My BHAG: To go to all the places!
Current Status: We now have an RV and will take up part time RV Travel. We are starting small and visiting all the Tennessee State Parks. After that? Maybe full time RV Travel. Visit all the National Parks and ton of cities across America. After that? Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Moon, Mars, Etc. Somewhere in there I’ll probably die (I guess). Regardless, there is a great big world out there and I haven’t seen most of it! I intend to do my best to change that.
What Are Our Goals?
See All The City Parks (Nashville)
Nashville is my favorite city in America and it is because of this list. The city has the best park system in the nation! Change my mind!
See All The Tennessee State Parks
There are over 50 it them so it will take a while.
See All The National Parks
This is THE goal. The United States has 61 national parks. I’ve been to only a couple of these so far. It will take many years to accomplish this goal but if fully accomplished I believe it will be very satisfying and quite an accomplishment. There are also many more National Monuments along the way (and National Memorials). While we are traveling the country we’ll hit all the state parks that interest us along the way. We’ll hit those too!
See All The States (and a TON of Cities)
As we explore the US we will surely visit every state at some point (and many, many cities). We’ll keep track of them and force rank our favorite ones along the way!
See Canada
We’ve hit a few spots in Canada already and will likely hit a few others before we get to this goal. But once we see the entire US we’ll go north and see that big old country. It looks like my kind of place!
RV The World
Pick a spot on the globe and do the same thing. We can rent/buy an RV once we get there and do the same thing on other continents. This is obviously a large commitment and an extreme end of the full-time RV endeavor.
Travel Related Posts
6 Years Later – 100K RV Tow Truck Review – Ready For Another One
It’s been almost a year since we went RV’ing. Since the last trip, my tow vehicle (2019 RAM 1500) crossed over 100,000 miles (and the certified pre-owned warranty expired). I needed to decide what to do about that. • Our Tow Truck (What We Started With) • What Has It Costs Us So Far? •…
Pickett SP and Big South Fork REDUX (Jamestown, TN) – Deano’s TN Favorites!
Gran’s Memorial Day Trip! We headed to revisit two of our favorite places in TN (this time with more family). REDUX! We headed up to Jamestown, TN, and hit Pickett CCC Memorial State Park and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (Twin Arches) again. We saw cool caves, cool arches, climbed ladders, and…
White Sands National Park and White Sands Missile Range
Emmaline left us to head back home, leaving two grown adults on their own in the desert. So we did what any responsible (?!?) adults would do in that situation…went sand sledding! After that, I obtained a top-secret security clearance to access a missile testing facility. Lets! Go!
Big Bend Ranch State Park & Fort Davis National Historic Site
Drive Day! Might as well take one of the prettiest drives in Texas. Then we might as well sprinkle in a couple of neat hikes (Closed Canyon Trail and Hoodoos & Balanced Rock Trail @ Big Bend Ranch State Park) and maybe a visit to Fort Davis National Historic Site. Busy travel day to drop…
Big Bend National Park – Rio Grande Village, Boquillas Canyon & Hot Springs
On our final day in Big Bend National Park, we headed over to the eastern side of the park. We stopped at the park’s visitor center (movie) and hiked on Dugout Well Trail before heading over to Rio Grande Village. Once there, we headed to Boquillas Canyon. I wanted to ride a canoe and donkey…
Big Bend National Park – Chisos Basin and Lost Mine Trail
It was hike day in Big Bend National Park for us. For various reasons, we didn’t do the South Rim Trail (sad face emoji) as I planned. We wound up doing the Lost Mine Trail. It could not have been too much worse. It was the perfect hike. It also saved us about 10 miles…
Big Bend National Park – Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive & Santa Elena Canyon
This was one of my favorite days at Big Bend National Park. The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive was beautiful. It had lots of stops for exploring/hiking. I was so busy taking in the sights that I even did a full face plant on one hike. Emmaline and Emily throughly enjoyed that! We ended the day…
Getting To Big Bend NP – Terlingua, TX
We were heading down to Big Bend National Park, and it was a haul! I’d never been to West Texas. There is A LOT of open space…OPEN…A LOT. Emmaline was going on the trip with us, and I’d tried every way possible to talk her out of coming. I was worried about the “remoteness” not…
