I hope y'all are great, (just a reflection of my new southern accent). Boy, we loved the South. Our trip was the kind you dream of, I've always wanted to do this. We went 9,640 miles, I'm afraid they'll never rent me a car with unlimited miles again, though they had no complaints at Hertz when I returned it. I'll list the states we saw and attach a few pics for ya, then show the rest when your home. We headed out on the 16th of July, our first night was at Whiskeytown Lake, CA with all my children and grand-children and Denise's family, only one missing was Valerie. Then we camped at Bend, OR, then KOA at Boise,ID, we had a reservation for a B&B in Cascade, ID, the next night and it was superb! We had hoped to make it to Yellowstone, WY the next day, but left too late to make the miles and we ended up staying one more night in Idaho, at Pocatello. We left early to get into Yellowstone because we heard the camping sites went fast. We were in the gates at 10AM and the sites were all taken, so we drove through and saw the sights at Yellowstone but couldn't stay there, we missed seeing buffalo but saw so much more, what a beautiful place.
We left Yellowstone through the North gate and were in Montana, BIG SKY, and that is so true. We camped at Hardin, MT at KOA, we had a nice site there, pool and hot tub, there I was able to get our laundry done, and shower. Katelynn made the fire and dinner, by the time I got done with the laundry. Then the fun started, around midnight we had to get in the tent as it started to sprinkle. Then came the lightening and loud thunder, Katie was scared, our tent was blowing right over us, sideways. We made it through the night and stayed dry. The sun was up and we broke up camp, turned over the tent and it only took a very short time to dry out, then we were on our way again. Heading for S. Dakota, Mt. Rushmore. Everything was so beautiful, there were motorcycles everywhere for the Sturgis Annual Run. There was no where to camp in the area so we were forced to drive on, that day was cloudy but not too bad, we saw so much. We drove thru the badlands and saw Little Big Horn, places of Crazy Horse and Wild Bill, Annie Oakly. Old towns, that night was exciting we needed to find a place and fast because we were seeing lots of lightening and hearing loud thunder, all motels were filled up and no one was left on the road, winds and rain pouring down we couldn't see very well, so we went from town to town trying to find a room and finally got the last room at Mitchell, The Old Irish Inn, they price gouged us, 140.00.
We were getting behind on the miles we needed to cover because we were suppose to be in Kentucky by the day after tomorrow, so from Mitchell, SD I decided I wasn't going to miss out on what I wanted to see, that I would take my time during the day, and see what I wanted to see then make up the time driving through the night this time. So we saw Sioux Falls, the big Missouri River, we drove right along side of it for awhile til we reached Omaha, NB, then went into Iowa, the dutch country with their windmills and the Covered Bridges of Madison Co., DesMoine and went south when we met the Mississippi, during the night I drove on through Illinois, and Indiana and the sun came up once we reached Kentucky. So we made our reservation. Katelynn's boyfriend came over right away to our motel in Danville, he was wonderful to her and me, a very nice guy. She was respectable and on top of the world. We had planned to stay 2 nights here but I couldn't break Kate away from Alex and the area was some of the best I've ever seen, I could live in Kentucy...I loved it too, and we decided to stay a third night there.
We left KY headed for the Cumberland Gap, we stayed along the Blue Ridge Trial in the Mts. of Virginia, at a KOA at Natural Bridge, a huge rock bridge. The next night at a National Park, Big Meadows. We had an elk family that we shared our camp site with.
We went out sight seeing from our place at Big Meadows, we drove though tunnels and saw the mts. that seemed to go on forever. We had bought our firewood earlier for that night but got back way after dark, around 10 pm, and went to bed. Kate and I slept so good in the tent, that was no problem for us and we got great setting it up and breaking down camp. When we got up in the morning we ended up giving our firewood to our neighbors, a big Filipino family, they offered us breakfast and were so thankful but we were getting ready to leave and declined, but then his wife said how about coffee? Yeah! I had the best coffee of the trip right there from the nice family camped next to us.
