We woke up and got ready to go.  Mark and I contemplated placing our sports bets before we left, but everyone decided that was a bad idea, so we didn’t.  Ethan didn’t want to have to drive through Death Valley, since the RV was having overheating problems, so we headed down to San Diego.  We found out that it was illegal to park overnight there.  We went to get Mexican food at a place recommended in a book Whit got.  The food was OK; the sodas were very weird, but interesting.  I got a cinnamon cream soda or something, like that.  They also had pina colada soda, and a few regular sodas too, but they’re no fun…  I had a fish taco, which was very unimpressive.  The taco had 2 fish sticks in it.  We were all relatively unimpressed with the restaurant, and figured the book might have just been paid to include that restaurant.  It was the end of our use of the book for places to eat.

We saw a RV show going on at Reliant Stadium (the home of the San Diego Chargers), and asked if we could park there.  The guy working security wasn’t very bright, and fumbled around for a bit before telling us to come back later.  We talked to the people selling the RVs and they said it was fine if we parked there.  We also looked at a really nice RV, it was top of the line in every way, but was $230,000, and was more than any of us could afford.  We went to pick up the RV which we’d ditched at a Walmart, and brought it back.  When we arrived, the security guard said we couldn’t park there.  Ethan chewed him out and eventually he just let us through and was told if we littered or dumped our tanks, they’d call the police.  We parked near the other RVs, and thanked the guys running the show.  They said just to be relatively quiet and close the blinds since we weren’t really supposed to be there, but that it was OK to park.  Under the cover of darkness, Whit attached the pirate flag to the back of the RV so we could fly it (again) while we drive.  Then we looked up the schedule of the trains to maybe go into the city, but they were stopping soon, so we all went to sleep.

Tags: California,Chargers,RV,San Diego
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We woke up and went to get Coffee at the Cafe DuMonde.  I got a black coffee and split some French donuts.  They were both very good.  We wandered around the area, and I stepped in the Mighty Mississippi.  There were musicians everywhere, and it was nice.  The market by the water was cheesy, and everything around there was over priced, but that was what we expected.  Whitson got an alligator claw back scratcher.  We went to Mothers for lunch and got Po Boy sandwiches and Jambalaya.  The employees there were so lazy, and it can seat so many more people than they let in, but I guess that’s part of the atmosphere.  We wandered around a bit more, and passed the casino.  Mark wanted to spend the rest of the day there, but we hopped on a trolley and went back towards the car.  We decided to make a stop at the graveyard to see Walter, but when we got there, we couldn’t find him.  Larissa eventually asked someone if they knew where he was, and they said that he doesn’t really work here and is a bullshit artist.  So I guess he really was lying to us with his stories, but they were funny.  We still wanted his tour of the place, because we didn’t care about facts, we just wanted to be entertained, and that’s what he did last night.

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Tags: Drinking,New Orleans,RV,Texas,Walmart
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We woke up early and went to Walmart to use the bathrooms, and then I saw a McDonalds and got a breakfast there.  I haven’t been awake and near a McDonalds during breakfast hours since I was about 14.  I ate it in the RV, and then started mixing Jack and Cokes, to prepare for the awesomeness that is the Jack Daniels Distillery.  We arrived, and it was a really nice facility.  The visitor’s center was very informative, it showed the old stills and what makes a Tennessee Whiskey.  Our tour guide was possibly the biggest hick on the face of the earth.  He couldn’t have had any job other than a tour guide at “The Plant”.  I took a ton of pictures and was allowed to smell the fermenting corn mash.  It singed the nostrils!  It really did clear up my sinuses, and may be a magical elixir that has yet to be discovered.  It was an awesome place, and the people on our trip were funny.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures indoors, but that didn’t really discourage us from doing so.  In general the only way I can describe it was as a really beautiful location.

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Tags: Alabama,Drinking,Food,Gambling,Jack Daniels,New Orleans,Pulled Pork,RV
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Ryan and I finished connecting the Jeep to the RV in the service road and then went to sleep in the back and woke up somewhere in Virginia.  While I was asleep the highlight was seeing a dead bear on the side of the road in West Virginia or Virginia, so we didn’t miss too much.  We headed down to a Home Depot parking lot near a Walmart outside of Nashville.  We parked there, dropped the Jeep and headed into Nashville.

We went to the Grand Ol Oprey, and took our pictures there.  It wasn’t a really cool place, but is historical I guess.  The people were all dressed up and we met some New Yorkers and joked around with them for a few minutes, then I asked a police officer for directions to the “happening” part of Nashville and what he would recommend doing.  After I reassured him that I was not driving, he gave us directions and told us a cheap place to park.  He also told us where the police would be looking to ticket people, and was a really nice guy.  We headed into town and found some great places.  We ate at the Broadway Brewhouse, and had amazing burgers and ribs.  They had a good selection of beers and they were somewhat reasonably priced, so we had a few pitchers.  I got a few funny t-shirts, and we saw some great street musicians and got video of them, we even found a local doing a dance to the music.  We recorded that, and it’s online now.  There were lots of homeless people also, but they were not on the stretch really.  One guy looked like he was dead, next to some break dancers, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that.  We also got our pictures taken with a man in a beaver suit, because he was funny.  Our waiter had recommended a good place to get liquor (Frugal McDougal’s) we went there and picked up bottles, I think everybody got one.

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Tags: Burger,Drinking,Food,Nashville,RV,Tennessee
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Ethan came and woke me up at about 7am to tell me that we were pouring concrete.  We had to pour a pad for a new home in the park, and do some general maintenance/chores.  It was an interesting day.  I learned another thing I’m not particularly good at, pouring concrete.  I got a little better at it as time went on, but was still just purely mediocre at it.  I’m much better at moving concrete than leveling it .  After pouring the pad, we had to go around and pick up some lawn clippings.  Ethan’s dad drove around a dump truck and we hung on the sides and grabbed bags of leaves and clippings then dumped them at the end.  I was MUCH better at this job.  His dad took us out to breakfast to thank us for the help.  We went to The Block, or the Vineland Produce Auction, and we saw the auction taking place which was cool, I’d never seen an auction happen that way.  The food was really good, and it was a trucker spot for the most part, especially because it was right inside the auction area.

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Tags: Camera,Drinking,Packing,RV,Walmart
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