Just hit Mountain Daylight Time! Crossing border into New Mexico.
CM

Monticello Photos

More pictures from Monticello:

http://smu.gs/NPWEqh

Picture link: Schoolhouse

Just crossed into Texas.  Nice time last night in Bricktown in OKC.  Had Tapas at Bolero.

Visited National Western Heritage Museum this morning.  Great take.  Wonderfully executed museum. Terrific art and a reconstruction of an old frontier town.

East of Amarillo now.  Not much of anything, including cell service....  Can see a long way.
Give these cows credit for toughness as it is 102 right now and they are still out in the fields munching.

Got some pictures into web folders last night.  Link below has a few shots of visit to the Schoolhouse.  

http://01776.smugmug.com/Travel/Schoolhouse-Visit/23874049_ktPZTM#!i=1935928730&k=cX3cWmM&lb=1&s=A

Smiling

Posting this now as we approach a full week on the road.  Those early smiles still showing up occasionally...

The Nation Lives...

A fine American spotted at the ranger station in Shenandoah National Park.

Tresa

Tresa - The Service Hunter's friendliest server thus far!  Very nice lady. 

Tinker

Just passed Tinker AFB. 
Ladies and Gentlemen stationed there, Thank You for your service!

4 star waitress

Tresa was the friendliest waitress/waiter on the trip so far. She was nice, told us some places in OKC to go, got our orders almost 100% right and out quickly, and seems to enjoy her job. She forgot to get mom a water, but that's no biggie. Overall, she gets an 8.5. This is the service hunter still on mission. Stay tuned for more reviews and a picture of our waitress from the (not so) 4 star diner.

Flying Saucer

The waitress at Flying Saucer was efficient. She didn't seem very happy to be there. She didn't really make a huge effort to make sure every thing at our table was good, she was probably a 7.5 overall. It was also a 105 degree night, and that didn't seem to affect her. This is Mary MacKeen: service hunter. Stay tuned.

Beale Street, Memphis

Really cool place to hang out at night! Wish we could've spent a little longer there. Had dinner at a place called The Flying Saucer- Review from Mary coming soon! 
CM

Hard Rock, TN

I finally got back to my search when we went to hard rock cafe in Nashville, TN. The service took a little long considering nobody was in the place except us. The server was great. He also had the name Nixon, so I mean that's gotta count for something. He helped find a cab for the Mullins who came out to Nashville because Erin really wanted to. He liked his job, he was nice, he got the order right, and he tried his best. Overall, he gets an 8.5-9. This is Mary MacKeen, the service hunter. (Stay tuned for the next place I encounter: Oklahoma, home of of the onion burger. Who can serve it the best? Onion burgers are my favorite food to cook and my favorite food to eat. I won't give away my secret, but they are good.

Mary MacK

Jack's BBQ

Went to jack BBQ where there are no severs because it's self-serve. Sorry.

Mary - The Service Hunter

Really?

Just passed a sign for the exit to: Toad Suck Park. Not kidding. Can't imagine what the second choice name for the park must have been...

Arkansas

East of Little Rock now. Jane at wheel.
Looking for something to break up the drive. Can't believe that I have 2 road trip guidebooks on my laptop which total over 1600 pages and neither contains any mention of anything worth seeing in Arkansas.

Tells you something I guess....

Hot

103 and climbing. 

Please pray that neither The Hulk or I boil over. 

Northern Maine looking like attractive Real Estate right now. 

Onstage

Got the backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry yesterday.  Never knew so many people still worship the career of Minnie Pearl.  

Great tour through all the dressing rooms, history, etc and then a chance to stand center stage in front of the microphone. 

Glad to have Mary and her girls with us for this part of the journey....

Bye, y'all

Making up for missing Tucker..

Mary making friends along the way....

Visited Grandma's schoolhouse

Just getting to some of Jane's pictures.  

We invaded Grandfather's old home unannounced on the 24th to show the kids the schoolhouse.  We encountered a very gracious couple who have owned the house since Pawpaw sold.  The Hortons clearly care about the property and take pride in the schoolhouse.  They are also collectors and have filled the schoolhouse with antique bottles, signs, etc just like Grandma did.  She would be pleased. 

Many thanks to the Hortons for their willingness to have their Sunday afternoon interrupted and to the care they have taken now that the schoolhouse is theirs.

Considering changing the blog URL...

How do we feel about "avoidingeachother.blogspot.com"? 

-Caroline 

Plan to have 1,500 miles done by tonight...

Plan to have 1,500 miles done by tonight.  Jane has done some driving, some of it from the right seat.  If plans hold we will make the Mississippi this evening. Plains states looming. Looking forward to wheat fields... Sudbury, MA to Nashville, TN - Google Maps Driving Directions View or comment on Mike MacKeen's post

Mary and Catherine

Mary and Catherine in front of the Old Kentucky Home of the former Mary and Catherine.

Tennessee BBQ

Two points for Jack's Barbeque http://www.jacksbarbque.com/

Good welcome to Nashville.  All health food!!

Great to share it with Mary and the girls.

Great drive

Spent last day in Lexington, KY.   Weather was great.  Saw UK and Rupp Arena.  Cat swam at the pool with a team run by really nice people.  Very accommodating to a gypsy swimmer.  Many thanks to Coach Ben Davis.  

