 |
 |
We had a wander around Charleston yesterday, enjoying the fantastic weather and wonderful scenery. We had lunch at Poogans Porch Restaurant (http://www.americascuisine.com/charleston/poogansporch.html), which apparently has a ghostly pooch that sits on the porch. We took a carriage tour around the city hearing some of the history of the place).
On from Mount Pleasant we have driven to Beaufort on the way to Hilton Head Island (which supposedly has really nice white beaches). The drive down is very pleasant and the weather is fantastic (76Degrees and sunny).
So a relaxing few days, then on to more camping before getting to Florida on Friday 18th (where we are off to see Buddy Guy at the House of Blues).
So, we spent an uneventful night in Columbia and had a quick trip round a shopping mall (nice dresses but I resisted the urge to spend spend spend..). The 2 hr drive from Columbia was uneventful and just consisted of driving on the Interstate (South Carolina seems to be covered in trees). We arrived yesterday afternoon at the KOA campsite in Mt Pleasant, a short hop north of Charleston, and our first tent camping since Arizona so we booked in for 2 nights. As we were cooking tea a couple of a similar age to us turned up and pitched their tent in the site next to us and then went out for the evening. We thought nothing of it. At around 8pm and pitch black by this time they arrived back with another guy in tow (in dungarees and blind drunk, almost the stereotypical sight that us Brits imagine from the films we've seen) They then proceeded to (no word of a lie) catch fish from the lake, get more drunk, use every possible swear word imagionable as part of each sentence. Then mr dungarees went off site with the other guy's missus, and we were delighted to be subjected to a further hour of listening to Early Grayce (for Kaliforia film fans, this film is more real than you can imagine!!) calling his missus and choosing a number of select phrases to tell her to get the other guy back out of the bar he had disappeared into. So, back at the campsite when they finally returned we were stuck listening to these hicks until at least 3am. We have learnt some new phrases, particularly those to say to women for you maried guys - these include "Go git me the piece of meat aah asked for", You aint touchin maa flashlight", and our personal favourite (not child friendly!) "Aah was een the scouts but aah kipt aiting brownies" to which his missus then replied "Aah was in the brownies" to which hicky then replied "Thin aah probibly ait yew too" Oh my, definitely not the brightest crayons in the box.
They started up again at 8.15 this morning - needless to say we were not happy bunnies, so off I went to complain to the KOA lady. She acted immediately and went to kick them off site, unfortunately not before they actually managed to add 2 and 2 together (a real achievement I can tell you!) and started making noisy suggestions of coming back later and "showing those readnecks" and about burning tents - great. So, we have packed up the tent and thanks to the very helpful KOA team we are staying in their Kamping Kottage, complete with sofa, fireplace, cooker, bathroom, for free tonight which is a good distance away from the field we were camped in. I have to say I am impressed at how the KOA team have acted and it is just the small minority that spoils it for the rest of us. The KOA site itself is beautiful and in the grounds of an original plantation, complete with huge fishing lake. So here we are safe and well in Charleston having a look around this beautiful city. Tommorrow we will be heading down to Hilton Head Island and staying on the beach at the Holiday Inn, which should be a real change. Today we will see the sea and we will be celebrating our first major achievement - driving coast to coast!! We are happy, relaxed, enjoying the unseasonably hot weather and looking forward to trying some fresh seafood while we are here.
We left Pigeon falls via Gatlinburg yesterday, which is a very quaint town with some interesting sites.
We stopped at the Haunted Mansion, which is your typical dark house, that two thickies couldn't even find the hidden passage way behind the fire place. It was very dark and I was bent over in laughter when a 7ft guy in a costume and mask jumped out at Lorna, who deafened everyone in earshot with her screams of fright. The guy kept popping up through the house and poor old Lorna kept getting picked on. She hated the place, I thought it was brilliant.
We did a trip on the sky lift across the road and up in to the mountains, which was very relaxing and allowed Lorna's heart rate to drop to normal levels.
We also went round a "world of illusion" where next to none of the exhibitions worked (it was rubbish).
Lastly we decided to get our ugly mugs immortalised in a crystal as a nice way to remember the trip. Mike at Crystalix did a superb job capturing our "faces for radio" in the crystal. He also had a good look round our web site (A wedding in St.Lucia is definitely worth looking in to).
So after Gatlinburg we drove on to the KOA campground at Ashville, only to find the check-in closed and the gentleman on the phone less than helpful. So Motel6 it was and the hunt was on for food (since we had planned to cook). The recommendation from the guy at Motel6 was to visit Zaxby's, which we did and promptly left (think of McDonalds with no-one inside and horrible looking food), we then tried Bono's where Lorna found that wine isn't served with your reheated ribs and chicken, so off to Applebees (decent service and above average food).
So today on to Columbia,SC for a free nights accomodation at the Holiday Inn.
