April 6, 2021. Bill was gone all last week in Maine moving his stuff from the old camp to the new one. Julie’s sister and friend had arrived on Sunday (March 28) and on Wednesday they decided to drive to Sarasota for a couple of days. They returned on Friday and left early Saturday morning. I was starting to think we should have left and gone back to Ruskin for the week, but Jim Urban did not think that would have been a good idea. I texted Bill to ask if he was coming back here or going straight to WPB for Easter. His response was that we were invited to Woody’s house for Easter. Saturday I went to Walmart to buy a flower for Rachael and gifts for their grandchildren and Rachael & Woody’s niece and nephews. I also bought a small plant for Julie. Julie called me while at Walmart and that is when she told me about the extra three children; she also mentioned she had not heard from Bill for two days and I heard anything. I told her about the text; she asked if that was all he said, and I said yes. She also mentioned that she does not want any more full time camping behind her house anymore. Even though we hardly bothered her and left her alone, somehow our presence bothered her.
Jim and I had already decided that we were not coming back to their house. We would go to Jim Urban’s place if we did come back to the Sebastian area.
We went to church on Easter Sunday morning to St. Sebastian Catholic Church. It was a very nice service, much different than any other Catholic Church I had been to. Right after the service we left for WPB, which was over an 1-1/2 drive. We had a nice dinner and visit with their relatives and sat with Bill & Julie for a short time in the living room. Woody did a very nice job on his new house. He buys a house that needs work, fixes it up, lives in it for two years, then sells it for a profit. Rachael really likes the way this house was fixed up, so they don’t know if they will move again or not.
After leaving there, we drove to Jupiter to visit with Garrett & Rene, who were at their neighbor’s house for Easter dinner. We arrived right at dinner, so we were able to grab more to eat. Then they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Jacob, their son, is seven now and still looks like Garrett. He has curly blond hair, which must have come from Rene or a recessed gene from Bill.
Last night we had dinner with Bill & Julie, after I bought all the stuff for dinner while we were at Walmart. That’s OK though, they have done a lot for us. It was kind of strained, and even Jim felt it which he mentioned later than evening when we had gone back to the trailer. We both thought Bill was reserved and a bit aloof, as if he wanted to say something but never did.
Today, Tuesday, we are leaving for Rose Bay in Port Orange, FL for four days. This is an Encore resort, so still free. It’s right where Jim Urban’s girlfriend, Nancy, lives so we will be seeing them today. It’s unfortunate that we are looking forward to leaving here.
April 10, 2021. Had a nice visit at Rose Bay. We did go over to Nancy’s house for a visit. She was very nice; friendly and did talk a lot. We felt very at home there and she made us feel welcome as well.
Did not go to visit anything in the area. We did meet some of our neighbors and one of them Dan, helped Jim with the truck. Jim Urban looked underneath and said there was a leak on the differential. So Dan got down and looked as well. He said there was still a lot of oil in the differential, but we should get it looked at.
I broke the strap that we use to pull the awning down and found a small RV store down the road and bought a new one. Bay Rose is not that big of a park but I did find a pond that I was able to walk around half way, then I walked around the park for the rest of our walk.
April 14, 2021. On Saturday we left Rose Bay and went to Walkabout in Woodbine, Georgia, near St. Mary’s, Georgia. We’ve stayed here before in 2019 and they were fixing up the park adding new sites. Now the sites are all done, but we still got a site in the front row. They did finish the walking trail, which is also an ATV trail for their family. I enjoyed walking the trail and was able to let Lucy loose as well.
I wanted to get in touch with Jennifer Cody, but did not have her phone number. So I called Marilyn, whom I have not talked to in quite a while. It was really nice talking to her again. I got Jennifer’s number from her, but it was her home number and when I called got no answer left a message. It was a few days later when I got a text from Jennifer telling me that they were in Texas visiting the grandkids while we were there at St. Marys.
April 17, 2021. On Wednesday we left Walkabout and headed to Sweetwater Lake Campground in St. Matthews, South Carolina where Jake & Robyn are staying. They came over after they got off of work, and we sat around our site before going to get take out for dinner. They don’t like sitting by their site because the owners brought in a bunch of oil workers and line workers and stuck them on either side of them, making their site a whole lot smaller.
This made them a bit angry and so they found a new campground to move to which is a lot closer to where they work. They will be moving at the end of the month.
We drove into Orangeburg Friday afternoon to Ollie’s Bargain Store but I did not find anything that I was looking for. Friday night I cooked dinner for us all, and we talked a whole bunch. Also got a picture taken of the four of us to send to Josh.
The campground has a road that goes around Sweetwater Lake, which I had been walking on to take Lucy out. They have four dogs which are not very friendly so today I walked on the road to get to the field bypassing the house and dogs. Well, the owner was out on his ATV and told me I was not aloud to walk there anymore. Did I not see the sign that said “stop, etc.” and I told him I figured it was for vehicles, not pedestrians. He told me that he leases out the field for hunters, but then his kids ride their ATVs in the field in the evening, so I know he was lying since he was also riding his out there.
Robyn had to drive to Statesboro to take care of Jake’s father for a few days, so we will be gone by the time she gets back. Both of them left this evening to drive down there and Jake said he would be back on Monday and would see us then.
April 21, 2021. Jake came back to the campground Monday evening and spent it with us at our campsite. I went in to take a shower only to discover luke warm water coming out of the shower. I proceeded to put on my robe and go outside and ask Jim to look at the water heater, maybe flipping the by pass valve as that was our problem last time. Well, I ended up doing that, and then we checked the temperature of the water coming out of the tank itself, and it was not hot. Great. Then we tried putting on the propane to heat the water; it came on and stayed for a minute then went out. It did this over and over and we eventually just shut it off.
Jake went down to his trailer and turned on his water heater and I went down there to shower as it was hair washing night. Jim and Jake showed up at his trailer just as I was finishing up, so Jake stayed and I drove Jim and me back to our trailer. Jim took a luke warm shower that night.
Tuesday we called Dometic and talked with a technician about the water heater checking the voltage on the wires coming out of the control board. He eventually diagnosed our problem as a defective control board. We then proceeded to finish packing up and heading down to the black water dump before heading out.
When we got to North Shore Landing in Greensboro, Georgia and after setting up and taking Lucy for her afternoon walk, I started looking for a control board. Found a few but did not order anything as I wanted to talk with the places first. But we decided to try turning on the propane to the water heater, and what do you know, it fired up and stayed on, heating the water up just fine. Go figure.
Next day I was looking and reading the information and some places talked about the reset switch on the back of the water heater. So on a fluke I decided to go out and play with it. It was right there on the side of the heater and I pushed it on and off a few times. Funny thing though, I would not stay off. It also had a bunch of gunk on the off side. I then went back inside and turned on the electric switch to the water heater. After a time I turned on the hot water and sure enough, the water was getting hot. It’s just weird.
Josh called last night to talk a bit while he was on his way to pick Ellie up from Girl Scouts. Told us she one 1st place in a 10K run at Deer Park that was set up as a fund raiser. He is also going camping this weekend with Jason and his scout troop. He is looking forward to meeting Sean in July and then in August Ellie is going to fly to Florida to spend the week with Jacklyn, Sean and Jayden.
April 24, 2021. Thursday the 22nd we were planning on driving to visit with Kathie & Randy, and even though it was an hour drive, we were going to drive back to North Shore. However, Kathie kept asking if we were going to spend the night, and I got the idea that maybe we should take the trailer to their house and spend the night in their front yard. So we called Kathie and proposed that idea and she thought it was good. So we pulled up stakes at North Shore on Thursday morning and drove to their house.
We pulled up into their front yard and leveled out the trailer, got set up with water and electric and then went in to visit. We had a great time there and enjoyed our evening with them. Errick came home about 9pm and we sat up and talked with him a while before heading to the trailer for the night.
Friday we headed down to Warm Springs, Georgia to Ramsey RV Park where we met up with Harry Trott on Saturday. We took Hwy 20 down from Conyers, stopping for gas on Hwy 20 just after I-20. Jim likes Shell as he has a Shell credit card and we get $ off each gallon. So we pulled into this gas station only to say Uh Oh – we are in trouble. Most gas stations are not set up for vehicles pulling trailers, and this one had a grate that had fallen in, which was right in our path. So our only alternative was to back out into traffic, and traffic there was as Hwy 20 is very busy. Luckily, Jim mentioned this to another man who was pumping gas and he said he would help us back up on Hwy 20. So he put on an orange vest and I put on an orange vest and we went into the street, waited for the traffic to subside, and directed Jim to back out into the street. Back on the road we headed to Hampton, then other back roads to Warm Springs. After having to back up into traffic, the rest of the trip was horrible; the traffic was heavy and we had to sit and wait for about a half hour waiting for a traffic accident to be cleared.
We had not seen Harry for quite a few years, I think the last time was when he and Rose came to our house on Greenhaven, so that had to have been around 2010 or 2011. He had sold all the properties he owned and bought a house in Manchester, Georgia. His sister has a house in Manchester and that is why he decided to move down there. His son, Tim, also moved down with him. Rose passed away quite a few years ago so it’s just the two of them now.
We had a great visit with Harry; went to lunch and sat at his house and talked for a few hours before heading back to the trailer.
April 30, 2021. On Sunday the 25th we drove from Warm Springs to Ft. Yargo. Going back we took a different route – up Hwy 85 to Hwy 138. This was a much better route; quiet and a lot less traffic. Jim was a lot happier taking this route.
Then when we got to Fort Yargo we ended up pulling into the driveway of the Old entrance. It’s the address shown on Google, their website and even on the Reservation site. But it’s wrong. We got ourselves into a pickle as the gate was closed. Luckily there were some people doing yard maintenance and Jim talked one of them into opening the gate for us.
I mentioned this to the young man who checked us in and then sent an email the to General Manager, who did answer me saying that it is a problem and she has been working on it for quite a while now.
