Arrived in DC/Appomattox

Today has been a very introspective day for me. We arrived in Washington DC and checked into a very nice hotel with an amazing view of the Washington skyline. Tomorrow morning I am up early to meet hubby and Mr16 at the airport, and after a bit of rest for them after their red eye flight we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into around the city.

We stayed last night in Appomattox Virginia, which is the location where General Lee surrendered to General Grant in the Civil War. At home I learned to pronounce it as Appat-o-mox but it is correctly pronounced Appa-matoc. I think the lady at the visitor's center was amused by our attempts to pronounce the word correctly. We spent the morning touring the well preserved and somewhat restored village. There was a living history presentation which was totally fascinating to me, a Union Sergeant described his experiences for an audience of about 25 visitors.



It was amazing to listen to him talk. He used the vernacular of an 1865 Pennsylvania Sergeant in the Federal Army and was dressed out in a realistic looking wool suit. He described the conditions he endured during the war as well as the events of the fateful day in April 1865. As we sat on the porch of what used to be the local tavern we could see the area where the forces had skirmished, the house where Grant and Lee had met to sign the surrender papers, and the old stagecoach road where the soldiers marched up to lay down their arms. He wove the story so skillfully I can still hear the scuff-scuff of the soldier’s feet marching to surrender.

We got to stand in the reconstructed house where Grant and Lee sat in the parlor and made “Gentleman's Agreement" to halt the terrible bloodshed. You could all but see them standing there still... the room re-furnished from pictures taken at the time of the surrender. You could smell the history and the intensity in the place still. I love history. I love how you can look into men's (and women's) souls and learn what's good and right and what's evil and hateful by looking at the fruit of their lives over time. I'll never forget today, or what happened in our nation's life April 9, 1865.

I took pictures, I'll have to upload them later, right now it's well past bedtime.

Good night.

Frozen Head State Park- Don't You Want To Picnic There?????

We drove around lost a lot today, so I had lots of opportunity to think, and I started thinking about the names of some of the places we have driven through. There was lovely "Toad Suck" Arkansas, and today we drove by "Frozen Head State Park". WHAT are people thinking when they name these places????? Very scary indeed.

Hubby took most of the pets to my Moms house today, and they promptly had a fight between one of our dogs and her cats. Poor poochy was just coming over to say "hi" and the cat went nuts. LOL Mom said he still isn't out from under the bed, and Buddy has a cut by his eye. Hope he doen't need a vet trip.....

We have changed plans... we are heading into Virgina instead of over to the North Carolina coast. Its a more direct route and Mr15 REALLY wants to see some Civil war battle fields... so we are indulging him.

A Timely Quote

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

~St. Augustine

Nashville and Curly Does the "Sunny Side Up"

We drove from Little Rock AR to Nashville TN today, and we ran into a big traffic jam that delayed us for an hour and a half right before we got into Nashville. Overall Tennesee is beautiful country, and I'm really enjoying the drive, but that 90 minutes was waaaaay too much slow-mo for me! So we arrived in Nashville late, amd my plan to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame was dashed.... so there wasn't much to do but take my kids to a saloon. LOL

OK, that sounds worse than it was. We went to the Wildhorse Saloon for dinner, (http://www.wildhorsesaloon.com/) which on Sunday nights is more of a family friendly place and they have free line dancing lessons. *I* got out there and had a blast, but my poor boys were chicken! They stood on the balcony area and took pictures, while I danced and had a fun time. It felt like a total role reversal! I'll try to upload some pictures as soon as I get a chance. I learned the "Sunny Side Up" dance.

Tomorrow we are trying to get an early start, but I stayed up waaaay too late doing a couple loads of laundry and then I decided I had to post this while I still was on the dancin' high. LOL We may not get off til noon tomorrow, which would be bad because we are going to see The Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States before driving 6 hours to Black Mountain North Carolina.

Wheeeee... good night!

Hello from Little Rock Arkansas!!!!

After finally getting our stuff together and sadly leaving my friend's house (otherwise known as the best B&B in Tulsa), we headed out for Little Rock AR.

