Had some...

... connection issues when we left Canada and returned to the US via the Champlain Islands (http://tinyurl.com/m43fk3) in Northwestern Vermont. We were at the Apple Island Campground in South Hero for two nights. It was a very nice campground in a beautiful setting, the only problem was that I had no WiFi connection...so, although we are back on Long Island, this post will serve as the last post before the next post which will be posted when I go to Tuscany and London in September.

The weather was beautiful but very hot, so we relaxed at the campsite except for a two-hour walk we took looking for an orchard that someone told us was "just a little way down the rural road." I guess Vermonters idea of "just a little way" is different from my idea of it because we walked to exhaustion and heat stroke and never found an orchard. We did find some pretty things along the way though...

And this "mother and child reunion"...

Street Performers

Today we took the bus to Quebec City. What a great city to explore. It has the feel of a European town, from dining under umbrellas on cobblestone streets to historical buildings to georgeous natural scenery to street performers with their hats or cups on the street for donations. Here are some that we saw today:

The next two come with a story. After lunch Peter wanted ice cream so he went to a little shop and ordered a small cone for me and a large for himself (see first picture.) The large cone had such an enormous amount of ice cream on it that as we walked down the street people stared, laughed, and commented on the size of it. As we passed a few people dining at a restaurant they were laughing so hard that Peter immediately took a position on the side of the street like a street performer and continued to lick his ice cream cone while they all laughed and cheered. I went to one of the tables and dumped the condiments out of its little china container and put it on the street in front of him, (see second picture). No one gave any money so I guess eating a piggish amount of ice cream isn't really a talent, not even for a street performer.

Oh Canada! Oye Canada!

We left the Essex Junction /Champlain Valley Fairgrounds at 2:00 and drove north into Canada and then east on route 20 toward Quebec City. We are staying at a KOA campground in St Nicholas, Levis, Quebec, just a few miles from the City.
We arrived here at about 6:30 PM and have been experiencing a comedy of errors and frustrations since we turned off the ignition key. First the electrical outlets didn't work and after checking all the switches, knobs, dials, transistors, resistors, diodes, circuit boards, buttons, plugs, capacitors, wires, toggles, and fuses to no avail, we discovered a GFI reset button on the receptacle in the hallway. So after an hour of troubleshooting every other possible option Peter hit that button and voila! Power. He said that never happened before and now the next time it happens he will know where to start.
Next he turned on the Direct TV and got no picture. We tried calling DirectTV but you can't call 800 numbers on a cell phone from outside of America, so we went online to find a real phone number that is dial-able from Canada. No such number on the website.
I googled the question "How do I call DirectTV from Canada?" And the answer I got was..."use SKYPE".
That worked...but Peter has now spent the past 45 minutes trying to get thru the extremely annoying and frustrating automated system.
The automaton asked for his phone number, he said "631-728-6462", she said "623-651-6314, is that correct?" he said "no," she said "please say your phone number," he said "631-728-6462," she said "756-834-2365, is that correct?" He began pulling out large chunks of his hair. One more time...he said "631-728-6462," she said "631-728-6462, is that correct?" He said "Yes!"
I said, "Yippeee we are finally getting somewhere"...BUT THEN....the call dropped!
He tried this procedure 2 more times with exactly the same result but with different automatons and even a real person.
Next he tried moving the coach 2 feet forward....but we were still in Canada.
My mother's words came back to me in a flash when Peter finally accepted the reality that there would be no TV tonight. What are those words, you ask? Whenever I would complain of having nothing to do she would say... "Go read."
Thanks for the advice, Ma.
Tomorrow at 9:00 AM we will take a bus into Quebec City and spend the day exploring, and hopefully be tired enough when we get back to not care that the TV doesn't work.

And we will go read!

