New car

April 23 we traded our trusty Lexus 330 in on a 2014 Lincoln MKZ. Unfortunately, Lexus changed all their transmissions and they cannot be towed 4 wheels down. So we started looking at other brands and models and found we liked the Lincoln MKZ. This photo show Doug and our salesman, Joe Gianetti.

Northern Virginia

We stopped in northern Virginia to visit my (Nada's) brother. It was good to see everyone, enjoy some delicious food, and see some DC sites.

 In the above photo, Doug and Homer are meeting a Labrdoodle parked across from us at Lake Fairfax. I took the picture through our front windshield sunscreen so it isn't the clearest photo! You can also see it was a muddy rainy day for our first day in Virginia. ;-(

 Sam and Ginger took us to the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. It is now a collection of artist studios and shops and it has really changed since we were last there. It sits right on the Potomac River in Alexandria. Sam and I had a great aunt who lived in Alexandria and worked in the torpedo factory during World War II so it has a special interest to us. They still have displays of the torpedoes and the photos tell the story of wartime manufacture.

 Above, you can see Doug checking out one of the displays. In the photo below Sam and Ginger are with one of the torpedoes.

Above is a view of the waterfront from the Torpedo Factory. The large brown roof is the Charter House, a restaurant where we ate lunch. Below is the view from our lunch table looking up stream. You can see one of the "one-every-minute" airplanes coming into Reagan Airport in downtown. Since 9/11, there approach must always be over the river.

The photo below shows the river side of the Torpedo Factory.

The next day we headed west from Reston, VA to investigate the little quaint town of The Plains, VA. We ate lunch at the Tea House and enjoyed their tea and scones plus we had delicious sandwiches. Yum! Below is a photo of Doug and Ginger putting some of our purchases into their car with some of the turn of the century town shops in the background.

Above, Doug is feeding Homer some doggie bacon. Below, great Uncle Doug is checking out what Chase is watching on his iPad while the rest of us are waiting for our dinner at Ozzie's. Good food!

As always, our good times must come to an end sometime. Tomorrow, Friday, we are headed to Hershey PA where we will begin intensive work on the CHAP Homeschool Convention for May 9 & 10th and we'll resume our Good Sam/Camping World Ambassadors job for the summer. We also get to see Doug's mom, Aurie, and also Vicky and Trevor, our d-i-l and grandson. We are excited to see them all!

Tiffin RV Net Rally, Sevierville TN

After leaving Texas, we traveled east on I-10 to Sidell, MS and then took I-59 north through MS, AL and into TN. The first photo is traveling through Chattanooga TN.

 On Tuesday we arrived in Sevierville, TN the site of the Tiffin RV Net Rally. Boy is this place crowded when it usually is deserted at this time of year! We found out it is spring break for the TN schoools. In the photo below you can see the Smokey Mountains off in a distance but the photo doesn't do them justice 

 Today we took a drive out to Newport , TN to visit the Bush Bean factory and visitor's center. It was a beautiful drive after a morning of pretty severe thunderstorms.

 Here are some photos....

 Below is a model of the factory layout.

 The factory visitor center is quite interesting. Below is Doug on the scale to see what his weight is in beans.

And..... they took our picture with Duke of the Bush Baked Bean commercials. ;-) Naturally I chose the Monument Valley background since it is one of my favorite places.