West Virginia

Unplanned Adventures:

April 16-19, 2013 The North American Safari was more than ready to get back out on the road after 6 days of Atlanta Wedding Activities for nephew Scott and his bride Anne and the Big Boston Marathon Experience for our kids Marq and Kris. Our flight from Boston was uneventful; we landed and we picked up Guinness and Corona from the kennel. We then drove back to the Cummings Diesel Repair shop where we had left the MoHo to be repaired while we were away. THERE WAS A VERY SICKENING FEELING when we pulled up outside of the shop. They were already closed and the Safari was supposed to be out for us to stay in; INSTEAD it was locked up inside the garage. Well as you can imagine, this was not a very good sign. What the heck to do? We had 2 dogs in the car, and nowhere to stay for the night!!! &*#@@@@@!! was uttered and much more.  After a couple minutes of fuming we knew we had to find a place to stay until the next morning and we could find out what had happened. Fortunately there was an old Days Inn Motel about ½ mile away from the garage. Mike went in and pleaded our case; they were very understanding and allowed us to have the BOYZ in the room with us. The room left A LOT to be desired (very outdated, grubby and bit of the ewwwwwe factor) but it was a place to sleep and be together.  Being the adaptive people we usually are, we made it work, went to the store, bought a bottle of wine, some cheese and bread and made dinner and hunkered down to sleep. Fortunately we were so tired from the drama and trauma of the past few days we both slept relatively well. In the morning we returned to garage to find out that they had indeed try to contact us, but that because of the cell service being disrupted in Boston we had missed their call. Problems with the repair, the MoHo could not be moved from the shop because basically the engine was dis-assembled and laying all around. YIKES!!!! This did not look or sound good. Lots of muttering went on, and we knew we were probably not going anywhere for a few days. With much frustration we understood that we would just have to wait it out and hope that the repairs could be done and that we would be back on the road sooner than later. The next few days were kept busy with tasks such as doing laundry, finding new places to eat (Karen’s new favorite was chicken & waffles for breakfast), looking for places to walk the dogs and we spent a fair amount of time reading, and resting. Finally on Friday afternoon we got the good news that the MoHo was back together and we would be heading out very shortly. A quick run to the grocery store to restock the refrigerator that had spoiled because it wasn’t keeping cool while the repairs were underway.  After selling a few pints of blood and hocking a few valuables (just kidding) we bailed the MoHo out and were back on the road! THANK GOODNESS – our bed never felt so good!

Chicken and Waffles

April 20-21, 2013 saw us driving (Ahhhh to be on the road again!!) in the Appalachians, it really was a very pretty area, green and rolling hills. We were just sure we would run across some moonshiners, looked like the areas that they could be working their “magic”. We did make a milestone on this trip we had finally visited West Virginia – can now put it our “map”. A very curious event happened while trying to find a camp the GPS went crazier than ever, not sure if it was happenstance or what?  After some very crafty driving Mike was able to get us back on the road and out the W.V. triangle.

One of several (narrow) tunnels we passed through

April 22-23, 2013 – Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia was our next stop; this was a very interesting place to visit. We spent the better part of Monday visiting Lower Town, which the National Parks have restored, to their 1795 or so appearances. This is where John Brown the abolitionist over took the armory and attempted to free the local slaves. Unfortunately, his plan did not go well and he was hung nearby.  We visited a couple of battlefields from 1850’s that were part of the Civil War.  We hiked a little ways on the Appalachian Trail to stand on Jefferson’s Rock. From this vantage point one could see both the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and where the states of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland all meet.  The weather was beautiful and our mental health restored J by these interesting sights.

High Street in Harper's Ferry

Jefferson's Rock with the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers

Boston plus!

