Thursday, December 10, 2009
New Job
Started my new job last week at Exloc Instruments www.exloc.com and pretty excited about it!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Tuesday & Wednesday, November 10th and 11th
Tuesday-Wednesday, November 10th &11th
Allen and Kathryn are looking forward to their own beds. Frankly, Sarah and Taylor could go around again. Sarah is a singing woman. When she has a song in her head, she sings it over and over (and over and over and over). Today she was alternating between Peter Gabriel and Daughtrey. “Sir’, she said, ‘Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home…” and “ I’m going home, to the place where I belong…” She is not ‘all done’ with this trip but I think she is ready to see her friends and family.
On I-85 at the Virginia line, ,I was tempted to stop and kiss the ground. I settled for a quick genuflect instead. When you cross into God’s country after being gone for a long time, it is a moving experience, you realize.
The girls jumped up and down and we all shared a round of high-fives. Allen’s cousin Lloyd lives there with his family and they have two boys who are just slightly younger than our girls. Sarah and Laura have always gotten along famously and the girls maintained their track record of doing nothing to draw attention to themselves. They played with their Bo and Lawson nonstop for two solid days. We arrived on the front edge of Tropical Storm Ida and it has rained for the last two day, with the expectation that it will continue to rain for two more. We never left the house and yet the kids never stopped playing. They were exceptional. Not a single argument. We woke up the morning of the 12th with school cancelled due to flooding. Leaving Norfolk was a little frustrating due to tunnel closings and flooded streets but we managed. ETA-Tappahannock is around 2pm (we stopped for home-school at the Panera at Hampton Colliseum).
This is our final post and the end of the voyage. I have enjoyed writing the blog and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. To our friends and family, thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes. To the folks we don’t even know who are still following along, thank you for joining us. I hope we have inspired you to take a trip like this of your own.
God Bless You!
Allen and Sarah
As we close, we have some statistics and fun facts to share about the trip and the RV:
RV Specifications:
- 32’ long and 8’ wide
- 18,230 pounds
- Acceleration 0-60 in 12.8
- 75 Gallon Fuel Tank
- 80 Gallon fresh water tank
- Sleeping capacity for 4 adults and 4 children
- 10 gallon hot water heater
- 2’ by 3’ shower stall
Trip Details:
- Travelled 10,748 miles in the RV
- Travelled an additional 2,200 miles in the towed car
- Burned 1,630 gallons of gasoline in the RV. Burned about 90 gallons in the towed car.
- Average fuel economy ~6.5 mpg
- 23 States visited.
- 13 National Parks
- 4 Great Lakes
- One minor incident (hit a street sign with the RV’s mirror)
- One minor fire (fire alarms worked perfectly)
- Memories for a lifetime
Word of Advice: Go do a trip like this. Pehaps a little smaller scale or a shorter duration but go see this great beautiful land of ours. You won’t regret it!
Allen and Kathryn are looking forward to their own beds. Frankly, Sarah and Taylor could go around again. Sarah is a singing woman. When she has a song in her head, she sings it over and over (and over and over and over). Today she was alternating between Peter Gabriel and Daughtrey. “Sir’, she said, ‘Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home…” and “ I’m going home, to the place where I belong…” She is not ‘all done’ with this trip but I think she is ready to see her friends and family.
On I-85 at the Virginia line, ,I was tempted to stop and kiss the ground. I settled for a quick genuflect instead. When you cross into God’s country after being gone for a long time, it is a moving experience, you realize.
The girls jumped up and down and we all shared a round of high-fives. Allen’s cousin Lloyd lives there with his family and they have two boys who are just slightly younger than our girls. Sarah and Laura have always gotten along famously and the girls maintained their track record of doing nothing to draw attention to themselves. They played with their Bo and Lawson nonstop for two solid days. We arrived on the front edge of Tropical Storm Ida and it has rained for the last two day, with the expectation that it will continue to rain for two more. We never left the house and yet the kids never stopped playing. They were exceptional. Not a single argument. We woke up the morning of the 12th with school cancelled due to flooding. Leaving Norfolk was a little frustrating due to tunnel closings and flooded streets but we managed. ETA-Tappahannock is around 2pm (we stopped for home-school at the Panera at Hampton Colliseum).
