We went through the Smokey Mountains and are headed home - take a look---
Latest Update - Wednesday, December 3rd - 9:30pm EST
To see the latest addition to the blog please scroll down to the bottom.
You may see new pictures as you go down (o:

Road trip blog – November 2008
Turkey Hollow, VT to Flagstaff, Arizona and back
Driving directions to Flagstaff, AZ – Google maps
2,514 mi – about 1 day 14 hours
That would be averaging over 66 mph! Phew.

Walking directions to Flagstaff, AZ
2,427 mi – about 33 days 1 hour
(Couldn’t resist… (o;)

DAY 1 – the 13th of November - Barnard, VT to Cobleskill, NY:
Left a bit later than planned but relaxed too. I drove that day. We went down 106 to rt 10 to 11 west to Manchester. There west some more to 29 into Saratoga and out again. To 30 south over I-90, through Amsterdam and down to 7 which parallels I-88.
It rained most of the trip, not hard but steady wet, wipers going.
After it had been dark a while we found a small motel in Cobleskill called the Colonial something (Inn maybe). It was connected to a restaurant that I think probably made more money than the motel. Run by a group of Greek folk. We requested a room in back, away from the road and they obliged, we got the farthest one back – but it was cold! As cold as outside, which was pretty close because we were right next to the back door of the place and it couldn’t close enough to latch.
We turned on the thermostat as high as it went and the baseboard heater did get warm. It was going to take all night to bring the room up to comfortable. Then I noticed the bathroom had a powerful wall heater and cranked that up.
We went to dinner.
I asked after the lamb and the young lady went to check. She came back and informed me that there was no lamb and therefore no pork chops either so I settled for a Ruben. Later she came back most apologetic and puzzled because of course she knew that pork chops weren’t lamb….! Silly stuff.
The food was good, salty compared to home cooking but I know that comes with traveling and eating out.
On the way out I asked the young man about wireless Internet connections. He went with us and copied the number off the bottom of his machine for me. Funny note to go along with the rest of the place, when he went to open the door to the storeroom the handle came right off in his hand, he was some confused. He mentioned that the machine was actually his personal router but it was strong enough to be picked up throughout the motel rooms. So I thanked him very much for sharing…
Back in the room it was much warmer. We forgot to turn the stuff down though so we were baking by the middle of the night and had to get up and deal with it.
Made it plenty comfortable for a shower the next morning.
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DAY 2 – Friday the 14th - Cobleskill, NY to Franklin, PA
Good breakfast in the little restaurant, waffles and 4, count em, 4 pieces of bacon cooked just right.
Started out around 9:30am, respectable -- for vacation.
Sonia drove most of the day. We jumped onto I-88 and went all the way down past Binghamton and onto I-Fut86 to the Wellsburg exit.
We’d planned to get off earlier but missed the exit – it didn’t matter, that’s the whole point of this trip, to go south and west, west and south, if we miss one road we’ll take the next one.
During the first half og the day Sonia spotted close to a dozen red-tailed hawks, I saw at last 4 of them myself. She decided that they were leading us on our way.
We wiggled around taking this road and that until we reached route 6 which is decorated by green dots on the map – that means it is a scenic road. On that we headed west.
We planned to drive through the Allegheny National Forest and that is what we did. We got off Rt 6 in Sheffield and found the narrow road that took us to the ‘Hearts Content Scenic Area’. Basically it was a big picnic / camping area up on the mountain that had a few trails for hiking and skiing, etc. We chose a shortish hike (versus the 11-mile one) and enjoyed ½ hour walk looking at some BIG trees. Supposedly there were 20 acres of virgin forest with more added later. Big old white pine, hemlock, beach, oak and maples. No birch.
I took over driving at that point as it was getting dark. We made our way out of the forest and the funny road that was a mile of pavement, a mile of dirt, a mile of pavement and so on. I decided that they were trying to match the dotted line on the map.
We then jumped on Rt 62 (another green-dotted road) and cruised along thinking the scenery would have been nice along the river but alas, it was dark.
It found I had my own animal leading me on, three different times a deer crossed the road in from of the car, from north to south and then stopped an watched as we drove by, two in the nat. park and the last on Rt 62 which meant I had to slow rather quickly and see the vehicle behind me come kind of close.
We were looking for a likely motel but ended up missing the first two as they zipped by. Finally, after some funky turns in Oil City, we found a Super 8 in Franklin, PA. This motel run by some folks from India.
The lady wasn’t thrilled to give us a room without a reservation and we had to force the issue to get two beds. (She thought we’d be sharing a king-size bed – I don’t think so!)
Good fast wireless Internet with routers on the walls of the hallway.
Nice meal at the King restaurant next door.
Partly sunny, sometimes cloudy, no precipitation.
That connection up and died though which meant the Internet spirits were telling me it was time to sleep. In the morning there was still no connection whichmeant we were meant to simply drive on....
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Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 - Franklin, PA to Georgetown, KY
DAY 3:
Raining from the start. We ate the free continental breakfast at the motel but added some of our own Cabot cheese for protein.
I drove the whole day. We went down Rt 8 to I-80. In Youngstown, OH we picked up Rt 11 south to Steubenville where we picked up 22 west.
The latter is a historic “primary’ highway.
We got a little discombobulated in East Liverpool somehow headed east on 30 and actually going back into PA for about 10 minutes.
We followed 22 along until it joined 40 west and then we lost 22 altogether in Zane.
That road is beautiful, fun turns, easy, lovely scenery. Gentle rolling hills. We saw some cute mini ponies on Rt 22 but weren't tempted to take one. Maybe because it was raining all day and it'd of been wet.
We also noted many old farms that were abandoned or with people only living in the houses. There is real estate for you! Why are people filling up Vermont when East Ohio is so gorgeous?
We finally ran out of conversation topics so enjoyed CDs of Sonia’s which works since she likes to hear her familiar music and I like to hear stuff that is different.
The city of Cambridge was cool to drive through with nice old buildings and painted statues of Amish people all over the place. That and Rt. 22 would be worth visiting again.
During the day we only stopped for gasoline and a pit stop at a nice picnic area near a lake in Ohio (public outhouse, that appealed to our 'green' natures). We snacked as we drove on stuff I had brought like dried apples, arugula, mozzarella cheese and crackers, granola bars and other stuff.
Since it was raining, and the scenery along 40 as it paralleled I-70 was pretty much the same, we decided to just jump on I-70 and burn up some miles. We put a story disk into the machine and stayed on the interstates all the way to just north of Lexington, KY where we stopped for the night at a Days Inn. These folks were fine without a reservation and it is the least expensive room so far. Also the wireless is reasonably fast although it does disappear at times.
The only choices for eating this evening were Wendy’s, Mac Ds and Waffle House so we went to the last which is where we plan to eat in the morning as well (after checking the free offerings in the hotel lobby, always a good source of bananas).
So far all the hotel rooms we’ve been in have had refrigerators, how ironic considering this trip we brought Mom’s nice plug-in cooler that runs as we drive. It works great and has kept the Turkey Hollow water well frozen as long as it stays in there. We’ve already drunk almost half of it though.
We made all the usual phone calls to my folks, Roy (that phone was busy, he was on the computer so I chatted with him via Facebook instead), Calvin, left a message with Emma and Hugo-papa and so on.
Mom’s little cell phone with its unlimited minutes is quite handy although we haven’t used it except for the check-in calls in the evening.
