Home Again

Hello All ~  
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived safely back at home after a great 2 month+ trip across the U.S. and Back.   We are reminded why we always closed the Rhody this time of year with the onslaught of rainy weather -  but it is still good to be home.


Here are a few photos from the end of our trip in one of our favorite areas of the country:
Southern Utah!

Nashville to Kansas

Well - time has gotten away from us and we have seen and done a lot since our time in the Smoky Mountains.  Just having too much fun I guess.
We spent a great week in Nashville - highlights include biking the Naches Trace, Live music in downtown Nashville, The Nashville Convention Center, several rounds of golf, BBQ, Elvis Show,
Andrew Jackson Hermitage, and beautiful drives around the area.

 

 Here is a brief pictorial of our journey back west:

 

We had a great time at an Elvis Show "Tribute to the King" at the Texas Troubadour

 

Live Music Options abound all around Nashville

 

 

We found lots of options for golf around Nashville too!

 

Elvis Lives!

 

Music Central~ Broadway

The "Bat Tower" AT&T Bldg

 

Just North of Nashville the Andrew Jackson Hermitage

Could these quotes be more appropriate for Today's Political Climate??

 


From Nashville we headed west to Memphis.  We not only stopped here for the music and BBQ but to visit with Vince Nguyen the son of our friends Tuan and Mai.  Vince is doing his residency in Memphis and it was great to see him after so many years.  We had a great meal together at Central BBQ downtown.

 

Beale Street - Memphis center for Music

 

 

 

We just had the one day and night in Memphis then off to Arkansas and we had a nice lunch in Little Rock and visited the Bill Clinton Presidential Library.  Our first presidential Library visit and we enjoyed it.

 

 From Little Rock we spent the night car camping near Fort Smith AR and then headed NW through Tulsa, OK and were we ever impressed.   Tulsa has a rich history and downtown filled with Art Deco architecture from the 19th Century.

Our last night before returning to Sally and Al's in Kinsley was another night of "car camping"
Great Sand Plains state park in north central Oklahoma.

A nice fire and our Biolite Stove for our evening meal

A beautiful sunset on the Resevoir

We were excited to get back to Sally and Al's farm in Kinsley and what a treat to spend the time we had with them both as well as their family.  We feel so lucky to have renewed our familial ties to them all and look forward to more get togethers!

 

Al's Pride and Joy ~  '53 Chevy Belair

We had a nice dinner at the Kinsley golf and country club and watched game 2 of the World Series
(which KC won) and then the next morning, reunited with Obiwander (our trailer which we had left in Kinsley for the last month during our journey east) continued our trek west.  On Sally's recommendation we took a couple of hours out and stopped at Bent's Old Fort N.M. and it was a real highlight.  It was more of very fortified trading post on the Santa Fe Trail and it is a really inspiring example of life in the settling of the American West.

 

 

We have made our way into Colorado and we are now in Durango until Sunday.
We are getting a little snow today but it is supposed to clear up.
We are in that phase of the closer we get to home the more homesick we are feeling.
We will spend some time in our favorite of places - Utah, but we will be watching the weather and will get home sometime the middle of November.

Hope all are well!

Don and Carol

North Carolina and the Smoky Mountains

We are about halfway through our trip and have made the turnaround and a sweet visit with our friends in Hillsborough. Peter teaches word working at the Waldorf school and Deborah and their daughter Sonja teach horseback riding and other equestrian activities on their farm outside of Hillsborough. 
    We got to explore the Triangle region of N.C. which is the area of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.  Lots of history here between actions during the civil war and the history of tobacco.  Although tobacco has a more than tainted image today - it was fascinating to learn about the important role it played as an economic force in early  American history.

Deborah and Peter's family including son Liam, daughters

Sara & Sonja and Sara's husband Wayne

Their sweet dogs -  Bonita y Guapo

Peter's shop and classroom at Waldorf school -  very cool!

foot operated lathe that Peter and class built

Deborah's horse - Charlie

Drying tobacco the old fashioned way

Bennett Homestead - where largest surrender of Confederate soldiers

 ending the American Civil War…occurred

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Place



Getting; some o' that good ol' North Carolina 'Cue

 

 

When we left Hillsborough we headed west across N.C. to the Smoky Mountains and spent a couple of nights camping in the truck and took some beautiful drives and hikes into the Park on the Bryson City side and then over the Newfound Gap Rd. from North Carolina to Tennessee.  Spectacular scenery and Fall Colors.  Getting our camping fix and cooking meals on our Biolite stove was fun - but we are happy to have a week in our condo outside of Gatlinburg, TN for a week before we head to Nashville. We have really been enjoying this area and exploring eastern Tennessee and the Smokys even though the area of Gatlinburg and Sevierville is like a giant carnival - probably precipitated by Dollywood.   We had a great drive to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and just enjoy the drives and small towns in the area.



Camping on the way to the Smoky's

Roughin' it without the trailer - but cozy in our truck "bed"

Fall Colors in Great Smoky Mountain N.P.

 

Clingman Dome Lookout at 6600' (on top of ol' Smoky.....)

Smoky Mountain View of Fall colors

About 2 hours drive from Sevierville, TN is the

Cumberland Gap National Historic Park

Gateway to the north for early pioneers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_Gap

The view of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee from

the Pinnacle hike at the Park

Our condo at the foothills of  Smoky Mtn, N.P.

Sunday we are on our way to Nashville - we will update you then.

Don and Carol