Groceries, gas and a couple of errands (read as tech stop #1) and we were on our way at 11:30AM heading to the Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Hwy. Great views like the one below we’re at every turn.  We also met Mary-Rose and Micheal from Chicago, when we came out of a rest stop and caught them peering in our camper windows,  which has become a regular occurrence. Everyone wants one!

A stop at the Luray Caverns only an hour and a half down the road was a bit like entering a 3rd dimension. Discovered in 1878 and made into a tourist attraction a mere 2 years later, you can well imagine how commercial it is now. The parking lot looked like a mini-Disney lot, with tons of shops and restaurants all around. Inside, the shop had every imaginable thing you could buy, all with the Luray Caverns logo on it (mugs, towels, shirts, diapers!!!), and even a stuffed squirrel. Sean wanted to buy it and glue it to the hood but cooler minds prevailed. That all being said, when the cavern tour started, you took the first 50 steps down into the first of the main openings and it was awesome. We both agreed that these were the most spectacular caves we had ever seen. And with the incredible views came the added bonus of a 1.4 mile walk underground. The stalactites and the stalagmites and the columns where the two connected were coloured by vivid whites, yellows, reds and even some green courtesy of algae. Some of the columns were over 50ft high and all had names associated with their various unique shapes. And there were some pools and ponds that were so still they reflected the ceiling perfectly. The picture below doesn’t quite do it justice.

We are glad we went as the initial impression would have scared away most sane people upon arriving in the parking lot.

 As many of you know, this whole part of the US is a staunch bible belt. One of the gentlemen on the tour asked the guide how she knew the caverns were 700 million years old. She cited various scientific facts and references as to how the material was washed away leaving the caverns the way they are now. His response was to suggest it was Noah’s flood that likely cleared them out, and then he turned to his wife and said, “That explains it, it was Noah’s flood”. 

It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that we were off to spend our first night of “camping” at Douthat State Park, known for the role its design played in developing the national park system. We celebrated our first night with champagne (surprise surprise) and a beautiful fire that Sean tended regularly. Then off to bed after s sumptuous spaghetti and Caesar salad supper. Yum yum!!

Day 19 -April 22

We had agreed the night before to get out of Dodge as early as possible and get on the road. We are travelling the 84 west and before long we crossed into Texas. Unfortunately our planned route skirted north of Lufkin. As a ‘rule’ we try to drop into such noteworthy sites but in this case were concerned that it wouldn’t ‘measure’ up to our expectations (Esther that was for you).

The 84 is a nice road, two lane undivided with lots of trees. At home this would be considered a secondary road and would have a 80 kph speed. In Texas the maximum speed on this road is 70mph and in places 75 mph. Now unless I missed the news where Texas has gone metric is seems that so far things in Texas are bigger, even the speed limits. We haven’t seen speeds like this even on the interstates.

The scenery in the easterly part of Texas is not what I had expected, possibly I watched too much ‘Dallas’ as a child but as soon as I crossed the border I was expecting and endless string of Southforks. There certainly are many large farms along the road and quite a few stately homes but a lot more trees than I had expected to see. I am still having some troubles looking at the map and believing that we have come this far. We stopped mid morning for gas and a coffee break. Conveniently there was a propane pump next door so we were able to top off our propane tanks. Our consumption has been quite low to date with only the fridge, stove and oven having been used. It is the hot water heater and the space heater that are the big users but this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass.

Around 1:00 we stopped at a Confederate War memorial site and had a quick lunch of chicken sandwiches that Diane had prepared that morning from the leftovers of our barbecued chicken supper a couple of days ago.

As the day proceeded on the plant life began to change. The roadside flowers are a beautiful mix of purples, yellows and reds. They really are spectacular with large expanses of them on both sides of the road looking more like some watercolour piece than the shoulder of a road. We also started to see some new plants like cactus and palm trees that finally are making me feel that I am some place different.

Roadside colour

We continued on the 84 west making good time and passed through Waco. Waco has recently had a tragic explosion leading to the death of many first responders. As the 84 wound its way through The city there were displays of fire trucks, and Texas and American flags at two of the overpasses, with uniformed firefighters standing at the edge of the overpass. It was a sobering display. In combination with the Boston Marathon of last week we are in a country that is drawing deeply on its courage.

