Trip Stats

Final- most accurate mapped route

We drove ~13,000 miles and spent about $4200 on gas. The cheapest we found gas for was about $2.20/ gal and that was in Colorado near 4-corners. We went to almost 30 states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho.

Our favorites:

Alicia- I really enjoyed the National Parks, Arches and Rocky Mountains. Colorado was my favorite state because it reminds me so much of home. The Rocky Mt really blew my mind on its beauty. The lush greenery and the transition to snow caps. I also loved driving through green valleys to get to Sand Dunes Nat'l Park. As far as night life goes Austin, Tx was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed our river float in Austin. I also thoroughly enjoyed my relaxation time on the Florida beaches with Mexico Beach being my favorite.

Natalie- She loved the desert the most. Arches Nat'l Park had been her dream location since reading about it in Desert Solitaire. She was most excited about the drive through the Painted Desert, Monument Valley, and Arches. She also really loved the artsy town Taos, in New Mexico. It had so much beauty in the buildings and landscape.

Nick- He loved Moab and Arches NP, he had a lot of fun running around and climbing up the rock formations. He also really loved Colorado and could see himself moving there some day. He was most excited about seeing Yellowstone NP and Wyoming state. He definitely wants to revisit Colorado and Wyoming to see more each state has to offer... and to try some Rocky Mt Oysters :)

Heading out West

Map route

We woke early in Cleveland and headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I dressed accordingly, with a black bra top that was studded and had chains hanging off of it, and some tight brown leather pants. We got to the Rock Hall of Fame and took an intro picture of us looking like a rock band. We got to look around the museum at all of the guitars and clothing of some great rock stars. I really enjoyed Janis Joplin's hippy car. There was a section of modern pop stars and we got to see some of Beyonce's dresses which were amazing. When we finished the museum we went to the gift shop where some people took pictures with me because they loved the way I was dressed. Outside of the Hall of Fame we took a tour of Johnny Cash's travel bus. It was pretty awesome inside, definitely more spacious than our little dolphin. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was something I was really looking forward to but it paled in comparison to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The organization at the Rock Hall was lacking and made for a large eclectic mess. Still there was tons of cool stuff. When we finished at the museum we drove to Toledo, Ohio for the  night.

Natalie, Alicia and Nick rocking out at the Rock and Roll  Hall of Fame

Jimi Hendrix guitars

Led Zeppelin outfit/ guitar

Beyonce's costumes

As soon as we woke we drove to Chicago, Illinois; we drove through Indiana to Illinois. Once we got into Chicago it was really busy. Traffic was heavy and it had started raining. We came to the cause of traffic, a cement truck had tipped onto a car and smashed the driver's side- there was definitely no survivors as the truck was still on top of the car and they were working on lifting the truck up. We drove into the heart of Chicago where we miraculously found some outdoor parking that we could stay at for the night. After a nap we got some deep dish pizza at Beggar's Pizza then got ready for the night. After managing New York's subways we decided we could tackle Chicago and we rode the train to Michigan Ave to experience Chicago nightlife. Lollapalooza was going on the weekend we were there and had just got out so the streets were full of festival goers. We could only find small hotel bars and walked the streets until we settled at Miller's Pub. The bar was packed with people from Lollapalooza. We made our way down the bar to find an open seat. At the end of the bar some girl pointed at me and the guy sitting next to her offered his seat to me. I would have been sitting between the girl and her guy friend with the guy that gave up his seat standing behind me. I declined their offer and thought how weird it was. On the other side of those people were two seats available and a man at the very end gave his seat up to us. I sat closest to the group and they immediately turned and chatted with us. They had just come from Lollapalooza. The girl got up to leave and the guys asked if I knew her, I told them I didn't and obviously they didn't know her either. While we were chatting with the group we told them we were from NorCal and had been on a road trip for a month and half. One guy immediately asked if we knew where P-ville was, the old hangtown. All of our jaws dropped, no one knew where our small town was. Turns out this guy had family in P-ville and had spent his summers there while growing up. The guy told us he was from Connecticut and that growing up the girls he knew ranked about a 5. He said he thought hot girls only existed in movies and didn't think much of it until he came out to NorCal for the summer. He said "Holy Shit!! Every girl was hot as shit." He had wanted to live there and enjoyed his summer visits. We were all rolling at his story telling. He had many adventures to tell and told us some things to check out on the rest of our trip. The group of guys left, and then another guy sitting there scooted down to sit with us. He had also been at the festival and said he was coming down off acid. He said some really trippy things, he changed his name on us from Chris to Change. We just went with it. He was a bartender in Kentucky and got dragged out to Lollapalooza with some friends that he had lost earlier in the day. Another guy joined our group, Cory. He was a super muscular army man that was on his way back home. He talked just like Sylvester Stalone in Rocky. He gave us some movie quotes which was amazing!!! He said he had never seen the movies until everyone told him he talked like Rocky. We all got our fill of entertainment for the night and found our way back to the subway station and back to our motor home.

