I know I know I have been so bad lately everyone and I am so sorry. At first it was cause I was at my Uncle's and he didn't have Internet and then I was just to tired.
So the best place to begin is at the beginning of when I left off, though I hope I can remember everything since it seems all my days run together. Is this what retirement is like? I forget when its a Monday except for when people go to work. To me everyday is the weekend.
So after I left Illinois I headed over to Indiana. I didn't get a picture of their state sign cause guess what they didn't have one. I asked a Ranger about me missing the sign and she said o' there hasn't been one for awhile but if I was to go 10 miles down the road to another bridge that road had one. Forget it 10 miles was not worth it. So if you go to the town of Vincennes, Indiana from Illinois there is no sign there. I visited the George Rogers Clark NHP there. He helped fight off the British during the Revolutionary War. A fact I didn't know about is that his brother was the Clark from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. There is a big dome building that is pretty cool there. The visitor center is very small. Then from there I went to another Lincoln place and this one was his boyhood home or Lincoln Boyhood N MEM in Lincoln City, Indiana. It was pretty cool. They have the grave there of his mother and then you can take a trail that leads you to where his home was. At the state park across the way they have the grave of his sister and her baby. She had died giving birth. Don't bother going to see the "spring" its really just a covered up well and nothing else. Actually its not even marked but you know that's it. It was a nice little walk. The weather has been really nice.
I stayed the night in a Super 8 in Evansville, Indiana. O and hey I saw my first White Castle Burgers here, but I didn't eat there.
Then the next day on Oct 22nd I drove straight through to Dublin, Virginia to see my Uncle Bill ( my dad's younger brother). I passed through Kentucky (sorry Old Timer) and West Virginia. Kentucky is where I really started to see the change in all the leaves from the trees and it was amazing. I always wondered how they came up with the browns, reds, and oranges for the Fall colors and now seeing the tree's it totally explains it. It was so beautiful and no matter how many pictures I stopped to take it will never do it justice in the colors that came out. The best was in the area of Kentucky in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
I then drove through West Virginia and the colors were amazing there also. I will say this though I got my first bat of Road rage in West Virgina. Those people are crazy. They don't even look before getting into the other lane and twice not just once I was almost ran off of the road. I was so pissed it wasn't funny. I got so mad at the first guy for almost running me off into the guard rail that I pulled the I'm from California and you just pissed me off mister driving. I rode his ass like if his car was part of my car then while driving by I flipped him the international sign for "hi" and then stayed even with a semi for about 10 miles. Then a little bit later another guy almost ran me off the road. Mind you the whole time I am only going 5 miles above the speed limit which was already 70 so that I don't get a ticket. If there had been a stop light I probably would have got out and punched him. I could not believe how they drive. So I guess going all the way to the east coast and getting the road rage at the halfway point isn't to bad. They also have alot of toll areas. In tolls alone I spent $6.45. Just to drive a dang road, so dumb. I was lucky I had cash or I would have been out of luck. So really I'm not looking forward to going back to West Virginia anytime soon.
Once I made it to my Uncle's after 8 hours of driving I was like thank God I made it. His place is awesome. He has land right by a creek and all around him are the trees in full color. The first night we just kicked it at his place and hung out together.
Saturday he had to work so I went over to his Girlfriend Tammy's house and we hung out. Then we met my Uncle for lunch and they showed me around their work.
Sunday we watched Nascar and two of his friends came over along with Tammy. My Uncle Bill and I went fishing before the race, if that's what you want to call it. Let me just tell you now, I suck. Not just alittle but alot. Like I think I'm an embarrassment to fishing, heck probably to the fish. My Uncle I swear put his line in to show me how to fish correctly and BAM he gets one. It was a small red-eye, I think a cousin of the bass. It was to small to keep though but still he hooked one. ( O and he always does the whole catch and release and I told him heck if I get one I am cooking that thing). Ya well someone was watching out for those fish cause for an hour all I caught was literally two trees, a couple twigs and a leaf. If your wondering how I caught the trees well it was because I was trying to throw the line out and I threw it to far up and it got caught in a branch and while I was trying to pull it out the line got stuck in a different tree on another branch. All I kept thinking was great now I have to go get my Uncle and tell him I messed up his pole and for him to cut the line. But being the smart one I am haha I grabbed a big branch that was on the ground and threw it at the one branch which knocked the line loose and then was able to finally pull the line from the other tree. ( you can applaud now). So that was the beginning and most likely the end of my fishing career. If I had to live off of fishing I would die from starvation. I wish I would have thought about taking pictures of all my catches or even my Uncle Bill's so I was bummed about that.
Monday I went and tried to get my oil changed cause hey I made it to 100,000 miles on my car right at my Uncle's house. How awesome is that. Now I will always remember where I was when I hit 100,000 miles. I went to Walmart and the less then smart guys behind the counter couldn't change my oil cause they said that it wasn't the right plug. What they really needed to say was that they didn't have the wrench size to unscrew the drain plug and that they don't have all the tools they need. So I guess I will try again tomorrow to get my oil changed. I did see the drag race track that Matt Hagan's dad owns. I also saw Matt Hagan's old headquarters. I just wish I would have seen him, he's hot. I made dinner for my Uncle Bill and Tammy that night and no I didn't burn down her house. I figured since they are working all day I could do something to earn my keep.