As you have figured out by now the computer takes up a few hours a day for me and Sonia reads or sleeps while I'm logged on although she has added a couple of her friends to those who might be interested in hearing about what we are doing.
She is amused to see what position I find each day in the various motel rooms. I like to be a few feet from the monitor so might be found sitting on the floor where the bathroom light lights the attached keyboard, with the laptop up on a chair in front of me. It works quite well actually (except that Sonia has to step over me in order to reach the bathroom (o:).
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DAY 4 - Georgetown, KY to Nashville, TN
Nov. 16, 2008
We got up to see snow outside on the cars and lee side of the trees. Whell.
The weather improved as we went on our way, the sun came out an it warmed up ... some.
Still nasty in Vermont I hear but not as cold as we've been.
Sonia did all the driving this day but in shortish stretches.
First we drove down to the Kentucky Horse Park. We wandered around there for a couple of hours. It was cold! Not much was happening. We visited a few horses out in their pastures, Sonia was charmed by the minis, if she'd a pocket big enough she'd of stuck one in there you can be sure!
The rest of the time we were inside the museum learning about the history of horses and all that good stuff.
Once back in the car we headed south on Ironworks Parkway planning to go straight through Lexington (on a Sunday we figured it would be pretty quiet and we were right). We didn't end up exactly where we thought we would but it was cool none the less. We passed many (many!) fancy farms such as Three Chimneys, Lane's End, Taylor Made and others I recognized from TV.
We ended up west of the town and jogged south to pick up the Bluegrass Parkway. We went west to Elizabethtown where we turned south on I-65.
Partway down we got off to see the Mammoth Cave. We did a two hour tour making our way down 250 feet, 280 stairs and then back up again going over a mile under the ground. It was all amazing to see, especially the last part with all the stalactites and 'mites.
Once out of the ground we got back on I-65 and drove south past Nashville stopping for the night at a Microtel on the Bellevue highway. We figured it would be easier to leave in the morning if we'd passed the city already.
Had the fanciest dinner yet at the restaurant next door and brought back tomorrow's lunch which is staying cold in the car refrigerator.
This is a low amenity motel, no coffee maker, or icebox or even shampoo but, yes, wireless Internet. (Same stuff happens though, where it just disconnects and I have to go re-connect before I can continue. It is those computer spirits again telling me I have to quit for the night so the pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.)
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DAY 5, - Nashville, TN to Roland, OK (loosing track of the days and where we stayed when so this journal is handy....)
November 17, 2008
We did the free continental breakfast at the motel and headed right out, west on I-40.
I drove all day, again it was smooth. It is especially easy when we slide the story disk in the machine and go and go.
The day started out gray and even a little rainy, I was wondering if I was to always have the rainy days while Sonia had to drive in the sun, but it cleared up and the sun was in my lap most of the day.
We went through Memphis and over the Mississippi and we were in Arkansas around noon.
Sonia guided us up off of the interstate onto Rt. 64 west which was straight and fast and much more pleasant than the thruway. All big, flat fields. Lots of grain elevators and little towns a mile off the main route.
We visited one of those towns, Earle, looking for a post office to buy post card stamps. It was interesting to see the way folks live but we didn't find what we were looking for so on we went.
We cruised on a little farther until we and the car were hungry, past tractors dealers and little farm houses in the middle of nowhere, to Wynne, Ark. There we did some grocery shopping looking for real food and fruit, planning a picnic not too much father on.
We got directions to the post office and were able to find stamps and send off our first card.
Alas, we didn't find a nice little picnic place at all so after crossing most of the state and about to jump back on I-40 we pulled into the parking area of a bowling alley in Conway, Ark. There we sat on a log and ate our little picnic. We also took a walk for about 40 minutes around the buildings, through a field and a school's athletic fields.
After our late lunch we drove on, listened to our story until we passed Fort Smith, Ark and crossed into Oklahoma. At just about the first exit we pulled off for the night. This time we are staying in a Travelodge in Roland, Ok.
Called all the family and, so far, the most conistant Internet connection yet....
We ate in our room, avocado and Triscuits with Graham crackers for dessert which means we didn't eat out at all this day.
That's about it, now to see if I can get some pictures up to illustrate our story (yeah, I did it!).
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DAY 6 - Roland, OK to Pampa, TX
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Beautiful sunny day all day. We went to a restaurant so we could have a nice breakfast with tea and coffee and eggs and bacon and pancakes and hashbrowns….
A truck driver overheard us discussing our day’s plan and couldn’t resist checking the map with us and offering advice. He seemed bemused at the whole idea of our trip and that we would purposely take little slow roads to get from one place to another.
Leaving about 9:30 from Roland, OK, Sonia drove, I navigated. We spent the first couple of hours on I-40 with a planned pit stop just before turning north on Rt 18n. At the rest stop we were intrigued to see a couple of horse trailers and people walking their horses on the grass.
Also fun were a few signs, the big one saying ‘dog walk’ and then a hydrant that said ‘city dogs’ and a post that said ‘country dogs’. We had to get a picture of that…
After leaving I-40 we didn’t use an interstate for the rest of the day. We went from Rt 18n to 105w to Guthrie, OK. At Guthrie we got on 33 west. Doing that meant we passed over the top of Oklahoma City which was part of the plan.
We got gas in Watonga, OK. We feel very lucky that the prices dropped for our trip. The last price we paid was $1.79, we’ve seen it as low $1.75. We’re averaging 24.5 MPG seeing a difference between the thruway driving and the 2-lane roads. The little Rav-4 really wants a 6th gear once we get past 60mph so when we go 70+ we can hear the little motor straining.
We went through the small Washita National Wildlife Reservoir. We were amazed to see large flocks of birds flying in wheels, spirals and some lines on both sides of the road. The birds were fairly large so we think they were ducks, maybe geese…? Many, many of them.
Our planned destination for the day was a National Grassland called ‘Black Kettle’. We found the pubic camping and picnic area next to a little lake. We were the only ones there and enjoyed a couple of hours of eating and taking a walk around the southern end of the lake. We looked at the view, picked off burrs and found some funny big green, wrinkly fruit. After hours passing flat stretches of fields empty or with cattle it seemed very beautiful at the campground. (We like the ranch scenery in Oklahoma better than the crop-land of Arkansas.)
It was about 5pm by the time we got back in the car so we drove on for another hour or so making our way into the very top of Texas. We’ve stopped for the night in Pampa, TX (about 20 miles north-east of Amarillo) at another sketchy place - The “Western Motel”. This one reminding me very much of the types we stayed in with my dad when we were little. The roar of the trucks as they fly by makes us feel as though our room is in the median.
The room has two beds but one big and one little one in its own little space. It does have a microwave and a refrigerator. We were greeted by a fluffy cat who gave us a well needed cat-fix.
We can also hear trains in the distance about every 15 minutes.
Since we ate late we won’t be going anywhere for dinner, maybe a snack in the room later.
First objective was to check the wireless connection – not. The lady at the desk pointed at her router on the window sill but it evidently does not reach as far as this room. I will go out later to see if I can upload Internet stuff right in the office….