The days are flying by now and we have driven 5,600 miles so far. The tally so far 40 hotels to 19 campgrounds.
Anyway time to get off this PC and let the locals use it.
Bye for Now.
Pigeon Forge itself is rather like a Lasd Vegas strip of amusements, restaurants, attractions and lots of crazy golf courses. Pigeon Forge, Gattlingburg and Sevierville all seem to merge into each other with Gattlingburg looking the oldest and prettiest. Last night we drove around the Christmas lights - very pretty. We were very lucky since the Winterfest Lights were switched on the day before we arrived. We also went shopping at an amazing place called The Christmas Place - a shop for all things Christmas - you name it you can buy it, including a giant toy version of a full size reindeer (go figure!). Today we are going to be driving up through the smokey mountains themselves and leaving Tennessee behind us as we descend into North Carolina. Accents are much thicker here than elsewhere, if the accent gets any stronger I'll need a translator!
Tonight we are camping again, down in Asheville (hopefully), so I'm hoping we don't have any furry visitors while we are cooking - since we are now very much in bear country.
This morning after checking out of the Chattanooga Choo Choo (Holiday Inn), we went to the worlds steepest Incline Railway at St.Elmo (at 72 Degrees incline it is very very steep), up to Lookout Mountain, which is not that bad a view. After this we went to Rock City, now lets be fair, both of us agreed that it was crap! like some berk decided to make a walking tour between some rocks, then put a few plastic gnomes in little holes and pretend it was something to behold. They even had a man made waterfall. The only claim to fame that Rock City had was that you could view 7 states from one location (including Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Missouris and Kentucky). So at 13USD dollars each, we wos robbed (they apparently dont give a refund if you think its crap).
Anyhoo we drove from Chattanooga to Tellico Plains on the usual uneventful roads (I was driving so no weaving or threat of arrest from the local law enforcement).
We are now at a KOA campground at the foot of the Apppalachian Mountains (bear country and Wrong Turn country for any fans of macabre horror movies).
Tomorrow sees us travelling to Pigeon Forge (which is near Dollywood, but there is no way on this earth that I will be dragged in to that). They have their 5,000,000 light display on for Christmas so we are off to see that.
Well just under 2 weeks till we arrive in Florida for well earned rest (we are currently running at 37 nights hotel to 19 nights camping). Its 5 hours behind the UK now and at 70Degrees is very very warm outside.
Oh well thats it for now.
The 2 hr drive across to Chattanooga went through amazing scenery, all Autumnal colours on the trees and pretty houses.
So, before we arrived in Lynchburg, Craig mentioned in his last update we went to Belle Meade Plantation on the outskirts of Nashville. What can I say, the tour was "dull as dishwater", the guide nearly as old as the house and we were stuck on the tour for over an hour since our co-tour attendees loved to ask lots and lots of silly questions. The only interesting piece I learnt was the this was the first planatation established in Tennessee in the 1800's to raise & breed race horses. The most famous of all (forgot the name of the thing) was shipped to England and won races at Doncaster, Ascot and all the major race events of the period. As we drove through Tennessee to Lynchburg there are now lots and lots of major horse breeders and extensive stables/paddocks. The Belle Meade claim to fame is that the bloodline from one of the horses is still going strong across the world.
Ok, so you can wake up now after I've imparted that delightful history, and imagine how fun it was to have all the names of the horses (we know nothing about horse races) that have this true blood in them today recited to us by our animated tour guide(by animated, I mean that she wobbled on the spot occasionally when she forgot her lines)
So next up after a bit of a sightseeing jaunt around Chattanooga will be the Smoky Mountains! Weather here by the way is a nice warm and sunny 72F.
We went round Graceland which was surprisingly small for a man like Elvis, the self-guided tour was very impressive and the only things that you could not see was the upstairs. The trophy room with all the gold and plantinum discs was something else.
What I did find very sad was the fact that you can go and see his grave and that of his family, which really should be very private. All told it was impressive to see the Graceland Mansion. The cars were ok and the private jet was quite a site (the shops were all very tacky).
We camped the night in Buffalo, listening to the trucks going up and down the Interstate all evening (very loud).
Today we headed off for the Loveless Cafe and then the Belle Mead Plantation, but the highlight of the day was Lorna being pulled over by the local law enforcement, who suspected her of drink driving cos she was "weaving" on the road. After he found out we were Brits he let us drive on, although given how some Americans drive in this country (cutting each other up, swerving all over the place and driving like nutters) how could he tell we were weaving. Oh well was fun to see (thought I would get pulled first) and to listen to Lorna wittering.
We went for lunch at the Loveless Motel (no love lost there) and then had a rather boring tour round the Belle Mead Plantation, but Lorna can tell you more about that later this week.
