Travel Highlight – Page 2 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

April 15, 2018 Albi FR

The day started out with a visit to the cheese shop under the supervision of Patrick the campsite owner. He also had a French couple in tow who turned out to be from the Yonne department of Burgundy which is our honorary French home, as that is where François the RV is based. We ended up with about 1/3 of a kilo each of three Cantal cheeses, one is called Cantal, one was called Salers, and the last was a blue cheese from the area which one food critic labeled the best he had ever tasted. The Salers cheese is a variant of Cantal that is only produced in two months when a certain flower is in bloom in the region, as the flowers mixed with the grass makes the cows milk that much better, you have got to love the French! We will give you a report later if the flowers make a big difference.

Patrick leading us down the road to the cheese store.

After two days of cold and damp weather we decided to head south in search of sun and heat. We had originally picked out a target of a town that was about 130km as the crow flies. But when Ron punched it into the GPS, the route said it was over 400km’s. Ron cursed and figured he had punched in the coordinates wrong. But after some further study of the map it turned out that this was really a case of the proverbial you can’t get there from here.

This cow is a Cantal whicn is a breed unique to the area around Salers.

Ton likes Cows and this calf is the cutest she has ever seen, it almost looks like a sheep.

Now it was Ton’s turns to study maps, she proposed the town of Albi as a destination. It was south, the roads looked reasonable, and best of all it was the hometown of Toulouse-Lautrec which is both of our favorite French Artist.

The bridge in the foreground was built around 1300 and is still used for traffic today.

The plan for the night was to stay in the Aire in Albi. The GPS led us close to the medieval old town down increasingly narrow roads, and only about 500 yards from the final destination we came to an arch that the road was going under, but the road under the arch was filled with construction equipment. After some studying of the map, and a little maneuvering in tight quarters we headed to our alternative route to the aire. About half way there we fell in behind a Dutch RV that appeared to be going to the same place. Again within about 500 meters of the aire we ran into some more construction and the Dutch pulled over and parked. Ron parked up behind them and knowing that almost all Dutch speak English he walked up and asked them about the aire. It turns out that the road to the aire is under construction and while you can barely make it there, it was full anyway. The husband said that they were thinking about parking for the night at a site we had passed on the way in, but the wife switched from English to Dutch and told him no way they were parking there. I don’t speak a word of Dutch but I didn’t need to to understand that conversation.

Ton and I decided to just leave François where he was and head into Albi to have a look around. Albi turned out to be a real Gem. This is why you do these trips without agendas, to find places like this. Our first stop was the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. The museum has an incredible collection of his art, because apparently the Louvre turned down the collection when his parents offered it to them. The museum is housed in the Palais de la Berbie which is the old palace of the archbishop of Albi. The building is as impressive as the art collection.

An example of the art in the Toulouse-Lautrec museum.

The exterior of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum which is in the old palace of the archbishop.

Next door is the Cathedral of Albi, which is the largest brick church in the world. We went into the Cathedral and it was as impressive as the outside. We got a break as one half which usually costs 5 euro to get in was open in preperation for a concert so we got a free look at it.

A view of the ceiling of the cathedral in Albi.

April 12, 2018 Rommaneche-Thorins FR

We woke up to a pretty steady rain in our Aire in Cluny. Ton pointed out that I had been throwing the term Aire around in the blog when there is nothing like it in the US. An Aire is a very basic place for RV’s to park up for the night. There are thousands of them in France and they range from designated areas in parking lots with no services, to parking areas with electric, water, and dump stations. Most of them do not provide electric, but do provide a place to get rid of the waste water. A surprising amount of them are free, and the rest charge a nominal amount. The towns put them in figuring if you park up for the night you will end up dropping a few Euro somewhere in town.

Typical countryside in Beaujolais. It is as green as Oregon this time of year.

After a quick check of the weather and seeing that it was supposed to clear up shortly, we hit the road. The intent was to follow the route of one of the scenic drives in Ton’s DK Backroads France book. The drive was called the heart of France and was about 60km’s. We managed to keep on it for most of the trip though there were a couple of unexpected detours caused by missed turns.

