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Maineiacs in MotionFormerly known as the "Golden State or Bust Extravaganza (2007)" and the "Take a Break Tour (2005)" July 29 We've MovedJust for the heck of it we have moved our blog to a new location using a new host. Please check us out at http://maineiacsinmotion.blogspot.com/ . June 15 Maineiacs Back In MainePeggy and I arrived back in Topsham last Thursday so I guess it is past time for this entry that wraps up our Spring Tour 2008. We left Cincinnati last Tuesday and traveled through Ohio to Erie, PA where we spent the night. We had a few thunderstorms move through during the evening but nothing too major in the area we were staying. On Wednesday we took off early (for us) as we had decided to drive all the way to Lake George, about 411 miles. We arrived in Lake George around 5:00 PM after a long day but the weather was nice all the way and we made it past the spot where we had the tire blowout last year – without incident. After arriving we visited a bit with Darrell and Judy Patterson – our “fulltiming” friends who winter in southern Alabama and spend the remainder of their time “wandering America.” They are spending their summer workcamping again at the Lake George Escape Campground. Their “work” includes tough things like canoeing down the river and helping the kids with arts and crafts. I’m sure there are tougher parts of their jobs – but some parts sound pretty fun! A cold front moved through Lake George Tuesday night and we received some more thunder and lightning. It was pretty chilly Wednesday morning (around 65) considering it was in the low 90s on Tuesday. We spent Wednesday being relatively lazy. We slept late, visited more with the Pattersons, took a walk, took a nap, and finished the day with a trip into the town of Lake George for pizza – life was pretty good on Wednesday!
We said our goodbyes to Darrell and Judy on Thursday and made the trip back to good ole Topsham. It was a beautiful day for a trip and we were glad to be home. It really doesn’t matter how far we go or how long we are away – home always looks really good when we return. Final Stats I know all of you have been anxiously awaiting the final statistics for the Spring Tour 2008 – so here goes … Miles driven: 3440 States visited: 13 (not counting Indiana which we were in – but only for a few miles) Nights away - 31 Most Expensive Gas: $4.23 / gallon (Guilderland, NY) (Also the most expensive tolls – I love NY!) Least Expensive Gas: $3.54 / gallon (Bloomfield, NJ) ( I know it is higher now but still - $.070 difference ??) Average Gas Price 2008 Trip: $3.87 / gallon Average Price 2007 Summer Trip: $2.78 / gallon Average Price 2007 Spring Trip: $2.98 / gallon Average Price 2005 Trip: $2.20 / gallon As I’m sure you already knew – the cost of owning a motorhome hasn’t changed much in the last few years – but the cost of driving one certainly has! Another way to look at it … 2005 Trip Approximate Cost / Mile: 30.75 cents per mile 2007 Summer Trip Cost / Mile: 38.20 cents per mile 2008 Spring Trip Cost / Mile: 51.33 cents per mile Or even uglier yet – about a 34% increase over last year and a 67% increase compared to 3 years ago!! If there is any good news here it is that I am getting about 0.5 mpg better gas mileage on this trip than on previous trips. I changed over to synthetic motor oil prior to this trip and I have slowed down about 1-2 mph. I think slowing down just this small amount has probably made the biggest difference. A half a mile per gallon may not sound like much but when the vehicle only gets around 7.5 mpg to begin with – 0.5 mpg ends up being about a 7% improvement. A Better Way to Look at it !! 1. We had a great time together. 2. We got to visit with some great people. 3. We got to see some places we hadn’t seen before. 4. We got to see a bear in the wild. Priceless !!! Stay Tuned for The 2008 Evringham Family Rendezvous - California Style … Starting in early August. June 09 The Creation MuseumWhile visiting in Cincinnati last year Peggy saw a sign for "The Creation Museum" and wanted to go visit - but we didn't have the time. So this year we decided to spend some time and see what it was all about.
On Sunday Peggy and I met Carin at the Museum and made the tour together. I understand the Museum was created by an organization called Answers in Genesis and is basically a very nice museum that explains the history of the earth and man from a biblical perspective and provides plausible scientific evidence explaining such things as the geological formation of the earths features and extinction of the dinosaurs. We spent a good three hours touring the museum and another hour having lunch and walking the nicely landscaped grounds around the museum.
Anyone traveling through Cincinnati should put the Creation Museum near the top of your list of things to see. Regardless of your religious views or feelings about creationism vs evolutionism - this is a neat place to go through. It does however require an open mind when you enter.
Hot and Muggy in the HeartlandWell it has been a few days since my last update so I'll try and bring you all up to speed. Friday was a busy and hot day in Nashville. The Chevellabration show is an annual event of ACES (American Chevelle Enthusiasts Society) and is probably the premier Chevelle show in the nation. We attended the show in 2006 and I remember it was hot then as well. After a few hours in the midday heat we had had enough of bright shiney cars and decided to head back for some R&R before heading to the Grand Ole Opry in the evening. I should mention that I saw a pretty unique car at the show. In 1965 Chevrolet made 201 production code "Z16" Chevelles with the brand new 396 cu. in. 375 horsepower engine. The car also had several unique parts to go with the high horsepower engine including a 160 mph speedometer (instead of the standard 120 mph unit). Now the 1965 Z16 Chevelle is a pretty unique and highly valuable car amongst car nuts. I saw 3 different Z16s at the show but probably the most unique one was an absolutely original one complete with badly faded paint, rust holes in the quarter panels, and pitted chrome - but it was all there. Pretty rare to see one of these that has not been restored (the owner had plenty of guys like me hanging around the car wanting to know if it was for sell - I'm sure he could have gotten some big $$ for it - just as it stood!