Pizza in Chicago

Nick and Natalie with friend in Chicago subway

We slept in a bit in Chicago then headed for Nauvoo, IL- a Mormon town on the Mississippi River. Along the way we ran out of gas :( and puttered into a rest stop. We were about 3 miles from the closest gas station so we asked some rest stop workers if they could help. They gave us 2 gallons of gas from the lawn mower gas can and we made it to the gas station to fill up. The hwy to Nauvoo crossed the Mississippi river into Iowa then back across the river to Illinois into Nauvoo. We checked into the campground and then drove into town. We walked the streets to the Mormon Temple and then down the hillside to the visitor center where we learned about the early settlers. We happened to be in town when the yearly pageant, a play about early Nauvoo, was going on. After eating dinner we sat in a huge field to watch the play. It was a highly technical play and you could tell had been practiced for a long time. It was very good and kept our interest the whole time. When it had ended we went back to the campsite. While laying in bed we could hear our neighbor's phone call where he was yelling at someone and threatening their job by saying he had connections. Then another phone call to his son telling him to throw our someones stuff and to piss on their pillows. The phone calls ended and we finally fell asleep, only to be woken in the middle of the night to the same man hacking for hours. It was probably the grossest sound I have ever heard. Finally we all fell asleep.

Joseph Smith and Hyrum statues outside of the Temple

Sunset over the Mississippi River in Nauvoo

A band playing at the Pageant in Nauvoo

We woke up and did laundry then headed into old Nauvoo. We got to see the old bakery and try some gingerbread cookies. We then went to the Family Living Center where we learned how to weave, make a barrel, do pottery, make rope, cook bread, and make a candle. We got to keep the rope we made and to eat some freshly cooked bread. After that we headed back to town to the real bakery for some pastries. Back in old Nauvoo we learned how the bricks were made and got a small Nauvoo souvenir brick. We drove along the trail of hope and read plaques of journal entries from the Mormons when they were escaping prosecution. We drove all the way to the Mississippi River where they crossed the frozen river and we put our feet into the Mississippi for the first time. Once we had finished up in Nauvoo we drove to Carthage to the prison where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered. We got the last tour of the day and got to see where they were held and murdered, with the bullet holes still in the door. After we finished our tour Natalie drove for a bit while I napped. When I woke up I took over the driving through Iowa where we stayed for the night in Des Moines.

Nick at the Mississippi River

Sun setting in Iowa

Quote:
     "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." ~ Christopher McCandless

