Sunday April 4th

Goodbye
After months of planning, telephone calls, spreadsheets, and good byes, we left at 2:43 today from the Eden Resort. We had brunch with my family and in the "way of the Millhouse family", they all walked us to the van to say good bye. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you have done to assist us in our preparations. Because of your unselfish desire to help us out, we know we don't have to worry about our affairs back home.

For those of you who know my sister Judy, you will appreciate this story. At Christmas my Dad gave her an adorable little PSU lion. As soon as she opened it, Fred said, "Hey I want one of those!"

To which Judy replied, "Too bad, don't even think you're getting this one."

"Well then I'll have to steal it" Fred shot back.

Judy's reply, "There's no way you're gonna steal mine."

"You shouldn't have challenged me", Fred laughed.

Well guess what? Our mascot for the trip "Little Nit" waved at Judy as we pulled away from the Eden. Look for him to show up in some of our web pictures.

After only about 30 minutes on the road it began to rain, but our spirits are as bright as the daffodils that are blooming. We hit a traffic jam but thankfully it was on the other side of the turnpike. The Big Kahuna is glad to finally be on the road, although it's more full than Fred originally planned because I kept adding last minute items. We need to reorganize the BK as Fred has already hit his head and stepped on my purse. Bull in a China Shop!?@?

Technology is awesome. I am sitting here in traffic typing this on the laptop. The Pittsburgh skyline just came into view. Wow, we are really on our way!

Ok, wouldn't you think that the Days Inn Pittsburgh would be a fairly decent place. Well, as we pulled up to our first hotel of the trip, we had to wonder what we were getting into. Our first look encompassed four beat up tractor trailers in the parking lot, a junk yard to the left and a car that was missing two wheels. My mind immediately went back to the conversation Fred and I had on making reservations in which I declared there was nothing wrong with booking on price alone as long as the hotel was listed in the AAA book. Fred didn't exactly agree with my point of view, but to his credit, as we pulled up to the Days Inn, he kept silent. Smart husband! After we got settled in our room, which had a great view of a beat up trailer park, we were rescued by Jim and Christine. They came and picked us up and we went to Union Station for a beer. Back to Journal Index

Monday, April 5th

We went into the city to find a place to go for a run and got lost several times. As we were trying to find our way around a traffic jam, a car cut in front of Fred. He started swearing and getting uptight. I said, "Fred, don't sweat the small stuff." I had received the book by the same name for Christmas and no doubt that saying will come in handy throughout the trip. After driving around getting annoyed at the lack of parking, we ended up in a permit zone near Carnegie Mellon. It was only about 55 degrees. We both had shorts on but that is what's great about having all your possessions in your van. I simply changed into my sweat pants in the back of the van and I was ready to go.

Jim picked us up at the hotel at 12:30 and we headed to Pitt College. Christine, Jim's friend who is from Pittsburgh, highly recommended the Primanti Brothers sandwich. It's made with egg and cheese, piled high with coleslaw and french fries. Yummy.

We headed dowtown around 2:00. The plan, which turned out to be a stroke of genius, was to park downtown and then walk across the bridge to Three Rivers Stadium. As we crossed the bridge, we were amazed at the partying that was going on. It rivaled a PSU tailgate party. There were RV's, tents, and Pittsburgh shirts and hats everywhere. After snapping a great picture of the tailgating with the skyline in the background, we headed over to the Clark Bar which is on the same side of the river as the stadium. That bar turned out to be one of our best memories of Pittsburgh because of the great people we met there. There was an empty seat beside me and Fred and Jim were making fun saying I was a talk show host interviewing my guests. First up was Jeff, the guy with the pony tail, who filled us in on the plans for the new stadiums in Pittsburgh. His mother works for the Pirates organization so Jeff had great seats for the game and an invitation to an awesome party on the Clipper ship which was parked on the river. Next up were Wayne and his friend. who were wearing baseball helmets. These guys have worn their baseball helmets to the last 5 home openers. They had a knapsack stashed with beer and to me they were Pittsburgh!

The actual game was boring and uneventful. Our seats were in the family section which would have been fun if there had been some kids there, but it was full of boring adults. The Pirates made quite a few errors and the stadium is nothing to look at inside. There really wasn't much to show that it was opening day except great fireworks after the game. The Pirates lost 9-2.

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Tuesday, April 6th

We left the Days Inn around 8:30 am. On the road again, can't wait to get on the road again. Goodbye Pittsburgh and the characters at the Clark Bar.

