A Grueling Schedule ( Savannah, GA)

 

Well here I am sitting in my recliner with a chilled glass of Chardonnay and the air conditioner is hard at work.  Finally, after five days of running around hither and yon, I can relax.  I know you all feel for me and will tell me so.

Last Friday (after a full day of pulling that 10 ton trailer around), we arrived at an RV park in Norcross, GA, just north of Atlanta.  I was so tired that we had to take a day off and rest.  We went to Wal-Mart for some items and to Publix for groceries.  Ann insisted on relaxing the rest of the day.  Of course, I wanted to keep going, but to keep the peace, I agreed.

Sunday was Mother’s Day.  After talking to Heidi, Andrew and Caroline on Skype, we went to the Jimmy Carter Center.  The grounds are like an oasis in the middle of Atlanta.  A beautiful place and very well done.  Adam and Debra joined us for dessert.  Ann really enjoyed her day.

Monday we hobbled over to the Atlanta History Museum.  There we saw the Swan house, which was built by the Innman family around 1931.  We could only take pictures of the outside. Also on the grounds was the Tullie Smith House, which was brought to the grounds of the museum along with several farm buildings to recreate a farm in the area in the mid 1800s.  In the main building of the museum was an excellent display with an audio tour of the Civil war.  The causes and the aftermath.  Well worth the trip.

 

Monday evening we got together with Adam, Debra and Ethan for dinner.

 

Tuesday we left Atlanta for Savannah.  We arrived right outside Savannah about 5:30 PM.  We are staying here for 2 nights.  Today we made a mistake, I am sure not our first and not our last.  We took a tour on one of those trolley tours.  A waste of $60.  I must say it is not the complete fault of the Trolley Operator, the town does not have much to offer (in our opinion).   It seems the only claim to fame for the town is that the movies “Forest Gump” and “The Garden of Good and Evil” were both shot here.  Other than that we were not impressed.  Tomorrow we are heading NW toward the coast.  Charlestown, SC or maybe Myrtle Beach.  We will let you know.

Now you can see why we are EXHAUSTED.  So all sympathy emails will be appreciated.

To be Continued…

Relaxing Day (Atlanta–GA)

 

Today we took a day off.  Woke up around 7am ate breakfast and just did nothing until noon.  After lunch we took a trip to Camping World to get a water filter, a small refillable propane tank for the grill and a map of the US.  The map is an outline of the US with all of the states.  It goes on the side of the camper.  As you travel across the states you fill in the states that you stay in.  You cannot count the states that you just drive through.

 

Yesterday we had our first major major problem.  The main satellite box that is the DVR started to turn itself off.  I let it cool down and it worked for a while but then it would not work at all.  This is the box I took from the house with all of our recorded shows   Since we are not at home, I could not call Dish for a replacement.  That means that there is no TV in the Roan.  OMG.  Not to worry,  I took the satellite box from the bedroom and moved it to the living room.  Now I have TV in the living room.  For $40 and a USB drive you can convert the box to a DVR. So that is what I did.

I am sure you all feel better now.  Major catastrophe averted.  I can sleep tonight knowing I can record my shows and not have to watch the commercials.

To be Continued…

Smoky Mountain NP (Whittier–NC)

 

We left the Rally on Monday and traveled to a RV park in Whittier NC.  It is located in the foot hills of the Smoky’s. When we went to pay for the two nights we found that the credit card was declined.  After a long phone call to Capital One we found out that the card was frozen because of possible fraud.  There was no fraud that could be seen, but because of all of the out of state charges the card was frozen.  Now we had to get a new card.  That would take 2 to 3 business days.  So we were stuck at this camp site for the next 3 days.

As it turns out it was not that bad.  It rained all day Tuesday so we just stayed in and relaxed and went to Wally World (Wal-Mart).  We are becoming real Wal-Mart shoppers.  Wednesday we explored the Smoky Mountains.  What a beautiful National Park it is.

When you enter the park from the south via SR 441 you come across the Oconalauftee Visitor Center ant the Farm Museum.  The Farm Museum is a recreation of a farm that was in the area in the early 1800s.

We then drove to Clingmans Dome. We climbed to up the mountain to an elevation of 6,643ft.  OK, so we drove up.  As we drove the temp dropped to 34 degrees F.  It was a good thing we brought extra layers to put on.  The view from the top were spectacular.

The above pictures show the frost on all of the trees.