At one point the 84 was designated as the ‘George W. Bush Highway’. Not surprisingly there were no left turns allowed on that section of the road.

At Evant we turned south on the 281 and headed due south. We were heading for Fredericksburg for Tuesday and have a state park called Inks Lake in mind for the night. Without much trouble we found the park . Still a little shell shocked after the night before we were thrilled with this location, and our sites right beside a real lake with a lovely warm breeze.

Supper under the stars was the end to another great day.

Inks Lake

Day 18 – April 21

Before we retired last night we had a visit from one of the park staff. We hadn’t been able to pay the $18 for our site yet as there was no one in the office when we went back to pay after selecting our site and he wanted a record of our name. This guy also worked in the Mississippi jail system and along with his clip board was packing a flashlight/taser combination (I don’t know how I managed to leave home without remembering to bring mine). For educational purposes only I’m sure he showed us the neat blue spark when you pushed the little button. I considered asking him to be careful where he pointed it as I belonged to a religion that frowned on dancing but thought better of it and offered him a fig newton instead.

We had heard some loud and unfriendly conversation from a nearby site that seemed to be some domestic dispute. He told us that he had already been over there and seized the alcohol and issued a warning to the husband. However the wife, who according to our taser guy had blood on her t shirt, didn’t want any trouble so he couldn’t eject them from the site. He said he would be monitoring them through the night, which offered some comfort. Maybe my neck is starting to get a little red in this southern sun but frankly I wouldn’t have been upset if taser guy had given buddy a few prophylactic zaps just for behaviour management.

We packed up without having breakfast as there was a gas bar and MacDonald’s just at the park entry and we wanted to take advantage of the wi-fi , gas up and have breakfast. Sort of an eat here and get gas stop.

We got back on the Trace and headed towards Natchez, the southern terminus of the highway. We met a couple of bikers from Asheville who were driving the Trace from Nashville. Two really friendly and funny guys who managed to smoothly accuse Ike of saying that Jane weighed 1000 lbs.

By 1:00 we had reached a trip milestone, the end of the Natchez Trace.

Goodbye to The Natchez

We stopped at an national historic site for lunch and toured the grounds of the park. There was a Taraesque mansion that was undergoing extensive exterior renovations and several outbuildings that had originally been slave quarters. The site was 80 acres and until the 1980’s had been privately owned.

Southern Splendor

The Grounds

A Southern Beauty

We crossed the Mississippi River but there were no signs of the extreme flooding further up the river we have seen on the news. We continued on secondary roads heading west but as the day wore on we were seeing few camping sites. Getting low on fuel and needing some provisions and directions we stopped in Mansfield and were given directions to a local ‘RV Park’. It was not far away and we soon pulled into the Highway 509 RV Park.

In all fairness to the following comments it was obvious as we pulled in that this ‘park’ could best be described as a mash-up of Trailer Park Boys and Duck Dynasty but it was getting late and we wanted to settle in before dark. In hindsight it would have been better to wait until dark before we pulled in. To quote Gino Vanelli, black cars look better in the shade and this trailer park definitely would have looked better in the dark.

We were told that the park was almost full as this was the park of choice for the workers at a local paper mill but that there were two adjacent sites available. Ike headed off in a golf cart with the owner to view the sites and came back to tell us that they were a bit ‘rough’ – you learn things about people when you travel with them, who knew that Ike was a master of understatement.

The owner had mentioned that they were ‘working’ on the sites. In Canadian that translates to ‘we have let a D9 Caterpillar loose on the site in an attempt to bring it to near lunar conditions’. Possibly a future space theme park is in the works. Typically when we get to a site we try and level the rigs. Jane and Ike’s LRT has levelling legs. The BRT uses a couple lengths of 2×6 under the wheels. On this site I settled for finding a spot where all the wheels were on the ground at the same time. Some strategically placed ropes and pitons inside the rig allowed us to walk around and prepare supper.

