Back to Knoxville then Kentucky and on east

We had to go back to Knoxville to have our coach worked on again. We found a few rain leaks during the bad storms in Tennessee so arranged to get those checked out. We also have been without a water pump again, and waiting for the past month, for the factory to decide what to do to try and fix the problem with our water pump. Finely was able to get an appointment at a place in Knoxville, this is the busy season so hard to get in.

Traveling from Fort Campbell down the interstate through Nashville and seeing the damage caused by the floods. Very sad sight, the standing water in all of the parking lots and flooded streets with abandoned cars and trucks. Some of the big trucks were under water with only the roofs showing.

The beautiful Opryland Hotel and Convention center was completely flooded half way up to the ceiling of the first floor. They have a garden atrium in the hotel that we visited while we were there, little shops and restaurants all throughout the flowers and waterfalls, just beautiful. All destroyed, will probably be years before that is back to normal. The pictures below are the before and after pictures of the atrium at the hotel.

We arrived at Knoxville, stayed at the Walmart parking lot just up the street from the repair place, had to be there first thing in the morning. The next day, after working on the coach for a few hours, we found out that we would have to be there for a few days, so found a campground nearby to stay in at night and for the weekend.

By Tuesday they were all done, our water pump was working again, and they fixed all of the rain leaks that popped up while we were in the storm in the Nashville area. So now with pump number nine in and working, we will be heading up through Kentucky, West Virginia and on to Fort Meade in Maryland.

Also in Kentucky, we visited 2 Bourbon distilleries, Four Roses and Wild Turkey. We toured the distillery, and sampled the different types of bourbon. Very interesting to learn how bourbon is made. Bourbon is aged for several years, and can only be aged in new White Oak barrels that have been charred to bring out the sugar in the wood. These barrels can not be reused for bourbon so they are sold and exported to be used for making Irish Whisky and Tequila and Rum. The furniture below is made from the new unused barrels.

We drove through West Virginia and into Maryland toward Baltimore. We spent a week at Fort Meade FamCamp near there. We have stayed there before and it is a great place, we enjoyed our stay. When we left there we headed for the Hershey Pennsylvania to meet our friends Connie and Terry and his sister and her husband. Had a wonderful time there, shopping, eating, watching movies, eating, went to a couple of flea markets, ate some more, when to a Farmer's market to buy more to eat. !!! Wow, what a fun week, but we always have a good time with Terry and Connie.

We are leaving tomorrow and driving through PA and on to the Connecticut Southern coastline. We plan to drive along the Southern Coast of Connecticut.