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About the Header Image: Idlebrook Wendy Darling Evensen "Wendy" one of our four Labrador Retrievers.

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Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day in the USA and More of Our Road Trip

Good Morning and Happy Labor Day and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to My Honey! 

I hope you're enjoying your traditional last-day-of-summer holiday today.

That's not a really great image up there, but there is a reason I'm using it anyway.  I had just come out of that door at our hotel and my camera lens was foggy because of the change from air conditioning to very humid outer band hurricane air.  Can you see what's at the lower part of the picture?  It's a wheelchair ramp from the parking lot up over the curb to the sidewalk.  And, uh, what's between the sidewalk and the door?  Yep, three steps.  The sidewalk goes nowhere else either right or left - just into greenery.  I am confident that ramp is to comply with some well-intentioned law that there be a wheelchair ramp from the parking lot to the sidewalk.  Go figure.  :\ 
Back to the road trip....  We were so fortunate to have such great weather.  All we heard on the news was the damage being caused by Hurricane Isaac to the South of us.
Yum!  Lots of watermelon going North...
 ...and wood chips.
 It wasn't long before we saw mountains.  Beautiful!
 That's a propeller plane.  We haven't seen one of those in the air for a long time. 
 This poor guy appeared to be waiting for help for his broken down truck.
 We drove under the Blue Ridge Parkway...
 ...and further into the mountains.
 This is the spot where there was a huge land slide that closed Interstate 40 for more than a year.  We are very happy it has been cleared and the road reopened.
 Then into Tennessee...
...and past lines of trucks...
...making the climb.
The weather remained beautiful as we passed mountain rivers and lakes.  We arrived at our next hotel in Tennessee mid afternoon, had an early dinner, then settled in for the night.

Tomorrow we will be HOME!

All the best,
Lois

PS - Back in 2004 while we were aboard Majesty of the Seas we had quite a detour because of Hurricane Frances.  I documented that one here if you care to take a look.

13 comments:

Diana said...

One of these days Lois I expect to see my husband in one of those photos driving down the road, LOL!!!
That wheel chair ramp or supposed wheel chair ramp was frustrating to me. You would think they could have finished the job! Happy Birthday to the hubby! Love Di ♥

Nedra said...

That ramp is too funny. ( Although, I guess not, if you are wheelchair bound) Must be a government law.
Have a nice time with arriving home.

TexWisGirl said...

glad you were ahead of the storm this drive. i liked your observation of the wheelchair ramp vs. steps. :)

Anonymous said...

Thankful for your good weather for traveling. The mountain views are spectacular. Happy Birthday to your hubby!

DeniseinVA said...

Great road trip shots Lois. Good catch on the wheel chair ramp, yep, go figure.

Lois said...

My Dad was in a wheelchair the last few years of his life and he would have been livid over that wheelchair ramp in your first picture! I know what you mean about that humid air too. When we were having those outer bands of Isaac here, every single time I got out of my air conditioned car, my glasses would fog up!

Kathy said...

You were so smart to notice the "ramp to nowhere"! Good catch.

I experienced the foggy lens syndrome when I spent a few days recently in Galveston. It's very disconcerting. I was using a brand new lens and I couldn't see anything for about 20 minutes! I now know to keep your lens in a plastic or cloth wrapping until the temperature differential becomes equalized.

EG CameraGirl said...

How fortunate that you avoided Isaac! I bet you'll be glad to be home for a while.

VP said...

I like how you describe your road trips!

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

I have enjoyed my visit with you SO much. I went back and also enjoyed your ocean cruise avoiding the Hurricane..complete to the end. What fun. It was a feeling of almost being right there. GREAT work and thanks.
I just finished your road trip as well. My husand of 43 years and I traveled and this brought back so many wonderful memories.
My husband now is not adventurous...so I don't get to do those things anymore.
I am off to Georgia early Wed. morning from California. I haven't flown for almost four years so if this visit were under different circumstances I would be in a heaven of anticipation! :)
What fun it's been visiting your blog!
Mona

Montanagirl said...

Always nice to get home again! Happy Birthday to your honey.

Elaine said...

You have a beautiful drive on the road between home and the ship! The wheelchair ramp is just very strange. I suppose they complied with the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit. I guess if we want to be generous perhaps the paving crew for the parking lot did their job and someone else is responsible for making the steps ADA accessible.

Home on the Range said...

My first glance at the airplane was P2V? No. . I'm not sure what that is.

Safe travels and, as always, thanks for sharing your great photos of the journey.