Barry and Susan's Blog

After leaving Paducah on the 13th we traveled for a couple of days through Kentucky and Iowa.  After a couple of repeats of the engine quitting problem we experienced earlier in the trip we stopped at another repair facility in Sioux City, Iowa.  They worked on entire day finding the intermittent problem and all the next day installing a new fuel pump.  After three nights in the truck company lot we got underway again on the 18th and drove here.

Yesterday we made the beautiful drive to Mt Rushmore, about 70 miles.  Spent a few hours at Mt Rushmore viewing the mountain, walking the 3/4 mile loop trail for varying views, visiting the museum, and having lunch.  A very pleasant day.  Today we plan to spend the day at the Badlands National Park just south of Wall.

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Our last day at Pigeon Forge was Friday, 6/11.  We spent the afternoon at Cade’s Cove in the national park.  Cade’s Cove is another farming community similar to Cataloochee, which we visited a few days ago from the south side of the park.  Cade’s is located in a larger valley and is not as isolated.  There are a number of the old farm buildings preserved and available to visit.  The valley is circled by a one way loop  road of 11 miles.  It was fairly busy and congested when we were there.  I’ll put a few photos at the end of this post.

In the evening we found a very nice lodge on the hills over Gatlinburg for our anniversary dinner.  Exceptionally nice lodge, Exceptionally fine dinner and service.  A great way to finish our stay.

Yesterday, 6/12, we headed west and spent the night at Paducah, Kentucky.  Our plan is to travel pretty much directly west until we get to the Badlands area of South Dakota.   We expect to stop for a few days to visit the Badlands National Park and Mt Rushmore.  Today we’re at Columbia, Missouri.

Big event today: I had Sehlin family traditional “Yuck Dinner” – fish(Tilapia)/mashed potatoes/creamed corn, all together.  Still as good as ever.

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Dollywood was great, much nicer and more relaxed than I expected.  We watched two shows—Smokey Mountain String Band, and Sha-Ko-Na review, both good.  Also listened to parts of others.  Rode train, walked through shops and demonstrations, had lunch, etc.  Park is nice, lots of trees, etc.  Plenty  of rides and attractions for kids, but also many shows and demonstrations for adults.  Mid-80’s and quite humid but with lots of trees for shade and cool shops it was an enjoyable day.  Nice creek through the park, hills and forests at edges.

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6/7  The Biltmore Estate in Asheville is the most awesome “home” I’ve ever seen.  Home is too small  a word, this is truly a castle.  The entry road to the home is about 4 miles, 3 to the ticket stop and  then another mile or more to the home.  Out is 5 or more miles.  All through landscaped grounds.  The home itself is amazing.  Room after room of priceless art and exquisite furnishings.  No photos allowed inside, but I did get a few in the gardens and of the exterior.

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On the eastern side of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park is the Cataloochee Valley.  First settled in the 1830’s by the late 1800’s the valley had a population of about 700 largely representing about 10 families .  When the park was established all of the properties were purchased and the people moved out.  Initially the Park Service began removing homes and buildings but later decided to preserve some of them as a reminder of farm life in this remote and isolated valley.  Visiting one can easily imagine crops growing, stock grazing, and people working.  It is also easy to  imagine the total isolation of a small community.  Today the valley is a beautiful place including a large elk herd, wild turkeys, etc.  As we were eating our picnic and watching some wild turkeys in a field a mother elk brought her calf into the field.  A ranger came by and said the calf had been born and tagged yesterday morning.  Pretty neat.

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After several hours trouble shooting and attempting without success to get the motor home to repeat the hot start difficulty it  had a couple of days earlier we drove to Maggie Valley, NC, on Thursday.  The engine has performed perfectly since last week so it was just some one time gremlin.  Maggie Valley is between the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Asheville, NC.