The ‘site’

We knew that only one of the sites had water so the BRT was assigned that space and was designated as the cook shack for the night. That water hook up consisted of a tap soldered to the end of a piece of pipe that appeared to have emerged of its own accord from the primordial stew at the back of the site. This is the first park we have been at that didn’t even have a picnic table so our fold up aluminum Lee Valley table was pressed into service.

Now after less than three weeks of RVing we are far from seasoned and we understand that not all locations have the same level of amenities but imagine our surprise when after setting up we discovered that there were no washrooms. At this point the Wall Mart parking lot we had passed on our way to this little piece of paradise was starting to look like a very attractive option. However after a quick scrum we decided that we would press our respective on board facilities into service for the first time.

Long term readers may recall the ‘brief’ description on Day 13 of the plumbing systems of the BRT. The LRT houses portable facilities. Up to this point our washroom/shower had been serving as general storage for beer, bedding and other detritus so a bit of reorganizing was in order. To be honest I had not even peeked under the lid of the toilet up untill then so I thought some preliminary investigation of the mechanics of the facilities was in order. Upon lifting the lid I was pleased to see that the bowl was still full of the red winter antifreeze, a testament to the tightness of the bottom seal. There are two levers on the side of the bowl, one that reads rinse and the other that reads flush.

Curious as to the difference and pushing the one that said rinse I quickly found that referred to what you have to do to your face if you push the button with the lid up. Visions of Robin Williams again flashed before me and I was thankful that I had experimented in a non toxic environment. A brief clean up of my face and the surrounding environs ensued.

We had a tasty supper of barbecued sausages and a salad followed by fresh baked cookies from the BRT’s oven and spent a pleasant evening in the entertainment lounge of the BRT with Jane and Ike. At Jane’s suggestion we agreed the only real solution to our current situation was the application of generous portions of alcohol. She proved to be right.

Left Concord this morning after some world-class hospitality last night, thanks again Kate. The air was a little crisper this morning at 12°C but clear skies prevailed. A whirlwind of states fell beneath the MRT’s tires as we blew through Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and finally arrived in Front Royal, Virginia. From Concord last night until here in Virginia is one ongoing historical collection of battle zones and monuments. We wanted to visit Gettysburg but couldn’t find the address… (sorry, too tired to be funny).

As for the title of this blog entry we observed the depths of winter in the Maritimes a few days ago to the hopeful signs of new blossoms in Concord to the almost complete foliation of trees here in Virginia with many cherry, apple and pear blossoms thriving, a hopeful sign that winter has finally given up, at least here in the south.

Tomorrow is a relaxed touring the Shenandoah Valley on our way south to Roanoke. And by the by, the best ribs we have had in many a year was provided by the Mountain Soul Café, highly recommended.

Day 17 – April 20

The combination wi-fi connection and laundry facilities allowed us to get caught up with our e-mail and blog and empty our dirty laundry bag. One last minute load of laundry in the morning and by 10:00 we were off again. We weren’t far from the Natchez Trace Parkway so we were soon heading south again. We decided that it was time for the ‘women folk’ to try their hand at handling the rigs so Diane and Jane took over driving responsibilities while Ike and I navigated. As the only instructions were to head south it was not an onerous task for us.

The Trace, although narrow, so far had not been heavily trafficked, commercial vehicles are banned, and the road was in great condition so it was a good place for Jane and Diane to get a feel for the extra width of these vehicles. The BRT in particular, with its wider rear dual wheels takes some getting used to, especially when trying to ease over to make way for large oncoming vehicles. Like colouring books, it’s important to stay between the lines especially when sharing the road with one of those greyhound bus sized RV’s that block out the sun and have enough mass to effect tidal patterns.

The day was quite uneventfully, with a couple of stops to take short hikes to some sites of interest, an unknown confederate soldier burial ground with 13 headstones and a First Nations’ burial mound site. We found a nice picnic park to eat the sandwiches that Diane and Jane had prepared that morning.

Confederate Soldier Burial Site

Burial Mounds

We passed through an area that had been hit by a tornado in April of 2011. It looked like some of the forests at home after Hurricane Juan. It made me a little more conscious of those high wind warnings we heard a couple of days earlier.

