Day 14

(9/16/08) Kingston, GA -- Today was another travel day. We changed up our St. Augustine plans. Originally, we would travel from Myrtle Beach to St. Augustine, stay there for two days and travel into Key West. We decided to slow down a bit and broke the 2 days in St. Augustine into a two day trip between Myrtle Beach and Key West. We spent a few days in St. Augustine when we lived in Florida, it is a beautiful place, be we decided it wasn't a "must see" on this trip. This makes for a much easier trip to Key West. We ended up on the road much longer than we anticipated, however. We took another "direct" trip on US 17. Thinking the worst was behind us, we encountered all of the joys of taking US17 from Myrtle Beach to Walterboro, SC to pick up I-95...the maps showed it to be more direct and less miles than finding an eralier route to I-95. Miles does not equal time. See, even if you cut a trip by 100 miles, if you have to travel through Summerville, SC on US17, be prepared to do ALOT of stopping...this brought our average speed down to around 2mph (that may be an exaggeration, but it sure did feel like it). We were excited when we finally reached I-95, until we realized we still had the rest of SC and the whole state of Georgia to get through before getting to our campground. :) When we did reach our destination, we found that Country Oaks in Kingsland, GA is a quiet and beautiful place to camp in. Sadly, one of their semi-permanent residents lost his trailer in a fire two days before our arrival. What was left of the trailer was still in its space. Apparently a fire broke out in the fridge. He lost everything. His name is John and he recently returned from combat in Iraq. He uses Country Oaks as his home as he is stationed at Kings Bay Naval Sub Base a few miles down the road. For now, he'll be commuting 30 miles to the north where is mother lives. Please keep him in your prayers as he works with his insurance company to recover. All in all, today was a longer day than planned. Tomorrow...travel to Ft. Pierce, FL for a one-night stay at the Road Runner RV Resort. The trip will be much smoother--I-95 all the way!

Day 13

(9/15/08) -- Myrtle Beach, SC Today was beach and pier day. The campground we stayed at had what they claim to be the the longest pier on the East Coast (1,206 ft). Before going out to the pier, we had lunch at the restaurant on the pier. The view of the beach/Atlantic from the restaurant was great. After lunch we walked along the pier and got some pics and video of the beach. If we had to pick between here and Cape Hatteras, the Cape would win hands down. While the beach was nice, it was just a different atmosphere further north. We suspect it comes from the isolation in the Outer Banks. Bacon also enjoyed the beach (although as we mentioned yesterday, he still did not care too much for the surf). We met a very nice couple from Kentucky here. They spend some time at this campground each year. Very nice people. You find alot of nice people at these campgrounds.

One more special note...You've heard of thirst busters and bunker busters...have you ever heard of a satellite buster? Look below...this building is the reason that we didn't have Satellite TV in Myrtle Beach. :)

Day 12

(9/14/08) -- Myrtle Beach, SC Today was mostly driving. While leaving Cape Hatteras, Tara took got a few pictures of the Bodie Island Lighthouse. This is one of three along the Outer Banks. Like the others, this has an interesting history. The current lighthouse is the third attempt. The first was built without a proper supporting foundation and the second was blown up by Confedarate troops to prevent its use by the Union Army during the Civil War. This latest version was completed in 1872. (for more, see http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/bodielh.htm) We headed west for the first time this trip on our return to the mainland via U.S. 64. We had originally planned to take a couple of ferries at the southern tip of the Outer Banks, but limited availability for one of them would have meant reaching the mainland after 4pm; with the additional hours required to get to Myrtle Beach, that became a non-option. The bridge crossing Croatan Sound was obviously relatively new. It was a beautiful drive and Kevin was able to keep the RV from going over the edge (Tara is not amused when Kevin says stuff like, "one strong gust of wind and we are over the side..."). After crossing into the mainland, we started a dash down US Hwy 17. This was a more "direct" route intended to give us a "scenic drive", while "saving some time". What we got was BUGS, traffic, and stoplights. There was some beautiful scenery along the way, however.

To the left is a picture of what Tara stared at for most of the journey. Kevin laughed right after it hit and Tara almost threw up, so there was some entertainment in the route we chose after all (Tara did not find it as funny as Kevin did; his only defense is that 8 tons moving at 50mph is not something that you want try to quickly swing left or right to avoid bugs). In addition to this bug, there were a plethora of others scattered across our windshield, wipers and front grill. Worth special mention were the "Love Bugs". We hit our first Love Bugs in Columbia, NC. For those of you not familiar with this particular creature, Love Bugs should really have been called Windshield bugs, because this appears to be where they like to hang out most of the time. The following comes from Wikipedia :

The lovebug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. It is also known as the honeymoon fly, telephonebug, kissybug or double-headedbug. The adult is a small, flying insect common to parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast[...Because airborne lovebugs can exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills...

