(Oct. 28-30) We spent a few days in Chattanooga, TN and rode the Incline Railroad up to Lookout Mountain. It is like going up and down a roller coaster – only very slowly which made Ruth Ann happy. It is the world’s steepest passenger railway. Up top you can see the Tennessee River and Moccasin Bend. The homes and views are spectacular especially since we are still enjoying the fall foliage. Next we went to Rock City which is a must if you are ever in the area. It started out in 1920 as a family began to develop a walk-through garden on their private estate. Years later the Carters opened their Rock City Garden to the public. Now you walk thru, around, between and over the rocks and even over a suspension bridge to enjoy the gardens, caverns and spectacular views. At the top of Lovers Leap, you can see seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. At more than one area you barely squeeze thru the rocks on the path – one is even called Fat Man Squeeze. Another section is call Fairyland Caverns and Mother Goose Village which is unbelievable. It took over six years to finish that project. We only wish we could put all our pictures on the web, but since we can’t we hope some of you can visit Rock City in your travels.

October 25-27: We chose a neat campground about 2 hours south of Nashville that was in the Natchez Trace Wilderness preserve. It was picturesque with all the fall foliage, several trails to walk plus a few historic sites to see. Problem was it rained and rained and rained. We tired not to let that dampen our enthusiasm and headed to Nashville. A long drive but we made it to the Grand Ole Opry only to find out that the afternoon tours were cancelled and we could not get in to see it. We were able to tour the museum. It started raining harder so we walked back to the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention center. What an amazing resort. It consisted of 2,884 guest rooms, 85 meeting rooms, five ballrooms and over 20 neat shops. Would love to come back to see it at Christmas as they were starting to put up the decorations while we were there. On Friday since it continued to rain, we headed to the Saturn Plant in Tennessee for a very interesting tour. We were very impressed with their philosophy and technique. As it continued to rain we decided to pack it up on Saturday and head on out for more adventures and dryer weather

October 22-24: Next in our travels we stopped in Louisville, KY for a couple days. We went to Fort Knox but since 9/11 tours are no longer given. We were only allowed to see the outside from the road. There is an exhibit in the Patton Museum showing a replica of the gold bullion. And if you have never visit the Patton Museum, don’t miss it, especially if you were in the service or a history buff. Next we had to visit the Jim Beam Distillery, a family operated business for now seven generations. Unfortunately they no longer offer tours, but the movie was interesting and the samples of bourbon were strong. Then you can’t visit Louisville without going to Churchill Downs. We were told that seats for the Kentucky Derby start at $80.00 and go up to $1,000 for a simple folding chair. Other times you can purchase the same seat for $2.00. Racing starts up again October 29 with the Breeder Cup but it was time for us to move on.

After little over a week at Camp Monaco in Elkhart, IN we left our friends and headed south to the Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville, IN. This is an awesome event with 31 covered bridges nestled in and around Parke County. The fall foliage made traveling thru the woods even more fantastic as you searched out the bridges, ranging from 43 to 315 feet long. The oldest one, Jackson Bridge, was built in 1861, is 207 feet long and open. The longest one, West Union Bridge, was built in 1876, is 315 feet long and open. Twenty of the 31 bridges are still open to travel across. We managed to see 27 bridges and either walked or drove over most of them. Covered bridges have always been one of Ruth Ann’s favorite sights, so you can imagine the constant smile on her face. We spend many, many hours walking the craft/flea market at both Bridgeton and Mansfield. If you ever get an opportunity to travel in this area, you may want to check out the covered bridges especially during the fall festival.

While waiting to leave Buffalo to go to our favorite campsite -- Camp Monaco -- we took a side trip in the car to visit friends in Easton, PA. Barb and Gary took us to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, places we have not seen before. Although we did not have time to go into the city, we did have a wonderful day. We started out from an old railroad station on the New Jersey shoreline, where trains brought the commuters in to catch a ferry into the City. You could just imagine all the commuters arriving back in that day. Now it is part of the Statue of Liberty park and you go there to get tickets to ride the ferry to the Statue and Ellis Island. Once at Ellis Island you could search your ancestry via their computers. We then caught the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. What a spectacular sight! You can imagine how the immigrants felt sailing into the harbor. You can no longer go up into the Statue. This was stopped after 9/11 due to fire codes and safety reasons. You can still go into the base of the statue where they have plexigas windows cut out so you can look up inside and see the construction of the statue. Later we went to Hoboken, NJ for a great dinner and a fantastic view, both day and night, of the City.