ON THE ROAD AGAIN -- FINALLY!

Hi all, Dianne here.   Well, after a year and a half we were ready to once again hit the road.  First, there were a few preparations: 

All of our outdoor furnishings had to be put inside the casita.   This is a rule in our neighborhood, in case there is a hurricane while residents are out exploring the USA.  Our patio looked pretty lonely…

The big day finally arrived, and we were loaded up and ready to go.

 We had one extra passenger for the first portion of our trip. Izzy, a/k/a Isobel Jones, was our house guest the last few weeks we were home.  Izzy’s parents, our good friends Greg and Barb, had a prior commitment to house sit near Asheville, North Carolina and were not able to have Izzy accompany them.  Since we were also headed to North Carolina and the dates jived up perfectly, Izzy stayed with us in Texas and then made the trip to North Carolina with us, to be delivered to Barb and Greg after their house-sitting duties were finished.   As you can see, traveling with one extra dog was really not an issue; Izzy is the perfect house AND rv guest.



Tequila, on the other hand, was always on the lookout for a snack!

Our first overnight stop was at Shady Oaks Campground near Ganados, Texas (see opening photo).  We stopped a bit earlier than we had planned, because all of the campgrounds closer to Houston were “no vacancy” due to oil workers.   Our second day took us to Lakeside RV Park in Livingston, Louisiana.  Our third day gave us our first “adventure” of this summer’s trip…

   As the afternoon progressed, we were trying to outrun a series of thunderstorms that were chasing us across the state of Alabama.  Tuscaloosa was our intended stop for the day.  Roger had had a very difficult time finding a spot to park near Tuscaloosa.  We decided it was too hot to boondock at a Walmart, so we headed to the only private campground in the area.  I’ll let Roger continue the narrative from here….   


 The campground was only about a mile from the interstate and was rated 3.5 stars on RV Park Reviews.  Good news so far.  When we arrived at the “office”, just as the storm was knocking down tree limbs, we found the door locked.  A sign on the door said to go to the welcome center to fill out a self registration.  I ran down the street and found a ramshackle building.  It must have been 100 degrees inside and dark enough to make reading a strain on the eyes.  The hand-scribbled directions said to locate the park map on the wall and pick out a vacant site.  As I was trying to decipher the map, boom --- thunder.  I grabbed a registration card and ran back to the motorhome.  Dianne was urging (very polite verb to describe the intensity of her “suggestion”) me to move the motor home away from the falling limbs and out into one of the empty spaces ahead.  All of them were empty.  We parked in one of the spots and waited until the worst of the storm passed before connecting the electricity which did actually work.

Twenty minutes later, the storm had passed, so we took a walk around the park.  The broken lawn furniture tossed in the woods was a precursor to what we already surmised to be the ambiance of the place.

 This must be one of the deluxe sites.  It obviously was because of the extra amenities --- Adirondack chair (only a couple of missing slats) and most of a privacy fence.

 The view from our motor home gives a clear view of the neighborhood.  We did talk about leaving, but since there did not seem to be any viable options, we locked the doors and watched the forest for peering eyes and listened for banjo music.  We knew Bandido and Izzy would be our first-alert system if anyone came near.


  We awoke the next morning in one piece, unhooked, and departed without ever seeing another soul.   A Twilight Zone experience.

On to Chattanooga and the very nice    Best Holiday Trav-L-Park for two nights, just off the interstate.  The purpose of our stop here was to visit my cousin, Beth, her kids, and her grandkids.  Beth and I were part of a very close extended family.  In our youth, every Sunday involved a trip to grandma and grandpa’s for dinner and fun at the farm and apple orchard.  Simpler times.  We went to the same school, were in the same grade, had the same teachers, and graduated from high school together.  Beth was, and is, more like a sister to me than a cousin.  We had a delicious dinner at her house with her two daughters and three grandkids.

After dinner, young Ethan asked me to help him make his “building” taller.  Someone actually asked me to make something taller!  I got to play with toys.  What fun.  (Roger was really in his element – D.)

