Here's a video of the kids at a picnic at Sharon Woods. We decided to take our lunch into the woods for a change.

David recorded our outgoing greeting on our phone as a song set to the tune the Greatest American Hero song:
Believe it or not, oh the Hohls are not home,
So leave a message at the to-o-one.
When we get home, oh, we'll call you back.
Where could we be? Believe it or not, we're not home.

Now whenever anyone's phone rings (cell phone, etc.) Nora launches into the song. Here is her version, with a bit of prompting.

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DAY 43 Lexington to home
David woke up when Jo was leaving to take the boys to school, and he talked to Jo out the window a minute. We planned to hang around until she got back, but we had breakfast, washed the dishes, packed up, unplugged, etc. and she still wasn’t back. We read stories to Nora and she still wasn’t back, so we left a note and took off. It feels weird to actually be heading home. I’m looking forward to it, though, mostly because we have gone through all the clean clothes, knowing we were going to be home soon, so we are all on our last pair of clean pants and I’m anxious to do some laundry.
Approaching Cincinnati, where I-75 and I-71 run together for awhile, the freeway is wide and busy with truck traffic. We always drive between 55 and 60 because our terrible gas mileage gets worse if we go any faster. But the speed limit most places is 65 or 70 (or higher, out west. It was 80 in Texas). So trucks on this stretch were passing us at a good clip, and, as usual, blowing us around like a kite. Then we were pulled over by a cop for “weaving in our lane” which is not illegal as far as I know. But David said it was reasonable cause to pull us over. Perhaps he thought we were smuggling drugs or Chinese immigrants in here or something. Once he figured out everything was fine, and David told him we were on our last day of a 6,000-mile trip, he went back to his car, then came back and gave David his license back and we were on our way.
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Arrived home! It feels bigger than I remembered, and we didn’t live here long enough before we left on the trip … neither of us remembers where anything goes in the cabinets!

DAY 42 Lexington

We feel like we’re waking up pretty late these days, but we’re still on Central Time, and we’re thinking about staying that way until it’s time to set the clocks back this weekend. After breakfast, we set out in Jo’s minivan with Nora, Michael, Tom and the three of us for an Amish store. Unfortunately Jo hadn’t been there before and we had dubious direction, so we drove around the country for a couple hours before actually getting there. We subsisted on snacks I found in the diaper bag and crackers and fudge bought at the Amish store until we got back around 2 p.m. Tom had fallen asleep, and Jo moved him into our camper and said he’d stay asleep and she’d go get the other boys from school. Of course as soon as she left, he popped right up and wanted to play. We all had a late lunch and then tried to take naps, but Tom didn’t want one. David took Tom and the ingredients for tonight’s chili and went in the house. Nora and Michael slept while I did dishes and made chocolate chip cookies. Then Jo got home and enlisted the boys to babysit (listen to the baby monitor) while I got to ride again. After that I came up to the camper and nursed Michael and then David and I got to go for a ride by ourselves: me on Gypsy and David on Jack, the bigger horse. It was really cool. It was a great way to spend the last evening of the trip, riding horses on this beautiful farm as the sun went down. And it was something we never could have except that we were at the home of relatives who could watch the kids. It was great. The horses hardly listened to us at all, but the walked around and trotted up the hills, and that was mostly what we wanted to do anyway. Again, they started and stopped when we said to, so they weren’t really bad. I think they just had us pegged as amateurs and knew they didn’t have to listen to us. I helped unsaddle the beasts, and then we all had chili for dinner and cookies for dessert. We stayed up and talked a little after Nora and Michael went to bed, but we were all feeling pretty tired. I availed myself of the nice shower Jo and Herb offered me, and then we all went to bed.

