Saturday, June 11, 2016--We left home at a little after 10:00, but needed to stop by the post office and pick up the paper so it was about 10:30 when we left Ackerman. The first stop was Kroger in Starkville to get groceries and gas. We had a 70 cent discount on 35 gallons of gas! After that it was so close to lunchtime that we decided to eat at Pepper's. We had thought we might get all the way to Chattanooga and we almost did. We're stopped in Trenton, Georgia at Lookout Mountain Chattanooga West KOA. ($37.50). It is in the woods and a real family campground. The campgrounds in Chattanooga were completely full, and I think we only got a site here because we're small and not towing. They have the best dog playgrounds I've seen. There are two, and each one has obstacles in it. Zoe went down the slide twice, but she landed rather in a heap each time. She would find it much more fun with another dog or two in it.
Sunday, June 12, 2016--We were up and started relatively early--about 9:30--but we spent forty-five minutes in Chattanooga looking for the JC Penny store so that Tom could buy pajamas--which he forgot--and then finding that the website was wrong and that it opened at 12:00 rather than 10:00. We heard from Dorman yesterday and will plan to visit them on the way back on Sunday. Tom is pretty sure that we need new shock absorbers and we are going to find a place that might put them in. We found a super Wal-Mart a little off the highway and stopped for gas, Tom's pajamas, and lunch. We called for reservations at one campground and then decided it was too far off the highway, so we called Fort Chiswell RV Park which was much closer to the highway. We decided that we think we'd stay there before. Tom was happy because the showers were very large, but unhappy because there was only one hook. I bought a bottle of Muscato wine from Barefoot vineyards because it was a sweet wine. Then I realized it had a cork, and we didn't have a corkscrew. We started talking with a woman when we were walking Zoe, and she had a corkscrew that I borrowed so I had my glass of wine!
Monday, June 13, 2016--We were up relatively early. Tom is now taking his shower before he eats breakfast and that does speed up the morning processes a little. Unfortunately Zoe needed to go out while he was in the middle of his breakfast. I got up and made up the bed and started doing my exercises, but they returned while I was on the floor and Zoe scratched my arm. It has been awhile since she's done that. We were on the road by 8:50. We had lunch at a rest stop, but kept moving and were able to get to the campground a little about 5:00 even though the traffic on the I495 beltway was pretty bad. It was very slow, but at least it was moving. We are camped at the Cherry Hill Park, where we have stayed before (c. $65/night). We are planning to take Zoe to a day camp tomorrow and leave hear until Thursday so that she won' the in the RV all day by herself. If that doesn't work we'll use the park dog walker. She happened to see us walking Zoe tonight and introduced herself.
Tuesday, June 14--We were up and ready by 8:30 and even unhooked, but then decided that it was too early to go to the dog day camp place. They will "interview" Zoe and decide whether or not to keep her. If she stays, she will stay in the open with other dogs overnight rather than in a kennel. I'm not sure how well that is going to work. We decided to wait a little while before going to the doggie day camp. We are waiting at the All Dogs Club for Zoe to be evaluated for admission!
She has to pass the evaluation before we can leave her so we are waiting in the parking lot for about another 30 minutes. She had no trouble passing her evaluation, so we left her there and returned to the campground where we dumped the tanks. We have a leak in the weep hole in the fresh water tank and don't understand it. After we finished with the tanks we prepared for our evening out with Peggy Steffan and Wanda Shaffer. It turned out that Wanda brought two of her friends. There were here for a national meeting of the League of Women Voters. We had a delightful meal at Jaleo's near the Landsburg. Peg ordered for all of us since she understood the menu better than the rest of us. We then all head for the various Metro stations and back to our respective dwellings.
Wednesday, June 15--Since we didn't have Zoe and we're both tired, we slept late and dressed slowly. When we were ready we took the bus to the Metro and then to Union Station. Once there we caught the Circulator which is a bus that took us around the Mall. We got off at the Korean Memorial since Tom wanted to see that and then walked to the World War II Memorial, which was new since we were last here. It was nicely done--fountains and pillared for each state. 
After seeing it, we walked to the next Circulator stop. It was hot and seemed a long walk. We were both tired when we reached the bus stop. It took us back to Union Station. From there we walked a short way to the Tuscana Italian Restaurant. We were looking for a restaurant to which Kathryn Parker had taken us years ago. This one also had homemade pasta and tiromasu, but maybe wasn't quite as good. After a late lunch we walked back to Union Station where we started the Metro and bus trip back to the RV. We were back by 5:00 and both too full to want supper. I called Vince at Lazy Daze to ask about our mysterious water problem (The water tank keeps filling up and overflowing when hooked to city water.) and learned that it is a valve in the water pump and that we need a new water pump. Tom did the laundry before we went to bed.