Typical vineyard just as the bud is breaking on the vine.

Around lunch we came to Chateau de la Greffirere that advertised tasting and a museum. When we arrived we were met by a lady who asked if we spoke any French at all, when we said no, she looked a little flustered but began pouring us wine. A couple of minutes later we were greeted by another lady who completed the tasting and gave us a tour of the facilities. At the end she opened up the real prize for us and as it was lunch time handed us an English book and went off to lunch. The museum was fantastic as it was full of antique wine production equipment. We spent about an hour wandering around and really enjoyed ourselves.

Leaving we continued following the Heart of France drive, but went amiss somewhere and ended up in the town of Macon. It felt more urban than anything else we have encountered so we punched in the place we planned to stop for the night and let Garmin guide us from there.

For the night we are staying at a France Passion site on a winery called Domaine Mortet. We were greeted by Jean Pierre Mortet after we parked up for the night. He was just in from the fields, but took us down into his cellar for a personal tasting. It was fun and very interesting speaking to Jean as he is a literally a one man show. He is the owner, winemaker, vineyard manager, and sales manager. He took over the winery from his father, who dropped in while we were tasting. We want to thank Jean Pierre for his hospitality.

Jean Pierre and Ton in the cave of Domaine Mortet. Thanks so much Jean Pierre.

August 10, 2015 Burns OR

Today we planned to do the Steens Mountain Loop on our way to Idaho. When we went out to Steens Mountain in June the loop was closed due to snow so we settled for staying in a nice campground on the mountain. This time we made it around and the drive was great. It is about a 50 mile gravel loop where you climb from about 3500 feet to 9800 feet at the summit. It is the highest road in Oregon. Steens is a fault block mountain which makes it different than most of the mountains in Oregon which are volcanic. One side of the mountain is pretty wet by Eastern Oregon standards, resulting in Malheur Lake and the wildlife refuge there. The other in the rain shadow is the driest in Oregon with only 6” of rain per year. The dry side is called the Alvord Playa and is reminiscent of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

The view from the top of the highest road in Oregon on Steens Mountain.

After leaving Steens we bit off a long drive to Mountain Home Idaho. This is what happens when you let the destination drive your day. As a result of forgetting about the time change we didn’t arrive at the campground until after 7pm, a ten hour day. We are going to try to slow down a little for the rest of the trip and limit the driving hours per day to something a little more comfortable.

June 7, 2015 Union OR

Today we spent the day at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show. It is a combination of a 4H fair, horse racing, and Rodeo. I have always wanted to visit a small town Rodeo. Union with a population of 2120 meets the small town criteria. It seemed like the whole town was out for the Rodeo and everyone looked like they were having fun.

There was quite a bit of action with horse races mixed in with the rodeo events. The rodeo is a kind of minor league for the big time rodeos you see on TV.

Note all of the cowboys wearing pink for breast cancer awareness.

After the rodeo we payed a visit to Barley Brown’s Brewery to fill up the growler. We also bought a nice half-growler to use for water, but first we will have to finish the beer that was included.

January 31, 2018 Valley of Fire State Park NV

Our alarm was set for 4am so we could get up to witness the eclipse/Blue/Blood/Super moon. The skies were clear, but it was really cold. The temperatures had fallen more than we thought and it must of been around 20 degrees. Ton stuck her head out of the truck and told me to call her when the moon turned Red. I stuck around and watched the eclipse from the inside of the truck. When the moon turned Red I told Ton and she reluctantly rolled out of bed to take a look. After a few minutes she could not get a good picture and was very cold so she decided to get back under the blankets. I followed her a few minutes later. So while we witnessed the eclipse/Blue/Blood/Super moon we have no pictures to prove it, you will have to take out word for it.

Ton loves Joshua trees, we passed this one on the way to Valley of Fire.

After a little nap we got up and headed towards Las Vegas to Valley of Fire State Park. It is about 70 miles from Las Vegas and is quite striking. It has very Red Rocks throughout with many different shapes and forms. As we were arriving we noticed about 100 RV’s parked on BLM land just short of the state park and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. We assume camping is free there and we were tempted to park there for the night, but decided to opt for the State Park and pay the camping fee.

