MUD ISLAND RIVER WALK, MEMPHIS, TN

We spent a couple of hours at this wonderful river walk. It is truly amazing! It is designed to show the flow of the Mississippi from the beginning in Minnesota to the end in Louisiana where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It even has some replicas of the cities it flows through, i.e., Memphis - Royle was able to pick out the location of our RV park. There are many signs through the 1/2 mile replica explaining some of the history. At the end of the walk, there is even a replica of the Gulf of Mexico. I hope you enjoy the photos in photo gallery. The pictures shown here are of Mary in front of one of the exhibits and Royle reading one of the many signs throughout the park.

GRACELAND, MEMPHIS, TN

We toured Graceland yesterday afternoon. It was an audio tour which I really enjoy because you can really get some good information of what you are seeing as you tour. I am sure everyone has heard the house is quite small for today's standards but it is beautiful and has many rooms. The thing that really struck me was how comfortable it looks; a house you can see yourself living in. We were able to get photos inside the house. I had no idea the graves for Elvis and his family were located at Graceland - never really thought about it but it surprised me when my audio told me we were heading for his memorial and grave. Shook me up for a moment. Elvis purchased the home in 1957 for $100,000. Also, did you know he had a twin brother who died at birth?

Photos in "photo gallery"

MEMPHIS, TN

We arrived at the Tom Sawyer RV Park yesterday afternoon. This is a wonderful location - just over the Mississippi from Memphis. We are actually in Arkansas but only about 5 miles from downtown Memphis. We have a river front view - we watch barges pass by throughout the day. The photo here is what we see when we look out our front window. It has been very cold - 35-40 last night and only about 55 during the day but the forecast is for warmer weather later in the week; the norm for Oct. is 75 degrees. After seeing the park, we decided to stay for 7 night instead of 4.

NASHVILLE SIGHTS

We had such a great time touring the sights of Nashville. Our campground is just one exit away from Opryland. We took a guided tour through the Grand Ole Opry, including backstage and on stage. We also toured their museum.

We enjoyed our audio tour of the Andrew Jackson Plantation (Hermitage). In case your memory fails like mine, he was our 7th president.

Yesterday (Sunday) we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame. This is one beautiful building. It is designed to look like a piano. We spent almost 3 hours touring the exhibits on 2 floors of the museum. It is 3 stories but the 1st floor does not have exhibits but so beautifully designed you just look at it in awe. Royle took almost 80 photos but less than half that in photo gallery. This museum is in downtown Nashville so we walked around for a bit and discovered a bridge for walking and/or riding bikes. It was once a vehicle bridge but after they built a new one, they redesigned it for walking.

The first photo here is the Country Music Hall of Fame
The second photo is Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson)
The third photo is Grand Ole Opry stage

NASHVILLE, TN

We arrived in Nashville, Two Rivers Campground, yesterday afternoon. We'll start touring today. Plan to leave for Memphis on Monday.

MAMMOTH CAVE NAT'L PARK, KY

We had a nice guided tour through one of the sections of the cave - Niagara Falls. It was only about an hour but that is enough time for me to be underground. Royle captured a few photos with his camera. The Mammoth Cave has 367 miles of discovered routes so there are many choices for tours. Some tours are as long as 6 hours! It was nice to have the tour guided by a Park Service employee. We loved Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico but it was a self-guided tour. After the tour, we took a car trip around the park. In one location the river crossed the road and there was a small ferry to transport us across. We had that experience on our return trip as well. See photo gallery if interested in cave photos and our ferry trip.

CORVETTE MUSEUM, BOWLING GREEN, KY

We are at the Cave Country RV Campground for 2 nights and then we will head to Nashville. We only had to travel a little over an hour so that was a nice travel day. After we arrived and set up we traveled to Bowling Green, KY to see the Corvette Museum and to tour the plant. The plant tour was about an hour, very interesting, no photos though. From there we went across the street to the museum. Love those corvettes. Photos taken in the museum are in "photo gallery". Today we tour Mammoth Caves.

SCENIC TOUR, KY, EAST OF LOUIVILLE

Yesterday we went on a scenic tour. We left our RV park in Shepherdsville (20 miles south of Louisville) and traveled east to Frankfort, the capitol of KY. We took a photo of the capitol building and then traveled further east to the town of Lexington. From there we traveled a scenic byway back to our park. It was about a 4-hour trip with wonderful scenery all the way. Once we left Lexington we saw many horse ranches - took a few photos but they just don't capture the beauty of the area. Typical houses are brick with white trim - beautiful and huge.

Today will be a relaxing day at the coach and preparation for moving to Mammoth Cave area tomorrow morning.

Photos of the scenery along the byway in "photo gallery".

LINCOLN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, KY

On our way to Lincoln's birthplace we stopped off at a little town which was having an arts and crafts festival. We sure didn't know what we were getting into. It was all so well organized; signs directing us to parking areas but all we needed to do was follow all the cars. We have not seen anything like it. There were acres for parking. When we got to the location for the festival we were overwhelmed at how huge it was. We spent an hour and only saw about a quarter of it. It was so crowded we couldn't move! I started getting claustrophobia so we left and headed for Lincoln's birthplace memorial.