Well, as I figured, I can connect to the wireless right at the office but the computer did something funky and reconfigured itself so I have lost all my bookmarks and so on which is really annoying...
I did format some pictures to upload but I am not going to bother tonight, sorry.
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Day whatever, okay, it must be
DAY 7 - Pampa, TX to Dulce, NM
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
We didn't sleep all that well, Sonia was bugged by the trains and I ended up waking early because the cars started rushing by about 6am. Sonia was even awake by 7am and we were on the road before 8.
We had a nice breakfast a couple of towns up the road, in Borger maybe.
It was a clear, bright sunny day. The sun started in the rear view mirror and ended up right in our faces. I drove this day.
We stayed on Rt. 152 to Dalhart. There we got on Rt 87 and changed to Rt 56 after crossing into New Mexico. We jumped on I-25 for one exit and took a short stretch of Rt58 until it met Rt 64. We stayed on Rt64 for the rest of the day.
In Texas we saw lots of open land that once was grazed but seemed to be just oil fields now, filled with poles and wires for electricity to power all the pumps. There were also fields of cotton having been picked, in the process of being picked or not harvested yet. (The night before we saw a half dozen large machines clearing a field in the dark, that was cool to see, just lights, big tires and dust.)
We also saw more large flocks of birds in the distance.
Interesting note, we went through Texline, Texas, which is the hometown of Charmayne James - as in past champion barrel racer with her amazing horse, Scooter.
In New Mexico the oil pumps mostly disappeared and cattle reappeared. The land was so flat....
Then the mountains appeared, first black and then snowy white peaks as well.
Before we knew it we were in Cimarron and I was imagining mountain men coming out of the hills for their rendezvous. We also imagined the wagon trains waiting out the winter and/or for guides to lead them over the Santa Fe trail.
We'd originally thought to drive Route 66 to get west but found it is mostly covered by interstates. I feel that other roads, such as Rt 64 make good substitutes. Plenty of history everywhere we go!
In the mountains we went up and down and around and back. We were over 9,000 feet a couple of times.
I got tired of following a truck so we parked and got out to walk. We smelled the sage, watched trout in the brook and climbed up a steep slope to look at the view. We huffed and puffed because of the altitude.
After that we were ready to find a picnic table for or lunch and eventually the road opened up to a beautiful spot called Eagle Nest. A big open valley with a pretty lake right in the middle. At an empty camp ground we ate while looking at the view. Lovely.
We continued around and ended up going through Taos. That was the only place we found traffic to speak of. For most of our trip, once we've gotten off the thruway, we've had the roads to ourselves. It is a great time of year to travel in my opinion.
After Taos we went over the 'Rio Grande Gorge Bridge'. We stopped and gingerly made our way onto the bridge to look into the canyon - think of Quechee Gorge times three, except with more rocks and fewer trees. Kind of scary, especially when the trucks flew by and the bridge was shaking. Actually it was moving even when no vehicles were around.... Fun.
We climbed up and over another pass. The light ran out and the gas is low so we stopped in Dulce, New Mexico for the night.
We're in the fanciest establishment yet, a fairly new Best Western run by the Jicarria (sp?, pronounced he-car-ree-ah) Apache tribe. Nice food, my stew was beefy, simple and not salted!
And the Internet hasn't quit yet!
Tomorrow I will add the pictures to illustrate today's trip - I seem to be a day behind on the pictures. Sorry 'bout that. But we do need to sleep sometime. (o:
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DAY 8 - Dulce, NM to Page, AZ - wow, more than a week on the road!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Another beautiful day, a few clouds but they served as shade which was nice.
We ate a nice big breakfast, again, not salted which we really appreciate.
Got gas, one more time under $2.00/gallon, not sure if we'll see that again.
Sonia drove this time. We continued on Rt 64 west through Bloomfield and Farmington where there was actually some traffic. We missed a turn there and got to do some street wondering, we seem to do that at least once a day.
After that the scenery was spectacular! The shapes of the hills and mesas were either square and blocky or smooth and wrinkled. I was amazed by Shiprock and Chimney Rock. Crazy, very different than the round green hills of the east.
We turned north on Rt 491 to 160-west and stopped by the 4-Corners area where we stood in four states at one time (Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico). We lingered looking at the wares of the few folks who show up during the off season, lots of beaded jewelery, sand paintings, dream catchers and some pottery. That was interesting to me because the last time I was there in the 80s there were no sand paintings that I remember but lots of woven rugs and stuff, none of those this time.
From there we continued on Rt 160 into Arizona to Kayenta where we stopped and bought picnic food (juice, bread, fruit, crunchy snacks, PB&J. We went on to Rt. 98 which took us to Page, AZ. There we found a room in a Super 8 motel.
We walked next door to get a state map for Sonia and ended up buying some more food for dinner - couldn't resist the barbeque chicken (since we hadn't stopped for lunch yet), and a big ole twisty pastry for only $.25! We had a nice picnic in our hotel room.
I was psyched to get in early to be able to do computer stuff but this little laptop gets confused and the special passwords and stuff needed for the wireless didn't work right away so it was over an hour before I actually get rolling.
We took advantage of a nice laundry room in the motel and have clean clothes for another week.
I was planning to format pictures but it is late enough already that I think I'll just go to bed instead.
Keep checking in. I'll add a bunch of pictures all at once, maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, we'll see....
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Friday, November 21, 2008
Day 9 – Page, AZ to Sedona, AZ
Another sunny day, overnight temperatures close to freezing and daytime in the 50s or 60s. Perfect for sightseeing and walking, keeps the food cold in the car while we sleep.
My turn to drive all day, we didn’t cover as many miles as usual. We fueled up first thing, checked the fluids, all was fine.
Our first stop was about a mile away, we checked out nearby Lake Powell, the main attraction of this little town. It was beautiful. (I am going to run out of descriptive adjectives for this day so be patient if I start repeating myself.) The long lake was surrounded by high cliffs, mostly red but also striped as we were going to see all day. One end disappeared into the distance; the other end was dominated by a large hydroelectric plant with tall towers running every direction carrying wires. It was sad to see power lines criss-crossing the landscape but we understand that the water and the coal plants help the Navaho Nation be independent. I tried to see the landscape without any houses, roads and power lines, to visualize what it was like before all the “progress”. It must have been amazing. I also tried to imagine what I would have been doing way back when. As a female I probably would have been stuck in the village with the kids. Maybe I wouldn’t have been tempted to explore all that distance because without glasses I wouldn’t have been able to see it. One must be realistic…
We climbed out of the parking lot up onto a little knob trying to get a better view and having fun with the terrain. The tilted rock layers were like a zillion tiny steps. The knob got quite steep so we choose to stop halfway, thinking more about how it would be to come back down. Our sneakers made the climbing up quite easy. On the way down we looked more at the rocks, tracks and vegetation than the view.
Pictures were taken of course. I think we took over 35 pictures during the day, only a few will be posted here as many were light-struck in the back and it is just a tiny little camera without all the fancy adjustments. Being tiny though means it goes with us everywhere, much bigger and it would probably live in the car with the video camera. We haven’t even considered taking videos – what of?

