Thursday 17th June Chattanooga Tennessee – Atlanta, Georgia

Today we woke up thinking we were one day ahead of schedule then after reading the itinerary we realized we weren’t. Reality check time…we were in a slight state of shock, we really needed to head back to Atlanta today, our holiday was nearly over boo-hoo. We got a late checkout from the RV Campground so we could get rid of the poos, wees and grey water and do a thorough clean of the shower, sink and toilet as these would not be used again. While I was laboring away Geoff and the kids were swimming lengths in the pool.

Lauren here. We went a long way down an elevator to a cave. It was over 1000 feet deep it was cool and COOL. A lady took us on a tour, she was a bit of a strict meany and kept telling us all off. We walked a half a mile deeper into the caves to the waterfall which they had lights on and it looked really beautiful. We walked right around behind the falls and then walked back another half a mile to the elevator. On the way back the group is called survivors so we obviously are still alive.
Bernise again. Ruby Falls was quite the surprise...its motto is "200 million years in the making". Ruby Falls is an indoor 145 foot waterfall located about 1120 feet below the top of Lookout Mountain. Pretty dramatic and with plenty of force. The water comes from the roof inside a cave. They're not entirely sure how the water gets to the Falls but rain or shine the Falls are working although there is a much stronger force when it's raining on the outside. These are the most beautiful caves I have seen, and very educational for the kids with all those Stalactites and Helictites from the ceiling and Stalamites’ from the floor??As usual with every attraction they exit you through the giftshop and try to sell you a $25 photo. There was a lookout above the caves which gives great views over Chattanooga. Another fun day to add to the blog.
After quite a full day we then travelled to Atlanta arriving at 10pm.

Wednesday 16th, June Memphis Tennessee – Mississippi – Alabama – Chattanooga Tennessee.

Wow … Memphis is for blues every bit as much as Nashville is for Country and Western and it all fits together how Elvis became famous for the new combo crossover style sound of Blues, Country and Rock-N-roll, after visiting Beale Street you can see how it happened. Beale street is the heart of the whole scene and BB King seems to be the hottest star down here. The whole town has a Blues thing happening, we were there during the day but I bet it would be rocking at night. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Café because it had the best aircon, we were again cooking. We found the Gibson Guitar factory but I was outnumbered on a tour of the factory. Before we headed out of town we dropped into the Pink Palace, we were expecting a Biltmore house type showing, boy were we disappointed, it was big grand ole house but the city that took it over really didn’t know what to do with it (the owner who went bankrupt before he ever finished it would be turning in his grave), as a result this grand ole building with some badly thought out extensions had about 4 different exhibitions going on at the same time, Civil War, Astronomy, Miniature Puppet land, Dinosaurs, even a shrunken head from Africa with a recipe on how to do it (Guess I better not piss off Bernise), it’s a kind of liquorish all-sorts / jack of all trades master of none deal, but it at least cooled us down again before we drove onto Chattanooga a 300 mile jaunt down the interstate. All was going well until a wee altercation with the long arm of the law in Alabama… A thunder-storm had knocked out a traffic light in this little hick town…. A cop was parked in the adjacent Gas station with his lights flashing … I thought he was writing out a ticket, but nope he was waiting for little ole unsuspecting me to sail through his unmarked intersection… He came screaming down the road so I pulled over waiting for him to zoom by after someone else… nope it’s me he wants… Can I see your license…. Errr it’s a NZ one and there’s a story there… I don’t want to hear stories (his voice going up an octave or 3) where’s your license… Well officer I left it behind in Charlotte after I went Nascar Driving … yeah right, where’s your proof of Insurance … errr I have a copy on my computer but I need to have Internet Access to show you… you do know your license plate has expired sir… errr yes but the tags are done, they unfortunately are back in Georgia, I left without taking them… About now this Cop was ready to blow a fuse, he ordered us to turn around and head back to his wee town. As you can imagine I’m thinking this is gonna get ugly and we might be here for a couple of days at this rate. After parking up in his little rest area, I approached him with all my documents to back up the storys told, lucky for me he’s cooled down a bit and I think he has come to the conclusion that I am going to create him more headaches and paper work than I'm worth. So after a lecture he sends me on my way. I’m sure we were both happy to be out of his jurisdiction.

