Category Archives: Falling Leaves: the BIG Trip

Today was an important day for us, not only because it’s our 22^nd wedding anniversary, but it marks the official end of our Falling Leaves Big Trip.  This was our last day in Nashville, Tennessee and our quest for the most beautiful fall foliage.  We started off the day with a visit to Hermitage, the 1,120 acre National Historic Landmark property once belonging to President Andrew Jackson.  Like Monticello, Hermitage shows life as it was for our 7^th President after he returned from Washington.  Unlike Jefferson, Jackson was a hard man probably shaped by his early experience in the Revolutionary War and loss of his entire family at the age of 12 years old.  In contrast to John Harding’s Belle Meade where more than half of his slaves stayed on the plantation as paid workers after their emancipation, only one slave out of over 300 stayed at Hermitage.  In fact, when his head housekeeper of 40 years heard that the Union soldiers were in Nashville, she and her daughter ran away at night to take asylum.   Jackson believed that slavery was God’s teaching and not to have slaves was unscriptural.  How he reached that conclusion I will never understand.  One fact I never knew or long forgot was that the Democratic Party was initiated during Jackson’s bid for the White House and actually supported his candidacy.

From there, we did the more traditional Nashville things.  We had a late lunch/early dinner of sushi at one of the restaurants in the Gaylord Opry Hotel.  If you have been to the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, you can get a sense of what this hotel looks like but bigger and more spectacular.  They have a boat ride inside the lobby that takes you through the hotel on an indoor waterway and explains the history of the hotel.  We stopped here one year at Christmas time and it was beautifully decorated for the season, not to mention the mob of people interested in seeing it.

We concluded our anniversary celebration with the Grand Ole Opry.  This has been an American institution for many, many years and the oldest running radio program in the country.  The 4,200 seat auditorium was packed with fans of all ages, but predominately “seasoned citizens”.  It’s hard for us to believe we are part of that demographic since we are so much younger, but I guess we are.  (You can tell we don’t look in the mirror much).  The program is hosted in 30 minute segments by established performers like, George Hamilton IV and Jean Sheppard.  Now you’re talking about some “seasoned citizens”!  The show was fun and we are glad we went.

Tomorrow we begin our new adventure.  We are going to Arkansas to a Workcamper Conference to find out if that lifestyle is something we would enjoy.  Our campsite will not have internet so you probably won’t hear from us for a week.  Stay out of trouble and we promise to do the same.

We left Lake Junaluska with a forecast of rain and peak foliage for the next two weeks and drove to Nashville, Tennessee.  We made a brief stop in Knoxville to have lunch and see our friends Bill and Carol Evans.  I worked with Bill for many years and although we don’t see each other often, we are always able to pick up where we left off and we look forward to seeing each other whenever we can.

When we arrived in Nashville, it was sunny and 71 degrees, which is warmer than we have seen in several weeks.  We are only staying here for two days on our way to Heber Springs, Arkansas but there is much to see and do in Nashville and we hope to fill the next two days with lots to write about.  The RV camp is really nice and full with travellers heading south for the winter.  After being in the colder climates for two months, I can’t say I blame them.  Things worked out really well for us on this particular move because, although we had to travel over 275 miles, we had the time change in our favor and the RV park had a dinner and music thing on Thursday nights so I didn’t have to cook and they supplied the campfire so Jim didn’t have to build one.  Good thing because we were both exhausted when the day lasted one hour longer.

Since we went back to Granny’s for more chicken and Barber’s for more apple turnovers, we decided to ride our bicycles around Lake Junaluska this morning.   You can’t ride on the walking trail so we had to ride on the roads around the lake and they have some VERY steep hills.  That worked out good though, because that gave Jim lots of time to take pictures while I was slumped over my handle bars gasping for oxygen.  Be sure to check out his Lake Junaluska gallery of pictures.  The trail was only 4 miles, but a real workout.  Pass me another turnover, please and hide the scale.

The leaves are really starting to turn quickly now.  It looks like they should peak by the weekend or the latest next week.  Later in the day, we drove to Asheville to the Biltmore Estate.  We have toured the grounds and house several times but just went to the gift shop because we love their salad dressing.  If you ever get to this area, don’t miss the Biltmore Estate!