We got back in the car and drove maybe two miles. We almost flew by the entrance to the parking lot for the Horseshoe Canyon. We walked the ten-minute path and were awestruck by the view. It was cool to see the river, waaaaay down there and curving in such a perfect shape around. Sonia and I are kind of chicken about going to the edge of such places, without nice sturdy guard rails, so we crawled forward on our hands and knees to peer down. Maybe that would have been a good video…. Too late now.
As we walked out of there Sonia enjoyed a nice chat with a lady from Vietnam, now living in California. I was wondering off the path through the scrub-brush checking out the bird tracks and bunny droppings. Earlier Sonia and I were amused by being able to read the brand names of the sneaker tracks as we walked along the sandy path.

From Horseshoe Canyon we drove south on Rt. 89 to the east entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park. Along the way we stopped at a pull-off to look at the view. We also bought a couple of things from the locals. That jewelry is so pretty and shiny in the sunlight.
At the Grand Canyon we paid a $25/car fee (good for a week). We did the touristy stuff, stopping at almost every place off the right side of the road. The first one was the main one with restaurant, store and the tower built in the 30s. It is for the tourists but specially designed to look like an old fire watchtower.
We were really hungry so we found a picnic area and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. We walked from there to the rim and looked some more. Again we were distracted by the forest itself fascinated by the burned trees, at first wondering if they’d been hit by lightning but soon figuring out that they’d probably been part of a basic forest fire.
At our last stop in the park we were at a place where there was a trail to the river. We didn’t have time to do that hike but Sonia wants to come back and do it sometime, and camp. We did find a place where rocks were cropping out. There were a father and his son also traveling together. We took turns taking each other’s pictures and shared their binoculars. They were traveling back to Nashville, north, while we were headed south. A nice chance meeting.

We took Rt. 64 out of the park to Rt180 to Flagstaff. All our in-between travel time is spent listening to a long story on the CD. It is 28 disks and goes on and on with heroes, villains, magic and all that stuff. At times we are still listening while we go through towns and thus we miss our turns and then belatedly turn off the story and have to find our way back to where we belong.
It was dark when we got to Flagstaff and we were determined to get to Sedona. Sonia was navigating and told me that we could take the scenic Alt.-Rt89 to Sedona or take I-17 and get off at exit 120 where were could take this little road straight west. I said that since it was dark we may as well go more directly on the fast route. Down I-17 we went.
We got off and found …. not much – a dirt road heading into the dark. The sign said ‘To Sedona, 15 miles’, and… for ‘4-wheel drive and off-road vehicles only’. Nah, our Vermont cars can handle anything, what could be worse than our mud season? Off we went!
The first five or so miles were fine, sure we could only go 25 to 30mph, so yeah, it would take a good 30 minutes to get over this ‘hill’. We could go around the occasional rock sticking up without having to slow down much…
Then we got to the top and headed down the other side. We could see the lights of Sedona off in the distance and discussed how long it would take to get there, we felt pretty close. And the road started to get bumpy, and then more bumpy. We were now going in second gear. Then the road was pretty much only rocks, bigger, we were at times slowing to first gear to pick our way around them. Then they got really big, and ditches appeared. It got to the point where I was coming to a complete stop so I could pick out a path that hopefully wouldn’t blow a tire or scrape away the bottom of the car. Okay, so the road wasn't quite this bad but in our little Toyota Rav-4 it felt like this!
On our left were three-story rock/cliffs that were leaning out over the road. On the right side of the road…? We don’t know; what we do know is that it was a drop and there was no guard rail. I’m guessing we picked our way down about 8 – 10 miles of this crazy road, in the dark, switchbacks and 180 degree turns that meant the road wasn’t even visible in the headlights! Sedona was at times there, and then it was gone. Other roads went off to the right and made me wonder if we were still going the right way? I think it took an hour to do that last part, my gum was chewed to bits.
What a relief it was to finally see the blacktop! We came into Sedona from the east side only to be in the middle of a maze of traffic cones flashing in the night. Signs were on either side saying “keep left”, ten feet on they would say “keep right”. Sometimes they were pointing at each other! Ahhhh!
(In this daytime image you can see what they call 'elephant rock' in the background.)
We finally found Rt. 89, looked at the various motels, passed up the, probably expensive, Best Western and stopped at a little place just beyond. It is the off-season so we ended up in a cabin with a kitchenette for less than $80. The lady behind the desk was properly impressed and amused the we had driven down Schnebly Hill Road in our little car.
The room suited us fine, we put our food in the icebox and we heated our chicken and enjoyed a late dinner.
There is an Internet router in the office but, as I expected, this computer won’t pick it up here in the room. It was too late and I was too tired to mess with it so I went to bed instead.

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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Day 10 – In Sedona, AZ - beautiful sunny day.
Here we are in Sedona, middle of the day. I woke up at a normal hour for me, lingered in bed for a bit then go up to get going on this journal. Sonia woke eventually and took a shower. Meanwhile I got dressed and went outside to brush my hair in the sunlight. Duh, I forgot my key so there I was. It wasn’t too bad, I got my hair done and went up to see if the office was open so I could sign up for another night. It wasn’t so I did that later. I only ended up waiting for another five minutes or so before Sonia wandered her way out of the bedroom and spotted me sitting at the picnic table. We had a good chuckle about that and now the room key is staying in my pocket!
We wandered down the road into the upper part of Sedona where we gazed into the shop windows and eventually found a restaurant for breakfast. It is one of the more expensive meals we’ve eaten but very nice. I got real tea and enjoyed a second pot even.
Sonia is not thrilled by the atmosphere here. It is a bit like a western Woodstock, or Burlington, or whatever, very touristy, artsy, chi-chi, posh, beyond us anyway. Also it is the off season so there probably won’t be jobs available until February. Sonia is now wondering what other options there are that will allow her to get out of Vermont, with Calvin, and earn some money….
Sonia has been talking on the cell-phone to various family members and friends as I type.
Meanwhile we are planning to spend the day here, using the free shuttle to explore the town from one end to the other, go to the post office, maybe even catch a movie tonight.
I am not going to make Sonia wait while I format all the pictures so, sorry, I promise at some point I will be uploading a whole bunch at once. Probably not until we slide into another motel with easy Internet access and lots of time.
What I’ll do now is take the computer up to the office and add what I’ve written to the blog. My next chance to update may not be until tomorrow night.
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Day 10 - 11/22 continued

We ended up spending the rest of the day wandering around upper Sedona. First we hopped on the free shuttle. It didn’t take long for to get a conversation going with the driver who happened to be from Vermont! It was a while ago but he still knew Barnard and turns out to be the uncle of Jason Leno, who was one of our leaders when we used to take Tae Quan Do way back when. Small world for sure….
We rode the shuttle route 1 ½ times around as John, the driver, pointed out all the sights and recommended places to shop and eat. We finally got off at the lower end of the route and wandered through stores and galleries all the way back up.
We ate a late lunch/early dinner at the most expensive place we’ve visited yet but did enjoy cactus fries, rattle snake and buffalo burgers with the best sweet potato fries I’ve had. We saved quite a bit for a future meal at some picnic table out on the road.
It was dark by the time we got back to the room. We made phone calls and discovered that some friends of my parents, Carol and Ray, lived less than two hours away. We gave them a call and arranged a visit for the next day.
All I got done on the computer was uploading a few pictures.
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Day 11 – Sedona, AZ to Prescott, AZ
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Another beautiful sunny day.
We got up relatively early and packed everything into the car. We left the motel before 8am – very early for us on this trip. We went to find one of the four ‘Energy Vortexes’ and hiked around a slope near the airport for a while.
After that we went back to the upper town and ate another grand breakfast this time where we could sit at a window, look at the view and watch people on the sidewalks.
We went from there to a ‘Trading Post’ where we bought too many cool things – it was fun.
After that binge we drove out to a couple of canyons, hiked about, found two more ‘energy vortexes’ and got all strengthened and balanced (o;
Sometime after noon we left Sedona headed south on Rt89A - It was Sonia’s turn for adventurous driving as she navigated the scenic, up and down, twisty roads with steep drops and more awesome views.
The most amazing was climbing up the switchbacks through a town called Jerome. It used to be a copper-mining community but is now an artsy/touristy place. It was unique in that all the colorful buildings seem to be stuck on the side of the steep mountain, many of them very old and restored.
We eventually got to Prescott where we followed Carol’s directions to their ranch in Skull Valley.
We arrived at feeding time and got a grand tour in the golf cart with Carol. She introduced us to all the critters. What fun! We met donkeys and mules, mini horses and Quarter Horses, Icelandic horses, baby mustangs, goats, cattle, peacocks, chickens and dogs….
We took a few pictures and then climbed up on the hill behind the place to see if we could get a nice overall picture. What a challenge it was for us being not used to navigating the rocks, spiky brush and cacti. We saw donkey tracks all over the place and were amazed at the places we saw their little footprints.
As it was getting dark we made plans with Carol and Ray to meet for dinner later in the evening. They gave us directions to a Super 8 motel. Off we went to Prescott. Once in town we followed the directions but could not see any Super 8 motel. We went up and down and across the town. Finally we stopped at the Albertsons and the people there thought the motel was just up the street. Not. So we stopped at a gas station and looked in the phone book. Finally we figured out that the Super 8 motel had changed to an ‘Americas Best Value’. Since it was time to meet the others we simply registered for our room and took off for the restaurant. We found that more easily and enjoyed a very nice dinner with lots of good conversation. The whole afternoon and evening were a wonderful break for us, especially getting to have our animal-petting fix.
Back to the motel we went, too late for anything but read and sleep, nice...
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Day 12 – Prescott, AZ to Springerville, AZ
Monday, November 24, 2008
Yet, another beautiful sunny day.

