Day 86 - Nashville, Tennessee - Part 1

Nashville is such a neat city. Our first night in town we had dinner downtown and then headed to the honky tonk bars. There is a section of about four blocks that are jammed with country bars with live music day & night.

Many country singers have been discovered in these bars and are now some of the biggest country stars. They play in these bars for nothing but tips, in hopes of being discovered.

At night the whole area looks like a mini Las Vegas but it's missing the gambling. We had a great time walking around and listening to the various artist.

Day 80/86 - Cave City, Kentucky

Mammoth Cave is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and is located about 80 milse south of Louisville, Ky. There are over 350 miles of cave that have been mapped and they think there are at least double that which haven't been mapped yet.

This is the original opening to the cave, which has been open to tourist since the late 1800's. They have several other manmade openings so all the tours aren't so long of a walk. The constant temperature in the cave is 54 degrees year round.

There are many stalagtites (down from ceiling) and stalagmites (up from floor) to be seen on any of many tour choices. The tours are all walking tours and are up and down stairways and paths. Even thought if's cool in the cave, it's easy to work up a sweat during your tour.

Day 76 - Louisville, Kentucky

I was born in Louisville and still have some nephews there so it's always a nice stop to see relatives and bring back old memories. We were lucky this year that we hit town during the State Fair. We spent a day at the fair and had a blast. Janie had never been to a State Fair before and thought it was great. It's a huge fair! They have a Six Flags that is on the fair grounds so it makes for a really big deal.

Louisville is also the home to the Louisville Slugger baseball bats (they have a nice museum at the factory) and Mohammad Ali (who also has a museum of his career).

Day 72/75 - Springfield, Ohio

There are no pictures for this stop and nothing exciting to tell you about. We just stopped and relaxed for a few days before heading south. We like to have these kind of stops every once and a while.

Day 71 - Columbus, Ohio

We spent the morning at the Columbus Zoo. This is the home of Jack Hanna who used to bring animals to the Johnny Carson show, and is supposed to be one of the most renowned zoos in the country. We found it very nice and enjoyable. The displays are all in natural settings, which makes viewing nice and I'm sure it's easier on the animals. They have the oldest living gorilla that was born in captivity....55 years old.

After the zoo, we hit the road and drove to Springfield, Ohio.

Day 70 - Cleveland, Ohio

We didn't actually travel far today because we stopped in Cleveland and spent most of the day at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It's a very interesting place to visit and we enjoyed it very much. It's a shame they don't allow cameras at all. There are displays that show artists from all phases of Rock & Roll from the 50's to today. Not only are there costumes & instruments of various artists but they explain the evolution of Rock & Roll through the years.

Of course, they had a nice display in the lobby for Michael Jackson (there was much more inside). There are several movies, some radio studios and a number of interactive displays. You can easily spend the day!

Day 66/69 - Loudonville, Ohio

Loudonville is a nice little city in central Ohio. We stayed in a campground called Wally World (Chevy Chase, eat your heart out). Actually, "Wally" is the name of the road the campground is on. This is a huge camping area of the state because of the Mohican State Park and Mohican river.

The campground is located on the Mohican river and we spent a few hours going 8 miles down the river in kyaks. No white water, just a nice current. Very enjoyable afternoon!

This area is in a 4 county region that has the largest population of Amish in the country. I was surprised to hear that because I thought that would be the Lancaster, PA area. We visited a working farm and toured the home, barn and schoolhouse to see how the Amish live. It was very interesting.
The home furnishings were very basic and close to antique in style. The Amish don't believe in anything that is fancy. Their entire home is extremely plain but they keep it very clean. Most of the time men are in the fields and the women are in the kitchen. They can ride or drive a tractor or car but they cannot own one. A thin difference.

This contraption is called a weasel. The Amish women use it to keep their yarn straight. When they load the yarn onto the wheel it 'pops' when it's full. Thus the phrase, "Pop goes the weasel" (True Story).

Days 64/65 - Conneaut, Ohio

Conneaut (Con-knee-ought) is a neat little town on Lake Erie in northern Ohio. They have a very nice RV park so we decided to spend a couple of days seeing the area. The town has a very neat little railroad museum in town for no charge. It was cool to see an old steam engine again!
There are many vineyards and winerys in the area. I was surprised to find out that this is one of the largest grape growing areas in the country, mostly Concord for Welchs. The wine was good but nothing to write home about but they are very proud of it.

There are a ton of covered bridges in the area. They have a map that takes you to 10 of them on a 15 mile round trip route. It makes for a very nice afternoon, especially when you stop for wine tastings in between bridges.

Day 63 - Buffalo, New York

The main reason we decided to spend time in Buffalo is because we heard they had the "Body Worlds" exihibition here and we wanted to see it. All I can say is, WOW! This exhibit shows you things about the body that only doctors have seen and they do it in a very interesting, non-horrific maner. It is truly amazing what an intricate machine the body really is. It's a shame some of us try so hard to destroy it! Seriously, if this exhibit comes anywhere close to you, take the time to go see it. You'll be glad you did.

Days 60 - 63 - Buffalo, New York

We're staying at the Elks Lodge in Lancaster, NY, which is a suburb of Buffalo. It's a very nice lodge and we met some nice guys who gave us some ideas of things to do while we're here.

We drove by the "Home of the Buffalo Wing" (big deal!). Actually we just saw this sign while we were driving down the street in a neighborhood that wasn't very nice.

We took the day off yesterday and played golf at a very nice course. Janie shot a 39 on the front and 44 on the back. I didn't do much worse but she beat me (Oh No!).

Day 60 - Warsaw, New York

We took a little detour from our planned route to visit Letchworth State Park. This was only about 35 miles out of the way and Letchworth is a beautiful New York state park that is 17 miles long and features a set of three waterfalls. The waterfalls are beautiful and really quite large. We spent the day in the park and had a picnic lunch. The detour was quite nice and we enjoyed the time.

Day 56 - Lewiston, New York

Lewiston is the home of Old Fort Niagara built by the French in 1726. It was expanded when the English gained control in 1759. The British held the fort until they were forced to yeild it to the US by treaty in 1796. The British recaptured it in 1813 and they ceded it to the US a second time in 1815 at the end of the war of 1812. The fort's strategic location at the mouth of the Niagara river as it flows into lake Ontario, made it's possesion vital to all concerned during the 17 and 18 hundreds. During the Civil War and WWI, the fort was utilized as a training facility for American soldiers. It's extremely interesting to see and hear about these things that were important to the formation of our nation but I certainly didn't feel that way when I was in high school. LOL!