Thursday, June16--We woke up without Zoe so didn't have to take her for a walk. Our one objective was to go to the National Arboretum to see the bonsai--which we did. One of the first trees one sees on walking into the Bonsai area is the Hiroshima pine. It is a tree that has survived the atomic blast and was given to the US by the family that had trained it for five generations.
(Click on the image to see pictures of the trees in the Arboretum.)
We were exhausted by the time we reached the Arboretum. We took the subway to the closest point and then took a bus, but we had to wait a long time for the bus, and then the walk at the end of the bus ride was about four or five blocks and hot. Luckily the bonsai were near the entrance. On the way back, we walked to the main road and saw a taxi which we took. He didn't run a meter, but Tom asked him how much it would be before we got in. He said $15 and wanted it before the trip, but he took us to the subway stop and it was worth the money. We then headed out to where we thought the Montmartre was for lunch. Kathryn Parker had mentioned that it was a good place to eat. I had mixed up the directions though. I had thought that it was on 7th Avenue near the Landsburg, but it was on 7th Street, SE. That is in Eastern Market. We did have a really good lunch right at the Archives Metro stop at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue. After that, since I really wanted to try the French food at Montmartre, we called the All Dogs Club to see if they could keep Zoe until in the morning and made reservations at Montmartre for supper. I had time to call Clay McConnell and buy back the options I had sold on Sierra Wirelss. Terrell Miller called, but I couldn't hear him. We barely had time to go back to the RV to change clothes and then go to the restaurant allowing for the slow buses, but the trip back to the restaurant turned out to be much faster than we expected due to lucky transfers and we reached the restaurant at 6:45 for a 7:30 reservation. Luckily they weren't busy and were able to take us early. The food was delicious, but we both ate too much. We had a melon soup, I had steak tartare and Tom had snails, and then I had the fish special (a fish called cile) and Tom had a beef Bourgogne type beef dish. We each had dessert. Tom had a chocolate mousse, and I had berries on marzipan baked biscuit. We had very good luck with the bus going back to the RV in that as soon as we left the Metro station, the bus came, but it started raining and we were very wet before we reached the RV. Unfortunately Tom woke up in the night with acid reflux.
Friday, June 17--Even with Tom's bad acid reflux last night, we made it at 10:00 to pick up Zoe only to find that she was still being bathed. She seems to have done well at the All Dogs Club, but she also seems exhausted and thinner than she was. We stopped at the Shoppers grocery store near the campground on the way out to pick up a few groceries and then left DC. The traffic wasn't bad at all. We ate lunch at a rest area and then I took a nap while Tom drove. We did reach a bad road block at about milepost 157 on I81. It seems that there is some kind of accident near milepost 150. We never saw the accident, but traffic finally started moving when we were about three miles away. Then it slowed again and we heard that there was a fender bender, but this one only closed one lane and we were able to get around it relatively quickly. We called ahead for a reservation at a KOA in Wytheville, VA and reached it about 7:30. As we checked in, they mentioned that we could have pizza delivered to our site. We decided that sounded good and ordered one. ($46.66). When the pizza was delivered we weren't paying attention to Zoe and she ran out the door. Luckily she stopped under the camper next to us and came when I called.
Saturday, June 18--I walked Zoe this morning and found a path away from the camper. As we walked we saw a deer watching us. When Zoe moved toward the deer it moved down the path a little and then stopped to watch us again. We walked on toward the pond where there had been ducks last night, but didn't see the ducks. We took our time getting ready because we had less than four hours to drive to get to Knoxville. We are going to visit with Dorman and Kathy at 10:30 tomorrow morning. We had lunch in a rest stop with narrow, but adequate, truck lanes. We reached the Volunteer Park north of Knoxville around 3:30. Tom had wanted to stay here because he had pleasant memories of another time, but he realized after we arrived that maybe his memories were inaccurate. We told them we needed only water and electricity and were put in a part of the park that was less regular. It took a little maneuvering, but we were finally relatively level. Zoe seems totally recovered from her stay at All Dogs Club. ($25.71). Our next door neighbors had a large bloodhound.
Sunday, June 19--We had plenty of time to get ready because we aren't supposed to be at Dorman and Kathy's until 10:30, so we took our time. As we were getting ready to leave I walked over to the bloodhound's site to pet him and talk with the young people there. There were two couples we had seen with musical instruments as we came in. They are a band named Snake Blood Remedy from Florida and are touring in Tennessee. They said they played old time country music and gave me a CD. We arrived at Dorman and Kathy's at 10:31--only one minute late. They suggested breakfast at Panera Bread, which was very nice. We left Zoe in their backyard, which was fenced. When we came back she appeared from the shady side, so she must have found some good shade. We left their house about 2:00 and headed home. We're just going to see how far we get. If the traffic cooperates we may try to get all the way tonight. We stopped at a Wendy's to ge a hamburger and frosted and are going to try to get all the way home. We think we can make it by 10:00. We did!