Tornado row from the LRT

There were two remaining campgrounds on the Trace but one wasn’t far enough along and the other was too far to get to before dark so we went of the Trace to the Roosevelt State Park near Morton to spend the night.

After a supper of wok fries we sat around a fire just to get that smokey flavour fully into all of our now clean clothes. We haven’t had a fire for quite a while and I have been carrying a bundle of wood that we bought about 6 states ago that I was very pleased to divest myself of.

Greetings and salutations from Concorde MA. We left Bagtown Inn (thanks Grace and Jane and Ike) this morning in driving cold rain and howling SW winds… why do we live in the Maritimes again? But the promise of better things awaited us to the south with warming air temperatures and blue skies. The US border crossing was a breeze and route 9 (the Maine Airliner route) was wobbly for the MRT in the strong winds but not unmanageable.

Once we reached New Hampshire, a quick stop was made at the Circle of Life (AKA as the New Hampshire Rotary Liquor Store – always a favorite for sailors on their way to Marblehead – a handle of rum from Goslings is $23US, yikes!). And of course we bought some wine so we would look more sophisticated than RVing might otherwise suggest.

And by 4PM we were in Concorde with sunny breaks, 18C, apple blossoms and flowers everywhere.  Kate’s spot is lovely and backs on wetlands so very quiet. And she is in good company… when turning into town the front of the nearest home said “Residence of Ralph Waldo Emerson” but apparently he doesn’t live there anymore. And of course, this town is known for it’s Minutemen… not sure that is a good thing!

So tomorrow we have a lazy start then Front Royal is the destination of choice…

Day 15 – April 18

After an earlyish breakfast, 8:00, we headed out for the Natchez Trace Parkway where we wanted to visit the Loveless Cafe. Again I am using the royal we here because frankly I steer clear of anything that promotes itself as ‘loveless’ but we have been told that Martha Stewart thought they have the ‘best tea biscuits in America’. So who in their right mind wouldn’t go out of their way for that. If you are interested that line starts to form right behind me. As it turns out we rolled into The Loveless Cafe in about 30 minutes due to Jane’s flawless navigating.

This created a bit of a gastronomic challenge for me. Possibly there is some Scottish blood in my background but when I stay at a hotel that has breakfast ‘included’ I consider it my personal mission to break even on the package transaction and my digestive system had not begun to put a dent in the carbo load I had stocked up on for the arduous drive I was anticipating. That having been said, in the spirit of international relations and in deference to Martha Stewart, I had a few of the biscuits and a slice of their ‘World Famous’ ham. To sum things up quickly, which as you have no doubt gathered, clearly Martha Stewart has never had Diane’s tea biscuits and I am becoming very suspicious of anything touted as ‘World Famous’. I return to my comment about the ‘Lake’ in the Lake Land RV Park, maybe in some world – just not mine.

One thing that I did find interesting at this quaint little cafe (which by the way serves almost 500,000 people a year and makes 7,000 of the aforementioned biscuits a day) was their signage. Firstly as I entered, I was struck by the sign on the window next to the front door. Right next to the American Express, VISA, MasterCard signs was a picture of a hand gun with a red diagonal through it. Clearly hand guns were not a recognized method of payment, that was useful information to have before entering. The second interesting sign was in the men’s washroom. It announced that bags for the toss game were available at the host stand in the restaurant. As useful as that information may be it occurred to me is this something that the average person wants to stop to read when they are making a dash for the porcelain throne?

Not Legal Tender

Useful info

Heading back on the road I was feeling more like an anaconda after its monthly feed than a road warrior and as I settled in the BRT I noticed that the steering wheel seemed a little closer than I had remembered.

Our next stop was the historic town of Franklin, named after – drum roll please- good old Ben Franklin. A beautiful, almost Disney Land perfect little town spotted with perfectly maintained historic buildings. A very walkable town with a central roundabout at the civic square – ignoring the obvious geometric contradiction of having a round about in a town square, 4 hour free parking was available all along the round about with spaces generous enough for the BRT. In the world of RVing it occurs more and more to me that happiness is a big parking space. One thing that struck me in Franklin, other than the obvious wealth, were the white cars. It’s like there is a civic by-law or some tax break for owning a white car.

