Harpers Ferry

We decided to go to Harpers Ferry National Park. However, we took a detour to the small town of Middleton, VA. first. Why you ask? In reading our tourist information, we kept reading about a small company called Route 11 Chips. Apparently their gourmet potato chips are enjoyed by many deli patrons in many parts of the country.
Well, we checked the factory out. It was fun to watch the potato slicer power slice the potatoes. Then they are cooked in small batches which are monitored by the workers and then removed from the oil at just the right moment. They are hand inspected and then bagged. With several different flavors and no preservatives they are quite tasty. Of course the visitors like us get fresh cooked warm samples! Yummy !

After our little chip snack we set off for Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Harpers Ferry is situated between two mountains where the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers come together to pass through the Blue Ridge mountains.

It's history is very diverse. As home to a large Union arsenal, Harpers Ferry witnessed the first successful application of interchangeable parts ( in gun manufacturing). The first successful American Railroad ran through Harpers Ferry. In addition, John Brown's attack on slavery occurred here. The largest surrender of Federal troops during the Civil War happened when the Confederates attacked the arsenal. After the Civil War the education of former slaves started in one of the earliest integrated school in Harpers Ferry.

We took the National Park bus from the visitor center down to the old town of Harpers Ferry. Many of the original buildings still line the riverbanks. The National Park Service has turned the buildings into small museums highlighting different aspects of the area's history. We both went to Harpers Ferry thinking of it as a Civil War site where boasts crossed the river. Through all of the exhibits and museums we found much more of this pivotal area's rich history.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! We celebrated by moving our home from the satellite"black hole" to a campground where we have TV and internet signal. We love trees as much as the next person but it nice to see the sky!
We are now in Winchester Virginia. Last weeks activities are in the posts following this one. Enjoy.

Seeing more Presidents

This post will catch you up on what we did while we were out of touch this week. On May 28th we focused on President Madison and President Wilson.

We headed out early for Orange, Virginia. We had to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains again. We have done this nearly every day as we are camped in the Shenandoah Valley. We try to pick different routes each time so each drive has been quite scenic. This time we decided to climb to the crest and drive along the Blue Ridge Mountains on Skyline Drive. This parkway runs through Shenandoah National Park and connects directly with the Blue Ridge Parkway which we have driven in part down in Tennessee and North Carolina. The drive was just as pretty with lots of wildflowers and mountain streams. Unfortunately the sky was quite hazy which obscured some of the long range views.

At the foot of the Blue Ridge we drove into Orange, Virginia and Montpelier, the home of James and Dolly Madison. James Madison was our fourth president and "Father of the Constitution". Montpelier was home to the Madison family since 1723. James and Dolly Madison lived there until Madison's death in 1836. Their graves are in the family cemetery. The tall monument is James Madison and the little one is his wife.

Upon Madison's death Dolly sold the estate. After it changed hands a few times it was acquired by William and Annie DuPont. Their daughter, a horse lover, built 2 race courses and a steeplechase on the property. She also donated the property to the National Historic Trust with the intention that it be restored to the Madison era condition. Today that restoration is in full swing with completion set for 2008. In addition to the restoration, the property is also a Thoroughbred Horse Retirement Center and rehab facility for veteran racehorses. We saw some of the gorgeous horses in the large fields surrounding the home.
It might be difficult to see but there is scaffolding at the left edge of the home. Workers are there every day trying to complete the restoration. At this time, the home is not furnished but when finished should be quite a showplace.

On our way "home" we drove through the town of Staunton, Virginia--birthplace to Woodrow Wilson. Mr Wilson was our 28th President from 1913-1921. His Presidential library is on the premises . Unfortunately we arrived too late in the day to tour the library but this is his birthplace.

Touring Virginia

This is yet another late post since we spent Memorial Day weekend without internet signal.
Virginia is so rich in history and loaded with sites to see we had to pick just a few to check out during our short visit. This is what we did on the 27th.