After we settled in we went for a short walk near the campground to a site of some Indian petroglyphs. They were quite impressive. Our reward for ponying up for the campground came in seeing 5 big horn sheep a couple of hundred yards from Scout. While we have been in lots of places with signs warning us to watch for big horns we had never actually seen one until today.

November 5, 2017 Pacific Coast Highway CA

Ron was very excited as we were going to take one of his favorite drives, the Big Sur. The plan was to drive down to the point were the road is closed. Last winter a giant land slide took out a large part of the road so at this point you drive down about 60 miles along the coast until the road is closed. It is a wonderful road with incredible views. We also intended to visit San Simeon to look at the Elephant Seal colony that has taken up residence there.

The weather was perfect, and probably because of the closure traffic was light. Big Sur lived up to Ron’s expectations though he was worried that Noi and Dang were not impressed. Ton assured him that Dang thought it was great, Noi slept a lot of the way. The detour was a one and a half lane road over the mountains and thru Fort Hunter-Ligget. It was a tough drive, but fortunately we had abandoned Elephant in Monterey and took a rental car for the day. Ron enjoyed the challenge of the road, and everyone else endured.

On our way into San Simeon we passed thru Paso Robles. We decided to stop for lunch at Doce Robles winery. Ton, Dang, and Ron split a bottle of wine with lunch which perked everyone up. We headed to San Simeon where the juvenile elephant seals were in residence, both the adult males and females are off in Alaska. They are still an amazing site and worth a visit if you are in the area.

We ended the night with a great dinner at Monterey Fish House. This was our farewell dinner as tomorrow we are splitting up, with Ron and Ton heading to Oregon, and Dang and Noi heading home to Thailand. We all enjoyed ourselves tremendously as the food was outstanding, and even Noi enjoyed a little wine. If you are in Monterey I highly recommend the Monterey Fish House.

January 26, 2017 Death Valley NP

Ron had always wanted to visit the Racetrack Playa. Ton was a little nervous as the park service puts out very severe warnings about the road and particularly mentions long stretches of sharp rocks. Ron had done some research and several other Tigers had made it out there, though all of the owners had complained about the washboard condition of the road.

We started the day by visiting Ubehebe Crater. The crater is about a half mile across and 700 feet deep and is a result of a recent magma explosion in the park. The crater is quite impressive and a reminder of how suddenly things can change on the planet.

We set out for the playa and Ron thought it could not be much worst than yesterdays drive thru Titus Canyon. In some ways he was right and in some ways he was wrong. The road itself was pretty straight forward with no particular narrow places or washed out sections of road. Looking at it it was a typical gravel road you find in the west. But the washboard was the worst Ron had ever experienced and really beat up the truck and the people inside. We creeped along at 10 miles per hour along most of the way and still felt like we were inside a blender.

The valley approaching the race track is really beautiful and you feel like you are really on your own. For the day I think only about 5 vehicles including us went out to the Playa. About 6 miles from the Playa you come to Tea Kettle Junction where there is a tradition of hanging a tea kettle with your name on it. We were not aware of the tradition and did not have a tea kettle to leave.

We did not have a tea kettle to contribute.

Finally we arrived at the playa. How the rocks moved used to be a mystery, but apparently in November a group from the Scripps Institute were out there and saw the rocks actually moving. To make a short story of a long story it apparently takes a combination of a wet Playa, freezing temperatures that causes ice to build up on the rocks and high winds, and suddenly a 60 pound rock will move on its own.

One of the mystery rocks at the Racetrack Playa.

January 19, 2017 Anza-Borrego SP

We woke up at dawn after sleeping at Fonts Point to catch the sunrise. It was not quite the party that sunset was as, there was only one other couple there. They drove out from San Diego just for the sunrise. The woman in the couple asked where Ton was from and when she told her Thailand, the girl laughed and said I thought so, you have the exact same accent as my mother.

After cooking up breakfast we headed over to Palm Canyon. We walked up a wash for about a mile and a half to the classic oasis you would see in a movie. Water and a cluster of Palms. It was very impressive

The oasis at Palm Canyon, just like a movie set for an oasis.

