Good Morning North Carolina!!

We made it out of Tennessee and into North Carolina sometime late in the evening on November 11, and we decided to drive to Asheville NC to spend the night. Asheville is a very cool artsy town in the mountains in NC, and it is about a 3 hour drive to Greensboro from there, so we figured we could wake up early, do some sightseeing in Asheville, then cruise on to Greensboro to our new home. We found an RV camp on the internet in Asheville, so we set out to find it, not realizing that the crazy winding roads in the mountains of Asheville would have us driving for much longer than we expected...we could have wound up in Jersey by the end of the night! But eventually we found the camp, out in the middle of nowhere, and it was darker than dark, and I felt like we were in a scene from the movie DELIVERANCE. I can hear the banjos playing now! But in the morning, when we woke up too late to check out Asheville, we were pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful the RV park right on the river turned out to be. We had the best seats in the house, so to speak. So we cooked a nice breakfast in the RV, our last meal in the RV for a while, and then we got on the road to Greensboro.

   After about three hours on the road, we finally got to our new home.  For those of you who haven't been to Greensboro, it's the perfect balance of country and city.  What is very cool is that 10 minutes east of our house we can be in downtown Greensboro, which is the birthplace of the civil rights movement where the Greensboro Four refused to leave the whites only lunch counter at Woolworths. The Woolworths still exists and now houses the Civil Right's Museum.  You can also get to the Greensboro Coliseum in 15 minutes flat from our house which is awesome considering it used to take hours to get out of the parking lot after concerts ended in Los Angeles.  We recently saw Bruce Springsteen at the Coliseum and the show ended at 10:45 pm, and we were home by 11pm.  It was awesome!  You appreciate those kinds of things as you get older!!  Then if you head west of our house, you hit a big state park just a mile down the road that was a big Revolutionary War battleground, so that is great for hikes, bike riding and dog walking.  And since dog walking is a big thing there, we had to adopt a dog.  We got Holly(wood) our Boxer and just love her to pieces!  She has the world's longest tongue and gives Gene Simmons (KISS) a run for his money!!  Jeff has also turned her into a Tar Heels fan, but she also digs (no pun intended) Tom Brady and the Patriots...she's female for God's sake!!
     We were so excited as we drove into the driveway of our new home on November 13.  But there was a problem... the house was still full of furniture and it didn't belong to us!!  The family that we bought the house from still hadn't moved out all of their things, so Jeff and I hopped back into the RV and drove about 10 miles down the road to Jeff's parents house, where we spent our first night in Greensboro.  We figured what's another night living out of the RV...we were now RV pros (plus we just slept inside Jeff's parents' house).  We were anxious to get all settled in, but there was nothing we could do, so we figured we would give it another shot the following day.

Visiting with Old Dicky, or is it Tricky Hickory? Oh, it's Old Hickory!

So on Friday morning, November 11, approximately 8 days after we left our apartment in Studio City, CA, we were still 2 days away from our new home in Greensboro, NC. We planned as we drove out of Tennessee that we would stop at the next tourist trap we came upon, which just happened to be the home of President Andrew Jackson, otherwise known as OLD HICKORY, not to be confused with the likes of President Nixon, commonly known as Old Tricky Dicky. (I just added in the "old" part for purposes of this blog.) So we rolled the RV into some heavy duty southern Confederate territory and spent a few hours at the plantation, where actors were dressed in period clothing and me being a Yankee (that is a northerner, not to be confused with a Yankees baseball fan-GO RED SOX!), I actually feared for my life. But all went well, and we made it out of the Hermitage unscathed. Unless I spoke, no one had ANY clue I was a Yankee! It was pretty trippy to see the slaves quarters where some archaeological work had been done, so of course I was all into that. Then we hit the cotton fields, and the home itself, which had some pretty cool original wallpaper that I thought would make a killer dress! Anyhow, that was our last tourist stop before hitting North Carolina...yahoo!! Just one more night in the RV (the cats were going bonkers by now) and one more day on the road. Greensboro, here we come!! I quickly scrambled to my laptop to start this blog, which was supposed to be a daily writing event, but as we all know now from reading this in 2012, the original blog never happened! But I did start...the proof is in the picture!!

Why is there a Jiffy Lube next to Elvis' mansion????