This is a slide show of the views from Clingmans Dome.

The following are just a few of the pictures from the parkway.

Some of the pictures above were taken by Ann.

Today we went to the Museum of the Cherokee Indians.  An excellent and well laid out depiction of the Cherokee people’s history.

 

Tomorrow we head for an RV park just north of Atlanta, GA to visit Ann’s nephew and his wife (Adam and Debra) and great-nephew, Ethan.

To be Continued ..

Rally Update (Marion, NC)

 

This is the last day of the Rally.  Tomorrow we leave around 1 PM after getting the RV weighed.   Friday we went for a drive up the the Blue Ridge parkway.  To get to the parkway we had to take RT 226 into the mountains.  It was the steepest, curviest road I have ever been on.  We only took the truck.  There is no way I would tow the camper up or down that road.

First we stopped at Linville Falls.  After parking the truck we walked about a .5 miles into the Falls.

 

Afterwards we drove further north stopping at all of the overlooks.  We stopped at the Linn Cove Viaduct Visitor’s  Center to eat lunch.

Right now we are sitting around Ann is at her computer reading the NY Times, I asm writing this blog and the washing machine is going in the bed room.We’re glad we did not get rid of the washing machine the way we were going to.

Tomorrow after weight in we will head to Smoky Mountain NP for a few days.  Then not sure what we will do, so stay tuned to find out.,

To be Continued ….

Escapees Rally (Marion, NC)

 

Just a short entry today.  We are at the rally and meeting a lot of great new people.  It is 75F and sunny, I am walking around in shorts.  There are about 97 RVs and about 180 people.

Tomorrow we will take a ride to the Blue Ridge Parkway and have a lot of pictures to post.

To be continued …

Kick back day (Statesville-NC)

 

On the 23 of April we took a drive up Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah NP.  The Visitor’s Center was still closed for the season.  We entered the park about half way up Skyline Drive, we headed north for about 30 miles.  That may not seem a lot but because it is a scenic drive and the speed limit is only 35 MPH it took about 3 hours with all of the stops at the overlooks.  It was a sunny warm day but hazy, as you can from the pictures.

Yesterday we left Standardsville, VA and headed south on RT 29 to I-40 west to Statesville, NC.  After roaming around the country side on all the back roads looking for a camp site.  I had to make a very sharp U turn.  When I did I scratched the camper and crushed one of the connectors on the cable from the truck to the camper for the cameras.  I tried to get the connector locally, but not to be had.  I called the company that made the camera system and ordered the entire cable from them.  They are shipping it to the camp site in Marion, NC where we will be staying for the rally.

I cannot get the satellite to lock in.  There seem to be trees in the way.  I asked them to cut the trees down but for some reason, they refused.  So I am sitting here with only internet.  They have WiFi and I have my Air Card.  Both work.  The sacrifices we have to make in this life!!

Tomorrow morning we leave for the 80 mile trip to the rally, so it should be an easy drive.

To be Continued …

Do nothing Day (Stanardsville VA)

 

After leaving the Flying J truck stop in PA we drove in and out of the rain and several traffic accidents to Harrisonburg VA in the foothills of the Shenandoah Mountains.

Harrisonburg has a shopping center that would rival any mall in the NY- Long Island area.  In one mall there is, to name just a few, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Barns & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. We had a hard time finding a parking spot, especially pulling a 36 ft. trailer, but we managed.

After going to Home Depot and Wally World (Wal-Mart) we headed east on RT 33 up and over the Shenandoah Mountains.  This was a first for us, pulling The Roan up the mountain and down the other side.  I am not sure the % of the grade but it was steep, up and down.  The Ford F450 handled the hill well.  Going up it kept up a descent speed considering the winding road. Down I put the truck in the “Tow Haul” mode which automatically down shifted to hold back the rig.  I never had to work the breaks hard, so I didn’t have any fear of break fade.

On the east side of the Shenandoah we stopped pulled into Heavenly Acers Campground, no it is not an old age rest home.  We unhitched and setup in the rain. It rained all night and in the morning was cold and cloudy.  By the afternoon the weather cleared up and now it is 74F and sunny. 

This is a picture of our camp site.  Ann is working hard as you can see. 

Tomorrow we will do some exploring of the Shenandoah National Mtn Park.  then Monday start heading south to the Smoky’s  and the Escapees Rally.

Life is hard, but we will prevail.

To be continued …