My turn to drive. I was frustrated by not being able to connect to the Internet and we were happy to leave the motel and get on to the road. A little ways down, in Prescott Valley, we stopped at a Dennys for breakfast.
We followed Rt. 69 to Rt. 169 to I-17n for one exit. Off the thruway we followed Rt. 260 east all the way to Eager, AZ.

It was a nice, scenic road with decent speed limits. We drove down, a 14% grade down, in the Tonto National Forest to see the Natural Bridge. There were easy ways to get there but, typical of us, we chose the creek bed route. That meant we followed a marked trail down the stream itself. It started with a nice path and man-made steps then we ended up climbing through huge boulders and sliding down slippery slabs. This picture is of Sonia on one of the limestone boulders in the stream bed. It was porous and a tree took advantage of the holes for its roots - we thought it was pretty cool! It took about an hour to make our way down. It was perfect though, we were able to see the way the small stream bed evolved into a large hole in the limestone with a pretty splash of water falling through the sunlight. At the very bottom of this picture you can see Sonia standing on a rock, that is how large that hole is!
What else was amazing was the warm environment down in the ravine. I got the impression that it might not go below freezing down there all winter. Trees were still green and moss hanging down, different ecology than at the top. Very cool.

The rest of our trip took us through the While Mountains which were beautiful. We didn't stop for lunch opting to eat dinner early instead.
In Eager we got gas and next door in Springerville we found a nice Motel called the Rode Inn. The lady nicely gave us what she claimed was the room with the best wireless reception - not! It was the closest to the road though... I have learned that night clerks don't know beans about computers. We had lousy phone reception as well. I assured Sonia that the road noise would go away about 10pm and probably start in again about 6am. We ate dinner in our room, microwaved leftovers from previous large meals at restaurants. Fine with us.
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Day 13 – Springerville, AZ to Pecos, TX
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Partly cloudy, which was a relief, the car was cooler most of the time.

I was wrong about the road noise, the cars started coming by the motel at 4am and didn't let up so I got up around 5am, dressed as quietly as I could and took the computer and all to the dining room in the main building. There I had the best wireless connection yet (actually this one is pretty good right now). I got a lot done while enjoying a cup of tea. Around 8am I called Sonia in the room and she came down for a nice free breakfast. Egg wraps, waffles, and all the rest of the usual continental breakfast. A good meal like that makes the room a bargain.

Sonia drove. From Springerville we took Rt. 60 east to Socorro, NM. There we jumped on I-25 south for one exit and then took Rt. 380 east to Roswell. In Roswell we picked up Rt. 285 south all the way to Pecos, Texas.

