2019 Spring Southern Trip: Kentucky and Home

  Wednesday April 24:  235 miles and parked at Ft. Boonesborough SP, Lexington KY

We are on site 76 in background while Al is on 78 in foreground.

It was another sunny and warm day, and we were on the road by 8:45.  We took Interstate 65, and then the Bluegrass Parkway.  The countryside was scenic with rolling hills and lots of beautiful horse farms. We arrived at Fort Boonesborough about 2:30.  We're back in the Eastern Time Zone now.  This is a nice campground with spacious lots, especially the water and electric only sites, which we had.  The park was only about a quarter full, however almost every site had yellow tags on them representing that they were reserved for the coming weekend.  We learned that the last weekend in April is always fully booked for the huge horse show in nearby Lexington.  In fact, we are parked here because all the sites at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington are already fully booked. After sitting outside for cocktails, dinner tonight was a simple one of hotdogs and baked beans.

Thursday April 25:

The park consists of a campground, remains and cemetery of the original, and a re-creation/living museum of the settlement of Boonesborough.  Today we visited the rest of the park.  It turned out to a very interesting visit.  I'm glad we stayed here and got to visit the Fort Boonesborough re-creation. 

We had lunch at Hall's on the River.  This was a completely accidental find.  We saw an advertisement on a roadside billboard and decided to try it.  We ended up being served an excellent lunch!!  We sat on the porch with a nice view of the river.  

After lunch, we made a wine tasting stop at Talon Winery.  The wines were pleasant, but nothing special.  We bought a case anyway.  This was the first tasting we have ever been to where if you purchased a case, they did not comp the tasting fee.  Finally back to the campground where Sue and Al cooked pot roast for dinner.  We watched some of the NFL Draft programing.  The names of the athletes didn't mean anything, but was fun watching since we had been there and seen the stage and booth setups.  HUGE crowds on TV. Tomorrow we start the two day push back home.

Draft Weekend photo:  Credit to the Tennessean newspaper.

 Friday April 26:  441 miles and parked at Mercer/Grove City KOA, Mercer PA

The Fort Boonesborough campground was nearly full when we checked out this morning.  Lots of campers came in yesterday.  There was heavy rain overnight, but luckily, it stopped while we packed up and dumped.  But then we had more heavy rain on the drive today.  Today was the longest drive of the entire trip.  After 465 miles we arrived at the Mercer KOA about 5:30.  The rain had stopped, so we grilled flank steak for dinner and celebrated our last night on the road with a bottle of champaign.

Saturday April 27:  410 miles and HOME!!!!

We were on the road by 8:15.  It was an easy drive on Interstates except for the last 35 miles.  I-79 to I-90 to I-81 and then US Rt.11.  It was a cool 32 when we arrived back home.  Welcome to Northern New York.  We even hit a few snow flurries on the way.  The lawn was green, but the trees were still leafless.  As for the trip summary, 13 campgrounds over 29 nights and 3,503 miles.  As always, it's fun to travel, but there is still no place like home.

Stay tuned for further RV adventures.

2019 Spring Southern Trip: Nashville

 Saturday April 20:  275 miles and parked at Hoover RV Park, Hoover  AL

Hoover RV Park

Hoover Sports Complex

Sports Arena.  RV Park at the very far end where the trees are.

Today we headed north to start the return trip home.  The stop tonight was the "campground" at the Hoover Sports Complex.  Hoover is located just outside of Birmingham and the campground is a part of the parking lot that is set aside for RV'ers.  We had the place nearly to ourselves.  The site that we had reserved was occupied by what looked like a long termer, so we just picked another spot.  While not really a campground, it was a quiet and peaceful overnight.  We decided to go out for dinner to celebrate Judy's birthday at the Bonefish Grill, we had an amazing dinner.  I had Salmon while Judy opted for Grouper.

Easter Sunday April 21:  255 miles, parked at Nashville KOA, Nashville TN.

Site H-11, Nashville KOA Resort

Grilled steaks for dinner

It was a chilly 40 degrees at Hoover Sunday morning.  We left about 11:30 after Sue and Al returned from Easter church services.  The drive was on Interstate 65 all the way today, and it was a beautiful sunny and 75 when we arrived at the Nashville KOA.  The park was FULL, but it didn't seem crowded.  We sat outside for wine and snacks, and then grilled steaks and sweet potatoes for dinner.

Monday April 22:

Another beautiful sunny day that eventually reached 83.  We took the 11:00 AM shuttle to downtown Nashville that the campground offered.  It dropped us off on Lower Broadway St, the center of the music entertainment district.  Sometimes called Music Row, this street offers bar and restaurant venues too numerous to list.  Among the high profile ones owned by country music celebrities are Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, and Dierks Bentley, just to name a few.   While we didn't hit them all, we did especially liked Luke Bryan's Lukes 32 Bridge where we listened to excellent live music and ended up eating lunch.  While Broadway Street is always crowded, it was even more so this week because the NFL Draft was going to be broadcast live on an outdoor stage this upcoming weekend.

We caught the 3:30 shuttle back to the campground.  Another long, exhausting, but really fun day.  After naps and dinner, we sat around the campfire.

Tuesday April 23:

Another sunny day today.  After a quick Walmart run in the morning, we drove to the nearby Gaylord Opryland Hotel for shopping, lunch and sight seeing.  This place is HUGE with 2,888 rooms and three indoor garden areas.  Judy and I have been here before and we used to know an unknown "secret" free parking spot.  Apparently, the Gaylord found it and turned it into paid parking.  So we had to pay $35 to park today.  :-(  The Opryland Hotel is listed as one of the 30 largest hotels in the world and has dining and entertainment opportunities galore.  We walked the indoor gardens, did a little shopping and had lunch at the Falls Bar.

After a brief stop back at the campground to walk the dogs and freshen up, we headed to a show at the Grand Ole Opry.  We had purchased tickets several months before, which is necessary to get decent seats.  You never know who is playing, but it is always good.  They usually do five acts and each act does three songs.  We grabbed a light dinner at Dave and Busters in the shopping mall across the street, and then went to the Opry at 6:00 for the 7:00 show.  The music was amazing!!  The headliner tonight was Country Music Hall of Fame member and Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs.

The show ended at 9:00 and we fought the traffic and arrived back at the nearby campground about 9:30.  It was such a warm and beautiful night we sat outside for a nightcap.  Tomorrow we start the final push home.