Ive not been to Fargo, ND, however, Ive been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there,

thanks to my children, friends, family and work.

Wed, May 20 We will go camping with Cindis family this weekend beginning Friday morning. This leaves today and tomorrow to finish any home projects at the Williams residence. After the Memorial Day weekend Cindis family will return home while well head to Nashville to visit friends. A minor project today was working on The Space Station ! (Really!) Cindi had wanted another shelf over the bed in her Starcraft tent camper. The girls bed already has one and this folding shelf, no longer produced, provides extra space for small items. With its unique trade name, the Space Station, these shelves are widely sought after by trailer owners as they havent been produced in over 15 years. Working from measurements and photos I reproduced the Space Station and brother-in-law Dave and sister-in-law Margo kindly transported it here on their return to Wisconsin from Florida. (We didnt have enough space for the Space Station.) I started work today by installing the Space Station. (see photo 1) With a major goal being to replace the sagging wooden garage doors with steel replacements, we still wanted to get the doors more operative until their replacement could be afforded. One garage door is in exceptionally poor condition but I felt some less expensive repairs will make the door much sturdier. We began by removing the springs that assist the lifting of the heavy wooden garage door. We then removed the bottom panel from the door assembly and placed it on saw horses. The plan included removing rotted wood, making a replacement frame piece of new wood, installing a new panel to replace a rotted one, then reinforcing the entire door panel by gluing and screwing one-quarter-inch plywood to the rear of the door. This resulted in a very strong, repaired door panel. Though this was a simple process it took almost the entire day. Reinstalling the door panel took some time with some minor cutting and adjustment an expected part of the job. The end result was a terrific repair thatll last until replacement doors can be professionally installed.After a well-earned shower, Sally & I took Symphony and Journey to Brusters Ice Cream for dessert, then back home to get rested for their last day of school for the 2014-15 school year. Meanwhile I painted a weathered, vintage neighborhood sign that had been found in storage painting both the background color and the lettering (see photo 2). I will install it tomorrow on the community pool house.

Thurs, May 21 This was our final day at the William's residence and, obviously, our last work day. With the pressure on us we committed to finish every possible project we could handle PLUS we had an evening of FUN planned as we celebrated Journeys 11th birthday. (More on that later.)Projects started and/or completed today: Hang the Forest Chase sign on the pool house.

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W I s s g g, s g! W g b . F 2016 g s b . I g , g . R I s g S S !

Summer Trip 2015

May 20 June 1, 2015

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Sanded the first coat of paint on the garage man door (between the two roll-up garage doors) and apply the second coat of paint with a narrow paint roller. Installed a hanger system on the ceiling of Cindi & Kips tent trailer from which to hang a storage system. Repaired the other garage door to make it stronger prior to replacement in the future. Installed rubber gasket at the bottom on both garage doors to reduce rain from coming inside the garage. Lubricated hinges, mechanisms, etc. on both garage doors. Adjusted garage door spring (simple coil spring-type that runs parallel to door tracks, NOT the dangerous spring-coil type that runs above the garage door at the front of the door opening. (Those springs are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and are known to cause fatal accidents. Such garage door springs should ONLY be tensioned by trained professionals ! ! ) Replaced two weatherstripping pieces on our Aliner that I had replaced a few weeks ago with foam that was too stiff and would not compress enough. Hung decorative items on the doors I had painted the last few days. A big event planned for tonight was a party-night in celebration of Journeys 11th birthday. For her birthday gift we offered her several choices and she selected to take herself, a friend, sister Symphony and her friend, and Kip and I (Chris) to play laser tag. For those uninitiated in this activity, laser tag players wear a vest with targets and carry a laser gun. You must keep both hands on the gun in order for it to operate. A light beam (laser) from the gun must hit one or more of the targets on an opponents vest to score points. When youre hit your gun is inoperative for about 7-10 seconds. A computer collects the data as to how many tags you made. A game lasts about ten minutes. Its very exciting, like playing tag when we were kids but you can tag someone from a much further distance (unless you had long arms like Dominic in my old neighborhood). After playing two games we bought a couple bottles of soda and rented a DVD for the girls and went home. They stayed up until about 1:30 a.m. but I was long asleep in our camper.

