Michigan International Speedway (MIS)

Friday, May 28th we left Kentucky, drove all the way through Ohio and landed in Petersburg, Michigan, just north of Toledo, for a total of 375 miles. Remember that is a long driving day for JB. We stopped at a Walmart in Ohio because I was still looking to stock up on wine and liquor (and diet coke). Got everything I wanted except....Jim Beam! Found some Caribbean rum for $5.49 a bottle and a 24 pack of diet coke for $3.88. Unheard of price!!! The traffic wasn't too bad for the holiday weekend. The cops were out in full force, though, trying to get everyone to slow down. We saw one cop standing on the side of the road with his radar gun and actually walked out onto the highway signaling a driver to pull over. That was quite a dangerous move!


So we got to the campground about 3, which was actually the check in time. There were lots of families, bike riders, golf cart drivers AND trees. The satellite would not work because of the trees. JB took the Vu-cube out and screwed with that until he finally gave up. How was he going to watch the Charlotte races? The antenna did get the local channels and the races were on Fox so all was well. I spent some time cleaning up the disgusting picnic table that had not seen any soap and water since last year.

Saturday night there were tons of sirens and helicopters flying all over the area. We did not know until the next morning that a 12 year old boy had drowned in the swimming lake here in the campground. He was here with his grandparents and a church group. He had been missing for awhile. They searched the campground and the surrounding area until a dog finally let them know that he was in the water. Alot of people left Sunday morning and, of course, the atmosphere was rather subdued!

JB spent a good part of Saturday fixing a plumbing leak under the kitchen sink. The clue was water in the TV compartment below. Two trips to the local hardware store proved to be successful and no more water leaking under the sink. It is always something...like the FORD slogan, fix or repair daily!

Sunday our Michigan friends, Mike and Mary Jo, came to visit. They live in Holt, south of Lansing, about 90 minutes away. They were still at the Meridian RV Park in Apache Junction when we left so it was good to see them and catch up on all of the gossip. We will be going to their house on Tuesday.

I haven't mentioned the darn mosquits, We have the Bounce and Listerine out but they have not stopped the little buggers. And this morning JB found a wood tick in the bathroom!!

Today we went touring and found the Michigan International Speedway (MIS), which was about an hour away. It turned out that we actually could have camped there this weekend but didn't know that tidbit of information.




















This is the sign leaving. The museum and store were closed for the holiday but it was fun going into the stands. I was between turns 1 and 2 and could see the entire track. They have tons of camping and parking spaces. It's fun to see how different all of the tracks are. This one is not by any major interstate or city..really out in the boondocks. On our way back, we stopped in Tecumseh, a nice little Midwestern town, and found these little critters in a park.




Cabelas was just up the road a piece so we stopped there and finally spent two gift cards that I have been carrying around forever. Got some ATV stuff! Then we found a jerky outlet. Never seen one of those before. Got some good treats for the next week or so. We were in the middle of a downpour so had to stay shopping for a little longer!

As I said before, tomorrow we are going to Holt, MI and will stay with our friends there until Thursday. Then we will move to northern Michigan to stay at their property and visit the sites, including some wineries. Toodles for now.

Oh, P.S. There was alot of activity at the cabin this weekend with BMB, GOB and the boys, Aaron, Shari and boys and the Mundys and kids. I think the hot tub had a workout, as well as the poor GEMCAR and the fire pit. Sounds like they went to the woods and shot the guns for 4 hours and I think Greg and the boys went fishing today. BMB called on Sunday and asked if she could drive the Lexus home ahead of the rest of them so she could get ready to go to Mexico on Tuesday with her girlfriends. I said yes she could drive it if she kept it in the garage. You don't know but that is a major feat! After the fact I heard she took Devan AND the dog also. Dev is not a problem. It's the dog hair that I don't like but I guess Toni was in her cage. If I find one dog hair, you will hear me screaming!!!

Trouble, Jim Beam and Abraham Lincoln

When we were packing up at the Pigeon Forge campground, the big slide did not want to cooperate and decided to hang up. Upon closer review JB and the neighbor who had the ladder, decided the slide lock did not disengage like it was suppose to and then, of course, was not in it's proper place when it was time to put the slide in. First time for this issue. Anyway, 3o minutes later, we were on our way with a planned stop at a Camping World up the road for some "slide lube" and some super adhesive to reattach the molding with the gasket that got pulled loose when the slide went out with the lock part way retracked.