DAY 41 Nashville to Lexington, KY
Last night was our last night in a campground for this trip.
This morning we headed for David’s aunt and uncle’s house, just south of Lexington. It was an uneventful drive, and probably one of the best and most peaceful 200-mile-plus hauls we have had on this trip. We pulled in their driveway in the afternoon, and because it’s a farmhouse with some land, there was plenty of space (level space!) in the driveway for us. Jo gave us a tour of their neat old farmhouse where they just moved recently. It had a lot of character and charm. Each of their three boys has his own room. It’s a nice place. Then she went to pick up the two older boys from school while David played with Tom, their youngest. When the boys got home, they took David and Nora on a go-kart ride around their property. They came back up to the house where I was talking to Tom and nursing Michael. Nora would stay up at the house while David went down with Herb and Jo to ride the horses. Nora and Tom (and Michael) and I were having a fine time, but they were all supposed to be back in 30 minutes or so, and I knew it had been more than an hour. Turns out the horse David was on, Gypsy, didn’t have her saddle on quite tight, and it slipped and David fell off the side of the horse, but luckily while they were still standing still. So things took a little longer than planned. But he wasn’t seriously hurt and got back up and went for a ride. Then it was my turn. I was starving by then for the lasagna that was already done and sitting on the stove, but I really wanted to ride. I went down and rode Gypsy. I felt OK getting on her, because I had ridden horses probably once a year during my teen years (or more) and then once every 3 to 5 years as an adult. But once I got on I realized that I had only ridden at a riding stable, where all the horses have been ridden their whole lives and just go out on the bridle path and go the same way and come back the same way. This was a whole different thing. Gypsy was new to being ridden, and we could go any way we wanted. And there was no long line of riders to follow behind, keeping us at a walk. It was really exciting and fun. Herb was riding the other horse, and Gypsy was pretty much following, but not always. Nor did she always listen to me. She did start and stop when I said to, though, so that was comforting. I had to stop riding because I was too hungry and it was getting dark. David went for one last go-round and helped unsaddle them. The rest of us had dinner. (Jo had already fed Nora and Tom while I was gone.) After dinner we got the camper plugged into their garage (after some technical difficulties) and fired up the furnace. We put Nora to bed and brought the bassinet in for Michael to sleep in while we talked and David and I showed our photos.

DAY 40 NASHVILLE
(photos: inside the Opryland Hotel; Nora's first carousel ride.)
It was a gloomy day this morning. I went up to the office to get David some of the free morning coffee they offer here. It was a bit weak for his taste. I also found out that the shuttle to Opryland advertised in the book was more like a $50/person Gray Line tour that happens to pick people up from here. So that was out. We were going to be driving. I didn’t really know what was at Opryland, just that it was something people always go to see. We drove to the area and parked in the bus parking, which was free. (Car parking, though closer, was $10.) I knew there was a boat tour of the gardens inside the Opryland Hotel courtyard, so I figured it must be pretty big. We walked up to a hotel employee we saw outside and said we were just sightseeing and asked where we should go. She directed us inside, where we passed through the hotel lobby into a stunning indoor garden with waterfalls and fountains and suspended walkways. It was beautiful. Also Nora gets REALLY excited about fountains, so she was happy. And that wasn’t even the room with the boat tours. We kept walking and went into another fountain/garden room. All the hotel rooms seemed to face onto these beautiful domed courtyards. At the end of this second room, we were looking down into what looked like a fantastic buffet. There was fresh-baked bread, shrimp cocktail, a waffle bar, roast beef -- and all of it looked really gourmet and great. We forgot it was Sunday, though. It turned out the buffet was nearly $30/person, so we passed. We moved onto the Delta courtyard, where there was a river with boats that ran along a track. There were also some fantastic fountains that moved and leapt and gushed. We bought some overpriced Pizza Hut and sat in front of one of the fountains on some chairs. Nora was actually giggling with excitement watching the fountain. She was still talking about it over dinner back at the camper tonight. Then we walked on an outdoor path to the Grand Ole Opry, home of the longest running country music radio show. You couldn’t really see the auditorium without getting show tickets, and there weren’t any shows on Sunday. We walked across the parking lot to the Opry Mills shopping mall, which was enormous. We didn’t buy much, but Nora took her first carousel ride with David. “I rode the HORSIE!” she told me when she got off.
Back at the campground, we pulled in and were met with a questioning look from the campground owner. I guess we were supposed to check in this morning, even though I thought I had paid for two nights over the phone. They had already given our site to someone else, but luckily had another one available. They had thoughtfully collected our doormat and dog tie-outs from our old site. After we moved and had a snack, we went to the camp office to ask a question. We ended up in the back room behind the office, where they have computers you can rent and free board games. David and I played a couple games of checkers. Then Nora and I went to the playground while David and Michael talked to the owner. Nora really liked this playground, even though it was mostly really old, metal playground pieces badly in need of a coat of paint. She hardly played with rocks at all, moving from one play car to another and asking to go down the slide “again” and again. After a while I was freezing and insisted we go back. After we warmed up, and while David was making pork stir-fry, Nora and I went to the book exchange and turned in three of our old paperbacks for some new (used) ones.
After dinner, David asked Nora if we should have dessert. Her eyes lit up and she said, “Cookies,” and pointed to the snack cabinet. David tried to get her off the subject, but she kept pointing. David said, “Nora, do you have a one-track mind?” She said, “Cookies. COOKIES!”
Nora went to bed in her sweatshirt and no pants because she wouldn’t cooperate with David in getting her pajamas on. But other than those battles, she really has been very good. She rides happily in the stroller or the backpack and usually goes along with whatever we’re doing.