Tuesday 15th June Memphis Tennessee

Bernise’s little detour was a very good one, we were officially Elvis’s neighbor, his place was straight across the road and the tour was a quick walk through one gate. We were surprised at how many people walked through his house, there was a constant cue, and this was on a week day. I can confirm Elvis is alive and well we saw him at least 100 times today, probably more like 10,000 times, his face was on every imaginable piece of Merchandise that you could think of. The tour to his house was pretty cool; everything has been left exactly as it was, a true time capsule. Because you get the headphones as part of the tour there are a lot of interesting insights into various parts of his life and the house itself. We now know why Elvis was called the King, He died on the throne???? He was found upstairs in his bathroom by his girlfriend Ginger You could see the true Elvis fanatics (there were plenty of them), it was like the Holy Grail for them. For us it was amazing that he rose to such high highs but towards the end it was also a bit sad to see this over-weight druggy who was obviously not a very well unit. Elvis died at only 42, Way too young. We now know why Elvis was called the King,. He’s buried on the property right next to his mum and Dad… Everybody stops to check out his Plaque.
That evening we all headed off in a Pink Limo for dinner, the local restaurant runs a free pick-up and drop off, the restaurant itself was chocka full of oldy world Blue stuff unfortunately the food didn’t quite live up to the same standards as the décor, but it was still a bit of a laugh.

Monday 14th June, Nashville, - Memphis, Tennessee / Arkansas

Still in cowboy boot land. The town was a lot quieter on Monday, CMA is finished and we won’t have to line up for hours for the touristy stuff. What we haven’t mentioned so far is that Nashville had a huge flood about 3 weeks before we got there, a big section of the city was devastated including the KOA we first stayed at, apparently 3 quarters of the campground was under 8 ft of water, the toilets and showers were closed, yee gads even the pool was closed and only a small portion was back in operation. Also affected was the famous Grand Ole Opry… Nashvilles #1 attraction… The longest running Radio Station in the USA, which host mega concerts as well. They apparently had just finished the renovation and the floods wiped it all out again and so all we got to see was a grumpy security guard and some yellow tape. What was still to see was the Ryman Auditorium which is where the Grand Ole Opry evolved from, this has been a venue where most of the early country stars made their name, unfortunately the venue got to small in the end and so came the Grand Ole Opry. Ryman sat derelict for many years until it was restored, now it occasionally hosts country superstars who love it for its history and acoustics but is mostly here for the busloads of tourists traipsing through. In between stops we popped into a souvenir shop to get some aircon where we bumped into a lady from Hillsborough Auckland, just up the road from where we live (it’s a pretty small world). Next stop was the Country Music hall of fame, the highest honor a country star can aspire to. From what I can work out you have to be dead or all but to make it here. The building opened in 2001 so is the modern and trendy. We were told it would take 3 hours to walk through; we were done comfortably in under an hour, I guess that says a lot about the Milliken understanding of Country and Western music. Lauren (now a Taylor Swift superfan) was mesmerized by Taylor Swifts dress,(I dint quite get it). What was there was really well done, lots of interactive buttons and shiny records. A round feature room for all the inductees with their bronze face plaques immortalizes them for all time, finishes the hall of fame tour off.
Next stop Memphis a short 250 mile hop down the road, we made a slight boo boo on the address and ended up driving into Arkansas ( 5 minutes offor a bit where we soon realized that we had to head back over the Bridge to Tennessee. (At least we can add another state to our travel bragging book when we publish it).

Sunday 13th June, Nashville Tennessee

Hi it’s Lauren. Today was an awesome day it’s on my top 3 list since we’ve been in the US,…… guess………..a TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT!!!!!! As soon as I heard she was doing a concert and signing autographs I had to go see her. The line was crazy long so we decided not to wait 3 and half hours for an autograph but waited to hear her sing. Taylor Swift sang some of her album Fearless. Lalalalaaaaaalaaaa fearless lalaaaalalaaaa Taylor swift singing live. We had perfect seats and did you know she was signing autographs and giving hugs for 13 hours oh yea it’s all free. She sang 4 songs from her album fearless! How awesome got some pics and videos too. We got some t shirts with Taylor swift on them. So who could say they saw Taylor Swift live, me me me me me I did I did !!!!!
It’s a great day in the Milliken family, the girls prefer Taylor Swift now, so out the door with Miley Cyrus yippee, welcome relief for my ears.