This is our final post and the end of the voyage. I have enjoyed writing the blog and I hope you have enjoyed reading it. To our friends and family, thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes. To the folks we don’t even know who are still following along, thank you for joining us. I hope we have inspired you to take a trip like this of your own.
God Bless You!
Allen and Sarah
As we close, we have some statistics and fun facts to share about the trip and the RV:
RV Specifications:
- 32’ long and 8’ wide
- 18,230 pounds
- Acceleration 0-60 in 12.8
- 75 Gallon Fuel Tank
- 80 Gallon fresh water tank
- Sleeping capacity for 4 adults and 4 children
- 10 gallon hot water heater
- 2’ by 3’ shower stall
Trip Details:
- Travelled 10,748 miles in the RV
- Travelled an additional 2,200 miles in the towed car
- Burned 1,630 gallons of gasoline in the RV. Burned about 90 gallons in the towed car.
- Average fuel economy ~6.5 mpg
- 23 States visited.
- 13 National Parks
- 4 Great Lakes
- One minor incident (hit a street sign with the RV’s mirror)
- One minor fire (fire alarms worked perfectly)
- Memories for a lifetime
Word of Advice: Go do a trip like this. Pehaps a little smaller scale or a shorter duration but go see this great beautiful land of ours. You won’t regret it!
Saturday & Sunday, November 8th & 9th
Saturday & Sunday – November 7&8
We got to Fuquay-Varina (ever notice how the North Carolinians like to hyphenate their town names?) just after lunch and settled in for a great visit with old friends. The kids disappeared and we basically didn’t see them again until dinnertime. One sure way to make sure your kids play nice is to keep them locked in a rolling fiberglass box for a couple of months. That way, when you let them out, the last thing they want to do is have anything to do with their parents. They play nicely and everything. Try it!
The adults settled down in the family room to catch up and talk about the great adventure. Scott is my college roommate so we’ve known the Walkers for fourteen years. Never one to keep a party smaller than it should be, Erin invited Brad, Sarah, and baby-girl Green to keep things lively. We got to catch up, meet each other’s newer kids, rehash old jokes and stories…good times!
One thing I love about the Walkers is that they like complicated plans as much as the Taliaferros. There is no plan which cannot be augmented with more logistics and complexity. Erin and Scott had been promising that their daughter, Ainsley, could go visit Erin’s cousin in Charlotte and through twists and turns, determined that this was the only weekend it could work out. Additionally, Erin had a business meeting in Charlotte on Monday morning so we loaded the entire contingency into the RV and drove together to Charlotte from Varina. We watched the football games at Erin’s cousin’s and then left Erin there with her luggage and loaded all the kids back into the RV for our return to Varina. It was a long day but a lot of fun to all ride along visiting together. The kids scampered into the back and watched movies.
On Monday morning we held our school at the Walkers and watched the baby while Scott ran the kids to their school. We got caught up on laundry and then said our goodbyes right after lunch.
We got to Fuquay-Varina (ever notice how the North Carolinians like to hyphenate their town names?) just after lunch and settled in for a great visit with old friends. The kids disappeared and we basically didn’t see them again until dinnertime. One sure way to make sure your kids play nice is to keep them locked in a rolling fiberglass box for a couple of months. That way, when you let them out, the last thing they want to do is have anything to do with their parents. They play nicely and everything. Try it!
The adults settled down in the family room to catch up and talk about the great adventure. Scott is my college roommate so we’ve known the Walkers for fourteen years. Never one to keep a party smaller than it should be, Erin invited Brad, Sarah, and baby-girl Green to keep things lively. We got to catch up, meet each other’s newer kids, rehash old jokes and stories…good times!