Monday afternoon we went over to Jack & Tam’ra’s for the afternoon and dinner. We all went to the clubhouse to play a game of bocci ball. It was a lot of fun and quite easy to learn. We then took a walk around the clubhouse. After dinner Jack and I took another walk so I could walk Lucy again.
Tuesday morning we took the Excursion to Greene Ford for them to check out the rear differential. It was leaking and not really causing any issues, just that the fluid needed to be changed. Jim said he could have done that but he does not need to be crawling under the truck trying to empty the fluid, which only has a plug on the top and he would have had to siphon the fluid out. Jack & Tam’ra came to pick us up from Greene Ford and we went to the Gainesville Botanical Garden and then we went out to lunch before heading back to Greene Ford.
Left Lucy at the trailer and she seemed to have done quite well alone; watched her on Alfred; of course she was very happy to see us when we got home.
Wednesday was laundry day and then we stayed at the trailer in the afternoon. We went to Home Depot to buy a new short hose as the green one’s end broke off.
We worked on getting a get together at Fort Yargo, and were able to set one up for Thursday afternoon. Kathie & Randy came up and Jack & Tam’ra drove down. Dustin was also planning on coming but on his way the light for the power steering on this car came on and he decided not to drive all the way out and take his car to the dealer.
Anyway, we had a real nice time; I cooked burgers and we had a couple of green salads. I also baked the Cranberry, Mandarin Orange bread, which was a hit. After lunch we took a short walk down to the Yurts and then along the lake.
Friday was our day to leave Fort Yargo, and we headed out around 10:30. We had a three hour drive taking us all the way to Blacksburg, SC to Cherokee RV Park. This is a one night stay and tomorrow we drive to Lake Myers in Mocksville, North Carolina.
May 1, 2021. Driving the interstates here in the east is not much fun. Jim does not enjoy it at all, especially when there is road construction. People drive crazy as well, weaving in and out of traffic. We only had a 1-1/2 hour drive today but it seemed longer with all the traffic and crazy people.
The site we have here is a tough one. It seems like no one has been in it in a while; it’s small and not much room on our living side. The electric outlet looked burnt and had a piece missing out of it, so I mentioned it to the people working on the site and they had the manager come and look at it and she had the electrician come and replace it for us.
I had to rake the dead leaves away just so Jim could walk out of the trailer and not have to duck under the awning as there is a huge tree right at the point where he would walk out. When I put the awning out I usually wait before putting the picnic table under it, but today I moved the table first. Unfortunately, it was in the way of the awning when I tried to put it out and the awning caught on part of the table and put a small rip in it. Ugh. I was able to tape it underneath with waterproof tape, but we still need to figure out a way to fix the outside. The awning is also ripping along the side near the door where I was putting the clips so hopefully whatever we get will fix that as well.
May 5, 2021. On Sunday we went to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. The last time we were in the area we went to the Doll Museum and only glimpsed the Transportation Museum. I am glad we were able to visit it during this visit.
By Tuesday I had had enough of the site we were in. I think it was the absolute worst site we have ever been in. After calling the office I was given a few sites to look at, but while looking at one of the sites on the list I found another one which had just been vacated that morning. So Tuesday we moved into site A41. Boy what a difference. It’s relatively flat; I had to put 5 yellow blocks under the one side, but it’s flat front to back, where as the other side would never be level. We have a lot more room here and do not have a trailer to stare at when sitting outside. We are out in the open now.
Wednesday while cleaning the trailer I heard a big BOOM. First I thought the shampoo/soap holder had fallen off the wall in the bathroom, but upon checking, it was still intact. Walked outside where Jim was and we both started looking around. Found a branch had fallen on the roof; it did not seem like a huge branch but it sure made a loud noise.
And unfortunately, it also hit the bathroom shower dome and put a huge hole in it. Jim immediately got on the phone and talked with two mobile RV people. One was in the park and came and looked at it; put a cover over the dome and taped it down. However, he said they were booked and could not put a new one in. He gave me the dimensions and I started looking for one on Amazon. While in the process of searching, a second guy showed up to look at the damage. He looked at the dome, remeasured and helped me find a replacement on Amazon.
The one I found will be delivered on Tuesday and he said he would come back as soon as it comes in and replace it. I had to change some reservations – extending this place one day and changing our arrival at the next location.
Then we started talking with him about the front window and he told us that he had actually replaced the front window on an Award. Jim was very interested in him doing that with our window, so the guy said he would try and find the Lexan (smoked) and let us know if he could do it.
May 6, 2021. Took a trip to Mt. Airey, North Carolina, to visit the Andy Griffith Museum. We also went into downtown Mt. Airey to visit Floyd’s Barber Shop and the Diner. Then we went down the street to Wally’s Service Station. I was hoping that the police cars that were used in the series would have been parked in front of it, but they were all out doing tours and riding up and down Main Street showing off.
May 8, 2021. Friday afternoon Leslie Guerra and her Mom came to visit. We have been visiting friends and family on this trip and made a special trip to this area of North Carolina because I wanted to meet Leslie. It was wonderful to have her drive over to visit with us at the campground. At the same time another couple (Ron and Joann) came in and Jim invited them over to visit around our campfire. So all of us sat around and talked the afternoon away.
In the meantime, we got neighbors on our setup side and he came over to talk and visit. He and his wife were on a trip right after un-winterizing their trailer and was having an issue with getting hot water. I explained to him the two instances we had with our water heater, suggesting the first step is to determine if the hot water heater was working. Jim went over to help him, so the first thing to do is open the hot water heater on the outside of the trailer and open the valve to see if the water was indeed hot. If the water is hot, it most likely means the bypass valve is stuck. If the bypass valve is not working, it lets cold water into the hot water system, thus you get luke warm water coming out of the tap. Jim worked by bypass valve back and forth, which broke it loose, and now he had hot water.
We are always willing to help people when they need help. That’s what RVers do!!
Ron and Joann have an interesting Class B trailer; made in Canada and for it being so small, it has a lot of storage. I was really surprised at the amount it has and compared it to our friend’s Airstream, which has virtually no storage, and it’s larger than their Class B.
So the story as to how Leslie and I became friends is very interesting. She happens to have been a student of my long-time friend Karen. She and I lived across the street from each other in Maple Heights, Ohio for our whole lives. So I have known Karen from our very early childhood days. Karen went onto college, then eventually got her PhD in biology. She ended up in North Carolina as a tenured professor in biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I on the other hand, did not graduate from college but ended up in a corporate setting as a legal secretary for 27 years.
I think the difference between us is her being in the government education system her entire working life, whereas I was in the capitalist corporate world my entire working life. Needless to say, our political ideologies are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Maybe you can guess what we believe.
Anyway, Leslie would comment on Karen’s Facebook posts and I would end up liking Leslie’s comments, and would comment as well. Karen eventually unfriended both of us (me twice). I continued to post political things on FB and made a group in messenger with Leslie and two other women I know. I eventually got banned from FB in January. I tried to get back on, but it never worked. Not wanting to lose touch with Leslie as the only way we had been in touch was through FB messenger, I contacted one of the women whose phone number I had and asked her to have Leslie call me. She did and we had a wonderful conversation. I told her we were coming up her way and would love to meet her.
We had lunch here at the campground and sat around a campfire that just did not want to start as the wood was too fresh and wet. I think we eventually got the fire going good when it was time to head indoors for dinner.
I got a lovely card and bracelet from Sean and his daughter Jayden for Mother’s Day. Jayden drew the card and the bracelet is a small banded one with the inscription “Best Nonna Ever” on it. That was the sweetest and best Mother’s Day present. “Nonna” happens to be Grandmother in Italian. Since I am not officially her grandmother, she wanted to be able to call me something, so I suggested Nonna. I think it’s wonderful and I am blessed to have her as my unofficial granddaughter.
May 13, 2021. Sunday, Mother’s Day, just sat around. Got a call from Jacklyn in the morning.
After helping out Dave get his hot water heater working again, he went back to his house and got a truck full of wood and brought it to us. He was so thankful for our help that he wanted to pay us back, thus the wood. It was great though. Jim built a couple of fires and they were great because this wood was so seasoned it burned clean. We really enjoyed having the fires. Had Ron & Joann come and visit around the fire one night. And last night another couple that pulled in down the hill came up to talk and then the guy came back when we were sitting out around the fire.
Andy, the RV guy, came on Tuesday afternoon to replace the skylight, which arrived on Monday from Amazon. He got the old one off in no time, even though there was a bunch of Eternabond around it. He did a good job putting the inside back on and then the skylight itself. I bought “smoke” color but it sure seems lighter than smoke. The bathroom is so bright now, it’s crazy.
Wednesday we went to Labcorp to get Jim’s blood work and then just stayed at home; did laundry in between the rain. Glad we did not leave Wednesday as it rained off and on all day.
Thursday was our day to leave and it turned out to be warmer and sunny. Driving west on I-40 we hit the mountains; not big ones but the going up was really long and then having truckers all around was a bit unnerving for Jim. So instead of cooking tonight we went out to eat at Pin High Bar & Grill. It turned out to be in a country club and the food was good and fresh. The people were very friendly and came and talked to us while we sat there. It was great; we had a real good time.
May 16, 2021. Just before we were scheduled to leave Lake Myers, the Colonial Pipeline was hacked and the fuel was shut down from Texas all the way up the east coast to New York. We had ¾ of a tank coming back from Labcorp on Wednesday but topped off so we would have enough fuel to get to Waynesville.
While here the ransom was paid to the hackers but as of Sunday many of the gas stations here in Waynesville were still out of fuel. Jim is getting worried about what may go on in the country and wants to head back to Texas instead of traveling. I understand his concerns and I have them as well, so I guess that’s what I will do, albiet slowly.
Friday Bill, Julie & Barb drove down to visit. We went out to lunch and then went to the Wheels through Time Museum and Andy gave us a personal tour. We had a wonderful time there. After the museum closed, Andy came over to visit for a few hours.
