit to get to the speedway.

      

Nashville – Wednesday

Oh, this was such a great day!  I have to admit that I didn’t think that visiting the Franklin battlefield would take all day but I learned that each tour was in-depth, accompanied by a very knowledgeable tour guide.   We spent over 2 hours with the guide at the Carter House (our first stop).  She took us through the house and led us through the day of the battle through the eyes of the Carter family.  This house was at the very center of the battle once the Confederates broke through the Federal lines.  The house still shows bullet holes from the battle….the back yard was the scene of some of the fiercest hand-to-hand combat.  Over 2000 soldiers met face to face in a very small area and literally had no place to go.  The fighting was intense.  Within a 4-5 hour space of time, over 4,000 men died and another 6,000 were wounded.  Our guide made the time seem so real, we could almost hear the boom of the cannon plus the cries of the men as they tried to fight their way through the opposing troops.

      

We drove downtown Franklin after visiting the Carter House and had a most delicious lunch at the Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant.  We walked around the downtown area a little (notice the sweet shop’s name), stopping at the Landmark Bookstore, before traveling to the Carnton Plantation which was another battle site during the Battle of Franklin.  The Carnton Plantation was located south and downhill of the Carter House.  It became a hospital site for the Confederate army and over 1000 wounded men were treated in about a day and a half…..during and after the battle.  Six of the Generals who died in the battle were laid out on the back porch of the Carnton Mansion for the men to pay service to.  Again we had a tour guide who engaged us so completely in that time period.  As we toured the house gazing on many pieces of furniture and household items that have been loaned to the house that were actually in the house during the battle, I was truly impressed by the devotion of the people today who are so interested in keeping these historical sites true to the period.  The historical impact in this house were the blood stains that no scrubbing could get out.  These stains were in almost every room in that 3 story house as each room held an operating table and 10-15 injured soldiers.  The lady of the house (Carrie McGavock) was considered an “angel” as she was the one who offered a caring face and compassionate words to those wounded soldiers in her house.  The McGavock family took it upon themselves to bury over 1400 soldiers on their property, document the names of those they could and then maintain that cemetery for all these years.

        

We didn’t leave the Franklin area until after 5:00.  Driving back towards Nashville, through the beautiful country, we could see the clouds building and it was getting darker and darker.  The rain started to fall and the last half hour to the RV park the rain was so thick we could hardly see out the window.  We definitely got a taste of Tennessee thunderstorms….like the cloud burst we experienced the day before in Lynchburg.  The rain sure keeps the grass green….wish we could get some in CA!

Nashville, Cont’d -Tuesday.

Tuesday we traveled down to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel Distillery.  What a fantastic experience….Jack was only 7 when he hooked up with a minister who also made whiskey on the side.  The minister’s congregation took him to task about making/selling whiskey so he sold his business to Jack (age 13) for $25.  At age 15, Jack purchased the property that the distillery stands on now and he became the premier whiskey maker of the area.  His same recipe continues to be used in the black label 07 whiskey we drink today.  We took the “sampler” tour which was a more in-depth tour (2 hours) plus we got to taste 3 of his creations at the end of the tour.  From the Distillery we walked into the town of Lynchburg (pop. 361), had a very tasty lunch (pulled pork) at the Barrel House BBQ, bought some stuff in the JD Gift Shop on the square and ate ice cream.  While eating our ice cream the skies decided to deluge us with rain….about 2 inches in 15 minutes.  It was nice and cool for that 15 minutes!  The drive from Shelbyville to Lynchburg was really nice….farmland, old barns, horse farms, and beautiful brick homes with huge green grassy areas.  Rural Tennessee is spectacular.

       

I know you have been disappointed because I haven’t posted any pictures of one of my favorite things:  old barns.  Well, here you go!  There were plenty to see along the way and one is of a Powell toll gate house from the 1800’s.

       

We had to get back to Nashville in order to get ready for the Grand Ole Opry show so we did not get to Franklin, TN.  That trip will have to wait until tomorrow (Wed).  Got back to Nashville around 4:30 and were at the GOO by 6:00 for the 7:00 sold out show.  The line-up included Terri Clark, Mark Chestnutt, Craig Morgan, Trace Adkins and Carrie Underwood.  They were all fantastic! 

Nashville, Cont’d.

Awesome day sightseeing in Nashville!  The morning started at the Grand Ole Opry with a Backstage Tour (after we picked up our tickets for tomorrow night’s live radio show).  The tour was really interesting….since 1925 only 210 country artists have been asked to be members of the Opry. The radio show is the longest at 88 years of “live on air” shows.  You can catch the shows if you have Sirius Radio on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday nights (channel 59).  We get to see Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins, Craig Morgan, Terri Clark and Mark Chestnutt, plus several others.  The tour included the stars’ dressing rooms and we followed the steps they take as they get on the stage.  Standing on the same wood circle, at that microphone, looking out at the seats was very cool!

      

From there we traveled to 1300 Clinton Street; the American Pickers store, Antique Archaeology.  It was located in the very old Marathon Motorworks Bldg.  It was so cool to see items in the store that we had seen them “picking” on their TV show.  Remember the pig head that Mike had Frank wear?  Here is a picture….   the place was jam packed with people and some were buying the antiques but most were like me, buying AA memorabilia.

