June the Adventure Continues

Tuesday June 2^nd

Found us on the road to the small town of Mountain View, MO. And yes, I checked to see if we took any photos, sorry. We did go into town to pick up something at the grocery store and drive around a bit. Population was around 2,700 and the thing I remember most was a little retirement village along the highway.

Wednesday June 3^rd – 5^th

We pulled into another of our destinations, Paducah, KY. About 10 times the size of Mountain View. What made this town so big, you ask. Well it is a major port at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers. Lots of river trade going on here.

Barge on Ohio River

After the 1937 flood of Paducah, it was decided to put up a retaining wall to keep out the rising river. Of course a plain flood wall would not do, especially in an historic “artist” section of town, so they have wonderful murals painted along the entire length.

Paducah Flood Wall

 While there we visited the River Discovery Center which included a ship simulator which gave you the 

Pat in front of the Discovery Center in Paducah

Chance to drive one of three type of different river boats. It was fun, we tried a smaller boat first, then moved up to a Coast Guard cutter, it gave us a new appreciation to those that steer those large ships and barges along our waterways.  Of course I found a wonderful golf course and really had a blast playing with three guys that had returned to Paducah for a reunion.

Okay, okay all of the above is not the reason we came here. This is Quilter’s Mecca, complete with a museum dedicated to quilting. Also supporting textile type museums and “oh my God” the largest Hancock Fabric store in the country.  Yeah, Pat is the one who chose this destination, but we both enjoyed it very much.

Saturday  June 6^th

Well we were so close, why not? So we drove 120 miles south to Nashville. I’ve driven around and through and never stopped, so what the heck. First we were surprised, we did not expect such an upscale city with 14 or more colleges. If you ignore the honky-tonk downtown Broadway, Nashville can be a very sophisticated city. But Broadway is where the party is. We started our experience with a great lunch out at the

Loveless Café. The wait was a bit over an hour but the food was wonderful. This place started as a stop on the road in the early 50’s built up to a motel and café, fell into decline, closed and was resurrected by a group of locals and returned to its current glory. Well worth the visit and it is a bit outside of town.

Pat loved this sign on Broadway

Peddle Bar

Tom loved the ice cream on Broadway

This we found amusing, the cart you see has 5 or 6 seats on each side with peddles in front of each person. There is a driver and a person standing between the riders who are peddling and drinking while they tour. The kick is each person pays $30, supplies their own drinks and do all the work. Saturday the honkytonk was crowded, so we went back on Sunday and had a relatively quiet lunch. But all up and down the stretch of Broadway, all you could hear were wanabe groups singing their hearts out entertaining the many inebriated young people whooping and hollering having a wonderful time. 

Yeah, that’s right, I got the boot in Nashville, Tennessee.  That’s the big city life, eh?

Monday June 8^th

Had us stopping in the small town of Dandridge, TN. Did you know that Dandridge was the maiden name of Molly Washington? The things you learn. Well when they put in the Douglas Dam, this town was going under, water that is. When Mrs. Roosevelt pointed out the significance of the name with Molly, the president asked if there was any way to save the town. So, a great levy was built to keep the waters of Lake Douglas out.  They had a nice looking little museum but it was locked up and nobody was around.

Dandridge Home

We did find this nice old home for sale, just needs a bit of tender lovin’ care. For those of you interested in the civil war there was a major battle fought here and it was also the site of both a confederate and union hospital.

Tuesday June 9^th – 10^th

This is a return visit to a place we truly love. Not because of the family we grown to love here but also the area. We are in Crozet, VA named after the French born civil engineer who was in charge of the construction of the Blue Ridge Tunnel. This is an old railroad town that has truly reinvented itself into upscale bedroom community for nearby Charlottesville. Great golf course of course. We had a wonderful visit with our friends, we could have stayed longer. Sorry, no pictures, too busy visiting.

Thursday June 11^th

I’ve noticed that as we move to the northeast the campgrounds become more upscale (in their minds) and are priced accordingly. We pulled into Tall Pines campground in Lewes, DE, only 5 miles from the ferry. It’s good that we made reservations, this place has gates, guards the whole enchilada but the site was downright the poor. The closest to level, had the back of the RV 2 feet out into road. We went out to reconnoiter before our morning drive to the ferry, which we have a 10:20 reservation for. Guess what we found…

Hopkins Ice Cream

You got it, ice cream and it was better than Nashville which was pretty great! Yes Mary, that was not a well constructed sentence. That’s all we can say about Lewes, we really did not spend enough time there, but I’m sure there is a lot more to say. After mentioning our stop in Lewes, we were of course told that we were remiss in not visiting several friends in the area. Sorry, next time we will plan on a longer stay.

Friday June 12^th

Today is the day we take the RV to sea. You laugh because you know we are only going on a ferry ride! Well pull out your map and look, we will be where the Delaware Bay opens to the Atlantic Ocean. So, we are off to SEA.

View of the line from the ferry bldg.

We are early and sitting in the terminal having a coffee waiting for the boat to come in while the vehicles are put in line outside. They are very organized about loading here.

Loading the ferry

We are among the first to be loaded and if you look you will see that all of the RV’s are lined up behind us. Once aboard, you are free to roam. They have a restaurant and they have internet if you need to get online. 

Here we are at sea

We walked around a bit and went above to watch the dolphins as they played along in front of the ferry.

 

Proof we were there

We had to do the selfie from the top deck. Yes, I know we don’t do a very good job with them.  After a while we got bored and went back to the RV and sat and had a good view out the front window.

From the drivers seat

Looks like the cop is giving a ticket at sea, I think he was texting. As we were coming into port and I was sitting behind the wheel, I kept trying to steer, a natural tendency I guess. But the bottom line was we paid $92 and didn’t have to drive the 170 miles plus tolls to get here. Cost wise, it was close to a wash, fuel would have cost around $50 and tolls another $20.

So, here we are in Cape May, NJ. You may not have ever been here before but this is one of the best destinations you can ever put in to your travels in the summer. One warning, it’s crowded because everyone knows how great it is. There is a bit of everything for everyone, great beaches, great restaurants, lots of little tchotchke shops and wonderfully restored old homes.

Shore House Cape May, NJ

You like my little cottage by the sea? No this is probably not a restored home, but a knock down and rebuild, but it is nice. There are many along Beach drive overlooking the ocean. We did get a chance to dip our toes in the ocean and enjoy the breeze. Unlike the Pacific, this side is a bit warmer on the toes.

Monday June 15^th

Found us northbound into the traffic of north Jersey to the little berg of Allendale where we will park until the end of July when the adventure continues and we head Towards Ottawa.

We are overlooking the old Celery Farm and have many interesting visitors during the day and night including some turkeys, deer and turtles.

This little fellow was the last of three passing through one afternoon.

 Along with the wild turkeys, it does get interesting. Well this is where we will be until the end of July. In August I will continue with our adventures for this summer.