We made it to Memphis, Tennessee by Thursday, 11/10/11, around 2pm, so we knew we didn't have much time to do Elvis things, so we had to prioritize Memphis and do it quickly. We decided that we would make a quick run to the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated back in 1969, then we would run over to Sun Studios where Elvis and other great artists recorded and basically got their start. Jeff and I were able to pretend sing on the actual microphone that Elvis used back in the day, exactly on the spot where he recorded, so that was SPECIAL (sounding like the Church Lady there). In case you guys didn't know, Jeff and I are the karaeoke king and queen! (Not new info for our friends who have attended our karaeoke parties in LA!!) Anyhow, we also wanted to hit Beale St. and then of course go to Graceland, but by the time we headed over to Graceland and saw just the outside of it, we decided to go back to Beale St. instead. Have you ever been to Graceland? Talk about a disappointment! I mean, it looks completely run down! There is a Jiffy Lube on one side of it and a McDonald's on the other, and graffiti all over the wall from fans who have visited there, which is nice and all, but really, it looks very trashy...Elvis must be turning over in his grave...or maybe not! I hear from how Elvis decorated the joint that maybe he put the Jiffy Lube there himself! And we know he CERTAINLY put the McDonald's there!! Anyhow, after spending enough time there (ten minutes) then we went back to Beale St. to grab a bite to eat and hear some cool music at a honky tonk bar. It was pretty cool, but coming from experience, some which I may not remember quite that well, it was NOWHERE near as cool as the Sunset Strip in Hollywood during the late 80's...sorry Memphis!! So we got back in the RV sometime that night and drove a bit more through Tennessee and found some random RV park in the middle of nowhere that we pulled into for the night. It was a long rock and roll day!!

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Site-An incredible Memorial!

So after we took some pictures of Jeff's war wounds against the TINO to post just for you, we got him all bandaged up (Jeff, not Tino), and attempted again to get on the road. (See Tino...he really is a cutie pie and not as sinister as he appears!) We finally got to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and we were in awe of how it was laid out, with the reflecting pool representing the actual building that got blown up. The chairs on the lawn represent each person that got killed that day, and are placed according to where each person was in the building at the time of the bombing. It really was an amazing place and beautifully done. We went into the museum where they have an actual recording of the bombing, and just as you hear the bomb go off, pictures of all the victims flash across the screen of the room you sit in at the museum. It was eerie and so moving at the same time; not a dry eye in the house. The museum was done so well. It was a pretty amazing and emotional experience, and I recommend you go see it.
So after what turned out to be a very emotional day, we drove straight into Arkansas, hoping to avoid tornadoes that we heard about on the news. Jeff kept saying not to worry about the tornadoes, and luckily for us he was right...I was still a wreck from driving through the snow storms in northern Arizona! We found a gorgeous RV park on a lake, and decided to pull in and hook up for the night (the RV that is!) The next day we would be heading into Memphis, where we knew we would be checking out anything and everything ELVIS! Sun Studios, here we come!!

I KNOW...this moving blog is taking FOREVER!! But Oklahoma, here we come!

After leaving the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, we pretty much drove through to Oklahoma and stopped at, of all places, WALMART. It was a long-ass drive and a very long day, but we were excited about arriving in Oklahoma City to go see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, which we knew we were going to have to do the next day since it was already dusk, and we were dying to eat some good grub, so we figured we could get some salmon at Walmart...I mean Super Walmart, the one that was featured on SOUTH PARK and the kind that carries salmon! Anyhow, after doing the American thing and spending about $100 there, we slowly pulled out of the parking lot only to hear a loud crushing, crashing noise at the top of the RV. I immediately flipped out since Tino always slept at the top bed of the RV, and I feared he somehow got crushed to death. After many gut-wrenching screams, a frightened Tino appeared as good as new, but the RV not so much. The air conditioner unit on top of the RV had lost a battle with a concrete overhang that we obviously were too big to drive under…clearly someone had stuck it there to f#%@ up our night! I mean, why would there be a huge concrete overhang leading to nothing in a parking lot? Or better yet, why would Jeff choose to drive under it???? Remember kids, do not text while driving!! Oh right!! So, after Jeff went back into Walmart and spent another $100 on duct tape, he taped up the remaining portion of the air conditioner (he says it’s true…duct tape fixes ANYTHING) and we continued on our merry way, really looking like we belonged in Oklahoma, with duct tape all over the RV. We found an RV park and cooked up some salmon and had a great meal, all the while thankful that it was 30 degrees outside and we didn’t need the air conditioner. Next day was the Oklahoma City Memorial, which we were excited to check out, so we hit the sack early to get an early start.
As we started out towards the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Site, Jeff had to slam on the brakes while at the same time Tino decided to try and jump up to his favorite sleeping spot on the top bed right about a foot or so from Jeff's head. What bad timing that turned out to be! As you can see from the photo, Tino never quite made it to the top bunk, but instead, he landed on Jeff's head, and the G-force of the acceleration and then stopping motion of the RV caused poor Tino to try and grab on to Jeff's head, but he was thrown back onto the table instead. At least I THINK it was the G-force stuff I just said that made Tino grab onto Jeff's head...well anyway, I have never heard Jeff yell as loud as he did, and to be honest with you, I never even saw Tino flying through the air. All I saw was Jeff bleeding like crazy from his head, and I knew this was going to be a rough day.