Biking Carriage Trails @ Acadia National Park
So. Much. Fun! I was somewhat skeptical of the e-bike. “I don’t NEED an e-bike!” Well…I didn’t NEED it, but I WANTED it! I quickly got used to the electric assist on the bikes we rented. We covered 30+ miles on the Carriage Trails around Acadia National Park. It was fall, the leaves were beautiful,…
Acadia NP – Hiking (Climbing) Beehive
Utterly Terrifying! LOL We’ve done plenty of hiking in our days. I use the word ‘hiking’ VERY loosely. This ‘hike’ would barely classify as such. There was definitely some climbing on this one. Some very disturbing climbing. But as with many things…we are glad we did it! Probably won’t do it again…but glad we DID…
Acadia National Park – Ocean Path & Cadillac Mountain
We started off our visit at Acadia National Park by driving around the park loop road. We explored the Ocean Path. We timed the tide coming into Thunder Hole perfectly. The same tide almost got us at Sand Beach. We had a date (and time) to get up Cadillac Mountain, so we headed up from…
Visiting Maine’s Lighthouses
We hit 5 lighthouses while wandering around Maine. My favorite visit was a sunset lighthouse visit at Bass Harbor Head (near Acadia NP). Ironically, this was also my least favorite parking lot of all the lighthouses! Many had the same idea we had. My favorite lighthouse in the whole state was Portland Head. All were…
Traveling Maine’s Highway 1 (Bar Harbor, Portland, Kennebunkport, Ogunquit)
We hit Maine to visit Acadia NP, but visited several towns along the coast (along Highway 1) while we were there. We saw lots of cool towns, hiked many beautiful coastlines, and visited tons of lighthouses. We saw Portland on the way in and out, stayed in Bar Harbor for a few days, and hit…
Tours, Tours, Tours in Savannah GA
We toured A LOT while in Savannah, GA. Riverwalk tour, ghost tour, historic house tour, historic parks tour, historic street tour, trolley tour, cancelled haunted house tour, walking in the rain tour, famous cemetery tour, and eating tour(s). Eating is not really a tour, but you gotta keep the energy up [lame fat person excuse…
Cannon Fire at Fort Pulaski and Fort Jackson (Savannah, GA)
We hit Savannah, GA and our first two stops were forts! Fort Pulaski is a very pretty “moated fort” that got messed up and has the scars to show for it. Then we made it over to Fort Jackson (dodging lightning and mosquitos) to see them fire a cannon. BOOM!
Relaxing Around Hilton Head, South Carolina
We visited Hilton Head, South Carolina, and took in a little resort life. We stayed at The Inn & Club at Harbour Town in The Sea Pines Resort. That sounds like a mouthful…a pretentious mouthful. LOL. Resort life is not our normal mode of travel. I noticed there seemed to be a lot of sleeping…
Congaree National Park (South Carolina)
Our trip to South Carolina was to check Congaree National Park off our national park list. It is a small national park but the spiders didn’t get that memo (hhuuuugggeeee). I was glad to have Emmaline with us because I’m an old fart and left my readers in the car so I couldn’t read the…
Charleston, SC – Plantation Tours
We toured 4 different plantations while in Charleston, SC. Each was very different. Middleton Place was my favorite property. It was immaculate. Deano’s got new yard goals! Magnolia had a more natural vibe. Boone Hall had the best driveway and felt like a movie set. My favorite tour in the entire city of Charleston was…
Charleston, SC – Historic House Tours
While in Charleston, we toured several historic homes. The entire city is covered with houses that are 200+ years old. We toured one restored home, one plantation home, and one preserved home (i.e., unrestored). Each was beautiful in different ways, and hearing the history of each was very interesting. As the tours unfolded, I realized…
Charleston, SC – Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie
Double Forts! While in Charleston, SC we visited Fort Sumter NM & Fort Moultrie NM. We started the morning off with a short boat ride over to Fort Sumter where we helped raise the Old Red, White, and Blue over the fort where the Civil War began. We headed over to Sullivan’s Island for a…
Sightseeing In Charleston, South Carolina
We did a lot in Charleston, South Carolina. Our initial sightseeing was to get a lay of the land. Cobblestone streets, good food, historical houses, seawalls, waterfront parks, fountains, city markets, historical tourist attractions, Civil War submarines, and haunted carriage rides. I definitely caught a ghost on film!