White Cars Only

We dropped into the visitors centre to get a map and I listened as one of the interpreters outlined a driving tour to a couple who were visiting Franklin for the first time. Franklin was the site of a significant battle in the Civil War and as the interpreter described the various battle locations to them I was taken aback when she noted “that terrible day when the Union troops slipped behind the Confederate lines” . I wanted to say lady, it’s history, get over it – you got your ass whipped – the slaves are gone for good. I wondered if she would have used the same description if the couple had been Afro American. Don’t get me wrong, everyone we have met has been incredibly friendly and helpful to a fault, but just when you start to think that the only difference between people is an accent a bit of culture like that jumps up to remind me that we are in a different place here. Neither better nor worse, but definitely different.

We had just about used up our 4 hours of allocated free parking when we stopped for an early supper. Martha’s biscuits were distant digested memories. After a quick stop on the way back to the Parkway to restock the larder with food and beverages we were back on the road. The time of day and warnings of approaching extreme weather conditions lead us to be on the lookout for accommodations.

Our map showed a campsite called Meriwether Lewis Park which was only about 90 minutes drive so we kept a look out for signs. The Natchez Parkway is quite different than the Blue Ridge, it is a heavily treed area and lacks the mountainous vistas of the Blue Ridge. However the road is very well maintained and combined with the lack of traffic and a 55 mph speed limit we could move right along. The first sign I saw for Meriwether Lewis said ‘Meriwether Lewis site and burial ground’ , as I hadn’t planned on that extended a stay I hoped that some shorter term accommodations would also be available.

Our information indicated that this campground operated on a first come basis, meaning no reservations. What we found out however was that this was a free site with no services other than a washroom, which was fine for an overnight stay. There were several sites available and we chose two sites within close walking distance of the washrooms. Family # 1 experienced some 12v power issues i.e. no auxiliary power and they reverted to candle power for the evening. Ike and I examined the problem but our combined electrical expertise qualifies us to do little more than turn on a light switch so after some perfunctory checking of fuses and voltages we came to the conclusion that there definitely was an electrical problem and congratulated our selves with a beer. As this has been the first site we stopped at without land power there is no saying how long the problem has been going on but the LRT’s auxiliary battery is as flat as I have ever seen a battery.

The promises of high winds, maybe even tornadoes and rain were soon fulfilled and I anxiously examined the numerous trees surrounding our site before we turned in for the night. As big as the BRT may seem on the road it would offer no resistance if one of them were to uproot in a storm. Thoughts of the Meriwether burial ground close by added little comfort. The night passed somewhat uneventfully, marked by flashes of lightening and claps of thunder accompanied by periods of heavy rain. The weather forecast also predicted dramatic temperature drops.

Day 16 – April 19

The predicted temperatures were fully realized over night as we awoke to at least 30 degrees F colder air than the day before, somewhere in the range of 55 F with an associated drop in humidity. This is a marked change from the 85 degrees and high humidity of yesterday. Slightly warmer weather is predicted in the area later in the week . One of our primary needs is to get to a laundry facility soon as clean clothes options are rapidly decreasing.

We stopped several times along the parkway to take short hikes, as it was an overcast day it made for some great opportunities to photograph some of the plant life, many of which are now in full blossom. Later in the afternoon we passed from Tennessee into Alabama.

Lunch on the Natchez Trace

Natchez flora

Natchez fauna

Upon the recommendation of our waitress in Franklin we stopped in at Muscle Shoal and found that other than its unique name it had little of interest. On our way there we saw a private RV site with a laundry and wi-fi in Tuscumbia so we stopped there for the night. For $25/night and free laundry facilities it was a great deal. For supper, Jane and Ike barbecued a chicken and Diane roasted potatoes and string beans.

After supper we had a FaceTime conversation with Family # 2, Carla and Sean, who are now officially ‘on the road’ in the MRT. It was great to hear from them and to see Sean who has been out of the country on business for a while. As they were spending the night at the house of Family # 1, it also provided an opportunity for them to get some unanticipated required items brought along, like a meat thermometer.