For a while it was flat with mountains to the south, then we were going though some ups and downs then it got flat for real with just some mountains in the distance. We stopped in Capitan for a picnic lunch. We found tables at the Smokey Bear Historical Park. There was only one other family there being that it is "winter". We still get a chuckle out of that. We learned the real story about Smokey Bear, for instance, the icon, the original drawing, was created before they actually found the little cub. I didn't know that.
That area was also quite horsey which made sense since Ruidoso Downs was just down another road (that is one of the big Quarter Horse race tracks).
In Roswell we filled the tank. From there the terrain was flat, flat, flat. We saw lots of dairy cattle in one place with huge barns full of huge bales of hay. Also fields of crops, orchards that we couldn't recognise and then it all became scrub land once again.
Our CD story finally ended, 28 disks... Before we started a new book I read some of a story from an Analog magazine. Once it got dark we did start a new story on CDs.
We crossed into Texas and back into the central time zone.
Finally we pulled into a Hotel 6 in Pecos. Again we ate in our room, too weary to bother finding a restaurant - it is easy this time because we were able to park the car very close to the room and it is not very cold out. Having a refrigerator in the room is nice too.
I'll do more pictures later - I promise. (o:
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Day 14 – Pecos, TX to Beeville, TX
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Grayish, sometimes sunny day. Not too hot, not too cold.
I drove. Trying to remember all the little roads we took that day is going to be tricky.
We took Rt. 285 to Fort Stockton. There we looked for a nice place to eat breakfast. The only, not fast food, restaurant was an IHOP (pancakes) which was fine with me. It has been a long while since I had been to an IHOP. We went inside to find a line of people in the foyer, a 20 minute wait…ug. I was willing, feeling like it may be the last nice spot on I-10 but Sonia wanted to move on, so we did.
From there we took I-10 east. Our gas tank was getting low so we started looking for gas signs. Sonia, as navigator, found an exit where we could go through a little town called Sheffield on our way to a scenic loop and “Historic Fort Lancaster”. We HAD do that. We thought we’d find gas and maybe a cute little restaurant in Sheffield. Well, Sheffield was pretty small, one gas station with a steep price, a little sketchy café that maybe wasn’t even that.
We went on….Fort Lancaster was interesting. Back in the 1850s they built a string of forts to protect and guide travelers headed to California (from the Apaches and other scary stuff). Then the Civil war happened, the fort was abandoned, used briefly by soldiers after the war then completely empty by the 1870s. Thus a lot of building and work for maybe a decade of use. All that is left now are a few foundations and a chimney. Turns out that it was named for a friend of the builder, that Lancaster had been killed in Florida.
Back on I-10 we continued, still hungry and looking for gas. We got off again at Ozona and found gas for a decent price and asked about food. The lady recommended the Hitching Post so there we went. We understood that it was the day before Thanksgiving, therefore a family traveling day, so we weren’t surprised to find that place busy as well. We did end up there for over an hour as our waitress forget to get our order to start with and so on. But we got fed, the car was full, we were ready to cruise…
Our next stop off of I-10 was the exit just before Sonora, where we could go see the “Caverns of Sonora”. What turned out would have been a 2-hour guided walk through a cave, similar to what we did in Kentucky. The difference being that this cavern would have lots of cool crystals to see. We decided we couldn’t afford to loose two hours (it was 3pm already) so we took a short walk instead. Sonia was thrilled because we found the carcass of a long dead hawk. She found talons and some cool feathers. They went into her totem collection that has grown in the cup-holder by the gear shift.
Looking at the map Sonia recommended that I turn south from the cavern entrance. Her plan was that we’d pick up Rt. 55 which would take us east. So I turned left and off we went, on our merry way down the little farm road.
Hmmm, no route signs, no painted lines, the occasional turn warning. The road got narrower, Hmmmmm. On we went, and on. The sun was to my right, then facing me, then to my left. “Sonia, we’re headed north you know.” It was a fun drive, gentle turns each way, drops down into gullies with depth markers for the flash floods. Countless cattle guards, at times we were in pastures with the cows. Lots of oil pipes and a few technician’s trucks here and there. Ranches… But....
Sure enough, after an hour we found I-10 again, almost as far west as Ozona….. Been there! We’d done one big circle…
Back on I-10 we went to Sonora this time and found the proper road, Rt. 277, to Rt. 55 which took us east to Uvalde. At that point Sonia left a message with the cell phone telling her dad that we wouldn’t be there at 5pm, since it was past that already. In Uvalde we found Rt140 (I think) which took us to Pearsall. There we planned to continue on 140 to something that led to something that would get us to Pleasanton and onto I-37. But we lost 140 – it just disappeared and we found ourselves on something else, 2779 I think. We ended up in Moore, we ended up driving the access road against traffic of I-35 for a while. It was dark, the lights were steady in my eyes from the right – annoying.
At the next exit we got on I-35 for an exit or two until Sonia found something to cross us over to I-37, maybe Rt. 173 to Rt. 97?
We found I-37, drove south to the FM 799 exit and headed east as Hugo had directed us. He said 8 -10 miles but Sonia had neglected to ask which side of the road. The barn lights were on which we were supposed to be able to see. So I drove along, watching the mileage, planning to look for lights at 8 miles, Sonia was looking for gates, in the dark, on both sides of the road, hoping for something she’d recognize. At about 7 miles I saw what looked like a barn in the distance and thought the gate would show up at 8 miles, but Sonia told me to turn around. Good girl, we’d passed the gate already. Phew, we were there! At about 9:30pm.
This is Sonia and her dad the night we arrived in his apartment at the Rancho Esperanza
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Day 15 – Beeville, TX
Thursday, November 27, 2008. Thanksgiving
Grayish, sometimes sunny day. Not too hot, not too cold, again.
Hugo has a nice apartment attached to the barn. Two bedrooms, nice bath, good size kitchen and living space. It is nice to look out and see the horses heads in the stalls and the pastures and wild space beyond. The whole barn area is a good distance from the main house so Hugo can order the dogs around, play his music and whistle up the horses without disturbing anyone up there.
As soon as Sonia and I were up we were invited up to breakfast at the main house with Joanne and Hugo, which seems to be the tradition. After eating we saddled up some horses, dressed up in helmets and overly large boots and went off to “play 2 on 2”. Joanne and Sonia needed some coaching on how to hold the mallets and I helped them figure out how to simply drop the mallet to hit the ball instead of trying to do a full swing. My natural coaching instincts kicked in. Hugo was ready to ‘play’, it didn’t take long before he and I were galloping all over the place while Sonia and Joanne pretty much watched. We all had fun in our own way. Joanne was thrilled to hit the ball and wants to do more. Sonia’s wrist was hurting; she’d sprained it slipping on a rock back at the Natural Bridge. I had a good time chasing Hugo down and trying to keep him from making goals.
After that we all showered and went off to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was interesting to eat at a different place because there are different dishes to accompany the classic turkey. For example the sweet potatoes were made with spices and vanilla with nuts and brown sugar on top, and the stuffing was made with cornbread, green beans made with pork, things like that. They were nice people, good conversation, interesting yard to peruse, and Sonia and I collected in a little baggie a good handful of tiny chili-peppers, very hot. I’ll keep a few and plan to use maybe just one for a whole pot of soup.
Back at the ranch I attempted to help Joanne with her new computer. She’s recently acquired one of the latest Dell machines, a small computer, about the size of a fat hard-cover novel. It uses Windows Vista, new to me, has an okay keyboard and a nice, big wide flat monitor. We installed a program that was supposed to allow the computer to talk to her camera but it didn’t. I could plug in my camera and hard drive and they worked. Sort of frustrating - we’ll try again later.
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Day 16 – Beeville, TX
Friday, November 28, 2008.
A breezy, mosty sunny day. Not too hot, not too cold, just right!

After a breakfast of leftover Thanksgiving dessert Sonia and I did a couple loads of laundry. Since the day was breezy we strung up some twine and rope and dried the clothes under the eves of the barn. We always feel good to let the sun do the work instead of electricity. That is Hugo's apartment at the end of the building.
We rode again, this time Hugo and I just did some stick-and-ball while the other two walked quietly around the field. It was fun but I could feel the effects of the 15 year hiatus, I got out of breath fairly quickly and for the next couple of days my arm and back were a bit achy.
In the afternoon Hugo asked Sonia to fetch some wood with the tractor and he worked on a perfect fire to grill meat just so.
Sonia and I diddled around, folding laundry and taking pictures of her traveling shrine. This is it with all the feathers, rocks, bones and other items that were of interest.
This is a picture of us hanging out while the meat was cooking.
I also un-installed the program I’d loaded for Joanne on her computer and installed the latest Java so I could check my emails.
Hugo’s meat was very yummy which we enjoyed with salad and bread and stuff. Sonia made a killer spicy sauce using those tiny little red peppers. She and Hugo felt the repercussions of that the next day….
We spent a pleasant evening under the stars by the fire.
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Day 17 – Beeville & Corpus Christi, TX
Saturday, November 29, 2008.
Mostly gray day, not too hot, not too cold, tiny bit muggy.

I was up ahead of the other two and took a shower. After the horses were done we roused Sonia and had breakfast.
Sonia went back to bed while Joanne and I walked some mail to the box by the road also slowly moving the horses down to graze on the polo field. It is fun that the dogs accompany us wherever we go, they feel it is their duty, especially Mullet. On the way back we filled the large water tank for the horses.
I then spent some time working on this blog while Hugo and Sonia moved some hay and did other chores.
In the afternoon we piled into a Mercedes (there are two here) and went to Corpus Christi. Near the water are a number of restaurants. We ate at one where we got oysters, calamari and sushi. We had a nice meal ordering dish after dish. After a quick peek in a gift shop we drove to the docks and saw rows of boats, mostly of the sailing variety. We walked a bit stopping by the replica of the Nina (as in one of the three boats with Christopher Columbus) and the memorial to Selina.
Once home again we admired the sunset and I attempted to take pictures, they didn’t do it justice. It is beyond me to make that little camera work with the bright light and colors in such a situation. I checked the apples that I’d brought from home and judged two still fit for me and the rest for the horses.
Sonia and Hugo relaxed while I went over to see if I could get that program going for Joanne. I re-installed it in a folder of its own and used my cable in a different USB port and… yes, it worked! I guess I have some geek in me. Joanne was thrilled and spent the next hour playing with her pictures, learning how to format them and send them off to friends and family via email. We were disappointed though that her printer only produced washed out versions, even on shiny paper.
I then checked my email, updated the bog to within two days of real time and chatted with Roy via Facebook.
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Day 18 – Beeville, TX to
Sunday, November 30, 2008.
Sunny day, gorgeous sunrise.

I woke ahead of the others and decided to do some computer stuff quietly. I was able to see the sun rise, pretty but no attempts at photos. I also heard noise outside and backed up the dogs as they bawled out the coyotes lurking in the brush. I didn’t see any and they faded away as we stood guard.