Saturday afternoon we went to visit Phil Loyer, Karen’s father. He has a townhouse not too far from the campground in Waynesville. It sits on a hill and has a wonderful view of the mountains.
Lucy was a wreck on our way there; she started shaking and panting like crazy. She was OK after we got there and she was able to come into the house with us. After we got back from Phil's house, we sat next door and talked to our neighbors for a little while and then I fed her dinner.
However, throughout the evening she started having diarrhea and threw up and had Jim take her out numerous times before he came to bed at 3am. Then it was my turn and I got up with her and she still had some diarrhea and threw up a little.
Today Sunday I decided to stay home and let her rest. She did not eat her breakfast and has not drank much water. She has been sleeping most of the day; peed a bit but mostly is resting. She still has her energy so I'm just keeping an eye on her. I cannot figure out what she got into or if it was just her nerves acting up.
May 20, 2021. By the time we left Maggie Valley on Wednesday, Lucy was feeling much better. The drive on I-40 from Maggie Valley east toward Knoxville and our final destination of Crossville was not much fun. First we hit construction and then there were a lot of trucks and crazy drivers. It was a three hour drive and Jim was frazzled by the time we got to our destination.
Breckinridge Lake is a very small Coast to Coast park with no cell service. Luckily they have half way decent WiFi which we have to hook up to in order to get internet and telephone service. My Jet pack even with 2 bars will not give me any internet for my computer, so I am hooked up to the campground’s wifi.
Last night I was sitting outside of the trailer when a young woman came up to ask me about the sticker Tin Can Tourists that is on the back of our trailer. So we started talking and she invited me to the group campfire which happens to be behind our trailer to have a S’more. So I had a wonderful S’more and sat and talked with them for the evening. Her husband and son eventually got up and went into the clubhouse to play pool, and Jim ended up coming out of the trailer, heard about that, and went in and played with them.
They have a pretty nice clubhouse with pool table, couch, tables, big TV. The laundry room has three washing machines and three dyers, very reasonable.
Jim had a teleconference with his Doctor on Tuesday and his last blood work showed his PSA going up 10 points within the past year. So the doctor is putting him on an antibiotic to see if he might have prostitius, hoping that clears it up. If not, he will have to get a biopsy to see if there is any cancer showing up. In three weeks he will have to get another blood test.
So today we drove into Crossville to get his prescription, then saw a shoe store and went in to buy Jim a new pair of sandals and a belt, and I bought myself a pair of sketchers. Then we went into the country store, and finally the cheese shop and bought some goodies there.
We are now back in central time, and it’s always a chore trying to get used to a different time zone. I did not sleep much last night and with sunrise at 5:30am, I cannot figure out what time to get up. Lucy likes to get up with the sunrise, but I still did not get out of bed until after 6am.
May 22, 2021. Jim started on his antibiotics for the prostate, and it made him feel crummy. Some of the many side effects are diarrhea, dizziness, stomach upset, nausea/vomiting. So we did not end up going to any museums. We did drive into town to go to Verizon and then French’s again as the belt he bought was too big and he wanted to see if they had a smaller one. They have some really nice belts on sale from $70 to $15 so the popular sizes go fast.
My Amazon Kindle started acting up. Every time I tried turning the page, they went backwards instead of forward, then all the way to the beginning and would not go forward. I tried going on the internet to see if that would help but I could not get on the campground’s internet because the keyboard was going nuts. Every time I hit the “y” I got a “Q” or “A”. It automatically defaults to my Jetpack and since I cannot get any WiFi on the Jetpack, that is useless. Jim just said to wait until we get to a place that has decent internet service to see if my Kindle straightens out. If it doesn’t, I guess it’s time to buy a new one. I bought this one when we first went to work for Amazon in 2012.
May 27, 2021. On Monday the 24th the park had a group come in to entertain us for an hour – The Rough & Tumble. They are a young couple who sing and tell stories. They also play guitar, harmonica, accordion, and ukulele. They were very good, and I thought they would be a good act for a TCT rally.
On Wednesday we left Breckinridge and made our way through the back roads of Tennessee to Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails in Park City, Kentucky. We now at least have some decent internet; only two bars on my phone but at least it is not buffering. Television on the other hand, does not seem too good. Last time we were here I put in my RV description that OTA television was good, but I don’t remember what stations we got. But we do have internet television so we just have to hook up to the tablet for internet.
Kentucky has a Democrat governor and the National Park has limited tours right now and I noticed that the museums I want to go to mention mask wearing to tour the museums.
The breaker on the main electrical box tripped twice this morning. Our neighbor is on the same leg and his electric went out too. The TT worker came by and reset the breaker, and then it tripped again shortly after that. This time Jim went and reset the breaker, but as we were worried about it tripping again, we turned off the A/C and opened the windows and turned on the overhead fan. We contacted the office and they said they would have an electrician come and replace the breaker.
Well, since that was happening we decided to stay around the trailer and not go out. I kept asking them when we could expect the electrician and were told he was coming. It was not until about 5:30 pm when he finally showed up. Jim walked over to talk with him and when he took out the breaker it was hot, and that was with minimal load on it.
We are now able to run our A/C and other electric appliances with no worry about the breaker tripping. We were told that the middle portion of the park is very old, that it used to be an old KOA from the 1950s, and that maybe the electrical has not been changed since then. I noticed they paved the road in here, but did nothing with the old and decrepit electrical breakers.
One guy told us that they were not allowed to mess with the electrical because at one resort the wiring was put in wrong and it caught a trailer on fire. Well, that is one reason I always check the voltage and polarity before we even plug in. We did encounter reverse polarity at one campground; told them about it, and they did nothing about it.
I am enjoying my walks with Lucy on the trail into Mammoth Cave NP. It’s level, gravel and easy to walk. Very quiet and enjoyable to be out in the woods with no one around.
May 29, 2021. Today we went to the Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum in Cave City. That was a pretty cool place. It has over 20 displays of bugs, moths and butterflies from around the world. From there we went into the animal area. The animals the owner collected came from the 1960s and some of the displays looked old. The animals were displayed in their natural habitat with a short explanation of each animal.
June 1, 2021. Memorial Day we went to Walmart for our weekly grocery shopping. We were going to get an oil change and tire rotation, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. It was so backed up we decided to go back the next day. So Tuesday we went back and were first in line for an oil change. It seemed like it took forever so Jim asked what was going on. Seems that the last place we had an oil change, which was in Abita Springs and the little garage in town, they stripped the oil plug and torqued the oil filter on too hard. The Walmart guy had to put in a new plug and eventually got the filter off.
After the oil change, they moved the car into the other bay to do the tire rotation. When we got home I checked the air pressure as I like to have more in the rear tires than the front. I looked at the tires and was wondering why there was no cover on the rear tires. We figured out that they kept the hubcaps on the respective tire instead of switching them so that the front hubcap was open since they have the four wheel drive hub.
June 3, 2021. Wednesday we headed out from Diamond Caverns. It was a rainy day and I knew it was going to rain so I put most of the stuff away on Tuesday along with doing laundry. We are making two stops before our final destination in Owensville, Missouri.
First stop was Tween the Lakes campground in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. That was a weird campground; on hills with the concrete pad just wide enough for the rig and a small step out of the trailer before heading down a hill. I put the awning out to dry because it did rain that night but dried out enough by the time we left on Thursday. One nice thing about this campground is that there was a multi-use trail at the end of the campground where Lucy and I were able to walk. It was a nice paved trail and in the morning we walked all the way to the Tennessee River, which was over 1.5 miles one way.
Thursday we headed to Timber Run campground in Perryville, Missouri. It’s an OK place and pretty empty. We have a nice site, although not level. There is a trail at the back of the campground that goes down to the lake, which Lucy and I walked this afternoon.
June 8, 2021. Spent one night at Timber Run, and from there we headed to Owensville, Missouri to Lost Valley Lake campground, a Coast to Coast, so this place does not cost us anything to stay here. We will be here from June 4-10.
Took a few walks in the woods with Lucy and ended up with ticks. I recall when we were in Branson the ticks were real bad; and since this is now tick season, I have decided to stay out of the woods and just walk on the concrete sidewalk by the lake. I still feel like things are crawling all over me and am constantly checking myself.
Took Lucy to the vet Monday morning to get her rabies shot and annual 9-way. I read her previous rabies paperwork wrong and thought she was due in 2021 for her rabies shot, but it was actually 2022. But I went ahead and got her another rabies shot along with the 9-way. Heck, I drove over ½ hour to get to the vets, and it was inexpensive to get the shots. Lucy weighed in a 31 pounds and in good health.
Then the stupid GPS (Sheila) had me turn a different way to get back to the campground and I ended up on back roads that were all dirt. I think she was trying to get me to the old entrance. Took over a half hour of driving in a round about direction before I made it back to the correct entrance to the campground. Using the phone GPS was useless as most of the area around here there is no service.
Jim finished his antibiotics to see if that would bring his prostate numbers down, and either Tuesday or Wednesday we will head to Labcorp to get his blood work.
June 10, 2021. Drove over 70 miles one way to get to Wentzville, MO to Labcorp. Since we were in a large down, we went to the UPS store so I could send a return back to Amazon. Also, the showerhead shut off valve broke on me so we stopped at Lowes to buy a new one. I think Jim fixed the old one, but for $6 we just bought a new one.
Our crazy GPS took us on back roads from the campground to I-70. That was quite nerve racking – these roads curve all over the place and you cannot drive very fast. One left turn I had to make was going up a hill with a truck behind me over a blind hill. I slowed down a little bit but then just gunned it and turned.
After our errands we went to Applebees for lunch before driving 1-1/2 hours back to the campground.
