Rick & Carol's Journey (DL)

Still having a great time -- we've been on the road just over three weeks and have already seen a lot of sights.

On Sunday we took a leisurely drive in Vermont on a two-lane state road that ran through some pretty farming valleys. We camped in a lakeside park in Williamstown, Vermont for two nights.

There was a steady, light rain all day Monday. We spent most of the day in the Honda checking out the surrounding area. Except for some showers a couple of weeks ago, this was the first rain of the trip.

Tuesday we headed out for two nights in Bangor Maine. About half way there, the "low water" light came on in the motorhome, indicating we were about a gallon low on coolant. There was a slow leak, so we detoured to Westbrook, Maine, the location of the nearest Freightliner dealer. Fortunately we had enough spare coolant on hand (2 gallons) to get there without an engine shutdown. We arrived about 3:00 p.m. but were told it would be several hours before they could get to the coach. (Nice thing about Freightliner service facilities -- most are open until midnight.)

The service manager gave us directions to the Portland Head Light -- claimed to be the most photographed lighthouse in the U.S. -- and to a nice country restaurant to which he was planning to take his visiting sister than evening. We did this sightseeing, ate a good dinner (and saw the service manager and his sister), and spent some time (and money) in Border's Bookstore before returning the to service facility at 9:00 p.m. The problem had simply been a loose hose clamp, so we were back in business. We dry-camped in the dealer's parking lot Tuesday night, then left this morning for a short drive to Bangor. Light rain again this afternoon. The evening news says there are floods throughout the mid-Atlantic, so we have been fortunate to be as far north as we are.

My knee has been slightly swollen for about a week, so I went to a local doc-in-a-box while we are still in the states. Nothing serious, just unhappy cartilage (probably from all the walking last week at Niagara Falls), so I have a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills to take for 10 days.

Tomorrow a.m. we head out for St. Andrews, New Brunswick. We are arriving a day early -- our seven-week caravan through Nova Scotia and Newfoundland has its organizational meeting in St. Andrews on Friday afternoon. I don't know what the availability of internet access will be in the maritime provinces -- I will update the blog whenever possible.

On Friday, we drove into the Adirondak mountains, and stopped for the day near Lake Placid, New York, home of the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympic games. We toured the Olympic ski jump area, taking a ski lift to the top of the hill, then an elevator and stairs to the top of the ski jump facility -- it's higher than it looks on TV, and you have a great view of the surrounding countryside. It was a pleasant, cool evening, so after leaving the Olympic park we strolled through the tourist strip in downtown Lake Placid.

Today we drove to Lake Bomoseen, Vermont. En route, we stopped to see Ft. Ticonderoga. Unfortunately, today was a reenactment day and the fort and its environs were incredibly crowded. We did visit a number of vendor tents with period items for sale, but decided against waiting in a lengthy line for tickets into the fort. Maybe we'll catch it on another trip.

As you can tell, we have WiFi this evening, so we have caught up on e-mail, on-line banking, blogging, etc. Tomorrow we leave for two days outside Montpelier, Vermont, then two nights in Bangor, Maine, before proceeding to St. Andrew, New Brunswick, where we will join our Winnebago caravan on Friday.

We arrived at our campground near Niagara Falls around noontime. In the afternoon, we toured the nearby city of Niagara-on-the-Lakes, which has a number of high end tourist shops along its main street. In the evening, we drove to downtown Niagara Falls, rode a huge Ferris wheel, then walked the entire distance of the waterfront from the viewpoint for the American Falls (which are located across the river) to the edge of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, and back again. (The first photo of the American Falls was taken from atop the Ferris wheel. The second photo shows the water pouring over the top of the Horseshoe Falls.)

On Tuesday, we played tourist and visited a host of attractions in the Niagara Falls area. These included the Butterfly Gardens; the White Water Walk, a boardwalk along the side of the Class 6 rapids downstream from the falls; a boat ride to the base of Horseshoe falls on the Maid of the Mist; and a walk through tunnels that took us to an observation platform near the edge of the base of Horseshore falls.

Our final attraction of the day was the Spanish Aerocar, a cable car over a whirlpool in the Niagara river several miles downstream from the falls.

On Wednesday, we started with a tour of Ft. George, a riverside fort that was occupied successively by the British, Americans, and the British again. After a quick trip through a couple of small antique shops, we toured one of the areas many wineries -- this one specializing in ice-wine, a dessert wine that is made from handpicked grapes harvested in January or February after they have frozen solid. In the early evening we drove to one of the locks on the Wellbun canal, part of the St. Lawrence seaway, and watched a coal hauling "laker" traversing the lock.

Thursday was a driving day, back into the U.S. to a campground near Mexico, New York.

After more than a week, we are finally at a campground that has WiFi access. I will be writing three posts this evening to catch things up, since it is hard to put more than three photos in a single entry. (Actually, I'm having trouble posting any pictures at all -- the next couple of entries may be text only until I figure out what the problem is.)

With the RV fixed on Wednesday morning (June 14), we spent two days driving to Ypsilanti, Michigan, located between Ann Arbor and Detroit. On Thursday afternoon, we walked through the University of Michigan Law School complex in Ann Arbor, and, after some searching, found the apartment where we had lived for two of my three years in law school. Except for the law school, either the town has changed a lot, my memory is less that perfect, or both.

Friday and Saturday were spent at "The Henry Ford," which consists of Greenfield Village, the Henry Ford Museum, and a tour of the Rouge truck assembly plant. The tour of Greenfield Village consumed the entire day on Friday. The village was started by Henry Ford in the mid-1920s and consists primarily of historical buildings which have been relocated to the site. These include Ford's childhood home, Thomas Edison's laboratory, Robert Frost's house, Noah Webster's house, and a number of others. One of the highlights of the day was a ride around the village in a 1914 Model T Ford.

