Final day on the road

Yesterday we said goodbye to Jerry, Heidi, Gunner and Casey.  Gunner & Casey are pictured below.

After dealing with lots of traffic and being on the road for almost 7 hours, we found a campground just north of Bristol, VA to stay overnight....Sugar Hollow Campground. There is a Walmart close by but for $20 We have electricity, water, and there is a dump station we'll use on our way out.  

It has been a good trip, and we got to see a lot of places and a lot of beautiful scenery, as well as being able to visit with special friends - Neil & Kat, Dwight & Jeanine, Bruce & Kirsten, Cliff, Nevaeh, Lindsey, and Gabe, and finally Jerry & Heidi.  We are especially glad to have Jerry & Heidi on this side of the country, where hopefully we can visit with them more than once every year or two. 

Now it's time to go home and see all our good friends there, including our terrific neighbors Susan & Howard who keep an eye on our house when we are away. 

It's Hayden's birthday this weekend and we are happy to surprise him since he thinks we won't be home until Halloween.  

Stones River National Battlefield

Murfreesboro was the site of one of the major battles of the Civil War, with most of Tennessee being on the side of the Confederacy. It was interesting to learn about the 3 days of battle that occurred here and to see the tombstones of so many fallen union soldiers, all with pennies or other coins resting on them. The small tombstones were numbered but otherwise unidentified soldiers.

Visiting Family

We are spending a few days at Jerry & Heidi's new home in Murfreesboro, TN.  It's great to visit, having last seen them a year ago.  Casey, Gunner, and Erin's dog Jellybean gave us a warm welcome on Sunday and every morning since.  It has been rainy here but they have a lovely screened in porch to hang out. 

Mississippi River Walk

This scale model of the Mississippi River is found on Mud Island in Memphis, TN.  It costs $6 per car to get to this part of the island, but it's well worth the price. Visitors can also take the monorail from a parking lot across the canal, but that cost is $4 per person.  If you want to tour the river museum, it is an additional $10 per person.  We spent about 90 minutes just taking the river walk following the twists and turns of the scale model and reading about the history along the way.  It was fun to remember our riverboat cruise between Natchez and New Orleans many years ago.

Oklahoma City

Jim & I left Bill & Pat In Amarillo. They were staying an extra night there before heading to Wisconsin to pick up a hitch component with air bags.  We headed to Oklahoma City to visit Cliff Sheriff and family. We stayed at Roadrunner RV Park just off I-35 north of Moore where Cliff lives. Over the past several days we visited with Cliff (and Benny), went to lunch with Cliff and Nevaeh, had dinner with Lindsey and Shane (Lindsey's fiance) and watched Nevaeh play soccer.  It was nice to catch up with longtime friends.  Jim even had lunch with Cliff and Gabe. We are so glad we got to see them this trip.  Now we are headed east again toward Memphis, TN.

Amarillo

This was an overnight stop at Amarillo Ranch RV Park, where loud music played next door until midnight. The campground was very nice otherwise. I am sure they have no control over the business next door. The campground provided us with "limo" service to the Big Texan Steak Ranch where the 4 of us had dinner. Jim and I have been there 6 years ago, but this was Bill & Pat's  first time.  Two young people took the 72 oz steak dinner challenge and failed miserably.  We don't think they really  tried...just wanted the attention,  since they spent more time on their cell phones and with their go pro camera.