June 10, 2021. As we were leaving Lost Valley we headed west on Hwy ZZ to Hwy 50. When we were heading into Jefferson City Jim went to pass and the truck and trailer swayed. Very odd as it never does anything like that. I asked about it, and he did not know why we swayed like that. Our trailer tows with no problems. When we arrived in Jefferson City he decided he wanted to stop and pee, so we pulled into a small shopping center with a Subway (his favorite). After we parked he walked out to go into the trailer and discovered the rear tire on the curb side was flat. That must have been why we swayed.
He then straightened out the trailer and went to Subway to get a sub while I called our roadside assistance, which we have through Escapees. It took a little bit, but the woman at the roadside place found a company in Jefferson City who had a mobile service. In the meantime I looked at the tire and discovered a tear on the inner side. Pomps made it out to us about 4pm and we were sure glad to see him. It was in the 90s all afternoon and the sun beat down on us; it was boiling.
He tried putting the trailer up with a jack, but did not see that it would work well, so I said I had a way to get one tire off the ground, which I have done in the past when we had to get higher than the Anderson levelers would get us. So I took Jim up on the Andersons and then put 6 yellow blocks in front so he could roll up on those. Gets the other tire off the ground very good.
We ended up getting two tires. The other one had a small bump on it, but it was equal on both sides. The guy said if it was him, he would change it. And it just so happened that he brought two tires with him. So he put two new tires on and then changed out the spare tire with the good tire.
We left there about 5:30 and got to our nightly stop at Bluebird RV Park in Cole Camp, Missouri. Small park; gravel but FHU. Owner was very nice and actually was a very nice site.
June 11, 2021. Got Jim’s Lab test already on his PSA count. It went down to 15.1, which is about 3 points. As it’s Friday, Dr. Barnes does not work in his office on Friday, so I guess we will hear from him next week as to what he recommends us do. Jim said he’s inclined to keep traveling, but I’m not so sure we should.
We left Cole Camp and got to Linn Valley in Linn Valley, Kansas in the afternoon. Drove around the camping area for a bit trying to find a fairly level site. Most of them are not completely level, but we eventually found one in the 50amp section. We will be here 6 nights so wanted to get a good one. After I put out everything, and took Lucy for a walk, we checked on the weather again. There was a severe storm heading through Kansas City and did not think it would come down to us, but it looked like it was going to hit us anyway. The wind started really blowing straight at the side and the awning was jumping. I yelled to Jim to come out and help me take the awning down a little and he decided we should just roll it up to be safe. The flag had flown off the table and the two tables blew over. So I put everything up, laid the tables and chairs down and put the other stuff under the trailer so it would not get wet if it rains.
June 13, 2021. The rain storm that we thought would come upon us never came. We did get the wind front but no rain. The whole storm just skirted right below us.
I decided to update our location on RVillage, which I often forget to do, and then I look for other members in the park. There were three of us at this park; I look at their information but never do anything about it. I am also set up to receive emails from RVillage members. This time I got an email from one of the members – “We are right next door.” I had talked briefly to them when we were pulling in and setting up because Jim always yells at me about different things when we set up. This time it was because I did not check to make sure we had water before starting to unhook the trailer.
Anyway, the man came out later after we were set up and introduced himself. Seems we are all very like minded and he likes our Trump sign that I put out. When Jim went out later they talked quite a bit, and then Jim invited them over yesterday afternoon to talk, which they did. It was wonderful getting to know them; very interesting couple who could not wait to get out of California and way from Newsome. They sold everything and established residence in Texas. He said that Newsome has a bill to make people who move out of California still pay state taxes for 10 years after they move. I don’t know how that could even be legal. Their names are Guy and Karen Dana and they travel in a Tiffin Phaeton.
They joined Ocean Canyon Properties at Tres Rios, and met a few of the people working there when they joined. What a small world. Told them we hope to see them back at Tres Rios at some point in the future.
June 20, 2021. Spent some hot days in Linn Valley not doing much. Did our normal shopping and also went out to visit the St. Philippine Duchesne Memorial Park where the nuns helped the Indians who ended up there from the Trail of Death that was forced on them walking from Indiana to Kansas.
From Linn Valley we headed south to Eagles Landing in Grove, Oklahoma. Heading back to Texas because of Jim’s PSA test; with stops in Houston over the 4th as Jacklyn and Sean are flying in. Since it’s Father’s Day Jim told Josh we were coming down. While at Eagles Landing, we drove to Vinita to visit the Eastern Trails Museum, which tells about the history of their little town.
On Father’s Day we packed up and drove south to another Coast to Coast park, Terra Starr in Checotah, Oklahoma. Boy, I should have noticed better what route our GPS was taking us. We were on Hwy 69 heading south and what a terrible road that was. There were so many ruts and holes that Jim was afraid we would bust a tire. For some reason our GPS took us off of Hwy 69 and headed us farther east down Hwy 64, then took us west on a rinky dink road for 8 miles. I have no idea why since I have it set on “fastest” route and that was surely not the fastest route.
We finally arrived and got a pull through FHU site. Unfortunately, when we were leaving the last place Jim discovered that the 50amp dog plug was fused to the EMS plug. We hooked into the 50amp plug here at Terra Starr but I have no idea what we are going to do at the other places we go to.
June 23, 2021. The road we had to take from Terra Starr was Hwy 69 south which started off with road construction and Jim started his ranting again about how bad the road was and that his nerves were going to be frazzled. He blames me for the routes we were taking even though this time I looked at three different places to figure the route and Waze and our GPS took us on the same route. He gets pretty when things don’t go totally smooth, and then gets mad and me for everything.
The road did not stay under construction for very long and then smoothed out but every now and then we went through rough spots. It seems so many roads in Oklahoma are horrible, even their turnpike is not smooth. Jim was happy to get into Texas and for some reason feels safer here than anywhere else.
One section of Oklahoma we drove through had a huge field of total yellow. Don’t know what type of vegetation is being grown, but it was a bright yellow.
Our site here at Shady Lake is very nice, compared to the other over night sites, which are so close together that there is a patch of grass about four feet wide, not enough to put out an awning or chairs. The site they have us was No. 1, which faces the Lake and has a dock right out of our door. Even though we will be here only two days, I put out the carpet and awning.
Our friend Theresa Pye shared something on FB that she and her hubby want to do, which is a train excursion leaving out of Palestine, Texas on a four hour excursion. I looked it up and discovered it was 25 miles from the campground we are staying at in Grapeland. So, I booked us a trip for Friday morning.
June 26, 2021. Took the Texas State Railroad train ride Friday morning into the afternoon. We got there just in time to stand in line and get our tickets and board the train. It left right at 11am, on schedule. The ride was OK; we were in the open air car and enjoyed the breeze coming through the windows. Trouble is, all you could see on the ride was trees on both sides of the railway. There was the occasional field, goat pens, and small towns, but most of the time there was nothing to see. The ride was 1-1/2 hours to Rusk where we got off the train and went to the concession to pick up lunch. The lunch was actually very good; I got a chicken salad on wheat bread with chips and water. Jim got a hotdog and beer.
There are picnic tables for us to sit at and we found one in the shade. There were some people walking around looking for somewhere to sit, and Jim told them to come and join us. We sat and talked with them through lunch; one lady was down from Oregon visiting and she was intrigued with our travels. She has an RV but does not full time. Jim gave her a card and she wanted to know our three best and three worst things about RVing. She then came into our car and took our picture so she could post it on her FB page.
Last night Jim woke me up around midnight telling me he is getting bit up, so he got a flashlight to see what was biting him. Turned out to be a bed bug, a big one to boot. So I got up with a flashlight and we started looking at the couch to see if we could find more. And we did – found them infested in the curtains above the couch, in the beige blanket under the curtains, and in the gold curtain by the window. I ended up spraying everything and then took them all down, ripped off the couch over and threw it all out in the yard. I also took out the blue blanket that was under the couch and the three pillows I use for insulation. Everything I could get went out in the yard. Then I sprayed everything down.
This morning I vacuumed the trailer and then after lunch took everything I threw out to the laundromat. I put the three white pillows and the four blue pillows in the dryer on high heat for 40 minutes. Then I washed everything else in hot water and then dried them. I did not dry the curtains as they have this backing on them that kind of melted a little from the hot water wash, so I did not think they should go in the dryer.
June 30, 2021. So far no more bed bugs on the couch or around it. I still cannot tell whether they are not around the bed though. I still seem to be getting bit on my arms, yet when I wake up in the middle of the night and look for the critters, I have not found any.
So, from Salmon Lake, on Sunday we drove south to Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, where we are staying until Thursday. We met the lady across from us when Jim offered to help her back up and hook up. She is traveling alone and welcomed the help. She came over and talked a bit, then introduced us to another couple walking by. They stayed and talked for a while.
One day we drove to Huntsville to visit the Sam Houston Museum, which is around the university. Very interesting houses of his, gardens, cook house, etc. From there we went to the statute, which we have seen on our way north and south on I-45. There is a visitor center off Hwy 75 and a short walk to the statute.
The next day we drove to The Preserve in Cleveland, Texas. It is something I saw when searching for places to buy land to retire. It’s a huge place and has been around since the 80s. They have gone through 4 owners and this one is the 4th. We were given a tour by the sales person in their Jeep. They have a lot of vacant lots that need to be cleared and some that have already been cleared. The streets however are not paved and still dirt and rutty. It looks good on the website, but not what we are looking for.
From there we drove to Texas Campgrounds Club in Conroe, which we learned about from a couple we met at Mammoth Cave Thousand Trails. We lucked out going in as there is a gate and someone went in first, and we drove in right after. This is a weird place as well – the street was gravel and narrow, one car at a time. We drove in looking at the places; some houses, lots of RVs and very hard to figure out where to go. The roads did not show up on the GPS as we drove around, then started going down one road and saw a sign that said no heavy trucks or RVs over the bridge (1 ton). As we are 4 tons, we turned around and went back out the way we went in. So here is another place to cross off of my list. Luckily on the way out, people were coming in and let us out before they came in.
