Concern for increased traffic from Boston down past NYC and DC was misplaced. Indeed, there was plenty of traffic, but no more than everywhere on the trip so far.
Usually we can consult the RV Park book en route and find a nice place for the night, however, as we approached Wilkes Barre, PA, ready to stop, no appropriate RV park was to be found. The most likely candidate had a covered bridge to navigate into the park, with a 13' clearance. We're 11'7" plus the television dish on top so prudently decided not to try it. So where does one park in the absence of a place offering electric, water and dump hookups? At WalMart, of course. WalMart has made it known that RVs are welcome to overnight in their parking lots, for what we call "dry camping", depending upon our own generator and stored water. Of course WalMart "guests" reciprocate by leaving some dollars in the store's til. We joined four large trucks (who didn't stay all night) and two other RVs. In checking for a stray WiFi signal, we found a nearby hotel that asked for a name and room number for entry to the internet, so we checked in as Mr. Jones in room #123. Voila!
We crossed Virginia between the Blue Ridge and Appalacian mountains at the peak of their fall color display - an especially beautiful drive. Visiting Blacksburg, VA included a tour of the Virginia Tech University. Their 28,000 students inhabit just about the most beautimous campus I've seen.
Our trip's third destination was the Beach Heritage Museum at Tullahoma, Tennessee for their annual "Beech Party". Pilot or not, this museum is strongly recommended for a visit. It originated as the Staggerwing Museum, one of Beech Aircraft's most famous and beloved airplanes, and now has evolved to include many of the Beech models. In recent years, Beech lost its highly-respected name to Raytheon, but now is Hawker Beech and it's wonderful to see that historic name Beechcraft on the buildings. The museum pays great tribute to Louise Thaden, the winner of the 1929 Powder Puff Derby, and the loyal members there consider Amelia Earhart a much lesser light. We saw old friends, sold some books and soaked up the pride of Beechcrafters. We also soaked up some record-breaking rainfall.
As long as we were close by, we made a side trip to the Unclaimed Baggage Store in Scottsboro, Alabama where an entepreneur purchases then sells all the airlines' luggage that they've managed to lose for their customers. The place is enormous including the expected - clothes, books and luggage - plus a huge inventory of digital cameras, other electronics and fine jewelry. It is truly a phenomenon, but having visited there before, I have to say that they're been discovered and their "bargains" aren't quite the great deals previously found.
After three weeks on the road, with too much driving and not enough relaxing, we're spending a couple of days at a gem of a park in Sweetwater, Tennessee, near Knoxville. Of course, women pilots all know that the real Sweetwater is in Texas where the WASP trained during WWII. But this Sweetwater is a lovely place where the leaves have shown their color and are starting to fall. We're seeing reports of snow in the west, but figure it's some sort of a plot because it's too early for snow. Next is Gatlinburg, TN for the Beech Aero Club BACFest where their brilliant directors are giving each attendee a copy of my Three Musketeers book!
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