Lake Champlain, Lobster Rolls, Ice Cream & a Tree Farm

This afternoon we decided to explore the area a bit. So we left the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds and just outside the main gate we found a bus stop. We got on the first bus that came along and it took us to Burlington and Lake Champlain.
The lake begins in NY, is 110 miles long and flows north to Canada. The NY/VT border runs down its center. At it's widest its 12 miles wide and it's greatest depth is 400 ft. Lake Champlain is the 6th largest lake in the US. Burlington is celebrating 400 years since Samuel de Champlain sailed south from Canada in 1609.

We had a great lobster roll for lunch at a lakeside restaurant..."Splash at the Boathouse" http://tinyurl.com/llzscv

We walked along Church Street, which is a pedestrian-only street, until we happened upon Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream store...This area is where it all began about 30 years ago. We enjoyed a tasty treat and continued our "people-watching" journey until we caught the bus back to the campsite.

We sat and visited with our next door camper guy, Bob Williams, who is a tree farmer from New Hampshire. I never met a tree farmer. I asked him how long it takes to grow a tree before you cut it down to sell it to the mill. He said it takes about 70 years, so the trees he is harvesting now were planted before he was born and the trees he has planted in his lifetime will be harvested after he's gone...WOW!

What's it All About?

Today we spent the day looking for FMCA Rally activities. It turns out that many of the scheduled activities don't happen till tomorrow...I guess it's really a weekend thing.

There is a big section of the fairgrounds that has new coaches on display, so I was nervous when Peter started "shopping." I had a case of deja vu and thought we would come back to Long Island in another new and improved coach. Fortunately he found a little something wrong with each of them, like the countertop or the shower...or the price, so we will be coming home in the Diplomat.
We found The Blue Ribbon Pavilion where they were setting up for a huge "yard" sale of donated items for some children's charities. We scoped out the whole warehouse-sized room to see if there was anything we couldn't live without. Peter found a 10" Calphalon saute/crepe pan that he knew sells for about $85.00 and they were asking $3.50. When he tried to buy it the attendant said that they are not open yet, they are still setting up and we sould come back on Saturday and she even gave him a coupon for $1.00 which he could use on Saturday to get the pan for $2.50. Naturally this was unacceptable to Peter because he is accustomed to getting things when he wants them so he went to another attendant and made her an offer she couldn't refuse, he offered her $5.00 if she would sell it to him right now.
I'm thinking crepes for breakfast tomorrow.

Essex Junction, VT

Peter and I left Long Island at 9:00 AM heading for Essex Junction, Vermont. We drove the coach to Port Jefferson and made it just in time to be the last vehicle on the Ferry to Bridgeport. The first mate Bryan, asked all the usual questions about the coach and posed for us. It was a beautiful day for a ferry ride. We drove north thru Connecticut and Massachusetts into Vermont. Essex Junction is just northeast of Burlington near Lake Champlain.

Vermont is called "The Green Mountain State" for good reason!

The weather was perfect for the drive and the rain didn't start until we were all set up at the campground. We're at a Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally. I'm not really sure what that is but the best I can tell so far is that a bunch of people who own motorcoaches meet for a few days at some location and look at each others coaches and decide if theirs is better than the other guys'. We got here a day early so I'll know better tomorrow when the activities actually get underway what this is really all about. But I'm pretty sure that we have the best coach.

Check back here for details.

Spend a Penny

While talking to a group of guests on the tour, one of the ladies was remembering an incident on one of her previous holidays. She was talking about something she had needed to do but she first had to go "spend a penny" before she could proceed. At this point I stopped her to ask what she meant by "spend a penny". She explained that many years ago, in order to use a public toilet in England, it was necessary to put a penny in a small box attached to the stall of the toilet. Thus, when Nature calls they say they have to "spend a penny".
And by the way, contrary to what you may be thinking, this anecdote did NOT come from Mrs."P"
I remember pay toilets in America but it was never a penny!