We will be heading off to Lynchberg tomorrow (something to do with a bloke called Jack), where we will stop in Dr Cox's B&B, then Thursday night we are stopping at the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo Choo (kipping in a rail car).
All told a fun week.
Bye for now.
At 11am they march the ducks (yes thats right, ducks) down from their Penthouse suite in the hotel (ducks get a Penthouse suite, god I would hate to see their Bill at the end of the month, sorry couldn't resist that one) into the pond in the middle of the hotel and then at 5pm march them back up to the Penthouse suite in the hotel. Strange and wierd all at the same time.
We went for food in the Kings Palace Cafe, which was average with the worlds worst waitress, who was either high on drugs or smashed on alcohol and lets face it she was crap. She kept coming over every 30 seconds to see if we wanted anything else, trying to rip the dish out of your hands before you had finished eating and then when it came to presenting the bill, she returned 5 times to the table to check if we had put money in the envelope and how big her tip would be. Here's a tip, learn to serve properly.
I persuaded Lorna to go to the cinema today to see SAW II, which I have to say absolutely ROCKS, the first one has nothing on this movie, it was so bad in places that one woman came out of the cinema white as a sheet feeling very ill. It isn't for the faint hearted, but a very very gruesome film.
Anyway tomorrow it looks like we have to go and see some singers mansion, dont really want to disappoint Lorna on this, but I think he is dead, or working on isle 13 at Wallmart.
Thankyou Very Much!!!!!!!!
Well we have arrived in Memphis after travelling yesterday down the Great River Road out of St Louis (scary run down Eastern part of St Louis with BIG guys in cars just eyeing the car up and down). We travelled down as far as Cairo, just a convenient place to stop and checked into the Days Inn - hmm, whatever Days it had most of them had been used up...really dodgy place with lots of noise from the other guests and what seemed to be a number of families spending more time in the corridors than their rooms. Last nights tea was a delectable "carry-out" procured from the high class establishment "Truck Stop Restaurant" next to the hotel. We did consider eating in the restaurant (ok, greasy cafe) but couldn't actually see each other over the table for the smoke from the locals. So, safely back in the room we enjoyed chicken strips and cherry pie.
Cairo itself has only one thing to offer - Fort Defiance State Park which is a piece of grass you can stand on and look at the Mississippi and Ohio rivers colliding and forming the even bigger Mississippi river. Ok, so Craig was entirely unimpressed with this scene, and the park was, shall we say, empty. But its rare to see such a big river. The rest of Cairo resembles Redcar without the sea or for those of you in the South of the UK - Brixton.
So obviously we were up early this morning and on the road towards Memphis - nice scenery and dodgy rough looking places open out to huge houses and massive front gardens. It's still really green here too with some pretty colours on the trees as they are starting to change to Fall. With nothing really to stop for we did the 3 hr drive with just one stop for food. We learnt a new phrase. On telling the waitress at the local restaurant that we were English she said " That's Tight" Now we are not sure as to the reference but it came with a big smile, so either it was a good thing to be "Tight" or she has experience of UK tourists not tipping. We'll never know...
So, back to Memphis. We are staying in a nice Holiday Inn up near the University and tommorrow will go visit Graceland (No! screams Craig behind me), before spending Monday visiting the centre of Memphis and saying hello to the Peabody Ducks and shopping in the Peabody Mall. After that its a few nights camping (our first since we left Colorado) before we start heading up into the Smoky Mountains.
Elvis has left the Building..
We went to the St.Louis Museum which has the biggest exhibition of fun things to do (think about Eureka and multiply by 10). There are 5 storey slides, climbing frames to old WWII bombers, metal mesh crawl cages and aquariums all in one location, it was strange but a lot of fun at the same time.
We found a decent restaurant today in the St.Louis Central train station (Hoolihans), which served up oodles of grub (very nice too), then on to the Blues Cruise this evening with an excellent blues band playing onboard for the last 2 hours 30 mins. The bottle of plonk was Martini Asti Spumanti (very sweet and not too good, but hey its alcohol), so we spent the night going up and down the Mississippi whilst watching some sozzled American couples practice their dance steps (obviously timed to the music, or slightly off it) to Ray Charles and a host of others.
On the way to the Cruise we were stopped by Fox Channel 2 news doing an article on the Arch (which it happens is 40 years old on the 28th Oct) and asked us to do a little Q&A for the locals. Not one to turn down his 15 mins of fame Craig went straight for it answering questions on the Archway (making up the answers) and sounding like a hammed up version of Judith Charmers on the Holiday show. It would appear that they wont be asking Craig to join Fox news at any point in the future, so looks like his fame has come and gone.
After the Cruise we decided to make our way back across the blacked out Jefferson park (spooky) and through the deserted streets,expert runners we aint, but I am sure we covered the 1.5 mile faster than Roger Bannister on speed.
Tomorrow we head on to Cairo, Illinois.