A little travel through the south in December - Any Ideas?

[Seangie]

Hey guys (and Gals)-

It is looking like we will have the month of December off to travel a little through the southern states with the ultimate Bus Rally finishing off the trip on New Years eve before we head out west for the new year.

Just looking for some ideas and "must see/must do" places to visit with the kids as we drive across SC, GA, TN, AL, AR to Oklahoma from Wilmington NC (Don - Would love to meet you in Oklahoma!) and then back again headed into Florida.

Any ideas for places to visit, places to stay, best places to boondock, the best bus people to meet!  

Thanks for all your input!

-Sean

www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[Dlsnow]

Cool to see other busnuts with kids -
When we are in that neck of the woods and road weary we stay a few nights at the Mayo hotel in Tulsa OK.  It is a nice break from the road.

It is strange to hear the kids saying please please can we go to the Mayo

Osage Hills State park just north of Tulsa towards bartlesville.  It has a bit of a climb (my 1972 MC-7 did fine going up in 2nd gear) beautiful views and good hiking.  There is an awesome museum / wildlife area as well called Woolaroc near the state park.

If you drive around you can may see wild horses and buffalo in the tallgrass

Links
http://www.themayohotel.com/
http://www.woolaroc.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_Hills_State_Park

[Seangie]

Dave,

Thanks for the heads up about Oklahoma!  We would love to see Buffalo and Wild Horses.  We love the outdoors and we have a few animal lovers on board.

We just got back to the campground after a week at a Disney Hotel here in Orlando.  Its hard for the kids after swimming daily in 6 different pools with slides and splashpads and Downtown Disney every night to get them adjusted to the bus again.

Its good to know we aren't the only crazy people herding a gaggle of children around with us on a bus.

-Sean

[luvrbus]

If you are into history Coffeyville Ks is just north of Bartlesville it has the last bank the Dalton Gang tried to hold up that is were they died,Bartlesville has the Price Tower a Frank Loyd Wright building and the home office of Phillips 66.then there Claremore home of Will Rogers,Patti Page and home of thes Walton with a great gun museum

The Osage State Park is on Sand Creek some good fishing there the park is not much don't let the kids pickup rocks there the Indians think they are a valuable mineral lol plenty to do in the Green County of OK 

Lake Keystone Park at Sands Springs is the best park in the area it has nice playgrounds for kids more of a modern park on the lake 

You have some Eagle owners that live on Lake Gibson in Wagoner OK Bob and Sandie Gilbert that is Amish country plenty to see there those people amaze me and they do have some great food served family style       

I have been on US 75 for 30 years and for the life of me I cannot place a hill going from Tulsa to Bartlesville that would require 2nd gear, have your wallet out they will get you for some heavy tolls in the Tulsa area it's almost impossible to travel in that area without tolls  The Mayo is downtown you will enjoy downtown Tulsa

Just don't tell anyone you are staying at the Mayo it's a touchy deal with the tax payers  Snyder bought that building in 2001 for 250 thousand and the taxpayers footed a 33 million tab to restore it he said he used 6 million of his own money but never proved it so the people are pissed, just a little worthless info for you from a guy that called Tulsa home for 30 years       

[Seangie]

Cliff-

We love history and chasing the stories that come with it. We spent New Years eve of 2000 in Amish Country.  Figured if the whole Y2K thing came about we'd be in good hands.  The food is amazing!  Thanks for the heads up on OK.  Still not sure where what places we will end up visiting for December. Hoping to find purpose in whatever it ends up being.

-Sean


www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[kyle4501]

The Biltmore House in Asheville, NC (     http://www.biltmore.com/      )  would be a great place to visit.
After touring the house, the farmyard & Barn at Antler Hill Village will have lots to offer for the kids.

If you are looking for some trails to take in along the way  .  .  .
(   http://www.sctrails.net/trails/alltrails/waterfalls/waterfalls.html  )
will offer some excellent opportunities to see some great scenery along the way.   

Have a GREAT TRIP !

[RJ]

Sean -

I think the Turtlettes will find Stone Mountain, just SE of Atlanta, GA, interesting.  Especially the laser light show in the early evening.  They also have a vintage train that runs around the park.  It's been 20 years since I was there, so don't remember all the details, but as you know, Google is your friend.

Nearby is Welch Industries in Stockbridge, GA.  They're specialists in Bus HVAC, especially supplemental cooling. They might be able to help you set up a dash unit blowing thru the defroster vents for those WB afternoon drives into the setting sun.

I also seem to remember a really fantastic model railroad layout that's open to the public in Chattanooga, TN.  Perhaps Mike Sullivan or another local bus nut is familiar with this, my memory is somewhat foggy.

While in Chattanooga, Joel and his crew at the Choo-Choo garage will be glad to service your Eagle. . .   

Since registration is now open, I trust you'll be heading to Arcadia, FL for New Year's, right?  Especially since you're full-timing in a coach now!  (I'm not going to make it this year, travel budget is allocated to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving and Kelowna, BC for Christmas - Grandpa's gotta see the grandkids!)

FWIW & HTH. . .

[bevans6]

When I've been south in December, it's been coastal - I was headed to a vintage car race near Savannah that I attended every year.  So, I always started with a week at Huntington Beach State Park.  Lovely place, excellent nature walks and a salt water marsh exhibit, a lot of good beach, and nice facilities (dump station, but water and electric at the sites).  From there we moved south to Savannah, well known, and passed Charleston SC on the drive.  From there I would probably go to Arcadia, then to New Orleans.  Weather is always a bit of a crap-shoot, you get days in the high 70's and days in the 30's at all locations in the eastern south.  We always enjoyed it.

Brian

[John316]

Sean,

If you are passing through, south of Little Rock AR and Pine Bluff, you should stop by a place called the Village at Star City. We stumbled upon it, and found it very interesting. Kind of like a modern day Amish community. There are some very interesting folks there. It isn't really a destination, but if you happen to be in the area Thursday afternoon - Saturday evening, you will probably be fascinated. They have quite a few different shops and restaurants....clock shop, jewelers, steakhouse, catfish restaurant, BBQ shop, ice cream parlor, toy shop, taxidermy, car body shop, bookstore, etc. It has been years since we have been there, but that is what I remember of it.

Here is the  map of where they are located. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=star+city+ar&daddr=150+Knight+Haven+Cir,+Star+City,+AR+71667&hl=en&sll=33.914134,-91.857269&sspn=0.006384,0.011362&geocode=FV_tBQIddZSG-indnRt0vAIthjFj8LDKgG-PjA%3BFTJ2BQIdCF-G-ikBfLI4WQIthjFHgxpyY0goog&mra=ls&t=m&z=14

Have fun,

John