Grand Ole Opry

When we checked into the hotel in Nashville yesterday a few of us decided to try to get tickets to see the Opry. The hotel sells tickets and transportation to the show which is quite a distance from where we are. They couldn't get thru to the box office for some reason so we decided to take our chances. We took the transportation part of the package and hoped that the ticket part would be available to us when we got there, if not we would just wander thru the museum, the giftshop and the Opryland Hotel which is so huge that people who stay there never leave during their visit because they think that IS Nashville. http://www.nashville.com/gaylord_opryland_hotel/

So we get to the box-office and indeed we actually get tickets to the 9:30 show. The Grand Ole Opry is the longest running live radio show in the country. It's performed on stage in front of a live audience and it's alot of fun. There are singers, dancers, comedians and of course music, music, music. We had no idea who was performing and were pleasantly surprised. Among others we saw Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Little Jimmy Dickens, Brad Paisley and Steve Martin , that's right the comic Steve Martin who is an amazing Banjo player in his first-ever performance at the Grand Ole Opry. It was a great show and I'm sure it was the highlight of the trip, although unplanned, for the Brits I went with. Not even the Chattanooga Choo Choo trolly ride can top the Grand Ole Opry!

Greece or Nashville?

If you've been following this blog for the past 2 weeks you probably have guessed that this is in Nashville. It's a full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon built for the 1897 Nashville Centennial Exposition. Besides "Music City", Nashville had been called the "Athens of the South" because of its many institutions of higher learning. So this was built for the Centennial Celebration and has been preserved since as a museum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

Counting the Days

One day on the bus I was talking about the schedule. I forgot what day it was, so I talked a little about when traveling we tend to lose track of the days. We don't know if we've been on the road for one day or 4 days...all the days run together, especially when it is a hectic schedule and a lot of activities. So I came up with a method for keeping track of what day it is, and I shared my method with the group. I told them if they ever don't remember how many days they have been traveling to just count the number of those little hotel shampoos, soaps or lotions they have. So every morning when we board the bus, I ask how many shampoos we have! It's Friday!

Elvis Frenzy

If it's at all possible my group 2 is even more crazy for Elvis than group 1 was. One lady began to cry when she saw the streetsign for Elvis' Birthplace!
We had dinner at Club 152 http://www.club152memphis.com/, on Beale Street in Memphis. The Elvis impersonator is excellent...During the show he throws out a couple of scarves to the crowd and naturally the audience goes wild and whomever doesn't catch one is devastated. After the show a couple of ladies in my group cried to me "We want a scarf...." So I ran to where "Elvis" was signing autographs and posing for pictures and asked if they had any more scarves. They told me they had plenty but they were $5 each...I grabbed a bunch of them and ran back thru the crowd and began tossing them to whomever offered $5.oo. It was a frenzied cacaphony of Elvis love. What a riot. I never saw such a happy bunch of people in my life!
Oh, and when I handed "Elvis" a fistfull of money I got a free "Elvis" scarf for my efforts.

Today...Sun Studio and Graceland

Group 2

After the infamous Choo Choo ride with group 1 we had to make a 2+ hour beeline for the airport. As we got on the coach one of the gentleman passengers asked if he could use the microphone, so after I finished my update on what was happening next I gave him the mic. He made a very sweet speech about what an enjoyable tour they had and thanked Danny and me for such a good job. The speaker was none other than...you guessed it...Mr. Worth! So in the end I have to say that the Worths were definitely Worth waiting for!
We got to the airport with less than an hour to spare before Group 2 arrived, so after we said our goodbyes, while Danny cleaned the bus, I ran into the terminal to fetch group 2. Everyone made it thru customs this time and after I collected everyone we got underway to our hotel in Montgomery, Alabama.
We had a night's rest and were ready to roll at 7:30AM. I ensured that all 46 pieces of luggage were on the coach and proceeded to count the passengers. When I was sure that we had all 44 of them I gave Danny the OK and we were off. Do you see where I'm going with this? We were a few miles down the road toward the interstate when I got a call from Maryann, the manager of the hotel to tell me that I left 2 passengers there!!! So back we went to collect Mr. & Mrs. Beckett, who were waiting at the front door of the hotel. I went to greet them and told them..."The good news is...we have your luggage!"
Needless to say Mr. & Mrs. Beckett are never the last ones on the coach anymore...I guess you could say they are always at my "Beckett call".