We left there and headed east, we were now so close to the Atlantic, we wanted to see the ocean. Virginia is beautiful, and now we were out of the tourist traps, on a two lane road that wound around all the little tiny settlements of people that lived off the land and sold whatever their specialty was in their front yard. We found a place that sold preserves so Kate bought a cherry salsa, and I got Kirk some Chow-chow and Pickadilly. Then we came to Sperryville, right at Mt. Vernon... a lady was selling quilts in her little shop in front of her house, They were done on a machine, but were definitely handmade, we each fell in love with them and went outside and decided that these were what we wanted to buy as our special souvenir of our trip, something that would last, we spent a long time there picking out the perfect ones, and the lady was so kind as to mark them down until finally they were affordable. We left there feeling proud of our find and our bartering skills. Then we headed North towards DC, saw Jefferson's Monticello, that they have kept up wonderfully restored. Got to HWY 81 which took us almost the whole way to Harper's Ferry. That was a really big tourist trap there, it is the place where they had a big battle that turned the war around, Oh ya, I forgot to mention that we followed the Civil War trail on and off thru the whole Eastern area and South. We saw a lot of graves, memorials and battle grounds, the ones you always hear about in movies and history. We couldn't find our hostel at first but the people were so helpful they practically took us there, it was between Knoxville and Harper's Ferry on the Potomac River. We, loved our hostel, it was big and had interesting people there, a teacher from Toronto, a Krishna priest, Lydia who was the host there, and Chris also a host, 4 men who were aides to congress, they were celebrating their promotions, and their new apartment they found in DC.
We reserved 4 days here, as it was centrally located. The 1st day we decided to stay kind-of local, we went looking around close by, and ended up back on the road of our hostel to go swimming in the Potomac, what a job! The place was rocky and we had no water socks, so it was hard on the feet, we wanted to go out to the deeper water but when we got there the current was strong and took us further from our things on the beach. We made it back finally and were cut up, bruised and my knee was killing me so I limped around the rest of that night. Katelynn was such a good sport, she did whatever I wanted to do right along side of me. We made our dinner, and offered some to the house manager, and Lydia ate with us. It really felt like our home when we were there.
The next day we got up and were going to look for the Amish in Lancaster, PA. On the way we found the Grotto of Lourdes, I will tell you more about the miracles we experienced there later, but I will tell you that I went to the shrine and all around the place with my pillow trying to find the perfect place to pray for a healing of my knee, Katelynn too, it wasn't hard as there were signs everywhere, saying "Shh, quiet area, People praying". I will say I was healed. This was a very special stop on out trip. Right after that we were at the site of the Battle of Gettysberg, and the memorial they had there was wonderful.
Finally, we made it to Lancaster, we saw many Amish, no electrical poles going to their homes and they were working the fields with horses. It was really nice to see, and I would love to live that way (for awhile anyway.)
When we got up our third day at the hostel Chris said are you going to DC today? He wanted to come along. With him with us we had our guide, and weren't afraid to ride the Metro in (that's what they call the subway.) Washington would take forever to tell you about but I will say we saw it all. Most impressive was seeing the President come in with 3 big huge helicopters landing on the grass in front of the White House. Actually, that was up there but really the thing I loved the most was Lincoln's Memorial. We also saw the Ford Theater where he was shot. We ate right across the street from the Ford Theater at the DC Hard Rock.
We left Yellowstone through the North gate and were in Montana, BIG SKY, and that is so true. We camped at Hardin, MT at KOA, we had a nice site there, pool and hot tub, there I was able to get our laundry done, and shower. Katelynn made the fire and dinner, by the time I got done with the laundry. Then the fun started, around midnight we had to get in the tent as it started to sprinkle. Then came the lightening and loud thunder, Katie was scared, our tent was blowing right over us, sideways. We made it through the night and stayed dry. The sun was up and we broke up camp, turned over the tent and it only took a very short time to dry out, then we were on our way again. Heading for S. Dakota, Mt. Rushmore. Everything was so beautiful, there were motorcycles everywhere for the Sturgis Annual Run. There was no where to camp in the area so we were forced to drive on, that day was cloudy but not too bad, we saw so much. We drove thru the badlands and saw Little Big Horn, places of Crazy Horse and Wild Bill, Annie Oakly. Old towns, that night was exciting we needed to find a place and fast because we were seeing lots of lightening and hearing loud thunder, all motels were filled up and no one was left on the road, winds and rain pouring down we couldn't see very well, so we went from town to town trying to find a room and finally got the last room at Mitchell, The Old Irish Inn, they price gouged us, 140.00.