Family # 2 have now begun to post to the blog and I did take some heat for the verbosity of my entries. The point is well taken and as I respect their opinion very highly in such matters I took the time today to add an additional 500 words to my posting 🙂 If you want a tweet you are reading the wrong blogger.

Day 12 – April 15

Stone Mountain Park did not have a lot of redeeming value, other than a noticeable lack of roaming bands of marauding bike gangs and as it was raining when we awoke we decided to hit the road as soon as possible and to drive on the inter state for a while. The low clouds would have made driving in the mountains pointless. So our plan was to get further south paralleling the Blue Ridge Parkway and then get back on the parkway to visit the Blue Ridge Folk Art centre. I say ‘our’ plan euphemistically because if I had been the sole decision maker I wouldn’t go to the trouble to roll down my window to get a better look at a piece of ‘folk art’ which, as elitist as it may sound, in my mind is one of the great oxymorons of our time.

Don’t misunderstand, I really appreciate the outlet that their art gave to Maud Lewis and Joe Norris and the innocence of that work but when I see some trade school drop out painting three headed cats on pieces of old barn board in an attempt to ride on Grandma Moses’ shirt tails it falls apart for me and don’t even get me going on painted tractor seats. That being said you aren’t reading this for some rant on art appreciation, I’m just setting the stage here.

So we roll into the parking lot and with some reluctance in my step I approached a very attractive stone building, thinking what a waste of a great building. However once I stepped inside and saw a demonstration of wood turning going on I began to think that this stop might be salvageable. As it turns out this is really a ‘craft’ museum/store. There were some amazing examples of wood work, pottery, jewellery, quilting and various other crafts, most of which was for sale but some on permanent display. This is a juried guild whose membership consists of Appalachian residents only and the work was of incredible quality.

Folk Art Centre

We spent a couple of hours there admiring the work and talking to the very knowledgeable staff, some of whom were artisans. So a very interesting stop and despite many temptations our only purchase was a small hand blown Christmas ornament.

We exited the Parkway again and took the interstate to Asheville, N.C. Where we arrived around 4:00. Asheville isn’t a big city but there was lots of traffic and some narrow streets to navigate until after a few circles of the downtown I spotted a parking space big enough to house the BRT. Now the BRT is not big by RV standards but when looking for a downtown parking spot 22.5′ plus double bike rack can present a challenge, so happening across something like this was tantamount to having Moses be your parking guide and smiting the concrete with his trusty staff to open up a space. I careened into that spot like I had found the promised land and pulled up to the meter. Ike pulled the LRT into the space behind me with room to spare in between.

Immediately I began to question my good fortune. What city in their right entrepreneurial mind would make a parking lot space the size of the air craft carrier deck. I exited the beast to examine my good fortune more closely. There was only one meter and Ike had a meter for his space. A nice gentleman walking along reminded me that I had to put money in the meter but only until 6:00 and then it was free. I thanked him for the information and then realized from the machine he had in his hand that he was the meter man. So I asked him about the space being so large and as he looked at the beast he agreed it did seem somewhat oversized for a metered spot. Closer examination showed that an intervening meter had been removed and hadn’t been replaced. Talk about getting lucky.

Asheville was a very walkable city with lots to entertain us so it was fully 6:00 before we returned to our vehicles, after a tasty meal at a local pub and headed out again. We knew that there were several camping spots south of Asheville on the way to Hendersonville so we headed out on spec looking for camping signs along the way. After one false start at something called the Flea Market Camping Grounds which I think in hindsight we mercifully could not find we found a private campsite called Lake Land RV.

I am finding that the use of euphemism and allusion in campground names seems common. After some careful exploration the best I could determine was that the aforementioned ‘lake’ was some indentation adjacent to the office that had been filled with water through something approaching an oversized lawn sprinkler. In some Lilliputian world that body of water may have passed for a lake but in all honestly we hadn’t selected the location for its view, we needed to get settled before dark.