Choo Choo

The last leg of the tour went from Nashville to Atlanta Airport with a lunch stop at the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo Terminal Station. This is the train made famous by the Glenn Miller song. So the train is on display at the end of Track 29 just as it's supposed to be. Everyone took pictures of the choo choo. The guide books recommend visitors take a ride on the trolly that goes around the Terminal Station complex. We see the authentic-looking yellow electric trolly car, we each buy a two-dollar ticket and we excitedly que up for the ride, expecting an interesting and scenic tour of days gone by. What we got was a a 7-mile-an-hour bumpy clickity-clackity-clunkity ride on a horseshoe shaped track that circumnavigated the parking lot. Every 30 or 40 yards the "conductor" would point to a place on the pavement where a train-related artifact used to be. When we got to the end of the horseshoe the "engineer" moved to the back of the car, told us to push the backs of our seats to the front of the seat and sit on the other side. Then we traveled in the reverse direction to the beginning of the track where we started! When we reversed our seats everyone was hysterical at how absurd this tour was, and from that point on it was nothing but raucus and rowdy laughter and wisecracking with "Mrs.P" as the loudest and rowdiest ringleader. She kept shouting..."It's a tour of the bloody car-park!" It was truly the silliest and funniest experience of the whole week-even funnier than her getting peed on by an aligator. By the time the "tour" was over we were literally weak with laughter. At least it was cheap!

Music City

Nashville is aptly called Music City. There is literally music coming from everywhere. You can walk down Broadway and hear live or recorded Country music seeping out of closed doors and blaring out of open doors of all the Honky Tonks and shops along the way. What fun! I enjoyed live music during lunch at The Stage on Broadway. While standing at a corner waiting for the light to change I heard music coming from a street sign!

We toured RCA Studio B, http://tinyurl.com/pxe612 where so much of country music has been recorded and produced including 14 years of Elvis' recordings including "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

The Country Music Hall of Fame http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/is a fantastic museum of the history of Country music. There are thousands of gold records on display and clothing, instruments, and memorabilia from all of the greats of the genre. Then everyone scattered to downtown Nashville to visit the honky tonks, have lunch and shop. We returned to the hotel for a while and then went to the Wildhorse Saloon for drinks and line dancing, and of course...live music.

I have my new British friends, including "Mrs. P" to thank for my new favorite expression...whatever I don't like, whether it be a meal, a restaurant, or anything disagreeable...it's RUBBISH! Very fun time.

Tomorrow we head for Chattanooga Choo Choo and then to Atlanta Airport to say good bye to group 1 and hello to group 2.

Graceland

Today was Elvis, all Elvis all the time, totally Elvis, Elvis here, Elvis there, Elvis everywhere, Elvis to the max. We saw Elvis keychains, Elvis CD's, Elvis books, Elvis t-shirts, Elvis jewelry, Elvis museums, Elvis cars, Elvis clothes, Elvis movies, Elvis sweatshirts, Elvis pocketbooks, Elvis DVD's, Elvis planes, Elvis magnets, Elvis baby clothes, Elvis bookmarks, Elvis teddy bears, Elvis Radio, Elvis gravesite, Elvis house, Elvis living room, Elvis kitchen, Elvis awards, Elvis piano, Elvis couches, Elvis jumpsuits.
We spent 5 hours at Graceland and saw, heard and lived Elvis util I could not take another step in an Elvis giftshop or look at another Elvis trinket.
So then we went to the Peabody Hotel to watch the ducks march from the fountain in the lobby down the red carpet into the elevtor to return to their duck penthouse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Hotel
After that we went back to the hotel to freshen up so we could go back to Graceland to take more pictures of it at night!
The Elvis experience at Graceland was pretty remarkable, in fact it transcends the normal tourist attraction--it's more of an over-the-top memorial that will overdose and exhaust even the most ardent Elvis fan.