   

On to the Belle Meade Plantation.  What an historical place…..it was purchased by John Harding in 1807 and changed ownership when William H. Jackson married Selena Harding in 1868.  The farm was transformed into the nation’s leading thoroughbred breeding center.  The mansion is huge, centered in well-tended lawns.  One of the pillars still shows bullet holes from skirmishes with Union soldiers.  Some original buildings have been preserved:  the original cabin built by John Harding; the mausoleum; smokehouse and dairy.  We had a delicious lunch at the Harding House restaurant on the grounds.

      

Tomorrow we are headed down to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniel Distillery and on the way back stopping in Franklin to check out the battlefield of the “bloodiest” battle of the Civil War.  I think there is a quilt shop in Franklin too 🙂

Nashville, TN

Yep, we have arrived in Nashville.  What a pretty drive thru farmlands….they grow a lot of rice around here.  Saw a deer today on the road….alive!  The Mississippi River is quite impressive, it is so wide!  But then so is the Tennessee and the Cumberland.

We’ve got three days to play around here in Nashville.  Our plans include a lunch cruise on the Cumberland on a paddle wheel steamboat; concert with Carrie Underwood and Trace Adkins at the Grand Ole Opry; a visit to Antique Archaeology (American Pickers store); touring the Jack Daniel Distillery; and, a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Wildhorse Saloon.  I’ll try to keep up with some pictures.  These two are the Mississippi River (looking South) and the green scenery!

Little Rock, AR

Spent the day visiting downtown Little Rock, toured the Clinton Library, walked the Clinton Bridge, walked thru the wetlands and bought peaches and apples in the open air Farmers Market.  Weather is warm and humid….this CA girl is NOT used to this heavy air! Our timing was great….today is Bill Clinton’s birthday and so entrance to the Library was free.  This is the first presidential library I have ever visited and it was very interesting.  Enjoyed the reproductions of the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room.  The glass by Chihuly was very beautiful!  The turtles out in the wetlands were very photogenic….I would swear that the one looking up at me was begging for food 🙂 Tomorrow we are headed to Nashville, TN.  I just checked the weather and it looks like we will have rain for about a week…..I’m thinking that will affect the Nascar races at Bristol.  We will try to get seats anyways!

 

Oklahoma City, OK

Had an uneventful drive to the KOA here just East of Oklahoma City….Choctaw.  The GPS took us on some back roads to “straighten” out I-40 and we got to see some beautiful cattle and horse country.  Also got to see the oil industry at work….most of it was tanks on well kept pads.  Saw only one “grasshopper” head like we have in Bakersfield.  I wonder if we will feel any of the earthquakes caused by the heavy fracking in this area.  This KOA has a mile long nature trail around the campground. We walked it before dinner….squirrels and grasshoppers abound!  Tomorrow we travel to Little Rock, Arkansas.  We will stay there for two days just so we can set a spell!  We have pretty good internet connectivity here so I’d better get this published. Picture is the nature trail we walked….

Amarillo, TX

We have made it to Amarillo, TX.  New state every day.  The landscape varies from high desert to rolling plains.  The cattle look well fed.  Rain has come through this area recently and I wish we could send some of it back home. Today we are headed to Oklahoma City.  It is a shorter drive, only 260 miles.  Fraser and I trade off driving each day so the time spent behind the wheel is divided between us.  Yesterday’s drive from Albuquerque was windy but the new hitch kept us steady even when the big trucks passed us.  We keep losing an hour the further East we go…..the clock in the truck changed when we hit the Texas border and it is disconcerting to look at it one minute and it says 12:15, then the next it says 1:15.  We have been this far twice before:  Fraser and I drove to Henrietta, TX, to pick up our stock trailer in 1988…made the round trip in 3 days!  The 2nd time the four of us drove to Gotebo, OK, to buy 4-H projects for the girls….sheep.  That was over 20 years ago.  We will be in new territory when we leave Oklahoma City.  Picture is eastern New Mexico…rolling plains.  Don’t you just love those clouds?

Smithsonian Trip – Day 2

We left Williams, AZ, at 7:30 am under rainy skies….thunder and lightning!  The storm was headed West so we drove out of it fairly soon.  It left beautiful blue skies with fluffy white clouds.  It was 357 miles to Albuquerque, NM.  Most of the drive after leaving Flagstaff was high desert….arid and dry.  No mountains to alleviate the “flatness.”  Then we started getting into the plateaus (picture) around Lupton, AZ, and the scenery changed dramatically (sorry about my hat on the dashboard).  This is Navajo, Apache and Zuni Indian reservation country.  Lots of hogans. Weather is great….sunny with some clouds.  We arrived in Albuquerque, NM, around 2:30 and checked in at the KOA.  Tomorrow we are headed to Amarillo, TX…..a 285 mile drive.

 

News flash:  Carol is the proud Grandmother of Elias (19.25 inches; 6 lbs 4 ozs) and Evie (19.5 inches; 5 lbs 14 ozs).  Mom, Barbara, and Dad, Jeremy, are doing well also.