Today is one of our longest driving days. We are going to take turns driving but Fred will more than likely be doing most of the driving so I am to be the navigator. I didn't start out doing a very good job as the first sign Fred told me to look for I missed because I was looking down rearranging stuff.

Grandma Utz's chips are our absolute favorite and we figured we wouldn't be able to get them on the road so we had mentioned to each other several times at home to pack some which of course we forgot to do. Those of you who know how much we love Grandma Utz's can imagine how excited we were when we found some at Sheetz in W.VA.

The Big Kahuna is guzzling the gas as we travel over the hills of West Virginia. Every time we go up another hill, we picture the Big Kahuna sitting in Moes next to Barney guzzling another gallon of beer.

One of our loftier goals of the trip is to have a beer in every state. It's not about the beer really, but the chance to meet different local people. However, we almost quit before we started. In our first state of West Virginia we couldn't find a place. We had gotten off the interstate at Bentley and thought maybe it was actually a dry town when we came across this little place right along the highway with a neon in the window. I had my reservations about going in as it was really run down from the outside; which goes to show, don't judge a book by its cover. We met Mr. Calacino who had owned the place for 60 years. He still had an old fashioned juke box with 45's in it, an aged dixie cup dispenser and antique beer signs. He told us he had opened the place right after Roosevelt became President.

One of our other goals is to take a picture at each states Welcome sign. Today we are hitting West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Our next beer stop was at Happy's in Marion Virginia. Happys had a nice wood and brick decor with the bar located in a loft. We were there about 4:00 and the only customers. The people working there were too busy talking to each other to give us good service. We had to end up taking our own picture.

Further along in Virginia, we got off the interstate to look for the Appalachian trail. What a great idea to really experience the Virginia mountains. It was a beautiful drive, we kept climbing up and up on a windy mountain road. The Kahuna was guzzling! We never did find where the Appalachian trail crossed over the road which is too bad because we wanted to stop and hike some of it. Steve Prescott is doing the entire trail this summer and fall. I don't know how the hikers keep from getting lost. We couldn't find anything that showed where the trail was even though it was clearly marked on the map.

We stopped in Johnson City, Tennessee at Denim and Lace for our Tennessee beer. It would have been fun to hang around for awhile; it looked like an interesting place. They were going to be having Karoke later and on the weekends they offer free line dancing lessons. It was happy hour so the beers were only $ .75 each. Here we are yearning for some local beers and they had only A/B products on tap.

We finally arrive in Asheville at 7:00. The Days Inn was as beautiful as the Pittsburgh one was ugly. The room is tastefully decorated in teal and mauve, the towels are luxurious compared to the flimsy rags in Pittsburgh and the clerk had a wonderful personality. Also, hallelujah! we could hook into the net. Fred updated the site and we printed out more web site cards.

Our North Carolina beer was at Northside Bar and Grill. Our excitement here was created by one of the upstanding patrons. Some guy stumbled in, bumped into my chair, his knees buckled and he hit his chin on the table. Meanwhile his friends were standing at the bar unaware that their friend was lying on the floor right behind them.

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Wednesday April 7th

We left Asheville at 9 am. Too bad we couldn't stay longer as the Biltmore Estate is located here and was having a flower festival.

The Welcome to South Carolina sign said "Beautiful Faces, Beautiful Places". What a lovely motto. Indeed the drive into South Carolina was beautiful with mountains on both sides of the highway.

Even though it was only 10:45, it was time to find our South Carolina beer. We got off the exit for Anderson, SC. I thought it was really cool that there were big orange paw prints painted on the road showing the way to Clemson College. Hi Linda and Shawn!

We had our SC beer at Carsons Steak Warehouse and Saloon. What a neat place. Carsons had the look of a Lone Star but with a friendlier attitude and better food as you would expect from a locally owned establishment. We had delicious bowls of beef and vegetable soup and I sampled the local brew-Appalachian Tyger River Red.

We just saw an example of how stupid humans look when they let the small stuff get to them. We were at the gas stations and some guy couldn't get the pump to work. He was standing over there cussing and swearing, getting madder by the second. Finally, he slammed the nozzle back into the pump, jumped into the car, floored the gas pedal and went flying around the gas island on two wheels, slammed on the brakes and with a screech stopped in front of another pump. He looked so ridiculous that we, the two that are not sweating the small stuff, had to laugh out loud.

