It's been over a week since we ended our Fall Colors tour. We have taken a slow and restful return to Texas. We left Niagara Falls and went 120 miles to Erie, Pennsylvania. We stayed at a KOA overnight and the headed west to Middlebury, Indiana. We needed to get close to Goshen, Indiana so that I could get a new landing jack for the 5th Wheel. I had called the manufacturer last week and ordered the part, but Monday was the earliest I could get there to pick it up. We stayed in the Middlebury KOA two nights - Sunday and Monday. I was able to install the landing jack and finally unhitch the trailer from the truck.
Tuesday morning we headed 200 miles southeast to Jackson Center, Ohio. We had planned to visit the Airstream factory on our way to Vermont, but it was Labor Day when we were in the area and obviously they were closed that day. Airstream has a small RV park on their property for people who bring their trailer in for repairs. When Jenna called to confirm they had room for us to park the trailer for the tour, they asked if we wanted to stay in their RV park for the night. At $10, it was a bargain. It looked kind of funny - our big old 5th wheel surrounded by Airstream trailers. The tour was very interesting. It takes 9 days to completely build each Airstream - regardless of its size. We saw trailers being built in every stage from flat sheets of aluminum to a completed unit rolling out the door. Airstreams are quite expensive and I can certainly understand why. Everything is crafted in the Airstream factory - lots of labor costs!
We left Jackson Center and headed down Interstate 75 into Kentucky and made our way to Renfro Valley. Renfro Valley is known as the Country Music Capital of Kentucky. We stayed in the Renfro Valley RV park and attended two shows. The first was a country music show with a drummer, bass guitarist, and lead guitarist/vocalist. It was an entertaining show with songs from all areas of country music - George Jones, Trace Atkins, Marty Robbins, among many others including Elvis of course. The 2nd show was a 50's and 60's show complete with poodle skirts and the mandatory malt-shop. This show was excellent with some terrific talent. One guy could knock you socks off with his booming voice. I think everyone was surprised by his talent and that of several others in the cast. There were 10 vocalists in this show and they each sang 2 or 3 songs with group numbers thown in-between. We really enjoyed this show, and I would recommend it highly. Prices for the show were $15-$17 per ticket and you could get a ticket for dinner at the Renfro Valley Lodge for $5 - what a deal. The food was good, but the show was better.
We stayed in Renfro Valley two nights and before heading out for Tennessee. We had planned to stop in Bowling Green and tour the Corvette Plant. They started tours again this week after not having them for more than a year. I called to be sure we could park the trailer and they told me that they had to suspend tours for the rest of this week due to a SNAFU on the line. What a disappointment! We skipped on through Bowling Green and headed toward Nashville. Maybe I can get that tour in next time we come this way. Tonight we are staying in the Natchez Trace State Park. This is a very nice park with full hookups. Tomorrow we are heading east to one of our favorite Arkansas state parks - Village Creek State Park. We have stayed in this park a couple of times and like it very much. All of the Arkansas state parks we have visited are very nice.
After two restful nights at Village Creek, we headed further west and south across Arkansas as we finish the final leg of our trip. There wasn't much traffic today and we made good time. Thelma (our GPS) is either growing old or she doesn't want to go home. She kept trying to get me to turn around and go make to Memphis. Then when we got west of Texarkana, she started telling me to make a U-turn and go back toward Texarkana. Hard telling what she will do tomorrow.
We made it 325 miles today to Mt. Pleasant, Texas. It's about 160 miles home from here. We probably could have made it, but my back and neck were really tired, and we need to flush and clean the black tank before we get home. The RV park here is affiliated with Passport America so it only cost $12.50 for the night.
When we get home tormorrow we will have driven 6423 miles, used 516.5 gallons of diesel, while averaging about 12.4 mpg. Diesel ranged from a low of $3.65 to a high of $5.35 in Canada with most running right around $4.00. Lots of $$, but it was well worth it. Tomorrow will mark 8 weeks to the day that we left home on this journey.
We live in a beautiful country and Jenna and I have been fortunate enough to see a lot of it. We still need to visit the Pacific Northwest so I guess we need to start saving our pennies.
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