Bacon found the ride quite boring (since he was not allowed to participate in the "bug catching activities") and decided to spend most of the day in his special napping place. We arrived in at our campsite in Myrtle Beach to begin our 2 day stay. We took an evening walk down to the beach after our setup (Bacon is afraid of the incoming surf in South Carolina too) and then kicked back for the evening. Pictures on the Apache Pier tomorrow!

Day 11

(9/13/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Lazy day…this is what vacationing is all about. We really sat around and did a whole lot of nothing. Some reading, some basic cleanup around the RV and just resting. Later in the afternoon, we went down to the beach with Bacon for another run; both he and Kevin were too tired for much more than walking along the beach. He was too cute—Bacon, of course. He’s still very uncertain about the waves, so he tends to run from the surf as it comes in, but then gladly joins his mom and dad when it rolls back out. I took a few pictures today. The first was when our "neighbor" left in the morning. They had an interesting tool to line up their hitch with their trailer. Two florecent yellow poles magnetically attached to the ball and tongue. The driver can easily see these through the rearview mirror to align the vehicle to the trailer. Very cool concept.

We mentioned the "sound" side of the island previously. To the right is a picture of what the looks like. You'll notice that you don't see land on the horizon...yes, the Outer Banks are that far out. The last picture is an interesting assortment of mushrooms that we ran into walking back from the store. These were all over the park. Being out in the desert, we don't typically see these. We very much enjoyed what is our last day at this camp ground. It is highly likely that we’ll return here for a visit as soon as we can. Tomorrow will be around 6 to 7 hrs of travel down to Myrtle Beach, SC.

Day 10

(9/12/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Today we headed “into town” to replenish supplies. On our way back we stopped at the Monument to a Century of Flight (right) and then at the Wright Brothers National Memorial . Both awesome sites. It was very humid out, so the outdoor portion of the day was pretty intense considering we've been living in a desert for the past 12 1/2 years. The Monument to a Century of Flight was built for the 100th anniversary of the Wright's first flights at Kitty Hawk (actually at "Kill Devil Hills"). You can read about it at the link below. It is a round display of pillars that have etched into them key points of the history of flight over the 100 year span from the first flights in 1903. This monument is located at the Kitty Hawk visitors center. About 6.5 miles down the road is the actual location of the first flights. They have the actual path and endpoints of the first four flights of the Flyer indicated by granite markers. The starting point is marked by a larger granite marker. You can make those out in the picture (above left) to the left of and above the replica work sheds that were built on the locations of the originals. There are two replicas of the Wright Flyer on display at the site. And at the top of a hill on the south end of the site is the monument that congress erected back in 1928-32 (below). The site is truly inspiring and now that Kevin has finished his MBA, we’ll see if he has any luck convincing Tara that he “needs” his pilot’s license. Doubt it! When we returned to the campground, we put our groceries away and headed off to the swimming pool. While swimming, we watched the sun set along the “sound” side of the island (this is looking westward over the water between the Outer Banks and the mainland). We are so far from the mainland, that you can’t see it, so the sun was setting over the water. It was beautiful…and unfortunately we didn't bring the camera (we were swimming, so we decided that if we accidentally took any pictures of Kevin in his bathing suit that we would then be compelled to create the Kevin & Tara Farr 2008-9 Sabbatical Swimsuit Calendar; we really don't have time for that :)). After swimming, we enjoying hanging out at our campsite for awhile listening to the ocean and then turning in for the night. Tomorrow...another day in paradise

(http://www.monumenttoacenturyofflight.org/build.html )

(http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/)

Day 9

(9/11/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC Day at the Beach! No Camera, much sun, followed by much redness. We came back to the camp site after and cooked out. Hot dogs and sausages (turkey, not grease-packed misc. meat). We went back down to the beach after eating to give Bacon another good run and took a lot of sunset pictures. We could easily spend another week here! Here are some pictures from the day.