After returning to Scout we headed over to the town. On the two main entrances into town an artist has set out various sculptures in the desert. Not quite to our taste, but interesting none the less.

A giant dragon sculpture near Anza-Borrega, one of a series of similar sculptures.

We then headed over to a feature in the badlands called the slot. Another interesting walk. Including a very steep descent that looks like it used by motorcycles and possibly even some off road vehicles. It would be very tricky to try and a mistake would be quite painful.

On our way to camping up for the night Ton mentioned a cactus trail. She said it was only a mile walk, Ron had a vision of a nice stroll along a manicured trail. Instead it was a rocky trail through a wash and up over the side of a ridge. Probably a two hundred foot climb. Ton enjoyed it tremendously as the cactus were magnificent.

April 24, 2015 Sequoia NP

We had planned to cross over the central valley to Sequoia National Park. The night before Ton mentioned the Carrizo Plain National Monument which is famous for its spring wildflowers. So we took a side trip to Carrizo Plain National Monument despite the fact that we did not think there were going to be many flowers due to the drought. California Highway 58 was another great backroad. As we had guessed there were no flowers, we passed a dry lake that showed the extent of the drought.

A dry lake bed in Cazillo National Monument.

Next we headed across to Sequoia NP to look at the Giant Sequoia’s. The drive up to the park is very steep with a 5000 foot elevation climb and many turns and switchbacks. The tree’s are impressive and while not as tall as the Redwoods they are thicker and denser. We stopped at the Sherman tree which is supposed to be the biggest tree in the world by volume weighing 2.7 million pounds and is estimated to be 2200 years old.

Reportedly the largest tree in the world by volume at 2.2 million pounds.

We are planning to spend tomorrow here also.

October 28, 2017 Grand Canyon NP

These gals were hanging out at the RV dump station. They were there both days.

We started out the day by switching campgrounds. Last night we had the luxury of a full service campground in the park. But that spot was only available for the day so we had to switch to a dry spot for the second night. Temperatures are supposed to be in the high 30’s so it will test the cold weather adaptation of Noi and Dang.

After getting settled for the day we took the bus out to Hermits Rest and worked our way back to the village. A lot of the smoke had blown out of the park, and it was as clear as any of our visits there. Of course everyone, (but Ron) took a lot of pictures.

As the day wore on we split up, Dang and Noi went for sunset. Ron and Ton opted to head back to the village for a while, and went back to the truck early to prepare for dinner.

These flowers are all over the desert this time of the year. Ton really likes them.

It was a very long day but worth the time and effort.

May 19, 2016 Signal AZ

Dang mentioned that she wanted to see Saguaro cactuses. Ton and I were trying to figure out the best way to make that happen when we mentioned it to a couple of older gentlemen in the lobby they recommended we head to Signal Rd, near Wikeup AZ. It was a bit farther than Ron wanted to drive but they were very enthusiastic.

The road sign pointing to Signal population 0.

While the drive was long it was worth it. Signal road was a well maintained dirt road with tons of Yucca and Saguaro cactuses. Dang and Ton were really happy yelling stop every mile or so to shoot some more pictures of cactuses. Ton was able to show off the cactus identification skills she has honed in the last year. The cactus were flowering after the rain so she was very happy.

September 7, 2017 Haines AK

Last night we had quite a rain storm, and even though we were sheltered in a forest the noise of the rain hitting the roof was quite loud. By morning it wasn’t raining, and even though it was cloudy it was pretty warm.

On our way to town to take care of some business with our estimated taxes we decided to go to a bridge across the Chilkot river to take some pictures of the river. While we were up there this girl showed up for her breakfast.

Initially there were only three of us on the bridge, but that would change quickly. The bear spent about 45 minutes working up and down the river looking for fish. By the end there were about 40 people on the bridge. We were fortunate to speak to the Bear Monitor for the Alaska State Parks and she gave us a history of the bear. The bear is 2 years old and her mother also still feeds from the river. She had a brother there, but he has not been seen in a while.