Mammoth Cave NP – Gothic Avenue Tour
Gothic Avenue was our final tour at Mammoth Cave NP. Seeing all the candle smoke writing on the cave ceilings (from over a hundred years ago) was very interesting. We’d planned to hit another cave system while in the area but heavy rains closed that one down. So, we finished up our final tour at…
Mammoth Cave NP – Grand Avenue Tour
The Grand Avenue Tour was our longest tour at Mammoth Cave National Park. It was 4 miles long and took about 4 hours. It was also my favorite tour of our trip. It had it all: slot canyons, tubular passageways, tall canyons, and tunnels sparkled with gypsum. It ended following the Frozen Niagra and Domes and…
Mammoth Cave NP – Star Chamber Tour
A cave tour with the only source of light being our gas lantern’s flame. It was our 3rd tour of the day but it was the most unique. We entered the cave at dusk with about 10 lanterns. So we experienced the cave just like they did a hundred years ago by candlelight! Then the…
Mammoth Cave NP – River Styx Tour & Historic Tour (Extended)
A lot of the River Styx Tour follows the more popular Historic Tour route but it is a very different tour. I liked it much better than the Historic Tour. You get to go to the deepest part of Mammoth Cave (down to the River Styx and Echo Lake). The River Styx tour also was…
Great Onyx Lantern Tour @ Mammoth Cave NP
We started our tours at Mammoth Cave NP with the Great Onyx Lantern Tour. This cave system is not part of Mammoth Cave system but is part of the national park. After a short (and pretty wild) bus ride we were assigned lanterns and entered the cave. It was a nice mix of cave geology…
6 Tours In Mammoth Cave National Park
I’d been to Mammoth Cave National Park before. Like many places I’ve been previously I didn’t ‘finish it’. It is the completionist in me! So I planned multiple days with 6 tours and 12 miles of underground hiking. After 16 hours of underground tours, I’m marking this National Park done. CHECK!
NASCAR Cup Race – Nashville Superspeedway
It had been over 10 years since we’d been to a NASCAR Cup race. Now that NashVegas has a Cup Race at Nashville Superspeedway it made sense to Get ‘Er Done! It was hot! It was also fun as crap! Few things are as entertaining as a NASCAR opening ceremony and the first few laps…
Disney’s Epcot
We’d not been to DisneyWorld’s Epcot in a long time. I found myself saying “I ain’t ever done this before” a lot. Several new rides and a bunch of things that I’d simply never seen/done before. Some of it was because it was new/different. Some were because we weren’t chasing kids around. Epcot as an…
Silver Springs State Park
We visited Emmaline in Orlando and headed to Florida’s first tourist attraction, Silver Springs State Park. It is home to the largest artesian spring in the northern hemisphere (Mammoth Springs) and some of the clearest blue water you’ll see anywhere. We kayaked first and then took a glass-bottom boat tour. On the glass bottom boat…
Touring Bike Build For Bikepacking
The bike is built and the shakedown rides are completed (3 of them). I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I modified Emily’s old ’90s model Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike. It should be a fine starter bike for me to do a few overnight trips. This will help me see if doing…
Back To My Hometown (Springfield, TN) Hunting The Bell Witch
Somehow my travels led me back to my hometown, Springfield TN, for a long weekend. I decided while I was there I’d do a little Bell Witch hunting. I’d watch movies and read books to learn about her evil ways. Then I’d go to Adams, TN to visit some sites. I was going to find…
Our Last TN State Park (Big Ridge SP) AND Max’s Graduation
Lots of stuff wrapped up on this weekend of RV’ing! We visited our last Tennessee State Park (Big Ridge State Park). With this last one we’ve visited all 58 Tennessee State Parks. We started RV’ing several years ago. It has been a lot of fun! This marks a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal) off my…
Kayaking To Burgess Falls State Park’s Beautiful Waterfall
Burgess Falls State Park 2.0! We’ve visited this magnificent Tennessee waterfall from the top several times (on foot). We’ve never kayaked to it to see it from the bottom. At 136 feet tall (and at least that wide) it is absolutely beautiful. It has to be among the top waterfalls in Tennessee. It is a…
Disney’s Magic Kingdom
We spent a full day chasing every ride at the best of the DisneyWorld theme parks, Magic Kingdom. I know it is the best because it had one of the best rides ever (Splash Mountain RIP) and because they sell Orange Fanta / Dole Whip Floats. Since I had two of those in our day…
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
We spent a day with Emmaline and Zach at Animal Kingdom. It had been a few years since we’d been there. Adult Disney with adult children is still fun (maybe more fun)! We also explored the real Florida kingdom on its oldest scenic boat tour (in Winter Park).
