Thank you, thank you very much.

We are west-bound now, and you have not heard much from us because of some bad luck in picking up the 'Net from our overnight locations. First night a spot in PA, right on the Appalachian Trail, located precisely at the halfway-point of the north-south trek for ambitious hikers. The ruins of an old iron smelting operation were the centerpiece of this state park.

Sticking with history as the theme of our journey, we hit Eastern Kentucky the next night, Boonsborough to be exact. Daniel Boone and a gang of woodsmen cut their way through the forest before this area was part of the United States, establishing Transylvania, as it was known for about a month. We camped in an area adjacent to the Kentucky River and an old lock that once served the heavy barge traffic on this watercourse that connects to the Ohio.

Then we moved into a little history that is more recent in vintage-- the history of The King. No, not King George-- Elvis, of course. Here we sit on Hound Dog Way in Graceland RV Park, right across the street from the real Graceland, where the King spread his peanut butter onto white bread piled with bananas, and bacon (most likely) and occasionally went on exercise binges so that he could fit into the jumpsuits for his next string of comeback concerts. Memphis is HOT, brother, 90 degrees at eight in the evening, and we started to understand why the poor guy was always dripping in sweat when we saw him on TV. Just to be a little Elvis-like, we ordered some barbecue takeout, and had it delivered to our RV, with some fried pickles as a starter. Of course, you don't expect to visit the home of a King and not buy some stuff in his royal store. Kathy has picked out a few things that will help us make sure that we never forget that we drove on Elvis Boulevard, and posed for pictures just down the hill from where he was bodily assumed into heaven by a choir of angels (or am I confusing him with some other star?) We had our doubts, but no longer. Elvis lives, notwithstanding that he may have temporarily left the building.

Charley K, football star

Pleasant evening last night at Cayuga Lake. Charley managed to slip the leash at one point, ran into the middle of some kids throwing a football on the big grassy quad and spent the next hour chasing the football back and forth between them. It was a riot to watch- she is so fast- and these folks loved trying to chase her around. One of the kids, about high school age, wanted to keep her, saying she would help him get into shape for football season. Just a lot of fun and exercise for her, and she behaved really well. The exercise seemed to relax her, as we all slept in until almost 8..the latest we've slept the whole trip. On the road now, on Route 90, with Paul at the wheel. Stopping in Albany for a visit with our old college friends Bob and Bee and then on to Western Mass to spend the night with other old friends Bill and Sue. Happy to be back on the East Coast and even happier to be seeing old friends. (and family soon!) The sun is out, it's warm and somewhat steamy, and we are happy to have made it across the country in one piece.

THIS PAULIE TALKIN' NOW

Could not ask for a better day. From the Lake Erie shores in Ohio to Lake Cayuga in New York all in a day! Dogs are appreciating grass more than one might expect. The lake shore was a great site for our daily walk. We sit now at our campsite which has a big quad between all the tents and trailers and RVs where kids are playing ball. The paved roads around the quad provide the ideal place for kinder types to figure out how to ride a bike, some with the aid of training wheels. We are using the little sound unit built into the side of our home-on-wheels to listen to a root blues CD that Pete produced for me, and the setting is making the mix even better than anticipated. Tomorrow morning, I will attend to a few RV problems and then we coast into good old Massachusetts, the exodus being deemed a success!

Writing from the road

Having trouble posting every day..either our connection has not been great or (in the case of last night) we are too tired by the end of the day to write. We've got our routine down pretty well- pull into campground or state park, get the RV set up, take the dogs for a long walk to get them (and us) some exercise, cook and then clean up from dinner, and, finally, sleep. A glass of wine or 2 with dinner knocks us out and we barely have the energy needed to get out the laptop and try and write. (this might also have something to do with the fact that we've just driven anywhere from 400-500 miles, dodging tractor trailers, navigating throuh endless construction projects, etc.) This is a long way of saying that I am trying to blog while we are driving today.
It's Saturday, so Paul's behind the wheel. We just started the journey from Marblehead, Ohio (on the shores of Lake Erie) toward Cayuga Lake Sate Park in upstate NY (near Syracuse, I think). This will be our last night in the RV for awhile (hello, real beds and bathrooms!). We found the Lake Erie area interesting- we don't think we'd ever actually seen the lake- it is enormous. Lots of limestone quarries, a ferry out to a pretty little island, Kelley Island, the usual tourist places with ice cream and fudge. Tourist areas are all pretty much alike, alas..everyone wants fudge! (we used to call them Ye Olde Fudgerie when the kids were little and we traveled).
The dogs have been amazingly good- obviously, plenty of barking at moving objects and Charley can be a little over anxious when meeting strangers (but responds well to commands to sit, and then things go pretty well). Charley is so pretty that poor McKenzie is not getting much attention- we had sme guy yell from an outdoor bar last night "that's a good looking dog" and we let McKenzie think he was talking about her.
OK, I know they're called laptops, but that doesn't mean they're easy to use while actually on your lap (and in an RV going 65...) so I'll sign off for now. It will be my turn to drive soon and I can't wait- I've taken to passing tractor trailers just for sport and to relieve the boredom..this RV starts shaking like a Mexican space shuttle when it gets over about 72, so it makes for lots of fun!
More down the road...

