Yes, we are still on our journey

We haven't been taking pictures because it has been so HOT. I did want to update you as to what and where we are.

Right now, Monday, we are in Tennessee, just about 40 miles from the Virginia boarder on Route 81. We are in Baileyton, TN. Nice little, quiet campground. Today was actually the first nice day that we have had in a long time. It was cool enough that we could cook breakfast outside (at 8:00) and not sweat! We decided to stay here one more night.

Well, let me catch you up on our travels. We were on Route 40 until Saturday, when we slid onto Route 81. (We were not on 81 very long before we stopped in Baileyton). Let's see, I think the last time I blogged was when we were in Oklahoma at the Route 66 museum. From Salisaw OK, we headed for West Memphis, Arkansas. We spent one of the worst nights of camping there. (Loud campground, there were trains blowing their whistles about every 20 minutes! ALL NIGHT LONG!) The campers seemed to be "bad" campers, (they kept walking through our sites, the kids were screaming, (I could go on!)).

I do have to say that we did take a trip to Graceland (or at least we drove by). Graceland, in Memphis is where Elvis lived (some people say he is still alive). Murtle didn't see him. She was looking for him. Well, anyway, we drove to Memphis, Tennessee (it was only 15 miles from our campground). It just so happened that this was the start of the week long festival celebrating Elvis 30th anniversary! The place was mobbed. We could not have gotten close to Graceland if we tried.

Brad had a great experience driving through Memphis. (We thought the Boston area was a challenge!) Memphis is a maze of roads. Thank goodness for NUVI. I just don't know what we would have done on this trip without her!

The next morning we headed East again. Had to drive back through Memphis again. NUVI to the rescue again. Turn left, go North, go South, go straight, turn here, turn there. Thank you, thank you, thank you NUVI.

After we got through Memphis (on a Saturday) we headed for Nashville. Now remember the temperature was pushing 100 (ok 97 - 99) close enough to 100. If you factor in the humidity it was over 100 for a few days. We didn't want to do anything other than sit in the air conditioned truck or put the air on in the camper, and then hibernate.

So, needless to say we did not stop in Nashville. (That will just have to be another trip.) Even the Great Smokey Mountains seemed too hot to stop. So we didn't.

We found our campground in Lebanon (Tennessee, not NH). (Calling ahead for a campground with the heat so hot was a good idea. There wasn't any way that we would be camping at Wal-Mart on these hot nights without electricity!) The campground had a lot of people (but not full) because of a truck race (the big boy trucks). They asked us if we wanted tickets, but again, at near 100 degree weather, we opted not to.

The next day we headed out again for the East. Calling ahead again for a campground, we ended up at Baileytown. We drove through Knoxville this time. Really glad that we hit these places on a weekend. After we settled in, we needed some groceries, so we punched in a Wal-Mart Supercenter and drove to Kingsport, TN for an evening outing. What a place! When we drove into the city, we saw some kind of "mill/plant". It appeared quite large. When we drove out of the city at night, we could not believe the size of the "mill/plant". After doing some research, it was Eastman Chemical. I looked it up on the internet. It was huge.

Well, today, Monday we went out for a drive. (How ironic, here we have driven over 7,000 miles and we went out for a drive. ) We just wanted to see some of the country. Like I said earlier, today was a beautiful day. (OK, it was still hot, in the high 80's but nice compared with the last week or so.) This time we drove to Greeneville, then to Newport, (of course for Dairy Queen, what else would we drive that far for?) Murtle, (and Brad, OK, Taco and I) had to have our ice cream.

We drove on some pretty narrow roads. They were curvy, too. Saw some beautiful homes, lots of farms, with cows/cattle (OK, Rod, I'm not that well versed!) They had big sweet eyes. Lots of horses, too, but for some reason, I don't think they do a lot of Rodeo's here. Maybe they do, like I said, I am not that well versed (but we didn't see any arenas).

There was a thunderstorm that passed through, but the sun kept on shining! There must have been a beautiful rainbow somewhere.

Well, it is late now, (we are back on your time). We are heading NORTH (oh, how I shutter with that word) I am not ready to be done with this journey yet. We still do have two weeks left, so maybe we can stretch it out a tad.

Should be in or at least near Waynesboro, Virginia by about 2:00PM on Tuesday. Will be at Christi's on Wednesday early afternoon. (One more laundry day needed!)