Nashville

So we are going through the Smokies on I40 and we are making great time after a late start. The mountains are green and beautiful, the hills that go up and down and up and down are a lot easier in the new coach than they were in the old one, more power.  So it’s 60 mph up the hills and 75 mph down the hills from a high of 2800′ to a low of 1300′ in elevation. We are now about 30 miles from Nashville and ahead of schedule when we hit a back up that last for miles and I mean miles, four miles. It took 45 minutes to go 3 miles, we had just passed the exit when we hit the back up and there was no turning back. Naturally the old Brian is thinking that “someone had better be dead” for holding us up like this but the kinder gentler Brian just hopes we get out soon. We finally get moving and less than a minute later we are in another back up. The reason for the back up, they closed the right hand lane over a small bridge. No signs to say merge to the left, no signs period. The old Brian wins out for what I am now thinking.  T.D.O.T. rot in hell, T.H.P. rot in Hell.

So we get to our “Two Rivers” campground about 5 on Sunday and they only can book us for two days because we need 50 amp service, we wanted to stay 4 nights. I say we’ll take 30 amp and they say that Coaches with basement ACs like ours are not permitted on their 30 amp because they burn out their plugs. I say lets call “Jellystones Campground”, they are right next door and we call them and find out they have plenty of places. We go over there and find out the reason that they have plenty of spaces, they are $60 a night vs. $40 at Two Rivers. So we call Two Rivers and just book it for 2 nights, we’ll figure out what we’ll do when 2 days are up. We see that the campground has a musician playing from 7 to 9 and decide to eat dinner at our old stand by and close by “Santa Fe” restaurant. We almost always get their chopped sirloin covered with mushrooms and cheese, this day is no different and with the same results, clean plates, with mashed potatoes and green beans or brocoli it’s hard to beat this comfort food.

We get back to the campground and fix a cocktail and get some chairs and walk up to where the musician is playing. He is a one man band dressed in cowboy attire and singing some old country songs circa 1950 and he sucks. We leave and head back to the coach.

So we are rested and headed out to lunch, we are trying to find new places away from our usual haunts, so we drive to “Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery”. The parking lot is packed for lunch and it’s only 11:30. It’s like so many other places that brew beer and have a restaurant together. We sit at the bar and Tiffany, the bartender, get us two of their house made APAs and they are cold and exactly as described on the beer menu. Nothing fancy for bar food so Dixie gets the soup de jour, Corn Chowder and salad. I spy that they have Shepherds pie and since I live for pot roast and good Shepherds Pie I order the SP. We finish our 1st beer and Tiffany brings us another and the food arrives. Everything looks good but sometimes looks can be deceiving I have found. Not this time, the SP is great if not for the pinch too much of rosemary. Just the right amounts for lunch on every serving and Tiffany’s service was perfect. Need a beer it was there, she checked back as soon as food arrived to see if everything was right, she checked back again during the meal, knew to cash us out when I put credit card on counter, all done promptly and professionally, big tip for Tiffany. In this case the food and drink were OK but it was the server that made the visit memorable.

So we head back to the campground and hang out till the shuttle bus picks us up at 7.  $10 each person to and from town, best deal in town.

We get a picture of the “Batman” building as the locals call it. But we are here to eat and drink not take in the sites.

We try a new place on the corner across the street from Tootsies, can’t remember the name something like Rippy’s BBQ, ordered a beer, $9.50 for 2, even higher prices for bar food, drank our beer and out the door we went.They were not going to Rippy us off anymore.

We have been looking on Broadway for a place to eat and we realize that we have been to every place in our past trips. We wander off the beaten path and go to “Demos’ Restaurant”, it was recommended by Johnny our shuttle driver.

We walk in and it is the only place we saw filled with people on a Monday night. We hit the bar and order 2 Blue Moons from Dustin the bartender. Everything looked good but pot roast is calling my name and Dixie gets the Fajita Steak. Both out of this Nashville, I would have said world, but this was some of the best food that we have had in Nashville. A couple of more Blue Moons and it’s off to find some music.