Day 8

(9/10/08) – Cape Hatteras Island, NC We left Dixie Caverns “early-for-real”. We headed NE on I-81 until we got to Staunton, VA, then took I-64 through Richmond and into New Port News, VA. Most of I-64 was tree-lined rolling hills (wonderful on gas milage). At the end of the rolling hills was one last mountainous pass. Apparently, it is frequently shrouded in clouds, so the roads are lined with “runway” lights. In New Port News, we saw some naval ships in dry dock. We decded to take the “Tunnel Alternate Route”, I-664. Note: The Tunnel Alternate Route is the TUNNEL Alternate Route…meaning there IS a tunnel, not that you are taking an “alternate route” to avoid a tunnel…this was a minor oversight on our part. It really wasn’t that bad. We had to pull over for a “pre-tunnel” inspection. All we did there was turn off the propane. We made it through the tunnel without hitting the wall or having any major panic attacks. I-664 rejoins I-64 which then turns into US158. There is a 3 mile bridge on US158 took us over to the Outer Banks, and SR12 took us on down to our campground. When we arrived, we were surprised to find that our campsite was one of a handful that can actually look out across the dunes to the Atlantic Ocean! We setup the campsite and took Bacon over to the beach. He had a field day running on the sand (Kevin wasn’t quite as excited about the run). It remained fairly cloudy for most of the day and we ran into rain on and off. The rain stopped in the evening for our beach run, however.

Day 7

(9/9/08) – Dixie Caverns, VA Up and on the road early today on our journey back East. We spent some time on the road today pondering the term “back East”. Have you ever noticed that you always hear about people traveling “back East” or “out West”, but you never hear the terms reversed. Technically Tara and I are heading “out East” and will be returning “back West” in a few weeks, but those phrases just don’t sound right.
Today was a travel day that concluded with a very nice visit to Kevin’s relatives in Vinton, VA. We traveled north out of Chattanooga on I-75 and met up with I-40 again East of Knoxville, TN. We traveled along I-40 for about 60 miles before breaking north on I-81. Our campsite @ Dixie Caverns was another bust. The spaces were tight and a mountain blocked out the southern sky (i.e. no Satellite TV). After hooking up the RV, we drove to see Kevin’s family. His Aunt and her family had a very nice spread of home-cooked food laid out just waiting for them when they arrived. We spent several hours there visiting. We wish we had spent the 3 days there rather than the last place. J Unfortunately, the campground After a pleasant evening with family, we returned to the campsite for a night of sleep and another early departure. Tomorrow, we arrive at Cape Hatteras for a 4 night stay. (sorry, no pics from today)

Day 4 thru Day 6

(9/6/08 – 9/8/08) – Guild, TN Day 4: We slept in a little today as we were not in a rush for a long travel day. Our first stop along I-40 took us to Nashville. There we spent about 45 minutes walking the grounds of their Parthenon exhibit. It is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece. We toured the downstairs museum (where no pictures were allowed…it wasn’t THAT exciting, although part of it did give the history of the exhibit which was) then took a few pictures on the main floor. There was a bride or bride-to-be getting her pictures taken on the front steps…ah, young love, wait till they get an RV and spend a month in it on the road (just kidding)! Bacon loved the pond. There were many ducks there for him to observe. When Tara saw the picture of him overlooking the ducks, Kevin got into trouble for letting him get so close to the water--his mama spoils him! He has been quite the trooper along the road. He has endured many hardships (loud trucks passing the RV, pee stops in scary locations, and the dreaded windshield wipers). Yes, our dog is a wimp (but he is cute). Any time the windshield wipers come on, he spirals into anxious shaking and panicked climbing up to Tara’s shoulders. This has required the development of “a system”. If the rain starts falling, Bacon is quickly placed onto the couch behind the driver’s seat so that he can secure himself out of view of those evil wipers (see pic below).
After Nashville, we hopped onto I-24 South toward Chattanooga, TN. Just before Chattanooga, was our exit to Guild, TN and Hale’s Bar and Marina “Resort”. We’ll consider this a low point in our journey. While the “resort” was positioned in a prime location along the river, it had much to be desired. It appears that someone had made an effort to create the perfect resort, but then got tired and never finished. It is a fine “fishing village”, but far from the resort they claimed it to be. The views across the river were beautiful in the mornings, but the facilities had much to be desired and we ended up completely cut off from civilization (no cell, no internet) during our stay with the exception of the two brief visits we made into “town” where we could get a cell signal. On a positive note, we were able to get a satellite signal and we did have electricity to run the A/C, so all was not lost. J Day 6—Guild, TN During our three day stay at Hale’s (why, oh why did we choose this place for a 3 day lay-over?) we drove into Chattanooga to visit Lookout Mountain. This mountain hosts, some beautiful homes and three tourist attractions—Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway (for more information visit their website at http://www.lookoutmountain.com/ )