Big lights will inspire you

Map route

We woke up early and packed our things. We had to throw out all of our perishable foods. I drove us to the Philadelphia Airport. We parked our motor home in the economy lot and put our turtles into one tank and then stowed them into a carry on bag. After taking the shuttle to the airport we walked through the terminal to arrivals and caught a cab to the greyhound station in Philly. There was time to spare after getting our tickets so we got breakfast at The Down Home Diner. We headed back to the station where we stood in line to board our bus. Finally we were on our way to NYC, with a 2 hour bus ride we made it in no time. When we had managed to get out of the underground station we came up to a huge city surrounding us. We had made it!! After deciding not to get into a non moving cab and too scared to learn the subway system we walked 1.2 miles to our hotel while lugging our bags through the crowded streets. The turtle bag fell once and we stopped to make sure they were ok, thankfully they were. We had a couple people ask us where we got them because they wanted turtles too. We checked into our hotel and were amazed at how fancy our room was. There was 2 bedrooms separated by a living room and a huge bathroom with 2 showers. After unpacking the turtles we rested for a couple hours. It was getting late so we decided to grab some pizza for dinner, Nick and I walked around the city looking for an affordable pizza place while Natalie napped. When we got back to the room with the pizza I woke Natalie up just with the smell of the hot pizza. We ate and then got ready to go out. Our first stop was Whiskey Trader where we had a shot of whiskey with a pickle back, delicious! Then we went to the Dream Hotel for a nightclub that was on the terrace. The music was good but we were a lot younger than the crowd and decided to take a cab elsewhere. We caught a cab across the city to a street where we were told there were more bars. Along the drive we got to see Times Square full of light up billboards and tourists. At our destination we saw a tattoo shop, where Nick decided to get his nose piercing changed to a ring and Natalie found another nose ring for herself. After a quick change we went to the bar across the street The Grisly Pear. We hung out there for a bit then decided this wasn't what we were looking for and took another cab to the  meat packing district where there were tons of nightclubs. We walked down the cobblestone streets till we heard some music coming from a building, there was a long line waiting to get in. We decided this was where we wanted to be. We stood in the line as the bouncer pointed at the various groupings of people asking how many in their party, still not letting anyone in. Another door guy leaned into the bouncer and pointed at us and the bouncer asked us, we responded with 3 and he waved us in. We had made the cut even though there were other groupings of 3 or less that could have been let in. We took the elevator up to the terrace top that was emitting loud club music and began to dance. After ordering a drink we realized how expensive everything was- $18 for a vodka and orange juice!! We danced the night away and some guy bought me two drinks, what a sucker! It had gotten late so we took a cab back to our hotel and fell asleep.

Smuggling some baby turtles

Alicia falling in LOVE with NYC

In the morning we were awoken by room service, we had ordered breakfast up since it was reasonably priced and sounded nice. Natalie and I ate our breakfast in bed while watching cartoons. We got ready for the day, and asked the front desk how the subway works. After walking to a subway station and figuring out the payments we took the subway to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. The terminal had lots of restaurants so we grabbed lunch and listened to a guy playing violin. He was really good and played cover songs we knew. When the ferry arrived we got on and went to the second floor deck outside so we could see the Statue of Liberty. We got to see Ellis Island and our Lady Liberty. At Staten Island we looked around at the little shops and the fish tanks in the terminal then took the ferry back, on the way back we were able to see the Brooklyn Bridge. From the station we walked to the World Trade Center Memorial. Along the way we saw the Wall Street Bull and took pictures with his balls that seemed to have been polished from years of being touched. We made our way to the memorial feeling sad along the way as we reflected on 9/11 events. The fountains were huge and we looked over the edge and read some of the names surrounding the memorial. We got to see some of the firefighters who had survived and look at their memorial for their fallen brothers. There was a tribute center nearby but we were unable to go in because it was closed for the day. Feeling exhausted we took the subway back to our hotel. We went to TJ Maxx, Natalie's favorite store, and then grabbed some drinks and a hot dog from a street cart before heading up. At our room we ate dinner and watched movies.

Natalie checking out the Brooklyn Bridge from the ferry

Statue of Liberty from the ferry

9/11 Memorial

I woke early and got my stuff packed to leave. I wanted to go to Central Park before check out so we didn't have to carry our bags around. It took too long for everyone else to get ready, with only 30 min till check out I dragged Nick and Natalie out of the room for a quick walk to the park. We walked through part of the park and then grabbed breakfast to go. It was past check out time so we hurried to grab our bags and leave for our bus. We were barely going to make the bus so we ran down the street to the subway but couldn't find the subway entrance we needed, after asking for direction we back tracked to our terminal. The first train was a couple minutes out and turned out to not be ours, our train came a couple minutes afterwards. We got on and rode the train to the greyhound station. We hurried off the train and up from the subway, lugging our heavy suitcases after us. I tried to orient ourselves to find the bus station and then we hurried towards it. Once inside the station we had to find our terminal, we took the escalator down and ran down the hall. We got to our terminal, there was no one in line, everyone had already boarded. We went outside where the bus driver took our tickets and asked us why we were late, all while he shook his head at us. He finally opened the luggage compartment where we threw our bags into and he let us on the bus. We had barely made it!! Once on the bus we were able to relax. The bus ride was 3 hours long because it had a couple stops in New Jersey to make. Once back in Philly we took a cab back to the airport to get our motor home. It was like being back home and we were too happy to be back in our tiny box. Tomorrow we will go to Gettysburg so we drove west stopping at a brewery outside of Philadelphia for dinner. We made it into Gettysburg just in time for bed.