It’s back to Broadway and into “Whiskey Bent”. The band playing is SMOKIN Hot. They play eveything from Led Zepplin to Sugarland and the Lead Singer “Taria” is moving through the place singing, and she can sing. Listen for her on the radio. Naturally the tip jar gets passed around and we are more than glad to chip in. We also buy her CD.

After a while beers have filled me up and I can’t swallow another drop of beer. I figure since I am in Whiskey Bent a Jim Beam was in order, and then another. Heavy pours, good whiskey. So Taria’s  band stops at 10 and the new band is so so, so we are out the door.

We hear a country band playing in “Robert’s” that sounds good so in we go. 

The band was good and the Beams were going down easy. Next thing we knnow it’s time to catch the shuttle. At exactly half past the hour, the shuttle leaves so you better be there on time. We make the shuttle and get back to the campground, it’s pour myself into bed.

See Ya, Brian

Asheville

We drove from Virginia City to Asheville NC in one day, so much for leisurely driving, the weather was great, we thought about stopping at Chapel Hill but Duke is out for the summer, so we trucked it straight thru. We had hot dogs and beans in the Bus for lunch, we call it our “Hobo meal” on the road. We found a Passport America campsite called Wilsons RV Park and it is an easy off and on from I-240 and it’s only $15 per day with full hookups. The weather is GREAT, finally, 70-80 degree days and  sunny. Life is Good. We got set up about 5 and ordered pizza delivery, set out the chairs and table and the campfire. We talked with 3 or 4 people who had just got in today also. It’s all sorts of people in this campsite from Hippys in tents to other big rigs, most of them transients except for a few permys. Had to walk the dogs so we went up a trail and we find out that a “running/ biking” path miles and miles long goes thru the campground so we set up pur chairs in front of the Bus and get to smile and wave at the runners and bikers and enjoy a few cocktails while watching the campfire. After a hard day of doing nothing we went to bed. My kind of day for a change.

I have been taking it easy on fuel this trip. Usually it’s hammer down and keep up with the fast truckers usually running 70 to 75. At that speed we were getting just over 6 miles per gallon. This entire trip only a few times has the cruise control been set over 60 and the savings are substantial. I am getting 8.79 miles per gallon on average. This includes light use of the generator and being stuck in NY where it took us 2 hours to go less than 10 miles. That is almost a 40% increase in mileage. Diesel has averaged about $4 a gallon so 60 mph seems to be what we will be doing whenever we are just cruising around. So If I buy 100 gallons of diesel, if I stand on it I can go 620 miles, if I slow to 60 I can go 879 miles, which means 259 miles further on the same fuel. I’m no brain surgeon but I think I have this figured out.  

So we have just one full day in Asheville. In Asheville the entire town revolves around the Obelisk that is in the town square, which give or take within a mile radius everything in town is happening, so walking or biking is not out of the question. Our first stop is for lunch at Moe’s, no not the Moe’s Mexican that we have and that they also have just around the corner from “The Original Moe’s”. This Moe is all about BBQ,  they have tender moist pork and other meats but BBQ to us is PORK and we both order it. Sides of Mac-N-Cheese(not so great), Cole slaw(nice), Baked beans(got to have) and the Skillet Corn. The yellow corn is mixed with bits of sausage and peppers and is spicy, a spice that is mild but builds to an interesting heat that makes you eat bite after bite untill it is all gone. All done was what we were and it’s out the door we went with our bellies filled and our plates clean. 

 

We are now cruising around when we see a bunch of people and we decide to check it out. It’s a brewery called “Wedge”. Asheville calls itself  “Beer City” or something like that because of the proliferation of microbreweries, over 10 in a square mile. We go inside

there are no brewery tours, if you want a beer step in line and order on, We both got the Wit Wheat with orange slice. Right tasty and fresh. Once you get your beer you go hang out and if you want to play corn hole there are two there, but be warned these people are good at this game.

We are up the stairs and on to the next place. The “Thirsty Monk”.