Another shot of her looking for fish. She put on quite a show.

Today we took the ferry to Skagway. Last time we took the ferry it took about 3 hours to go from Haines to Skagway. This time it was a high speed ferry that traveled about 40mph (36 knots). It was a short but pleasant trip, and saved us about 450 miles of driving.

When we pulled into Skagway there were three cruise ships in port, but it was surprisingly quiet downtown. We picked up a few groceries, and some souvenirs for friends and headed back to Scout.

September 2, 2017 Summit Lake AK

Today we began to point back towards home. A lot of the businesses that cater to travelers close up after labor day weekend, so I guess that it is a hint that we should begin to head home.

But there are still things to see so we did not make it that far today. We had originally planned to head into Valdez for the night, but when we woke up the weather forecast for Valdez was lousy. Instead of heading into bad weather we decided to head North a bit towards the Denali Highway.

I have not mentioned the Milepost book since we took off, but do not come to Alaska without a copy. It is an incredibly detailed guide of all of the roads in Alaska, Northern BC, and the Yukon. It basically tells you everything about the road you are traveling on down to pullouts, and warnings of bad sections of road. The Milepost said that the first twenty miles of the Denali highway from Paxson were not to be missed, so we decided that would be our focus for today.

We made what should have been a 10 mile detour to go to the visitors center for the Elias-Wrangel National Park, but somehow we both missed the large sign on the highway telling us to turn, after about 15 miles we figured it out and turned around and headed back. Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest park in the US, but it only has two dirt roads that go into it, so it is largely wilderness. The visitors center is very well done and informative about the park.

We headed north on the Richardson Highway, and it was a long stretch of frost heave, and pot holes. We were averaging about 45 mph, even though the speed limit was posted at 65. There were plenty of people who did travel at 65 though so we were constantly watching our rear for fast approaching cars and semi’s.

The Milepost was right the Denali Highway was worth the trip. Ton nearly killed the battery on her camera taking pictures. At the top where the pavement ends was a BLM campground that had 100 spots. We decided we would stay there for the night, but it is labor day weekend, and despite being remote, it had a sign at the entrance saying that it was full. It turned out to be good luck.

The view from our campsite. The glacier in the background is Gulkana Glacier.

Consulting the Milepost, there was a State Park about 45 miles from where we were, and it also mentioned a BLM remote camping area with great views of Gulkana Glacier. We had decided on the State Park, but as we were driving down the Richardson we saw some RV’s parked in an area with incredible views. We have joined them for the night parked at the end of an old emergency airstrip with incredible 360 degree views.

August 31, 2017 Denali NP

Today was a long but very fulfilling day. As I said earlier we had some debate about whether to retrace our steps to Denali National Park. Today we are glad we did. We signed up for the 12 hour shuttle bus ride to the very end of the road in the park, and while it was a long day it was worth the trip and the sore butts.

We had done this trip seven years ago in late July and had a partial view of the mountain. Today we had low expectations as the forecast called for clouds with a good chance of rain. We were hoping to see some critters and those hopes were fulfilled, with multiple grizzlies, a couple of moose, and a few caribou. The front of the bus saw a lynx, but we were in the back so we missed it.

The highlight of the trip though was Denali, and the landscape in the park. Much to our surprise and the bus drivers Denali came out in full, and stayed out for several hours. Also the fall colors had set in and were surprisingly colorful with a nice mix of reds, yellows, and greens. Ton who as I have said is a fall colors snob, gave Denali a thumbs up.

A view of the mountain from the visitors center.

We did not get back to Scout until nearly 9pm so we had a quick bowl of instant noodles and turned in tired but happy we made the 600 mile detour to come back.

October 30, 2017 Zion NP

After an early wakeup we had two options for camping today, in the park they had availability in the dry campground, right outside of the park there is a commercial campground, after discussing the bathroom situation we opted for the commercial park as the park service is closing all of the bathrooms today for the winter.