Our first stop was Schuyler, Virginia--childhood home of Earl Hamner. As you may recall, Earl Hamner is the author and creator behind "The Waltons". The book and TV series was based on Earl's real life family and set in Schuyler. We visited the Walton's Mountain Museum. Located in the old school where Earl and his brothers and sisters attended classes and graduated, the museum is full of memorabilia from the series as well as 6 rooms replicating the TV sets from the TV series.
It was very interesting to learn about the actual town the "Walton's" grew up in. In the series, the Walton family worked at the saw mill. In reality the town's economy was fueled by a huge soapstone factory. All of Hamner's family worked there. At the height of it's activity, Shuyler boasted a rail line, numerous stores and several thousand inhabitants. Today the sleepy little town is home to less than 100 residents. With the resurgence of soapstone's popularity for kitchens, the residents hope the factory will re-open and jump start the economy. More information on the museum can be found at: www.waltonmuseum.org


Next we headed in to Charlottesville to look at the Mitchie Tavern. In 1989, we visited Charlottesville and toured Monticello. At that time, we skipped touring the historic tavern so we decided to see it today. Established in 1784, the tavern served as the social center of its community. We decided to try the dining room called "The Ordinary". The servers were all dressed in period attire. Period dishes such as Colonial Fried Chicken were quite tasty. It was fun lunch.

After our nice educational lunch, we headed up the road to Ash Lawn-Highland, home of President James Monroe. James Monroe was our fifth US President (1817-1826). Prior to that he was a US Senator, Minister to France, England and Spain, Governor of Virginia, and Secretary of State and War. As Jefferson's special envoy he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. His Monroe Doctrine formed the cornerstone of America's foreign policy.

Monroe purchased the estate in 1793 because of his friendship with Thomas Jefferson. The Monroes moved into the home in 1799 and their first guests were James and Dolly Madison. Talk about famous friends!
We toured the elegantly furnished home and it's garden and grounds. Many of the furnishings are known to have belonged to Monroe. The costumed guides gave us lots of information about the Monroes as well as life during the early 1800's.
Although the Monroes planned to retire to Ash-Lawn Highland, in 1826 finances and poor health forced them to sell the estate. After a few owners, it now belongs to the College of William and Mary and is operated for the education of the general public. More can be seen at: www.ashlawnhighland.org


Another day full of history! There is so much to see !

On to Virginia

On the 25th we moved from Tennessee to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Unfortunately our choice of camground gave us no signal for access to the internet to keep up this travel blog. Since it is Memorial Day weekend, we had to stay put for a few days. So here's what we did on the 26th.

Our first stop was Jefferson's Poplar Forest near Bedford, Virginia. This plantation was inherited by Thomas Jefferson and his wife from Martha Jefferson's father in 1773. The 4,819 acre farm provided Jefferson with significant income and a place where he could pursue his passion for reading, writing,studying and gardening after retiring from public life. Although his primary residence was Monticello, Jefferson and his family visited this retreat 2-4 times per year, staying anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.

In 1806, Jefferson started construction on the octagonal home seen here. Constructed of brick and timber, it is under restoration at this point and will soon be exactly as it was during Jefferson's time.

We then traveled to nearby Lynchburg. We visited the old city cemetery. The cemetery dates back to the late 1700's and contains graves of soldiers from the Revolutionary War as well as the Civil War. It was interesting to see the old headstones.

Next we visited the campus of Washington and Lee University and the Lee Chapel and Museum in Lexington, Virginia. General Robert E Lee served as president of Washington University after the Civil War. It renamed Washington and Lee University shortly thereafter. Lee's family had the chapel built as resting place for the former General. Lee's beloved horse, Traveller is also buried outside the chapel.
In addition to Lee's crypt, the chapel houses a number of original portraits of famous Americans including George Washington.

We covered a lot of ground investigating some of the history in Central Virginia.

Smoky Mountains Update

This posting is a little late--for the last few days we have been parked in a black hole!!! No internet signal, no TV signal--ARRGH!! So --anyway, here is what we did on the 23rd of May.

We rose early to make the trip to Cades Cove. A "cove" in Smoky Mountain vernacular is a relatively flat valley between mountains or ridges. This particular cove is one of the few places in the national park system where wild nature and human history can be enjoyed in such a beautiful setting.

This cove was settled in the 1830's as a farming community. It was continuously inhabited until the land was bought by the state of Tennessee for inclusion in the national park. One of the earliest settlers was John Oliver who actually arrived prior to 1820 and bought this land in 1826. This cabin is one of over 70 historical buildings within the park. The collection is believed to be the largest of its kind in the East. It is the oldest log cabin in Cades Cove. Among the other buildings are churches, barns and a working grist mill.

Since we rose so early in the morning, we were able to witness sunrise in this area. With sunrise the fog and "smoke" stays in the valleys making for some lovely scenery. The pastures were so green and there were still a few spring wildflowers to view. Every turn of the road seemed more gorgeous than the last. It is easy to see why the early settlers wanted to stay in such a peaceful place. They must have been very sad to have been forced to move by the government.

We saw lots of wildlife in this part of the park. The early settlers described this area as being abundant with bear,deer and turkey. Along with the cattle they raised, they had a plentiful food supply. We saw numerous deer along the road. Wild turkeys seemed to be at every turn. Of course, we wanted to see a bear--for some reason they are fascinating. Perhaps the reason is because they are so elusive. Anyway, we finally spotted this fellow walking through the woods not too far from the road. We were able to watch him for quite a while as he walked along, pausing every once in a while to roll over and scratch his back or root in a tree stump. He seemed totally oblivious to our presence. It was fun to pause and watch him.

After we spent the morning touring Cades Cove, we drove over to another popular stop in the park. We drove to the top of Clingmans Dome. At 6,643 ft in elevation it is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains, the highest point in the state of Tennessee and the third highest summit east of the Mississippi River. It is also the highest point of the Appalachian Trail. With our clear weather the view from the observation tower at the top gives a 360 degree view of the Great Smoky Mountains as well as views reaching into seven states.

We really enjoyed our time in the Smoky Mountains. This area would be lovely in the fall and we are going to keep that in mind as fall rolls around and we head back through this area. Hanging out in Pidgeon Forge and Gatlinburg with their numerous arts and crafts shops was neat also.

Knoxville

On Thursday we took leave of Chattanooga and moved North to Knoxville Tennessee. We did not cover a huge amount of ground but wanted to stop for a while in this part of the state so we could explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Once again rain chased us up the highway to this more mountainous part of Tennessee and we got set up just before the rain.

Friday we set off for a drive through the park. The Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the country. Over 9 million people visit this park every year! Since over 1/3 of the US population lives within a day's drive of the park, it makes this park a pretty popular destination. On the way to the park we drove through Pidgeon Forge and Gatlinburg. The brochures we read listed these towns as gateways to the park as well as home to lots of arts and craft shops. They also seem to have lots of tourist stuff-in fact they were overly "touristy" but we may check them out later.

We took a drive over Newfound Gap--the lowest crossing of the Appalachian Mountains. The road winds through beautiful hardwood forests. Creeks rush over rocks next to the road, the forest has huge trees and lush undergrowth.
The forest floor had lots of pretty little flowers like this one. Too bad we don't know what it's called . Apparently the wildflower season was earlier in May although we did see a few at the higher elevations. At the crest of the road we were at 5200 ft elevation--it was pretty chilly!

Along the crest was the actual Appalachian Trail that runs from Maine to Georgia. According to the National Park Service about 400 hardy souls make the entire trek each yr. Looking at the rugged terrain we were traversing, our hats are off to them!

Almost every turn of the road had more beautiful vistas and lots to look at. There were a fair number of people taking the same trip we were taking. According to the ranger we talked to, the number of visitors is already up this year. The staff speculates that the high gas prices are going to force more families to take vacations closer to home. We decided then to not go back to the park until Monday--no reason to go over the busy weekend!

At the end of the drive we came upon this old grist mill. It has been on this site since the late 1800's. The park service renovated it and it now is in continuous operation grinding corn. It was pretty interesting to see how the mills work.

We exited the park in North Carolina. We drove the last 20 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway to get back to the highway and then drove back home.

Back to the Battlefield

We took in a couple more of the historic sites related to the Civil War battle that occurred in this area. First we went to the Chattanooga National Cemetery. Over 12,000 Union soldiers from the Chattanooga and Chickamauga battles as well some 30,000 veterans from other wars are buried here.
One of the memorials is a tribute to Andrew's Raiders. The first Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to these brave men who helped break the Confederate's rail connection between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The Disney movie "the Great Locomotive Chase" tells the story of the locomotive named the General that was commandeered by the raiders for their mission of sabotage.

Next we went to the Chickamauga battlefield. This portion of the battle for control of Chattanooga took place some 12 miles south of the town. The battlefield is across the border in Georgia. The battle which took place over 2 days was one of the bloodiest with heavy losses on both sides. Over 100,00 men took part in the battle. While the Confederates are considered to have won the battle at Chickamauga, the Union did eventually win control of Chattanooga and it's all important rail lines.
The cannons on display are all from the Civil War. The monuments commemorate the units stationed in the various parts of the battle lines. Through some excellent computer models at the visitor center, the chronology of the battle is explained and clarified. Imagine some 100,00 men on the field--no modern communications-just notes, horses and voices.
This battlefield was the first military park established. It is noted that except for some growth of underbrush the battlefield is unchanged. Experts feel these fields offer great opportunities for historical and professional military study of operations of the 2 great armies. We actually saw this study going on as experts dressed in period costumes were giving formal instruction to soldiers studying military history. The young soldier we spoke with said this helps prepare them for war.

On top and under Lookout Mountain

We decided to take in 2 unusual tourist attractions at Lookout Mountain. A number of people told us we should ride the Incline Railway and also see Ruby Falls while in Chattanooga so--we did.

The mile long Incline Railway has been running up the side of Lookout Mountain since 1895. It is designated as a National Historic Site as well as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. At the top of the incline, the grade is 72.6% which gives it the distinction of being the steepest passenger railway in the world!
The railway's unique cars have ceilings and are built on an angle. At the top of the ride you actually look through the ceiling to the valley below! At the beginning of the ride we were informed that the cars are securely attached to the rail by 2 very strong cables. 2 cars make the run and pass in the middle of the mile on a short section of double track. The 2 cars act as counter-weights to each other. At the top of the ride, an very uneasy feeling of pitching forward and down the hill comes over the passengers. The safety information is gratefully recalled!
The gray roofs at the center of the photo are across the street from the bottom station of the railway. On the horizon are The Great Smoky Mountains--over 100 miles away. It was a really fun way to go up (and back down the mountain) the mountain.

Next it was on to Ruby Falls. Lookout Mountain has long been known to have natural caves. Some of these caves were used by Native Americans long ago and others were supposedly used by Civil war soldiers. Some 70 yrs ago, the railroad started to build a tunnel through Lookout Mountain. It was going to seal the natural entrance to the cave so local businessmen excavated a 420 ft elevator shaft to the caves. At the 260 ft level, a small opening was found and explored. After many hours of crawling through the small space a large cavern with a waterfall was discovered.
To make a long story short, Ruby (named after the explorer's wife) Falls became a popular tourist attraction. The narrow small space was enlarged to a easy navigable path. Since we have visited a number of caves (Carlsbad, Mammoth,etc) we were not surprised the to see the beautiful natural formations along the tour but we have never seen a waterfall like this. It is 145 ft high and flows at a fairly high rate constantly. The source of the falls is unknown. They have made an effort to find it but have been unable.
It was fun underground tour. So now we climbed over the top (Rock City), rode up the side (Incline Railway) and explored underneath (Ruby Falls) Lookout Mountain.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day meant Karen got to pick the day's activities. That meant a one day break from Civil War Battles!!
We went to the Chattanooga Sunday Market. It is a weekly event with local arts and crafts vendors, local produce and entertainment. We found all kinds of arts and crafts--jewelry,painting, photos among other things. We always enjoy looking at local art even if we don't buy it. Although it is still late spring, the local farmers brought fresh produce. There was a nice selection of greens but the thing we were most excited about was finding strawberries.
The strawberries were beautiful and according to the vendors they were picked just hours earlier. What a perfect Mother's Day gift. Yummy!

On the way back through downtown Chattanooga we stopped off at the old train depot. It is the home of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo made famous by the Glenn Miller song of the same name. We walked around the grounds looking at the gardens and the old depot. The Holiday Inn has opened on the site and the grand entrance of the depot is actually the hotel lobby.
It was fun to see how elegant train depots and train travel used to be.

We stopped off on the way home for a quick dinner 'cause Mom shouldn't have to cook on Mother's Day. What a nice day.

From Mississippi to Tennessee

Jim finally recovered from his virus and we spent our last day in Vicksburg driving around and looking at some of the beautiful old buildings and a few other attractions we'll write about later. The weather system sitting over Mississippi was giving us low 80's for temps but a very steamy 97% humidity--ugh. Time to leave !
We started out Wednesday early and headed East to Alabama. We were enjoying the lovely green rolling hills but started noticing very dark skies and rather nasty looking clouds behind us. The local radio started talking about severe storms and blinding rain so we found a nice little campground just south of Tuscaloosa Alabama and pulled in for the nite. Not 10 minutes after we got parked and "plugged in" we were slammed with buckets of rain and some pretty stiff winds. Good timing!
The next morning we awoke to clear skies and much cooler, drier air. We set off and drove through Alabama and a corner of Georgia to our new home in Chattanooga Tennessee. We going to stop here and explore this area for a while.
Today we to Rock City. Rock City is located on Lookout Mountain, the highest ridge in the area. Opened in 1932 as a local attraction, it is a an area with ancient rock formations, winding garden paths and spectacular views of the surrounding area. The advertisement " See Rock City" has been seen on over 900 barn roofs and walls from Michigan to Texas. Over course, we had to check it out.
From the entrance there is a winding path of nearly 3/4 mile that cuts over and through the giant rock formations. There are gardens and lovely plants all along the way. Everything is well labeled and we got to learn about the local greenery. Note in the picture, Karen is actually wearing a jacket! After weeks (or months??) of unseasonably hot weather, the pleasant mid 60's and low humidity was a change welcomed by both of us!
There was an area of the path that wound around and came to a suspended bridge. Here is the view from below the bridge--
Karen is glad she this view after she crossed the bridge.





At the top of the path the view of the surrounding area is really something. As you can see from this rock, the view encompasses 7 states! Being from the West, we are not used to some of these smaller states. From this point we can see Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Pretty amazing. During the Civil war the Confederate army used this strategic point to control a large area. Not suprisingly, there was a pretty major and bloody Civil War battle fought in the area. We will be visiting the battlefield another day.
This is a view of the rock from below it. Click on the photo to enlarge and you can see the people up there. It is quite a vista.


On the way down, the path winds through natural passages in the rocks. Some of these are quite narrow and actually require a person to walk sideways to squeeze through! Of course, we made it just fine.

Rock City was lots of fun. We would recommend it to anyone visiting the Chattanooga area.

Vicksburg Battlefield

We originally planned to have 4 days to look around Vicksburg and take in all of it's rich history. We didn't plan on Jim getting an "intestinal bug"! Our first day was spent close to home and only Karen made a trip into Vicksburg to find a drug store.

Finally on Monday, Jim was feeling good enough to go to the battlefield. We saw lots of blooming magnolia trees on the way there.

The battle and the siege of Vicksburg took place in 1863. The town is on the Mississippi River, and the army who controlled the river had a major advantage. It was a bloody battle lasting about 6 weeks. Grant's victory was a severe blow to the Confederacy.

The battlefield tour is about sixteen miles long. The road winds up and down the hills near the Mississippi River. Numerous monuments mark the various encampments of the troops from different states. Illinois sent some 35,000 troops and many monuments mark skirmishes they were involved in. Signs noting Union trenches as well as Confederate trenches line the hills.

Cannon lines were along the ridges. In the places where trees have been cleared, it was easy to get a sense of what the cannons were aiming at. Most of the park is heavily overgrown with trees. The National Park Service currently has a project to try and clear some of the areas to return them to the cleared condition they were in during the battle.

Near the end of the tour, we visited the US National cemetery where many of the graves are from the Civil War. A large number of the graves are of unknown identity. Also near the end is the US Cairo Museum. The US Cairo is a wooden Union gunboat that was sunk by the Confederates. It was recovered in 1964 and has been reassembled for display at the museum. The gaping hole the Confederates blew in the bow is quite apparent. It was interesting to learn about the Navy operations during the war.

16 miles of monuments and battle history was quite enough for one day! We hope to see more of Vicksburg tomorrow

Rainy ride to Mississippi

We awoke to the predicted rain showers this morning. Fortunately Jim had done most of the outside things to get ready to go last nite when it was'nt raining. At least we had a mostly sunny day yesterday.