Fri, May 22 As we were awakening this morning we heard movement outside our trailer. It wasnt too loud, but it was a lot more activity than usually occurs. Careful listening revealed that Kip & Cindi were loading their trailer in preparation for todays drive to Unicoi State Park near Helen, Georgia. They had both made the commitment to see that we were ready to pull out by 10 a.m. We arose to get our Aliner packed-up, folded-down and connected to the VW. During this time Cindi made breakfast for the girls who stayed over after Journeys party-night. Prior to driving north Cindi helped me with a last-minute project of opening up and setting up a MailChimp.com account. MailChimp is a service whereby you can send multiple emails all at one time. Prior to MailChimp I had to send our email travel newsletter in batches of less than 20 email addresses because of limitations with our email service. This took about 22 sendings and almost an hour of time to distribute each issue of our newsletter to all our readers.

#3: Cindi & Dad smile with the newly-painted neighborhood sign installed on community pool house. #4: New pool furniture, landscaping & other improvements are a result of Cindis leadership as HOA: home owners association president. #5: Sally relaxes in new chairs at poolside. Cindi did lettering on chairs. #6: Symphony, Journey & Cindi laugh after singing Happy Birthday for Journey, now 11 yrs old. #7: Chris tests new mail slot he made in pool house wall for HOA communication.

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The MailChimp set-up process took about an hour and Kip, Sally, Symphony and Journey patiently found other tasks while Cindi tapped away on the keyboard.We all drove to Buford, Georgia for lunch. Sally & I treated everyone to Golden Corral, our most-visited restaurant while traveling. The girls love having a wide selection of food from the buffet line while always having cotton candy as part of their dessert. When we got separated at traffic lights we discovered our GPSs gave us different routes. With very weak cell tower signals we had very limited phone connectivity and, after our only phone conversation, we chose to rely on our GPSs and find our individual routes to Unicoi.Located north of Helen, Georgia, Unicoi St. Pk. seems paired with Anna Ruby Falls National Forest. Unicoi has a very nice, contemporary-style lodge from which we did our campsite registration. We had a choice of three buddy sites, which means we had a site that was, supposedly, twice as wide as a regular campsite. Buddy sites are reservable but the actual site itself is first-come, meaning you get a choice of which buddy sites are still available when you arrive. Cindi drove the loops and picked the buddy site she liked best and we parked our rigs. Our set-up took about five minuets, while they took about 20 minutes due to a larger (tent) camper, and pentagonal picnic table easy-up (tent top up on poles). The rest of the day was a hike around the campground, playing Sorry (the old board game), telling jokes and stories,

building a campfire, and making smores with special square, chocolate & white marshmallows.

Sat, May 23 Following a breakfast of scrambled eggs & bacon courtesy of Cindi, we gathered branches that Chris made into push sticks. We then drove into Helen, GA. This community was falling into decay in the late 70s & early-80s until local businessmen got together to talk over how to save their town and make it profitable. They hired an artist who had ideas from an earlier revelation: convert the town into a faux German-Austrian village with plenty of Bavarian architecture. And so the new Helene, Georgia began. (see photos #12 & #13 for before and after)When we arrived in Helen, the Williamses shared a secret location: free parking at the city park thats near the tiny waterfall. From there we did a walking tour of the Helen business district making numerous stops such as the meat jerky shoppe (that also has veggie jerky), the candy shoppe (plenty of free samples), the candle-making shoppe, the woodworkers shoppe, and other tourist locations. From atop a bridge we observed a mu l t i t ude o f fo l ks tub ing down the Chattahoochee River. Back at the city park we

enjoyed a picnic lunch with chicken salad sandwiches adorned with grape halves. Following our meal we drove to the Cool River Rafting company where we rented inner tubes and carried our homemade push sticks. The cost for rafting was the same whether you took the two-hour trip (our choice) or the one-hour trip. The bus ride wasnt too long. The next couple hours were full of wet fun, though we rarely got splashed. Hang-ups on rocks were frequent, so our push sticks came in handy. There were literally a thousand

#8: Buddy campsite allowed our families to be together. #9: Dutch Blitz card game is in high gear. #10: Beach at Unicoi State Park where female gender enjoyed the sand while men folk went fishing in kayak. #11: Evening campfires provided fuel for smores.

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These girls are brutal at Sorry board game!

or more folks tubing today with nice temps in the mid-70s. We all agreed tubing in Helen, GA is a LOT of fun !

