A new Shultz...and the Grand Ole Opry

We received wonderful news that Lee is a new Grandpa from his son Matt and wife Bonnie. Sienna May Shultz was born on March 30th and all went well with daughter and mother. We will proudly add her to our life's scorecard as another beautiful grandchild.

Tonight we enjoyed the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.

The lineup included Riders in The Sky, Connie Smith, The steeldrivers, Whispering Bill Anderson and Darryl Worley. It was very interesting to be part of the live radio broadcast and "listen" through the commericals and announcements. The talent was wonderful; while we did not recognize any of the names we did know several of the songs and all of the performers were very talented.

Natchez Trace - Jackson, MS to Nashville, TN

We were happy to get back on the trace and head north toward Nashville. All the storms have passed for now and we had a beautiful drive through some wonderful country. Teh Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway that roughly follows the old trail and road system that was used in the 1700s and 1800s (and for 8000 years by Indians) to get back up the farms of north. Farmers would bring their goods south to market in Nachez or New Orleans on the Mississippi river. The current was too swift for the return trip so they scrapped their boats and walked back home along the trace. David Crocket, Andrew Jackson, Meriwether Lewis (as in Lewis & Clark) as well as Abe Lincoln's father all used the trace and left their mark along the way. Lot of history and some of the most beautiful countryside we have seen.

Spring has sprung in the south. We just need to keep dodging those pesky tornados......

...and the occasional Mississippi aligator.

(We decided just to stay in the motorhome.)

We visited a Tennessee tobacco farm just outside Nashville.

Tonight we go to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville then leave tomorrow for Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

On the Road Again

We restarted our US tour yesterday. What an adventure:

9 am – got a ride to Seatac airport
9:45 – arrived at Seatac and tried to check in for Delta flight; no this is not a Delta flight (code share with Continental) so we had to trek to other side of the terminal to find out that our exit row seats (more leg room for Lee) were replaced with center seats in different rows.
10 am – spent half hour trying to get Lee’s new suspenders through security.
11:20 – departed for Houston
5:00 – arrive in Houston to find that our 6:30 flight out to Jackson, MS has been delayed one hour.
8 pm – Get to board flight to Jackson
8:45 – plane leaves gate and gets in line for departure
9:45 – still waiting for departure when winds changes and all the planes need to switch to the other end of the runway.
10:30 – almost our turn for take off but now we don’t have enough fuel so we go back to the gate for refueling
11 pm – push back from gate and get in line for take off again.
11:30 – take off for 1 hour flight to Jackson, MS
12:45am – pilot tells us that we are in a holding pattern waiting for storm cells to clear Jackson (sounds like a good plan)
1:15am – pilot tells us that we are 50 miles from Jackson and we will land in about 15 minutes. (much cheering from passengers)
2:00am – we land….but it is not Jackson, MS but rather Monroe, LA (passengers are no longer cheering)
2:45 – pilot (and his controllers) decide that enough is enough and give up on trying to get to Jackson.
3:00 – leave plane and get in line to get hotel room
4:00am – got to sleep
4:30 am – woke up to major water leak in bathroom; flooded same.
5:00 am – got back to sleep
6:00 am – train blew whistle underneath our room window
9 am – got up for breakfast and got a bus to Jackson
Noon – arrived in Jackson
1:00 man from RV storage yard drives us to motor home; starts right up and we head out to RV park and a little rest.

We are tired but we can rest when we get old. The storms we were avoiding last night generated a F3 tornado that hit just south of Jackson. We are watching the weather closely and don't know enough about these storms to even think about taking any chances. We will stay in touch.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - And we are OFF!

We heard that fuel prices are heading back up so we decided that we should do our part to stimulate the economy and head back to pick up where we left off our RV trip in Jackson, MS (can you say approaching thunder storms). Our bags are packed with all of the little motor home thingys that we couldn't find along the way; we have our vitamins in hand hoping to extend our life long enough for our 401k to recover; and we have a rough plan for seeing the remainder of the Scenic National Parks before they are closed due to budget cuts. We will be spending the next couple of days in Jackson getting the RV ready for the road and then head north along the Naches Trace to Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. Check back often over the next couple of month as we further explore this beautiful country.