We visited Ruby Falls and then Rock City (the Incline Railway will have to wait for another visit; Kevin visited this back in ’81). We started with Ruby Falls. This is a waterfall ___ft below the ground. It requires a ~30minute walk through caverns (Kevin spent at least ½ the time slumping down to keep from hitting his head on the cavern ceiling). The waterfall was beautiful. They even let you walk around behind it (more stooping for Kevin). After leaving the falls, we moved on up the mountain to Rock City. Definitely a tourist trap, but a fascinating use of the rock structures in the area for the creation of a stunning garden walk. We had to have walked for 3 miles around the park. In one area, you can look out across the horizon to 7 different states. There was another waterfall there and a swinging bridge. Very nice and we didn’t go broke in the gift shop! The only bad thing about this day was returning to the campsite in Guild. When we returned to the campsite, we decided to get everything packed up for an early AM departure (don’t know why we were in such a rush; just this inveterate desire to get out of Guild)

Day 3

(9/5/08) – Memphis, TN Today we got to take the Graceland Tour. It was interesting to see the home of Elvis (albeit in a very controlled manner). You only get to tour the first floor and basement. Out of respect for Elvis they keep the second floor off limits. Kevin thinks that Elvis is up stairs looking at security cameras and laughing at how much people are willing to pay to see the inside of his house. Tara does not find that thought amusing. There are several museums in the complex including those dedicated to Elvis’s cars, airplanes, clothes and many, many gold and platinum records. The weather was overcast for us during the day and we got sprinkled on a couple of times, but since we were inside most of the day that did not matter. The only snag in the day was having security tell us that we couldn’t take our video camera onto the mansion grounds (interestingly enough, they do have a DVD tour available in the MANY gift shops for a mere $39.99—we did not partake; however we did pick up some souvenirs for Kevin’s mom…allegedly, Kevin destroyed his Mom’s collection of Elvis records sometime in the late 70’s, so he figures he owes her that at the very least—Kevin still denies the accusations and blames the destruction of said records on a “vast sibling conspiracy”). During the tour Tara, who never gets sick, developed a minor sore throat…we’ll have to see how that goes. When we returned to the campground, the sun came out briefly (for about 30 minutes through a few breaks in the clouds), so we decided to go for a dip in the pool. It was very nice, if not a little chilly. Our next day will be travel to Hale’s Bar Marina and RV Campground for a three day break. This campground is located on the Tennessee River, so we are hoping for an enjoyable stay.

Day 2

9/4/08 - Memphis, TN We left the KOA in Elk City, OK this morning "early for real". Even Bacon was wondering what was going on (see pic below). Traveling East on I-40, we got to watch the sunrise (pic to the left). It was most awesome!!! (Sadly we are still getting the hang of taking pictures while the RV is jarred and swayed by every bump in the road--and on I-40 through OK, there are PLENTY of bumps) There were a lot of clouds, so we didn't see the sun fully emerge, but what we could see was quite beautiful. The sun did not come out again until we were passing through Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, it happened at the most inopportune time--during rush hour traffic! We drove along Tinker AFB on the Eastern edge of the city and continued on across the state. We saw several wind-power farms across the state, very nice to see--although we did not get pics. Ran into a few light rain showers...only mist really. The day did not contain any cultural enhancement points, just driving. We found that the I-40 road conditions in OK were not "OK". We would cruise along nicely on smooth highway for miles, then apparently out of no where, the roads became pitted and cracked for several miles. Overall, we found OK along I-40 to be a pleasant and scenic drive. Arkansas was apparently very serious about litter; the signs posted would make one worry, if exhaling was considered pollution. We think that our favorate part of Arkansas, was a sign that indicated the directions to "Toad Suck Park" in Conway...a place near and dear to a friend of ours who we will no doubt have to question regarding the history of this park. We finally arrived in Memphis a little after 4pm for a 2 night stay at the Graceland RV park right across the street from Graceland (our site was on "Teddy Bear Lane" right off of "Love Me Tender Blvd."). Tomorrow morning...the Graceland Tour. :) [Note: We'll update fuel stats soon]

