We have stopped for the evening in central Tennessee, having left Cherokee NC late this morning.  The motor home came to life nicely and chugged over the Smokies in proper form.  We coasted down through Pigeon Forge and past Knoxville.  Tomorrow we roll into Henersonville to visit the Davidsons.  From there we have planned stops in southern Illinois and then near St. Louis before arriving in Chicago.  Looking forward to the celebration.

Anne finished working on June 24th, and we drove to Cape Hatteras with the car on the 25th.  There we took two boat rides in search of sea birds, finding several including our first Bermuda Petrel.  From there we returned briefly to PA.  A dead alternator stalled us a few hours, but our early "birding wakeup" still allowed us to make it home in one day.   We stopped first to spend the night with Chuck's parents on Monday.  On Tuesday we arrived at our house and visited with neighbors.  On Friday Chuck's sister drove from Princeton to York with both our children aboard.  We all met at Chuck's parents for the first feast of the weekend.  We took Alex and Elley home with us that night.

On Saturday we became hosts of the party.  The weather was grand and the barbeque sizzled.  We closed out the evening with our children watching a video of "Pirates of Penzance" made at a performance in Central Park, NY.

On Sunday, Alex moved to California.  We all rose early.  Chuck made a nice breakfast of eggs and home fries.  We dropped Alex off at the Harrisburg airport at 7:30 a.m.  and then turned back to bring Elley to the train station downtown.  She was meeting friends in Philadelphia before returning to NYC.  Then we drove to York one last time to say goodby to Chuck's parents and breakfast with an old friend of Anne's.  After that we started west, stopping again at our house to pick up our luggage and shut down the house.  We'll not see it again until September.

From there we started down I-81 and stopped early at Staunton, VA to visit friends there.  Yesterday afternoon we arrived back at our motor home in Cherokee, NC.  It was well.  We relaxed and packed for today's departure with rig.  This morning, Anne made a final run to the hosptial to return a borrowed screened room and make final good-by's.  We pulled out of the campground before Noon.

On the last morning we glanced at the iris bed, saw a wood thrush hop across the campsite, and crossed out of Cherokee for a last time this year.  We enjoyed most of April, May, and June there this year.  Finally, we crossed the Great Smoky Mouuntains National Park to reach Tennessee.  A bittersweet departure.