4 Awesome Waterfalls at Virgin Falls State Natural Area (Sparta, TN)
We spent a day waterfall hunting at Virgin Falls State Natural Area. It was a long day of hiking (10+ miles and 30k+ steps). It was worth every step, however. Tons of water was flowing across all four of the waterfalls we visited. My favorite waterfall wasn’t even Virgin Falls. The water in the creek…
Lots Of Hiking At Frozen Head State Park (Wartburg, TN)
Frozen Head State Park was our second-to-last TN state park. It has been on my list for a while (since it is a hiker’s state park). It has about 50 miles of hiking trails. We knocked out 20 miles of those while there. It also was towards the end of the Tennessee state park list…
A Fifth of a Barkley Marathon (at Frozen Head State Park)
The Barkley Marathon is a secret 100-mile ultramarathon race at Tennessee’s Frozen Head State Park each year. They do 5 20-mile loops (with 10,000+ feet of elevation gain per loop) within 60 hours. Very few humans have ever finished the race in its 38-year history. We tried to do 1 (one/uno) loop (1 fifth of…
My Favorite 100 Paintings @ The Art Institute Of Chicago
I visited The Art Institute of Chicago while in town for a concert. They have over 300,000 works of art. Here are my favorite 100!
Orbital Concert In Chicago
It had been 23 years since my college roommate, Brent, and I had seen one of our favorite bands, ORBITAL. I know you’ve never heard of them. That doesn’t change the fact that they are the best in the game. We headed to Chicago to see 1 of 2 shows they did in the US.…
Revisiting Memphis, TN
We’ve been to Memphis before, but it has been a while! We met Preston for a Grizzlies game. I’m not a huge basketball fan but 1) it was fun and 2) I’ll use any excuse to eat at Rendezvous. We hit a few other Memphis favorites while in town (Beale Street, Bass Pro Shop @…
T.O. Fuller State Park – Memphis, TN
Our trip back home was cursed from the second we left the prior campground in Hot Springs, AR. The bad luck lasted all the way through our time at T.O. Fuller State Park in Memphis. We stayed at this state park while we explored around Memphis. We wound up cutting our losses to beat the…
Two Days In Hot Springs National Park (Hot Spring, AR)
We spent two days exploring Hot Spring National Park (in Hot Springs, AR). I was excited to go for a soak to heal all my ailments in the 4,000-year-old thermal spring waters. I did my soaking at the Buckstaff Bathhouse which opened in 1912 (and is the only bathhouse to continuously operate since then). It…
Biking Meeman Shelby Forest State Park (Millington, TN)
We started off our Spring Break going west. Our first stop was north of Memphis at Meeman Shelby Forest State Park. We explored the park on our bikes and had so much fun that we changed our entire plan to spend more time in (and around) this park and in Millington. It was the perfect…
Fort Pillow Historic State Park (Henning, TN)
This was our first trip of the 2024 RV season with some winter camping at Fort Pillow Historic State Park in west TN. It is a Civil War encampment that was on the Mississippi River. We learned a little about it and hiked to a restored fortification. Winter camping sometimes works out with the weather…
Sightseeing Fort Worth, TX
I had to work in Fort Worth, TX so I made Emily come with me (and also work…ha). All work and no play makes Deano a dull boy, however. We did some JFK-themed sightseeing at the JFK Memorial and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (in Dallas). Of course, I enjoyed the conspiracy theory…
Thanksgiving 2023 at Hogdaddy’s
Hogdaddy hosted the 1st Annual Frisbee Golf Invitational for Thanksgiving this year. It was a challenging course. At some point money started flowing so I quit filming and starting flingin’!
RV Travel Costs (Part 3) – How Much Does RV Travel Cost?