Back at TT, a couple pulled in behind us and of course Jim had to go over and talk with them. More patriots and people we got along with. The lady, Karen, paints rocks, which I discovered through a young girl who showed me her rock, and since I told her how wonderful it was, she took me over to Karen to talk with her. And that’s when I discovered they were right behind us and Jim had already been talking to them. So of course I talked with her for a while, and just wish we did not have to leave because I would have enjoyed talking with them more.
We have to leave the Thousand Trails on July 1 because I could not get a reservation any longer than that.
Jim and I had already decided that we were not coming back to their house. We would go to Jim Urban’s place if we did come back to the Sebastian area.
We went to church on Easter Sunday morning to St. Sebastian Catholic Church. It was a very nice service, much different than any other Catholic Church I had been to. Right after the service we left for WPB, which was over an 1-1/2 drive. We had a nice dinner and visit with their relatives and sat with Bill & Julie for a short time in the living room. Woody did a very nice job on his new house. He buys a house that needs work, fixes it up, lives in it for two years, then sells it for a profit. Rachael really likes the way this house was fixed up, so they don’t know if they will move again or not.
After leaving there, we drove to Jupiter to visit with Garrett & Rene, who were at their neighbor’s house for Easter dinner. We arrived right at dinner, so we were able to grab more to eat. Then they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Jacob, their son, is seven now and still looks like Garrett. He has curly blond hair, which must have come from Rene or a recessed gene from Bill.
Last night we had dinner with Bill & Julie, after I bought all the stuff for dinner while we were at Walmart. That’s OK though, they have done a lot for us. It was kind of strained, and even Jim felt it which he mentioned later than evening when we had gone back to the trailer. We both thought Bill was reserved and a bit aloof, as if he wanted to say something but never did.
Today, Tuesday, we are leaving for Rose Bay in Port Orange, FL for four days. This is an Encore resort, so still free. It’s right where Jim Urban’s girlfriend, Nancy, lives so we will be seeing them today. It’s unfortunate that we are looking forward to leaving here.
April 10, 2021. Had a nice visit at Rose Bay. We did go over to Nancy’s house for a visit. She was very nice; friendly and did talk a lot. We felt very at home there and she made us feel welcome as well.
Did not go to visit anything in the area. We did meet some of our neighbors and one of them Dan, helped Jim with the truck. Jim Urban looked underneath and said there was a leak on the differential. So Dan got down and looked as well. He said there was still a lot of oil in the differential, but we should get it looked at.
I broke the strap that we use to pull the awning down and found a small RV store down the road and bought a new one. Bay Rose is not that big of a park but I did find a pond that I was able to walk around half way, then I walked around the park for the rest of our walk.
April 14, 2021. On Saturday we left Rose Bay and went to Walkabout in Woodbine, Georgia, near St. Mary’s, Georgia. We’ve stayed here before in 2019 and they were fixing up the park adding new sites. Now the sites are all done, but we still got a site in the front row. They did finish the walking trail, which is also an ATV trail for their family. I enjoyed walking the trail and was able to let Lucy loose as well.
I wanted to get in touch with Jennifer Cody, but did not have her phone number. So I called Marilyn, whom I have not talked to in quite a while. It was really nice talking to her again. I got Jennifer’s number from her, but it was her home number and when I called got no answer left a message. It was a few days later when I got a text from Jennifer telling me that they were in Texas visiting the grandkids while we were there at St. Marys.
April 17, 2021. On Wednesday we left Walkabout and headed to Sweetwater Lake Campground in St. Matthews, South Carolina where Jake & Robyn are staying. They came over after they got off of work, and we sat around our site before going to get take out for dinner. They don’t like sitting by their site because the owners brought in a bunch of oil workers and line workers and stuck them on either side of them, making their site a whole lot smaller.
This made them a bit angry and so they found a new campground to move to which is a lot closer to where they work. They will be moving at the end of the month.
We drove into Orangeburg Friday afternoon to Ollie’s Bargain Store but I did not find anything that I was looking for. Friday night I cooked dinner for us all, and we talked a whole bunch. Also got a picture taken of the four of us to send to Josh.
The campground has a road that goes around Sweetwater Lake, which I had been walking on to take Lucy out. They have four dogs which are not very friendly so today I walked on the road to get to the field bypassing the house and dogs. Well, the owner was out on his ATV and told me I was not aloud to walk there anymore. Did I not see the sign that said “stop, etc.” and I told him I figured it was for vehicles, not pedestrians. He told me that he leases out the field for hunters, but then his kids ride their ATVs in the field in the evening, so I know he was lying since he was also riding his out there.
Robyn had to drive to Statesboro to take care of Jake’s father for a few days, so we will be gone by the time she gets back. Both of them left this evening to drive down there and Jake said he would be back on Monday and would see us then.
April 21, 2021. Jake came back to the campground Monday evening and spent it with us at our campsite. I went in to take a shower only to discover luke warm water coming out of the shower. I proceeded to put on my robe and go outside and ask Jim to look at the water heater, maybe flipping the by pass valve as that was our problem last time. Well, I ended up doing that, and then we checked the temperature of the water coming out of the tank itself, and it was not hot. Great. Then we tried putting on the propane to heat the water; it came on and stayed for a minute then went out. It did this over and over and we eventually just shut it off.
Jake went down to his trailer and turned on his water heater and I went down there to shower as it was hair washing night. Jim and Jake showed up at his trailer just as I was finishing up, so Jake stayed and I drove Jim and me back to our trailer. Jim took a luke warm shower that night.
Tuesday we called Dometic and talked with a technician about the water heater checking the voltage on the wires coming out of the control board. He eventually diagnosed our problem as a defective control board. We then proceeded to finish packing up and heading down to the black water dump before heading out.
When we got to North Shore Landing in Greensboro, Georgia and after setting up and taking Lucy for her afternoon walk, I started looking for a control board. Found a few but did not order anything as I wanted to talk with the places first. But we decided to try turning on the propane to the water heater, and what do you know, it fired up and stayed on, heating the water up just fine. Go figure.
Next day I was looking and reading the information and some places talked about the reset switch on the back of the water heater. So on a fluke I decided to go out and play with it. It was right there on the side of the heater and I pushed it on and off a few times. Funny thing though, I would not stay off. It also had a bunch of gunk on the off side. I then went back inside and turned on the electric switch to the water heater. After a time I turned on the hot water and sure enough, the water was getting hot. It’s just weird.
Josh called last night to talk a bit while he was on his way to pick Ellie up from Girl Scouts. Told us she one 1st place in a 10K run at Deer Park that was set up as a fund raiser. He is also going camping this weekend with Jason and his scout troop. He is looking forward to meeting Sean in July and then in August Ellie is going to fly to Florida to spend the week with Jacklyn, Sean and Jayden.
April 24, 2021. Thursday the 22nd we were planning on driving to visit with Kathie & Randy, and even though it was an hour drive, we were going to drive back to North Shore. However, Kathie kept asking if we were going to spend the night, and I got the idea that maybe we should take the trailer to their house and spend the night in their front yard. So we called Kathie and proposed that idea and she thought it was good. So we pulled up stakes at North Shore on Thursday morning and drove to their house.
We pulled up into their front yard and leveled out the trailer, got set up with water and electric and then went in to visit. We had a great time there and enjoyed our evening with them. Errick came home about 9pm and we sat up and talked with him a while before heading to the trailer for the night.
Friday we headed down to Warm Springs, Georgia to Ramsey RV Park where we met up with Harry Trott on Saturday. We took Hwy 20 down from Conyers, stopping for gas on Hwy 20 just after I-20. Jim likes Shell as he has a Shell credit card and we get $ off each gallon. So we pulled into this gas station only to say Uh Oh – we are in trouble. Most gas stations are not set up for vehicles pulling trailers, and this one had a grate that had fallen in, which was right in our path. So our only alternative was to back out into traffic, and traffic there was as Hwy 20 is very busy. Luckily, Jim mentioned this to another man who was pumping gas and he said he would help us back up on Hwy 20. So he put on an orange vest and I put on an orange vest and we went into the street, waited for the traffic to subside, and directed Jim to back out into the street. Back on the road we headed to Hampton, then other back roads to Warm Springs. After having to back up into traffic, the rest of the trip was horrible; the traffic was heavy and we had to sit and wait for about a half hour waiting for a traffic accident to be cleared.
We had not seen Harry for quite a few years, I think the last time was when he and Rose came to our house on Greenhaven, so that had to have been around 2010 or 2011. He had sold all the properties he owned and bought a house in Manchester, Georgia. His sister has a house in Manchester and that is why he decided to move down there. His son, Tim, also moved down with him. Rose passed away quite a few years ago so it’s just the two of them now.
We had a great visit with Harry; went to lunch and sat at his house and talked for a few hours before heading back to the trailer.
April 30, 2021. On Sunday the 25th we drove from Warm Springs to Ft. Yargo. Going back we took a different route – up Hwy 85 to Hwy 138. This was a much better route; quiet and a lot less traffic. Jim was a lot happier taking this route.
Then when we got to Fort Yargo we ended up pulling into the driveway of the Old entrance. It’s the address shown on Google, their website and even on the Reservation site. But it’s wrong. We got ourselves into a pickle as the gate was closed. Luckily there were some people doing yard maintenance and Jim talked one of them into opening the gate for us.
I mentioned this to the young man who checked us in and then sent an email the to General Manager, who did answer me saying that it is a problem and she has been working on it for quite a while now.
Monday afternoon we went over to Jack & Tam’ra’s for the afternoon and dinner. We all went to the clubhouse to play a game of bocci ball. It was a lot of fun and quite easy to learn. We then took a walk around the clubhouse. After dinner Jack and I took another walk so I could walk Lucy again.