Natalie looking bisque at dinner

In the morning we drove straight to Gettysburg battlefield and stopped inside the visitor center, we decided to not pay extra for the museum and instead bought an audio tour that we listened too as we drove to various point in the park. We learned all about the battle and got to see the memorials and representations for the states that were involved. Throughout the park are tons of canyons and statues that were really cool to look at. We tried to take a hot air balloon ride because it was the cheapest we had seen but weather conditions wouldn't allow it and we looked inside a free museum about Gettysburg instead. After we were done in Gettysburg we drove to Hershey, PA to see the Hershey Chocolate Factory. We rode a Disneyland like ride through a mock factory to see how the chocolate it made, at the end of the tour we got free candy and then looked through the huge candy shop. After we were done at the store we drove towards Niagara Falls, we made it to Painted Post, NY where we stayed for the night.

Natalie in battle at Gettysburg

The battlefield at Gettysburg

Memorial at Gettysburg

I got up early and ran into Walmart for some more milk when I got back to the motor home I realized I was somehow missing a back piercing and I didn't know when I had lost. We searched the bed and the floor of the motor home but we couldn't find the tiny jewel. Our first stop of the day was a pet store to buy a new lamp for our turtles. I played with the bunnies and looked at all of the animals. There was a ferret and a huge iguana as well as lots of pythons. After looking around the pet store for a while we drove towards Buffalo, NY and along the way we went through a small town where we saw an open tattoo shop, we stopped to buy a new jewel. The shop didn't carry the type of jewelry I had but they did change Nick's nose ring out to a better ring for free. We drove on and Natalie found the only shop in Buffalo that had the type I was looking for but they said it would be $60 and they wouldn't just sell me the jewelry separate from a piercing price. I decided we had better head there and try to bargain with the guy. At the shop he said they didn't just sell the jewelry. I told him I had 10 dermal piercings and that one came out, usually I can just shove the skin diver in and tape it over to heal up, I didn't see how paying $60 was justifiable. He finally said he would sell me the jewel for $20, I took it. Back at the motor home I went to the bathroom before we put the new jewelry in and I heard a clink, my original dermal had fell out of my short and landed on the floor. Thank god I didn't pay $60 for the skin diver, at least now I have a spare. We cleaned mine off and Natalie put it back in for me and then we were off to Niagara Falls. On the way to the falls Natalie got a warning on her phone about being in a flash flood zone. We drove out to the falls while it poured and water pooled up on the roadway. We got to Niagara Falls and the rain stopped. We went on the Maid of the Mist, a boat ride that took us right next to the falls and we got sprayed with the mist coming off of the falls. The waterfalls were huge and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery with Canada in the background. We left Niagara Falls and drove to Cleveland, Ohio. Our first parking lot we picked for the night we go kicked out of so we drove across town to another Walmart to sleep.

A farmhouse in New York

Alicia, Nick, and Natalie at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Maid of the Mist Ferry at Niagara Falls

Quote:
     "When you die God and all of the angels will hold you accountable for the joys in life you've denied yourself."

Smokey Mountains

Map route

After a day of relaxing we were recharged to drive east to the Smokey Mountains. We stopped at a flea market and met some interesting people who kept asking why we were all dressed up. We continued driving along to Smokey Mt. Nat'l Park, we drove through a section of the park then stopped at the visitor center to get information on the park. We saw tons of elk and the ranger brought out an elk antler that they had to cut off when an elk rammed a car. We even got to hold the huge antlers. The park is so beautiful, bright green trees everywhere and little streams that the road winds around. We left the park because it was getting dark and stayed at an RV park in the woods down the street. The campsite was secluded and we could see tons of fireflies around the grass.

Alicia holding an elk antler

Natalie holding an elk antler



A little hiking trail at Smokey Mt. Nat'l Park

We got up and then drove to Smokey Mt. Nat'l park. We tried to drive down the Roaring Fork Motor Road but motor homes aren't allowed. We hiked to Laurel falls, a big hike for a small waterfall. We continued on the trail past the swarms of people and got to see some old growth trees. Of all of the old growth on the east coast 90% of it is in this national park. We drove through the park and to Clingman's Dome, an observatory structure that allows you to see across the park. This particular day was foggy and we couldn't see very far. We crossed the state line from Tennessee to North Carolina and left the park. We stayed in the parking lot for Harrah's in Cherokee, NC. We ate dinner at the casino and got our ID checked 3 separate times, they are pretty serious about under age gambling..