They have tons of beer on tap plus they own another bar directly below this one with even more beers on tap. We are enjoying  a white wheat and a guy and girl sit next to us. They order a sampler of 4 beers that they have not had before. The guy has a book that he writes down and rates every beer he has ever had, jeeze what a waste of time, it would be like me , OH never mind. It’s one beer and out the door for us. We go listen to the singer/ preacher in the courtyard park and walk the street and after a while the preacher gets on your nerves, shut up after an hour please, even a regular church service only last an hour. But I digress.

We are now hungry so we walk to what we thought was one big restaurant when we earlier drove by but we found out that it is actually 3 places, a bakery, a Thai restaurant and “Bistro 1896″ where we stopped for drinks and food. We opted for appetizers of Baked Brie coated with peach between the cheese and the pastry and Jumbo sea scallops and grits.

 Both were delicious the brie so good we ordered another one along with another of their Sky and cranberry cocktails.  After listening to the 2 man band

we drop a few bucks in their bucket and stroll around town. 

We end up at “Athena”, there is a one man band playing Dylan type music

 The place is 5 years old and it looks like Paul the bartender is at home here. We order Ultras and listen to the performer. He says that he has to go on break and when he does every body working the bar also goes on break, they just walk out the door for a smoke break

and no one is watching the store.

Dixie and I just laugh. The break is over after 5 minutes and they all come back in and it’s business as usual. It’s 10 o’clock and time to head back to the camp. We sit by the campfire for a while a couple of neighbors come ove to talk and then it night-night time. 

I woke up promptly at 10:15, we are late so naturally we have some techno problems. The hydraulic fluid overflows from the lift reservoir so I have to clean the fluid off of the concrete. The driver’s side slide won’t move. Time to break out the  owner’s manual, after reading how to fix it we get it in. Dixie is bringing in the other slide when we hear screaming from one of the dogs. Poor Chong got caught between the walls and got his paw stuck under the slide, Dixie backs it off and I get Chong free and he is more scared than hurt. Add another thing to check, dogs visible when pulling in slides.We are on our way to Nashville, via I40 going thru the Smokey mountains is always a pleasure to drive.

See Ya, Brian

See Ya, Brian

Virginia Beach Day 2

It took me all morning to write my last blog, so it’s after noon and we are really hungry having had nothing to eat for breakfast. We head to the “Beach Pub” which is nowhere near the beach. It’s a comfort food place with lots of Q-Tips eating there, I figure cheap prices with this observation, but the food quantity and quality proved that they are not just old but also wise. We sit at the small bar and the place fills up with its 2nd lunch seating and Heather get us two drafts to get us started. I’m going for the breakfast which is served till 2, country fried steak with silk smooth country gravy, two biscuits, grits and two over easy eggs, exactly what I wanted. Dixie went with lunch food, a huge gorgonzola burger on a home-made bun, brocoli salad, cole slaw, and pickle. This is the deal. We got off the beaten tourist path and we hit pay dirt with this place. Heather gave us great service and I had beer with breakfast, Life truly is Good.

Cardiac arrest, the worst thing to order for your health but the best for your taste buds.

So we are looking for a place on the water and we spy some restaurant looking type buildings over the bridge closest to the campground. There are a few places but we enter “Rudee’s On The Inlet”, this place is “Award Wining” as the Best Outdoor Bar in town. With covered rocking swinging tables to eat at you know you will be comfortable while you eat and drink. We go into the inside bar as it still cold for me and Britany brings us two Ultras, we watch the place filling up while we finish our beers. I don’t know if the place deserves Award Wining but we really were just was in and out. We have to get back to let the dogs out so it’s out the door we went.

After chilling at the bus for a while we head to Rudee’s again and the place is jammed, not even a place to park, we decide to try the place next door called “Rockafeller’s”. The valet guy at Rudees told us that they have a special for two meals for $27 and that it was a good deal, We are not looking for dinner yet, but we enter and go to the bar. Paul, the bar tender get us two Ultras, They are Happy Hour priced at $1.98 each till 6 PM. We are sitting at the bar and Paul comes over and tells us about the Happy Hour “Oysters Rockafeller” for $1 each. We get a half dozen, not the best but very close to the best and for a buck we are happy. But dinner here is not for us, so it’s out the door we went.