Sun, May 24 Cindi made us a great breakfast of breakfast burritos and other items including fresh fruit. After breakfast I played Dutch Blitz card game with Symphony, Journey and Kip. Once dishes and other chores were completed we drove to Anna Ruby Falls National Forest to check out the paddle/peddle boats and other accommodations. Deciding to move on past town to the fly fishing store, we dropped Kip off with a plan to drive farther from town and look at an Aliner that we saw for sale in a driveway. After only two minutes of driving we decided wed better turn around. Traffic heading back to Helen was bumper-to-bumper for several miles. Cindi did a turnaround in a parking lot and found a helpful driver who allowed us to join the conga line back into Helen, GA. We parked at the fly fishing store and Kip joined us about 10 minutes later after purchasing several fishing lures (artificial flies). Williams family enjoy hike at Anna Ruby Falls.>Heading back to Anna Ruby Falls we were able to waive the entry fee ($3 per adult; free to children under 16 yrs.) due to our Senior Pass to national parks and other federal properties. Our hike up to the falls was a lot of fun and consumed at least an hour one way. Legend, the family dog, was a great companion and is very well behaved; probably the best behaved dog Ive ever seen. It was also interesting to see the type of people that were enjoying this outdoor venue. The majority of persons walking the falls trail were Latino, East Indian (India), or Asian. Everyone was having a great time enjoying the area. After our hike we drove back to our campsite for Kip to retrieve his fly fishing gear, and then we drove back to the nearby lake. The paddle boats ($10/hr.) were all taken and a line of patrons was anxiously waiting for each boat to return so others could go out on the lake. Kip and I were able to rent a fishing kayak ($15 per hour) and I paddled while Kip practiced casting with his fly fishing equipment. Just as we were preparing to paddle back to the dock (our one-hour rental was almost up) Kip got a hard nibble from a fish that tore the decorative portion off his fly-lure. Wow! We were surprised how strong that bite was!While we were fishing, Cindi, Sally and the girls were enjoying the beach along with the hundreds of other folks basking in the Memorial Day weekend. Upon our arrival back at the dock, we all rode back to camp, had a great burger supper, and then showered and readied ourselves for bed. We were all exhausted. Our final full day in Unicoi State Park will be tomorrow as well both be leaving Tuesday morning.

Mon, May 25 Today was our last full day camping: 1) with the Williams crew, and 2) in Helen, GA. As we were preparing to eat breakfast Kip arrived from his early morning fly fishing trip at the local stream. His first cast out resulted in catching a 12-14 rainbow trout. He took a photo then set the fish free. We were all so happy for him! Breakfast was pancakes ala Cindi delicious. While cleaning up the morning dishes, Sally tripped over the dogs cable and fell on her knees resulting in a large number of small gashes that required plenty of washing and flushing to get the campsites gravel and dirt out. After the mornings adventures we were unsure of what to do the rest of the day. We were expecting rain to interrupt our merriment, so we chose to pack a small bit for a lunch snack, eat supper at an eatery, and wander around town in between. Due to arising late, a slow start, and packing up some of the Williams' camp gear to avoid the anticipated rain expected tomorrow morning (during packing time), we got a late start into town. Arriving at 12:30 we ate our snack in the parking lot and then went hiking through various stores in Helen. We found businesses we hadnt seen our first time in the village. Kip and I roamed together while the female folk formed their own group. We ended up finding each other at the banks of the Chattahoochee River where we had tubed Saturday. We all enjoyed watching the folks head down the rapids and over the small waterfalls, experiencing folks spin, yell, laugh, and fall out of their tubes. We were so entertained that we watched the tubers from two different locations for a total of about a half-hour. Good, cheap vicarious thrills! By afternoon we were hungry and drove out of Helen to less busy environs in neighboring Cleveland, GA. While getting fuel for Cindis SUV a young man recommended a restaurant across the road, J.W. Reeds, where we enjoyed a very reasonable and tasty supper. Back at camp Sally & I played Sorry with Journey and Symphony before showering and then retiring to our trailer for the evening.

Tues, May 26 Last night, as we laid our heads down for our nightly trip to SlumberLand, our trailers roof top became a drum skin and we were serenaded to a light drum solo brought about by an expected rain shower. Within five minutes the entire orchestra joined in; the sky broke loose and the rain came down and down and The downpour was so heavy that you could hardly

hear the very loud thunder above the pounding rain drops. This continued for hours. When we awoke this morning the rain had stopped but it began again prior to us packing up after a quick breakfast snack. We said our goodbyes amidst hugs & kisses, leaving the Williams crew to finish their packing and trip back to Marietta, GA.Our travel to Nashville followed a wiggly route through north Georgia, the Chattahoochee National Forest, Cleveland and Chattanooga,TN and all the land in between. We had many periods of rain but never enough to make travel difficult or dangerous. We stopped for lunch at one of our favorite eateries: Famous Daves BBQ > in northeastern Chattanooga. Each time we eat there we find a new menu item that becomes an old favorite. We enjoyed St. Louis style pork ribs, rib tips, garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread and (complimentary*) bread pudding. We shared that meal and were stuffed! We arrived at Ruth & Jim Whites house around 5pm. These folks are terrific and are fellow Aliner campers. You couldnt ask for better friends or more terrific hosts. We spent the evening updating on family issues and talking about their upcoming trip to Alaska in their Aliner. (*Famous Dave occasionally provides a survey on customers receipts. If you complete the survey online youll get a code # entitling you to a free dessert. We frequently get the survey-type receipt. Famous Daves bread pudding with ice cream and whipped topping is THE best ever!)