Day 1

9/3/08 - Elk City, OK We left home "early" this morning--twice. The first time at 7:08 AM. After returning to the house to get Kevin's sunglasses (which he had left on the trunk of his car), we left the second time at around 7:20 AM. Our first stop was to top off the gas tank before we hit interstate (36.744 gallons @ $3.579/gal = $131.51). We had a nice drive on I-40; very light traffic through New Mexico. We stopped at a rest station about 20 miles from the Texas state line to enjoy breakfast burritos that Tara made. Bacon and Kevin froze on their potty walk (well, it was Bacon's potty walk, Kevin was just along for the walk); very chilly day. Just east of Amarillo was our first fill-up (39.693 gallons @ $3.589/gal = $142.46). Our first fun stop in Texas was just west of Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch. We didn't bring spray paint, so we didn't get to take part in the wildly popular graphitti-fest on the cars--this is apparently legal and adds significant artistic value to the attraction. More on the Ranch can be found on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch)

We traveled a little further south-east to get to our next cultural enrichment excerise--Huge Pair of Legs. We came close to not finding them, however. The driving

instructions provided by our map software were so detailed (we're talking they get down to describing the cars that you will be on the road with you) that we "misread" them and took a detour into a small farming community. Well, the Legs were, well, legs (& feet). You look, you snap a picture, then you try to figure out how to make a U-turn with a 32' RV towing a Saturn in order to get back to the Interstate without taking any more adventures through unknown territory. We will have to research the history on this particular "curiosity" and get back to you. We did notice that the socks have been enhanced by the addition of "nail polish" to the toes (unfortunatly, you can't see that in the picture). Update 9/5/08: Here is the story...http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1242

After leaving the Legs, we made our Groom, TX to see the Groom Cross. This was an awesome sight to see. It stands 190 feet just south of I-40. There are several sculptures there depicting Christ's path to the cross as well as other representations from the Bible. You can see it was overcast, but what you can't feel is the chilly wind that went along with the cloudy skies. :) If you want to read more about it, you can visit their website at http://www.crossministries.net/

We ate a quick lunch in the parking lot here while we looked over the plan for the rest of the day. It was here that a minor flaw was found in Kevin's well-thought-out plan. Our mapping software failed to account for the time change going from the Mountain to Central time zone; this combined with the fact that our scheduled stopping point couldn't be reached before 8pm led us to alter plans for our first night.

The beauty of RVing is that you can change plans at will. We were orginally going to stay in Hinton, OK, but moved that in by about 50 miles to Elk City, OK. The KOA there was a nice campground in a quiet part of OK. There was a field behind the KOA that was full of corn; the picture below would make for a nice Windows desktop. :) We didn't really spend much time setting up as we were both tired from the long day.

Ultimately we ended up traveling 476.9 miles today. It was a long--but good--day on the road. Tomorrow...Memphis, TN.

The "Plan"

First of all, let's start with the action plan. As Christians, we recognize that our plans are all prefaced with "Lord willing..." The image above (click on it to see the full image) is our travel map for the next 5 & 1/2 weeks. We leave Albuquerque on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008. Our plans take us to the Atlantic coast via Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia & North Carolina. From there, we travel south through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. After 5 days in Key West, Tara and I will meet up with my parents (Dennis & Ellen Farr) in Odessa, FL. From there we willl caravan with them back to Albuquerque for Kevin's graduation through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, & New Mexico. After graduation, we will travel with Kevin's parents to "Four Corners" New Mexico, then to Monumement Valley, Utah then to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On our way back to Albuquerque, we will travel to Flagstaff, Arizona to visit Lowell Observatory and then to see sites like the Berringer Crater, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We choose not to describe anything further as it would have to recoginize the pending "end" of Kevin's sabbatical. :)

Down to the wires!

Many of you already know that we had an "incident" a few weeks ago. Apparently, someone felt the need to steal our generator out of our RV in storage (the picture to the right shows the compartment that the generator is usually in). Well, the replacement generator took twice as long as expected to arrive in Albuquerque. We are now T-17hrs30mins before departure and just got word from the mechanic that they are putting in the final wiring and will have the RV ready this afternoon. This is not exactly the day-before-departure that we had in mind when we started planning this trip, but it could have been alot worse. We'll be leaving "early" tomorrow morning. When is "early"? Well, that depends on if you are talking to Kevin or Tara. For Kevin, it is around 5/5:30a; for Tara, it is more like 7am. We'll see, but I (Kevin) suspect that Tara will win that one. :) First stop is Red Rock Canyon just outside of Hinton, OK. We'll post more later! -K&T

Welcome!!!

Welcome to our blog. We'll be logging our trip here through the next 5 to 6 weeks (assuming that we don't get so wrapped up in our sabbatical that we decide it is too much effort). We hope you enjoy our trip as much as we plan to! -Kevin & Tara