Sonia and I packed the car (Hugo, nicely?, included some rattlesnake skins and dried deer skulls with antlers - fun.... makes our car look kind of gnarly), then we joined Hugo and Joanne for one last nice breakfast. It was sad saying goodbye, it had been a pleasant, quiet interlude. We hugged everyone, including the dogs and set out by about 10am. After a brief stop for water and bananas we were on our way for real.

Sonia drove and we followed Rt. 59 out of Beeville to Victoria. There we picked up Rt. 77 to La Grange where we got gas. We continued on to just north of Giddings, hooked a right onto Rt. 21 and followed that all the way to Crockett (all in Texas). In Crockett we took Rt. 7 through the Davy Crockett National Forest. At Nacogdoches we changed to Rt. 21 which took us as far as San Augustine where we've stopped for the night.
We ate on the road, munching on snacks and bananas as we drove. We observed the scenery change from flat, crops, ranches, oil stuff of Texas to forest and tall trees. Sonia was appreciative of the forest because the wind was very strong out on the flat. It made a noisy whistle on the passenger window that was getting annoying. There was more traffic than we've seen for a while but it thinned out once we got past Crockett.

Sonia was hungry so we ate right next door at a Mexican restaurant. Good meal, made to order. we were disappointed to hear that they didn't serve breakfast (yet, they plan to start in a couple of weeks - oh well).
We have no Verizon cell phone connection here but the wireless Internet connection has been pretty good until just now. Interesting motel room with no clock but TV, icebox and microwave. They also gave us our TV remote at the front desk - that was different.
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Day 19 – San Augustine, TX to Greenwood, MS
Monday, December 1, 2008.
Mostly cloudy day, spitting rain on occasion, windy at times.

The courtyard of the motel in San Augustine had roses blooming. Without a thought Sonia and I had to stop to smell the roses….. They were lovely.
I drove today, Sonia navigated (always interesting!). And here’s what we took:
Rt. 21 east out of Texas which became Rt. 6 in Louisiana. We Found Rt. 84 in Natchitoches which took us through the Kisatchie National Forest. After going through Winnfield we briefly got on Rt. 34 then onto Rt. 499 to Sikes to Rt. 126 to Grayson where we took Rt. 165 which connected us to Rt. 4. We headed NE to Winnsboro where we got on Rt. 17 which took us to I-20. We used I-20 to cross the Mississippi River and go through Vicksburg. Just out of Vicksburg we hooked a left onto Rt. 61 north. Just past Valley Park we took a right onto a dirt road which took us through the Delta National Forest. On the other side we found Rt 16 north in Holly Bluff. That connected us to Rt. 149 to Silver City where we got on 49W north. In Balzoni we got on Rt. 7 which we took through and past Itta Bena finding Rt. 82 on the other side. Rt. 82 took us east to Greenwood where we found an Econo Lodge in which we are spending the night. Got all that? Phew….

The lady at the motel recommended a restaurant in town but our route led us the other way so we didn’t stop for breakfast until the other side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir. That large body of water was created by damming up the Sabine River. We were curious as to when that happened because the gray trunks of trees were poking up out of the water like a sea urchin rising out of the lake.
Just about into Louisiana we stopped at a little café that reminded us of Wasps or the 4-Aces. Only local folk eating there, my hot tea was what they use for ice tea heated in the microwave, the home fries a square from the freezer, the honey in a big jar. The food was hot, we got fed, didn’t cost much, so we’re good.
I liked the area there in east Texas and north/west Louisiana. It was green and rolling, tall trees and fields. Not as dry as farther south but not as cold as farther north.
After Winnfield the roads were a lot of fun. The speed limit was down to 55 which was just the right speed to handle the slight ups and downs and mellow turns. We often had the road to ourselves with just one stretch where I followed a slower truck for what seemed like half the state.
Somewhere in there was a road block. The police were checking for insurance papers. The trooper seemed amused that I had mine all ready, I’m guessing he wouldn’t have asked us. But he did want to know if we thought it was warm down here. We said yes, of course, because it is warm down here – relatively….
By the time we got to the Delta forest we were quite hungry and needed a bathroom. We drove in a little bit and saw that a park area was closed and gated shut. Disappointed we drove on a little more until we found a pull-off where we parked. We used the bushes for facilities and ate our sandwiches and chips in the car. It was chilly and trying to rain on us but not for real. The birds made nice music including a blue heron that spoke with a croak that neither of had ever heard before - cool.
We took a walk down the road and found a single picnic table in a draw with a little trail that we followed for another 10 minutes. It was muddy down by the table so we agreed that it was good we hadn’t taken the little Rav-4 in there. We did chide ourselves later though when we got back in the car and found, about two minutes down the road, a lovely picnic area right next to a little creek. Why didn’t we explore further before eating? We were relieved that the dirt road actually came out where Sonia expected – yeah!
It was interesting that the surroundings became very flat cropland stretching forever, mostly cotton we’re guessing because the white piles beside the road was surely not snow! This time though not all fields were big squares but filling every empty space between the few low ridges here and there. The road looped around the fields instead of going straight through.
The road got really straight later but it was dark so I couldn’t see how far the view went. We did see the neat line-up of Jupiter and Venus and the moon that had risen past them.
Here we are at the Econo Lodge which is one of the least expensive yet. Our dinner was simple snacking in the room.
Surprise, surprise, the wireless can’t be reached. In the morning I will probably head over to the lobby and see if I can do better in the ‘breakfast room’.
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Day 20 – Greenwood, MS to Rome, Georgia
Tuesday, December 2, 2008.
Sunny and pleasant right now.

I did find better Internet connections in the 'breakfast room'. I am catching up with computer stuff while Sonia and I eat a bagel.
We'll be off to the east soon.
______________ Cont.
Sonia’s turn to drive. We like the day-by-day turns at driving because it is quite easy to drive this little car. It doesn’t get difficult until later in the afternoon and then when it gets dark. Since both of us are equally tired it doesn’t really make sense for one to give up the wheel just for the other to take over for an hour or two. Also the non-driver is responsible for navigating and that would mean that their plan might go out the window if the other person takes over at that key point in the trip. It is fun to navigate and it is interesting to not have to think about that and just drive where the other tells you.