Not far from the Estate is a Farmer’s Market and we walked around for a while before we came back to the RV.  Our plan for the evening was dinner, a campfire, and then the presidential debate.

What a great time we are having!  We are doing all our favorite things and we have so enjoyed seeing sunshine.  On Friday we went to Barber’s Orchard and stood in line with about 30 other people to buy apple turnovers, muffins,and cookies and even managed to buy some apples in the healthy version (fresh with no sugar added).  We thought while we were destroying our bodies with all that sugar, we would add some grease and had fried chicken at Granny’s.  This fabulous place serves the best southern fried chicken family style with rice and gravy and hush puppies and green beans and after being in business forever, Granny is calling it quits on November 3rd.  We may have to go back one more time before we leave.  After this huge unhealthy dinner, we walked around Lake Junaluska to help lessen the guilt.

Lake Junaluska, NC

On Saturday we visited a craft show in Maggie Valley, drove the Blue Ridge Parkway so Jim could take a boat load of pictures and then drove to Cherokee to see what was happening there.  I have to say, the Cherokee area is so commercialized I don’t understand why people flock there.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Today we went to church in Ashville and were we surprised when a couple from our home church, John and Delores Knox walked in.  They came to Ashville to celebrate their 50 wedding anniversary.  Can you imagine being this far from home and seeing someone you know while visiting a different church.  After lunch we went to see Atlas Shrugged Part II at the movies.  It was really good and much better than Part I.  I recommend everyone see this movie before election day and take a friend with you!

I guess we are getting into this camping thing because we had a campfire this evening and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows just like we were out in the country.  There is something primal about getting the fire to burn.  It reminded me of the line in Tom Hank’s movie, Castaway, when he lit a fire and started dancing around yelling “I made fire!”  Unlike Tom Hanks, we then had to deal with the smoky smelling clothes.

We love this area and we are already talking about coming back next year for the entire month of October.

We spent most of the day driving yesterday but it was sooooo worth it!  When we arrived, the sun was shining and the temperature was in the high 60s.  The campground is across the street from Lake Junaluska and we have a view of the lake from our windows.  We have all the amenities; 50 amp electric, water, sewer, internet, cable and flat level sites with hard gravel.

We have visited our friends Faye and Lanny in this area several times so we know a lot about the area and things to see and do.  I am so ready for this week and the weather looks like it will be cooperating with cool nights and nice days.  The trees are turning but not near the peak.  We may not be here to see the peak but I think they will be beautiful before we leave.

Well, its time to start the laundry and get my arms around some other things I have been ignoring.

Here in Virginia, we finally saw blue sky and sun once more and we were overdue!  We were trying to remember the last time we had a sunny day and think it might have been two weeks ago.  You can’t take sunshine away from Floridians for an extended period and expect them to function normally.  Today is our only day in the Charlottesville area and we decided we wanted to spend it at Monticello, the historic home of Thomas Jefferson.

Monticello – Jefferson’s home

Monticello reflected in the pond from the gardens

We all remember Mr. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, but Jim and I learned so much more as we spent the major part of the day on the estate.  While he was living, the estate was 6,000 acres and the historic grounds now consist of over 3,000 acres including a restoration of the gardens, orchards, and house and furnishings.  Surprisingly, the foundation was able to recover many of the original artifacts from the house.

Thomas Jefferson was a genius teaching himself architecture, and five languages in addition his native english.  He often read five books simultaneously and invented a lazy susan type book holder to allow him to read them easily.  That was one of the surprises for me.  He took ideas he had seen in his travels, modified them and incorporated them into his home for his own convenience.  One amazing illustration is seen before you even enter the front door.  The weather vane on the roof translates the wind direction to a directional gadget on the ceiling on the porch that can be read from inside the house.  There is also a clock above the front door on the outside and the same mechanism runs a clock on the inside as well.  Sorry no pictures allowed inside the house.

Outside was impressive, balancing utility with beauty.  The picture above  from the fish pond showing the reflection of the house is a perfect illustration.  The pond is obviously beautiful with a rock place perfectly to reflect the house when sitting there, but it is also where they stored fish caught in streams and rivers until they were ready to be cooked and eaten.

