Home stretch

We are currently in Kentucky with Ashley and Seann. This is more of a resting point, to visit with friends and have a break before the rest of the ride home. We are in the homestretch, getting ready to leave our last stop. Two days early but the dog will be very happy for that. We'll give the last update after we reach our final destination.

Nashville

Our hotel that was such a good deal on priceline did not stack up to the reviews. I had to take a benadryl after showing because of the moldy bathroom. Yuck. The room itself was fine but the bathroom was TERRIBLE. We reluctantly woke up, we have been so tired, and got ready to explore Nashville. Thanks to Lis and Joel we had tickets to see a few attractions. We went to the Belle Mead Plantation which is a very cool old horse breading plantation. This was a cool tour, Billy really enjoyed it since we were able to explore inside the house. What a building geek. ; )  After the Belle Mead we went to the Parthenon, it was cool to see the lifesize recreation of the real Parthenon. For lunch we found a restuarant we had seen on Man vs. Food, Roosters. I said we had to have BBQ while we are in Nashville, but when we got to the restaurant we realized we were eating Texas BBQ, pretty funny but we stayed anyway and enjoyed some of the best BBQ ever. After lunch we went to see the Grand Ole Opry, which isn't much to see if you aren't going to a show or paying for a tour, the building is closed to nonpaying visitors. We did venture to the Opryland Hotel, tip: park in the old mall parking and walk the lots charge $18.00+tax! This hotel was worth the hot long walk. Inside it is a lush botanical environment, and it kept going and going. Once site seeing was over we went to Andrea and Chris's who later in the evening took us to a wonderful taco shop and frozen yogurt shop. I hear Chris has a desire to open the frozen yogurt shop in Carlisle, we can only hope he follows through.

New Orleans

The drive from Texas to New Orleans consisted of some rain and thats about all of the entertainment. We left late so we missed the plantations that we were going to see so we headed straight to the hostel. Billy was a little leary when he saw the hostel that I had picked. It was a very excentric place, called the India House. It was an old Victorian style house with bright paint and travelers all around. There was a house cat too. They had an area for lounging, an area for tv, a kitchen, and a large back yard type courtyard with a pool, bar and grill, and sitting areas. It was by far not a fancy place, not dirty, but definately young traveler'esk. We had a private room which wasn't much larger then fitting a full size bed and about 4 feet x 6 feet of space. There was an airconditioner. It had the feel of a bungalow/clubhouse. After we checked in we took the trolly, just across the street, down to the French Quarter. We first stopped for some appitizers, alligator bites and jumbo. We happened upon a little expenisve of a place because we didn't know where we were going! After the gator bites we took a mule carriage ride of the French Quarter. It takes you through the more residential section and past some historical sites. The guide was very fun and knowledgable and we really liked the tour. After the tour we did more walking around the French Quarter and found our way to Bourbon St. It is pretty crazy and the later it gets the more wild it gets. There were police everywhere on horses and walking the street. Billy scored some beads from a lady on a balcony, it was funny. We finally found some dinner at a place called Mr. Chubby's. They were a small establishment with over 100 menu items. We got PoBoy's, Billy was able to get his crawfish so that was checked off the list too. I was not as impressed with PoBoy's as I thought I would be. After several times of walking up and down Bourbon St. people watching we had enough and went back to the trolly. We met an interesting homeless man, who was very sweet. He was sleeping on that particular trolly bench for 3 weeks now. He was reading his Bible when I sat down then he started talking with us. He told us about all of the violence that has been happening the past several days and that was why the police presence was so high. We had just missed a theft at the CVS across the street by about 30 minutes. I'm kind of glad by this point that we were headed back to the hostel. Before heading out of New Orleans I did make Billy get us some Binget's from Cafe De Monte, the olded coffee shop. It was pooring rain so I dropped him close and kept circling the block until he was finished in line. It was so crowded and crazy but the Bingiets were worth it!
We were rained out of Biloxi and the beach so we have headed back home via Nashville and Berea. We are in a hotel tonight and are going to take on Nashville tomorrow with a loose plan. Then to Andrea and Chris's for the night.
So after a long ride to the outskirts of Nashville we are ready for bed.

What Day Is It?

We are in Montgomery with the Herman family. Very nice to be with them. Today we went swimming with Ashlyn and Justin and are watching Night at the Museum II. Very fun. Tonight will be chicken fajitas with the family and Scott's brother Chad and mom Janet. So an update on the past couple of days...

Monday we drove from Phoenix to Van Horn, TX. We were very worried about the KOA Campground that I had a reservation at because the ones that we have passed along the trip were kind of dumpy. Upon arrival we were relieved because it was a very nice campground. Inground, clean, pool that we swam in. They had wireless internet and even a room with a television and cable. We had a backup plan that if it began to rain, as it had threatened, we would move the airmattress up to the loft area with the television. Although it never rained the wind blew all night long, blowing the tent down on us. Billy was up at 3am tying the tent to the picnic table he drug across the camp area. Needless to say we did not have a very restful sleep.
The drive to Van Horn was interesting. GPS seems to take us on the shortest route milage wise but not time wise. We definately took the scenic route through the mountains, and small town, and one lane highways. We did get to go through a Homeland Security checkpoint. It was pretty intimidating although we knew we were fine to go through. Oh, and Billy was pulled over somewhere in the middle of nowhere Texas. Our front turn signal is not working properly which led to us being pulled over because the cop thought we failed to use our turn signal. But when we pulled over for the cop he noticed we did use it. He was very friendly and gave us a warning and we need to fix the signal.
San Antonio was very pretty, crazy interstate on/off ramps. It was almost as bad as driving in L.A. The Alamo was cool to see then we walked along the Riverwalk area. Definately a place to go when it is not 105 degrees and for dinner. It was very pretty but walking in the middle of the day almost caused heat stroke!
We headed to Montgomery after San Antonio and the good old GPS took us on the state highways, through small towns, and large country. Wow, Texas really is big!
Tomorrow off to New Orleans.

Relaxation

I have not written much over the past couple of days because we have just been lounging by the pool in Fountain Hills, AZ. The biggest task we have done is some minor car work and grocery shopping to prepare for hitting the road tomorrow. Our biggest incident was that I came a wink from passing out while cutting mushroom for stuffed mushrooms, turns out I had gotten dehydrated. Dad whipped a glass of gaterade in front of me along with an icepack and I was back to normal in a snap. Since Dad had to take over the mushrooms he missed the ricotta cheese so they weren't quite what we were going for but they still tasted great!  It has been a wonderful visit and it has given us a much needed respit to hit the road hard starting again tomorrow. We till have a lot to see and do before we make it back to Ohio. Tomorrow will be the wonderful KOA campground in Van Horn, hopefully something fun will come into play tomorrow or else it will just be a long hot day, and night, in Western Texas. After that San Antonio will entertain us. Stay posted on all the adventure, hopefully I will have some fun stories to tell you next time.
PS: We have plenty of gaterade and water for tomorrow!

PS

Thanks Lis for all your commenting!

Phoenix, Halfway Through

We headed back East beginning with Phoenix. We are TIRED and are going to use Phoenix as a recouping stop so we can have the energy we need for the tail end of our trip. I never realized how tired we would be. We do not go to bed extremely late but traveling sure takes it out of you. We met Dad at his office when we got to town and went to lunch with some people he works with. After lunch I had my interview with the Univeristy of Phoenix, pretty nervewracking and draining. Then back to Dad's to get in the pool. That is where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon/evening. It is very hot here too. We were in bed by 930! I'm telling you, tired little pups here. We are going to be refreshed by Monday though. See you when we get home!!!!