Lakeland, Florida

We made it to our final destination of the year, Lakeland, Florida. Lakeland is in central Florida, about half-way between Tampa and Orlando. Along the way, we've been lucky and have avoided any bad weather. Art was worried we might run across ice or snow during the final weeks of our travels.

The Lakeland Carefree RV Resort will be our winter home. Art picked out this campground last March during a trip to Florida and did a good job. Our site overlooks a pond, and we were thrilled to learn it is the home of many Florida birds, including blue herons, egrets, and 4 sandhill cranes. The cranes land every evening about 5:30p and fly away each morning. As they are landing and taking off they "talk" to each other. They also do a dance and jump up and down with their wings spread, which is fascinating to watch!

There are lots of nice retirees at the resort and a full schedule of activities starting in January. People can do as much or as little as they want. There are aerobics, biking, golf, crafts, cards, dinners, movies, and the list goes on. Our location is in close driving distance to everything we probably will need. Art is happy that he will be able to see Tiger spring training at the Joker Marchant Stadium, about 4 miles away. Also, there is the Lakeland Center, which hosts many entertainment and sports venues during the winter months.

After a few days in Lakeland, we flew to Knoxville to spend Thanksgiving with family - Jill, Wayne, Kristi, Brandon, and Cayla, and friends. Jill knocked herself out, cooking all day, and producing a wonderful Thanksgiving spread. We had lots of laughs and good food, and are glad we went! After our return, we spent the day tree-trimming with the Kluegels in Orlando - Jimmy, Suzanne, Madison, Ethan, Grace, and Annalise. It was a fun day and we are looking forward to spending more time with them over the next 4 months!

We were lucky to spend a day with our good friends, Rich and Dee Ann Schiappacasse, who were vacationing in Orlando at their time-share. They suggested a visit to the Fantasy of Flight Museum, which houses many rare and antique aircraft which are restored to flyable condition. The museum is owned by Kermit Weeks, a man who inherited millions from his grandfather, who discovered oil in Australia. Kermit has a passion for flying and has done a wonderful job on this museum. Besides the aircraft, there are many interactive exhibits, such as what it would have been like to fly a plane during WWII. We would highly recommend a visit there.

We have decided to suspend our blog until Art and I resume our travels in April, 2010. At that time, we will give a "brief" overview of our Florida adventures during the winter. We wanted to thank all of our loyal followers, and let you know we appreciate all of your interest! Please contact us if you want, at homelessad@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Art and Diane

Tennessee-Part 1-Memphis

After seeing Elvis, and Diane being kissed by him in Branson, we decided to continue our Elvis experience by touring his home, Graceland, in Memphis. We stayed in a campground right across the street from Graceland and were able to walk next door to get tour tickets and explore other Elvis exhibits. The mansion and other Elvis attractions are very well maintained, although they are surrounded by a decaying neighborhood. Tourists are shuttled across the street to see the actual house and grounds. Everything was pretty pricey, including the tour and the tons of souvenirs available. No wonder we heard Elvis is the 4th richest "dead" person in the world!

Graceland was built by a physician in 1939 and named after his wife. Elvis had promised his parents that when he was able, he would buy them a nice "house", since the family had struggled financially when he was growing up. The mansion was purchased in 1957 by Elvis and he lived there until he passed away. His parents and grandmother also resided at the home with him. Graceland is now a national historic landmark.

The mansion had all the actual furnishings that were there when Elvis was alive. We got to see the living room, kitchen, pool room, and famous jungle room. No one is allowed to go upstairs out of respect for Elvis and his family. After the house tour, we were allowed to tour the grounds. There is a building that Elvis used for racquetball which now houses the hundreds of gold records and awards that he won. It also had many of the jumpsuits that he wore for his performances. The grounds were very pretty and there still are horses grazing there. Two surprises for Art and I were that Elvis is buried at the mansion in a family plot, along with his mother, father, and grandmother, and also, Elvis had a twin brother who was stillborn.

Across the street from Graceland were other Elvis exhibits, which were included in the tour. We saw Elvis and the movies, GI Elvis, and the Elvis automobile museum. There is also an area that has the two private jets that Elvis owned, the Lisa Marie, and the Hound Dog.

After a day of touring, which we enjoyed, I decided to do some laundry back at the campground. To my surprise, while I was waiting for the wash to be done, Elvis walked into the laundry room and began to wash his clothes! I was alone and didn't know what to say. I called Art to bring over the camera and we later found out this gentleman was an Elvis impersonator, and had just been in Nashville for the country music awards. He said he was also visiting Graceland for the first time. We were able to get a picture of Elvis and I washing clothes together. What a riot!!!!!!!

