Burt's RV Trip across the U.S.A. April 20-May 20, 2007
At the 6800 foot level in the Smoky Mountains you can see I am well prepared for hiking. It was cold, 44 degrees but I have my backpack, water and sticks. My friend was hiking to Maine, he was expected to be there in September 2007. He started in Georgia where it was 15F. He goes 10-25 miles per day. He said they had a girl with them, "but we ate her." Even with my hiking stick, I did not touch that comment.
On top of old Smoky all covered with dying trees from acid rain....
In the Flying J truck stops truckers can buy a shower for $5, over the P.A. truckers are constantly being called throughout the night that a reserved shower is open
At a campground in Pocahontas, Arkansas as was my habit I would walk around or bike around the camp ground and meet people. The woman to the left worked at an ice cream factory and as part of her pay they gave her gallons of ice cream a week. They needed someone to help them eat the ice cream, I reluctantly accepted. They were all ( plus their dog) in an RV half the size of mine. However I do wonder if they have dentists in Tennessee? There were some Mennonites in the campground as well. In their society the woman cook and clean and the men make the rules. They may not listen to radio or TV but can use the internet.
When I planned the trip I had asked for tourist information from all 40 states, Arkansas sent real estate information as well. When I looked at the prices I figured I had to stop there and look. Duana (above) toured me for two days and her agency Arkansas Ozarks Realty in Mountain Home, Arkansas (http://www.paradiseoftheozarks.com/) provided me with a cabin for two nights (unfortunately without Duana). We stopped at Mel's diner and I had some great pancakes.
This is just a sample of the houses she showed me. This one was $280,000 with acres of land, Jacuzzis, many, many rooms and bathrooms. Another house was on top of a mountain with a view of 20 miles in all directions. Another home had 42 acres of land (that is over a mile) for $300,000. Can you see Duana in the picture to the left? The downside is Arkansas is pretty humid in July and August but Cape Cod has no spring. This was my favorite home
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Home with Acreage
971 MC 8126
Flippin, AR
One of my goals on the trip was to travel the old Route 66, this is part of it. There is not much left of it as the federal government decommissioned it and the pieces are hard to find.
On Route 66 in Oklahoma I found a diner with local flavor, initially I came in at 2:30PM and was all alone so I figured I would order breakfast, which I did not think they had, therefore I could leave. But they whipped up pancakes, afterwards I met this group and I told the men they could get married if they were in Massachusetts, they immediately separated. They all had quite an accent, the woman in red insisted she had none. The man with the cowboy hat asked if I thought we were ready for a woman or black man to be President. I said yes. He then said, "I'd vote for a removed to be child safe to be President." That sounds racist, but think, he WOULD vote for a black to be President, how racist is that? Better to sound racist and not be then to sound politically correct and be racist unlike CNBC's Maria Bartiromo who feigned horror when a black guest, Chris Gardner used the word, removed for child safe ; Chris Gardner is a very successful man who worked his way up from "the streets" and earned the right to say whatever he wants, unlike silver spooned Maria. It is illegal to smoke in a diner but not if the diner has a game room.
Route 66
There were two Route 66 museums in Oklahoma, this one was great, I was there two hours, the other one called a national Route 66 museum was awful, I was there 10 minutes.
Gas for 17.6 cents per gallon!