One thing I love about the Walkers is that they like complicated plans as much as the Taliaferros. There is no plan which cannot be augmented with more logistics and complexity. Erin and Scott had been promising that their daughter, Ainsley, could go visit Erin’s cousin in Charlotte and through twists and turns, determined that this was the only weekend it could work out. Additionally, Erin had a business meeting in Charlotte on Monday morning so we loaded the entire contingency into the RV and drove together to Charlotte from Varina. We watched the football games at Erin’s cousin’s and then left Erin there with her luggage and loaded all the kids back into the RV for our return to Varina. It was a long day but a lot of fun to all ride along visiting together. The kids scampered into the back and watched movies.
On Monday morning we held our school at the Walkers and watched the baby while Scott ran the kids to their school. We got caught up on laundry and then said our goodbyes right after lunch.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, November 6th – Winston Salem
On Friday morning, we had breakfast with the Ways and then said goodbye. We had a full morning of classes with the girls and then hit the local mall for haircuts, some early Christmas shopping, and lunch. Afterwards, we went over to a big local park and went biking as a family for an hour or so.
We headed over to south Winston-Salem to see Lynn (Taliaferro) Parker and new hubby Mark. We got a tour of the house they are renovating and just had some quality visitation. They got married at the end of September of this year but we were between LA and San Diego on the RV trip and just couldn’t make sense out of the one-way tickets, red-eye flights, and rental cars necessary to effect an appearance. We settled on something special from our travels as a wedding gift and a promise to come take them flying when I get home and get current on my license again. (you have to fly regularly to take people up and I need an hour or three to catch up since being gone)
So WOW. Lynn and Mark’s place is awesome. It was constructed during WWII and because of materials rationing, was constructed largely of concrete. It is such a unique and interesting layout that Sarah and I spent the entire time there figuring out how we would organize and decorate it if it was ours. We really like the idea of renovating and refurbishing an old house. I suspect we wouldn’t like the *doing* part as much as the planning but we sure do like the idea of it. Taylor and Kathryn liked Mark’s motorcycle. They liked it somewhat less so when he started that big Harley up inside the small garage.
Thanks for having us guys!
Thursday, November 5th - Winston Salem
Thursday, November 5th
A massive landslide in western NC has closed the interstate for what is projected to be several months. We broke off onto a little two lane road to cross from Knoxville over to Asheville. It literally took forever. We trudged up and down steep hills at 35mph for hours before getting back onto civilization. I say this as if I didn’t enjoy it. I really did. As we all (but me rather acutely) become increasingly fatigued by the trip, we tend to stop enjoying what we are doing and begin focusing on the end. This is a poor way to end things and I genuinely am trying to enjoy the last week and a half but we are all tired of the travel routine. The trip on Rt. 75 was just beautiful. The trees retained a little bit of fall color which we haven’t seen or enjoyed at all on this trip and the scenery was awesome. We have seen the Rockies, the Cascades, the redwoods, the southwest desert, the great plains, and still…nothing is as beautiful as the Appalachians this time of year. While this great beautiful creation is amazing in every regard, there is nothing in this nation of ours as beautiful as when fall paints the Smokies and the Blue Ridge in the rich shades of fall.
I’m biased, to be sure and don’t even apologize for it… but I’m right.
Every now and then, you stumble into a surprisingly nice campground and you wish you had time to stay a while longer. That was our experience at Mama Gertie’s Campground in Swannanoa, just east of Asheville. Unlike most commercial locations, it is tucked in a littler ‘holler about a mile from I-40. The owners were friendly, the facility pristine, and a babbling brook ran right past the RV. We all love the sound of rain on the roof but all night, leaves were falling and produced almost the same sound. It was so peaceful and we nearly had the place to ourselves. If you ever have the chance, stay there on your way through in your RV.
We held school and then rolled for Winston Salem. Sarah’s buddy Mike Way from Physical Therapy school and his lovely wife BethAnn live on the western side of Winston-Salem and have kids just slightly younger than ours. Beth Ann’s mom was also in town so it was a full crowd. The kids wore themselves out after going for months without real playmates their own age and we had little people spread out up and down the cul-de-sac on every manner of rolling device. What a good time! If the Way kids had been given a vote, they’d have sent us on home and kept the RV. Pic Pic Pic. They climbed onto, into, and over everything in there with our kids, having a marvelous time. We herded them all out to the RV for bedtime stories and then said good night. Our kids were out within moments of lying down.
