week 22

migration north - part 1

It's that time of year again - time for us to get out of the heat and head up to Maine!

Here are some of the highlights from the first half of this year's trip.

How could we pass up stopping at a place called Duke's - especially when it has a dog run!

Our big stop for the first half was something we've been wanting to do since we started taking the RV back and forth between Texas and Maine - the Jack Daniel's Distillery!  We did the Angel's tour which took us through all the buildings and we really got to learn all about the process of making Tennessee Whiskey.  We got to see every step of the process.  It probably sounds strange but it smelled so good in there!

This is where they make the charcoal that they filter the alcohol through to make it Tennessee whiskey.

The reason it's in the middle of nowhere is all because of this spring - apparently it's the perfect water for making whiskey.

Did you know Jack died of a broken toe?  Well, technically he died of blood poisoning but it was all because he kicked this safe and broke his toe!  Crazy, right?

Here we are with Jack.

Also, did you know that they make all their own barrels - and only use them ONCE?!?!

After the tour we got to do a tasting of 5 of their higher end whiskeys.  Whiskey is not my drink but it was really interesting to taste how different they can become when they essentially have followed the same exact process and recipe - all except where the barrels are placed for storage.

We also spent a little time walking around the square of Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Highlights included grilled cheese on crack at a little BBQ joint, the Jack Daniel's souvenir shop and Jack Daniels fudge.

Oh and how could I forgot how excited Sean was that there wasn't a pin in Bangor yet - so he got the honors!

We highly recommend the tour if you happen to get to that area!

week 21

week 17

week 16

guzzy roadtrip south - the end

If you were following along with our roadtrip you're probably wondering what happened to us.  No reason for worry, we're all safe and sound back in Texas.  Sean and I both ended up getting a nasty bug and spent the rest of the trip sick while still trying to enjoy the last few days.  This weekend we finally are back among the living and trying to catch up on everything!

So anyway...here's the lowdown on the end of our trip.

Thursday we woke up and tried to go back to the BBQ joint for a hearty breakfast but they weren't opened yet.  I guess I will cut them some slack as it was Thanksgiving! :)

The drive took us right by the Gateway Arch, prep for the St Louis Thanksgiving Day Parade and Royals Stadium.  We ended up at my Mom's in Kansas and enjoyed a tasty Thanksgiving dinner.  The only pictures I took in the last few days (which should tell you how ill I was feeling) were these few drive-bys.

Friday we stayed at Mom's and celebrated my brother's birthday (which was actually on Thanksgiving).

Saturday we got up early and hit the road so we could get home and get everything unloaded in the daylight.  Sean was so sweet and even drove the entire way and let me sleep.

Thanks a wrap on the 2017 trek south!

guzzy roadtrip south - day 5

Yesterday was a fairly low-key day.  We just drove straight to our next campground and were in bed super early.  We stayed at Cahokia RV Parque in Cahokia, IL.  What we didn't realize when we picked the place is that it's pretty much a suburb of St Louis.  The campground offered a shuttle to downtown but we were both too worn out - plus I've already done all the St Louis sightseeing from past visits and Sean was just there last week for a work day trip.  The area was a little sketchy and the campground wasn't anything to write home about but the people were super nice.  It did have a cute BBQ joint right on the premises which we hit up for dinner.  Not too bad!

Unfortunately, we haven't hit any warmth yet and still had to run the furnace and even broke out the electric blanket!

guzzy roadtrip south - day 4

We started the day by saying our good-byes and enjoying breakfast with Sean's brother at the cafeteria at his office since that's where Guzzy had been resting up for the remainder of our trip.  After running the generator a bit to warm up the inside, we were on our way to the next stop.

Today's drive involved a lot of winding roads and up and down mountains.  As we continued the drive we both started to look at each other and say "I think we've been on this road before!"  After thinking about it for a minute, we determined it was the year after we got married and drove the Jeep up to Maine.  If you want to read about that trip you can find it under 2010, May.

Our campground, Robert Newlon RV Park & Camping, was located right next to a runway that is used for skydiving.  Sean was sad he didn't know this so he could arrange to take a jump but it turned out too cold for that anyway.  They also had a cafe on the premises but it's closed Monday - Wednesday.

Given we knew the area was familiar we had to look up whether a "restaurant" we had been to before was nearby.  Turns out it was only 3 miles away so we decided we had to go!  Luckily we were able to get an Uber and we had him drive us there, wait for us to order and drive us back to our campground.

The "restaurant" just so happened to be the Hillbilly Hotdog!!!  (click here so you can see how the place has changed)  We couldn't believe how much the place had changed in the 8 years since we had been there.  It expanded - now has an indoor ordering place, a rooftop deck on the bus and many other buildings that weren't there before.

They happen to be one of those places that has a contest - if you can eat a home wrecker then you win something.  Sean was determined he was getting this hot dog (but not doing the contest since we were taking it to go) so I decided to just share with him.

The home wrecker is a 1 pound hot dog with 2 pounds of toppings!  It was good but together we weren't able to get through it all.  HAHA!

The campground didn't have internet so we opted to have some old-fashioned entertainment - cribbage!  Of course I won! :)

guzzy roadtrip south - day 2 & 3

Today's trip went from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

This was probably the heaviest traffic we've ever encountered in all the years we've been making the drive.  It could be that we were driving through the outskirts of DC.  We even drove right past the PwC office in Tyson's Corner where Sean and I used to go to on work trips back when we were only work spouses.  No, this is not a picture of said building.

Sean's brother lives in Raleigh, as for the random direction we headed to get back to Texas.  It's always good to get to see him and his family.  Since we arrived on a Sunday (and Sean and I were still really tired) we just hung out for the night watching the Patriots and the Cowboys and grilled up some steaks.

Monday started with Sean and his brother making a trip to the local walk-in care.  Sean was convinced he had strep (man flu anyone???) and had also noticed a little friend had hitched a ride with us from Maine - a tick - that had latched onto Sean!  Sean can't stop laughing at the doctor's surprise that "it's still alive!".

The rest of the day we just enjoyed hanging out with everyone and running a few errands.

In case you're wondering where Guzzy was, we actually were able to park it at Sean's brother's work. We're now back on the road and headed northwest - any guesses where we'll stop tonight?

guzzy roadtrip south - day 1

It's that time again - for the semi-annual trek south for the winter.  You're probably thinking, "this seems late".  I would agree.  We had a lot of people that have been wanting to visit for the fall foliage so we decided to make that happen this year.

Also, we had plans to participate in the bed races in Bar Harbor at the beginning of November.  Life got in the way and that didn't happen but gave some other friends an opportunity to visit anyway! Their departure ended up being the same day as ours and so we got to have passengers on the beginning of our trip.

Our first stop was the Bangor airport to drop off one of our guests for her own trek back to Chicago.  Then we headed to Portland to drop off the rest for their trek back to Kansas City.

Any time you drive to Portland you have to stop off at Big G's for a hearty meal.  Since it was so early, this time it was breakfast!  YUM!

The rest of the trip was boring - Sean has been getting sick and I'm completely worn out as I had a work trip right before we left.  We ended up taking turns napping while the other drove.  This should be our longest day of driving for the trip which meant we didn't get to our campground until super late.

We stayed at Shady Grove Campground in Denver, Pennsylvania.  It's nestled in the middle of a neighborhood.  It appeared to have quite a few people that park their rigs there full time.  The people were super nice and we were able to get a good 10 hours of sleep!  Sean's starting to feel better and I'm not as grouchy - it's wonderful what sleep can do and we're ready to trek on!

Come back to find out where we're headed next!