Tennessee-Part 2-Nashville and Knoxville

After Memphis, we headed to Nashville to spend time with our good friends, Rich Perryman and Debbie Hearn. As usual, our hosts showed us great hospitality and a great time! We spent the first night with Rich and Debbie at their home and parked the RV at a campground near the Opryland Hotel. There was no way we were going to be able to drive our RV up the narrow, winding roads to Rich's house!

To our delight, Rich's daughter, Cindy, her husband James, and children Elijah and Jennifer, came to see everyone at the house. We hadn't seen them for a while, so it was nice to catch up. The kids, ages 9 and 6, were so cute and challenged me to a game of foosball. Jennifer and I teamed up against Elijah who was pretty good at foosball, and finally won the 3rd game. That's when we told him "Girls Rule"!

Rich and Debbie had obtained football tickets for the "Bills vs Titans" game. We took the "Music City Queen", a boat that takes you right to the football stadium. It was really fun, with good food and a good view of the downtown Nashville skyline. Friends, Dawn and Dave also joined us. It was nice to spend time with them again. Unfortunately, the Bills got beat up pretty bad and later Rich and Debbie made us put on Titan jerseys for a picture. Talk about rubbing it in! Debbie and Rich also suggested a great restaurant to celebrate my birthday which happened to fall when we were there. It was the "Aquarium Restaurant", and true to it's name, it had a huge floor to ceiling aquarium in the middle of the main room, complete with large fish, sharks, and eels! Nothing like good food and good friends!

Upon leaving Nashville, we headed to Knoxville to visit Art's daughter Jill, daughter Kristi, son-in-law Wayne, grandson Brandon, and granddaughter Cayla. It was wonderful to see them all! The first night we met at a restaurant and tried to catch up. Lots of laughs! The second night we went to the restaurant where Cayla works while she goes to college at UT. She was our waitress and did a superb job! Brandon lives in Chatanooga, where he works and goes to school. Jill invited us to join everyone in Knoxville for Thanksgiving, so we are going to take her up on that. We are looking forward to spending more time with our family!

Hot Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri

Our first stop after leaving Texas was Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a very pretty area, hilly and treed, but we had missed the peak of the fall colors. The downtown is actually an urban national park. It became famous due to the dozens of "hot" springs throughout the area, which were thought to have medicinal purposes. In the early 1900s, elaborate bathhouses were built around the springs and the wealthy and sick came for a 3 week bath cure. Art and I didn't take the "cure", but we did tour a restored bathhouse at the visitors center in Bathhouse Row. There are 3 bathhouses still open, with the Buckstaff being in continuous operation since 1912. Fountains around town have both water and steam coming out!

Art and I tried our luck hunting for diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. This is the 8th largest diamond mine in the world and if you find anything you can keep it! No other diamond mine allows you to do this. There are about 650 diamonds found each year, some very large without any impurities. Obviously, there aren't too many of these discovered, or it would be privately owned and not open to the public! As you probably guessed, we didn't find any diamonds, but Art found a quartz crystal. Oh well, we had fun anyway!

McClard's is a famous Hot Spring's BBQ restaurant, opened since 1928. Art and I shared a pound of BBQ ribs piled high with french fries and still had room for homemade blackberry cobbler. Delicious! Our waitress was 82 year old Wyona, who had worked at the restaurant for 48 years. She was so cute and still pretty spry! While eating, we met a great couple, Joan and Richard, who we hope to visit in Bogalusa, Louisiana next Spring. We also met a very nice couple, Gary and Lanaya from northern IL, while camping. Hopefully we will run into them again.

After Hot Springs, we made a trip to Branson, Missouri. This area has really grown since our first visit in 1995. There are so many more shows and theaters. The town was all decked out for Christmas, and all of the shows had some kind of Christmas theme and a tribute to the Veterans for Veterans Day. We managed to see Yakov Smirnoff, the Russian comedian, Shoji Tabuchi, the Japanese violinist, and Legends in Concert, with Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, the Blues Brothers, Stevie Wonder, and Elvis. Elvis called me up to the stage, and I got kissed!



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Texas-Part 2

Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is in Glen Rose, Texas, about 90 miles southwest of Fort Worth. This center is a conservation facility for endangered and exotic animals and covers about 1800 acres. There are about 52 species of animals, including antelope, deer, zebra, giraffes, ostriches, cheetahs, rhinoceroses, and wildebeest. Carol and I drove the 9 mile self-guided auto tour. The great part is that most of the animals roam free and the center allows you to feed them, so they approach the cars when stopped. It was funny to watch ostriches through the rear view mirror running towards the truck. Most of the animals actually put their heads in the windows looking for food. What a lot of fun!!!!!!!