The next day (lets see I believe I'm on Tues Oct 26th) I went to Roanoke, Va to go get my oil changed. The owner Buzz was way cool and was telling me about tons of stuff to do in the area. The whole time I kept thinking I wont have enough time to do all that but thanks. He was really funny. At first when I drove up he was like your along ways from home. I told him how I was touring the US (that's how he got started on telling me places to see) and then he asked what kinds of hotels I was staying in. I told him I was mostly camping out and he was like so what are you carrying a .22 and proceeded to name a few other guns. I was like nope a knife that I just opened at my Uncle's house. Haha he thought I was crazy. It was nice though his wife, the receptionist and her husband the mechanic all waved goodbye and good luck to me when I left.
I then headed over to the Booker T. Washington NM in Hardy,VA. It was about a 45min drive from Roanoke on the back roads. It was really pretty though with all the tree colors. The NM was not has impressive. They had a short film about him growing up a slave then getting a chance to go to college and becoming and activist. OK so that's impressive but they didn't have the original home it was just a replica and they didn't have the masters home anymore. I mean if they are going to make one replica they should make both.
From there I headed out on a different road towards Dublin,Va and it was the prettiest back road I have been on so far. You wind your way though lots of country and old homes. It's crazy to think how far back people live. The colors in the trees were still really bright. It was on the122 and the 40 all the way to the 8. There was mansions mixed in with beat up shacks. It was so pretty. I told my Uncle Bill he should take that road before the colors of the trees go away.
I was going to leave on Wednesday but that night my Uncle talked me into one more night and so did the weather. We had tornado warnings along with Thunderstorms and high winds. It was funny cause on the news it said that if you are in a mobile home to evacuate and go somewhere else. Then I looked up and thought aren't we in a mobile home? My Uncle was like we will be fine theres no tornado's here. Ya knowing my luck I would be in the first one.
The next day I just did laundry and got my car ready to leave on Thursday. I went and ate lunch at
Bojangles famous Chicken and Biscuits with Tammy since my Uncle had meetings he couldn't join us. That night I said my goodbyes. I really hated to leave it is so pretty here but I know one day I will be back.
On the road again (that is officially my song now) I headed out on Thurs Oct 28th towards Spartanburg, SC. I went to the Blue Ridge Parkway visitor center. The road winds through the country and goes from Virginia down through North Carolina. I drove part of it but no, not the whole thing. It would take alot longer to get anywhere.
I then made it across the border into South Carolina where I went to Cowpens National Battlefield, which was also for the Revolutionary War. They basically just have the path that the soldiers traveled and fought on.
I then stayed the night at Motel 6 in Spartansburg,SC. I asked the lady at the front desk where is the best place to get BBQ and she said to eat at Southern Barbecue. For the first time in my life I tried BBQ Slaw, which is like coleslaw but with out the mayo, it has vinegar instead. Actually it was pretty good. I then got ribs and their sauce was also vinegar based. It was not has good. I mean don't get me wrong they were good ribs just that I like the thick sauce or seasoning on my ribs. I then had some chopped up pork and that was way to bland. There was no taste to them so I asked for some bbq sauce and brought that meat to life.
On Friday I headed out and made my way to Charleston, SC. I wish I couldn't have toured around more around that town cause the old homes were amazing. I couldn't take pictures while driving cause the traffic was crazy and there was alot of one way streets I had to watch out for. I did go to Fort Sumter NM. Hey it was my first view of the Atlantic Ocean. Yahoo I've made it all the way to the east coast. To get to Fort Sumter you have to take a ferry over to the Island. It was a really pretty day. I almost felt like I was going to Alcatraz Island. Cold but nice outside all at the same time. Once I was on the Island they give you an hour to walk around and then back on the boat you go. They still had some of the original cannon's that were used during the Civil War. They also still have bullets in the side of the wall. The view was amazing to see from all around the area. Once I got back to shore I was just tired and so I decided to head over to my camp at the KOA which was about 1 1/2 hours away. The Koa site in Yemassee was really nice. They have a coffee shop and for those who drink wine, at night they have wine tasting.
On Saturday Oct 30th I packed up camp and headed down to Jacksonville,FL about a 6 hour drive. The drive was really pretty. I want to go back again to visit Savannah but I just didn't want to deal with the traffic. My cousin Trish lives in Jacksonville,FL with her husband JB. When I got there Trish and I just hung out and got caught up on whats going on. Once JB got home from work we headed over to get dinner at some restaurant. The food was pretty good. I got chicken and my cousin got this thing called a bbq potato and it has everything but the kitchen sink on it. There was so much stuff I was like wheres the potato? But it did look good.
On Halloween, my cousin,JB and their neighbor Mandy all went to St. Augustine for the day. We walked around the shops and I tried alligator tail for the first time. Like everyone says about everything, It Tastes Like Chicken haha. It was good. We then went over to the Castillo de San Marcos NM. It was pretty cool cause right after we got there they were going to do a cannon demonstration. I thought I was recording the whole thing on my camera but I had it set to the wrong function. It was pretty funny cause the whole place was quiet listening to the rangers talk and then here comes this Pirate boat in the water and all you hear is the song a Pirates Life for Me. We kept thinking they were going to blow a cannon at the Pirate Ship. Come to find out it was just the powder they shot off and not an actually cannon. Cause if they would have shot off a cannon it would have gone about 3 miles away.
Later that night we went over to Mandy's house with another couple to pass out candy. So the kids hit three homes in one. It was a nice time. We all just sat around outside waiting for the kids to come. I think we finally walked back over to my cousin Trish's at 10pm and it was still nice outside.
(Well has a side note sorry again I was not blogging everyday. At the site I am at now I am not able to upload my pictures so I will get them posted has soon has I can but I wanted to at least blog my trip)
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