The whole town is a buzz of country and western fans, the main street Broadway is shut down and live concerts are showing at 3 venues not to mention every Bar having its own bands as well. We ended up down by the River and heard two Bands do their thing. Some Country Rock as opposed Country Country is actually pretty good, well at least live… I’m not sure that I would rush out and buy the CD. We all struggled again with the heat, We found water sprayers on every street corner and free-bee Ice block handouts all went down veeeeery well. Thomas has a temperature reader on his radio and it was 41 degrees C in the RV when we got back. Finally back to the Yogi Bear campground for a swim about 8pm

Saturday 12th June Pigeon Forge, - Nashville Tennessee

In theory we were going to head off to Nashville on Friday but as we headed out of Pigeon Forge we came across a Hot Rod show setting up for Saturday Sunday called the All Chevy Supernationals …. Well what’s a man to do but grovel with the wifey for an extra day of course. This would complete the car trifecta…Indy Cars, Nascars, Hot Rods, To be fair Bernise gave in without much of a fight as she was keen to go back and do another shop at the Outlet Mall. The show was in a big outdoor parking lot and unfortunately the day started out steamy and hot with showers, this kept a few of the fastidious top show cars locked up in the back of their trailers but there was still a good range to check out and of course the obligatory T-SHIRT or 3 to add to the collection. Pigeon Forge got 3 days of our tourist Dollars and we are all rested and well ready to move on. The drive to Nashville was straight down a good Freeway, the tropical storms continued and when it rained boy does it bucket down. First week into the trip we broke a Wiper Mount, well one week to go and the other one broke, this time it was light and a safe straight piece of road, so no dramas. So I parked the Starship up at the next exit and then removed it and carried on with just one wiper, we’ll find another one in one of the upcoming cities.

Friday 11th June Pigeon Forge

Lorenzo here…First thing we did was wait in a long line just to see Dollys old bus/ RV … when we got in it was more better than our one I have to say, she had a huge make up room which is crazy and the comfiest looking bed. Did you know that Dolly Partons bus can drive from Nashville to LA non stop and she did that lots of times. We went to see a dancing , singing show with people doing lots of flippy, floppy flops which makes me want to take up gymnastics. We saw lots of country singing people that was related to Dolly. My favourite thing was Adventure Mountain, its where you get attached to a rope and you walk around lots of difficult obstacles really high up, I got wet from the geyser. It wasn’t scary for me, but I saw one big girl and she was really scared. My second favourite was the River Battle because you get drenched. Then I got Dippin Dots as a treat as we left. I had a fun day, it wasn’t as good as Hersheys or Disney but it was still cool.
Thomas here… The bus was quite boring, all you did was just walk in, you weren’t allowed to touch anything. We cruised around on the old train, the whistle wasn’t as loud as I thought it would be (I was blocking my ears). Dollys cousins and Uncle were singing on stage and they were really good. Lunch got a plate that we will keep because it has a cool picture on it. The best thing in the whole Dollywood was the boat thing where you splashed water on each other with water guns, I got so wet afterwards that Daddy and me had to take off our shirts and squeeze them. Dad and me did it first and we pretended to Mum, not to get wet. When she went for the first time, Dad and I squirted Mum, Lauren and Olivia until they were really wet. I did it the most of the whole family, I wanted to keep doing it but Dad and Mum said it was time to go.
Olivia Here … My best thing was the water squirt, you have to hit the arrows and you get squirted also the people on the outside and inside are all trying to squirt me while I am trying to squirt them. We all got really wet but didn’t matter because we were really hot. I did it with Thomas 4 times. I did an obstacle thing where a rope is attached to me, where if you fall down, you don’t really. There was one rope that I got stuck on and I had to do the harder way and Lauren helped me. We went on a big train and I didn’t like the smoke in my eyes.

Thursday 10th Pigeon Forge

HOWDY YOE-AWL, this is a real true southern region of the Good ole USA. The English is spoken about as strangely as you will hear in the USA and I’m sure most of the people here have never been out of the town limits, let alone the State line or scarier still the country. All this amounts to good ole American apple pie fun and the Dixie Stampede (Dolly owns this show yoo) is for sure that, they didn’t play the national anthem as many times as Indy but I saw more American flags waved than anywhere else. The show is a real family friendly affair with the two sides of the arena split into a competition of North versus South ah-la Civil war. A cowboy horse riding show with plenty of colour and humor aimed primarily at the kids all makes up for an entertaining afternoon. I (Bernise) thought the show and food was absolutely crap, one time is surely going to be enough. But the kids loved it so that kept me happy.
Hi its Olivia, I went to the Dixie stampede. At first there was a song before we went in. We had a slushee and the cup is a boot. We had dinner in the real show. And we had another drink this time in a jar. I liked the chicken dancing and the egg fell out its butt. The pig’s race was quite clever because the North and South pig ran to win an Oreo Cookie. The man asked me to go down but I had the wrong shoes on, otherwise it could have been me chasing the chickens in the race. We were on the North side and booed the South.
Hello and howdy it’sThomas again. We went to the Dixie Stampede it was a live shoe with animals doing many stunts. First we got a drink in a boot and then in a jar. Ready set go, the piggy’s are off racing the pig in the south team won both times I really really enjoyed the show.