We finally arrived at the Days Inn Atlanta around 1pm. After waiting in line, I got the slowest woman behind the counter and I think she was an employee who told management what to do rather than the other way around. She was the only one not dressed in the Days Inn blazer. Anyway after standing there for 10 minutes while she tried to get her computer to assign us a room, she gave up and went into the back room to get the manager. After another 5 minutes, the manager still had not shown up to the front so Miss "I'll wear what I want to, I can't smile", told us to come back at 3 because they didn't have any available rooms right now anyway. In days past, I would have been standing there fuming, but I didn't let it bother me and that felt good. However, since we wanted to take a walk, we had to break one of our rules of the trip which was to never leave our computer and tickets in the van.

All of sudden ITS SUMMER. It's about 85 degrees and hot, hot, hot. The tulips are blooming and pansies are planted everywhere. Hey Darla - I had to stop and pull a few weeds out of one of the flower beds by the capital.

We left our hotel about 5:00 for the 1/2 hour walk to the Stadium. Turner Field ranks right up there with Camden Yard. It's very fan friendly. Once inside the gates, a baseball party atmosphere prevailed. There are plenty of picnic tables and entertainment, families were everywhere having a good time. We saw Huckleberry Hound and Fred Flinstone leading the crowd in a version of SHOUT.

The Chop House is a restaurant inside the stadium where you have a great view of the field while eating bar-b-que sandwiches and enjoying a nice cold beverage (which we did). Of course, as at most stadiums, the food and drink were a bit pricey, but they do allow people to bring in their own food. There were plenty of food stands and bathrooms, lots of leg room and cup holders at every seat. However, Fred still managed to knock his beer over.

Our seats were 2nd row over the Left center wall; a very nice place to watch the game. Too bad the Phillies couldn't have made it more exciting. They only got 5 hits and lost 4-0.
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Thursday April 8th

We rolled out of bed about 8, (oh what a life!) to go for a run. We went down to Centennial Park and then had muffins and egg sandwiches for breakfast.

Atlanta is a pretty city. There are tulips and pansies planted everywhere and the azaleas are blooming. It's nice to see Centennial Park (where the Olympics were held) being used by the citizens of Atlanta. There is a group of elementary kids running through the fountains, shouting and laughing, having a wonderful time. There is nothing more beautiful than the sound of a child's laughter.

The things you see certainly change your perspective on your own life. We already realize how lucky we are, but Fred has mouth ulcers and a blister on his foot, which is annoying. There are a group of deaf people staying in our hotel attending a convention, and we keep running into them different places. When we see what they go through to order food or to try to make themselves understood, it reinforces our trip mantra, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".

This was our second day at Turner Field and it was even more exciting than the first day because the Phillies won. We started out at the Bullpen which is a sports bar right behind the stadium. What is it with rude people that are in jobs that serve the public? There was a small bar outside on the porch and as we went to go inside the bartender asked us if we wanted a beer. Fred told him we would be back out, but we wanted to take a look inside. Once inside we decided to sit at the bar to take a look around at the memorabillia . After sitting there for a few minutes this women reluctantly came over and mumbled "What can I get you?". There was no eye contact and we got the distinct impression we were inconveniencing her. There were only about 15 customers in the place at the time. As she was getting our beers, she snapped out at a waitress who asked her a question. This woman was obviously in a bad mood and didn' t care who knew it.

Needless to say, we hightailed it to the outside bar where we had a pleasant conversation with Pete the outside bartender. Pete had lived in Atlanta all his life which we were surprised to hear because he did not have an accent. His explanation--Mom was from Philadelphia and Dad from Brooklyn. He also told us that new owners had just purchased the Bullpen and were trying to turn it around. Fred ordered a burger and fries, which were quite tasty and about half the price of the stadium food. The fries were coated with a tasty spice and perfectly crunchy.

Pete was fascinated with our trip and pointed out our shirts to a couple of people. One of the waitreses was from Montreal and gave us some tips for our visit there.

On the way into the stadium we passed the local Fox station filming. I couldn't resist bragging about our trip. Whether we got on TV or not I'll never know. They may have pointed the camera at me just to get rid of me.

It was Hank Aaron night at the ballpark to celebrate Hank's 715th homerun. Hank was presented a $1,000,000 check for his childrens fund and a new award with his name will be presented each year to the home run king of the season. It brought strong memories to Fred seeing all the highlights of Aarons career. He said those years were when he developed his love of the game. He still remembers more players from that era than any other.