DAY 39 Memphis to Nashville

(photos: a tow truck helping us out; friends hanging out in the camper; in the morning, David climbed in bed with Nora)
Our goal was to get on the road between 9:30 and 10 a.m. We pulled out at 10:22 a.m. Not bad. To be fair, we did have to add in some time for David to complain to the management that a panhandler KNOCKED ON OUR SIDE DOOR last night around 9:30 p.m. Can you believe that? We were aware by now that Graceland is not in the nicest part of Memphis, if there is a nice part, but seriously. Can you imagine? Someone coming up and knocking on the door to ask for spare change? We tied Dalice outside for several hours, but we ended up bringing him in because he was barking too much and it was keeping us up. All our stuff was still there in the morning.
OK, to be completely honest, we didn’t lose any time complaining. David went to complain while he was waiting on me to finish the dishes in order to pull forward off the leveling blocks and put them away without having half the dishwater slosh out of the sink. He said the manager or owner had floated the theory that maybe it was a Memphis cop undercover as a panhandler, because in Memphis it is illegal to give money to panhandlers. David said, “Sir, this was not a cop.” And the guy said, “Well, I’m an ex-cop, and let me tell you…. (blah blah blah)” To which David replied, “Sir, I’m an ex-cop, and this was not the police.”
Anyway, we pulled out and headed for Nashville. Things were just going well when David pulled off because he was getting a weird bounce that didn’t seem to be caused by the road. Sure enough, we had a flat. It turned out it was caused by the valve stem going bad. We called AAA and they said it would be an hour. We called back after an hour and a half, and they said the guy would be there in an hour. Then the guy called and said he would there in about an hour. He did show, with his pregnant wife and kids in tow (he wasn’t supposed to be working today) and got us back on the road. While stopped, we met a guy who was going from Albuquerque, NM to Key West, Fla. in three days. With no atlas. David helped him out with his route. Apparently he had just enough money for his $900 camper and gas, but not enough to buy an atlas.
After a stop at the grocery store, when all the kids were finally settled again, we tried to pick up a conversation we had been having before the flat. I said, “OK, now what were we talking about three hours ago?” That’s when we realized it had actually been six hours since I was last sitting up front next to him, just talking. This was on a day when we had less than 3.5 hours of driving to do.
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As it was taking longer and longer to actually get to our site in Nashville, I was getting more and more skeptical a planned meeting I had arranged with some friends this evening would take place. I had envisioned us pulling in around the late afternoon, having dinner, and then my friends coming by the campground to sit outside in camp chairs and watch the sun go down. We didn’t end up getting in until nearly 8 p.m. after the sun was long gone and we could see our breath in the cold. I called at about 6:30 p.m. to make sure there were sites available (so far on the trip this has never been a problem except at the National Parks) and she said there was ONE site left. So I bought it for two nights, and gave her my credit card number over the phone to charge it. My friends did show up, but of course I had planned on sitting outside. There were 5 of them plus a newborn, and of course there are 4 of us. So we were sitting outside in the dark freezing, with some people sitting on the wood deck “patio” on our campsite, as I showed photos of our vacation on the laptop -- a modern day slideshow, probably not much more interesting than the ones people groaned about in the ‘80s. I apologized for the conditions, and David suggested that if he uninstalled the kids’ car seats, we could all fit inside. So we did that, which was MUCH better. I felt bad for not having thought of it first or sooner. It was still a tight squeeze, though, and it only worked because Nora was already in bed up top and Michael was sleeping back on our bed. About 10:30 p.m., after sharing the cheesecake one of the couples had brought, everyone left. We played a game of cards and went to bed.