Day 13 -April 16

After some research the night before, what Lake Land lacked in aquatic vistas it made up for with Internet access, we found that there was going to be a great concert in Nashville on Tuesday night. We decided that with some pedal to the metal driving on the interstate that we might be able to make it there in time for the 7:30 concert that night.

Firstly however there was a bit of business that I wanted to take care of, I wanted to dump our grey water tank. For the benefit of the non RVers following this I will digress into this little bit of RV knowledge that I am assuming everyone has been curios about. I understand that the most frequently asked questions of astronauts are related to what happens to water and ‘waste’. I am assuming that the same questions have been plaguing our readers so I am about to provide you with some relief to those burning questions.

Firstly RV’s have on board ‘water management systems’. These systems consist of enough pipes, valves, connectors, by passes, tanks and pumps to make the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory look like an Easy Bake Oven.

Firstly there is what is known as ‘land’ water that is the hose hook up that you have at most camping sites and this puts water directly to the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, shower and toilet as well as the outside shower. There is a small propane fired hot water tank in the system if that is required. This all runs on the pressure provided by the site services. There is also ‘house’ water. This is water that comes from an on board water tank and a 12v pump that provides water pressure. Some sort of by pass valve deep in the bowels of the beast gives preference to the ‘land’ water over the ‘house’ water whenever the BRT is hooked up.

With the exception of the toilet and of course the outside shower, all of this waste water flows into a holding tank that is called the grey water tank. The toilet water goes into a separate holding tank known as the black water tank, due more to a deference to good taste than descriptive accuracy I believe.

Through a series of pipe, hoses and valves these tanks can be emptied at what are known as ‘dumping’ stations – I think in this case an adherence to descriptive accuracy prevailed over good taste. This was the first time we had stayed at a site that had dumping hook ups right at the individual sites and I felt it was time to learn how to do this while I was only experimenting with ‘grey’ water. For those of you who have rented Robin Williams’ movie RV you will understand the trepidation with which I approached this seemingly innocuous task. When your ‘dump’ goes bad things get ugly fast.

So armed with the requisite disposable gloves, connectors, flexible hoses and due respect, I approached the task. Connections were made, checked and double checked, valves pulled and lo and behold grey water flowed – without event or the need for a hazardous waste clean up team. I had had my first successful ‘dump’ and like some toddler that had just graduated to toilet training I let out a bit of a yahoo, which I noticed was responded to by my neighbour, obviously a seasoned RVer, with something that sounded like ‘newbie’ under his breath. In Ike’s words, ‘you cut me to quick Shrek’. Next time I’ll keep my little successes to myself.

The ‘Dump’

Having passed this milestone we headed out to Nashville. In a nutshell it was a day of hard white knuckle driving. Parts of the interstate have speed limits of 70 mph and most drivers are observing it. The ‘slow’ lane is doing 65. An unplanned bonus was we crossed a time zone and arrived in Nashville around 5:00 and checked into the Days Inn which we had booked on line. It’s great to have the confidence of a booked room when you arrive in town but there is some risk. for instance this particular establishment was undergoing an extensive renovation, the lobby was decorated in a style that I would call Early Bombed Out Beirut. Sheets of plastic hanging from the ceiling, carpet and tile stripped off the floor, wires strung everyone. A lovely welcome and no reduced rate but we were running late and had no time to negotiate a better deal.

A quick change of clothes and we arrived at the Bridgestone Arena in time to buy tickets on the floor. The concert was a fund raiser for the Music Hall of Fame and was hosted by Keith Urban and Vince Hall. The line up was incredible and included Roseanne Cash, Eric Church, Kid Rock, Cheryl Crowe, Jason Aldean, Chris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Hank Snow Junior, Trace Atkins, Tim Mcgraw and more. It was like a lifetime bucket list of country music. Check out the whole line up at

http://countrymusichalloffame.org/keith-urban-we-re-all-for-the-hall-2013/

Cheryl Crowe and Kid Rock

After the concert we walked around downtown and stopped in at a bar called Benchmark where a group unassumedly named the ‘Disappointments’ were playing. Fantastic musicians mixed with a great crowd patter was a winning combination for us. We were entertained with their country rock tunes until after midnight.trim.eTLuyC

Day 14- April 17

A lateish breakfast at 8:30 before we headed out with a plan to explore downtown Nashville. We had seen a lot of interesting spots as we walked around after the concert the night before. We visited the State Capital, where we spent some time getting through the security scan due mostly to the fact that both Ike and I had knives on our person. We had a nice security guard and I tried to make the point with him that Ike’s key chain Leatherman really stretched the definition of a knife. After getting our passes we spent some time admiring the spectacular building with all of its amazing limestone construction.

