New Lucy Hits The Open Road

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Cross-country can also be from the far northwest corner to the far southeast corner and back, or vice-versa.

Yes, but that is still east—west to me. If Brian and SuEllyn go cross country from Maine to San Diego, they'll come right through here. I'll try to tempt them with stories of mooses on Grand Mesa, not far from here.

Gene

[OilnH2o]

Originally Posted by moosetags

...decided to stop early so we could visit Mammoth Cave National Park. We got Lucy a campsite at Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City, Kentucky. We visited the Park late in the day and enjoyed our fairly short visit. As neither of us are cave people, seeing the entrance to Mammoth Cave and going into it a hundred feet or so was sufficient. and all of the caving we needed to do...

Brian

You may not be "cave people" but Mammoth is one of the most famous in the world (why it's one of only 21 World Heritage Sites in the US). First, because it's the longest cave system. Where you camped, you were actually parked over passages of the cave, which extends beyond Cave City and Horse Cave and half-way to Glasgow; over 400 miles of passageways, IIRC. Second, even if you went only a hundred feet in you got to see one of the most famous parts. I'm sure you saw the "big room" that gave the cave it's name and the remains of the salt peter mines from the early 1800's. That was a necessity for black powder which was in short supply during the War of 1812 because most of it came from Europe. The local lore says we might all be speaking with an English accent if it weren't for Mammoth Cave!

Okay... now I'm on board! But one question - I figured out Fred, and Lucy, but who's Ethel?

[Tyrinius]

We just finished up 14 nights in Huntsville, Nashville, Chattanooga and Highlands, NC. We hope you are doing well and we look forward to your posts. Safe travels!

[marter]

Hitching along for the ride, Brian. Enjoy and travel safe.

Mike and Jennifer

[moosetags]

Ethel is the Outfitter pop-up truck camper that rides on Fred's back.

Brian

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Tyrinius

We just finished up 14 nights in Huntsville, Nashville, Chattanooga and Highlands, NC. We hope you are doing well and we look forward to your posts. Safe travels!

Hi David and Georgia. We are doing great. We hope that you are doing well also. We are glad to hear that you are getting out in your Airstream.

Brian

[Air Cruiser]

So good to see that you are on the road again, and we all get to go along for the ride!

Since you were on I-65, wondering if traffic had improved any in Nashville? We've spent time several trips in the backed up traffic there, and it doesn't really matter what time of day it is.

We're going down to Grayton Beach this Fall, and that's the route we take -- can't wait to get down there!

Deb

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Air Cruiser

So good to see that you are on the road again, and we all get to go along for the ride!

Since you were on I-65, wondering if traffic had improved any in Nashville? We've spent time several trips in the backed up traffic there, and it doesn't really matter what time of day it is.

We're going down to Grayton Beach this Fall, and that's the route we take -- can't wait to get down there!

Deb

We didn't have any trouble through Nashville this time, but we have in the past. The big cities are always susceptible to traffic problems.

Grayton is a really great park.

Brian

[moosetags]

Lucy started the day by hitting some of the small towns along US 31W in Kentucky. It was kind of slow going but worth the effort as there was a lot to see. We made our way up to Fort Knox where we visited the General George S. Patton Museum, and got the see the Gold Repository Building.

We continued on to Louisville where we toured downtown and saw the giant Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat which was in front of their factory. We also drove by Churchill Downs.

As we headed north from Louisville, it started to rain. We continued north to Walton, Kentucky where we got Lucy the last available site at the Oak Creek Campground. We got Lucy all set up as the rain continued. We covered 190 miles today. It's now 44 degrees and still raining. It sure is nice to be snuggled into Lucy for the night.

Brian

[The Ice Man]

Signing on to the thread for the trip.

[moosetags]

Today we continued north into Ohio. We stopped in Cincinnati to visit Jungle Jim's, the world's largest supermarket. We have been there a couple of times before, but we always enjoy our visits. The place is so massive that it defies description. It's a must see if you go through Cincinnati. It also has a massive parking lot, so visits while pulling a large trailer pose no problems.

We continued north through Dayton and on to Jackson Center. We got to the factory at about 4PM, and got Lucy a campsite in the Terraport.

Lucy is all settled in for the night.

Brian

[Gene]

Giraffes? Real ones, plastic ones? A giraffe factory? Giraffetags?

Gene

[moosetags]

Hi Gene,

The Giraffes were quite a sight. They are all over the roof of the Traders World Market along I-75, just north of Downtown Dayton, Ohio.

Brian

[CherylJoy]

We're fairly new to Airstreaming and LOVE IT! We just traded up from a 16' Sport to a 25' FB Twin Bed Flying Cloud. We also named her Lucy because of our "Lucy & Ricky" Twin Bed arrangement. We're not retired yet, so we just take weekend trips, but we did see the Airstream Factory also in Jackson Center while we were visiting my sister in Columbus, OH in March...it was awesome!

Have fun on your cross-country trip with your Lucy!

[Sbb]

Two questions...where do I sign up to vacation with you thru your postings and what do you use the truck camper for? That camper can really give great raveling options as an office or whatever.

[Aviator]

Living vicariously..

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by Sbb

Two questions...where do I sign up to vacation with you thru your postings and what do you use the truck camper for? That camper can really give great raveling options as an office or whatever.

By simply posting to this thread, you have subscribed to it. To find it again, simply go 'Quick Links' on the upper dark blue tool bar. Near the bottom of the drop down menu is 'Subscribed Threads'. Click on that and it will give you of threads that you have posted to with the most recent first.

We use Fred and Ethel (the truck and truck camper) to get off the reservation. We will leave Lucy at a campground, and head off into the back country for a couple of days at a time with Fred and Ethel. Having the truck camper gives us a lot of options. Fred and Ethel can easily go places that Lucy can't navigate.

We like to say that we travel with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a beer fridge.

Brian

[dbj216]

Enjoying your travel adventure journal.

We spent two nights down in Dayton while Jackson Center worked on our trailer. We elected to do this as after the plant tour (took twice) we elected to explore Dayton a bit. The Air Force Museum was very nice, loved it.

We also thoroughly enjoyed looking over the antique Airstreams in the parking lot.

The Jackson Center folks treated us very well. It is Airstream nirvana.

David

[moosetags]

When we woke up this morning, it was 36 degrees here in Jackson Center, Ohio. It was a bit chilly, but nothing that Lucy's heat pump couldn't handle.

We got Lucy all checked in at the Airstream Service Center. We went over the list of repairs and improvements with the Service Manager. Lucy's appointment is for tomorrow morning. They will come to get her at 7:00 AM.

We decided to take a ride and tour Lima, Ohio. Lima is about 30 miles north of Jackson Center. Lima is a city of 40,000, and is the Seat of Allen County. Lima is large enough to have a Sam's, so we were able to have lunch at the "Club". We toured around Lima for a while, seeing the sights.

One of the interesting sights in Downtown Lima is Kewpee Hamburgers. It has been in the same building since opening in 1928. Kewpee is a chain of hamburger stands in Michigan and Ohio. Kewpee is second in age only to White Castle. Kewpee came up with the original square hamburger which was later copied by Dave Thomas at Wendy's. The art deco building is well preserved in its white and bright orange color scheme. We decided that we would try one of their hamburgers, and it was quite good.

We got back to Lucy in Jackson Center before dark. We will spend the evening getting her ready for the morning.

Brian

[Rocinante]

Good luck with the repairs and upgrades! Looking forward to a full report when they're done.