On the Move Again (Atlanta, GA)

 

We got that itch again. Hitch Itch, that is.  We will be here in Atlanta until Thursday (11/6) and then heading to Charleston, SC for a few days.  Then heading south, and warmer weather.  This cold weather will not do.

First, I will finish up in Atlanta.

CNN world headquarters is an amazing place.  We took a tour of the facility.  From Atlanta they can control any of the cameras in any one of their news rooms anywhere in the world (fyi, that includes Dubai).

Then we visited the Fernbank Natural History Museum.  Beautiful displays, especially for kids.

Lastly, The Atlanta History Museum.  We were here three years ago but decided to revisit it.

The museum is on the Inman estate.  A beautiful wooded area in the heart of Atlanta.   The museum consists of The Swan House, which is the mansion the Inman’s built around 1930,  The Smith Farm and the main museum buildings.  The Swan house was used in the movie “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”.

Atlanta History Museum main building.  A history of the Civil War.

The Swan House.

The Smith Farm.

In addition to the Civil War Exhibit, the museum has a wonderful exhibit of the 1996 Olympics which was held in Atlanta.  Also, NPR fans, the museum is a StoryCorps location.

Next, on to Charleston.

Life is Great, traveling with my best friend, on the Roan Road…

Back to Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)

We are back in Atlanta for a couple of weeks.  Relaxing, doing the tourist thing and a doctor’s appointment.  When were last in Atlanta my left knee was bothering me.  We called the doctor that operated on Ann’s hip for an appointment.  After he took X-rays, guess what.  Arthritis.  Sucks getting old.  The doctor gave me a shot of Cortisone.  Well it helped some but not as much as I hoped.  So I called him back and was told I will need  a gel shot.  Whatever that is. So here we are back in Atlanta to get my left knee tuned up.
Catch up again.
While staying in Tupelo, MS we went to the Civil War Interpretative Center. It is run by the National Park Service and is about 10 years old.  We think the National Park Service again out did themselves (Note Ann has rated this her favorite Visitors Center).  The interactive displays, and movies about two civil war battles, the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Corinth. 

 We left Tupelo for Atlanta on Thursday.  We made the 300 mile trip in one day, arriving in Atlanta about 5 PM.  We would have gotten to the campsite earlier except we hit a lot of rush hour traffic.  We relaxed and did some shopping.
On Sunday we went to downtown Atlanta.  It was great.   No traffic and no problem parking.  I really like this city.   it is clean, modern and easy to get around.
Our first stop was the Wonderful World of Coke.  It was very well done.  It just irks me to pay for their advertisement.  You would not believe the amount of STUFF they sell in the gift shop with the Coke logo.

After we finished trying 100 flavors of Coke “BURP”. We went next door to the Atlanta Aquarium.  Also very well done.  At first I didn’t want to go, but I was glad we went.

Atlanta Aquarium

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

Tracing the Trace (Tupelo, MS)

 

We left Atlanta and headed for Sevierville, TN and the River Plantations RV Resort.  The resort has good possibilities as a possible site for the rally.  It is Big rig friendly, a number of sites are pull through.  Those that are not, are easy back ins.  A large conference center, good WiFi and utilities.   But there are more RV parks to see and choose from. 

Sevierville is right on the west side of the Smokey Mountains.  From Sevierville you pass through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  If you like country music, shopping and pancake breakfasts and Dollywood, then this is the place for you.  (Sorry Judy, I did not see any Costco).

We drove into the Smoky Mountains and to the highest point, Clingmans Dome.

 

After four days we started west to follow the Natchez Trace Parkway.  We stayed at Fall Hollow campground right off the northern part of the Trace.  We went north on the Trace toward Nashville stopping at all of the overlooks and historic sites.  We took a side trip off the trace to Leiper’s Fork and Franklin.

Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee

Both of these towns are home of the rich and famous in the country music business.  The weather was cold and rainy.  Next day we headed south stopping at the burial site of Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. 

Yesterday we came south through a small piece of Alabama to Tupelo, MS.  We took the back, back roads, passing some beautiful farms and really nice homes.  We also passed some real lousy looking shacks and mobile homes.  We are staying in a nice RV park in Tupelo, Campground at Barnes Crossing.  Nice pull through, good full hookups and great WiFi.  It has cable hookups but I have my Satellite so I didn’t connect to it.

Within the next few days we will be exploring more of the Trace and Tupelo.

Happy 5 month old birthday to Evelyn.

Happy Birthday to Alyssa.

Happy Anniversary to Judy & Bob and Alyssa & Mike

Life is relaxing on the Roan Road…

Planning the next Phase (Atlanta, GA)

 

The plan was to go down the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Natchez Trace is a National Park Parkway that extends from just south of Nashville, Tennessee through Alabama and ends up at Natchez, Mississippi, similar to the Skyline drive that stretches from the Shenandoah NP to the Smokey Mountains NP.

Well, change of plans (we stirred the jello pot!).   At the last New Horizons Rally we became Rally Masters for the next rally in the Spring of 2016.  So, we have to scout out places to hold the next rally.  We are concentrating on the East Coast.  We are going to check out River Plantation RV Resort in Sevierville, TN, for a possible site for the rally.  The resort is on the west side of the Smokey Mountains with lots of things to see and do.  We will spend 4 days at the resort and then on to the Natchez Trace Parkway.  I know it is hard work, but someone has to do it. 