The day was nice and sunny throughout, and now the sun is to the right, south, so the driver isn’t bothered by it as much as when we were headed out. We drove pretty much east all day.
We continued on Rt.82 out of Greenwood, Miss. In the Mathison area we picked up Rt 50 north which connected us to the Natchez Trace Parkway. That was a most beautiful road. No signs, commercial vehicles, or even driveways. Just a smooth road winding through the trees, peaceful, calm. The only disadvantage was the 50mph speed limit. You don't get very far very fast. I do recommend using it though for a trip like this as a break from all the hustle of the busier roads. It also would be the way to go if you were on a bicycle.
All too soon it was time to get off there and head east again, this time on Rt. 8. We followed Rt. 8 to Greenwood Springs where we found a road to the north that had no name on the map. We tried the first left on something called Munn Road but it turned to a path after about a mile so we turned around. The next road was called Splunge Road and seemed much more likely since it had a lines down the middle and on the edges. Sure enough it continued, turned into HatleyDetroit Road and cut off the little corner we'd planned.
A funny thing though, starting on Munn Road and continuing on the others, the car made a different noise. A clicking sound coming from the motor. It was connected to the speed of the motor, not the speed of the car. Eventually I thought it might have been 'knocking' such as you might get if you are using a fuel with low octaine. I remembered that the last time we'd gotten gas a fuel truck was also delivering. Maybe we'd gotten some water from it being churned up in the big tank. At our last stop sign before a bigger road Sonia used the brake quite strongly and after that the noise went away. Maybe she sloshed the fuel in such a way as to remove a blockage or something. Whatever, we stopped fairly soon, added some 'dry gas' to the tank and filled it up so if there was water hopefully we helped it out. The noise hasn't come back since.
We'd crossed into Alabama and ended up on Rt. 17 going north to Hamilton. There we got on Rt.s 74 and 278 which we followed all the way across to Gadsden. Sonia had a bit of a headache and wasn't up to our usual walk although I did direct us to a small park in Holly Pond. We pulled in and I did a little tour. We also snacked as we drove, bananas, corn nuts, granola bars, peanut-butter filled pretzels, and water always.
In Gadsden we got on Rt. 411 heading northeast. Along the way we stopped in Centre for our main meal of the day. We stopped at a Captian D's restaurant. It looked to be a regular, real food, type of place but once indoors we found it was actually a fast-food fried fish chain. Oh well, they still offered catfish and hushpuppies which Sonia hadn't experienced. She had that plus okra which she enjoyed, I had the salmon myself. I'd hoped to find a place where we could have catfish done differently - not fried, maybe we will yet.
After that it was less than an hour into Geogia and the town of Rome. It would have been perfect timing to do the motel search, just having gotten dark but, for some reason, the road into the town was bumper to bumper cars, both ways, so our last mile took about 20 minutes of stopping and going. The first really annoying traffic we've dealt with so far. We were ready to hook a right and leave the crowd when we spotted a Day's Inn just a bit farther on.
That is where we are now, having been fed so we can relax and leave the traffic to whatever.
I have wireless connection to the Internet, it hasn't quit yet but it is very slow, maybe the computer needs another defragmentation....
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Day 21 – Rome, Georgia to Abingdon, VA
Wednesday, December 3, 2008.
Sunny and pleasant all day, cool, 40s maybe.

Gina driving, Sonia navigating.
We left Rome after our continental breakfast at the motel. Another zig-zag route for the morning. Leaving Rome we took Rt. 53 north and east close to Jasper. We picked up Rt. 5 north which connected to Rt. 2. Then Rt. 5 left and we continued on Rt. 2 and Rt. 76 east. At Blairsville we headed north on Rt.s 19 & 129. Snow began to appear in the shade and on slopes by the road. Those routes joined Rt. 74, took us into North Carolina and took us into the Nantahala National Forest and on to the Cherokee Reservation. Somewhere around Whittier we got onto Rt. 441. That road took us right through the middle of the Great Smokey Mountain National park.
It was a fun road, twisty, turny, no commercial vehicles or signs once we got out of the last little town, Cherokee, I think. We looked for a picnic area but the only marked one was closed so we pulled off and ate our picnic lunch by the car. There were paths for walking by the brook but they were more snowy than we wanted to deal with in our little sneakers. We were amazed by the number of rhododendron bushes - they were huge and everywhere in that part of the park. In the spring it must be beautiful!
While we were walking at least three emergency vehicles went by headed up the hill, hmmmm.
Just around the corner from where we stopped the road became icy, not a slip with our little Rav-4 but I could see that if someone were silly and tried to stop or turn too fast it could have been - not good. For the most part all the cars on the road were going at a snail's pace which was fine with us. Once or twice I pulled over to let some braver traveller go by rather than have them sitting on my tail. Of our whole trip this was the busiest tourest place we've seen, even more than the Grand Canyon. Around a corner we found a couple of cars had slid off the inside but no collision or injuries so I was curious as to why we'd seen a firetruck go by earlier. A little higher up we stopped and took pictures of the view and even farther up it was quite busy at the largest, main parking area. Close to there was did see another group of emergency vehicles, ambulance and all. I couldn't look but according to Sonia most of the people were looking over the steep edge. I am not sure if we'll ever figure out what was going on there.
At that big parking area we joined many other people (a bus-load included) looking all directions. We stopped too and did the tourest thing, taking pictures for others, using the facility. Then we creeped our way down the icy road until we got below the snow-line and could just roll along.
An interesting note was that since Texas we were listening to a story on disks (Called 13 Moons by Charles Frazier) about a man who lived in the Smokies during the 18th century. He was raised and adopted by the Cherokee Indians, experienced seeing most of them leave on the 'Trail of Tears' and ended up owning and subsiquently loosing lots of property in that whole area. It was, in a way, a love story, he loved the Indians, the land and a special woman. His descriptions of the hills and forests were very detailed and we could imagine him, the other characters and their villages and plantations as we traveled through the National Forests in North Carolina. The story ended as we left Tennessee this afternoon.... )o:
Gatlinburg was the first town on the Tennessee side of the pass. It reminded us of Sedona in its own way. One difference was there were many chain stores and restaurants but they all kept the rustic theme so blended in with each other. It was not a bad look.
We meant to take a less travelled, scenic route from there but missed that turn so decided to stick on Rt.s 441, 71 and 66 on down through Pigeon Forge. Mistake? Maybe, but an interesting one. We had no idea what a huge, touristy, carnival town that is! Like 15 miles of a county fair! Lining both sides of the roads were the usual hotels, fast food restaurants - every one you can think of, gee-gaw shops, theatres of all sorts, rides, attractions, entertainment, you name it. What a strip!
Once out of there we hopped on I-40 which took us to I-81 and we started our thruway trip back to Vermont. By 5:30 we'd gotten into the south/west corner of Virginia and stopped at a Days Inn for the night.
We treated ourselves to a, sort of, Italian dinner right next door and here we are.
Using the Days Inn directory and Google Maps we figure we might make Scranton, PA by tomorrow evening so we've made a reservation. That is the first we've made this whole trip.
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Day 22 – Abingdon, VA to Scranton, PA
Thursday, December 4, 2008.
A gray day, some rain, some fog, cool, 40s maybe.

Sonia's turn to drive, easy route - I-81 all the way.....
Not so easy driving, especially towards the end with an hour or so of darkness and trucks, lights and fog.
Not much to say about the day. The traffic was what one would expect, heavier around the big towns and cities, well behaved for the most part. We managed to avoid rush hour.
We were passed by a 3/4-ton pick-up pulling a flatbed stacked with cement frames. I noted that the trailer was dragging something that was making sparks. Sonia wasn't comfortable with that and fell way back watching. Sure enough, as she watched the trailer blew a tire and had to pull over. Luckily there were just a couple of trucks and we were all able to pull around them easily.

We only made a couple of pit stops and one longer stop to eat a little lunch at a picnic table next to a river in Virginia. It was earlier than usual for us but the single waffle at the hotel really didn't cut it as breakfast for me.
We walked along the bank for a few minutes afterward then headed on our way.
It turned out to be good timing because the rain started around 2pm and was with us off and on for the rest of the afternoon.

For the most part the scenery was nice, lots of farms, horses and cattle, dairy. It was good to see many working farms - so many abandoned places all across the country.
I read a science fiction story aloud from my Analog magazine. We interspersed reading times with music CDs from Sonia's collection.

We pulled in to the Days Inn around 6:30 - 9 hours after leaving Abingdon. Probably the most miles we've covered in one day - not the most hours but for sure the longest distance.

We had buffet Chinese food next door and now are settled in for the night.
Today was my last day of goofing off since it is my turn to drive in the morning.
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I may not take the time to write tomorrow since we plan to arrive at our respective homes, hopefully before dark. Responsibilities with be foremost such as feeding horses and going to see the play at the high school. (o: