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Coming Home

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09/12/2019 - We drove about 200 miles and parked at the USA RV Park in Gallup, NM.  This is a great overnight campground.  We were very tired from all the tours and the driving, so we stayed in, had leftovers for dinner, and went to bed early.  09/13/2019 - Drove 213 miles from Gallup, NM to Williams, AZ where we parked in the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.  The park is very clean and there are a lot of activities, not to mention all the sights to see in this quaint town.  It sits on the Railroad station and Hotel location.  The railroad makes 2 trips every day to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and back.  In the winter, it is turned into the Polar Express for the kids and their parents to enjoy.  Again, we stayed in the coach.  We had leftovers (different from last night), watched TV and some UTube videos, and went to bed early.  We planned a tour of the downtown area for tomorrow. 09/14/2019 - Tom and I wandered around the town.  We stopped in several shops, and had lunch at
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Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico

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09/06/2019 - Drove 218 miles to Lake Dardenelle, an Arkansas State Park.  The description on the internet looked beautiful.  And indeed, it was.  Lake Dardenelle was huge--40,000 acres.  It is a man-made lake and reservoir, dammed up by the Arkansas River. The campground was beautiful.  We parked on a point jutting out into the lake and had water on 3 sides.  Lots of trees, but rocks on the shoreline that prevented swimming.  This was a 2 night rest stop.  Susan and Bev brought hot dogs and salad for dinner.   Trish was down with a cold. 09/07/2019 - Tom worked on the Magneshade (our shade for the windshield).  All 4 dogs got good walks.  I spent the entire day updating my bookkeeping.  Now I am caught up until we get home.  Not much to tell you today, and no pictures.  I fixed mushroom ravioli for dinner,  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  We also worked on a watermelon that Trish brought (she is feeling much better).  I then worked on a big segment on The Biltmore on my blog.  Good
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Memphis and Graceland

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09/04/2019 - Today we drove 228 miles to Memphis.  We parked in Elvis Presley Blvd. RV Park.  What a horrid park--- unlevel spots, no pool, no dog park, no trees (only gravel and dirt), a wi-fi that doesn't work, and proprietors who don't seem to care.  TripAdvisor will hear about it, so will my RV Trip Wizard software guys.  On top of all that, it was 102 degrees with 60-70 percent humidity.   When Trish went to hook up, she had to pull an empty water bottle out of the sewer connection. After we all got hooked up and dogs settled, we were all worn out .  We stayed in and stayed cool.  I fixed the ravioli for dinner. 09/05/2019 - Today is our tour of Graceland.  It is only 1/2 mile from the campground. We entered the visitor center, a large complex of buildings built in 2017 for $22 million.  It housed several museums, a cafe, and the visitor where we got our tickets for the mansion.  We waited in line for our 10:00 tour, then boarded a shuttle that took us across Elvi
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Nashville

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9/01/2019 - Our first day in Nashville.  Today we  had a guided tour of the backstage of The Grand Ole' Opry.  Bev, Trish, and Susan Originally, the Grand Ole' Opry was in the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.  The Ryman  took over from the Union Gospel Tabernacle Church building, and started  the whole country music thing in 1943.  It  is known as "The Mother of Country Music" even today. The Grand Ole Opry was moved in 1974 to Northeast Nashville (in Music Valley) from the Ryman .   Some of the decor and even the wood from The Ryman was brought to the new location.  Of greatest interest was the center stage circle of wood, where the performers stood. Center Stage - the wood circle came from the Ryman Here is our star. And here is a peek at the theater. The Grand Ole' Opry theater It can hold 4400 people, seated and standing.  Although I am not a fan of country music, I appreciate that the Grand Ole' Opry is such an important pa
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Back to Marion, NC for repairs

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8/27/2019 -  Now for a little history on the beginnings of the Vanderbilt fortune: Cornelius Vanderbilt Sr. (they called him the Commodore) came to Staten Island, New York from The Netherlands, penniless.  He talked his mom into lending him $100 at the age of 16 so he could buy an old boat.  He saw a need for a way for people to get to and from Staten Island.  He set up a ferry route and began making money.  He bought more boats paid his mom back.  Later on, he sold the Staten Island Ferry and reinvested in railroads.  When he died in 1877, he had turned that $100 into $100 million.   His son, William, inherited the entire estate.  When he died in 1885 (only 8 years later), he had turned the $100 million into $200 million (at that time, he was the richest man in America).  In today dollars, that would be about $6.4 billion. That was the beginning, from there William had four sons (and 4 daughters).  His oldest son was Cornelius II (after his grandfather, the Commodore), who built The
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The Biltmore in Asheville, NC

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08/27/2019 - Up early and drove the Jeep (with all 3 dogs) to the campground in Asheville where Trish, Susan, and Bev were parked.  It was about 45 miles.  We were supposed to be there also, but we were in Marion, NC instead (getting repairs done on the RV).  We left all the dogs with Bev, as she did not want to walk the tour.  The four of us headed to the Biltmore where we had 10:00 a.m. tour tickets.  The Biltmore was built in 1889-1895 as the permanent residence of George Washington Vanderbilt, younger brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt  II (who built The Breakers in Newport R.I. 1893-1895).  They had another brother, William Kissam Vanderbilt, who built 660 5th Avenue in New York City, and Marble House in Newport R.I.   It seems these men were in a great competition to see who could build the biggest and the best. The Biltmore was, and still is, the largest private residence in the U.S. It has 178,925 square feet of floor space (135,280 of living space).  The property was immense
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