We are traveling away from the beach tourist area. So we stop off at a Biker sorta kinda bar called “Boneshakers”. The place had more people in it than we have seen at any other place today. They have a Happy Hour Special of $10 for 5 ultras, this works for us. The place is filled with Locals however no one speaks to us, we split the last odd beer and it’s time for some food so it’s out the door we went.

We had heard about the “Lucky Oyster” from the bartender at “Rockafeller’s”, he told us that they only serve oysters with a baby crab in it, they are considered good luck and a delicacy, Dixie found two of them in here oysters rockafeller at Rockafeller’s. So we stop in and they have two specials for $11 each. For Dixie it’s the fresh house prepared fried butterflied shrimp, red beans and rice and asparagus, for me the flounder, brocoli, and double cheese mac and cheese. We are stuffed. Two large beers and we are out the door and headed to the campsite. It has been a long couple of weeks and we are headed back to the bus to chill and watch TV.

We tried to make reservations at our Outer Banks campground but they did not have any vacancies so we are going to plan “B” tomorrow. Whatever that is.

See Ya, Brain

Sandy Hook/Ocean City/Virginia Beach

Today is May 17th and we are now in Virginia Beach listening to the fighter Jets practice their touch and go’s.  I’ll catch you up with the travels. We left Cape Cod on Friday May 11th, The Dogs are good Travelers.

We Got to New Jersey and Middletown NJ where Evan and Gordon live, there are no campgrounds where they live so Evan sets us up beside Wayne Arnold’s house, Thanks Wayne.

We get there on a Friday and Gordon and Evan and Holley come over and we head out to one of their hang outs called ”MJ’s Pizza Bar Grill” for dinner. We sit down at a table and the hostess comes over and gives us some hassle about how we moved the tables around, we pretty much ignore her and then the manager comes by and says what a great job we did rearranging the tables and still gave the servers access to where they need to go. Little Hitler syndrome for the hostess. Lots of cold brews for us, Gordon is drinking Glen Levit scotch which cost $11 a glass on the rocks, he’s got a beer budget with Champagne tastes, got to have your priorities straight. We got our food, drank some and caught up on old times.

The next day we head out with Cheech and Chong and Evan and Holley to downtown and we find out that all restaurants in NJ don’t allow dogs,  so we head to Long Branch NJ where we sneak the dogs over by an outside table at “The Dockside”,  They have  $1.75 beers and food, it’s at a marina so we got to look at the boats and with a beautiful warm sunny day everyone was at their boat either riding on it or cleaning it up after being in storage all winter. I can not even imagine that I could only use my boat for 3 months, thank God I live in Florida.  The food nothing great but edible, typical bar fare.

After a while we are headed to the Point on Sandy Hook, which is an old Military Base, old cannons and buildings and bunkers, it’s a beautiful day so the beaches have tons of sun bathers, there is also the Nations largest Nude Beach area here so that you can get your all over tan. We are already tanned all over so we keep moving on. We decide to run the dogs and walk the trails along the beach, did I already say that it was a really nice day. We are headed back to the truck when we hear a band playing, time to check it out. Just a little while away we find a newly reopened bar/ restaurant, I can’t remember the name of it but we had a dozen steamed clams in butter sauce with bread for $7 with toasted cheese bread to soak up the sauce and for $1.50 more a nice cup of Clam Chowder and $2 beers, Ah Life is Great.

Tonight we are having dinner at “Ristorante Georgia” in Rumson NJ. It’s a nice Italian Restaurant with decent food. They don’t have a liquor license so you get to bring your own wine, nice. The restaurant comped us a delicious msuhroom cheese ravioli with cream sauce and capers, right tasty. We order dinner and all the food is good but my lasagna was a little burned but delicious.

Damn good-looking people in this picture. Even with free drinks we still have a $192 bill without tip, Yow that hurts. We head back to the Bus for after dinner drinks with Wayne joining us, about 1:30 we are done.