Nerding Out With A Spreadsheet Using 4 Years Of Our Travel. To find out how much RV travel costs I pull data from 28 trips as weekend warriors over 99 nights over 4 years and 10,000 miles of travel! In this video, I look at the cost of the 28 RV trips we took and…
RV Travel Costs (Part 2) – Is RV Travel Worth It?
Is RV Travel Worth It? Has Our RV Been Worth The Costs After 4 Years, 10,000 Miles, and 28 Trips? This video is part 2 of 3 about our experience with the costs of RV Travel. Part 1 is here: https://youtu.be/Xr0faCFqIS0 The full write-up is on my blog here: https://deanorolls.com/2024/02/24/rv-travel-costs-part-1-rv-travel-versus-traditional-travel/ From video one we learned…
RV Travel Costs (Part 1) – RV Travel Versus Traditional Travel
4 years ago, we wrestled with the decision of whether to buy an RV or not. I’m a nerd. I did a bunch of math to figure out if it would be worth it. We ultimately decided to buy the RV and hit the road. We took the plunge. We’ve traveled for 4 years and…
Seven Islands State Birding Park (Kodak, TN)
The early bird gets the bird?!? We didn’t get to the birding park early enough to do any birding (but late breakfast was really good). Regardless, it was still a beautiful fall afternoon to explore around this state park. Emily didn’t like my regenerative agriculture ‘knowledge session’ but she did like Buc-ees (meh)!
Panther Creek State Park (Morristown TN)
We stayed at Panther Creek State Park on our last trip of the 2023 RV season. The lake was pretty against the fall leaves. It was a nice park for a short hike and a visit with Max and Arden. It also allowed Emily to continue her late 2023 rant against the evil TVA dam…
“Tourist-ing” Knoxville (Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, Museum of Appalachia, & AMSE)
While we were in the Knoxville, TN area for fall break we visited some of the popular touristy spots. If I had to force rank them I’d say 1) Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, 2) Museum of Appalachia, then 3) American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE). I’m a sucker for history and all three…
Paddle Boating Indian Mountain State Park (Jellico, TN)
We finished up our fall break at Indian Mountain State Park (in Jellico, TN). We covered a lot of ground on our trip so we relaxed around this state park to end the trip. We did a quick hike, a paddle boat race with Max and Arden, a delicious dinner (pies/cakes), and then back around…
Kayaking and Biking At Cove Lake State Park (Caryville, TN)
We explored Cove Lake State Park on bikes and in kayaks. Both were fun. They have a paved bike path that makes for enjoyable pedaling. We’d have kayaked much longer if the weather had been a little better. It was a great lake for kayaking (a big lake and no big boats).
Exploring Norris Dam State Park (Rocky Top, TN)
We used Norris Dam State Park as our home base to explore the surrounding area. They have two campgrounds (east side vs. west side) and I chose the bad one when I booked it [sad face emoji]. Regardless, we explored the park and got some hiking in. We also got to relax with Preston (and…
Hiking Big South Fork – Twin Arches, Needle Arch and Slave Falls
We loved hiking all around Big South Fork. We spent a day at Twin Arches. They were enormous! I can’t believe these are in Tennessee. I was arch-struck! So many ‘that’s what she said’ jokes! After Emily broke her toes on the first hike, she wanted to persevere and finish the day’s 2nd hike. We…
Awesome Hiking at Honey Creek Loop Trail and Overlook (in Big South Fork Nat’l River and Rec Area)
Best. Hike. Of. The. Year. Honey Creek Loop Trail (in Big South Fork) was only listed as 4.2 miles. Regardless, it took us almost 5 hours because 1) there was so much to see along the way, 2) the hiking was very hard/technical, 3) the trail was very hard to follow, and 4) a lot…
DISASTERS At Big South Fork – Emily Broke Her Toe(s) and I Almost Lost My Drone
Disasters! It was our BEST trip of the year and our WORST trip of the year. A tree root reached up and hooked Emily’s foot and she wound up with some broken toes. My drone decided to go on an unplanned trip and almost wound up in the Big South Fork River. It wasn’t all…
Hanging Out In La Jolla and San Diego, CA – Grinde Family Trip
We spent a week with family in San Diego exploring up and down the coastline (see previous 5 videos). We stayed in a house in La Jolla. It was our home base and where I watched the cousins perform many pool acrobatics. Thanks, Mimi and Pops for shacking up the whole clan for a fun…
Tourist-ing in San Diego, CA (Tourist Stuff)