We traveled about 275 miles to Glendale, KY (new state) to another half price campground. Nothing frilly! Not far off the beaten path of the freeway and 30 miles south of Louisville!


OK, now. it's Thursday, May 27th.......Happy Anniversary to us---38 years of wedded bliss!!!!!!! Yes, BMB, not 37!!!

JB got me a lovely, mushy card but I couldn't find the card that I bought 2 months ago! Don't laugh!! Anyway, this is how our day was spent..... We went to the Jim Beam distillery. We had a very enlightening tour by a lady who used to live in Yuma. She gave us many interesting facts, of which most I can't remember but they do have 72 warehouses and each warehouse holds 20,000 barrels of bourbon!! They have over 400 employees and the regular Jim Beam is the largest selling bourbon in the world. (I thought Jack Daniels was.) Anyway, we learned all about the history--Jacob Beam making bourbon in 1795, but it wasn't until his great-grandson, James B. Beam, rebuilt the distillery in 1933 after prohibition ended that the bourbon became known as "Jim Beam". Now Jim Beam's great grandson oversees the distillery and is the seventh generation who has been in charge of this operation. After the tour we went in the bar and got to taste two bourbons.. I can't remember what they were but they were "strong" in my standards. I had to wash it down with water! And, of course, we had to buy some mementos.

The red barn was the visitor center and gift shop. The white house is where one of the boys lived in the 1911 circa home.

JB is in 7th heaven!!!

Inside the family house but they had no displayed decanters that match "our" fine collection!

One of those rocking chairs but it was black,not white!

A display inside the gift shop. They actually make several types and ages of bourbons. We were most surprised at the cost of the bottles they had for sale. A regular liter of Jim Beam there was priced at $21.99. I bought the same bottle in PHX for $10.00. So we didn't buy any. We were going to buy some at a liquor store. Right! Well, all day we saw one liquor store and did not turn around because there would be more......there were no more for the next several hours. We must be in a dry county or something!!!

JB smelling the aroma of the REALLY expensive stuff! Look at that gray hair!!!

From Jim Beam country, we went to Abraham Lincoln country. Did you know he was born in Kentucky? Most people think of Illinois but they are wrong. This is a home that they moved to when he was two years old and from here they moved to Indiana when he was twelve.

This was a building on the same property as his boyhood home and was built in the 1930's and was used as a tavern. It is was closed so we could not go inside.

Just down the road about 10 miles is Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville, KY., now a National Historic site.

This building is probably enclosing Lincoln's birth house and they are going to make it look like the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The renovation is being done with
recovery" dollars!

This is a spring that Abe drank from and is still running today. Imagine that!

So much for your history lesson.

This campground has a lake that you can fish without a license. JB brought his handy dandy fold up fishing pole but no tackle box. Must take up too much space! Pretty lake though.

Not too many choices for fine dining tonight. I passed up the truck stop so I made tortellini, chicken, fresh mushrooms and Ragu with a side salad of freshly cut lettuce and celery, topped with sunflower seeds, croutons with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Plus Walmart wheat french bread and Andre' strawberry champagne. All items were on board so no special purchase necessary!!

Tomorrow will be a long day, as we will be traveling over 350 miles to southeast Michigan for the long weekend. I better get to bed. Toodles.

Great Smoky Mountains Park- day 2

Rule #1- Do not go on a site-seeing trip without the "good" camera.


We left camp this morning, headed for the post office to mail a package. Forgot the darn camera so followed the "pseudo" map in the handouts to take a short cut back to the campground to get the camera. There really was no shortcut so we toodled around the country side for probably 30 minutes. Got back to the main road and decided we didn't need the camera. We could use the one on the phone, if we needed to. We went to the middle of the Park today (vs the west side from yesterday), which is higher and has a little different foliage. Lots of conifers in this stand of trees. We saw no wildlife. Most of the pictures I took really aren't worth posting.


The one peak we went to-Newfound Gap- was on the TN/NC state line- at over 5,000 feet. If you wanted to, you could stroll on part of the Appalachian Trail. Did you know that this 2,200 mile trail runs from Georgia to Maine?

Had to go through several tunnels.