The next day Beth arranged for the three of us to do the coolest thing.  At the ESCAPE CHATTANOOGA EXPERIENCE we were handcuffed and locked in a room (resembling a prison cell).  We were given one hour to discover the clues, props and puzzles that would enable us to escape.  It was a rush every time we figured something out.  We promised not to reveal any of the secrets, so I won’t, but it was a unique experience that had us laughing throughout.  Alas, we were not among the 42% who found their way out within an hour.

After our failed escape, Beth took us to the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Chattanooga for some excellent pizza. 

 We at outside in a small city that has a whole lot going for it.  The city fathers have made some wise decisions with the development of the downtown area.  Lots to do and see here.  Neat town. 

Our next stop is in the mountains of North Carolina for fun and adventures at the RV Dreams Rally.  More on that next time.   We will be updating our blog on a regular basis again, now that we’re traveling.

The Pet Picture of the Day was taken at the dog park at our Chattanooga campground.  It was simple to get Izzy and Bandido to climb onto the agility bridge.  1.  Put tennis ball on top  2.  Watch Bandido run to top.  3. Watch Izzy run after Bandido.

More Chattanooga Fun + Trip North

Hi all - Dianne here.     I walked around the campground on our final day at Chester Frost Park to photograph a few of my favorite things.

 There are some beautiful trees and plantings in the park, and Hamilton County, TN is meticulous in caring for them.

On Tuesday evening, we hosted Beth and Russ for dinner at our camp site. They fed us three nights in a row while we were in Chattanooga, so I still owe them a few meals to make up for their wonderful hospitality!   

On Tuesday, we had an enjoyable evening chatting outside, eating, and even a quick campfire before we said good-bye for now.  

The good thing about full-timing, is that we can visit relatives wherever they might live around the U.S.

 Just know that if you live north of the Mason-Dixon line, our visits would have to be in the spring/summer/fall! No more worries about frozen water lines for us.

Wednesday morning we left Chattanooga and had an uneventful drive north.  We made it all the way to Southern Indiana before we felt the need to stop.  We spent Wednesday night at a charming rural campground called "Little Farm on the River" outside Rising Sun, Indiana.   It is very close to the Ohio River, and also close to a casino, if you are into that sort of thing (we're not). 

We can tell that we're back in Indiana, for our view out the front windshield is a bucolic setting of rolling hills, fields, an old barn, and a new pole barn built right next to it! (As lovely as old barns are, real farmers are a practical lot.)

Tomorrow we make our way to Anderson, Indiana for a few days' stay at Mounds State Park while we drive to our house and do some much-overdue yard work. We will still try to update our blog while we're home, but I know we'll be pretty busy for a while. 

Chester Frost Park/Chattanooga, TN + Cousins

Dianne here -- we left Lake Lanier and worked our way slightly north for a brief stay at Chester Frost Park outside Chattanooga, TN. What a beautiful county park! Lake Chickamauga, rolling hills, tall pines, beautiful landscaping, and mountains as a backdrop.

This park is clean and well maintained. The folks here in Hamilton County, Tennessee should be very proud of their park. The sites right on the lake (BEAUTIFUL VIEWS) have a 14-day limit.

Other sites can be used for 28 days, then you must vacate for a week before coming back. Chester Frost does not take

reservations, so the procedure is that you check in, go find a site, then check back to make sure no one claimed it in your absence. There are over 200 sites, including RV and tent sites.

There are playgrounds, sandy beaches, areas to swim, lots of water for boating, and the "Icy Man" (what we call slushys in Indiana) makes regular trips through the park.

Roger here... Because we could not make reservations, we were a little concerned about not getting a site. We left Lake Lanier pretty early in the morning so that we could arrive early enough to claim a spot. Unfortunately, we had to wait for over an hour at the Lake Lanier dump station behind a guy who was flushing his black water tank. This is a process that typically takes us 15 minutes and we never do it if someone is waiting behind us - very frustrating. We also had to find a gas station along the local roads that could accommodate our motor home with its attached car. We did (barely enough room). It was kind of a tense morning, but things calmed down as soon as we claimed one of the few remaining spots at the campground.