We did as much ‘tourist-ing’ while in San Diego, CA as we could fit in. We ate at Liberty Public Market several times and everyone enjoyed it. We went from a house in town down a tunnel inside the La Jolla Sea Cave. We watched an exciting ‘bases loaded at the bottom of the ninth’…
San Diego Zoo (San Diego, CA)
My second visit to one of the best zoos in the nation (if not the best). It takes a full day to see it all (and I’m still not sure we did). That darn reptile house will continue to give me food for nightmares for years to come (again). [rattlesnakes are as scared of you…
Exploring La Jolla’s Beaches – San Diego, CA
We explored ALL the beaches in La Jolla while visiting San Diego, CA. We hit the La Jolla Tide Pools, Wipeout Beach, Children’s Pool, Seal Rock, Scripps Park, Shell Beach, Point La Jolla (seals everywhere), La Jolla Cove, and the Sea Cave. On another day we explored La Jolla Shores Beach. We even stopped at…
Great Hikes Around San Diego, CA
We explored some great places around San Diego (mainly the La Jolla area) on foot. We hiked around the Torrey Pines Gliderport area (but didn’t walk off the ledge like some crazy people there did). While there we hiked down to Black’s Beach (a nude optional beach where we did NOT fit in). We hiked…
USS Midway CV 41 (San Diego, CA)
We visited the USS Midway Museum while in San Diego. I’d been here many years ago but it is totally worth a redo. The size and scale of this ship is fascinating. As we toured the entire ship I tried to imagine what it would be like working on this ship when it was in…
Hiking Pickett CCC Memorial State Park
WOW! Pickett was superb! I think this was the best state park we’ve visited this year. Everything we did on this visit was excellent. The 5 trails we hiked were all excellent with very interesting things to see all along the way (natural bridges, caves, streams, plants, mushrooms, waterfalls, ladders, etc.). The food was excellent…
Sgt. Alvin C York State Historic Park (Pall Mall, TN)
We visited the home of a famous WWI hero from Tennessee. We toured a home gifted to him after the war, had a picnic at a gristmill on the river, and then went on a ranger-led auto tour of some important sites around his home. I didn’t know a lot about Alvin prior to visiting…
Cordell Hull Birthplace State Park and Bunkum Cave
Cordell Hull was a famous Tennessee figure who was a lawyer and long-time politician. In this video, we visited his birthplace and I said lots of things (bad?) about lawyers and politicians. Sorry…not sorry! If you identify as either of these please skip this installment of the channel (or don’t and throw shade in the…
Standing Stone State Park (Where’s The Stone!?!)
Our second TN state park where we couldn’t find the thing the park is named for!?! We eventually found the “standing stone”…IN ANOTHER TOWN?!? Tennessee summer heat was on full display while we were at Standing Stone which curtailed some of our plans. We visited another state park up the road (as planned) and took…
Gran’s Family Trip @ Big East Fork Retreat (Williamson County, TN)
Gran got the whole family together for a staycation right down the road at Big East Fork Retreat (in Williamson County, TN). The house we stayed in was on a small-scale farm. We enjoyed the outdoors, games, the animals, good food, and nightly campfires. At some point, however, a 1,500-piece puzzle appeared and sent me…
Kayaking and Hiking at Big Hill Pond State Park – Pocahontas, TN
We commuted into the far reaches of TN for a day of kayaking, hiking, and exploring a very nice Tennessee State Park. We barely saw anyone the entire day as we kayaked on the huge lake, explored the swampy Big Hill Pond, hiked a half-mile boardwalk into a swamp, and then up a tower overlooking…
Shiloh National Military Park – Shiloh, TN and Corinth, MS
We toured Shiloh National Military Park in Shiloh, TN. I’m a decently technical guy but the combination of a Federal government-produced (?!?) map/audio tour app and limited cell phone data access had us scrambling the entire 13-mile/22-stop tour (err 23 if you made the map not match the app…which they did do). Regardless, we learned…
Exploring Around Pickwick Landing State Park – Counce, TN
We stayed at Pickwick Landing State Park (in Counce, TN) as our home base while visiting a few places nearby. We are not really set up as lake people in our travel rig. This is a lake town. Regardless, the massive dam did create the opportunity for a slew of dam jokes. The nice resort…
Hiking and Kayaking Around Mousetail Landing State Park (Linden, TN)