So Sunday morning comes, Gordon is golfing so the four of us head over to “On The Deck” in Atlantic Highlands for Mother’s Day lunch. Holley wanted to go there so naturally Evan bitched about the place, the food sucks, the drinks are over priced and every other excuse that he can come up with not to go there. Naturally we go there as it is Mothers Day and that is where Holly wanted to go. I start the day with a vitamin C nutritional screw driver, Holly gets a Champagne with a splash of OJ, and Dixie and Evan toast the occasion with a cold draft beer. The view is overwhelming, overlooking the marina with the boats and even a view of the skyline of New York City. The food arrives and Evan is right, the food did suck but the view and the company made it wonderful.

Since we had such a great time yesterday at The Dockside we decide to head back there for some $1.75 cold draft beers. We get there and the place is packed, but we luck into the same seats we had yesterday. Evan orders 3 cold drafts, but today the bill comes to $11.75, no special today, today is Mothers Day and it’s time to rip off all of the Mothers today. We drink our suds and it’s out the door we went.

Somehow it got to be Monday morning and we are headed to Ocean City.

We check into Castaways Campground right on the water, about 300 sites, pool and nice other facilities including a dog park. It’s overcast and drizzling. We are hooked up and head to check out town. We hit the board walk and walk a while but it is still out of season and there are very few people out and about. We have a drink at “Hammerheads” on the boardwalk and the bartender does everything she can to ignore us as she has some young college kids she preferred to wait on, we finally get an over priced draft and out the door we went. We won’t be back to this place.

They have a lot of rules on the beach and boardwalk. We still have a good time.

We decide that we will go to ”Seacrets” This is a destination in itself, The place is the biggest bar I have ever been to, but there is just a dozen or so people here since it is “Not Season” yet. When we were here last time with Glenn and Charlene it was packed out, but today it was empty.

It turns out for us that this is a good thing. The bartender tells us all entrees are half price, Really Nice. So the food comes out. Pasta with shrimp and scallops for Dixie.

Crab cake with a feta tomato salad and wild rice and beans for me. I ate most of the crab cake before I remembered to take this picture.

We cleaned our plates. We are done for this day so it’s back to the campground. It rains heavy all night long.

We are up and headed to town for lunch so we hit The “Brass Balls Saloon” always a good time here. They just had a huge crowd in of over 25 tables and the crew is talking about how they got unexpectedly slammed. We get a table outside right on the boardwalk

and start the day with an Orange Crush and Dixie a Grapefruit Crush, always a good choice in Maryland.

We get a delicious lunch, Blackened Chicken Caesar wrap for Dixie and a Blackened Chicken Avocado sandwich for me. Our waiter Andre was great.

So we decide to go see the wild Stallions on the Beach, So we head to Assateague Island Park

 where the horses roam the beach wild. We see some wild horses in the state campground along the way to the beach. We find out that they charge $15 to go to the beach so we decide that we have seen horses before and we won’t  settle for this shit of $15

We are out of here and headed back to the boardwalk. It’s a little chilly for us as we walk the boardwalk, we even see some brave souls are in the freezing water.

We decide to head to “M.R. Ducks”, it too is on the water. There is a bunch of College kids there that have been there since 1 o’clock and it is now 5 so they are pretty well having fun. They are drinking “Chug a Duck” it’s a Natural light and a shot of Amaretto in a duck.

 

After watching them for a while we decide to head back to the boardwalk. After a long walk on the boardwalk we head back to the campground, we are getting plenty of exercise this trip, along the way we stop at “The 19th Hole”. We walk in and the bar is filled up but some people move over to make room for us without us even having to ask.  A couple of drafts and we are talking with the locals like we are “regulars”. They tell us about the food and that it is good. I get the meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus, Dixie gets the Crabcake dinner. Both great. This is a place we will be back to when we visit again.

