Although we arrived in the middle of March, we didn't actually start travelling until the beginning of April. In part this was governed by the weather, We had a very bad snowstorm just after we arrived which dropped 30 inches of snow on us. More than we get in ten years at home and yet in Springville it is normal. They don't call Buffalo
'Blizzard City' for nothing.
| In part it was to do with us waiting for the delivery of a scooter and
various other items. The scooter is Chinese and only 50cc. This means
you don't need a motorcycle licence to ride it in some states, but they all
have slightly different rules. It is marketed by a company in Texas who air freighted it up to
Buffalo for us. It weighs only 170lb and the carry platform another 40lb.
The RV has a restriction on the weight it can carry on the hitch because it
has such a long overhang. |
 |
With the weather being so bad we elected to go south, having first gone west to Ohio. This was in part to enable us to register the scooter in Ohio - we can't do it in New York State. Secondly it enabled us to make use of the I75, a much better road and one kept clear of snow rather than the US219 down through Pennsylvania. We headed for Shepherdstown where we have friends and where we stayed for a while sorting the RV out. Then we travelled
along the Appalachians via Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway to Charlottesville where we have more friends from our visit in 1998 with the Dance Team. From there we headed to Asheville and then over the Great Smokey Mountains to Pigeon Forge (Dolly Parton Country). After a few days we continued on to Nashville to visit the Grand Ole Opry, calling in at Chattanooga along the way.
A grand total of 1500 miles and inline with our plans.
We hadn't known where we were going before we started but we thought we
would leave Florida and the true south until the winter time when we would
not be able to travel in the north. In the light of the events of the
hurricane season, that may have been a mistake, but hindsight is a wonderful
thing. |