We decided to head into the park before checking in at the campground. We took the bus to the Temple of Sinawatra to start the day. About half way down the trail Noi was a couple hundred yards ahead of everyone else when we came upon her talking to four people. It turns out it was two Thai couples from Hawaii and California. Everyone joined in the conversation. Ron and Dr. Dragon (that is the English translation of his name) were talking as they had both recently retired from the military, (Ron’s official retirement date was his 60th birthday). Dr. Dragon had been a Captain in the US Navy, at some point Ron mentioned that Dang had also retired from the Thai Navy. Captain Dragon then pointed at the wife in the other couple and said she had also been a Doctor in the Thai Navy. Dang and Doctor Jin began talking and it turned out they had attended the Thai equivalent of Officers Candidate School together. It is a small world when two people from Thailand can renew an acquaintance from 40 years ago in the middle of a canyon in Utah! A walk that should of taken an hour turned into three hours as a lot of catching up had to be done. At the end we agreed to meet for dinner in the evening.

Ron’s stealth run to the brewery was busted when one of his credit cards turned up missing in the morning. Everyone was worried and turning the truck upside down looking for it. After dropping Dang and Noi off for shopping at the visitors center, and another run into the park Ron was forced to confess that he had left it at the pub, and he and Ton went to retrieve it.

While Noi and Dang were making a second run into the park, Ron and Ton took care of getting Elephant settled for the day, and took a little breather. In the evening we had a very nice Mexican dinner with our new (old) friends from Thailand!

October 24, 2017 Monument Valley UT

We are making a quick pass thru Monument Valley. We managed an early start to the day to cover the 140 miles to Monument Valley in time for Dang, Jeap, and Noi to do a Jeep tour of the valley. Ron and Ton stayed behind as the women decided Ron’s ribs were not up to a rough road.

On the way in we swung thru Gooseneck State Park which is a famous place where the San Juan river makes several 90 degree turns in a short area.

The San Juan River turning on itself at Gooseneck SP.

The tour was a great success and lots of pictures were taken. The guide was a Navajo women named Hope which was interesting as almost every other guide is male. She brought a different experience to the tour.

Some of the famous monuments in Monument Valley.

After the tour we were sitting on a balcony in the visitors center waiting for sunset, when a couple of small birds landed in a bush in front of us. Dang said that they were sparrows, and Ron with great confidence told her it was not a sparrow. About the same time a Navajo sitting next to us said that it was not a sparrow. He had been there for a few minutes doing pencil drawings of the valley. After a couple of minutes of looking at the birds I saw him take out his phone and open a bird app. After a couple of minutes he smiled looked up and said it is a sparrow, a Barrel Sparrow to be exact. Chock one up to Dang and Thailand over an American and a native living in the valley!

Darrin told us he was a guide and asked if he could answer any questions. We spent an hour or so talking to him about the Navajo, Monument Valley, and the surrounding area. He was a fountain of knowledge and clearly incredibly proud of his tribe, and heritage. On top of that his sister is a graduate of Oregon State living in Eugene with her husband a graduate of University of Oregon, so as he said his nephews are platypuses. For non-Oregonians that means a product of parents of the two universities whose mascots are the ducks and the beavers.

September 23, 2016 Bryce Canyon NP

Today was spent exploring the park. This was Ton and my third trip to the park. Our son Dylan had worked here one summer so we have a special relationship with the park. We were surprised how busy the park was, we expected that it would be on a shoulder season, but all of the facilities were full. We were lucky to get a spot in the campground.

A bristlecone pine tree, which is one of the longest living plants on earth.

We began with a drive on the 18 mile loop stopping at all of the pull outs and taking a bunch of photos of the hoodoos and the other scenery. For us it was still quite beautiful the third time thru, for Pae and Supachai they seemed to really enjoy the experience. To make up for missing the Bristlecone Pines at Great Basin we hiked the Bristlecone trail here and saw some, though apparently not as old as the ones at Great Basin. We also hiked the Queens and Navajo Trail loop. Ton and I had never done the Navajo trail and we were glad we did, when it was done!. We climbed out on the Navajo trail and it was quite steep, but worth it. The park service here has put in a program where if you hike three trails totaling 4 miles you get a prize. You prove it by taking pictures of markers on the trail. Ton and Pae were very proud of their pins.