The trip to the Opry was fun and we got to see mostly the "standard" performers - I'm not sure but I think Charlie Pride had been drinking a bit before the show ... and Little Jimmy Dickens was still little, a year older (87 so he says), and still telling the same jokes (and they are still funny).
On Saturday we drove up to Cincinnati to visit with our neice Carin and her family and to visit The Creation Museum. We had a nice dinner and visit with Carin, Amanda, and Zach Saturday night and Carin was able to join us for a tour of the museum on Sunday.
All-in-All a fun weekend in Cincinnati!
June 06 NashvilleWe arrived in Nashville on Wednesday on a hot and muggy day. Thank goodness the wind has been blowing a bit so the humidity hasn’t been too bad. After we arrived we drove over to a nearby motorhome dealership and picked up a new windshield wiper motor and I got that installed – all is better and we are prepared for rain again.
Yesterday we decided to play historical tour again and we drove a few miles to “The Hermitage” the Tennessee home of Andrew Jackson – seventh president of the United States. We probably spent an hour and a half visiting the visitor’s center, wandering he grounds, and touring the home itself. I’m sure I learned more about Andrew Jackson and the life of a gentleman farmer in Tennessee in the 1800s than I ever knew before. Since we forgot to bring the camera with us ya’ll will just have to use your imaginations to appreciate the lifestyle.
Today is our busy day in Nashville. We plan on attending “Chevellabration 2008” up in Goodlettsville (ya gotta be a Chevelle nut to appreciate this) and I’m sure after spending a few hours in the hot sun looking at nice shiny cars we will be ready for the A/C in the motorhome and a nap. Later this evening we are going to the Grand Ole Opry. Muscle Cars and Country Music on a hot day in Nashville – what could be better? June 03 Rock and SoulToday (Tuesday) we decided to head back into Memphis and do a Rock ‘N Soul tour. We started out by doing a drive-by of Sun Studios – the birthplace of Rock and Roll – or at least the place where many Rock and Roll greats got their start (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash to name a few).
After the drive-by we drove back to the Beale Street district and walked a couple of blocks to the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum which is located right at the entrance to the FedEx Forum – the home of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. We took the self guided audio tour of the Museum which lasted about an hour. The Museum had many really interesting exhibits about the early days of Memphis Soul, Memphis Blues, and early Rock and Roll. The tour really is “self guided” as you wear an audio headset and select the display you want to hear about or music you want to listen to – pretty neat way to do it I thought.
After touring the Museum we walked back to Beale Street while listening to the blues band playing in the local park – they weren’t bad either!
Since we were there – and since I hadn’t tried all the great food on Beale Street yet – we went to BB King’s Blues Joint for a late lunch/early dinner. The atmosphere was genuine Memphis and the Shrimp Po Boy was pretty good.
Tomorrow we leave the Memphis area and head back to Nashville. I can’t say that Memphis is one of my favorite spots – but I can say that the food was great and the music and music history was fun and interesting. It is obvious that the folks in Memphis are trying to make their downtown a nicer destination type spot – but they still have a ways to go.
After we got back to the RV Park Peggy took some more pictures of the river traffic and the local geese – so I thought I would share …
I still can’t figure out how those tugboats can control those HUGE barges heading up and down the river!!
MemphisToday is Tuesday, June 3rd, and we are in Memphis, Tennessee. Actually - we are in West Memphis, Arkansas - camped out on the banks of the Mississippi River - less than 50 yards from the river as a matter of fact. Although I can't say we really care much for either West Memphis or Memphis - the spot where we are staying is rather unique and we get to watch the Mississippi River barges travel up and down the river. The name of the RV Park is "Tom Sawyer RV Park." A fitting name for this place - too bad we haven't seen any stern wheelers so far.
During the trip over to Memphis on Sunday we had to travel through a couple of pretty severe thunderstorms. No hail - but some pretty hard rain and wind. We hit the last bit of rain about 100 miles east of Memphis where the windshield wipers on the motorhome decided to quit working. Thankfully a rest stop was nearby and we were able to pull off until the worst of the rain passed and we were able to make it the rest of the way to Memphis without further issues. After settling in here at Tom Sawyer's - I was able to diagnose the problem as a worn out gear in the wiper motor itself. After a few phone calls I was able to locate a new wiper motor in Nashville so we will pick it up when we head back that way on Wednesday. Fortunately Wednesday looks like a clear (and hot) day. It has been 90 plus each day we have been in the Memphis area and it doesn't look like it is going to cool off much the rest of the week - even in Nashville.
Yesterday Peggy and I went into Memphis to see what was there - and for me to have some ribs on Beale Street! We started out by driving past Graceland to say hi to Elvis's house (we certainly weren't going to go visit the house since he wasn't home anyway (I understand he was sighted up at Lake George, NY) and they wanted $8 just to park! We then went to find an Underground Railway Museum that Peggy saw advertised. Well, we found it but I decided to keep on driving in order to keep the wheels attached to the Vue - if ya know what I mean! In our small amount of driving around Memphis so far we haven't seen much to bring us back - although Danny Thomas' St. Jude's Hospital complex is pretty impressive.
We did make it downtown to Beale Street and found the Blues City Cafe (right across the street from BB King's Blues Joint). The Blues City Cafe is definitely authentic and I think they are still using the orignal tables and chairs! The food was fantastic! We both had the gumbo which I thought was as good as any I have had in New Orleans. I had the Ribs which were great and Peggy had the Catfish which she really liked. After eating too much we walked down Beale Street a bit to absorb some of the local culture - and then headed back to the RV Park.
All in all - A nice day and we may go back today to check out a couple more of the "attractions" but so far - the best thing about Memphis is the food.
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