It’s now Wednesday morning the 16th and it’s time to be moving on to Virginia Beach. We arrive and check into the biggest Campground we have ever been to, over 800 spots. The Holiday Trav-L- Park is huge and with everything you can imagine and for $80 for two days a pretty good deal. We set up and its off to town with the first stop at the “15th Street Raw Bar”, Dixie had spotted it along our scouting trip earlier and it was one of the few places that there were people outside. When we get there the place is empty except for one guy at the bar. We stay anyhow and get a beer and order a lunch. I get my fried flounder sandwich and it taste like it has bacon on it, I keep checking if there is bacon on it while I eat it and there is none, they must have fried it the same oil that it they fry bacon in, this may not be healthy fish but it sure was good. Dixie got a turkey avocado sandwich, it was good but it would have been better fried in that bacon grease.

We are scouting up and we find another waterfront bar over looking the working marina called the “Dockside”. You walk thru the fresh fish market and into the bar/ restaurant. We get a couple of drafts and there are a bunch of older guys all regulars talking and the couple next to us had just had their old bay steamed crabs and soft shelled crab sandwich delivered and the food looked great. It was right at 4 o’clock, we were still full from lunch but debated getting the happy hour fresh steamed shrimp. It was one beer and out the door we went.

We head to the beach where they have a board walk but is not made of wood like in Ocean City and there are not the stores along the boardwalk, the Charm was not there. It’s a little chilly and foggy.

 So we walk a while and then decide to head back to feed the dogs.

We stop in at the famous “Waterman’s” restaurant, the valet is there so we leave the truck with him and go inside. We find two seats at the bar between two guys. One of the most unfriendly people in the world playing on his ipad, the other one has ordered the buffalo fish nuggets and they looked and smelled like heaven and he even offered us one. But we are not there for food, we are here for their famouse “Orange Crush”. I order the Orange Crush and Dixie orders the Grapefruit Crush. They have this down to a science, petite ice crush cubes, Feishmans orange Vodka, tripple sec and a fresh squeezed Orange or 1/2 a grapefruit. Perfect, better that any in Maryland, even better than mine. This is a drink that should be in every bar in Florida since this is where they get their oranges. With the tip for the Valet and the two drinks it was $16, not too bad.

It’s dinner time and we find “Harpoon Larrys” . We sit at the bar and I get to talking to the guys next to us. They are in town working, they are engineers for Nascar and they go out and test the tracks for density and other stuff to make sure they are safe for the Nascar speeds. Dixie and I are deciding what to order for dinner when they tell us about the 35 cent special homemade stuffed  jalepeno poppers and the 50 cent wings. Both were great with blue cheese dressing and Beer.

It’s been a full day so it’s back to the Campground. After our 2nd day in Virginia Beach tomorrow we are off to the Out Banks. We’ll keep in touch. See Ya Brian

Headed To The NorthEast, My “Award Winning” Blog

So we are out of Knoxville with our plan to head to Bar Harbour Maine. After a day of driving  on 81 we pull into Candy Hill Campground in Winchester Virginia, it’s a nice park by the interstate and we are just one of a dozen travelers that have pulled in just for the night, they charged $49.12, Ouch just for a quickie overnight that is way too much. We hit Applebees after we went to their historic down town walking street that had nice shops and restaurants but it was Monday and nothing was opened.

We head out the next morning and after driving for what seems like forever in rain and fog,

and after the raping for an RV park we opt to stay the night in Walmart’s parking lot and spend the money on a nice steak dinner at “Charlie Browns” just a short walk from the parking lot. IThen the next day it’s on the road early.

We have made it to Cape Cod driving thru rain and are staying at Campers Haven RV Resort. I set up in the pouring rain and as soon as I get done the rain stops, go figure. It’s a nice park with tons of permanent trailers where their owners spend the summer. We are here in May and it is still pretty cold and with the wind coming from the water it is really cold.