Elvis Lives!

We left New Orleans and drove north thru Mississippi to the Birthplace of Elvis in Tupelo http://www.elvispresleybirthplace.com/. We toured the house he was born in...this tour was literally no more than 15 steps in the front door and out the back door of his "shotgun house." How small was it you ask? It was so small you had to go outside to change your mind...It was so small that only 10 people could go in at a time. It's called a shotgun house because if you shot a shotgun thru the front door it would go straight thru the house without hitting anything (assuming no-one was standing between the two doors). The house is a bedroom and a kitchen. It was SMALL.
We also saw a short movie in the church where Elvis and his family attended services. The film is very well done...three screens...one in front showing the pulpit and the preacher and one on each side showing the congregation so the effect is that as you sit in the pews you feel as though you are in the crowd. This is the church where Elvis was inspired to sing gospel music, and so was the beginning of his rise to become "the King". My group was more than excited to visit Elvis' birthplace...some of the ladies were literally squealing and bouncing with excitement to finally be "there". This was, afterall, why they travelled 7,000 miles. Amazing.
After Tupelo we journeyed to Memphis, TN, checked into the hotel, re-boarded the bus for our dinner reservation at Club 152 on Beale St. Holy Cow...the dinner was informal and excellent...the entertainment was...you guessed it...ELVIS! One of the best impersonators I have seen put on a great show...there was screaming, and dancing and such excitment as I have not seen since Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. Very Fun!
After that we strolled down Beale Street which gave us more of a show than the show. My group scattered here and the bunch I stayed with (including "Mrs. P") were so excited and ready to experience whatever was to be experienced that it made for a riotous evening. They were dancing in the street, approaching policemen for picture taking, talking to anyone and everyone they met, and posing with perfect strangers, and laughing riotously. It was truly joyful.
Today we visit Sun Studios, and Graceland....I can only imagine.

Karma

My introductory talk when we first board the coach at the beginning of a tour includes a discription of the coach features...one of these being the "restroom" that is available for the guests biological needs. I always stress that it is there for "emergency use only", which means, "if you really, really have to go...go." I mention that we make rest stops frequently so, for the olefactory comfort of everyone on the coach, only use the coach toilet if absolutely necessary. Now, I think that leaves a lot of leeway for any individual to decide if they need to use it or they can wait. Everyone acknowledged that they understood the concept.
So the next morning after the first night at our hotel a gentleman comes to me and says..."We have a problem..." I immediately think..uh oh, here we go again. So he proceeds to tell me that his wife has bladder issues and because she wasn't allowed to use the toilet on the coach she is in serious pain and they are considering renting a car for the duration of the tour so they can stop when they need to.
The wife then came over and was, how can I put this, quite "pissy" with me. I apologized and explained that she should have used the toilet on the coach since that was obviously an emergency. She was eventually appeased and got over her annoyance. Later that morning on the coach I clarified the directive..."Only use the coach toilet in an emergency...and YOU decide when it's an emergency."
Fast forward two days to this afternoon on the Swamp Tour. The guide had a little real live aligator with its mouth taped shut which he was passing around the boat so people could hold it and take pictures with it. The little fellow made the rounds and when it was "Mrs. P's" turn she held him up where she sat so hubby could snap the picture.
I guess the poor little guy was stressed or nervous because he immediately relieved himself in her lap! She began screaming and everyone on the boat roared with laughter. I managed to get a few shots in spite of my own hysterical reaction. When everything settled down I went over to her and said, "I guess he has "bladder issues" too!"
Did I ever mention...you can't make this stuff up?

Was This Just One Day???