Grazing in the grass in Illinois

Kathy here. Charley discovers grass! And loves it. Last night was spent in a remote, but beautiful state park in Nebraska on a lake and Charley and McKenzie rolled in the grass...McKenzie remembered what it was, but Charley was startled by this amazing new, soft phenomenon. Woke up this morning and spent our first hour driving around Lincoln Nebraska looking for some place to get our propane tank filled. Once that was accomplished, Paul got an important (aren't they all?) phone call and I had to take over the driving (I am confident on the highways, but not great in cities) and I must have come a little too close to some gentleman. Obviously a candidate for an anger management course, he then proceeded to follow me, flip me the bird, pull in front of me and slow down to 20 mph, make some more obscene gestures, etc, etc. This went on for about 5 minutes, with Paul completely oblivious. I thought all folks in the Midwest were friendly and all the nasty drivers were on the East Coast! Yuck..anyway, I pulled over and he finally tired of his games and moved on. Finally got on the Interstate 80 in Iowa only to get pulled over for having tinted glass on our windows, against the law in Iowa. Were we going to be moving to Iowa, the sheriff asks us? (does anyone actually move TO Iowa??) No sir, we are just passing through. Anyway, I escaped that confrontation (oh, he so kindly did not give us a ticket..??!) The rest of the driving was uneventful and rather boring...how many farms does Iowa have?? The only remotely interesting sights were a number of large, beautiful windfarms...hundreds of beautiful windmills, one after another, sitting majestically on large hills on both sides of the highway for miles. I saw this in the middle of Spain, but haven't seen comparable numbers here in the US...needless to say, we sure need them. (even in Nantucket Sound!).
OK, enough for today..I'm making Paul clean up from dinner. The doggies have been great...Charley can get a little anxious when meeting new dogs, but seems to be getting better. McKenzie could care less...she just want to know where is the food?
Off through Illinois tomorrow, landing past Toledo Ohio on Lake Erie somewhere. Wish us luck! We've had some tense moments and I wouldn't want to do this permanently, but it's been fun so far.

The Middle of the Country

After a night in a beautiful state recreation facility in Lincoln, Nebraska, we set out to conquer Iowa and to taste the sweet waters of the Mighty Mississippi. Kathy, confrontational person that she is, found a way to attract the attention of a deputy near Council Bluffs, who was concerned to Constitutional levels about the tint level on our glass. We were pulled to the side of the highway, bt he missed all of the contraband because we were so nice to him. (Let's not even get into the Lincoln dude with TV quality road rage that differed with Kathy's way of using the road with a 24.5 foot vehicle.) We found a beautiful park just a few lot from our intended park in East Moline. For $15 we got a $1 million view, directly on the Big Muddy, watching the barges slip by a big hydro and flood control dam. Park was funded by a HUD block grant in 1974 (the bottom of another Depression for those old enough to remember) and was providing riverfront access to anyone who wanted it-- sounds suspiciously like socialism to me but I will sleep on it and see if my attitude changes! Adios for now.

New Mexico to Colorado

Hello blog followers-
Had hoped to post every day but our location in New Mexico last night was so remote that we could not pick up any signal..tried to post through the iPhone to no avail. So...here's the first posting since pulling out on Monday am. Highlights and lowlights? Let's start with the "lowlights"..

• Just as we pulled onto the highway (Route 19!) the closet opened up and dumped all our clothes everywhere. Lesson learned- everything must be secured and double secured, and be careful when opening up any cabinet or closet.
• Tonight we are at Garden of the Gods Campground in Colorado Springs, CO. We are here because Paul had a nostalgic memory of the G of the G from his childhood, visiting his brother at the Air Force Academy. Memory is a dangerous thing. This place has neither gardens nor Gods, but many, many people squeezed into an overgrown parking lot- men in wife beaters, ladies with bad tats, etc. That is ALL I am allowed to say- Paul insists on being positive (remember this, Rachel and Pete?) The best part- we are leaving tomorrow at 7 am.

"Highlights"?

• Northern New Mexico is beautiful. Rolling hills of pinon, green, beautiful little churches with tin roofs. Last night's digs, the Manzano Mts State Park, was lovely and quiet, with gorgeous hiking trails all around- juniper and ponderosa pine. Nice dinner of chicken chili, a lovely Spanish red, and we were happy.

OK, Paul's turn to post. One more thing- had my first long turn at the wheel today- about 5 hours through NM and into Colorado- I only gave up when we started to get into some scary mountain climbs. I'll let Paul comment on my driving abilities.
P-man here. She did great through some very challenging driving-- think of Storrow Drive with a 5% grade. Northern New Mexico is a very interesting piece of geography. It is the high desert, (7200 feet for a lot of it) quite green, but the stream beds are still dry. There are roughly 114 million little green bushes all over it, a scrub pine of some kind. My little Virgin Mobile Broadband card did very well, creating for the other fools the impression that I was in the office! When we got near the Colorado line though, no signal of any kind other than Verizon wireless-- put that in your "which broadband to buy" review. Dogs settle down at my feet as we drive at 68 mph and I pretend to be working. This is a lot of fun, and one can easily imagine what the McMurtry characters were seeing every day. Adios amigos, meatloaf needs scorching.