We were getting behind on the miles we needed to cover because we were suppose to be in Kentucky by the day after tomorrow, so from Mitchell, SD I decided I wasn't going to miss out on what I wanted to see, that I would take my time during the day, and see what I wanted to see then make up the time driving through the night this time. So we saw Sioux Falls, the big Missouri River, we drove right along side of it for awhile til we reached Omaha, NB, then went into Iowa, the dutch country with their windmills and the Covered Bridges of Madison Co., DesMoine and went south when we met the Mississippi, during the night I drove on through Illinois, and Indiana and the sun came up once we reached Kentucky. So we made our reservation. Katelynn's boyfriend came over right away to our motel in Danville, he was wonderful to her and me, a very nice guy. She was respectable and on top of the world. We had planned to stay 2 nights here but I couldn't break Kate away from Alex and the area was some of the best I've ever seen, I could live in Kentucy...I loved it too, and we decided to stay a third night there.
We left KY headed for the Cumberland Gap, we stayed along the Blue Ridge Trial in the Mts. of Virginia, at a KOA at Natural Bridge, a huge rock bridge. The next night at a National Park, Big Meadows. We had an elk family that we shared our camp site with.
We went out sight seeing from our place at Big Meadows, we drove though tunnels and saw the mts. that seemed to go on forever. We had bought our firewood earlier for that night but got back way after dark, around 10 pm, and went to bed. Kate and I slept so good in the tent, that was no problem for us and we got great setting it up and breaking down camp. When we got up in the morning we ended up giving our firewood to our neighbors, a big Filipino family, they offered us breakfast and were so thankful but we were getting ready to leave and declined, but then his wife said how about coffee? Yeah! I had the best coffee of the trip right there from the nice family camped next to us.
We left there and headed east, we were now so close to the Atlantic, we wanted to see the ocean. Virginia is beautiful, and now we were out of the tourist traps, on a two lane road that wound around all the little tiny settlements of people that lived off the land and sold whatever their specialty was in their front yard. We found a place that sold preserves so Kate bought a cherry salsa, and I got Kirk some Chow-chow and Pickadilly. Then we came to Sperryville, right at Mt. Vernon... a lady was selling quilts in her little shop in front of her house, They were done on a machine, but were definitely handmade, we each fell in love with them and went outside and decided that these were what we wanted to buy as our special souvenir of our trip, something that would last, we spent a long time there picking out the perfect ones, and the lady was so kind as to mark them down until finally they were affordable. We left there feeling proud of our find and our bartering skills. Then we headed North towards DC, saw Jefferson's Monticello, that they have kept up wonderfully restored. Got to HWY 81 which took us almost the whole way to Harper's Ferry. That was a really big tourist trap there, it is the place where they had a big battle that turned the war around, Oh ya, I forgot to mention that we followed the Civil War trail on and off thru the whole Eastern area and South. We saw a lot of graves, memorials and battle grounds, the ones you always hear about in movies and history. We couldn't find our hostel at first but the people were so helpful they practically took us there, it was between Knoxville and Harper's Ferry on the Potomac River. We, loved our hostel, it was big and had interesting people there, a teacher from Toronto, a Krishna priest, Lydia who was the host there, and Chris also a host, 4 men who were aides to congress, they were celebrating their promotions, and their new apartment they found in DC.
We reserved 4 days here, as it was centrally located. The 1st day we decided to stay kind-of local, we went looking around close by, and ended up back on the road of our hostel to go swimming in the Potomac, what a job! The place was rocky and we had no water socks, so it was hard on the feet, we wanted to go out to the deeper water but when we got there the current was strong and took us further from our things on the beach. We made it back finally and were cut up, bruised and my knee was killing me so I limped around the rest of that night. Katelynn was such a good sport, she did whatever I wanted to do right along side of me. We made our dinner, and offered some to the house manager, and Lydia ate with us. It really felt like our home when we were there.