School’s Out Blitz! When Emily’s school let out we hit the road. The first stop was Mousetail Landing State Park (near almost nothing but maybe Linden, TN). We are hikers and the hiking in this part of the state is not the best but we were surprised with Mousetail. The trails were better than expected,…
Hiking to Buggytop Cave & Sewanee Natural Bridge @ South Cumberland SP Lost Cove Area (Sewanee, TN)
While in the Sewanee, TN area I needed to check some final destinations off my South Cumberland State Park list. We had not made it to the Lost Cove Area on other trips. Buggytop Cave was the first destination so we hiked a few miles to get there. It was worth it! Much more impressive…
Tim’s Ford State Park – Winchester TN
We checked the box on Tim’s Ford State Park. We aren’t really lake people but we stayed in Winchester, TN at Tim’s Ford for an extended weekend where we did other activities (Jack Daniel’s, Molly’s Graduation, and some cool hikes). Gran was there and made us a delicious breakfast in one of their cabins. All…
Touring Jack Daniel’s Distillery and Miss Mary Bobo’s Restaurant – Lynchburg, TN
The whole family headed to Molly’s college graduation. On the way, we spent a day together in Lynchburg, TN visiting Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Gran found a great restaurant, Miss Mary Bobo’s, that was in an old boarding house near downtown. We headed to our tour full of delicious food. The tour of the immaculate grounds…
Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park – Pinson, TN
I took Emily and Max on the equivalent of a school field trip to Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park (in Pinson, TN). Pinson Mounds is the largest mound complex in Tennessee and is one of the largest Middle Woodland (A.D. 0 to A.D. 500) mound complexes in the United States. It was much more interesting…
Chickasaw State Park – Henderson, TN
We visited Chickasaw State Park. Max joined us for a night of camping. Then I took Emily and Max on the equivalent of a school field trip to nearby Pinson Mounds State Park (which was much more interesting than I anticipated). We enjoyed some delicious food in Henderson, TN (hot fudge cake anyone), and some…
Amelia Island, FL and Fort Clinch State Park
We met up with Emmaline who was working in Amelia Island, FL. This had been on Emily’s list for a while. We stayed in cabins near the beach and explored the beaches, a lighthouse, and a giant fort at a nearby state park. I think Fort Clinch was the biggest (and best) fort we’ve ever…
Visiting Kennedy Space Center – Cape Canaveral, FL
From Vero, we ‘launched’ north to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL for my first visit there. “One small drive from man”…err. The night before we’d caught a Space X launch through the clouds to get us hyped up for it. After a slight delay in our ‘liftoff’ (women) we finally ‘touched down’ for…
Revisiting Apalachicola, FL and St George Island, FL (and the St. George Lighthouse)
It had been 15-ish years since we’d been in the Apalachicola area. The Indian Pass Raw Bar had received a major upgrade. I wasn’t feeling too hot so the girls went shopping in town before we ate at the Owl Cafe. It was just as good as I remembered. We stayed one night on the…
Revisiting Cape San Blas and Port St. Joe Florida (After 15 Years)
We spent a ton of time on Cape San Blas when the kids were little. On our Spring Break road trip this year we looped through there again and spent a day revisiting the area (near Port St. Joe, Florida). It had been 15 years since we’d been there. It had changed, but not too…
Visiting White Oak Pastures (I Met Will Harris!)
It has been a year since I started learning about regenerative farming (and White Oak Pastures). In a stroke of serendipity, our Spring Break road trip this year took us right by their farm in Bluffton, GA. It would be crazy to not stop by for a quick visit?!? As we drove I made the…
Sunrise and Sunset at Natchez Trace State Park
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan when traveling to a new place. We were winter camping but the weather was beautiful and not too cold at all. I planned a big hike, but we punted on that when we got to the campground. We had a great lakeside spot. I decided we needed to…
Winter Camping at David Crockett State Park (Lawrenceburg, TN)
We headed down the Natchez Trace Parkway to Lawrenceburg, TN for some winter camping at David Crockett State Park. There was beautiful ice in the trees on the way down. The weather cooperated all weekend and we got our first trip of 2023 completed. This one had all the staples with hikes, waterfalls, a campfire,…
Christmas Debacle(s) And An Unplanned 1,400 Mile Drive!