The Capital contains the Supreme Court, the Senate, the Legislature and the House of Representatives. It makes my head hurt trying to understand the American political system and I am amazed that anything gets passed but the system seems to work for them.

We then walked around downtown some more after a couple of stops for some non alcoholic hydration. It is stinking hot here and being next to a large river seems to have driven the humidity up much more than we have seen in earlier parts of our trip. At one point we were walking behind a guy in a dark suit who regardless of the heat was making his way promptly to some appointment. For a moment I couldn’t help but smile with the realization that I wasn’t that guy anymore. Life is good.

We wanted to see the so called music district of Nashville which was some walking distance away but as our plan for the day was to just get to the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a roadway similar to the Blue RidgeParkway, we felt we had some time to spare. However the walk was a bit longer than we anticipated and required another stop at a watering hole around 3:00 where we decided that possibly our walking plan should be curtailed and a taxi ride back to our hotel might get us out of Dodge before rush hour traffic. We took the opportunity of a wi-fi connection to Face Time Carla to see how Family # 2 were making out. Sean and Casey have returned safely from their trek of the Nepalese mountain sides and Carla is busy packing up the MRT.

During that conversation our plans evolved again. We decided that we would try to use the coupons on the back of our Nashville maps to get 50% off another night at our hotel. It should be pointed out that on this trip all plans are considered STC – subject to change.

In anticipation of a freed up schedule we did walk around the music district which was a pleasant walk around some older homes, many of which have been repurposed to corporate offices for music industry companies. We caught a cab back to downtown and then walked back to our hotel over the pedestrian bridge. Leaving the ‘women folk’ in charge of the negotiations, we now had more leverage than we did the previous night with the impending concert start we got our reduced rate. We spent another ( earlier) night walking about downtown and had a filling supper at Jacks Barbecue where not surprisingly there were no vegan offerings, who would have thought. Without any effort we found another watering hole, downtown Nashville makes George St. in St. John’s look like a temperance revival centre with two live bands to entertain us.

Leaving Halifax in 6C and drizzle made the departure easier! We had a great time with Karen and Cam last night when they hosted friends and family for some eats and drinks, Very nice, thanks Cam and Karen.

So now after 2 hours on the highway from Novi we are now firmly ensconced in the Bagtown Inn (Jane & Ike’s Sackville, NB home) with Grace & Shogi (sp) waiting on us hand and foot. OK, mostly . Grace while the dog runs around with Carla’s socks. And now Grace has shown us where the rum is so this has helped immensely with the jet lag.

Day 11-April 14 continued

After our musical session we went across the street to visit an art gallery which had some lovely work by local artists, including some work by the owner who repurposed various every day items such as irons and farming tools into what were surprisingly attractive lamps, considering the origins of the constituent parts.

After Floyd we headed back onto the Parkway, crossed over into North Carolina and found the Stone Mountain St. Park. Similar to many of the state parks we have been at it was poorly marked to the point of being hidden. I feel more like Indiana Jones than a tourist, with every stop becoming more and more difficult to find.

As we are getting a little low on food supplies a bit of creative work was necessary to pull a supper out of the hat but Jane came through with some tasty chili, made with ingredients that included some freeze dried protein stuff, basically bomb food, but just like some of the art pieces in Floyd, the product was far superior to what you might have assumed, considering the constituent parts.

Diane fired up the oven and topped off the meal with some fresh baked biscuits – hardly roughing it are we. Although we had bought wood for a fire we were all too tired so it looks like the wood is going to travel for a while.

Day 12 – April 15

I’m behind, stay tuned.