DAY 38 Memphis

(photos: Michael was actually awake for this American tourist attraction; Elvis stuff; the famous pink Cadillac)
We had great weather today. We had breakfast here, then strapped on the children and walked the few blocks to Graceland. It is not really set up for pedestrians to walk there, as we found out when we realized the place to purchase tour tickets was across the street at the parking area. It is a Friday morning of no particular consequence as far as I can tell, and yet there was already a large line at the ticket counter and waiting to get on the bus. It was pretty expensive. It was $22 for just the tour of the house and grounds. It was $30 for that, plus admission to five other museums and exhibits, such as Elvis’ airplane and Elvis’ cars. We went ahead and ponied up for the more expensive one, and we did get 10 percent off with our AAA card. The shuttle took us across the street to Graceland, and we all got acquainted with our audio guides, little plastic digital players with headphones. I knew that would be a challenge, because there is no way to pay attention to a recorded voice and to Nora at the same time. Even though she was being ignored some of the time, she was well behaved in the backpack. Sometimes one of us would let her listen to the headphones, and she would say, “Man talking in there,” or “Everyone is in there!” when there was music playing. The audio guides made things a little strange, since there were dozens of people milling about silently in close quarters, completely not paying any attention to each other. But it was neat to see an American cultural icon, and the house itself was pretty cool. It is not really all that grand by today’s standards, but it certainly was uniquely furnished. The outbuildings were interesting, too, including the racquetball courts, the pool, the horse stables and of course the meditation garden where Elvis and his parents are buried. The guide and exhibits really made Elvis out to be a saint, emphasizing his gifts to charity, his award from a service organization, his military service and his religion. The audio guide attributed his death to “chronic health problems and his increasing dependence on prescription drugs.”
I guess the audio guides worked out pretty well in the end. If we had had a live tour guide, we would have worried about Nora talking over him or her, as has happened on other programs we’ve tried to do. Plus we could pause the guide to attend to the kids, and then start it up again. I can’t help but think about all the real tour guides out of a job. The audio guides allow them to pack more people into the house at one time. Sometimes it felt like cattle herding. And we could see the shuttle buses loading and unloading constantly. They obviously rake in the money doing this. All the smaller museums conveniently placed their exits at the opposite side of their gift shops. We avoided the overpriced hamburger joint where the shuttle drops off passengers and walked a couple blocks to a fast food place. The only seating they had was outside, but it was actually quite a nice day to have lunch outside. We were all wearing jackets, but the sun was shining and it was in the 60s.
After that, we went to see something called “Elvis After Dark.” The point of the exhibit was that between Elvis’ fame and his insomnia, most of the time he sought his amusement at night. In Memphis, he would rent the movie theater after it closed, or the fairgrounds when the fair was on, inviting his friends to ride the roller coasters and play bumper cars at 1 in the morning. There were also some interesting artifacts there, including a TV with a bullet hole in it. In the gift shop, there was a pool table from Elvis’ Bel Air home. Apparently Elvis and the Beatles had played pool on it. For a mere $100, we could have played, too. For 30 minutes. Yeah, right. During this exhibit, Michael had just eaten and was wide awake. He was actually pushing back from my body in the front back and tilting back his head to look at me and smile and make faces. Between his cute face and Nora asleep in the backpack, the kids were charming all the other tourists and all the employees.
Then we toured Elvis’ airplane, the Lisa Marie, which was pretty impressive. If you ignored the ugly ‘70s décor, you had to admire the gold-plated sinks in the bathrooms and the nice conference table. A video playing inside the plane informed visitors that one winter he realized Lisa Marie had never seen snow, so they flew to Colorado to play in the snow for a minutes, then flew back home.
Then we went on to some other forgettable exhibit explaining his rise to fame and his relationship with his agent. After that was the car museum, which was really cool. There were several motorcycles and a lot of custom cars, including the pink Cadillac, and BMW roadster Priscilla liked to drive, and several other customized luxury cars.
We walked back to the RV park after that, and David held down the fort while I took a nap. (Nora had already taken her nap, beginning at the airplane tour and ending in the car exhibit.) We had dinner, and then David went out and duct-taped on the aluminum covering on our rear bumper, which fell off in Little Rock. (We were driving for the first time in quite awhile without the bicycle on the back, and the wind got under it on the freeway and tore it loose. We had been keeping in here in the aisle on the floor, which was pretty annoying. Now both kids are (mostly) asleep and we’re having a quiet evening.
After dinner, Nora was jabbering away and recited the most difficult page from a story of hers I have heard so far: “It came back on just in time for our favorite TV show, but the weatherman kept interrupting it. Then it started thundering loud.” (This is from “Just a Thunderstorm” by Gina and Mercer Mayer. Earlier today she asked me to read from a magazine we have laying around. I read the title of an ad she pointed to, and she said, “By Gina and Mercer Mayer.” She’s hysterically funny.)