On Saturday, we first toured the Rouge assembly plant, where 440 to 460 trucks are assembled in an 8-hour shift. The plant is part of a larger vertically integrated manufacturing facility which occupies 2,000 acres purchased by Ford for $1,100 (total, not per acre). In the afternoon, we toured the Henry Ford Museum. In addition to a collection of vintage cars, airplanes and railcars, the museum holds agricultural equipment, industrial equipment (primarily steam engines) and a host of historical household items. There are four presidential limousines -- FDRs, Eisenhower's, the one in which Kennedy was shot, and one from the Reagan/Ford era. There will be no future presidential limousines on display, newer vintage models undergo destructive testing by the Secret Service at the end of their useful life.

Sunday and Monday were spent driving, via London Ontario, to the Niagara Falls area. This will be the subject of Part 2.

As of tomorrow morning, we will have been on the road for seven days.

Our plan to drive from Chattanooga to Frankfort on Monday got sidetracked when, at lunchtime, we heard high pressure air escaping from under the front of the motorhome. We (correctly) diagnosed a probable leak in the air suspension system and diverted to Lexington, which has a Freightliner service facility.

We overnighted at the Kentucky Horse Farm Campground, then delivered the RV to the repair shop at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. After breakfast at Waffle House, we proceeded to the Kentucky Horse Farm, where we spent a pleasant day -- temperature no higher than the mid-70s -- seeing the sights.

These included a horsedrawn tour of the grounds, an introduction to different varieties of draft horses, a show of several famous horses, an introduction to several mares and foals, a show with costumed riders on eight of the many different breeds of horses, a tour of an extensive museum covering all things horsey from prehistoric times to the modern day, and a short film. Not being a horse person, I had never imagined there are so many varieties of horses.

The horse pictured below is Cigar, who won 16 straight races, and had lifetime winnings of just under $10,000,000.

The next two pictures feature a Gypsy Cob, ridden by a girl in gypsy garb, and a Paso Fino, ridden by a girl in garnet and gold ... hmmmm.



While we were touring the horse farm, Freightliner quickly diagnosed the problem -- a leaky valve -- then spent several hours trying to determine if is was a Freightliner manufactured part or a Winnebago manufactured part. After multiple phone calls to both manufacturers, they finally discovered it was a Freightliner part and a replacement will be delivered early tomorrow (Wednesday) a.m. for installation before lunchtime.

We returned to the Freightliner facility this afternoon to pack an overnight bag and are staying tonight at a La Quinta Inn. The accommodations are nice, but hardly worth the equivalent of four nights of campground fees.

We're still making plans for tomorrow and will update again in a few days -- Internet access permitting.

Carol and I spent a long day on Saturday seeing all of the sights in Chattanooga.

We started the day at the Incline Railroad, which takes passengers one mile up the side of Lookout Mountain. There was a haze over the city, so our snapshots from the top are nothing to brag about, or to publish.



After returning to the bottom of the mountain, and making a few wrong turns, we arrived at Rock City which features ..... rocks.

After walking above (on a swinging bridge), below, and between countless rocks we arrived at the Lovers Leap. (The photo is a side view.) No one leaped while we were there, which I guess is just as well.

The walk back takes you through the Enchanted Garden and Fantasyland which portray a variety of nursery rhymes for the younger set.








Our next stop of the day was Point Park, site of a Civil War battlefield. The Confederate Army was defending Lookout Mountain. When attacked from below, they ultimately retreated and the Union Army occupied the city, which was used as the base for Sherman's march on Atlanta. The sky was still hazy, but we did get a couple of pictures of the Tennessee River winding its way past Chattanooga.



The final stop of the day was Ruby Falls. These caverns were opened in the mid-1800s and feature a 160' underground waterfall -- which did not show up in any of our photos. We did get several good shots of the formations, including this one with Carol.
On Sunday, we spent the better part of the day visiting an antique mall just over the state line in Georgia, and another collection of malls in Chattanooga.

Tomorrow we head for Frankfort, Kentucky where we will spend a couple of nights and probably make a day trip into Lexington to see some horse racing related attractions.

It's Friday, so I've officially been retired for a week. Just arrived at the Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We will be here for three nights, and plan to visit Lookout Mountain, Ruby Falls, the Incline Railroad, Rock City and other area attractions.

Drove just under 200 miles today from Pine Mountain, Georgia, where we spent our first two nights on the road. Although we're out of shape, Carol and I managed a 4.3 mile hike yesterday on the Dowdell Knob Loop in FDR State Park. The trail was not as scenic as we had hoped, but we got good exercise anyway. Was forced to think of work half way through the hike -- when a toad unexpectedly crossed our path.

We also toured the Little White House in Warm Springs. Carol, complete with dark glasses, posed for a picture as a mock Secret Service Agent at the guardhouse.

We saw a short film about FDR with clips from the 1930s and 40s. There was one clip of his "day of infamy" speech to the joint session of Congress -- while I've heard the audio before, this is the first time I've seen it with video.

We have WiFi access at this campground, so will plan to update again Sunday night with news of our activities in Chattanooga.

Three parties later, Rick is finally retired. The motorhome's been washed and is almost completely loaded with everything needed for the long trip to Canada. Tomorrow is for last minute errands and a chance to relax. Departure is planned for Wednesday, with a destination of Pine Mountain, Georgia. Our route - as far as Niagara Falls by way of Chattanoga. Frankfort, Cincinnatti, Detroit, and Tornoto - has been mapped in Streets & Trips so that we can get computerized driving directions via GPS.