It was one of those picture-perfect October days, late in the afternoon, when we pulled into the parking lot of Storybook Land in Aberdeen, South Dakota. By Tom & Patti Burkett “Storybook Railroad closed for the season,” the sign read at the entrance as if to ward off the oncoming disappointment from a carload of children. […]Read More
If you’ve ever been to visit Assateague, Chincoteague, and other barrier islands in Virginia, you’ve spent some time on U.S. Highway 13. By Tom & Patti Burkett We were here in the early spring to see the waterfowl migration, and it was spectacular. Headed south toward Norfolk, we passed through Wachapreague and Nassawadox, and […]Read More
Don't let this creep you out but this off the beaten path report is about bats — the kind with wings. There are a number of places across the U.S. where you can see mass flyouts of these nocturnal mammals, and we encourage you to make time for one or all of them. Some are in […]Read More
By Tom & Patti Burkett RV Podcast Off the Beaten Path Reporters This spring our rhubarb plant went out of control. It sprouted three huge flowering stalks which bent from their own weight and then grew sideways and then up again reminding us of nothing so much as Audrey 2 from the Little Shop of Horrors. “Feed […]Read More
The George Washington Carver Memorial in Diamond, MO By TOM & PATTI BURKETT Here are a few things we learned at the George Washington Carver Memorial in Diamond, MO. In 1932, George Washington Carver was invited to speak to the United States Congress, which at the time was considering a tariff on imported peanuts. Members […]Read More
From coast-to-coast, our RV Lifestyle Fellow Travelers know that the U.S. is second-to-none when it comes to our downtown districts. Sure, there is the Honky Tonk Highway on Lower Broadway in Nashville, Bourbon Street in New Oreleans' French Quarter, and a lot more that are pretty well known, to say the least. But some of […]Read More
Our guests this week are Tom and Patti Burkett, who share with us how they find all those fascinating off-the-beaten-path stories Show Notes for Episode #276 Jan. 15, 2019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We’re recording this podcast at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. […]Read More
By Tom and Patty Burkett We recently saw “Rocketman,” the Elton John biopic, and in one of the grand scenes he’s sitting at the the piano on a rotating stage playing Pinball Wizard. Bells were dinging and that characteristic sound of metal balls bouncing off electric bumpers was everywhere when we stepped into the Pinball Museum in Asheville, […]Read More
By Tom and Patti Burkett The first time we pulled into the Blue Heron Visitor Center the place was buzzing. Food tents were up, children were chasing big metal and wooden hoops down the road, women were walking around in dresses from the early 1900s, and a bluegrass band was picking away to accompany it all. It […]Read More
It’s a chilly autumn night with a mist of rain falling on rustling dying leaves as the tour guide opens a creaky metal door that seems out of place in the middle of what appears to be an insignificant patch of grass. Holding our flashlights, we enter with a group of 18 others. The tour […]Read More
Southern Illinois is nestled between two of the biggest rivers on the continent. Historically, regular floods of both the Ohio and the Mississippi left the region covered deep in silt, fantastically fertile soil. Until the early twentieth century, most of our country’s wheat was grown here. Settlers arrived here early, brought in by the rivers and the […]Read More
Over the holidays, I talked with my father about his family and early memories he had, and rummaged around online to find corroborating information to share with him. We got interested in his grandmother and whatever happened to her. His father and grandfather are buried in the family plot in Mississippi, but his grandmother Nannie […]Read More
Do you remember that scene when Maria runs across the mountain meadow singing “the hills are alive?” We never knew the Sound of Music was based on a true story. When the von Trapps left Austria in 1939, they were assisted by their family priest who helped them organize a singing tour, first in the US, then […]Read More
New Haven Connecticut is probably best known as he home of Yale University, and if you go there, you would certainly enjoy a walk around that iconic campus. But New Haven has some other things to offer that are not quite as obvious. Connecticut is nicknamed the nutmeg state. Early ship captains, and some industrious […]Read More
If you're someone who enjoys boondocking, you're sure to have discovered the treasures to be found in the US National Forests. Some of these tracts are huge, and most of them include at least some variety of campsites. The Wayne National Forest, in our home state of Ohio, is small compared to some of the […]Read More
It seems that every major urban area has a favored natural retreat that draws its residents when it comes to getting away for a while. For Angelinos it's the beach. Atlantans head for the family ‘camp' on a lake somewhere, and New Yorkers head upstate. If you live in Chicago, or anywhere in northern Illinois […]Read More
We're wondering if you remember Joe Palooka. If you don't, we'll remind you that he's an easygoing animated heavyweight prize fighter who starred in comic strips, radio shows, and movies from the 1920s to the 60s. We ask because you can see a famous statue of him in the little town of Oolitic Indiana. A […]Read More
We were in Franklin, Indiana, and Rob Shilts was waiting for us, out of the rain, beneath a marquee that dazzled with a half-mile of neon and a thousand chasing lamps. SHREK, it proclaimed, today at 2 and 7:30 PM. Shilts has been involved in Franklin Heritage, the local historic preservation group, for more than […]Read More
By Anna and Tom Burkett It was middle of the night dark when four of us piled into the car. I’m Anna, and I last traveled with my parents last summer to Fiddle Camp and the Schoodic Peninsula in Maine. My cousin Kelsey was with us, who was with them for a visit to a […]Read More
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