Sky City...The Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico...very cool

So on Tuesday, November 8, we left our little non-descript RV park (at least there were no howling coyotes or quicksand!) and headed towards Sky City, or the Acoma Pueblo, the oldest inhabited Indian pueblo in the United States. I was going to get a little more archaeological yayas out, and we would finally be out of Arizona!! We arrived at the almost 400 ft. mesa where the Acoma people have lived since 1150 A.D. Approximately 4800 tribal members live in that area, and the mesa has 250 dwellings where some of the Acoma live. There is also a catholic mission, the San Esteban del Rey Mission, atop the mesa. Its construction began in 1629 and it is still a functioning structure. While we were there we ended up buying some Acoma pottery to add to my pottery collection...Jeff says I conned him into buying pottery but whatever...we got a smokin' deal from some of the craftsmen that live on the mesa...pretty cool stuff! Of course as we left the pueblo something else happened to the RV and Jeff had to get down on his hands and knees and fix whatever was wrong this time...it was becoming a daily thing (see top right photo). Welcome to my world. By the way, that is NOT a hickey on Jeff's keister.

Yahoo, Arizona! I never thought I would ever say that!

On Sunday, November 6, we finally made it out of California and into a snowy Arizona. REALLY??? What was the big hurry to leave sunny, warm California? We must have been nuts! Now my new fear wasn't getting a flat tire in the middle of the desert (which most of you know the desert gives me anxiety attacks!), but it was that poor Mr. Bojangles, my little Betta fish, was going to freeze to death! I had to somehow keep him warm in this freezing cold weather. So while Jeff was roasting from the RV heat cranked up to a toasty 78 degrees, Mr. Bojangles was lovin' life! We eventually wound up in Winslow, Arizona, where I used to spend a lot of time when I lived in Phoenix and dated a guy from Winslow. most of you probably know Winslow from the Eagles song "Take It Easy", where they were..."standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona". I'm not sure why ANYONE would want to stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona because there is not much to do there, nor is it a scenic place, but we did spend our first night in an official RV park at the Homolovi State Ruins, where ancestral puebloan pit dwellings (huh??? holes in the ground where ancient indians used to live) were discovered about 15 years ago. I actually visited the site 15 years ago with my father and grandmother and the site was loaded with artifacts. Because it was a new archaeological find, the site still had not been worked properly by archaeologists, so there were handwritten signs everywhere saying "Please do not take artifacts. It is a federal offense." Well of course when we got home, grandma reached into her pocket and pulled out a bunch of pottery sherds. Guess she didn't see the signs! Anyhow, Jeff and I chose to stay there for the archaeological aspect of it. What we didn't know was that the plains were freezing cold so no one else was there (see top pic). And it was loaded with coyotes that liked to howl ALL NIGHT LONG, so needless to say, I stayed up pretty much all night because of all the noise, out in the middle of nowhere! When we woke up in the morning, we attempted to visit some of the pit dwellings, but it was so cold and we actually had to watch out for quicksand...yes, QUICKSAND in AZ, that we finally left the ruins happily. The weather got progressively worse, and we decided it was now or never to drive through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. I was freaking out about the weather since we were sliding all over the road in the RV, but we were assured by the locals that the lousy weather we were in was perfect for viewing the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. And from the top right photo, you can see that the Painted Desert was pretty spectacular! We continued on until it got dark and we were STILL in Arizona...so we found our second little RV park to crash for the night somewhere near the New Mexico border (we hoped). The animals and I were very happy to finally stop driving in the snow, and Jeff was glad I finally stopped saying, "Slow down, the road is slippery".

Finally left LA... but will we ever leave California???

Ok, so it took us a few months to get the RV and head out of town, but because we got such a late start on November 5th leaving Los Angeles, and of course we didn't take into consideration that there is always a $%@&load of traffic in LA, so our first night was spent somewhere very ugly near the state border (for proof of that see top picture!), and STILL in California! I was beginning to think that this move to North Carolina was NEVER going to happen! And to top it off, the animals were not diggin the RV the way Jeff and I were, so that was a drag. They were fine with it when we were parked for 2 days in Woodland Hills...and even more of a drag was the fact that after our very first night on the road, in the morning we discovered we had a problem with a tire. Luckily for us in the middle of the desert was an RV- WE FIX ANYTHING kind of place where they charged us only $350 for a single tire...this RV traveling was expensive...how did the rednecks do it??? While we were getting the tire fixed, Jeff decided it was time to "unload" (not sure if that is the correct RV jargon for dumping the toilet waste) the loads that were left in the RV by other people who had traveled in the RV before us...I mean, how much waste was there to unload just by us traveling overnight from LA to Barstow??? There was more waste in the kitty litter box, I'm sure. If you have ever seen the movie RV with Robin Williams, you will understand what happened next with Jeff trying to empty the waste tank. And how bizarre that it happened in the desert also! Jeff soon realized that the movie version of getting crapola all over you while trying to clean the waste tank is a very REAL thing...luckily for us, the RV-WE FIX ANYTHING place had a bathroom with running water, so Jeff was able to clean up and off we went, hopefully leaving California 3 days after we left our home in California.