Tuesday morning we took the Excursion to Greene Ford for them to check out the rear differential. It was leaking and not really causing any issues, just that the fluid needed to be changed. Jim said he could have done that but he does not need to be crawling under the truck trying to empty the fluid, which only has a plug on the top and he would have had to siphon the fluid out. Jack & Tam’ra came to pick us up from Greene Ford and we went to the Gainesville Botanical Garden and then we went out to lunch before heading back to Greene Ford.
Left Lucy at the trailer and she seemed to have done quite well alone; watched her on Alfred; of course she was very happy to see us when we got home.
Wednesday was laundry day and then we stayed at the trailer in the afternoon. We went to Home Depot to buy a new short hose as the green one’s end broke off.
We worked on getting a get together at Fort Yargo, and were able to set one up for Thursday afternoon. Kathie & Randy came up and Jack & Tam’ra drove down. Dustin was also planning on coming but on his way the light for the power steering on this car came on and he decided not to drive all the way out and take his car to the dealer.
Anyway, we had a real nice time; I cooked burgers and we had a couple of green salads. I also baked the Cranberry, Mandarin Orange bread, which was a hit. After lunch we took a short walk down to the Yurts and then along the lake.
Friday was our day to leave Fort Yargo, and we headed out around 10:30. We had a three hour drive taking us all the way to Blacksburg, SC to Cherokee RV Park. This is a one night stay and tomorrow we drive to Lake Myers in Mocksville, North Carolina.
May 1, 2021. Driving the interstates here in the east is not much fun. Jim does not enjoy it at all, especially when there is road construction. People drive crazy as well, weaving in and out of traffic. We only had a 1-1/2 hour drive today but it seemed longer with all the traffic and crazy people.
The site we have here is a tough one. It seems like no one has been in it in a while; it’s small and not much room on our living side. The electric outlet looked burnt and had a piece missing out of it, so I mentioned it to the people working on the site and they had the manager come and look at it and she had the electrician come and replace it for us.
I had to rake the dead leaves away just so Jim could walk out of the trailer and not have to duck under the awning as there is a huge tree right at the point where he would walk out. When I put the awning out I usually wait before putting the picnic table under it, but today I moved the table first. Unfortunately, it was in the way of the awning when I tried to put it out and the awning caught on part of the table and put a small rip in it. Ugh. I was able to tape it underneath with waterproof tape, but we still need to figure out a way to fix the outside. The awning is also ripping along the side near the door where I was putting the clips so hopefully whatever we get will fix that as well.
May 5, 2021. On Sunday we went to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. The last time we were in the area we went to the Doll Museum and only glimpsed the Transportation Museum. I am glad we were able to visit it during this visit.
By Tuesday I had had enough of the site we were in. I think it was the absolute worst site we have ever been in. After calling the office I was given a few sites to look at, but while looking at one of the sites on the list I found another one which had just been vacated that morning. So Tuesday we moved into site A41. Boy what a difference. It’s relatively flat; I had to put 5 yellow blocks under the one side, but it’s flat front to back, where as the other side would never be level. We have a lot more room here and do not have a trailer to stare at when sitting outside. We are out in the open now.
Wednesday while cleaning the trailer I heard a big BOOM. First I thought the shampoo/soap holder had fallen off the wall in the bathroom, but upon checking, it was still intact. Walked outside where Jim was and we both started looking around. Found a branch had fallen on the roof; it did not seem like a huge branch but it sure made a loud noise.
And unfortunately, it also hit the bathroom shower dome and put a huge hole in it. Jim immediately got on the phone and talked with two mobile RV people. One was in the park and came and looked at it; put a cover over the dome and taped it down. However, he said they were booked and could not put a new one in. He gave me the dimensions and I started looking for one on Amazon. While in the process of searching, a second guy showed up to look at the damage. He looked at the dome, remeasured and helped me find a replacement on Amazon.
The one I found will be delivered on Tuesday and he said he would come back as soon as it comes in and replace it. I had to change some reservations – extending this place one day and changing our arrival at the next location.
Then we started talking with him about the front window and he told us that he had actually replaced the front window on an Award. Jim was very interested in him doing that with our window, so the guy said he would try and find the Lexan (smoked) and let us know if he could do it.
May 6, 2021. Took a trip to Mt. Airey, North Carolina, to visit the Andy Griffith Museum. We also went into downtown Mt. Airey to visit Floyd’s Barber Shop and the Diner. Then we went down the street to Wally’s Service Station. I was hoping that the police cars that were used in the series would have been parked in front of it, but they were all out doing tours and riding up and down Main Street showing off.
May 8, 2021. Friday afternoon Leslie Guerra and her Mom came to visit. We have been visiting friends and family on this trip and made a special trip to this area of North Carolina because I wanted to meet Leslie. It was wonderful to have her drive over to visit with us at the campground. At the same time another couple (Ron and Joann) came in and Jim invited them over to visit around our campfire. So all of us sat around and talked the afternoon away.
In the meantime, we got neighbors on our setup side and he came over to talk and visit. He and his wife were on a trip right after un-winterizing their trailer and was having an issue with getting hot water. I explained to him the two instances we had with our water heater, suggesting the first step is to determine if the hot water heater was working. Jim went over to help him, so the first thing to do is open the hot water heater on the outside of the trailer and open the valve to see if the water was indeed hot. If the water is hot, it most likely means the bypass valve is stuck. If the bypass valve is not working, it lets cold water into the hot water system, thus you get luke warm water coming out of the tap. Jim worked by bypass valve back and forth, which broke it loose, and now he had hot water.
We are always willing to help people when they need help. That’s what RVers do!!
Ron and Joann have an interesting Class B trailer; made in Canada and for it being so small, it has a lot of storage. I was really surprised at the amount it has and compared it to our friend’s Airstream, which has virtually no storage, and it’s larger than their Class B.
So the story as to how Leslie and I became friends is very interesting. She happens to have been a student of my long-time friend Karen. She and I lived across the street from each other in Maple Heights, Ohio for our whole lives. So I have known Karen from our very early childhood days. Karen went onto college, then eventually got her PhD in biology. She ended up in North Carolina as a tenured professor in biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I on the other hand, did not graduate from college but ended up in a corporate setting as a legal secretary for 27 years.
I think the difference between us is her being in the government education system her entire working life, whereas I was in the capitalist corporate world my entire working life. Needless to say, our political ideologies are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Maybe you can guess what we believe.
Anyway, Leslie would comment on Karen’s Facebook posts and I would end up liking Leslie’s comments, and would comment as well. Karen eventually unfriended both of us (me twice). I continued to post political things on FB and made a group in messenger with Leslie and two other women I know. I eventually got banned from FB in January. I tried to get back on, but it never worked. Not wanting to lose touch with Leslie as the only way we had been in touch was through FB messenger, I contacted one of the women whose phone number I had and asked her to have Leslie call me. She did and we had a wonderful conversation. I told her we were coming up her way and would love to meet her.
We had lunch here at the campground and sat around a campfire that just did not want to start as the wood was too fresh and wet. I think we eventually got the fire going good when it was time to head indoors for dinner.
I got a lovely card and bracelet from Sean and his daughter Jayden for Mother’s Day. Jayden drew the card and the bracelet is a small banded one with the inscription “Best Nonna Ever” on it. That was the sweetest and best Mother’s Day present. “Nonna” happens to be Grandmother in Italian. Since I am not officially her grandmother, she wanted to be able to call me something, so I suggested Nonna. I think it’s wonderful and I am blessed to have her as my unofficial granddaughter.
May 13, 2021. Sunday, Mother’s Day, just sat around. Got a call from Jacklyn in the morning.
After helping out Dave get his hot water heater working again, he went back to his house and got a truck full of wood and brought it to us. He was so thankful for our help that he wanted to pay us back, thus the wood. It was great though. Jim built a couple of fires and they were great because this wood was so seasoned it burned clean. We really enjoyed having the fires. Had Ron & Joann come and visit around the fire one night. And last night another couple that pulled in down the hill came up to talk and then the guy came back when we were sitting out around the fire.
Andy, the RV guy, came on Tuesday afternoon to replace the skylight, which arrived on Monday from Amazon. He got the old one off in no time, even though there was a bunch of Eternabond around it. He did a good job putting the inside back on and then the skylight itself. I bought “smoke” color but it sure seems lighter than smoke. The bathroom is so bright now, it’s crazy.
Wednesday we went to Labcorp to get Jim’s blood work and then just stayed at home; did laundry in between the rain. Glad we did not leave Wednesday as it rained off and on all day.
Thursday was our day to leave and it turned out to be warmer and sunny. Driving west on I-40 we hit the mountains; not big ones but the going up was really long and then having truckers all around was a bit unnerving for Jim. So instead of cooking tonight we went out to eat at Pin High Bar & Grill. It turned out to be in a country club and the food was good and fresh. The people were very friendly and came and talked to us while we sat there. It was great; we had a real good time.
May 16, 2021. Just before we were scheduled to leave Lake Myers, the Colonial Pipeline was hacked and the fuel was shut down from Texas all the way up the east coast to New York. We had ¾ of a tank coming back from Labcorp on Wednesday but topped off so we would have enough fuel to get to Waynesville.
While here the ransom was paid to the hackers but as of Sunday many of the gas stations here in Waynesville were still out of fuel. Jim is getting worried about what may go on in the country and wants to head back to Texas instead of traveling. I understand his concerns and I have them as well, so I guess that’s what I will do, albiet slowly.
Friday Bill, Julie & Barb drove down to visit. We went out to lunch and then went to the Wheels through Time Museum and Andy gave us a personal tour. We had a wonderful time there. After the museum closed, Andy came over to visit for a few hours.
Saturday afternoon we went to visit Phil Loyer, Karen’s father. He has a townhouse not too far from the campground in Waynesville. It sits on a hill and has a wonderful view of the mountains.
Lucy was a wreck on our way there; she started shaking and panting like crazy. She was OK after we got there and she was able to come into the house with us. After we got back from Phil's house, we sat next door and talked to our neighbors for a little while and then I fed her dinner.
