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On the drive to Huntsville, we stopped at the Unclaimed Baggage Center- the home for all of the airlines unclaimed baggage (and for store’s lost merchandise). It was filled with clothing, electronics, books, tools, toiletries—everything imaginable. The deals were pretty amazing- if you shopped hard enough. We stayed at the US Space and Rocket Center Campground in the overflow area. Mija was having some skin problems, so we tracked down a local vet and arranged for some tests (and grooming) and picked up some wine and beer. John invited our “neighbors” in overflow over for drinks. They came over at 6:00 and stayed until 10:00—2 huge bottles of wine and lots of beers later and we were best friends. Chet and Lupe were from Alexandria, Minnesota and were quite a strange pair. She was a hot blooded Mexican and he was a cold blooded Norwegian. They owned over 50 apartment buildings in Alexandria and had their son and daughter-in-law managing their operation while they traveled in their motorhome. We had a great time laughing and talking with them.
Mija went in for a day of tests and grooming and we took off to the west of Huntville to visit a cotton gin. It was quite an operation and hard to imagine working in the cotton dust all day long. With Mija occupied for the day, we went to the US Space and Rocket Center 
(right next to “Space Camp”). (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) It was another NASA hardware focused presentation of the space program and filled with kids attending Space Camp. The space program and the US Army have brought a lot of money to the Huntsville area and the road network is amazing and the city is beautiful. The old neighborhoods in the downtown Historic District were charming. They houses were originally built by wealthy merchants and planters and many of them are still there today- in great condition. And- with the space program- came a host of ethnic restaurants. We had another great Korean lunch- with take home galore.
Shenandoah Valley to Knoxville, TN
Aware of the DC traffic problem, we asked about the rush hour and learned that the AM rush hour ran from 6:00-10:00 am. So, we woke up at the crack of dawn and were on our way by 5:15am. Even at that early hour, the beltway was full of traffic. 
We managed to get through the worst of it- the beltway- before the real rush hour started and were stunned to see the inbound traffic piled 45 miles outside of DC. Our reverse commute was a blessing. We decided to drive as long as we could stand it- and managed to drive 500 miles- all the way from DC through the Shenandoah Valley to Knoxville, Tennessee.
We stayed just outside Pigeon Forge (Dollywood) and after settling into the KOA started on a search for wine and beer. It turned out that we were 10-20 miles away from anyplace selling wine. We drove into the city of Knoxville and explored the historic areas…. It didn’t take too long. The major attractions were the Woman’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Sunsphere (the remnant of the 1982 World Fair. We drove through the University of Tennessee area and found a few older houses and a lot of chain restaurants.
September 27-28, 2003 Chattanooga, TN 
Hoping that Chattanooga would be a step above Knoxville, we headed out in the morning. The city was quite lovely with several historic districts with beautiful homes. We drove through the inner city historic districts in a pouring rain- so it was relatively free of traffic. The following day, we drove up to Lookout Mountain and saw the Battle for Chattanooga Electric Map and Museum and Point Park. The highlight had to be the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum. Yes- a tow truck museum with about 15 old tow trucks and towing memorabilia.
We headed out the next morning to find that power was out in most of the area. The roads were deserted heading into DC- which we later learned was a blessing. 
The traffic into and out of DC was horrendous- bumper to bumper around the beltway and virtually stopped at the feeder roads to/from the beltway – for 45 miles outside of DC. Hurricane Isabel had pretty much stopped the entire city. We noticed a few more trees down as we headed into DC and found our way to our campgrounds. We arrived to find that the campground was empty and that power was out everywhere. 1.1 million DC area residents were without power and the utilities were warning that it could take up to a week to get them back. The coast of North Carolina was devastated and the streets of Annapolis, Baltimore and Alexandria were flooded. And, we had slept through the entire storm.