We are starving as we have not had anything to eat all day and it’s 1:30. We head to “Brax Landing” restaurant and we sit at the bar with a view of the back bay order a couple of brewskies and some Clam chowder to get us going. The bartender brings the bowl out and it is freaking delicious, tons of clam and a perfect base. We eat fish sandwiches and a couple more beers and we are back at the bus for our afternoon nap.  After recharging our batteries we stop at another restaurant that has “Award Winning”  chowder, wrong, it was just OK compared to our lunch chowder, a couple of beers there and it’s out the door we went. We are working our way driving down side streets looking for waterfront restaurants and we come across the “Ocean House Beach Bar”. There is Valet parking as the parking lot is the size of a postage stamp. We go inside and it’s where the older divorced people hook up. We watch the mating rituals of the elderly while nursing our $5 draft and the it’s out the door. It’s now 7:30 and we hit the “Land Ho” restaurant. Parking lot is packed on a weekday and we had to squeeze into a space. This is our kind of Bar, they have trivia going on and people at the bar are friendly and easy to talk to, a working class clientele and mostly locals. We order a couple of drafts, we are not that hungry but notice that they have “Award Wining” clam chowder. The chowder arrives and it is AWFUL. It a pasty concoction of flour with no flavor or clams. This is a Bar not a restaurant and we will remember that next time thru. We party there till 10PM and it’s back to the campground.

Tonight it rains cats and dogs all night long and I mean it is coming down, the dogs are having nothing to do with walking in the cold rain to do their business, they want back in the bus, NOW. They hold it till the next morning and for puppies they are doing great, no accidents at all.

This morning we are headed to “P” Town as the locals call it, on the map it’s called Prividence Town. It’s sort of like Key West with lots of Gay workers and visitors,

also artists, and waterfront stores and lots of restaurants. Half of the stores and restaurants are closed as the season is from Memorial Day to Labor Day and the rest of the time it is pretty much a ghost town, definitely not like Key West. We find the “Lobster Pot” and get a table inside, we get a couple of Blonde drafts and order a Lobster Roll and some of their “Award Winning” Clam Chowder. This is good chowder and the best lobster roll we have ever had.

They actually put in some seasoning rather than just lobster and mayonnaise.

We are now headed back to the campground and decide to stop at “Baxter’s” in Hyannis for a few beers, the bar tender tells us that  they are expecting a lobster boat in any minute, they have been out for a week and there is a refrigerated truck awaiting their arrival. We order their “Award Winning” Haddock bites and they are a little too mushy inside for our tastes. As always “Award Winning” does not mean that it is the best it just means more people voted for the winner or that they have a ton of Awards. The lobster boat arrives and they are loaded with lobster, thousands upon thousands of the largest lobster I have ever seen. They go out 250 miles so they are almost exclusively Big. The locals buy off of the dock, they pay more than wholesale but much less than retail, all prices are whispered according to how well they know you, each lobster is weighed. This guy brought his cooler for two lobsters. The deck hand put the 7.1 lobster and a 6.7 pound lobster in his cooler and they would not fit,

the guys says (like the Jaws movie when he says we are going to need a bigger boat) I’m going to need a bigger cooler. The rest of the catch goes to market, they filled hundreds of these boxes, carefully hand packing each lobster like it was a china doll.

It was great fun watching the catch come in and before we knew it we had 3 beers and it was time to head back.

We have decided that we have entered the Great North East too early. It is still cold and I mean bone chilling damp cold and raining. We have decided not to go to Bar Harbour Maine at this time, we are going to head south where the weather suits our clothes. We’ll be back sometime later this year when the tourists arrive.

Road Trip 2012 Has Begun

We left town on Monday 4-1 to leisurely head up to Fort Benning because Tara was due to have her baby boy on 4-28 but he is running a little late, I guess he has decided to hang out in the womb for a few extra days. The Doctor is going to induce her to have the baby Today. Tara was supposed to go in at 6 AM but all of the beds were full so she has been put on hold for a few more hours. Dixie spent the night with Tara and she just called me and she is headed back to the campground to get showered and clean clothes.

This trip up we decided to take 27 instead of I75 and it proved to be both easier driving with much less traffic and even a little scenery with all of the wild flowers in bloom. Naturally the Love Bugs were in full bloom too.