We finished out the day by attending two astronomy talks. The first was on the history of astronomy and it was standing room only, probably over two hundred people. Bryce has the reputation as the best place in the US to stargaze and they set up 5 telescopes in the visitor center parking lot. Again their was an amazing amount of people there, but the views were awesome.

January 30, 2014 Big Bend NP

Today we finally got to try out Scout on the kind of road she was designed to cover. We drove the River Road from Rio Grande Village to Castelton. It is a 54 mile dirt road that runs parallel to the Rio Grande. The Malayan handled the road very well, over the course of the 54 miles we ran into washboard, loose rock, soft sand, and some pretty good holes in the road. I was very impressed with the ride and the handling over some pretty tough roads. We covered the 54 miles in about 6 hours with frequent stops for photos and lunch.

Scout enjoying a little back road driving.

The desert along the road was quite beautiful. We were a little early for the flowers, but Ton did get some nice shots of cactus and a few flowers.

January 18, 2014 Granville TN

This morning we began moving north so Ron can be in Elizabethtown Kentucky for work on January 20. Ton discovered a cool concert in Granville we could go to. We told the navigator to send us on backroads only. About halfway to Granville we came across Lynchburg Tennessee which for you whiskey drinkers is the home of Jack Daniels. We swung in and took a tour of the facility. Interestingly the biggest selling whiskey in the US is in a dry county and can only sell limited addition bottles, and only give 1oz of tastes to each customer. We opted for the free no taste tour as $10 seemed a bit much for 1oz of Jack Daniels.

Ton posing with a life size cut out of Jack Daniels.

Tonight we attended the Sutton Ole Time Music Hour in Granville Tennessee. Granville is a little village on the Cumberland River, it is far off the beaten path and was slowly dying after the best farm land was covered by a dam in the 1960’s. However, the town did not die. While it is still small it has revived itself through tourism. The lake on the dam generates visitors at a couple of marinas near town. They also converted the old general store in town into a museum and visitors center. On Saturdays they host a bluegrass music concert. An old southern tradition is the live weekly concert broadcast. This is how the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville got its start. The Sutton Ole Time Music Hour is broadcast every Saturday on 15 radio stations and on the web. Everything is live including the commercials. We enjoyed the experience tremendously. Ton really enjoys bluegrass music and the music was excellent. The live experience was very interesting and enjoyable. So far one of the highlights of the trip.

A poster for the Sutton Ole Time Radio Hour.

August 16, 2015 Custer State Park SD

Today the highlight of the day was Custer State Park in SD. Ton noted that we were only 30 miles from the park and it had some spectacular views and animals to view.

Enroute to the park and we did a drive by Mt. Rushmore but decided not to stop as we got a couple of pictures from the highway and the whole thing felt a little too Disneyland for us. On the way out though we saw a mom and baby mountain goat right by the road.

Sometimes the wildlife comes to you. Note the tracking collar on the mama goat.

Going into Custer State Park on the Needles Highway we saw a sign saying low/narrow tunnel, 10’6” high and 9’ wide. I told Ton we were going to test the accuracy of Marks height measurement, we made the tunnel easy, but later came upon another tunnel surrounded by cars taking pictures of the entrance. This one was marked 12’ high and 8’6’ wide. We pulled in the mirrors and squeezed thru. Today was one of the days when the Tiger concept really proved itself.

The sign said we would fit and we just did.

As we drove thru the park we spotted a lot of Pronghorns which in South Dakota have a little different coloring than the ones we saw in Oregon earlier. Later we saw some “wild burros” that were pretty much tame and great beggars. The scene with the Burros walking right up to cars and sticking their noses in to get food reminded me of old pictures you saw of Yellowstone with Bears begging by cars. I guess that is the difference between National Parks, and State Parks. As we were leaving the park Ton commented that we did not see the large Bison herd that is resident in the park. Just as she finished saying that we came around a corner and ran into a herd of about 100 Bison using the same road to move from one pasture to another. After about twenty minutes of integrating ourselves into the Bison herd they finally got to where they were going and left the road. Happily Ton got some nice closeups of Bison as we moved with the herd.