We decided to drive into DC and brave the downed trees and lack of traffic lights. Everyone was very disciplined- treating traffic light intersections like 4 way stops and it was a great way to see the city. We quickly figured out the DC street patterns and found our way to Adams-Morgan- the heart of the funky, ethnic area. It had originally been a few streets of Ethiopian restaurants, but now was a full fledged area filled with sidewalk cafes and ethnic restaurants. There were more Ethiopian restaurants in DC than we’d ever seen before. We stopped for lunch and had a great time. We drove through Dupont Circle and Georgetown. Georgetown was charming- 18th Century buildings now converted into apartments, houses and stores. We finished our tour with a drive through northwest DC, stopping by the National Cathedral and a drive through Chevy Chase. 
It brought us to the beltway and the amazing LDS Temple that looms over the beltway. We stopped by and found that they had a huge list of movies to watch and a special showing of “One Shepherd, One Fold”. We caught the 4:00 movie on Sunday and were stunned to find that the huge theater was filled – mostly with teenage girls. The movie was a story of the Nephites just prior to their visit by Jesus. It was a love story/Indiana Jones movie combination with the most amazing special effects (every bit as good as any Hollywood film) and a tear-jerker ending that all the women in the theater sobbing. They are truly great marketers.
On Sunday, we did another drive into the city- taking advantage of the continued power outage. We drove through the Capitol Hill area and were stunned to see block upon block of beautiful houses- in a white neighborhood. We drove through the Tidal Basin area and the Navy Yard (almost running over a black guy who ran out in front of our car. We weren’t sure if he was just stupid or trying to get the white folks to run him down). We took a drive through the Howard University area and found “Ben’s Chili Bowl”- a great black dive that served chili- in bowls, on hot dogs and on hamburgers. John managed to eat two bowls!
We decided to try the Metro system and took the bus to the train on Monday morning. The Metro was incredibly efficient and the stop at Union Station was amazing- restaurants, shops and a beautiful renovation of the old train station. We took the hop on/hop off bus tour and did the entire DC loop, taking in all the sites- from the White House, Capital, Smithsonian Museums, Arlington Cemetery, all the Presidential memorials and the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials. It was a full day and we dragged back to the campgrounds just in time for dinner with Larry, an old Deltak friend. We had drinks in "Maby Dick" and filled Larry in on the motorhome lifestyle. 
Then we headed out in the pouring rain for the Korean restaurant in the Days Inn just down the street. We had a great dinner halfway through the meal noticed that there was water puddling on the floor and my skirt was soaked. The rain was starting to pour through the ceiling- just over our table. We huddled around the table to the area that wasn’t getting rained on and by the end of the meal, the rain was pouring all around us and we were laughing hysterically. As we headed into the lobby of the hotel, there were buckets everywhere catching the pouring rain.
On Tuesday, we took the Metro again and headed to DC for a museum day. We took in the Air and Space Museum and the Omni Theater “To Fly”. Then, we took the Metro over to Capitol Hill and the Eastern Market. We had a crabcake sandwich and walked around before heading back for the night. Larry left a message asking if we had any reaction to our meal—he claimed to be part of George Bush’s WMD program and had been banished from the house.
Our last day in the DC area and we decided to drive to Baltimore. (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) Fortunately, we were once again on the reverse commute and watched the incoming DC traffic as we breezed into Baltimore. We stopped in the Federal Hill area for breakfast at their local market then took a great 3 hour bus tour with a guide who grew up in the area and was passionate about the city. We got to see the Inner Harbor and all of its’ renovations, the Mt Vernon area with its’ beautiful old homes, Fells Point and Little Italy – filled with old homes and neighborhood bars. We asked our guide for a lunch recommendation and he sent us to Samos in “Greek Town” and we had an absolutely wonderful lunch- greek salad, gyros and spinach pie.
It was a beautiful drive to Louisville- and we pulled into our KOA just north of the city- or should I say, squeezed into our site. We got ahold of Martha and Jeff and had them over for cocktails in "Maby Dick" before going out to dinner. 