Wednesday 9th June Pigeon Forge

We had a late start today, caught up on our washing. The plan for today was to go and see a dinner show of the Dixie Stampede however when we got there we found the 6.00 pm show booked out for the rest of the week and so booked 3.00 pm tomorrow. Pigeon forge is a kinda strange little place, Since Dolly opened Dollyworld 25 years ago it has continued to grow year on year and, it’s a 100 percent tourist town with all the tacky trappings that come with it, before we got there I met a guy who described it as Disney but without any organization and I think that sums it up nicely. This still makes for a fun stop, theres no shortage of things to do. The Shopping outlet became the rest of the days adventure. Bernise and I got right into the swing of things so much so that we have also brought 2 more large suitcases to get it all home.

Tuesday 8th June, Biltmore, Asheville - Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Biltmore house and gardens WOW. We thought it was a little expensive when entering the Biltmore gates. Then the Guard at the entrance said “just drive down the drive and you will reach the house in 20 minutes”, What? This was 20 minutes of the most beautiful man-made / natural gardens; it must cost a fortune to upkeep in the driveway gardens alone to keep them looking so fantastic. We learnt later that they’ve got 1800 people on their payroll to keep the grounds and house looking fantastic, I’m sure this must include the security and retail staff, as you can gather this is no run of the mill house. Biltmore is the largest privately owned house in America having over 250 rooms and these are not tiny rooms for example the Banquet Hall is an impressive seven-story’s high. It was home to George Vanderbilt in 1896, who was a bachelor at the time and built it as a holiday home and still remains in the family today. The house was very revolutionary and state of the art for its day, this was a time when hardly anybody had power… this house had lights IN THE POOL (something that particularly caught Thomas’s attention) When the Depression came the family needed money to preserve the estate, so opened it to the public in 1930. They are doing a fantastic job preserving it as it has all the family paintings, furniture and clothing etc right back from 1896. We got an audio tour which gave us in depth information; it was so interesting if you are coming to the US you have to see this place. Oh I have to mention the stunning gardens that covered 12000 acres around the house designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, creator of New York’s Central Park. The Biltmore Estate’s forests, grounds and gardens reflect Olmsted’s plans from nearly a century ago with woodlands, fields, and gardens Included several formal gardens—a four-acre English Walled Garden, a 16th-century Italian garden with three reflecting pools, and a dramatic rampe douce and esplanade lined by an avenue of trees at the entrance to Biltmore House, mum you would love this place. Then we moved on down the hill to Antler Hill Village where the Biltmore’s employees lived and worked. They had demonstrations on Traditional farming, including authentic blacksmithing and a traditional kitchen garden showcasing the bounty of the estate fields and orchards. Even though we have an animal farm right next to us back home the kids took much time and pleasure in playing with the chicks and other farm animals. After all this adventure we drove to Pigeon Forge Tennessee and stayed at a KOA campground.

Monday 7th June, Concord - Biltmore, Asheville, North Carolina

Hi Its Olivia here. I went on the scariest slide it goes right down then there is a fat bit like a funnel and you go side to side then you turn the corner and that’s the end. But I went once and dad and Lauren went twice because I was to scared to go down again. And there was this big tin bucket, it’s the biggest one I have ever seen inside a water park, it splashes on everyone and it hits you very hard. In the kids room it was like a real forest with animals in it but it is just painted on of course. Lauren Mum and I had fast races down a curly then bumping slide on our tummy’s it was a lot of fun.
We stayed at Wolf Lodge till about 4pm then decided to have a super quick shop at a sketches outlet store that we found on the GPS just 2 miles from Wolfe Lodge. It was about 9pm when we got going again, quick shop Yea right? We traveled all the way to Wal-Mart only 2 miles from Biltmore house where we are going tomorrow.