Lincoln's birthplace is a National Historic Site. The memorial is a replica of the one in Washington D.C. Inside the memorial is a replica of the cabin where Lincoln was born and lived until he was 2. His family moved to another location about 10 miles away where they lived until he was 7 and then they moved to Indiana. We went to both those locations but not the museum since we went to the one in Springfield IL and that just couldn't be beat. And, we still wanted to see Fort Knox.

The first photo is the memorial, the 2nd is a replica cabin where he lived from 2-7 which looks like the one he was born in. More photos in "photo gallery".

BARDSTOWN, KY

Yesterday we went to the tourist town of Bardstown. We walked around and took a few photos. We then drove out to the Stephen Foster, My Old Kentucky Home, State Park and drove around and then headed out of town to tour the Train Station Museum. Both of them were a little disappointing so we didn't even take photos.

This area is bourbon country so there are many distilleries all around this area. We were told it is because of the spring water. On the way to Bardstown we stopped at the Jim Beam distillery for a tour. Neither one of us are bourbon drinkers but the history and the process was pretty interesting.

Today we are going to an arts and crafts fair in a town about 30 miles south of us and then plan to visit the Abe Lincoln birthplace.

KENTUCKY DERBY, CHURCHILL DOWNS, LOUISVILLE, KY

Today we went to Churchill Downs (Kentucky Derby) in Louisville. We paid for a guided tour - very interesting and fun tour. We were finished with that shortly after lunch so we drove through the city center to see some of the downtown area. We then found a scenic route that followed the Ohio River out of town and toward some of the horse ranches/farms. The houses are huge and beautiful but I am happy with our motor home.

I took a bunch of photos of our trip today and yesterday (Huber's Farm/Orchard/Winery) and they are in my "photo gallery".

Louisville, KY

We are in Grand-ma's RV Camping, Shepherdsville, Kentucky which is located 15 miles south of Louisville. We had planned to stay 4 nights but it is such a nice park and good location - and, lots of things to do/see in the area so we decided to stay 7 nights.

A guy here in the park told Royle about a place he thinks we should visit; it sounds like a place we went to in Vermont when the sis' were touring New England with us. This one is called Huber's Winery and Orchard - www.huberwinery.com if you want to check it out. Their website shows they have vegetables, fruits, fresh cider, homemade bread, cheese, ice cream and then, of course, the winery. It is across the State line in Indiana but only about 20-30 miles north of here so we plan to do that today.

As we traveled through Indianapolis and Louisville I took photos from the motor home. When they get uploaded I will put them in photo gallery. The Ohio River runs through Louisville but I only got a picture as we were going over the bridge; I hope to get one from the side to show how long it is.

10/16, pm: I put photos in "photo gallery" of our trip to Huber's Orchard and farm and the photos of skylines for Indianapolis and Louisville. The one here is of the decorated pumpkins at the farm. +

Last Day at White Oaks, IN

This is our last day at this beautiful park. There was a lot of activity on the lake over the weekend - sail boats, fishers in power boats, water skiers and many jet skis.

I took some photos of the beautiful fall colors; colors have changed dramatically in the 10 days we've been here. It has been cool at night and in the 80's during the day.

Check out more fall colors in my photo gallery.

We made reservations for the month of December to stay at Pioneer Beach Resort, Mustang Island, Port Aransas, Texas (Gulf Coast).

WHITE OAKS ON THE LAKE, RV PARK

We are enjoying spending a few days in this beautiful park. We go for walks each morning and then return to get caught up on work inside and outside the coach. Royle is washing the outside and I am getting caught up in waxing the leather and polishing the wood. There is a wonderful little lake community behind us. It dead-ends so it is a quiet place to take our walks. Many new homes being built but still quite a few of the older cottages.

Photos of our RV park and the lake community in my photo gallery - check it out.

MONTICELLO, INDIANA

We decided to stay at this park until the 14th. The park closes for the winter on 10/15. The manager told us they were closing early (usually close the 31st) because they just weren't getting many travelers. I would guess that is a result of the fuel prices.

We don't get very good phone service here - too far from town I guess.

I will be taking more pictures of the park. I took one yesterday when we were sitting in our lawn chairs, relaxing and enjoying the lake. Royle is enjoying his ice cream too.

This is a popular place for week-enders because of the lake activity and the park has several chalets for rent.

MONTICELLO, INDIANA

We left Supreme RV in Elkhart, IN at about 1:45 on Friday and made it to Monticello by 4:30. We have a very nice site close to the lake. We aren't sure yet how long we will be here but probably 5 days as a minimum.

ELKHART, IN

We are still at the Supreme RV Parking lot. The work did not get completed yesterday as we had hoped. After our coach went into the garage this morning we went to breakfast with a very nice couple who are also getting coach work done. Then we went to Wal-Mart and returned as the workers were bringing our coach back out of the garage - around 11 a.m. We were anticipating bad news because we knew they wouldn't be finished so soon. We were told the welder was ill and would not be in to finish his portion of the work. So, we've been sitting around most of the day. This afternoon we went to the Farmer's Market to treat ourselves to homemade ice cream. We have been dry camping for 8 days and we are very anxious to get to a campground. If the welder makes it in tomorrow, we hope to be out of here late Friday or Saturday.