I think Martha was stunned by our lifestyle- and Jeff was fascinated. He simply didn’t want to leave- suggesting take-out. Martha was anxious to get him out before he got any “ideas” about life in a motorhome. It was good to see her again- she still looks wonderful. It was, however, a bit strange- my memories of Martha were of the “life of the party” girl- always off to some exclusive party or flying off to the Derby- and full of adventure. How life changes- she’s become a suburban, golf playing mom with an SUV – traveling on Disney cruises with her son. Irrespective, we had a great time at a river side restaurant and it was wonderful to catch up after all these years. 
The following day, we explored Louisville- seeing Churchhill Downs and the huge historic district downtown. We were stunned by the block after block of beautiful old houses- in white neighborhoods. For old times sake, we drove down “the Dixie Die-way” to Fort Knox, where John did basic training. We took in the Patton Museum- the largest collection of military hardware- tanks- that I’d ever seen and drove through the base trying to find a bit of John’s past.
From the “Jazz” of Kansas City to the “Blues” of St Louis. We stayed at a RV Resort at St. Charles, just outside St Louis. The campsites were great- wide concrete pads long enough for the motorhome and tow car. It was, however, a bit of a drive to downtown St Louis.
We explored St Charles- it was a bit like New Hope, PA. 
Brick streets with quaint old shoppes and restaurants. We took a City Tour and got a bit of an overview of the city. Part of the tour was a stop at Anheuser Busch Brewery- the largest brewery in the world and home of Budweiser. They have 49% of the American beer market with Bud and Bud Light! The tour was quite well done, but didn’t really give you much of a plant tour. We saw the Budweiser Clydesdale horses and had a few beers at the tasting center.
While the City Tour was a bit on the “lite” side, we did our own driving tour and saw the various neighborhoods around the city. Soulard and Cherokee Street, just south of downtown, were filled with 19th Century brick homes. It has become a residential area with an infrastructure of pubs and restaurants and Cherokee Street- 4 blocks of antique and junk shops. Lafayette Square was a beautiful square surrounded by Painted Ladies. We drove through the Central West End- what they call “Little Europe”. It was a bit more like Jewish West End. The Loop, by St Louis University, was a funky college street filled with ethnic restaurants- Thai, 
Ethiopian and even Nigerian. We had lunch at “Blueberry Hill”, a nostalgia restaurant where Chuck Berry still comes to play. The Grand South Grand area was filled with beautiful Victorian houses- in a largely black and Asian area. We stopped for a famous Ted Drewe’s Frozen Custard (called a “concrete”- and probably the inspiration for the DQ Blizzard). Just blocks from Grand South Grand was an area called “The Hill”- their Little Italy. The fireplugs set the boundary for the neighborhood- painted in red, white and green. The neighborhood went from totally black to totally white and from Asian and ethnic restaurants to Italian bakeries, grocery stores and pasta places.
We spend an afternoon at the “Arch”- taking the ride to the top of the arch in little astronaut like carriers. Under the Arch was the Museum of Westward Expansion with a special section devoted to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We had lunch at Lacledes Landing (the “Flats” of St Louis)- where old warehouses have been turned into clubs and restaurants.
Finally, we visited the “Museum of the Dog”. They accept “well-behaved” dogs so Mija got to see her first museum. She promptly threw up after being in the museum for only a few minutes. I guess that she’d rather visit PetsMart than see old painting of other dogs.
With Mormon books to keep us from boredom, we headed from Nauvoo to Independence, Missouri (the supposed site of the Garden of Eden as well as the site for Christ’s second coming – according to Joe Smith). We had a campsite in the middle of town- in fact, within walking distance of all three of the LDS Visitors Centers. The Mormons/Salt Lake City group had their own visitor’s center. The Community of Christ (the smallest of the three) had a visitors center and church (built on the site of the original stones set by Joseph Smith). 
The Church of Christ (formerly RLDS) had their “Dairy Whip” temple and auditorium. We, of course, visited all three.