We stayed at Big Oak Campground in Tallahassee for two nights,

It is a good stopping point, and Tallahassee has some good museums that we like to visit when we pass thru, however the food in the town is mediocre at best and this year proved this out again. The campground is loaded with live-ins, ie: fifth wheelers and  campers that locals live in, along with the usual transients like us. We especially like the shade that the Big Oaks provide

It was good to have shade because it was in the 90s when we were there. 

As I said, Food wise nothing stood out, we ate some Mexican and Pizza and tried some up scale downtown places but everything was just OK. The Governors Club would not let us in, apparently they have a dress code, and shorts and T-shirts was not listed in their approve attire.

After two days we decide to head to Columbus, we are staying at the Lake Pines Campground. Nice park but it is not as nice as the one on the Fort Benning Base. We check in, and then go see Tara and Emmalyn, we brought the dogs, Emmalyn liked to play with them.

Well that’s all for now, I just wanted to let you all know we are on the road again. Our intended destination is the North East, up to Maine and then back home. See you when we get back and I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening along the way. See Ya, Brian

Nashville

We are staying at Two Rivers Campground, last year when the Cumberland River Rose and flooded out the Mall and the Grand Ol Opry the water flooded out the KOA directly behind this one but did not flood this one. We get there and the crews are busy cleaning out from the previous nights storm where it knocked down trees and generally made a mess. The USA sure has been pounded by storms this year.

They just got their new top sign installed, it was damaged in last years storm.

We get settled in and go to Santa Fe Cattle Co on the Street Glide. They have the hugest ceiling fan I have ever seen in the bar but best of all they have the best chopped beef smothered with onions peppers and cheese. They even have baked potaoes for Lunch.

So we peter around the campground until 7 when we get picked up by the Bus, Tommy Tours,  that takes us from the campground to Downtown, this is a great deal, Only $10 per person round trip, much cheaper than a cab. Jerry the driver was funny and informative on the trips.

First stop, The Stage.

World Famous groups have gotten their start here. Nobody gets paid so the bands pass the hat, we always tip if they are good, if they are bad we are out the door to the next place, which has never happened to us here. Willie Nelson, it is said, started this tradition of passing the hat here. Even the people that came to play after playing at The Grand Ol Opry came to The Stage.

The Murial of Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson , Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, on the wall show that they all got their start here.

Billy Dean, the nephew of Jimmy Dean, was showing a bunch of rich people around from NAPA and did a few songs with the band.

After tipping twice, We move to Tootsies,

Where this guy and his band are playing for hours.

Some how we luck into the VIP table by the window, this is the same VIP table where Toby Keith wrote the song “I love this Bar”. The waitress tells us that it is reserved at 10 o’clock for some VIPs and I tell them we will move when they show up. Uncle Kracker or “his people” are  coming to check out the new band that starts at 9:00.

The band starts playing exactlt at 9:00.

And they are good.

The lead singer is working it hard, singing to the crowd on the Bar.

This guy with the hat  just does not fit in with the rest of the band but he does play a mean bass. The band keeps looking at the VIP table knowing that they are being checked out for an opening act for Uncle Kracker, and it’s after 10 so they assumed it was us since we are sitting there. The real Uncle Kracker Folks are a no show.

The band is up on the Bar and the crowd is loving it, This guy acts like me.

Not to be outdone the Foxy Fiddle player gets on the Bar.

And the crowd goes crazy.

He does not look Happy never mind like a country singer.

Finally the lead singer comes over to the table.

At midnight Dixie tells him he got the gig with Uncle Kracker. Our people will contact his people about the details.

He’s so Happy he struts his stuff on the Bar. They are too gullible, and this is too funny to us. At least they are happy for this night. We did not even know their name, or at least I can’t remember their names.

Before they realize that we are not with Uncle Kracker, we are out the door and grab the last Bus back to the campground.

We get back and 20 minutes later a terrible storm comes through, we sleep really well from all of the nights activities. When we wake up at 10 there is 3 inches of water around the coach and we have no power and chain saws are running when we get up. I go to the office and tell them we are out of here.

See Ya, Brian