DAY 37 Little Rock to Memphis
(photos: Our campsite in Memphis; Graceland, from the road out front)
Woke up to rain (again). Unfortunately I left Michael’s tent bubble outside because the sky was clear last night. So it is soaked and now riding in the outside storage. We stopped at a Target store in North Little Rock, then headed to Memphis. I even drove for a little while, until Michael woke up hungry. We are staying in an RV park a couple blocks from Graceland. We walked across the street to a cafeteria-style restaurant and ate there because it is raining and gloomy and freezing. During dinner, David and I were talking about how much fun Nora is, and how glad we are to have both kids on this trip. Nora really does make us laugh a lot. After we got back, we played on the bed with the kids and then took showers and got the kids clean, too. I fed and walked the dogs, and then of course they tracked mud in all over the RV. Plus this site is gravel and it isn’t level at all. Even using all the leveling slats we brought with us, David still could only get us from really tilted to slightly tilted. Oh well. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, but for tonight we have the heat on. It is supposed to get down to 40. I guess all the desert living made us pretty soft, because 40 feels extremely cold. Tomorrow we’ll see the sights here in Memphis.
(As I was reading through an old entry, I realized I never cleared something up. We were supposed to stop in Pecos, TX to get our groceries for the week. Nothing more is said about that until the next day’s entry, where we had stopped in Abilene for the same groceries the next morning. Turns out the store listed under “grocery” on the map in Pecos was a convenience/liquor store, about the size you‘d find attached to a gas station. We opted to wait until we could get to a real supermarket.)