The next day we got up and were going to look for the Amish in Lancaster, PA. On the way we found the Grotto of Lourdes, I will tell you more about the miracles we experienced there later, but I will tell you that I went to the shrine and all around the place with my pillow trying to find the perfect place to pray for a healing of my knee, Katelynn too, it wasn't hard as there were signs everywhere, saying "Shh, quiet area, People praying". I will say I was healed. This was a very special stop on out trip. Right after that we were at the site of the Battle of Gettysberg, and the memorial they had there was wonderful.
Finally, we made it to Lancaster, we saw many Amish, no electrical poles going to their homes and they were working the fields with horses. It was really nice to see, and I would love to live that way (for awhile anyway.)
When we got up our third day at the hostel Chris said are you going to DC today? He wanted to come along. With him with us we had our guide, and weren't afraid to ride the Metro in (that's what they call the subway.) Washington would take forever to tell you about but I will say we saw it all. Most impressive was seeing the President come in with 3 big huge helicopters landing on the grass in front of the White House. Actually, that was up there but really the thing I loved the most was Lincoln's Memorial. We also saw the Ford Theater where he was shot. We ate right across the street from the Ford Theater at the DC Hard Rock.
The next day we checked out and went more north east to Philadelphia, another hostel for two nights, I wasn't very happy about this place because we were supposed to stay in the historical Chamineux Mansion, it was beautiful with all the parlors and antique furniture, and the basement kitchen. No... we didn't get to stay in that building they had turned the stables into a hostile overflow for when they were filled up they would put the extra people there, bunkbeds, no nice furniture, a lock on the door that didn't work, etc... I could go on.
So the first night we headed into town and found Franklin square, we asked 3 ladies where the best Philly Steak Sand's were and they showed us a place by the Love Story park, an old Irish Pub, and we did indeed have the best Philly cheesesteaks.
The next day we drove around seeing everything we could, went into New Jersey, and then found a theater to get out of the heat, after I flagged down a cop to find my way back and as it turned out we found our way by ourselves, if we had went his way, we would have been closer to Baltimore.
This was our official turning around towards home point, the next morning we were heading West on the turnpike towards Pittsburg. We wanted to see more covered bridges since there were so many in this area, we got off on a two lane hwy, south and stayed in Lancaster Ohio, KOA. This little two lane hwy was a good route we saw some extra special sights and loved the view the whole way, it's so hard to describe. The feelings were special. The Ohio River, barns, green fields, old homes, and a different way of life. I stopped to buy cigerettes and ended up talking to the shop owner for an hour, people have time. I didn’t know it but we were in the town where the movie “We Are Marshall”, was their story.
The next day we only drove for three hours on another two lane road that went thru the horse area, lots of big selling horses with beautiful stables, then we were in Danville KY again.
So the first night we headed into town and found Franklin square, we asked 3 ladies where the best Philly Steak Sand's were and they showed us a place by the Love Story park, an old Irish Pub, and we did indeed have the best Philly cheesesteaks.
The next day we drove around seeing everything we could, went into New Jersey, and then found a theater to get out of the heat, after I flagged down a cop to find my way back and as it turned out we found our way by ourselves, if we had went his way, we would have been closer to Baltimore.
This was our official turning around towards home point, the next morning we were heading West on the turnpike towards Pittsburg. We wanted to see more covered bridges since there were so many in this area, we got off on a two lane hwy, south and stayed in Lancaster Ohio, KOA. This little two lane hwy was a good route we saw some extra special sights and loved the view the whole way, it's so hard to describe. The feelings were special. The Ohio River, barns, green fields, old homes, and a different way of life. I stopped to buy cigerettes and ended up talking to the shop owner for an hour, people have time. I didn’t know it but we were in the town where the movie “We Are Marshall”, was their story.
The next day we only drove for three hours on another two lane road that went thru the horse area, lots of big selling horses with beautiful stables, then we were in Danville KY again.
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