Wed, May 27 Following breakfast Jim drove the four of us to tour the Cheekwood gardens and outdoor art area. We always visit The Cheekwood as their displays, both plant and art oriented, change seasonally and are always a delight to our eyes. Internationally acclaimed Spanish artist Jaume Plensa had an extensive display of his sculptures and flat art. We took multiple photos and even were able to climb into some of his lawn sculptures. Just as we headed toward viewing the last of the gardens we chose to observe, the heavens opened up and it r-a-i-n-e-d! The downpour was torrential and we saw literal rivers of water heading down some of Nashvilles streets. The thunderstorm lasted about a half-hour and slowed to a drizzle as we entered the Loveless Cafe & Motel, one of Nashvilles most famous eateries specializing in biscuits and southern cooking. (The Loveless is only a restaurant as the motel portion was closed many years ago but the buildings remain to continue its historic and scenic presence.) By the time we left the rain was a memory and we visited a thrift store, then returned to the White residence for dessert and gobs of conversation.

Thurs, May 28 Ruth cooked and served a terrific breakfast followed by conversation involving everyone. We then drove to another thrift store (we all enjoy the hunt, which was followed by an exploration at Essex - Bargain Hunt. Weve visited several of their stores around Tennessee and north Georgia where Bargain Hunt is their usual name. Inside their walls explorers will find an assortment of items that have been returned by customers after purchase from online vendors, probably Amazon.com or alike. Prices are reasonable, the assortment unknown until you start rummaging, and the possibilities are always an adventure. Still, we prefer thrift stores but good buys can be had here on almost-new merchandise.We returned to the Whites home in the afternoon and rested. Then we prepped ourselves and drove an hour to the Chaffin Barn Dinner Theater, located a few blocks from the Loveless Cafe. Their buffet is great and we thoroughly enjoyed the play, Cliffhanger

#14: Jim & Ruth White, along w/ Sally, serve as tree huggers at Cheekwood Gardens. #15: We all pose at outdoor sculpture. #16: Another sculpture by Jaume Plensa. #17: Sally & Chris pose at sign of famous country-style eatery near Nashville: The Loveless Cafe.

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a murder mystery & comedy involving ghosts, all aimed to help the audience determine who had pushed Brad off the cliff. Our drive home was filled with conversation about the play and other ghostly events.

Fri, May 29 Following a light breakfast we mailed a package at the post office, went to two thrift stores, and had a very nice lunch at Los Tres Amigos (The Three Friends) Mexican restaurant on Lebanon Road, 2606 Lebanon Road, Nashville, TN. The food was very tasty, prices reasonable, and servings were generous. I especially enjoyed the frequent return of our server who was sincerely interested in our enjoyment of the meal. From there we hit two yard sales, then walked around the mall near the Grand Ole Opry. (see photo #18) A walk through the parking lot took us to the Gaylord hotel near Opryland where we walked through their interior gardens and enjoyed their lush hotel environment. With the weather delivering occasional rain we suddenly chose to take in a movie. Knowing Sallys taste in movies (shes not an avid movie goer) I convinced her shed like San Andreas, a disaster movie about a horrendous series of earthquakes from Los Angeles to San Francisco, CA. It was certainly an exciting movie! We topped off our day with a concrete mixer* at Culvers Frozen Custard (*similar to DQs Blizzard dessert).

Sat, May 30 Ruth White graciously fed us with homemade-recipe waffles with fresh strawberries, slivered almonds and fresh whipped cream. Oooooow Chris was so tempted to ask to be adopted by Jim & Ruth. We fold up our Aliner and drove off to follow the Natchez Trace down toward Jackson, Mississippi. We encountered occasional rain but nothing of any great concern. Our surprise came when our GPS had us on several smaller country roads nothing extreme just surprising, until the voice on the GPS said, Turn on (whatever) Street and we found ourselves on a dead end road. WOW! Thank goodness there was a driveway where we could do a 3-point turn and head back. Just as we finished our turnaround we found ourselves facing a pick-up truck coming the other direction with a small barn on its rear bed! We stopped and each had a laugh about our situation. They also told us how to get to Franklin where we were planning to eat lunch. The rest of our day was better and we finally found our way to the Natchez Trace (road) and made several stops along the route to see the historic sights & sites. Originally the Trace was a path animals followed in their annual migration for food. Then the Chickasaw indians developed it into a path for trading with other tribes. The Natchez Trace is the historic road that was cut tree by tree from Nashville, TN to Natchez, Mississippi so Andrew Jackson could fight the British in the War of 1812. Over the years the Trace became the major trade route from the midwest to New Orleans. More on the Trace as we continue our travels. We camped the night at David Crockett State Park in Tennessee.