Boston Marathon Experiences: April 14-15, 2013

Sunday morning April 14^th saw us heading to the Atlanta Airport. Marq, Steph, Kris, Laura, Mike and Karen were flying to Boston to participate in the 117^th running of the Boston Marathon. Kris and Marq will be running the race with Amby Burfoot, the 1968 winner of the race. Amby is Laura’s dad and is celebrating this 45^th anniversary of his win by running with our kids and some other family and friends. The rest of us were the Burfoot Team cheer squad.  The flights were uneventful and we arrived at Logan Airport on time. We got to the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Boston early afternoon. This was the headquarters of the run; we went to convention center where the kids picked up their “bib numbers” and packet of marathon materials. We were all very excited to be part of this BIG Race and all of the activities. We walked about quarter of a mile to see the finish line, quite prophetic considering that we would not get back there. We took pictures of this with the kids enjoying the moments. We then walked through the vendors’ area where running goods of all descriptions were for sale. Sunday evening we attended a “carb loading” dinner sponsored by the American Medical Athletic Association. Amby was one of the speakers for the evening; he is a good storyteller and very entertaining speaker. We were all ready for bed early, as the previous nights had been a bit short on shut-eye time.

Monday, April 15, 2013 – we were all up early, the Burfoot team met at 6:30am to catch the bus to the starting line.  With kisses and hugs the kids and their fellow runners headed off to catch the bus. They got to ride on the “Elite Runners” bus, quite an honor for all. The Burfoot team was the 3^rd wave of runners to start, behind the elite runners and other “qualified” runners, so they wouldn’t step off until about 10:40am. Laura, Steph, Mike and Karen joined Christina (Laura’s step-mom), Uncle Gary (Amby’s brother) and “Smithy friend” Anna in the chase van and headed out to see the race. We had the option to sit in the grandstand and watch the finish, we are so glad we chose the van chase. Gary and Laura were our driving/navigating team. They did a FANTASTIC job getting us close to the stops where we got out and scurried to the side lines to wave our signs (artfully made by Christina) and rang our cowbells, shook our clappers and shouted encouraging words to runners going by. Our first view of the Burfoot Team was at about mile 6 of the race. Everyone looked GREAT! Smiles, hugs, kisses all around and the team was off with flying feet down the road. The team was using Amby’s interval pace of running 4 miles and walking 1 mile. With the use of the Internet and the chips in the team’s bibs we were able to track their progress at different points along the race. The first check-in showed them running about 10 minute miles, which was the pace that Amby wanted them, running at. The van got back on the circuit and we got to mile 10 of the race in plenty of time to see our team again, everyone still looking good, you could see that they were feeling the distance, but were still in very good spirits. Amby was getting on Marq’s case a bit about keeping his pace down. Marq had not trained using the interval system, so was fighting it a bit.  The next view we had of our team was at mile 13, this about the half waypoint of the race. You could see that the reality of running was setting in. While the team was all still looking good, there was definitely a bit less bounce in their strides and a bit more serious looks on their faces. Kris appeared amazingly chipper – my gosh they had been running for over 2 hours already with 2+ more to go. We got back to the chase van knowing we would next see the team at mile 20. With just a bit of concern by the kids “Momma” were they indeed going to be able to make it?? – we drove on to the next vantage point. We got to our viewing sight, just at bottom of “Heartbreak Hill”. We waited for what seemed like an awfully long time. A check of the Internet tracking showed them still on coarse, slowing pace but still moving. What an amazing sight to see them come up over the hill, moving like they were going to finish this damn long run. With tears in our eyes, we kissed the runners, gave them our best wishes and told them we would see them in 6 miles at the finish line.  Of course we know that this next part of our Boston Experience was not what we had planned on. While the team pounded out their last few miles, the van crew moved slowly into Boston proper and into the city center. We met with a lot of traffic, which was unexpected, but we were still worried we might not make it in time to see them cross the line. Our worries about that gave way too much greater concerns. A family member who was in the viewing stands texted us with the horrible news of the bombings. We did not quite understand what had happened, but knew that the family in the stands was being evacuated, so it was indeed VERY SERIOUS. Within 3-4 minutes we were surrounded by blaring sirens, lights of dozens and dozens of emergency vehicles going around us. We were very concerned and couldn’t really tell what had happened and were limited by the blocked traffic to do much. Within a few more minutes we were pretty much stopped, we pulled over and parked the van. We knew that our runners were still a couple of miles out away from the finish line. We would soon learn that the runners, still on course, were being diverted from the finish line. Not quite knowing what to do we decided we would be smartest to go back to the hotel a few blocks away and wait. This was a pretty anxious period for all of us. We knew that our team was ok, but until we saw them it was STRESSSSSFUL!  Finally in about an hour we were reunited with our very tired, very sore and quite scared kids. Boy it was such a wonderful feeling to hug and kiss them once again. It was a bittersweet time for all of us. The news of course was covering the horrific happenings and we were rejoicing our good fortune that our family and friends were all ok.  This was certainly an incredible experience for our family. We are very glad that we were able to be there. The kids both say they will do it again, not crossing the finish line and running a bit slower pace than they had hoped is motivating them to want to do it again.