 

We are now in Atlanta taking it easy.  We spent Rosh Hashanah with Cheryl and Harris and the family.  Then we surprised Ann’s sister and brother-in-law, Francie and Rick, who came to Atlanta from their home in Florida, for their grandson, Ethan’s, birthday.  

Life is “hard work” on the Roan Road….

 

 

All Caught UP (Atlanta, GA)

 

We left Marquette, MI and headed south over the Mackinaw Bridge.  We stayed in Grand Rapids, MI for a couple of days and down to Elkhart, IN.  After two weeks stay in Elkhart getting things done on the camper.  We headed to the Amana Colonies in Iowa.  You can read the history of the Amana Colonies here.

Since we are on the Rally Committee we arrived early to help set up.  There were 3 other couples on the committee who arrived early.  We did some shopping at Costco and Walmart with Judy and Bob.  Judy, I will not mention how long it took to do ALL of the shopping.

Before the main Rally started several of us celebrated Ann’s birthday.

Surprise !!!!

At the start of the rally after the BBQ, we had another birthday cake.  It was a special birthday with great friends.

 

At the Amana Colonies we took a guided tour which included Tom Metz’s house, the local tin smith.  His shop was in the basement and the first floor was set up as it was in the 1920s.

We then toured the different colonies.

That’s a Amana Radar Range.  The Amana Colonies is where Amana Appliances started.

This is proof that “Life IS good on the Roan Road….”

Still Catching UP (Atlanta, GA)

 

First, Happy, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Ann.  Soon I will be as young as you are now.

Summery,  We left the UP of Michigan and headed to Elkhart, Indiana to have some work done on the camper.  We stayed in Elkhart for two weeks.  During the two weeks we went to Big Foot, to have the  hydraulic levelers checked.   No charge.  Then to Mor/ryde to have the suspension and alignment checked.  They found two of the springs were bad.   Also the springs that were installed were not stiff enough and they suggested replacing all six with stiffer springs.   No charge for that, but the two Tee shirts we received cost $1545.  The rest of the time we just hung around with friends Lynn and Ed.  We then headed for the Amana Colonies in Iowa for the New Horizon Owners Group (NHOG) rally. 

I guess we are still covering the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan from the last blog.  After staying at Ste. Ignace at the foot of the Mackinaw bridge, we headed north to Sault Ste. Marie and the Soo Locks.

We stayed at a campsite right on the river, Aune-Osborn Campground, where we could sit and watch the ships going into and out of the locks.  We visited the viewing platform at the Locks.   I took some timelapes pictures of a ship going through the lock.

Timelapse of Soo Locks

While staying at Sault Ste. Marie we took a side trip to Tahquamenon Falls. 

 

We then headed west to stay at Marquette.  We stayed at a nice town park and used it as our base.  From there we went to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.  In the morning we drove up the coast of the park.  In the afternoon we took a boat ride along the shore for a completely different view of the park.

Driving Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

Boat tour of Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

The next day we headed back up the coast to the Au Sable Light House.

That afternoon we took a glass bottom boat tour of ship wrecks in the area.  Pictures do not show much, but the tour was very interesting.

Main cargo hatch

Bow of the ship

Almost caught up. 

BTW, Evelyn turned 4 months old on Ann’s Birthday!  Also, Happy Birthday to Jonathan, Scherrie and Ethan.

Also, we hope that Caroline & Andrew and Maryann & Santi celebrated their anniversaries in style!

We want to wish all of our family and friends a Happy and Healthy New Year,

Life is Great on the Roan Road…

More Catch-UP (Amana, IA)

 

We are now in The Amana Colonies in Iowa.  We are here for a New Horizons Rally.

While in Detroit we went to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art).  Now Ann’s second favorite museum.  The politicians of Detroit tried to make the DIA sell its art to settle the debt they ran up.  Thankfully they failed.

Below is the famous Diego Rivera painting commissioned by Ford.

But first I need to catch up on our trip up the Michigan west coast along Lake Michigan.  Our first stop was Manistee, Michigan.  We used this point to go up and down the coast about 50 miles in each direction.  We visited light houses and small towns.

Further up the coast is Sleeping Bear Dunes NP.

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Going up the state we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and onto the Upper Peninsula.

Just over the bridge we stayed in Ste. Ignace.  The Tiki RV Park.

From Ste. Ignace we took the ferry to Mackinac Island.   

On the ferry ride to the island we took a diversion and passed under the Mackinaw Bridge.

		Ferry to Mackinaw Island VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Mackinaw Island is still kept as close to the 19th century as possible.  Mackinac Island does not allow any cars on the island, so all transportation is horse drawn or bicycles, even the garbage collection.  The main street is quaint and interesting, if you can ignore all the fudge shops, restaurants and tee shirt shops. We decided to walk around the back streets instead of taking the horse drawn carriages.

More on our trip through the UP of Michigan to come.

Life is Super on the Roan Road…