Sun, May 31 We packed up our Aliner but we didnt leave David Crocket State Park, our campground for last night. Upon entering DCSP we immediately felt some kind of pleasantness. I think it began with the staff very friendly and accommodating. Our campsite was pretty standard but still especially nice. Leaving the camping area this morning, towing our home, we drove to Crockett Falls, a small set of falls that still looked quite photographic (see photo #20). We then drove to the David Crockett Museum, but found it closed. Disappointing. Especially

when it was listed to be open on Sunday at 9:30am. We walked around the museum grounds a bit but chose to drive up the road to the Crockett Restaurant, (see photo #21) which listed a Sunday buffet. (Calm down, Chris, were just looking!) After checking out the interior we chose to hike an adjacent trail to a waterfall before it got too warm outside. This was taller than Crockett Falls and also worth a few photos. A 10-minute hike back to the restaurant was rewarded with a great lunch. Sally made the wiser choice; I chose by my salivary glands. The buffet had variety with several meats: prime rib, pork ribs, pulled pork, and baked chicken, plus several veggies, rolls, and 3

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#19: View of the original Natchez Trace that ran 444 miles from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. Not an easy hike even by todays standards.

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desserts, plus a small but nice salad abr. That was my selection at $15.95. Sally chose the $6 special: choice of one meat, 3 veggies, and make-your-own-salad from the buffet. (You can see why I married her smart girl ! ) David Crockett State Park is now one of our favorite parks: lots of stuff to do, great campground prices ($20 sites; $17.50 for seniors) with lots of stuff to do and nice folks around to share the park with.The drive down The Trace was scenic and usually had a 50MPH speed limit, so we made good time despite stopping at several locations. One pull-off was to see three alternate, parallel roads that were part of the original Trace, and were constructed to be used when flooding and deep mud obscured travel. Our Trace traipsing took us out of Tennessee, through a corner of Alabama, and into Mississippi, stopping near Tupelo. By then we were enjoying another strong rainstorm. We camped the night at Trace State Park and were blessed by a diminishment of precipitation while we set up the trailer. After enjoying a DVD movie in our camper we took our evening showers and then drifted off to dreamland.

Mon, June 1 Today was our last day traveling The Trace (the Natchez Trace), leaving Tupelo, MS and driving south to the state capitol, Jackson, Mississippi. The Natchez Trace extends 444 miles from just south of Nashville, TN (mile-marker 444) to Natchez, MS. We left Tupelo, MS (mile marker 266) today after staying in Trace State Park outside of Tupelo. Our site faced the beautiful lake that is encompassed by the state park. Driving along the Natchez Trace is easy and enjoyable with the speed limit varying from 40-50mph depending upon the vicinity. Our frequent stops usually involved looking at signage about historical locations, events or other interesting history or natural science topics. A stop at French Camp, MS rewarded us with a walk through a small, rural community that boasted one of the first Christian schools for wayward youth, French Camp Academy, built in the mid-1800s (see photo #22). We had thought to leave The Trace and utilize Interstate-55 but we determined we wouldnt save much time using the bigger highway and, besides, the Trace was much more interesting, safer, and slow-paced. Jackson, MS was our departure point from The Trace and we stayed at LeFleur State Park inside the city limits. Rates for campsites in Mississippi state parks is very reasonable with the rate for senior citizens averaging about $14 per night (irrespective of in-state or out-of state residency).

NOTE: Wed love to have you remain as a back-seat traveler during our 2015 Summer Trip, but if you feel the necessity to have your name removed from our emailing list please do so by

personally unsubscribing via the cover letter that accompanied this

newsletter. Its easy and quick.

Watch for Issue #4 due out in about 2-3 weeks as we venture into western Mississippi,

Louisiana and Texas !

Also, thanks to everyone who has offered suggestions on where we might find interesting places to visit along our route. Keep those comments and suggestions coming! We love to hear from yall.

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