Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. - Seneca WEB SITES click on the blue letters tp learn more Fort Donelson National Battlefield Shiloh National Military Park Fort Donelson National Battlefield. Tennessee November 1, 2009, Sunday Just a bit of history…“The morning of February 14, 1862 dawned cold and quiet. Early in the afternoon a furious roar broke the stillness, and the earth began to shake. Andrew H. Foote's Union gunboat fleet, consisting of the ironclads St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Corondolet, and the timberclads Conestoga and Tyler, had arrived from Fort Henry via the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers and were exchanging "iron valentines" with the ele... read more

“A wise traveler never despises his own country.” - Carlo Goldoni On The Road Again...Well, we are off on another trip. Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas Texas. The route we are taking is based on the Civil War Battlefields. Bob has been reading and studying what happened and where. But we will have side trips/stops and other points of interest.. KENTUCKY Carter Cave Resort State Park This region has the highest concentration of caves to be found in any area of Kentucky. We toured Cascade Cave one of the largest caves in the park. It also has a 30 foot high underground waterfall. Carter Cave Natural Bridge It is similar to the Arches National Park but on a much smaller scale. We hiked the trail up, about 1 mile, to the Natural Bridge. It was ... read more

I should like to spend the whole of my in life traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home. - William Hazlitt July 27, 2009, Monday, Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Schiffdorf Spaden, Germany, just outside of Bremerhaven. Today is a “drive day” and we arrived at Schiffdorf Spaden mid-afternoon. Since we plan to ship our motor-home back to the US from Bremerhaven, this campground seemed convenient. It is about 12 kms to the dock. July 28, 2009, TuesdaySchiffdirf Spaden Germany to the shipping office Bremerhaven, Germany. Just to be organized for shipping the RV which is scheduled for Friday, we drove to the shipping company to check on paper work or so we thought… The shocking news from our contact person was… every “personal” item must be removed from ... read more

· The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - Saint Augustine July 22, 2009, Wednesday, Gaasper Camping, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Metro is less than 300 meters from the CG, and the last stop on #53 is Central Station, Amsterdam. A stop at a very crowded Information Center was a disappointment, the ticket we got showed we needed to wait for 60 other people to be waited on. So with map in hand, we decided to brave it and look for the Stop/Go bus on our own. Amsterdam is a bustling city with train, trams, buses, taxis, and metros taking people to and from. The bus we are on, is equipped with a large computer screen showing a map of the city with “our little bus” on ... read more

The other day I opened a fortune cookie " It is up to you to create your own adventures today! " July 16, 2009, Thursday, Potsdam to Cologne (Koln), Germany A long drive day across Germany to Cologne, Germany, our campingplatz Berger is right on the Rhine River, and we are right on the bike trail. There is a nice Restaurant/Biergarten… time to have dinner and relax. July 17, 2009, Friday, Campingplatz Berger to City of Cologne and back to the campground. We bike 6/7 kms along the Rhine River bike trail into Koln, and to the Cologne Cathedral Dom. This is Germany’s greatest Gothic Cathedral. The Koln Cathedral is huge and was built over the course of six centuries! It was finished in 1880 and it miraculously escaped destruction during WWII. Its colossal spires ... read more