Dianne again: This park is very popular and the community hosts lots of local events here. There was a triathlon this weekend that brought hundreds of people. When we come back we'll time it so that we arrive mid-week to have a better chance at a lake view site. One thing we discovered upon arriving here, however, is that they insist upon wooden blocks under your hitch and/or jacks. We have always used the waffle-designed plastic ones we purchased at Camping World (designed for this purpose). This is the first campground we have ever visited that doesn't allow them to be used. They enforce this rule, too! Luckily, Russ fixed us up with some wood scraps, so we took our plastic ones out from under our hydraulic jacks and replaced them with pieces of wood. Don't ask my opinion on this rule, but you can probably figure it out.... Just be prepared, should you decide to camp here!

The weather has been gorgeous. We open our windows at night so we can let all the tree frogs and other frogs and critters sing us to sleep.

Our

main purpose for visiting this area is to see Roger's cousin,

Beth, and her family. Roger was very close to his cousins growing up, as I was to mine. Lots

of good times and fun memories. Beth is our age, so they have the added history of going completely through school together, and being in the same high school graduation class, along with Beth's husband, Russ.

(Roger here... Since both Beth's and my last names started with "N" we were always with the same teacher and more often than not, in the days of alphabetical order, sat behind each other in the same row.)

I (Dianne) am the odd-one-out; I went to a different small-town-Indiana high school than they did. I know for a fact, though, that had Beth been in MY class, we would have been good friends from the get-go. Not to mention that they are both VERY fun people, so we have had a great time seeing them this week.

We also got to see their two daughters, Becca and Sarah, as well as Sarah's husband, Jimmy, and their beautiful little girl, Abby.

Sarah and Becca are near in age to our two daughters, Robyn and Amanda, and the four of them played and got along great the few times they were able to be together when they were all little girls.

Southern Tennessee is a beautiful part of the country, especially in the spring. I can't even describe how lovely Beth & Russ's back yard is, and the woodsy, serene views they have from their elevated screened

porch.

I think I'll let the photos show you. Beth has a very green thumb

and has beautifully landscaped the large back yard.

Roger here, again... Dianne already described how close I am to Beth, and her brother Dennis in Connecticut, who we also hope to visit. We spent every Sunday together at my grandparents' farm which included an apple orchard, huge barn with a hayloft (and snakes), chickens, sometimes hogs, and sheep. Lots of opportunities for fun times and childhood mischief.

It was fun reliving those times, especially talking about how my younger brother (by six years) was often the brunt of our antics. (I wonder if he remembers?)

What luck for us to be in town for Abby's

second birthday party! What a cutie.

Her grandparents bought her a wooden play house that we scooted into a corner of the garden. Abby had a great time playing in her inflatable swimming pool and blowing soap bubbles. At the end of the party we all helped to tip the pool over creating a river of water cascading down the very inclined back yard. Lots of fun.

On Sunday afternoon Russ and Beth took us on a tour of downtown Chattanooga.

What a neat little city. It just had a good feel to it. We started by going inside the beautiful Presbyterian Church (built in 1871) where they are members. We then went to the Sunday market to look at the local wares. Beth led Dianne to a booth and convinced her (after a sample) to buy some strawberry/pepper jelly - sounds horrible, but tastes great. Russ led me to the ice cream booth where we all had a scoop. While Russ and I waited in line for the ice cream, Beth led Dianne to the Kettle Corn booth. It was a great day for tasty snacks.

We also drove by several really cool sites: the Delta Queen (soon to become a restaurant), the foot bridge over the Tennessee River, the artsy north side, several public parks, and even a house shaped like a flying saucer up on Signal Mountain! Every where we went there were tons of people enjoying the beautiful day, often with live music in the background.

Dianne again -- Roger and I commented to each other that as far as the "cool" factor, Chattanooga reminded us a bit of Portland, OR, a VERY trendy place indeed.

We can understand why Beth and Russ love living in this area.

Wednesday morning we leave here and head toward Indiana for two weeks of yard work, then on to New Orleans!