Virginia to Florida
August 17th - December 20
2008
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Our first destination was Salt Lake City. We crossed the Bonneville Salt Flats during " speed Week" when they were doing time trials way off in the distance on the far side of the flats from where this picture was taken.
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In SLC we had a good visit with the Motosat folks
and had a new HD TV antenna installed. In this picture it is the white dish in the center-right of the coach
next to a vent. The large internet dish is behind it
and the smaller internet dish is at the very back behind the last air conditioner.
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Passing through Nebraska
we stopped at the "Great Platte River Road Archway" in Kearney
which is a structure that spans Interstate 80 and houses a museum that chronicles travel across the great plains from the days of wagon trains
through the "Lincoln Highway" to the modern Interstate.
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We stayed several days over the Labor Day weekend between Lincoln and Omaha.
These are some shots around Omaha. The park where the waterfall was is apparently a popular wedding spot
as we saw several wedding parties and a lot of stretch limos including the unusual one at right.
In the old downtown there are cobblestone streets
and a number of different horese-drawn carriages.
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A parade of "Art Cars" went through town as we were strolling along.
The one above left was
of course
playing "Yellow Submarine."
The motorcycle was covered with pennies.
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The Nebraska State Fair was running through Labor Day. Neither of us had ever been to a State Fair
and Nebraska seemed like a good place to see our first!
The pictures below capture some of the flavor.
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In Western Iowa we got off the interstate and traveled part of the Western Skies Byway
passing through the Danish towns of Kimballton and Elk Horn.
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We spent several days in Winterset
Iowa
which is the county seat of Madison County. We visited all 6 of the remaining covered bridges of Madison County.
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While staying in Winterset we also visited the State Capitol
in Des Moines. Holly swam in the Raccoon river. Water levels were still very high
and a lot of places were very soggy/muddy from the flooding that occurred here earlier this summer.
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Other sites around Winterset included the birthplace of John Wayne
and lots of interesting places in the city-owned park (which included the RV park we stayed in).
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After Iowa we traveled down to the small town of Sullivan in Illinois. The local Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealer is also the owner of an '85 Blue Bird
and he has a facility that is available for free use by other Blue Bird owners. It is an old abandoned Illinois rest stop that he bought and added multiple electrical hookups to.
We stayed there a few days and used it as a base to explore the Springfield area. The intereior pictures are all in the Lincoln Home in Springfield.
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South of Sullivan is Lake Shelbyville
which provided another good swimming spot for Holly.
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Lexington was our first stop in Virginia.
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We spent a day on the Blue Ridge Parkway above Lexington
hiking some trails and enjoying the views.
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Another day trip was East into the Appalachians along the Maury River through Goshen Pass.
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We moved a few miles north to the south end of the Shenandoah Valley
from which we explored the communities of Staunton (which has the watering can)
Stuart's Draft
Waynesboro
Harrisonburg
Shenandoah
and Luray.
We had been looking forward to adding the Shenandoah to Holly's list of rivers
but it was not suitable for swimming. Water was stagnant in most places.
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 Comments? Send mail to donb@arcatapet.net
Snail Mail: Arcata Pet, 600 F Street, Arcata, CA 95521-6301 USA
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