Sunday 6th June, Charlotte - Concord

First thing this morning we went to the local Flea Market, it was spread out over a very large area, luckily some of the shops were semi permanent and had air con because it was hot hot again. There was some pretty neat stuff but the king sized beds and china cabinets just wouldn’t fit in our suitcase. The only purchases we ended up making was some bead bracelets for the girls. There was some vintage skis and an old sleigh which would have looked awesome hanging on Darians and Janes wall, sorry dudes wouldn’t fit in the suit case. This was actually good fun and a relaxing way to spend our Sunday morning. Keeping to the plan of mixing up Mums Dads and of course kids time we next headed to Great Wolfe Lodge Resort, this is a 50/50 water park and a hotel. Hi its Lauren, we went to Great Wolfe Lodge and my favorite slide was the Howling Tornado, we went down a steep hill that drops into a massive funnel that spins you side to side and gave us a huge fright, especially for dad? There was also an inside pool and and an outside. In the inside pool there was a snake you jump on. There were also lily pads you have to jump on to the next and next one don’t fall in. The outside pool had basket ball hoop in the pool and a huge fountain. There are lots of water slides. There is a water playground with a 1,000 gallon tipping bucket that tips on you. We spent some time in the wavepool .That’s all the water activities now the room. Our room the kids have a cabin style room so it feels like you’re in a cabin with animals painted on the wall. We even have our own plasma TV. There was a games room we visited and played some games which was fun. That’s the awesome, cool ,wet ,wonderful and great time at great wolf lodge. By Lauren!!!!

Saturday 5th June, Charlotte North Carolina

The day starts with a trip to the Nascar Hall of fame to get the juices rolling. Us Kiwis don’t really quite get the Nascar scene, its bigger than all other forms of motorsport here in the states. The heroes here are in the same league as God and Elvis… its that big. The whole thing dates back to the prohibition whiskey running days where the cars were hotted up to out-run the cops. Once everybody realized the absurdity of prohibition the fast getaway drivers all got together and started what is todays Nascar. The museum covers all the periods form the early cars right up to todays race cars. Most of the history kinda went over my head but it was still very interesting. Bernise thought it was about as exciting as watching the grass grow.
Now for the real deal. NASCAR RACING EXPERIENCE … Driving up to Lowes Charolette Motor Speedway is mega impressive in itself… it’s a huge coliseum, moving into the infield is an even more awe-inspiring feeling, mega seating, high steep embankments and a quite long straights. A couple of cars are already powering around the track. On arrival you fill out all the forms effectively signing your life away, with no option to sue anybody, should the unthinkable happen. We then head into the drivers briefing and where they proceed to tell you a whole lot of stuff that you don’t really have time to take in, then we all head out to the 10 or so cars that all revving and ready to go. Waiting for your name to be called out is quite nerve wracking but after about an hour they call me up. Its about 95 degrees again (bloody HOT) and Im all suited up sweating, getting in you have to be a contortionist and now its even hotter (no air con in here) once you put the helmet on with ear phones in, a real southern twang from my radio man, whining in a slow southern drawl… first, let the clutch out son and don’t staallll it, remember briefing first lap is 3000 rpm about 100 mph, the steep turned embankment immediately gives you a big buzz, what looked like long straights suddenly get really short, each lap the southern drawl in my headphones tells me to up the RPM until you are doing 5500 rpm where a governer kicks in, the motors spits and farts and you have to back out of the throttle just a fraction to get the best speed. Before you know it my 8 minute stint is up, luckily I have booked 2 goes so I stay in the car and again talk to the Radio dude who is now my mate, there is a button on the steering wheel to talk back to him. He tells me what a superstar I am (I guess Im the customer right) but then he tells me to go absolutely full throttle (just off the limiter) all the way through every turn and kick into the limiter about 3 quarters through the turn (my stint in Barry’s Cart and him telling me to ignore my impulse to back out of the throttle and go deeper into the sweeper pops back into my head) this second stint of 8 minutes is way better, I wasn’t as intimidated and held the throttle as hard as I could all the way round every corner, 150 mph through the turns with the car moving around and having to work the steering wheel really was fun with a good dose of adrenalin pumping, in fact I was looking for a bit more speed… but that’s it… $800 poorer a cool feel for what its kinda like, a framed picture with my top lap speed 150.02 mph average (the guy checking out at the same time as me was 142 mph so I feel like a superstar) and Im like a kid in the candy shop for the first time …..Thomas Lauren Olivia and Bernise seem impressed that there Dad and Husband is still in one piece …….Id love to to do it again. Getting back behind the wheel of the Starship Enterprise to drive home was a good reality check.