Over Christmas, we celebrated Max’s 21st birthday (several times actually). We barely survived rolling blackouts and some single-digit temperatures (Deano marked himself safe). We survived but the pipe inside our wall didn’t and flooded our kitchen. Then we got to take an unplanned 1,400-mile round trip to Orlando to get Emmaline back home because we…
Thanksgiving At Hogdaddy’s
Games, 4-Wheelers, Cows, Guns, and Golf Carts…Oh My! And good food too but I was too busy stuffing it down my gut to capture any of that.
Biking Music City Bikeway + Centennial Park + TN Bicentennial Mall
The Music City Bikeway is my favorite bike ride in the area. It had been a few years since I’d been biking on it and it called me. The last time I rode it I’d ridden my bike 1,500 miles that year. This time I’d ridden my bike 55 miles prior to riding the 33-mile…
What We’ve Learned RV’ing For 3 Years (Weekend Warriors In Our RV Travel Trailer)
So, you want to go camping in an RV. Great, we did too! We’ve been doing it for three years as weekend warriors in our RV travel trailer. We’ve made 19 trips and towed our travel trailer 6,500 miles to 34 TN State Parks, and 2 National Parks. I’ve made 116 videos along the way.…
Epic Hike Fail! Our First Hiking Injury! Which One Makes It Back?
We had our first epic failed hike, so we biked instead. Always have a plan B! Numerous people have commented on Emily always hiking in sandals. I don’t advise it, but each to their own. On this day she came to the hike (at Denny Cove) with a sour attitude about the AllTrails app hike…
Quick Visit To Booker T Washington State Park
We are simply checking the box for some parks on our Tennessee state park list. This was one. I’m sure Booker T Washington State Park is a fine park. It was pretty, but we were staying right next to it on Harrison Bay. This park is a day-use park and we stopped by while in…
Red Clay State Historic Park
We started the morning off this day by stopping by Molly’s work and having her make me a delicious cup of coffee. This was no typical coffee order. I put her to the test! I’d have her job if she messed it up! Emily got a double dose of historic parks in one day. We…
Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park
In our many visits to Chattanooga, we’d previously visited parts of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. We’d visited Point Park at the top of Lookout Mountain. I’d never been to the visitors center for The Battle of Chattanooga which is located there so we did that on this trip. There is a ‘high tech’…
Exploring Fort Loudoun State Historic Park (in Vonore, TN) + Raccoon Mountain Caverns
Fort Loudoun State Historic Park (in Vonore, TN) has a reconstructed English fort from the mid-1700s used during the French and Indian War. Emily had us on a tight timeline (due to her dog’s potty schedule). She said we had 10 minutes to explore the whole thing. It took much longer! Ha! Later that afternoon…
Choo Choo Trains of Chattanooga, TN
Choo Choo Trains! While in Chattanooga, TN for fall break we kept things on a similar TRACK. See what I did there!?! I must have been reliving my childhood because I was as excited as a little kid about all these trains! We visited the Tennesse Valley Railroad and Museum. We rode the Missionary Ridge…
Sunsets At Harrison Bay State Park – Harrison, TN
For fall break we headed down to the Chattanooga area. Molly is finishing up nursing school in a few months at UTC. We are trying to finish seeing everything in the area while Molly is down there (bonus…we get to visit with her while we are there). Day one was a travel day that started…
Johnsonville State Historic Park – New Johnsonville, TN
We drove across the lake (from staying at Nathan Bedford Forrest SP) to visit Johnsonville State Historic Park. Nathan Bedford Forrest was who attacked Johnsville during the Civil War. I guess that interconnects these two state parks in some way. We visited the interpretive center (which I highly recommend) for a quick movie. Then we…
Hiking and Kayaking Nathan Bedford Forrest SP – Eva, TN
We headed to the lake to visit two different (but related) Tennessee state parks for some kayaking and hiking. We stayed at Nathan Bedford Forrest SP in Eva, TN. We visit Johnsonville Historic Park across the river while we were there. Both parks have Civil War history galore. We loaded the kayaks on the truck…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
DeanoRolls (@deanoroll5) 