I will say, I have found Arkansas drivers to be the worst of any state we have passed through so far. Twice we were nearly driven off the road, and we saw a horrific accident between a semi, a car and a truck with a trailer. At least thats what I think it was.... it was all burned and crushed beyond description. So, avoiding those pitfalls, we made it happily to our hotel, which is nice. I spent last night planning the next few days. Tonight we will stay in Nashville, see some country music *stuff*, and first thing tomorow morning we will go to The Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, President of the United Ststes 1829-1836, before we hop on the road again for Black Mountain, North Carolina. The Hermitage See ya later!

Back from Camp!

We went to pick the boys up today. I am amazed at how well they are doing. They are both tanned and smiling. Mr15 is yawning a lot, but I think that was because he was awake late peering out the cabin window at a certain lovely CIA. ***Smiles***

They swam, they went horseback riding, canoeing and did drama and basketball. Each night they had a themed party. They came home with t-shirts that had been signed by everyone they met and a list of email and home addreses, and Mr15 had a bracelet from a girl ****more smiles****.

Mr17 reports that he had a blast! and mr15 is his usual more reserved self. They both missed me, and it *is* nice to be missed... they are still my babies! More pictures after we get their cameras developed!

Oklahoma

The OKC Memorial to the bombing of the Federal Building.

Well, I am here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the boys are at camp in Missouri, reportedly enjoying the swimming and horsebackriding. I have no plans for the next few days beyond being lazy and staying out of the heat. I'm staying at CJs' house while the boys are at camp. I spent some time today putting together the *start* of our photo album and watching movies. I may have to take a run to the store for some chocolate later today. *grins*

Camp Barnabas

Ultimate Road Trip Photo Album

We're OFF to see the Country!

I decided to take the first leg of the journey in 3 parts, so....

445 miles on our first day! We stayed in an annoying little motel that advertised "internet access" and I found out it means only in their internet cafe and I had to pay extra! LOL Oh well, I guess I'll survive, but I couldn't check my email.... trauma I tell you!

We saw 6 deer at the side of the road, and drove through the mountains with snow on them still. Very Fun!

On day 2 I made a miscalculation and we had a much longer drive than I expected, 523 miles! We stopped at the Meteor Crator off of I-40 and it was an amazing sight to see the gigantic hole in the ground.



We finished up the day in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I dare you to day that 3 times fast! In any case, we stayed in a very nice Microtel Inn, and were off again the next morning.


Day 3 we crossed the Texas panhandle and arrived in the late afternoon at my brother's home in southwest Oklahoma! Only 325 miles on day 3! More the wildlife we have seen and the other fun we have had later!

Count Down... 2 Days!

There is is, our first destination, the Great State of Oklahoma! We'll be visiting relatives and friends, going to the the Oklahoma City Memorial, and getting ready to take the boys to camp! Wooo Hooo!!! We may even visit Britton Oklahoma, named after my illustrious fore-fathers. It's going to be 2 loooong days of driving, but lots of fun once we arrive.

The countdown has begun!

In 10 days we'll be heading out on the big adventure! There is SO MUCH to do before we can leave! We do have our hotel reservations for the big cities on the east coast- Washington, New York and Boston, and some of it we are leaving up in the air on purpose... more adventurous you know! We will also be staying with family and friends on parts of the trip, thank goodness!

I can hardly believe it's here already.... WHAT was I thinking volunteering to drive cross country with the boys alone!?!?!?!?!!?!?! ROFLOL The first two days are probably going to be the longest driving days of the whole trip... 12 hours so we can get back to Oklahoma and visit my brother before the boys go to camp. The rest I have planned on 5-6 hours of driving each day.

I guess I should introduce the *boys* who are going on this expedition. Hubby and I have 2 boys, Mr17 & Mr15. They are driving out with me, visiting my brother and then going to camp in Missouri. From Missouri we are driving to the east coast, and Hubby and the boys friend, Mr16, will be flying to meet us in DC. Mr16 is extraordinarily impressed with the fact that they are flying first class. LOL Can anyone say *frequent flyer upgrades?*???? There has to be some perks for hubby traveling so much for work.

OK! I'm off to pay bills and groom the dogs and make 87 million phone calls trying to get ready! TTFN!