Pickin' In The Park

This past weekend, we took the RV to Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, NC (just south of Greensboro) to attend the High Lonesome Strings' 12th annual "Pickin' In The Park" bluegrass festival. We arrived on Friday afternoon, set up camp with about 30 other RVs owned by lovers of bluegrass music, enjoyed a group hot dog feast and then played bluegrass music all evening long. On Saturday morning, I started the day by attending a fiddle workshop down by the lake which turned into a bluegrass/old-time music jam that lasted until the early afternoon. While I was jamming, the official "Pickin' In The Park" event got started on an outdoor stage which showcased many local bluegrass bands as part of a free concert that lasted until about 6:00pm. After dinner, jamming started up again in the camping area and we all spent the evening picking tunes with friends. Lots of fun despite the occasional rain and we're already looking forward to next year.

Keeling, VA

On Thursday, we hit the road again to attend our Sams-O-Wake RV club's monthly campout in southern Virginia. We were joined there by about 18 other RVs from the club and we had a wonderful long weekend visiting with old and new friends, sharing tales of everyone's RVing adventures and eating out at local restaurants.

On Saturday morning, we went with most of the club to visit the American Armored Foundation's Tank Museum in Danville, VA. We spent many hours wandering around the 350,000+ square feet of the most extensive collection of international tank and cavalry artifacts from around the world (over 20,000 artifacts). They even had displays of military uniforms, small arms and over 700 hats and helmets. Quite an interesting place to visit. We returned home on Sunday to spend a few days of 'normalcy' before leaving on our next trip.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Yesterday, after spending three whole days at home, we drove the RV out to Camp Hatteras RV Park in Waves, NC - about as far East as you can go in NC without getting wet. Our campsite is on the Outer Banks within a stone's throw of the Pamlico Sound where we're attending the 2009 North Carolina WIT (Winnebago-Itasca Travelers) State Rally with about 70 other RVs made by Winnebago. We've met some nice folks and have enjoyed sitting back and watching all the 'kids' parasailing in the Sound in the gusty coastal winds we have today.

We drove about 25 miles further down the Outer Banks to visit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse this morning and, thanks to several busloads of kids with tickets that were waiting in line, we decided not to climb the 250+ steps to the top today. We did view a movie about how the lighthouse was moved over 2,900 feet inland in 1999 to help preserve it. Quite impressive indeed and one more lighthouse magnet now hangs on our fridge.

Marion, NC

Yesterday, we drove a whopping 40 miles down the mountains to Marion, NC to attend the North Carolina State Samboree RV Rally with a bunch of friends from our local RV club, the Sams-O-Wake. We'll be staying here for the rest of the week enjoying a lot of socializing, looking at vendors and just plain having fun before returning home on Sunday. This will be our first time home in about 6 weeks but we'll only be there for a few days. Stay tuned...more to come.

Asheville, NC

Well, we're finally back in our home state again. We arrived in Asheville yesterday, made arrangements for today's activities and went out for my birthday dinner.

This morning, we went to Biltmore House where we spent several hours touring the estate on Segways - our second Segway experience of the trip. We rode the X2 offroad version and needed it as we rode over gravel paths and across fields and up and down hills. One stop gave us a unique view of the back of the Biltmore House from atop a large hill. What a fun experience!

In the afternoon we toured through the house seeing all four floors and the basement area. The last time we were here, only the first and second floors were open. There is a lot to see in this old home. We also toured the gardens which were in full bloom. Totally breathtaking. It costs a lot more to tour the Biltmore than it did 10+ years ago but it was worth every penny.

To make a perfect day even better, an old friend, Tom Lawton, picked me up at the RV and took me to a local old-time music jam where we spent the evening playing music. What a great way to end the day. Thanks, Tom!

Knoxville, TN

Our first stop today was the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, TN. We expected a small display of local arts and crafts but were completely surprised by the number of buildings (34) with most holding a vast collection of old artifacts and furnished rooms showing the life and times of the residents of the Appalacian Mountains. One building (my favorite) had displays of old musical instruments...fiddles, banjos, dulcimers, and even some very unusual instruments like an ironing board dulcimer and a banjo made out of a toilet seat. There were peacocks and turkeys roaming freely as we toured the various buildings. There was even a bluegrass band playing on one of the porches. A very interesting place indeed.

Our next stop was Oak Ridge, TN, that was built under a cloak of great secrecy during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. This is where the world's first atomic weapons were produced. We toured the American Museum of Science and Technology which, while interesting, was more of a children's learning area. We decided to drive around the Oak Ridge facility (which we heard was interesting) but instead led to a potential security risk to the USA! As we entered the Y-12 Site, we were informed by the guard that this was a secured area. "No problem," I said, "I'll just back up and do a u-turn." The guard said I had to wait to be 'escorted' out of the area. After having to fill out an information sheet, having my driver's licence scanned for their records, and having my hands and car scanned for explosive devices (no kidding!), a security vehicle showed up and escorted us as we did our u-turn. So much for our paranoid society and so much for wanting to tour the area.

From there we went somewhere a lot safer...Norris Dam. It was constructed in the mid-1930's as the first major project for the Tennessee Valley Authority. We got to drive across the dam (without being accused of anything) and visited several scenic overlooks. A very beautiful dam indeed.

Nashville, TN

This is Susan's second and my fourth time to Nashville, so we didn't go see the usual Grand Old Opry sites. Instead, we started the day with a visit to The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson. We took a walking tour of the house and grounds plus a horse-drawn carriage tour of the back of the property where the crops grew, the water well still flows and the old slave quarters used to be. The house still has its original wallpaper and furnishings.

From there, we went to visit the Lane Motor Museum, without a doubt one of the most unique car collections we have ever seen. We found out about the museum from a friend's email about an old unusual car called a Helicron that is half car and half airplane (e.g. propellor powered) just one day before we went to Nashville. We just had to see it but, unfortunately, the Helicron was out on tour when we were there. But the other cars in the collection were so unusual and interesting that only seeing a model of the Helicron wasn't a real disappointment. If you ever get to Nashville, check this place out!


After dinner, we went to the Fort Negley Visitors Center where I got to play in an old-time music jam with the Nashville Old-Time String Band Association. I was surprised to see an old friend, Ed Gregory, that I had met at NashCamp several years ago. We played music for several hours and had a great time. Oh how I miss playing old-time...