November 4
Nov 4: (Sarah as today's guest author)
Oak Ridge is not only famous for the Oak Ridge Boys, but, more importantly, Oak Ridge played a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project. Oak Ridge did not appear on any map during WWII because they were secretly refining uranium. The town was built for that purpose and provided the uranium for Little Boy bomb (Hiroshima). Allen needed a break from the family (I know, you are just not sure how that could be possible) so he headed to the Science and Energy Museum. The kids had brief school and then it was time for a field trip. Sarah and the girls headed to the Children’s Museum. It was exceptional. The girls played and explored for about three hours and learned on some diverse topics in the meantime. I love that sneaky learning thing.
Allen took some time to decompress and get his head back in the game. Sarah sort of got a little break when I came home a week or two ago. We had a little chat about it and Allen reports that he is “Totally and completely done with this trip”. No surprise there. I’m amazed he didn’t pull the plug a while back. We are making tracks across Tennessee so it won’t be long now.
I do have a couple of pictures to share from our visit with the Clintons that I just got uploaded.
November 3
Nov 3: Nashville. (Sarah writing today)
Here’s the thing, it may not be right or fair, but we are really just trying to get through Tennessee. There are cool things to see in the state. However, being completely denied by Memphis, coupled with the facts that the end is in sight and we are starting to shift thinking to back to our lives as soon as we get to North Carolina. We are basically done sightseeing and have our sights set on visiting friends & family. We just wanted to get through Tennessee. Nashville is cool, though. The morning started early with a trip to the grocery store. Kathryn declared herself ready for some Mommy/Kathryn time, so we took off together. Upon our return, Taylor greeted Sarah with a big bear hug. Kathryn watched the scene for just a moment and then yelled, “I’m coming in!” and jumped on the hugging mass. Nobody is getting affection in Kathryn’s presence without her being a part of it. Taylor tolerates to a degree, but she has gotten feistier on this trip and that is a good thing. We finished school and headed to the Opryland Hotel. We figured if we had to pick one thing, the kids would enjoy that more than the Country Music Hall of Fame or the like. For those of you who have not seen it, the Opryland Hotel has a river delta built into the middle of it. There are over seven acres of glass ceilings, walkways, and manicured gardens in the lobby. They were decorating for Christmas, which always makes spaces look even better. The kids had a ball. They were exploring the twists and turns throughout. It was a good way to burn some energy off them before we piled back into the RV and headed toward Knoxville. We got as far as Oak Ridge, home of the famous Boys.
Here’s the thing, it may not be right or fair, but we are really just trying to get through Tennessee. There are cool things to see in the state. However, being completely denied by Memphis, coupled with the facts that the end is in sight and we are starting to shift thinking to back to our lives as soon as we get to North Carolina. We are basically done sightseeing and have our sights set on visiting friends & family. We just wanted to get through Tennessee. Nashville is cool, though. The morning started early with a trip to the grocery store. Kathryn declared herself ready for some Mommy/Kathryn time, so we took off together. Upon our return, Taylor greeted Sarah with a big bear hug. Kathryn watched the scene for just a moment and then yelled, “I’m coming in!” and jumped on the hugging mass. Nobody is getting affection in Kathryn’s presence without her being a part of it. Taylor tolerates to a degree, but she has gotten feistier on this trip and that is a good thing. We finished school and headed to the Opryland Hotel. We figured if we had to pick one thing, the kids would enjoy that more than the Country Music Hall of Fame or the like. For those of you who have not seen it, the Opryland Hotel has a river delta built into the middle of it. There are over seven acres of glass ceilings, walkways, and manicured gardens in the lobby. They were decorating for Christmas, which always makes spaces look even better. The kids had a ball. They were exploring the twists and turns throughout. It was a good way to burn some energy off them before we piled back into the RV and headed toward Knoxville. We got as far as Oak Ridge, home of the famous Boys.
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