Yesterday we drove into the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  Stopped at Visitor center for map, and to see the sample pioneer farm.  Various 19th century farm buildings were moved to the site and reassembled to show a typical Smokeys farm of the late 19th century.  Drove on over the pass and down the north side most of the way to Gatlinburg, stopped for picnic.  More impressive mountains and views.  The road is quite winding and up to 9% grade in places.  Trees on the mountains  in the  eastern US are more diverse mixture of evergreens and hardwoods, rather than the predominant evergreens on the west of Cascades.  Steep hills, many beautiful valleys, gorgeous views.  The Best.

This morning we plan a visit to the Biltmore estate in Asheville.  It is supposed to be the grandest mansion and gardens in the US so we’re anxious to see it.

Yesterday and the day before we spent on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  My word supply is far too limited to come close to describing this place.  It ranks at the absolute top of anything I have ever seen.  We drove for about 60 miles right on the crest of the Blue Ridge with stunning views on BOTH sides over beautiful valleys about 2,000 feet below.  Martin, the views from the Slide Lake Road or the Blue Lake Road over the Skagit are similar, but this goes on for 60  miles.  Amazing.  I’m sorry that my photo skills don’t begin to match the grandeur of the views I tried to capture.

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Today we drove a whole 68 miles to an RV park at Salem, VA, near Roanoke.  Our motor home has been slightly balky when starting if it is hot.  It’s not a big thing as it performs just fine in all other ways, just takes a couple of starts to get going if the engine has only been shut down for 30 minutes or so – such as at a rest stop.  There is a Cummins shop in Roanoke where I have an appointment tomorrow morning.  Now of course the stupid thing has been working just fine the last couple of times.  GRRRRRRRRR.  Since the shop is handy I’m going to go ahead and have them see if they can find anything wrong.  Hopefully at least the diagnostic computer has recorded some useful information.

Since my last post we enjoyed several days in the Williamsburg area.  We had plenty of time for Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg as well as a nice visit with Rita Klahr.  I’ve particularly enjoyed the chance to visit so many of the important sites of the founding of our country.  Seeing the places and reviewing the their roles in our history helps put individual events in better perspective.

Yesterday we spent the day at Appomattox Court House.  Another fine one.  I’ve posted some comments and photos here:   Appomattox

After several pleasant days near Washington, D.C. we moved south yesterday to a nice Thousand Trails park near Williamsbug, Jamestown, and other hot spots.  Our stay in D.C. included visits to Mt Vernon, Gunston Hall (the home of George Mason), The American History Museum, Natural History Museum, Sculpture Garden, National Art Gallery, and The Museum of the American Indian.  We also enjoyed meeting cousins John and Jan Osborne for dinner in Alexandria.  John is semi-retired from his career as a math professor at University of Maryland.  I may get some photos posted later today – or I may not.

This morning we are expecting a visit from a friend from our days at Lemoore.  Al Klahr and I were in an A7 squadron and Rita and Susan became very close friends.  They were also at Monterey while we were there in the early 1970’s.  Rita and Al have subsequently  parted ways, but  Rita is living in Virginia Beach about an hour south  of where we are.  She is coming to have lunch  with us and we’re all looking forward to catching up.

Steady light rain all day but we enjoyed our visit to Monticello.  After watching a short movie and then spending an hour or so viewing the displays at the visitor center we took a guided tour of the mansion.  WOW.  It was as impressive as I’ve read.  The imagination and skill that produced such a beautiful home are difficult to imagine.  I was not aware that Jefferson built Monticello once, then took it apart and built it all over again.  He was also  constantly redesigning and rebuilding as long as he lived.  Thus, he was deeply in  debt when he died requiring his family to sell Monticello following his death in 1826.  Fortunately the family which purchased Monticello preserved it through several generations until the Monticello Foundation was able to  purchase it in the 1920’s.

Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside so I have just a few from the grounds.  Since it was raining we also missed touring the gardens and grounds.  Another time, perhaps.

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