Cumberland Gap, etc

We visited the Andrew Johnson home in Greeneville, NC. He was the president who took over when Abe was murdered. He also was impeached but found innocent by 1 vote. Anyway, I wasn't too excited about visiting his historical site. After viewing the film I discovered he was the almost done in by really dirty politics and just for defending the constitution. Anyway, the ranger was really good at explaining it. The ranger was happy to hear we were headed to the Cumberland Gap. He asked to say hi to the ranger there. So, after giving us directions out of town, we drove to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park. It is located on the corner of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. We camped there in the Virginia part of the park. Hard to believe the national park system has such beautiful camping at such a cheap price, Because the colors are peaking in the Smokies and Cumberland Mountains, we were treated with a beautiful site. The ranger at Cumberland was also pretty gung ho. When I asked him if he was Butch Davis, he couldn't do enough for us. He even drove Beth and I up to the top of the mountain and gave us a personal tour. So then we drove across Kentucky today and into Indiana. We have found that most campgrounds have closed as of Nov. 1st. We found one that was open just south of Indianapolis. We should be home in 2 or 3 days. We are stopping to see our friends, Merv & Kay Schlesinger in Mendota, Ill tomorrow night. By the way, gas was $1.949 per gallon in Tennessee. Bill

Trip Home (Early part) Nov. 3, 2008

After we left Disney World, we headed north. We stopped at a national monument named Fort Matanza. It is just south of St. Augustine, FL. We tried to see the spanish fort in St. Augustine but their parking was for cars only. We couldn't find a place for the motorhome. So, after driving very narrow streets in St. Augustine, we headed north again. We had to drive past Jacksonville, FL because the Florida gator fans and Georgia bulldog fans were coming together in their annual bash of football at the Jaguar Stadium. We drove into South Carolina and stopped at the Congeree National Park. Its 11,000 acres comprise the tallest deciduous tree forest in the world. Many were over 130 feet in the air. We walked a two mile boardwalk through the swamp. We stayed at a state park just up the road and near Columbia ,SC. The park is named Sequicentenial State Park. There were very few campers. We stayed an extra day so we could watch some NFL football. The Packer game was on because the Pack was playing the Tennessee Titans. On Monday, Nov. 3rd. We drove through a part of southwestern North Carolina into Tennessee. The colors are great. We stopped at Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, NC. Then we drove through the Smoky Mountains Nat. Park. We saw snow along the side of the road leftover from last week. The Blue Ridge Parkway is still closed because of ice. Again the tree colors are really outstanding especially at the lower elevations. We are camping in Gatlinburg, TN tonight at a campground we stayed in 10 years ago, Our next stop is the Cumberland Gap. The cheapest gas I saw was $2.079 in Columbia, SC, today (11/3). Gas is higher in Tennessee.

Disney World Week

We have been without computer WiFi for the week while at Disney. This place is really organized. We checked in at Fort Wilderness on Sunday, Oct. 26th. We were given lots of maps and what looks like a credit card. The person who tried to explain all the fun we are about to have in 15 seconds, had an accent we aren't about to understand. Anyway, we were assigned campsite #1625 (There are over 1000 campsites). We are perhaps one of the very few who didn't bring exotic halloween decorations for the outside of our camper. Anyway, the bathrooms and showers are the cleanest we have seen in a campground. Also with their bus system & boat system, if you don't mind waiting, one can go throughout all the parks of Disney. On Monday, Oct 27th, we went to Animal Land and met Todd, Mary, Sam & Will. This is Will's first visit to Disney World. Then we went to Disney Hollywood Studios where we had dinner at 50's Prime Time cafe. There we discovered not only many teachers from Wisconsin were at Disney but also many from Illinois. I thought they were supposed to be at conferences. Anyway, the food was great and the waiters very entertaining. Tuesday we went to Epcot for the day. We had dinner with Mary and Todd at the Biergarten. Lots of beer, food and a polka band. Wednesday we spent part of the day spending our money at Disney downtown. Did I mention the weather? It was cold for Florida. Wed. morning was the coldest October temperature on record for Disney (43 degrees). Lots of sweatshirts were sold at Disney World that day and the next. We had dinner on Wed. night at the Polynesian Resort at Disney. It was great. On Thursday we finally got to Fantasy land in the Magic Kingdom. We were able to relive a bunch of stuff we did in 1975 when Mary and BJ were small children. Thursday night was spent with the Hagedorns at a fest called "Hoop De Do".We celebrated Mary's birthday that night also. I won't say how old she is. Again the food was great and the entertainment was very funny. Will was laughing so hard he hardly had time to eat. So, we left Fort Wilderness this morning and are heading north. We hope to see some national parks and see some great colors in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, etc. We hope to send pictures oin the next blog. Bill

Since we were at Mammoth Cave on Wednesday we have driven across Tennessee and part of Georgia. Bill is getting good at navigating the motorhome through cities. Last night we camped near Rome,Georgia at a county park on the Coosa River. We had a beautiful view out our front window of the river. Very few campers were in the park. Everything was fine until the winds and rains started in the night. The problem was that it brought down the acorns from the oak tree we were parked under. Becca did not like the sounds of acorns bombarding our roof!! We drove in rain all morning. We toured Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Luckily the rain kept Beth from having to walk all over and study every sign. Then we drove to Macon (right through downtown Atlanta) to visit Ocmulgee National Monument. Just as we got off the interstate we noticed stop lights out and signs down. By the time we got to the park trees and branches were down all over. We had missed the storm by a few minutes. Ocmulgee is about ancient civilizations with big mounds. Tonight we are in Perry, GA at a private campground and it is warmer and has stopped raining. Tomorrow we head south toward Florida. Hope to be at Disney World on Sunday.

Our Trip to Disney World

We spent the first night, at Starved Rock State Park near Ottawa, IL so we could have dinner with my college roomie, Chuck Small and his wife Diane (also known as the Fiefer). It was great seeing them. The second night, Oct 21st , we camped in a national forest campground (Hoosier Nat. Forest) in southern Indiana. The fall colors are just starting there. Today, Oct. 22, we stopped at Mommoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. We took a 2 hour tour underground. Sure was neat. Enclosed is the look of us in the cave.

Disney World

We are getting set for a 3 week trip to Disney World and back. We plan to spend a week in Disney with Todd, Mary, Sam & Will , from Oct 26th through Oct. 31st. We should be back around November 7th as we plan on viewing the fall colors in the south. Hope there is enough gas in the southeast. We will be leaving Oct. 20th.

New Pictures of the trip

I thought I would add some pictures of the final part of our trip. This is Lake MacDonald which is in Clacier National Park.