At the Mormon/SLC group, we got the standard film and the young female guide giving us her personal witness to the truth of the faith. (Interestingly, the film was done without any speaking parts. It showed the miracles of Jesus followed by the story of his visit to the America’s. Virtually all of the America’s footage showed little brown people looking remarkably like South/Central American Indians. It would be quite a propaganda film to attract the peoples of South America.).
At the Community of Christ, we met a very nice man who took the time to explain the differences between the various LDS churches. And, at the Church of Christ, we got a personal tour of their new temple.
As a break from the Mormons, we spent some time in Kansas City exploring the city. The city felt like Cleveland years ago- a few pockets of older neighborhoods with some character that were filled with restaurants and clubs, a new development with “the stores of Newbury Street” and a significant part of the city left to decay. In the city limits of Kansas City, there was only one building designated on the National Register of Historic Buildings- and it was at 18th and Vine, the old Negro Jazz area. 
Independence, the home of Harry Truman, was a charming little town. We had a great German dinner at the Rheinlander Restaurant, toured Harry Truman’s home and bought strudel at a Croatian bakery.
The highlight- a trip to the Harley Davidson "Vehicle and Powertrain Operations" plant. We timed our visit perfectly- they had an open house at the plant- so it was a free-form walk through the plant with the chance to talk to any of the assembly line workers- not a canned tour.
The KC plant does assembly of the dyna-glide and the sportster models and just started doing assembly of both the frame and engine for their new V-Rod. I did have a great tour guide- John..... I not only got the plant tour, but a full explanation of all the pieces and parts. It was fascinating. After all these motorhome factory tours- and the almost total lack of automation, I was surprised to see the robotic technology at the Harley plant- huge robots doing the welding, polishing, frame-bending, and painting.
The drive through Iowa seemed to last forever. After a terrifying ride on a narrow toll bridge across the Mississippi, we finally got into Nauvoo, Illinois. The entire town was Mormon and the first thing John had me do was ask where we could buy wine and beer. This was not an easy task- since Mormons don’t drink alcohol- they don’t even drink anything with caffeine! Our campground manager was a dyed in the wool Mormon who told us long stories about his ancestors and their role in the pilgrimage to Salt Lake.
We stopped at the LDS bookstore- snagged a Joe Smith plate and marveled at the young (20 year olds) women in their long skirts with their 50 year old husbands. 
We started our Mormon pilgrimage at the Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was murdered. We had the story told by a Morman elder and again via their canned film and audio presentations in the jail. The LDS Church has put a tremendous amount of money into presenting their story via extremely high quality video presentations in all of their major pilgrimage sites. We think that it’s to make sure that the story is told consistently and at a high level. After seeing where Joe was killed, we went to the LDS Visitors Center in Nauvoo. We saw the requisite film about Joe’s life and prophecies and started to walk around the exhibits. As we stood in front of the “Government in Nauvoo” exhibit, we found ourselves looking at two of John’s ancestors. 
The Mormons had a short tenure in Nauvoo- only enough time for 4 mayors to hold office. Two of them were Spencers- one was John’s great, great, great, great grandfather, Daniel Spencer and the other Daniel’s brother, Orson. 
Seeing the faces of his ancestors started us on our own search for any records of these people. We spent a morning at the Land and Records Center and walked away with pages of information on the lives of Daniel, Orson and their children. As we started to put together a simple family tree, we began to see the complications- Daniel and his son, Claudius Victor, had both embraced the concept of polygamy whole-heartedly. It took a bit of time to try to figure out which of their multiple wives fit into John’s family tree.
(right next to “Space Camp”). (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com) It was another NASA hardware focused presentation of the space program and filled with kids attending Space Camp. The space program and the US Army have brought a lot of money to the Huntsville area and the road network is amazing and the city is beautiful. The old neighborhoods in the downtown Historic District were charming. They houses were originally built by wealthy merchants and planters and many of them are still there today- in great condition. And- with the space program- came a host of ethnic restaurants. We had another great Korean lunch- with take home galore. 
