Charlotte

We had a great day in beautiful Savannah. We took a narrated trolley tour (4th generation native) of the historical district which we really enjoyed because our guide was so familiar with the history of Savannah. We enjoyed the 19 city squares as each was a distinct landmark of history. We toured a home Andrew and Juliette Low (founder of the Girl Scouts) and had lunch at the Shrimp House on River Street.

We decided to head to Charlotte a day early because the Nascar race shops would not be open on weekends. I wish I could say our trip to Charlotte was uneventful but it was not. We were about 100 miles out of Charlotte when a tire blew on the 5th wheel. Fortunately we were near an exit and found a good place to park. We now have an appointment on Monday morning to get 4 new tires on the RV. We sure do not want that to happen again.

We did not let that stop our plans. We visited some of the race shops, Lowe's Speedway and had a nice lunch sitting on the deck on Lake Norman. As you can see I was able to see Rouse Fenway and get a photo with Carl's car. Everything is so close around here. We are parked across the street from Lowe's Speedway. Really cool!

Sunset

I could not let this opportunity pass to show you another sunset. Almost every evening we sit looking our back window at the sunset and watching the dolphins play out in the water. The views are so captivating and beautiful. We feel so fortunate to be able to be here and doing what we love. Enjoy!!!

No Shuttle Launch

Well I guess we will not get to see the Shuttle Launch. Again we got up in the middle of the night and started out to see the launch but it was again postponed. It is now scheduled for July 11th and we will be gone before then. We are really disappointed.

On Thursday we ventured to see the World's Golf Hall of Fame. They presently have an exhibit on display in honor of Bob Hope

called "Shanks for the Memory" which was so neat. The exhibit

had artifacts, vintage photos and videos of Bob Hope's life, legacy and love of the game of golf. We were so impressed. The Hall of Fame was very interesting also as it provided history of golf and contains so many exhibits of so many golfers. We played an 18-hole putting course and of course, Jack beat me. We have a really nice day!!

The weather here has been very hot and humid. Jacksonville is having a heat wave. Just our luck. We will be leaving on Monday and heading to Savannah. We are enjoying our summer and look forward to the rest of our trip.

Daytona

Here is a photo looking out our back window at the sunset at the Jacksonville Naval Base. We have a great view of ships coming and going. I have to get a photo of the large Cargo Ship but I keep missing the photo opportunity.

Today we took a trip down to St. Augustine and Daytona Speedway. We went into the Daytona Experience which we quite nice but just as we were going to get on the tram to take a ride around Daytona Speedway, it began to rain (pouring) so we did not get to do that.


We did get to see a IMAX movie about racing, Kenseth's 2009 Daytona car and other interesting racing things.

We stopped in St. Augustine (Founded by Spain in 1565, the oldest European settlement in the U.S.) and checked out the Lighthouse Museum and the Castillo De San Marcos National Monument which is a fort. There were a lot of other interesting buildings but we ran out of time.

The Shuttle launch was cancelled on Saturday due to a mechanical issue but is now scheduled to launch on Wednesday morning so we are going to try again. Fortunately on Saturday morning, we only went about 15 miles before I logged into my computer to find out it was cancelled. Hopefully we will get to see it on Wednesday. Will update you.

New Destination

We changed our destination after talking to our friend, Kathy Bennett. We decided to head to Jacksonville, Florida to a RV park in the Naval Base. We have a perfect view of the Atlantic Ocean watching cargo ships, cruise ships and etc. Our plans are to stay here through the 21st.

Another reason we decided to visit Florida is that the Shuttle is launching on Saturday, the 13th. We have always wanted to watch one take off and this is our chance. We will drive down early Saturday morning to see that.

It is very hot and humid here as you can imagine. Jack said get used to it as our travels this summer will continue to be in the hot and humid zone. We had an uneventful trip here. It took us three days driving through Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. To get to the Naval Base was confusing and you have to have ID tags on your vehicle which we no longer have so we had to get those but we are here and settled.

Vicksburg - June 5-7

Since my last posting we have visited Texas Speedway but unfortunately we were unable to take a tour because there was a Truck and IRL race this weekend. We did drive around the outside of the raceway which was very impressive.

From Texas we moved to Shreveport, Louisiana. We stayed at Barksdale Base Fam Camp which was really nice so we decided to stay a few days. Had a huge thunderstorm and lots of rain one afternoon.

We are now in Vicksburg, Mississippi. We toured Vicksburg National Military Park where battles of the Civil War took place. It was amazing. We drove around the city looking as the old buildings and historical sites. We are going to spend tomorrow here also before we move onto Savannah, Georgia. It will takes us a few days to get there as were are not going over 300 miles a day.

Enjoy the photos. General Grant, Girls enjoying the Dogging Park and Carol in the Gardens of the Old Court House Museum.