However, throughout the evening she started having diarrhea and threw up and had Jim take her out numerous times before he came to bed at 3am. Then it was my turn and I got up with her and she still had some diarrhea and threw up a little.
Today Sunday I decided to stay home and let her rest. She did not eat her breakfast and has not drank much water. She has been sleeping most of the day; peed a bit but mostly is resting. She still has her energy so I'm just keeping an eye on her. I cannot figure out what she got into or if it was just her nerves acting up.
May 20, 2021. By the time we left Maggie Valley on Wednesday, Lucy was feeling much better. The drive on I-40 from Maggie Valley east toward Knoxville and our final destination of Crossville was not much fun. First we hit construction and then there were a lot of trucks and crazy drivers. It was a three hour drive and Jim was frazzled by the time we got to our destination.
Breckinridge Lake is a very small Coast to Coast park with no cell service. Luckily they have half way decent WiFi which we have to hook up to in order to get internet and telephone service. My Jet pack even with 2 bars will not give me any internet for my computer, so I am hooked up to the campground’s wifi.
Last night I was sitting outside of the trailer when a young woman came up to ask me about the sticker Tin Can Tourists that is on the back of our trailer. So we started talking and she invited me to the group campfire which happens to be behind our trailer to have a S’more. So I had a wonderful S’more and sat and talked with them for the evening. Her husband and son eventually got up and went into the clubhouse to play pool, and Jim ended up coming out of the trailer, heard about that, and went in and played with them.
They have a pretty nice clubhouse with pool table, couch, tables, big TV. The laundry room has three washing machines and three dyers, very reasonable.
Jim had a teleconference with his Doctor on Tuesday and his last blood work showed his PSA going up 10 points within the past year. So the doctor is putting him on an antibiotic to see if he might have prostitius, hoping that clears it up. If not, he will have to get a biopsy to see if there is any cancer showing up. In three weeks he will have to get another blood test.
So today we drove into Crossville to get his prescription, then saw a shoe store and went in to buy Jim a new pair of sandals and a belt, and I bought myself a pair of sketchers. Then we went into the country store, and finally the cheese shop and bought some goodies there.
We are now back in central time, and it’s always a chore trying to get used to a different time zone. I did not sleep much last night and with sunrise at 5:30am, I cannot figure out what time to get up. Lucy likes to get up with the sunrise, but I still did not get out of bed until after 6am.
May 22, 2021. Jim started on his antibiotics for the prostate, and it made him feel crummy. Some of the many side effects are diarrhea, dizziness, stomach upset, nausea/vomiting. So we did not end up going to any museums. We did drive into town to go to Verizon and then French’s again as the belt he bought was too big and he wanted to see if they had a smaller one. They have some really nice belts on sale from $70 to $15 so the popular sizes go fast.
My Amazon Kindle started acting up. Every time I tried turning the page, they went backwards instead of forward, then all the way to the beginning and would not go forward. I tried going on the internet to see if that would help but I could not get on the campground’s internet because the keyboard was going nuts. Every time I hit the “y” I got a “Q” or “A”. It automatically defaults to my Jetpack and since I cannot get any WiFi on the Jetpack, that is useless. Jim just said to wait until we get to a place that has decent internet service to see if my Kindle straightens out. If it doesn’t, I guess it’s time to buy a new one. I bought this one when we first went to work for Amazon in 2012.
May 27, 2021. On Monday the 24th the park had a group come in to entertain us for an hour – The Rough & Tumble. They are a young couple who sing and tell stories. They also play guitar, harmonica, accordion, and ukulele. They were very good, and I thought they would be a good act for a TCT rally.
On Wednesday we left Breckinridge and made our way through the back roads of Tennessee to Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails in Park City, Kentucky. We now at least have some decent internet; only two bars on my phone but at least it is not buffering. Television on the other hand, does not seem too good. Last time we were here I put in my RV description that OTA television was good, but I don’t remember what stations we got. But we do have internet television so we just have to hook up to the tablet for internet.
Kentucky has a Democrat governor and the National Park has limited tours right now and I noticed that the museums I want to go to mention mask wearing to tour the museums.
The breaker on the main electrical box tripped twice this morning. Our neighbor is on the same leg and his electric went out too. The TT worker came by and reset the breaker, and then it tripped again shortly after that. This time Jim went and reset the breaker, but as we were worried about it tripping again, we turned off the A/C and opened the windows and turned on the overhead fan. We contacted the office and they said they would have an electrician come and replace the breaker.
Well, since that was happening we decided to stay around the trailer and not go out. I kept asking them when we could expect the electrician and were told he was coming. It was not until about 5:30 pm when he finally showed up. Jim walked over to talk with him and when he took out the breaker it was hot, and that was with minimal load on it.
We are now able to run our A/C and other electric appliances with no worry about the breaker tripping. We were told that the middle portion of the park is very old, that it used to be an old KOA from the 1950s, and that maybe the electrical has not been changed since then. I noticed they paved the road in here, but did nothing with the old and decrepit electrical breakers.
One guy told us that they were not allowed to mess with the electrical because at one resort the wiring was put in wrong and it caught a trailer on fire. Well, that is one reason I always check the voltage and polarity before we even plug in. We did encounter reverse polarity at one campground; told them about it, and they did nothing about it.
I am enjoying my walks with Lucy on the trail into Mammoth Cave NP. It’s level, gravel and easy to walk. Very quiet and enjoyable to be out in the woods with no one around.
May 29, 2021. Today we went to the Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum in Cave City. That was a pretty cool place. It has over 20 displays of bugs, moths and butterflies from around the world. From there we went into the animal area. The animals the owner collected came from the 1960s and some of the displays looked old. The animals were displayed in their natural habitat with a short explanation of each animal.
June 1, 2021. Memorial Day we went to Walmart for our weekly grocery shopping. We were going to get an oil change and tire rotation, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. It was so backed up we decided to go back the next day. So Tuesday we went back and were first in line for an oil change. It seemed like it took forever so Jim asked what was going on. Seems that the last place we had an oil change, which was in Abita Springs and the little garage in town, they stripped the oil plug and torqued the oil filter on too hard. The Walmart guy had to put in a new plug and eventually got the filter off.
After the oil change, they moved the car into the other bay to do the tire rotation. When we got home I checked the air pressure as I like to have more in the rear tires than the front. I looked at the tires and was wondering why there was no cover on the rear tires. We figured out that they kept the hubcaps on the respective tire instead of switching them so that the front hubcap was open since they have the four wheel drive hub.
June 3, 2021. Wednesday we headed out from Diamond Caverns. It was a rainy day and I knew it was going to rain so I put most of the stuff away on Tuesday along with doing laundry. We are making two stops before our final destination in Owensville, Missouri.
First stop was Tween the Lakes campground in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. That was a weird campground; on hills with the concrete pad just wide enough for the rig and a small step out of the trailer before heading down a hill. I put the awning out to dry because it did rain that night but dried out enough by the time we left on Thursday. One nice thing about this campground is that there was a multi-use trail at the end of the campground where Lucy and I were able to walk. It was a nice paved trail and in the morning we walked all the way to the Tennessee River, which was over 1.5 miles one way.
Thursday we headed to Timber Run campground in Perryville, Missouri. It’s an OK place and pretty empty. We have a nice site, although not level. There is a trail at the back of the campground that goes down to the lake, which Lucy and I walked this afternoon.
June 8, 2021. Spent one night at Timber Run, and from there we headed to Owensville, Missouri to Lost Valley Lake campground, a Coast to Coast, so this place does not cost us anything to stay here. We will be here from June 4-10.
Took a few walks in the woods with Lucy and ended up with ticks. I recall when we were in Branson the ticks were real bad; and since this is now tick season, I have decided to stay out of the woods and just walk on the concrete sidewalk by the lake. I still feel like things are crawling all over me and am constantly checking myself.
Took Lucy to the vet Monday morning to get her rabies shot and annual 9-way. I read her previous rabies paperwork wrong and thought she was due in 2021 for her rabies shot, but it was actually 2022. But I went ahead and got her another rabies shot along with the 9-way. Heck, I drove over ½ hour to get to the vets, and it was inexpensive to get the shots. Lucy weighed in a 31 pounds and in good health.
Then the stupid GPS (Sheila) had me turn a different way to get back to the campground and I ended up on back roads that were all dirt. I think she was trying to get me to the old entrance. Took over a half hour of driving in a round about direction before I made it back to the correct entrance to the campground. Using the phone GPS was useless as most of the area around here there is no service.
Jim finished his antibiotics to see if that would bring his prostate numbers down, and either Tuesday or Wednesday we will head to Labcorp to get his blood work.
June 10, 2021. Drove over 70 miles one way to get to Wentzville, MO to Labcorp. Since we were in a large down, we went to the UPS store so I could send a return back to Amazon. Also, the showerhead shut off valve broke on me so we stopped at Lowes to buy a new one. I think Jim fixed the old one, but for $6 we just bought a new one.
Our crazy GPS took us on back roads from the campground to I-70. That was quite nerve racking – these roads curve all over the place and you cannot drive very fast. One left turn I had to make was going up a hill with a truck behind me over a blind hill. I slowed down a little bit but then just gunned it and turned.
After our errands we went to Applebees for lunch before driving 1-1/2 hours back to the campground.
June 10, 2021. As we were leaving Lost Valley we headed west on Hwy ZZ to Hwy 50. When we were heading into Jefferson City Jim went to pass and the truck and trailer swayed. Very odd as it never does anything like that. I asked about it, and he did not know why we swayed like that. Our trailer tows with no problems. When we arrived in Jefferson City he decided he wanted to stop and pee, so we pulled into a small shopping center with a Subway (his favorite). After we parked he walked out to go into the trailer and discovered the rear tire on the curb side was flat. That must have been why we swayed.