This morning we left Montgomery at 8:00 with New Orleans in our sights. After the Worths caught up with us at the hotel (they got in at 3:00 AM) we drove toward New Orleans. We stopped at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi on the Gulf Coast http://www.beaurivage.com/for their $12.99 lunch buffet. The group was very happy about this...the Casino is georgous and the food selections were wonderful. We left around 1:30 to head for New Orleans. After driving around the block a few times to try to figure out how to get the gigantic bus close to the Bienville House http://www.bienvillehouse.com/ we finally got checked in with about an hour and a half to get ready for our Riverboat Natchez Dinner Jazz Cruise along the Mississippi River. http://www.steamboatnatchez.com/. We had an excellent buffet dinner and strolled the decks of this mighty vessel as we listened to "The Dukes of Dixieland". The weather was perfect for such a cruise and having the Worths with us made it all the more Worthwhile! (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Worth the Wait

Out of the clouds of NY and into the sunshine of Georgia...it's already WORTH the long tiring day I had HURRYing up and WAITing. I left home at 6:30 AM to WAIT for an 11:18 AM flight from LaGuardia to Atlanta GA. When I arrived there at 2:00 PM, I HURRIED up to get my luggage so I could meet my driver, Danny and load my luggage onto the bus...and WAIT for my group to arrive at 5:50 PM. I spent the afternoon WAITing and discussing the tour plan with Danny and then at 6:00 PM I HURRIED up and got to the baggage-claim area where I was to WAIT for my group. So I WAITed and WAITed and WAITed until the group started to HURRY up to me to find their luggage and HURRY to board the bus and WAIT for the rest of the group to get thru security. I was WAITING for 40 passengers. Only 38 of them HURRIED up to WAIT for the last two...Mr. and Mrs. WORTH.
At 8:00 PM, with 38 people WAITING on the bus, I decided it wasn't WORTH the WAIT to WAIT for the WORTHS, so I HURRIED up and got on the bus and we began our 2.5 hour journey to our hotel in Montgomery, AL. About 2 hours into the trip I got a call from the hotel to tell me that the WORTHs were still WAITing at the airport. It seems that Security didn't feel it was WORTH letting the WORTHs into the country until they scrutinized them more thoroughly. So the WORTHs had to WAIT for a Greyhound bus to bring them to the hotel where we will WAIT patiently for them to join our group. I hope they are WORTH the WAIT. You can't make this stuff up.
Tomorrow, we head for New Orleans.

Heading South

Tomorrow, May 18th, I begin a two back-to-back tours of the Deep South. I'm doing the tours for Newmarket Holidays http://www.newmarketholidays.co.uk/ and my two groups are from the UK. Our tour will take us through the region of America where the "Birth of the Blues" is not just a song title, and where they put the "country" in country music. The area is rich in Civil War history and much of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's took place there.

We'll travel through 4 states: Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I pick up the first group at the Atlanta, GA airport and we travel to Montgomery, AL to spend one night. In the morning we head south through Alabama and then drive west along the Gulf Coast into Mississippi. We travel on to Louisiana and "The Big Easy" where jazz was born with the help of people like Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and Pete Fountain. We spend 2 nights in New Orleans and we'll enjoy a Dinner Jazz Cruise aboard the Steamboat Natchez, a guided City Tour, and a Swamp Tour of the bayou. We'll explore the French Quarter, maybe visit a jazz club or two. Hurricane Katrina left her calling card here but New Orleans is back in action.

Then, in Mississippi again, we'll head north to Tupelo and visit the Birthplace of Elvis Presley. We'll then enter Tennessee and spend 2 nights in Memphis. We'll visit the blues clubs on Beale Street and take a tour of Elvis' Graceland and Sun Studio where he recorded his first hit, "That's Alright".

After Memphis we head for Nashville, the Capital of Tennessee and the Capital of Country Music. We'll tour Studio B and the Country Music Hall of Fame, and there will be some major shopping opportunities at the Opry Mills Outlet Mall. After two nights in Nashville we head south back to Atlanta Airport where I say goodbye to group 1 and greet group 2 and do the same trip all over again.

It's a jam-packed tour and I will post here each night so check back for pictures and details.