USA

Well Asheville was nice and all but we knew as we headed to Tennesee things might get a bit more Andy Griffith, Dukes of Hazard, Deliverance like and....well, they did. First, it started raining. The most rain we'd seen in a long time. All kinds of rain. Misty rain, big 'ol giant rain, rain that came in waves and even sideways rain. So we just kept driving. Through Knoxville toward Nashville (then past Nashville) till we got to Lebanon, TN. Sleeping in an RV with heavy rain is like sleeping in a popcorn popper. Sleep was marginal and early the next morning, with the rain pounding, we moved off the leveling blocks, put them away. Turned off the power, disconnected water, brought in the pullout and then it happened. I really don't want to discuss it. Never work alone when the buddy system is required. It's not something I want to describe but I'll say this.... Sewer hoses, way too much pressure, weak connection. You either have a good time or a painful story which leaves deep emotional scars and recurring twitching and itchiness. I didn't really care for those pants anyway. But enough about the never-ending daily monotony that is hooking, unhooking, taking the car off trailer, leveling and unleveling RV, checking in, backing in, pulling through, fixing tire, fixing other tire, water seeping in, water seeping out, Boy I wish we would have made this a longer drive.

I'm sorry, I needed to get that off my chest. Here's a question. Why is it that in the South there is so much hoopla about the Civil War and all the battles. Look, bottom line is....the South lost. We're now, fortunately, the "United" States of America. That's right. The South wanted to be separate so there'd be what...North America (us) and "South" America with continued slavery? We haven't figure out why there is so much celebration and dedeication to such an unworthy cause. The sports equivalent would be something like erecting monuments and National parks at the sites of a teams worst losses when they were trying to win the Superbowl on Steroids only to lose to a better team that was virtuous, courageous and unifying. Then, you celebrate the bitter loss and reenact it every chance you get for all the tourists to see. We just don't understand. No offense to our Southern friends but WHY?

Then we go through Arkansas. Not much novelty here that we could find. I mean really. How did they even come up with the name "Arkansas?". I think it was like this...."Well Delbert, what should we name this place. Kansas is already taken even though we're from there." Delbert ponders and says "How about "our Kansas" but with a little of that Frenchy flair so we'll call it Our - can- saw or Arkansas. And that town by Texas, will call that "Texarkansas" or Texarkana" It's amazing how things have transpired in US history. For my detailed factual accounts on historical thingies go to my website at www.makeitupasyougoalong.com

So with some 7,000 miles under our RV hat and some long, long straight driving to go down route 66 we'll be charging for home with stops in Oklahoma, Amarillo, TX then to Albuquque & Santa Fe, then Grand Canyon to meet our friends the Phelps before heading to Prescott to stay a few days with them and off to Palm Springs to see Hal's parents then back to SLO!!!

Well after a suprisingly beautiful view of Pennsylvania we made our way to Washington, DC. Actually our RV park was in College Park, MD where we could catch the bus to the Metro and be in Downtown in about 40 minutes. Our first day we rode in to Union Square which is a massive rail, Metro stop with shops, restaurants, food court etc. and prior to airtravel this was where most dignitaries would arrive and be greeted in the Nation's Capital. We're not big on tours but signed up for the double decker open top bus and made our rounds in that to get familar with the lay of the land. We went to the Spy museum which was fascinating and a bit depressing at the same time. It's amazing to find out the extent to which people and Countries go to find out what other people and Countries are doing. In fact, DC has the highest concentration of spies in the world with an estimated 10,000 within a 1 mile radius of the spy museum! We stopped at a small market for a drink and as the stout guy in line in front of us pulled out his wallet I could he see he had a very "official" looking ID. I was really curious and not too subtly snooping to see what it was as I used all my newfound spying skills before I finally just asked the guy if we could see his ID, much to the embarassment of Nate & Kyle. Well, he immediately said "are you guys tourists?" and we are all thinking "uh oh, Dad went tooo far again this time." It turns out he was secret service and dug deeper into his wallet to give us "special" secret service pins..." you won't find these in any of the gift shops" he told us proudly. So a potentially embarassing situation got us some special momentos. Rest assured that you, as US citizens, are now much safer since the Sweaseys have been thoroughly endoctrinated into the Secret Service. This was our first real trip to DC and we gained a lot.

The Lincoln Memorial was probably one of the more moving sights. The boys of course knew this is where Forrest Gump made his famous speech and reconnected with Jenny after his tour of duty in Vietnam - it's so great that our kids have such an appreciation for history. The WWII memorial, the Capital building, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Holocaust Museum, Washington Monument (named after Herbert Hoover of course) to name a few we're all part of the sightseeing.

After 4 great days in DC we moved down the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The highlight was Lexington, VA. A small town of 7,000-8,000 and home to Washington/Lee University and VMI (Virginia Military Institute). A hilly downtown with narrow 1700's streets and laden with historic buildings that are now little cafe's and shops. We moved onto Asheville, NC which is another cute town but larger and got connected on some great mountain biking trails that the kids loved and the whole area is surrounded by National Forests and Parks and natural beauty. We're now counting the days back to SLO with over 6,000 miles traveled and about 2,300 miles to go!!!

Well, we've survived with no major injuries or problems. We went the 15 to 25 miles East of Mt. Shasta to the classic old logging town of Macleod. The Macleod river is spectacularly cut out of valcanoe flows and has huge swimming/jumping hole at the base of some falls. In town they've got a classic Candy shop with great oldies like Frosties root beer and enough chocolate to cover all our bodies, the RV and our car. We drove to Roseburg on Saturday and got lucky and found a nice little grassy RV park next to a large community park at the confluence of the North and South Umpqua Rivers. We excercised and played 2 on 2 football and put the raft in the River for a brief float.....A little different population hanging out here but our theory is that confluences of rivers increase the propensity for inbreeding. The area is spectacular and we went East again 20 miles up the Umpqua to some picturesque falls and huge diving rocks into deep water holes. Other than a flat and a trip to WALMART (sorry i'm just not a big fan and think they should call it "imported crap mart") to get the tire fixed it's been great. Off to Portland tommorrow for some City dwelling with Maria's brother Chris and his wife Christine