Visited Keeneland Racetrack. Worth the trip.  Great facility.

Jane found her Great Aunt Catherine's former house.  Aunt Catherine may have been the last one to wash those windows....

Now listening to country music on Pandora while driving down Bluegrass Parkway headed toward Nashville. Nice scenery. Recommend this road if you have to drive in this area.

Hanging at TJ's House

Sup, Nashville?

Caroline

Opposite of my search...

If the severs at Hugh jass burgers knew I was looking for the best waiters and waitress in America, they clearly weren't working hard to win the title. We had two servers.Luke, and our other server, who's name I don't know. The guy didn't know most of the drinks on the menu, but it was his first day, so i'll cut him some slack on that. Still, he should at least know a some of the drinks. It was a little while of a wait for a couple of burgers, a salad, and some ribs. There weren't many people in the place anyway so it's not like they were too busy serving,others to serve us. They had a few TV's so, mom was happy she could watch the swimming Olympic trials. The girl who's name I didn't know had no idea what to do when the wi-fi malfunctioned and had no idea what kind of wine they had. When my mom asked what kind of wine they had she replied, "I think it's white, but I can't pronounce it. It's white something." Overall the service was a 3. So long from the service hunter still with a mission. (Coming up next on: service hunter I'm headn' to Nashville,TN the home of country music. What ever food they have, I'll be juding the people who serve it. Just crossed the border!)

Kentucky

We recently went to hugh jass burgers for dinner located in Lexington Kentucky. Although the food tasted great, the service was bad and the staff was okay. I ordered the number 7 burger which had bacon, mushrooms, cheese, lettuce and tomato. The food was great and everyone in my family liked it. It was a pretty good resturant with good food but probably not my first choice if I could go back.

Virginia

We ate at the local, a restaurant in Charlottlesville, VA and I ordered the local burger. It was a really great burger with bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese. My siblings also ate at the local. One of my sisters got the chicken. It was very well prepared and tasted very good. This dish is a lot of food, however and you may not want it if you are not very hungry. Overall, the food was great and the restaurant itself was nice and inviting. The local was a great take with good service and great food.

Spoke with my Mom's friend Ginny this morning.  She suggested getting Monticello tickets online.  Good call.  Would not have made the 10:10 tour otherwise.

Beautiful day on top of the Little Mountain.  Sunny but not humid with great breeze.

Awesome place to see.  Nice gardens in back.  Hearing it took 40 years even with hundreds of slaves to do the building made me feel a lot better about our renovation.

Driving toward West Virginia now.  Great to see all of these farms with cows actually in fields eating grass.  Seems like Central  Virginia has a local food movement.  Lots of local items on menu last night at The Local.  That restaurant was a great take - Thank you Lisa Slater for the tip!  Great to see former Sudbury Yankee Chris Sullivan, a new CVille transplant.

Kids not fighting during drives.  That seems to be because they are not talking With their darn headphones on they might as well be strangers on a bus...

Off to Kentucky...

Cartwheels on grounds of Monticello 

Virginia

I just went to "the local" and my waitress was Emmy. She was nice very helpful, informative, accurate and even talked to me about how good the root beer was and she wasn't just trying to Sell me something. It took a while for the food to get there, but the food was very tasty when it got there. Overall she gets a 7.5 to an 8. Till next time on: service hunter (the show with no celebrity guests!)

First violation of the trip!

Keep this in the folder.  Applicant for Class of '23

Great visit with Billy, Lisa, Beth and their kids.  Like to see Ridge rocking the Eagle look!

Many thanks for the hospitality!!

On The Road

Great send off this morning. Fortunate to have such great friends, even the "artistic" ones. 

The search for America's best waitress/waiter.

Wow, that sounds like a food network show. I'm on a mission to see out of all the restaurants in America that I visit which will have the best waitress/waiter. My criteria are:

• Nice
• Accurate (gets the order right)
• Can tell us places to go that we wouldn't have thought of in the town
• Fast
• Enjoys their work

I will be on the look out for any waiter/waitress that fits these criteria and will rank them from one to ten, ten being the best and one being the worst. Stay tuned for the next installment of: Service Hunter (rights not reserved)

Tick tick tick

Can't believe we are 3+ days away for the Ride of a Lifetime....School ends for me tonight and for the 3 younger kids Friday (if you can count watching SpongeBob and going to amusement parks as school).   Catherine finished today and is officially a Sr. in high school!!  Stay tuned....hopefully we will still be speaking to each other by Nashville.

Inside the 100 Hour Mark

Almost ready

We may not be ready for this, but the car is getting closer.  Mary has named it The Hulk as it is BIG and GREEN.  Generous friends loaned us a Thule roof box.  Garmin System is in.  Kids are debating if they like the Jack or the Jill voice better.  Mostly what kids care about is that the iPod connection was installed.  Zero Hour minus five days....

Lake Powell???

I am debating adding a night stop and a half-day on the lake at Lake Powell. Would stop over on drive from Grand Canyon to Zion. Anyone have any experience in the area? Is it worth it? Utah side much different than Arizona side? Wisdom is welcome....