Vegetable Gardens at Monticello

View from Gardens of Monticello

To try to tell you all the things we saw and heard today would take more words than you probably want to read so I will leave it with a suggestion to come see for yourself if you come in this direction  .  Actually, make it point to come in this direction and see Monticello (Italian for small mountain).  If you want to see more now visit their  website http://www.monticello.org

We spent the past five days in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania which is north of Scranton, Pa.  It was rainy/cloudy and cold the entire time so we didn’t stray too far from home and didn’t do much.  The park had poor telephone service and internet was only available after paying a daily fee and spending hours working through a secondary company.  That’s one reason why we didn’t post anything during that time.

One of the highlights of our stay in that area was spending Monday with Carol and Bruce, Jim’s family in Souderton.  During Mom and Pop’s protracted illnesses we were accustomed to seeing Carol  and Bruce at least once a month.  Prior to this trip, we hadn’t see them since last January and it was really good to see them again.  Besides, they have a jiffy type store named WaWa that has pumpkin spice coffee that we love.  So we got our Carol/WaWa fix for awhile.

On Sunday, we found a really nice church in Scranton and after services we found Victoria’s Gourmet Cafe.  We knew we were going to enjoy it when we read the specials.  One of the specials was the Political Omlette that listed fried bologna as the first ingredient.  We spent some time talking to the owner and hearing how he was keeping it going during these hard economic times.  His Italian background made it even more fun to talk to him.

On Tuesday morning, we left for Virginia and hopefully some sun and warmer temperatures.  We will only be there two nights and then on to Junaluska, North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Mountains for an entire week.  We are really looking forward to the week there because we are familiar with the area.  Of course, there will be a trip to Barber’s and if you’ve been to that area, you know what that means. 🙂

With a dismal weather forecast for the day and the prospects of spending more time being cold and damp, we decided to look for some indoor activities.  We tracked down a drug store and got our flu shots and then decided to head into Connecticut to see some of that State (Granville is just over the Mass/Conn state line).  Mystic Seaport sounded way too cold, so we started reading the small red print on the Atlas and something that sounded like it would be an acceptable way to spend the afternoon.

To our amazement, we found a hidden jewel.  Bristol, Connecticut turns out to be the clock building capital of the country and houses the American Watch and Clock Museum.

Clock museum – Bristol, CT

Eli Terry was a young clock maker living in Bristol in the 1700’s and actually was the first one to mass produce clocks, which had all wooden parts at that time.  This historic building displays hundreds of watches and clocks dating from Eli Terry’s time to the modern-day, including the CBS worldwide clock used by the TV station for all its broadcasts in the world from 1962 into the mid 1980’s.  There are huge grandfather clocks and shelf clocks made with intricate detail and artistry in excellent condition considering their age.  There are even several steeple clocks, including one still working that sits on the first floor with the pendulum and weights hanging into the basement.  Each week a Board Member and the Executive Director wind the clock to keep it working for one more week. Continue reading →

We arrived in Massachusetts in the rain.  What happened next was a first-time experience!  Although we had agreed beforehand if it was raining hard, we would not set up but just drive to the site and wait for it to stop.  Once we got there, we instinctively non-verbally agreed “let’s just get it over with”.  My motive was I wanted to get inside out of the damp and cold, in front of my fireplace with a warm cup of something.

The campground is in a mountainous area so most of the campsites are not totally level.  It’s so rural we had a black bear cub right in front of us as we got close to the campground.   My mind flashed back to Guntersville State Park and not sitting on all four tires.  Little did I realize I was being prophetic, but after unhitching and going through the leveling process, we had two tires not touching the ground!  Bear in mind, all of this is happening in the rain.  We needed to prop up the tires on the side that had taken to the air.  Jim got some wood planks from the office and we had to hitch back up and back the RV onto the 6 inch wide planks.

I admit I thought it would be too difficult to do on a first try.  I even tried to talk Jim out of the plan, but fortunately for me he knew what he was doing and got us on the planks on the first try.  From there, it was a quick 30 minute process to finish the hook up and get inside.  The weather is supposed to be miserable for the rest of our stay with only glimmers of hope on days with only a 40% chance of rain but cloudy 100% of the time.  I now realize why some people in the North have such bad attitudes.  If I lived here, I would be one of those people!