As we moved east through Louisiana, the rain got heavier and heavier. Visibility was very low and traffic slowed down accordingly. We have not seen rain this heavy in quite some time. Fortunately there was no wind with this storm. About 15 miles prior to entering Missisippi we finally got ahead of the storm. We drove through Vickburg to our campground just east of town. We saw lots of Magnolia trees in bloom along the road. No wonder Mississippi is known as the "Magnolia State"

We are staying at an interesting place called Askews Landing. It is on the site of Briarwood Plantation which was settled by the Askew family in 1859. The campground is run by the Askew family. The campground store is one of the original buildings. Jim had a long chat with the owner about the Civil War activity in the area. It is pretty neat to stay someplace with some history. Shortly after checking in and getting settled the storm we passed through caught up with us and we got a good soaking for the 2nd time today. The car and the motorhome look pretty clean!

Tomorrow it's off to Vicksburg National Military Park and Battlefield.

Natchitoches Louisiana

When we were looking over information about the Shreveport area last night, we came across a notation that said that Natchitoches LA is the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. It was established in 1714 by the French. The information sounded interesting ,so this morning we were off to explore the area.

This area is settled by the French so most of the names of places and architectural influences are French. Our first task was to learn to pronounce the name of the town! We consulted the locals and it is pronounced " Nak-a-dish". Go figure.

The first building at the settlement was Fort St. Jean Baptiste. The French established this fort on the Red River to prevent the Spanish occupying the Texas province from advancing into Louisiana as well as to trade with them. The state has reconstructed the original fort and established it as a museum. The original drawings of the fort are still in existence so the fort is a true replica.

This is an example of the oven used to bake the soldiers bread. It is made from bousillage(boo-se-age), a mixture of Spanish Moss, mud and animal hair. A fire was built in the oven to get it really hot ( a 4 hour preheat!), the fire was extinguished and the loaves of bread put in the oven. 45 minutes later-bread.

The fort is unusual in it's double wall construction. The humid climate of Louisiana made wood rot very easily so by making the walls double thickness, if one timber fell the one behind it was still standing.
Our tour guide gave us lots of information about how the soldiers lived and worked at the fort. It was really interesting to hear all about the fort. The museum just opened recently and was actually scheduled to be dedicated today. We thought we picked a good day to be in Natchitoches.

We asked the museum staff where we could grab lunch. The unanimous verdict was we had to try Lasyones so we could sample a Cajun Meat Pie. That sounded good and then we saw that the traffic has dramatically increased to the bumper-to-bumper level. Apparently Northwest Louisiana State University (also in town) had graduation today! And it seemed they were all done and going to lunch! This restaurant was pretty busy but we did get in and try the local specialty. We found it pretty tasty. Lasyones has been written up in Gourmet and other food magazines.

One more interesting fact about Natchitoches other than their French history--- The movie "Steel Magnolias" was written by a local, set in Natchitoches and filmed entirely in the town. We saw many of the buildings used in the movie. We now want to get a copy of the movie and watch it again.

The area around Natchitoches is also home to a number of Creole plantations. The National Park service is in the process of restoring Oakland Plantation. Oakland Plantation is the most complete Creole plantation still in existence in the South. 17 of it original buildings remain. During the Civil War, there was significant activity in this area and Oakland Plantation is the only one in the area not burned to the ground by Federal troops. The Creole plantations ( generally west of the Mississippi) are a very different type of architecture than the Gone-With-the- Wind Antebellum type plantations. The Park Service hopes to have this one open and furnished soon.

As usual, we did not allow enough time to explore this area. The downtown buildings appeared quite charming . There is Civil War Battle site that we did not have time to see. So-- this area is now on our list of places to re-visit.

Leaving Texas

We spent the last couple of days in Livingston--our home address of record. Livingston is the National headquarters for the Escapees RV Club and the location of our mail forwarding service. We stayed the Escapees RV Park and were able to go pick up our mail every day. While we were there, Jim went into the driver's license place and took his Class A test--a Texas requirement for motorhome drivers. Of course he passed.

Well after 71 days in Texas we finally left the state. In reviewing our mileage we found that we had traveled over 1700 miles ( in the motorhome) just in Texas since the end of February! We were surprised at the amount of miles we covered--it is a such a large state. We really enjoyed all our explorations. We have no idea how many miles we drove in the Jeep for all our sightseeing--with the price of gas it's probably best to not know!!

So--now we are in Bossier City, Louisiana--just east of Shreveport. We are going to spend a day or so around here to check it out.