While Carol and I were having fun in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Art and Matt were having fun in Minnesota. Matt drove and Art flew to the Twin Cities for the Halloween evening football game between the MSU Spartans and the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. To Art and Matt's horror, the Gophers managed to score two touchdowns in the first two minutes of the game! In a high scoring-no defense game, the Spartans managed to regain the lead in the 4th quarter only to fall behind again and lose the game. Despite the loss, it was a great opportunity for Art and Matt to bond and enjoy a great father-son experience!

Before leaving the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Art, Carol, and I visited two more places. One was the Gaylord Texan, a huge hotel-convention center in Grapevine, Texas. The complex has a recreation of the Alamo and the San Antonio River Walk inside the building. We had lunch at the Texan Station which is a sports bar with a 54 foot HD TV. Art thought it was pretty neat, but fortunately, one of those won't fit in the RV! The second place we visited was the "6th Floor Museum" in the Texas Book Depository, where President Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. The exhibits were extremely well done. We were also able to see Dealey Plaza and the "grassy knoll". Originally the depository was going to be torn down due to the negative impact of the incident, but it was saved because of the historical importance.

Texas-Part 1

Art and I spent 2 weeks in Texas. We started out with 1 night at Fort Stockton and then headed for the "Texas Hill Country". This part of Texas is very pretty with rolling green hills, unlike what we saw in the west, which is more desert-like.

Fredericksburg was our first stop in the hill country. This area was developed by German immigrants in the 1850's. It is a cute small town with many of the original buildings. There are authentic German restaurants and "Biergartens" which we had to sample! While in the area, we toured the LBJ ranch which is now a national park. We were also able to go into the ranch house, which is being restored to what it looked like while LBJ was in office. By the way, Lady Bird lived in the ranch house until her death in 2007.

Our next stop was Austin to visit Godson, Brett, and his lovely wife, Rachel. Brett is the son of our dear friends, Frank and Dot Baccari, and like family to us. While there, we were able to see Brett and Rachel's first home which was very nice. They've done a lot of work fixing and decorating with great results. We also met "Kirk" Gibson, their dog, who was very sweet and liked to kiss Art on the ear. I think they bonded!!! Brett and Rachel also toured the RV one day. We had a mean game of shuffleboard, and I found out I am a lousy player! I'll have to practice to fit into the retired life-style. We sure had a fun time with the Baccaris!

Carol met us in Dallas-Fort Worth. She kept me company while Art went to Minneapolis to meet Matt for a Mich State football game. Carol and I had a great time! One of our stops was the Fort Worth Stockyards which use to be one of the largest livestock marketing areas in the Southwest. It has been preserved as a historic landmark and now has historic tours, shops, and restaurants. Twice a day there is a simulated cattle drive down the main street. The drive only had 15 long-horn cattle in it, but we got the idea. We happened to be there on Halloween, which made it even more fun. We must have had fun since we were there about 8 hours touring and shopping!

New Mexico-Part III: Roswell and Carlsbad

After leaving Albuquerque, Art and I continued on to Roswell and Carlsbad, NM. We stopped briefly in Roswell to see if we could find any "Aliens" who supposedly landed in that area in 1947. The government was said to have covered up the incident, so it has remained a mystery to this day. The UFO museum is in downtown Roswell. We did tour it, but remain unconvinced either way of the possibility of an alien landing! The museum itself needs some updating, which they are currently working on with plans for a new facility!

Carlsbad Caverns National Park was truly worth visiting. The park itself is at the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert. The ride there was beautiful going 7 miles up winding, hilly roads. Carlsbad Cavern, itself, is a series of enormous rooms formed from a chemical reaction of sulfuric acid which hollowed out the limestone. The Cavern is said to be one of the world's largest caves.

We started out at the cave's natural entrance which is 90 ft wide and 40 ft high! It is a steep descent into the cave with a switchback trail. It took us a about 1 1/2 hrs to complete. There were huge formations of columns, stalactites and stalagmites. Remember, stalactites hold "tight" to the ceiling and you "might" trip on the stalagmites on the ground. We ended up in the underground rest area, 750 ft beneath the surface that even sells food and souvenirs. Luckily, there is an elevator to get back up. From there we took a guided tour of the King's Palace, which includes smaller ornate rooms of formations, containing "draperies" and "soda straws". This was in the deepest part of the cave, about 830 ft below the surface. The Big Room was our last tour and was truly awe-inspiring. It is 8 acres and 225 ft tall and has massive formations everywhere!

The day ended with us being able to see hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tail bats emerge from the natural entrance of the cave. This occurs nightly from May through October until the bats migrate for the winter. Originally, this is how the cave was discovered, when a cowboy noticed huge black "clouds" in the distance and didn't know what was happening. We sat there for 40 minutes and there was no end to the bats. What a sight!!!!!!