Thanks to all of our family and friends who reached out to us, via texts, calls and e-mails. It was good to hear from you all and to know that people were thinking of us.

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta Activities: April 7-13, 2013

Sunday morning 4/7/13 The North America Safari (TNAS) quartet headed south and east towards Birmingham, AL. It was a fairly smooth drive of about 250 miles on good roads with a lot of very pretty spring greenery along the roadsides. We stopped for the night in a small Elks Club in Anniston, AL.

Monday 4/8/13 sees the MoHo and family making the run to Atlanta. We wanted to try and get to the Cummings Dealer to have the throttle looked at (big mistake???). While trying to find the spring for the throttle an inspection revealed more PROBLEMS! Yikes not what we had planned on. Couldn’t schedule us to work on this week, so we will leave it while we are in Boston and pick it up when we get back.

Tuesday 4/9/2013 we drove to our campground out at Stone Mountain. A very pretty area, but quite crowed, many of the area schools were on Spring Break. We got set up and settled for our 4 days in the area. We will be participating in many family activities for Scott and Anne’s wedding. The evening was very nice, ate a meal in and enjoyed a peaceful campfire. Corona was VERY interested with the birds and squirrels and other critters that inhabited the campground.

 Wednesday 4/10/13 – We drove the little Prius around a lot today. We took Guinness and Corona to visit their kennel for a few hours this morning.  While the BOYZ were having their play dates we took time to acquaint ourselves with the area. We drove by the church, the reception venue, and other locations that we will be visiting this weekend. Things are much more spread out than we realized they would be. We met Marq, Steph, Chuck, Terri, and Scott in downtown Atlanta for dinner. We ate at the popular Mary Mac’s Tea Room – a dinner house featuring southern cooking. It was so much fun to enjoy a good meal and kick off the celebration weekend.

Thursday 4/11/13 – the family all met downtown to take a 90 minute tour of the Atlanta. This was a fun fast paced tour aboard two 6-person electric golf carts. Our tour guides were very informative and entertaining. We met up together again in the evening for the wedding rehearsal followed by a family dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. Just a few margaritas were consumed.

Friday 4/12/13 - We went with Kris and Laura to see the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. We enjoyed the grounds and walked through the old Baptist Church that the grandfather, father, brother and Martin Luther King Jr. had preached in. Our evening was spent at bride Anne’s sister’s house celebrating their upcoming nuptials participating in Bengali traditions. There was a lot of music, dancing and eating. The Wraights did their best to look the part and join Anne’s family by the women wearing saris and men punjabis . It was a very interesting evening.

Saturday 4/13/2013 was the wedding. We all gathered at the St. Lawrence Catholic Church to celebrate the wedding of our nephew Scott and his bride Anne. It was a lovely ceremony: Marq was one of Scott’s groomsmen and Kris read the bible verse “Love is patient, Love is kind…” The families then met up at Vacoma on the Yellow River, a very nice reception venue. We enjoyed a lovely evening of good food and entertainment, Mike played Annie’s Song and Ava Maria on his French horn. The families all seemed to enjoy each other dancing and chatting through out the evening. It was a great few days getting to spend time with our family and getting know new members of Anne’s family. A lot activities and a lot of fun!