Clingman's Dome



Nick on the stateline

Nick and Natalie making their way up Clingman's Dome



Nick on the hike to Laurel Falls

In the morning we went moccasin shopping and spent the day trying to find the best deal. We found some feathers to make our headdress for Burning Man and Natalie and Nick each got a real fox face and tail. After getting our native goods we headed onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, it's a scenic byway that passes from North Carolin into Virginia and stretches for over 450 miles. The parkway is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The trees are green and thick and the ground is dotted with wildflowers. After being on the parkway for 10 minutes I saw a bobcat run across the road. This bobcat was a reddish brown color which made me think it was a fox at first, but his bobbed tail gave him away. We stopped at various overlooks that showed the lush valley and rolling hills below. At one overlook I saw a black rat snake while taking picture of flowers and found a dead butterfly in perfect condition. We enjoyed the live butterflies that surrounded the wildflowers then drove on. Nick and I hiked Devil's Courthouse- a cliff that houses a cave, the natives believed the cave is where the devil hold court. We didn't find the cave but we did hike to the top of the cliff and overlooked our tiny motor home below and saw the mountain ranges from the surrounding states. We passed through Ashville, NC where we ate dinner at the Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place. The pizza was amazing, and the restaurant even more amazing. We sat on the outside patio that had bowling balls built into the brick walls. As we were finishing eating it started to sprinkle and we tried to hurry along so we could close the open vents in the motor home. Before we left the pizza place the sprinkle turned into a full on down pour. Natalie put her new moccasins in a bag and ran back to the motor home barefoot. By the time we got back to the motor home we were soaked and so was some things in the motor home. We did our best to dry up and then we drove along the highway and found a picnic area where we stayed the night.


Alicia- Blue Ridge Parkway

Butterfly on Blue Ridge Pkwy

When we woke up the sun was coming out so I laid out our damp shoes to dry. After we were ready to go we continued on the parkway, we stopped at a visitor center and started to hike Craggy Gardens. It was supposed to be a 10 minute hike but we came to a split in the trail and decided to head to the falls instead. The trail wound down the mountain over stumps and rocks. After hiking for quite some time we ran into a couple who told us the falls was an 8 mile hike and that it was going to rain soon. We turned back and it started to rain, thankfully not as hard as it did in Ashville. We drove to Crabtree Falls- a 2 mile relatively dry hike to an amazing waterfall. The waterfall was huge and definitely worth the hike. We headed back to the motor home and drove to the Mineral Museum where we learned about the stones that are found along the Blue Ridge. We went to Linnville falls and hiked to the overlook. We were at the top of a cliff overlooking a mountain bowl that a large waterfall collected into. All kinds of trees and plants were growing out of the cliff side creating a very beautiful picture. We slogged back up the trail then down another trail that took us to the base of the cliff and to a small sandy beach. If it hadn't been so late and overcast we definitely would have swam in the pool. After playing around the water we hiked back up and parked near the Linnville River for the night.

Natalie, Nick, and Alicia at Crabtree Falls

Alicia at Linnville Falls

In the morning Nick and I hiked more around Linnville Falls and then we drove on along the parkway. We stopped at an RV park/ water park in Hillsville, Virginia for the night. We stopped in early and spent a couple hours catching up on laundry and got pizza from the snack bar. This campground was insane! It was probably the entertainment for the whole county. They had 2 swimming pools, 1 had an obstacle course on it and the other had some small slides. There was 2 big water slides that you rode in a tube down the hill and then climbed back up the stairs to do it again. There was a catch and release lake with paddle boats and mini golf course along with an arcade, pool, and horseshoes. For $10 someone could use the park for the day. On Friday nights they do outdoor movie night with a big projection screen and Saturday nights they have karaoke in their hall. There wasn't much more we could ask for.