He then straightened out the trailer and went to Subway to get a sub while I called our roadside assistance, which we have through Escapees. It took a little bit, but the woman at the roadside place found a company in Jefferson City who had a mobile service. In the meantime I looked at the tire and discovered a tear on the inner side. Pomps made it out to us about 4pm and we were sure glad to see him. It was in the 90s all afternoon and the sun beat down on us; it was boiling.
He tried putting the trailer up with a jack, but did not see that it would work well, so I said I had a way to get one tire off the ground, which I have done in the past when we had to get higher than the Anderson levelers would get us. So I took Jim up on the Andersons and then put 6 yellow blocks in front so he could roll up on those. Gets the other tire off the ground very good.
We ended up getting two tires. The other one had a small bump on it, but it was equal on both sides. The guy said if it was him, he would change it. And it just so happened that he brought two tires with him. So he put two new tires on and then changed out the spare tire with the good tire.
We left there about 5:30 and got to our nightly stop at Bluebird RV Park in Cole Camp, Missouri. Small park; gravel but FHU. Owner was very nice and actually was a very nice site.
June 11, 2021. Got Jim’s Lab test already on his PSA count. It went down to 15.1, which is about 3 points. As it’s Friday, Dr. Barnes does not work in his office on Friday, so I guess we will hear from him next week as to what he recommends us do. Jim said he’s inclined to keep traveling, but I’m not so sure we should.
We left Cole Camp and got to Linn Valley in Linn Valley, Kansas in the afternoon. Drove around the camping area for a bit trying to find a fairly level site. Most of them are not completely level, but we eventually found one in the 50amp section. We will be here 6 nights so wanted to get a good one. After I put out everything, and took Lucy for a walk, we checked on the weather again. There was a severe storm heading through Kansas City and did not think it would come down to us, but it looked like it was going to hit us anyway. The wind started really blowing straight at the side and the awning was jumping. I yelled to Jim to come out and help me take the awning down a little and he decided we should just roll it up to be safe. The flag had flown off the table and the two tables blew over. So I put everything up, laid the tables and chairs down and put the other stuff under the trailer so it would not get wet if it rains.
June 13, 2021. The rain storm that we thought would come upon us never came. We did get the wind front but no rain. The whole storm just skirted right below us.
I decided to update our location on RVillage, which I often forget to do, and then I look for other members in the park. There were three of us at this park; I look at their information but never do anything about it. I am also set up to receive emails from RVillage members. This time I got an email from one of the members – “We are right next door.” I had talked briefly to them when we were pulling in and setting up because Jim always yells at me about different things when we set up. This time it was because I did not check to make sure we had water before starting to unhook the trailer.
Anyway, the man came out later after we were set up and introduced himself. Seems we are all very like minded and he likes our Trump sign that I put out. When Jim went out later they talked quite a bit, and then Jim invited them over yesterday afternoon to talk, which they did. It was wonderful getting to know them; very interesting couple who could not wait to get out of California and way from Newsome. They sold everything and established residence in Texas. He said that Newsome has a bill to make people who move out of California still pay state taxes for 10 years after they move. I don’t know how that could even be legal. Their names are Guy and Karen Dana and they travel in a Tiffin Phaeton.
They joined Ocean Canyon Properties at Tres Rios, and met a few of the people working there when they joined. What a small world. Told them we hope to see them back at Tres Rios at some point in the future.
June 20, 2021. Spent some hot days in Linn Valley not doing much. Did our normal shopping and also went out to visit the St. Philippine Duchesne Memorial Park where the nuns helped the Indians who ended up there from the Trail of Death that was forced on them walking from Indiana to Kansas.
From Linn Valley we headed south to Eagles Landing in Grove, Oklahoma. Heading back to Texas because of Jim’s PSA test; with stops in Houston over the 4th as Jacklyn and Sean are flying in. Since it’s Father’s Day Jim told Josh we were coming down. While at Eagles Landing, we drove to Vinita to visit the Eastern Trails Museum, which tells about the history of their little town.
On Father’s Day we packed up and drove south to another Coast to Coast park, Terra Starr in Checotah, Oklahoma. Boy, I should have noticed better what route our GPS was taking us. We were on Hwy 69 heading south and what a terrible road that was. There were so many ruts and holes that Jim was afraid we would bust a tire. For some reason our GPS took us off of Hwy 69 and headed us farther east down Hwy 64, then took us west on a rinky dink road for 8 miles. I have no idea why since I have it set on “fastest” route and that was surely not the fastest route.
We finally arrived and got a pull through FHU site. Unfortunately, when we were leaving the last place Jim discovered that the 50amp dog plug was fused to the EMS plug. We hooked into the 50amp plug here at Terra Starr but I have no idea what we are going to do at the other places we go to.
June 23, 2021. The road we had to take from Terra Starr was Hwy 69 south which started off with road construction and Jim started his ranting again about how bad the road was and that his nerves were going to be frazzled. He blames me for the routes we were taking even though this time I looked at three different places to figure the route and Waze and our GPS took us on the same route. He gets pretty when things don’t go totally smooth, and then gets mad and me for everything.
The road did not stay under construction for very long and then smoothed out but every now and then we went through rough spots. It seems so many roads in Oklahoma are horrible, even their turnpike is not smooth. Jim was happy to get into Texas and for some reason feels safer here than anywhere else.
One section of Oklahoma we drove through had a huge field of total yellow. Don’t know what type of vegetation is being grown, but it was a bright yellow.
Our site here at Shady Lake is very nice, compared to the other over night sites, which are so close together that there is a patch of grass about four feet wide, not enough to put out an awning or chairs. The site they have us was No. 1, which faces the Lake and has a dock right out of our door. Even though we will be here only two days, I put out the carpet and awning.
Our friend Theresa Pye shared something on FB that she and her hubby want to do, which is a train excursion leaving out of Palestine, Texas on a four hour excursion. I looked it up and discovered it was 25 miles from the campground we are staying at in Grapeland. So, I booked us a trip for Friday morning.
June 26, 2021. Took the Texas State Railroad train ride Friday morning into the afternoon. We got there just in time to stand in line and get our tickets and board the train. It left right at 11am, on schedule. The ride was OK; we were in the open air car and enjoyed the breeze coming through the windows. Trouble is, all you could see on the ride was trees on both sides of the railway. There was the occasional field, goat pens, and small towns, but most of the time there was nothing to see. The ride was 1-1/2 hours to Rusk where we got off the train and went to the concession to pick up lunch. The lunch was actually very good; I got a chicken salad on wheat bread with chips and water. Jim got a hotdog and beer.
There are picnic tables for us to sit at and we found one in the shade. There were some people walking around looking for somewhere to sit, and Jim told them to come and join us. We sat and talked with them through lunch; one lady was down from Oregon visiting and she was intrigued with our travels. She has an RV but does not full time. Jim gave her a card and she wanted to know our three best and three worst things about RVing. She then came into our car and took our picture so she could post it on her FB page.
Last night Jim woke me up around midnight telling me he is getting bit up, so he got a flashlight to see what was biting him. Turned out to be a bed bug, a big one to boot. So I got up with a flashlight and we started looking at the couch to see if we could find more. And we did – found them infested in the curtains above the couch, in the beige blanket under the curtains, and in the gold curtain by the window. I ended up spraying everything and then took them all down, ripped off the couch over and threw it all out in the yard. I also took out the blue blanket that was under the couch and the three pillows I use for insulation. Everything I could get went out in the yard. Then I sprayed everything down.
This morning I vacuumed the trailer and then after lunch took everything I threw out to the laundromat. I put the three white pillows and the four blue pillows in the dryer on high heat for 40 minutes. Then I washed everything else in hot water and then dried them. I did not dry the curtains as they have this backing on them that kind of melted a little from the hot water wash, so I did not think they should go in the dryer.
June 30, 2021. So far no more bed bugs on the couch or around it. I still cannot tell whether they are not around the bed though. I still seem to be getting bit on my arms, yet when I wake up in the middle of the night and look for the critters, I have not found any.
So, from Salmon Lake, on Sunday we drove south to Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, where we are staying until Thursday. We met the lady across from us when Jim offered to help her back up and hook up. She is traveling alone and welcomed the help. She came over and talked a bit, then introduced us to another couple walking by. They stayed and talked for a while.
One day we drove to Huntsville to visit the Sam Houston Museum, which is around the university. Very interesting houses of his, gardens, cook house, etc. From there we went to the statute, which we have seen on our way north and south on I-45. There is a visitor center off Hwy 75 and a short walk to the statute.
The next day we drove to The Preserve in Cleveland, Texas. It is something I saw when searching for places to buy land to retire. It’s a huge place and has been around since the 80s. They have gone through 4 owners and this one is the 4th. We were given a tour by the sales person in their Jeep. They have a lot of vacant lots that need to be cleared and some that have already been cleared. The streets however are not paved and still dirt and rutty. It looks good on the website, but not what we are looking for.
From there we drove to Texas Campgrounds Club in Conroe, which we learned about from a couple we met at Mammoth Cave Thousand Trails. We lucked out going in as there is a gate and someone went in first, and we drove in right after. This is a weird place as well – the street was gravel and narrow, one car at a time. We drove in looking at the places; some houses, lots of RVs and very hard to figure out where to go. The roads did not show up on the GPS as we drove around, then started going down one road and saw a sign that said no heavy trucks or RVs over the bridge (1 ton). As we are 4 tons, we turned around and went back out the way we went in. So here is another place to cross off of my list. Luckily on the way out, people were coming in and let us out before they came in.
Back at TT, a couple pulled in behind us and of course Jim had to go over and talk with them. More patriots and people we got along with. The lady, Karen, paints rocks, which I discovered through a young girl who showed me her rock, and since I told her how wonderful it was, she took me over to Karen to talk with her. And that’s when I discovered they were right behind us and Jim had already been talking to them. So of course I talked with her for a while, and just wish we did not have to leave because I would have enjoyed talking with them more.
We have to leave the Thousand Trails on July 1 because I could not get a reservation any longer than that.