When we finished this loop, we headed into Gatlinburg to follow another loop. There was a newly paved road with a sign saying that this was the "recovery $ at work" and to expect delays. We continued up the mountain for about 5 miles, only to find out that the road was closed. I wonder why the "expect delays" sign couldn't be changed to read "road closed"!! I guess I'm not in charge.

Made a trip to Walmart for groceries and a new sewer hose. Even got carded by a new trainee. I know he was following the rules but REALLY!! Came home and angonized over where we were going tomorrow. The Bourbon Trail...here we come!

Misc. and The Great Smoky Mountains

BWB sent us this picture last night. Great philosophy, wouldn't you say?

Had to add a P.S. to my Charlotte infield #2 story. I was minding my own business sitting in my chair watching the people and cars go by, reading a book and drinking wine. A lady came up and asked if she could take my picture and post it on the Internet. I certainly obliged. Don't worry! I had my clothes on.

Yesterday we left Bristol and drove SOUTH. I do have to add that our neighbor in Bristol confided in JB that his wife threw him out and his business partner screwed him so he was a RV full timer and starting all over at age 60! Who cares?

Anyway, we drove about 100 miles to Sevierville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tennessee. These three towns all run together and are at the base of the Smoky Mountains National Park. This area is like Branson, MO- tons of campgrounds, motels, restaurants, wedding chapels and tourist traps. Dolly Parton is from here so she has built her Dollywood here and many other attractions bear her name.

We are at the Creekside RV Park in Pigeon Forge, a very nice, central location and it was half price with the CampclubUSA card. JB had a visit with the neighbors and found out that they are headed to Charlotte for the race this weekend AND they are from Petersburg, MI, which is where we are going Friday for the holiday weekend. Isn't it a small world? They gave him a hot tip on where to drive in the mountains, more toward the west end to Cade's Cove. So we did.

Now, let me give you some interesting facts. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular national park in the country, drawing more than twice as many visitors as any the system's other parks- even the Grand Canyon runs a distant second. We can hardly believe that!
What's really amazing is there is no charge to drive into the park. These mountains are among the oldest in the world (supposedly formed 200 to 300 million years ago.) How the heck did they figure that out? The Smokies are named for the bluish haze that often shrouds them caused by humidity and water vapor emitted by the dense, old growth forests that cover 95% of the park. The foliage is extremely dense and often you cannot see any sky when driving down the roads. Even the GPS lady lost her satellite connection dozens of times.


They are smoky looking.

The park is known for all of the wildlife. We saw lots of wild turkeys.

There are a couple deer in here.

We were lucky enough to see this black bear. There are about 1,500 bears that live in the park.

The bear is on the right side of the tree (the little black spot). See that yahoo who is in the field trying to get a close up picture.....and maybe trying to get eaten by the bear!

This area of Tennessee has many hillsides and trees that are covered with ivy and wild grape vines.

There were tons of magnolia trees that were not in bloom but whatever these are had clumps of white flowers.
There are supposed to be alot of elk but we didn't see any. You might be interested in knowing that there are at least 30 species of salamanders in the park. Supposedly the park has earned the nickname of " Salamander Capital of the World". That is a little hard to believe! We didn't see any of them either.
Well, I wonder what today will bring. JB is sleeping in while I'm blogging! Toodles.

Bristol Motor Speedway

Sunday, May 23 we left the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was very surprising how easy and uneventful it was to get out of the infield. We left about 8:00 and did not have to wait for one RV that was in the infield or any outside of the infield. We wonder if everyone was staying for the entire week and attend the race this coming weekend. We drove 180 miles northwest to Bristol, Tennessee. Most of the drive was four lane highway but there were SEVERAL miles that were on a 2 lane, winding, curvy, hilly road that JB did not care for...probably because he had to hold the steering wheel with BOTH hands! Hey, we found diesel for $2.89, cheapest of the trip. And we missed a little turtle meandering across the highway.

We got to the Lakeview RV resort, which was a half price campground and only 3 miles from the Bristol Motor Speedway. Pictures to follow: Very much like Martinsville. I can't imagine 43 cars racing on this track.
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Beautiful store open on Sunday. All of the winners.

I don't know what they are remodeling in the infield but it is so small, it can't hold much!

Land surrounding the track...maybe for camping...

It was great to see the track. Very nice country here. Today we moved on to the great Smokey Mountains!