Linnville Falls day 2

We woke up early and got the motor home ready to go then hit the pool. We rode the 2 water slides- the cobra and the black mamba, then we swam in the pool and did the obstacle course. After swimming for a while we laid out then got ready to go. We drove to Washington D.C, and walked through the National Mall. There we saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, the US Capitol, and the White House. You never realize how large these structure are until you are right next to them. We decided we were going to drive to Philadelphia for the night and take a bus to New York in the morning so we tried to leave Washington D.C. and it was crazy! We turned down a street and got a ways down to an underpass where the clearance was 11'- our motor home is 11'6". There was no where to turn around and there was a huge line of traffic behind us. With our hazards on we slowly backed up about 1/8 a mile until we got to an intersection where we could turn around. We finally got to the hwy we needed to and drove towards Pennsylvania. It was getting late so we parked at a rest stop for the night. Tomorrow we will be in New York.

Alicia with the Washington Memorial

Nick at the White House

Natalie with Lincoln Memorial

Quote:
      "If you want to fly, you need to give up what weighs you down"

East Coast Living

Map route

We woke up and got our laundry taken care of before heading up the coast. We got a late start and did a lot of driving. I was beginning to get restless so we stopped in at a Starbucks to enjoy the AC and WiFi. We stayed at Starbucks for quite some time before heading on our way. A rain storm rolled in turning the sky beautiful colors of bright orange and purple. We drove just outside of Daytona Beach and called it a night.




The amazing sky near Daytona Beach, FL

We woke and drove to Daytona Beach for the day. After parking I saw a store with boogie boards for sale so we headed over to pick up one for the beach. In the store there were baby red eared and yellow bellied slider turtles for sale and they were going for cheap. The turtles are about the size of a silver dollar and we couldn't resist their cuteness. After talking with the turtle expert we decided the turtles had a pretty good chance of surviving in our motor home back across the country. I bought 2 turtles since they like company and Nick and Natalie each bought one. We were so excited with our purchases we brought our new friends to the beach to play with. We didn't stay put for long as a storm came in quickly and rained us out. We ran back to the motor home and made lunch (we definitely washed our hands to avoid salmonella from our little loves) The rain had stopped after an hour so we grabbed our new boogie board, said goodbye to our baby turtles and hit the waves. We played in the ocean body surfing and riding the waves on our boogie board. The water of the Atlantic ocean was a little colder than the Gulf, but still warm in comparison to the Pacific. After playing in the water we laid out on the beach soaking up some rays. We started to get hungry and worried about our new pets so we went back to the motor home. After cooking up some dinner we spent some time figuring out the best place for the turtles to ride and rigged up the seat belts and bungee cords to keep them safe as the motor home bumped around. We drove to Jacksonville and went to the store to find aquarium pieces for the turtles to bask on out of the water. After getting some aquarium gravel, fake rock/coral, and more turtle feed we set up their tanks and fell asleep.



Koopa and Yoshi getting their bronze on at Daytona Beach

We woke up and fed the baby turtles. My two turtles, I named Koopa (Troopa) and Yoshi after Mario, seemed to be doing the best and eating tons of turtle food. Natalie's turtle is a lot smaller than the others and hasn't eaten yet. He doesn't move around as much and just lays under water. We are worried for him, he might be sick. We drove up the East Coast to Georgia. We tried to go to Cumberland Island, a wildlife area with armadillos and alligators but we missed the last ferry by an hour so we continued up the coast. We stopped at the Hofwyl-Broadfield plantation. The plantation was built in the 1800's and was made for rice cultivation. This house stayed in the same family until 1973 when the last owner died and donated the house and land to the state. We toured the plantation home and everything that was in the home when the owner died was still there in place. There was tons of really old books, furniture from the 1800's, civil war pieces, and the owners Oldsmobile sat unmoved in the garage. We got to look around the house, the dairy farm and milk bottling shed, as well as saw the slave quarters. The plantation was surrounded by live oaks, one right next to the house was 800 years old. We stopped at a peach stand and got some fresh Georgia peaches and tried some boiled peanuts, they taste more like beans. While driving I DJed some songs that talked about peaches with lyrics like "in the teaches of peaches" "moving to the country going to eat a lot of peaches" and "peaches and cream". We drove up to Savannah and crossed over to South Carolina. I stopped to figure out where our drive would continue to. In order to save time and miles we drove south back to Georgia, then cut across Georgia towards Tennessee. We made it outside of Atlanta where we stayed for the night.



Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation

Nick holding a sword from the Civil War
At Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation

After waking up to Natalie's turtle still not eating and being sessile we decided to go to Petsmart for some turtle meds. We actually found an employee that we deemed the turtle master. He had 2 red eared  turtles about a year old that were doing great. He looked at Natalie's turtle and said he thought he looked fine and that his own turtles didn't eat for the first 2 weeks. They told us that these turtles need UVB light and a heat lamp on them and that Natalie's turtle was probably just really cold. We picked up the lights and set up a tanning booth for our babies. We continued on our drive to Tennessee and stopped at Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, TN. Ruby Falls is a waterfall inside a cave. We walked about a mile to the falls and ended about 1200 feet below ground. The whole thing was a lot more commercial then we thought it would be with colored lights illuminating structures and music to enhance the scene. It was still pretty cool to check out even with the theatrics. Once we were out we climbed the stairs up to the top of tower of lookout point. On clear days from lookout point you can see parts of multiple states. We drove down the mountain to an RV park and after eating some "breakfast" at a waffle shop we hung out around camp and got to see fireflies for the first time. I only saw one and Nick saw a couple buzzing around. So cool!!


Ruby Falls

A rock formation that looks like a turtle at Ruby Falls



Alicia at Lookout Point, Dolphin in the parking lot

We got a late start out of the campground and drove to Lynchburg, TN to see the Jack Daniels Distillery. We were not going to make it in time before they closed but luckily we passed into central time zone and got to the distillery 30 min before their last tour. We did the sampling tour, due to loopholes we were allowed to taste in the otherwise dry county. We got to see how the charcoal was created from burning wood with 140 proof alcohol. We went through the distillery and got to taste the yeast and corn mix from day 1 to day 5. Day 1 was sweet from the sugars and had a cornbread taste to it. Day 5 tasted more like stale beer. We saw the charcoal mellowing process and tasted the vapors of the 140 proof alcohol. We walked around the distillery and saw various buildings that were built in the beginning and the natural stream that the water for the whiskey is collected from. After the tour we sampled Jack Daniel's, Gentlemen Jack, and Single Barrel. My favorite was the Single Barrel, this particular batch had a smooth and sweet start then warmed up. The tour guide was impressed with my knowledge (I work with Jack Daniels) and pulled us aside after the tour to let us know about the cemetery up the road. Jack Daniels was buried there and he had many girlfriends. Back in the day they kept finding girls passed out in the cemetery from visiting his grave and installed 2 chairs next to his grave for multiple women to grieve on. We checked out the cemetery and the local Jack Daniels store then drove on to Nashville. We got to Nashville, TN late and parked in the city parking for the night. After getting ready to go out we walked down Broadway Street looking for a bar to hang out in. After passing up a couple bars I spotted one I wanted to check out so we crossed the street to go to a tri-level bar- The Honky Tonk. While walking to stand in line I noticed a guy in line that looked really familiar and the more I looked I realized it was (my brother) Micauly's friend Dean. At the same time I realized who he was, he realized who I was. Dean, who lives back home, was on a trip with his fraternity to Nashville for the week. After having a freak out about seeing a good friend from home we went into the bar and grabbed some drinks and caught up. The Honky Tonk bar had a band playing on each floor along with a bar on each floor. It was a really cool atmosphere, and it was packed. Dean let us know about some bars down by Vanderbilt College and we took a cab across town. The cab brought us too far from the bars and we ended up walking a mile to get to them. We hung out at Rebar and Losers & Winners then took a cab back towards our motor home. We hung out with Dean at the Omni Hotel, where he was staying, then walked back to the motor home for the night.

Nick, Natalie, and Alicia with Jack Daniel's statue

Alicia and Natalie mourning over Jack

We woke up exhausted from staying up so late, but got ready and walked to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We got to see instruments and costumes from the beginning of country music. I really enjoyed all of the costumes and their intricate detail made by Nudie. We saw Webb Pierce's car- Nudie had customized it with 1000 silver dollars, embossed leather interior and pearled guns all over the car. It was amazing. We also got to see Elvis Presley's old car and gold piano. We went into the sound booths and listened to some old country music and walked around looking at the more modern guitars and costumes. The attention to detail had not been lost on any piece. After we were done at the museum we grabbed some burgers and then went back to the motor home to get our swimsuits. Dean had given us an extra room key so we could use the pool at his hotel. He was in a meeting all day so he couldn't join us but we hung out is the rooftop hot tub and laid poolside for the day. After relaxing for a couple hours we decided we needed a real nap and went back to the motor home where we slept for the night.






Webb Pierce Car

Johnny Cash Guitar

Costumes made by Nudie