Memphis

Limo to favorite Elvis BBQ place

Gibson Guitar factory

Dinner at BB King's

Peabody Hotel, march of the ducks

Lorraine Motel balcony where MLK was shot and killed

Graceland, Elvis' home (named by original owner)

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Memphis, Tennessee – Southern Sights and Sounds:

Friday, April 5^th, 2013 saw us heading east again (Is there any other direction?) – we left Branson, Missouri and made our way through a small corner of Arkansas and on into The Volunteer State – Tennessee. Many miles today, but they were mostly on good interstate highways, with good weather and little wind, so this made the travels relatively easy and quick. We got into the Graceland RV Park just in time for dinner. We took a pink Cadillac limousine to Marlowe’s BBQ Restaurant and enjoyed a very tasty sampler plate of chicken, brisket, and ribs – oh my goodness we have really enjoyed a lot of good barbequed meals. Karen had a pink Cadillac cocktail to get in the spirit of things.

Saturday, April 6^th saw us up and moving early, fed the Boyz, walked them and then made our way over to Graceland to learn about Elvis. We were only a couple a blocks away, so we walked and saved ourselves from fighting the traffic. We were touring the Graceland Mansion by 9:30am, enjoying the informative audio that described what we were seeing and giving us some history of his life. It was a very attractive home and grounds, not over the top like we thought it might be. Not truly being Elvis fans, we had minimal background on him or his career. He performed in over 60 movies, musicals and filmed performances, received over 200 Golden Records and was a very gracious and generous person with his time and money. We also toured his 2 personal jets and the car museum. The guy knew how to live it up.

Our next stop was downtown Memphis, we visited the National Civil Rights Museum – which is at the Lorraine Hotel, the location where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. The displays, videos and photos gave us a good overview of the big picture of many civil right’s issues, we always learn so much going to these museums.

The next stop of our busy day was the Gibson Guitar Factory – we took a tour where they showed the process of constructing these world famous USA made guitars. It takes approximately 3 weeks to make a guitar; they make approximately 50 instruments a day.  They sell no seconds.  If it doesn’t meet standards the guitar is sent to the band saw.

Happy hour was next; we went to the Peabody Hotel where we shared the bar with the famous ducks that swim in the lobby’s fountain. The tradition started back in 1930 when the hotel manager and his friend went hunting. They took a bit of Tennessee sipping whiskey with them to ward off the chill. Boys being boys, the hunters returned back to the hotel and thought it might be funny to put some of their live decoy ducks (that was legal back then) into the fountain. The next morning they awoke to find the ducks still swimming round and round and the hotel guests delighted with the new addition. So now every morning at 11:00am the ducks come down from their residence, ride the elevator down to the lobby, walk a cross a red carpet and hop into their fountain pool. These mallard ducks swim around all day until 5:00pm when the Duck Master turns on the John Phillips Souza’s Stars and Stripes Forever, out hop the ducks, they waddle across the red carpet, into the elevator and back up to their penthouse pens. Karen really enjoyed this silly event.

Our final stop of the day was on Beale Street, renowned for their bbq and blues music. We walked the two-block area, peering into the restaurants, finally settling on BB King’s Place. We enjoyed, more bbq and listening to some live blues music. The weather was perfect; we sat out on the sidewalk and enjoyed watching people walk up & down the street. It was prom night for some high school, oh my goodness some of the prom dresses were very eye catching – Mike had to be reminded to quit staring.

This was a BUSY day, but we got a good taste of Memphis.

Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri

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Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri – Riding on Interstate 40 some more…

April 1^{st, Aprils Fools Day} J – Sir Guinness of Mayhem’s 3^rd birthday today, he got a few more treats in the morning kibble mix; the boy continues to be a very good pup on the trip. Corona has been good too, no aggression noted, but we haven’t been out looking for interactions either. The test will probably be when we kennel them in Atlanta – fingers crossed. Our route today took us through the eastern portion of New Mexico and into Texas. How to put this: BORRRRRRRRRING! Lots and lots of desert, without much change in topography, vegetation or anything to stimulate one’s curiosity, until….  We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch just outside of Amarillo. Created in 1974 by an artist group called the Ant Farm. They planted 10 mid twentieth century (w/ tail fins 1949-63) Cadillacs nose first into the ground at an angle corresponding to that of the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt. These vehicles have been colorfully graphitized, giving the appearance of a bit of circus out in the desert.  We stopped for the night in Amarillo at the local Elks Lodge. Had a good dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch Restaurant. Started the evening with an order of Mountain Oysters (yes the Rocky Mountain variety) kind of chewy, but we can say we have had ‘em and an excellent filet. No one took the 72-ounce free steak challenge tonight while we were here, but this was a fun and very good place to eat nonetheless.

Tuesday, April 2^nd – Day # 12 after hearing rain most of the night we awoke to COLD temps ice on the MoHo steps and handle, the little towed car was a popsicle. Interstate 40 took across the rest of the Texas Pan handle and into Oklahoma. Rain, rain, and wind today, just sort drove through the gloom.  We made our way through Oklahoma City before rush hour and stopped for the night at one of OK’s many casinos- The Grand Casino. Another wet night, but we slept nice and dry (THANK GOODNESS!).

April 3-4, 2013 – We got a nice early start this morning, on the road by 6:30am – 300 + miles to burn to get to Branson, Missouri. The day’s drive was fairly dry, but we still bucked a bit of the winds.  The route was interesting to follow as we left the more arid outskirts of Oklahoma and were met with greener and more rocky hills of Missouri. We made our destination about 1:30pm. Our campground was within about a mile of the Branson Entertainment Strip. There were many interesting shows available, so we sort played “eeney, meeney, niney, mo” and chose 2 that sounded good, not too “countryish”.  Many of the Bigger Productions have not started for the season, but being here off-season is worth it; the traffic was manageable and parking was easy, think this place would be a zoo when the summer season starts. Wednesday night we saw an a cappella group called SIX (the Knudson Brothers). These talented guys used their voices to produce rhythmic percussion, toe tapping bass, and wonderful melodic harmonies. Their repertoire of songs ranged from rock, big band, Motown, rap and gospel.  They did a good job of involving the audience in many of their routines – we had a wonderful time.

Thursday morning we took ourselves on a bit of a drive-around to see Branson and her outlying areas. It is a much bigger area that we had imagined. It looks like Branson is continuing to expand, with a lot new housing developments, road/highway expansions, shopping centers etc.  We made a stop in old town Branson and went into Dick’s 5 and 10 store – a real old fashion kitschy place with every imaginable collectable and MORE. Karen resisted buying anything but a couple of postcards and magnet J. This evening should be another good night’s entertainment. We saw a performance of IT – a variety type show featuring The 5 Hughes Brothers and their respective family members: 50+ musicians, singers, and dancers. This was quite an amazing production, very musical and entertaining; great singing, dancing, lights, graphics, and an excellent 5-piece combo that accompanied the acts.  One could easily spend a week’s time and see several interesting sounding shows such as the Red Neck Tenors, Neal Diamond’s Legend Show as well as many funny sounding comedy and magic shows. And for the more adventurous there are loads of zip lines, water parks, golf, boating, fishing, hiking, go-cart racetracks and courses and lots more.

We will leave the Ozarks tomorrow and head further south to Memphis, Tennessee- looking forward to BBQ, Blues and maybe even Elvis.

A Branson Chicken Restaurant

A very good "a Capella" group

Cadillac Farm in Texas