Our time in North Carolina is coming to an end. We have enjoyed ourselves immensely, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. I hope as you have traveled along with us through the blog, you have been able to picture it.

I think the reason this trip has been so exceptional is because all of the family and friends we have stopped to see, have made time for us. We were able to have one on one visits that enabled us to get to know each other better, and as far as Kip and I are concerned, it was a time in our lives we will always treasure. We wouldn’t trade it for all the “tea in China”…uhoh…

I’ve been hanging around James too long. He is on a mission to find the origination and meaning of the idioms we all use such as, “the whole ball of wax,” or, “the whole nine yards.”…Now I find myself doing it. What does, “that’s how the cow ate the cabbage,” mean?

 “It’s raining cats and dogs,” and, “I’m feeling under the weather,” don’t make, “a lick if sense.”

It’s time for me to change the subject, so I’ll tell you about today (Monday). Kip and I went grocery shopping this morning, and Janet took me thrift store shopping this afternoon. 

In one of the stores, I was busily looking through some Halloween costumes when I heard Janet yell, “Look at this crown!”

The bejeweled crown is mine now. Thanks for spotting it, Janet. It sure made my day.

I don’t have a winter crown. This will work don’t you think? Can you picture it with my denim jacket?

We wanted to reciprocate James and Janet’s warm hospitality, so we invited them for a picnic at our house tonight. It was fun to spend our last night here eating and watching television outside. Yes, I said outside. I’ve always felt cheated because I couldn’t watch tv outside. (You can’t see it in the pictures so you will have to picture it, but there is a television in a compartment that pulls out from the rv. FYI…our satellite doesn’t work unless the front of the rv has southern exposure. No trees can be in the way in the back or the front, so we can only watch sattelite tv if we don’t have any shade…picture it.

We couldn’t get the Cowboy game so Kip kept track of the score through a play by play he found on his cellphone. He couldn’t get the video so he had to close his eyes and picture it. Unfortunately he fell asleep and missed the last quarter.

*******

It’s now Tuesday morning and we’re getting ready to take our house down the road. It’s a beautiful day here in Hendersonville, so we’ll enjoy our long walk with the dogs just before we pull out.

Later:

We’re ready to hit the road and high-tail it out of here. Hope you have a great day, and if you do or see anything you want to remember, take a picture. It makes it easier to picture it later.

.

Do you remember the song by the Kingston Trio about a man named Charlie who went for a ride on the MTA? The fare to take the subway and transfer to the train was fifteen cents, but Charlie only had a dime, and the conductor wouldn’t let him get off. Charlie’s wife went down to the station every day to throw Charlie a sandwich through the open window as the train went rumbling through.

And so the song continues…

He never returned no he never returned and his fate is still unlearned. He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston. He’s the man who never returned.

All Charlie needed was one more nickel.

My brother, Billy, gave me the album with that song on it for Christmas one year. I loved the song, but I couldn’t understand why Charlie’s wife didn’t just toss a nickel through the window instead of a sandwich, so poor Charlie could get off the train and go home.

I snapped this picture when we were walking the three ruffkateers this morning. We had a good time in Brevard, NC, and we enjoyed this quiet little RV Park.

Some song lyrics don’t make sense, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy the music.

Maybe Charlie didn’t want to get off the train. Maybe his wife was okay with that… and in fact, was an enabler. She threw him a sandwich every day so he didn’t have to get off the train and go home. Maybe it was a win-win situation.

From Brevard, we drove down the road to Hendersonville to see friends James and Janet Adams. Here we are having a snack at an Irish Pub in Hendersonville’s fun downtown. I will get more pictures tomorrow.

You might be asking yourself, what does the song about Charlie have to do with our road trip?

Let me try to explain. We want to go home, but we don’t want to get off the road. With every stopover, we ask each other, “could you live here?” It would be quite an adventure to continuously see new places and visit old friends.

We looked all over for Kip. 

He was standing in line at the bakery. He has the ability to sniff out a bear claw from miles away.

After spending a fun afternoon, we returned to the RV park to walk the dogs and get ready for dinner. James and Janet live in the residential area of the park which makes it really convenient for us. They had invited Anne and Bear to join us, and we were excited to be able to spend a little more time with them.

homemade chicken pot pie and peach cobbler made with  fresh peaches. I didn’t get a picture of the salad, but it had all my favorites in it…spinnach, feta cheese, nuts, and a light and flavorful dressing.

The food was great and so are the people we got to shared it with…

We can have fun daydreaming about being vagabonds drifting from coast to coast. You know the type of people I’m talking about. They gather no moss. Eventually, they run out of old friends. The friends they had at home, get used to not having them around and no longer even ask about them. They’re merely wanderers. Wanderers never see their kids or grandkids. They can’t even go to the post office to get their mail. What do wanderers do when they have to go to the doctor or the three ruffkateers and the cat have to go to the vet?

I just remembered something…my brother gave me two albums that Christmas. The other one was Ray Charles. There is only one song on that album that I can remember. It went something like this:

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I’m busted. Cotton is down to a quarter a pound and I’m busted. I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won’t lay…A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day. The county’s going to haul my belongings away cause I’m busted.

I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted. I hate to beg like a dog without a bone, but I’m busted.

It costs a lot of money to be a wandering vagabond. We better go home…in about a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The older I get, the more I appreciate friendship. 

I have made some very special friends through the blog, our church, and my part-time job, but until the last few years, I didn’t know much about having and being a friend. I couldn’t imagine trusting another person enough to let them help me through difficult times, and I wasn’t self confidant or brave enough to try to help someone else through theirs.

I wasn’t really selfish or uncaring…I lacked courage. I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to get to know someone else that well, and I was unwilling to let myself be vulnerable. I didn’t know how to give or receive in a friendship and I wasn’t sure I could learn.

Then Kip and I gradually became involved with a group of very special people…and so began the process of learning about friendship. I was around people who demonstrated it through good times and bad. They’re the kind of people who can be depended on to help others because that’s what friends do. It takes courage, patience, trust, compassion and understanding. Friendship is a big commitment. 

No one can fix everything, but a caring friend can look beyond the smile and see the pain in their friend’s eyes. They can also enthusiastically share in their joy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. 

Friends like these can also be a whole lot of fun.

*************************

Since Kip and I started taking longer RV trips, we have made it a priority to spend time with friends we don’t get to see very often. This year’s trip has been especially rewarding. 

I’m sure all of our friends back home who know these smiling faces in the picture below, will join us in being thankful for the many blessings of friendship.

I want to thank Anne and Bear Jones for their warm hospitality. This morning Kip and I went hiking with Anne and we got to see some awesome waterfalls. Then we all had a fun lunch at Rocky’s. After lunch we went to see the totally impressive Sierra Nevada Brewery and more beautiful waterfalls. Later James and Janet Adams joined us for dinner…followed by ice cream. 

Janet and James are going to feed us all tomorrow.

The hike, lunch and the brewery

I also promised to show you a picture of Anne and Bear’s beautiful log home in Brevard, North Carolina.

Back to our trip.

We decided to stay two nights at the beautiful East Ashville KOA in Ashville, NC. We had to catch up on some RV maintenance, housekeeping and laundry. After we’ve moved two or three days in a row, we like to stay put an extra day.

Below, are some pictures of the park…the weather was gorgeous, the lake and creek serene, and the laundry room was clean. What more could you ask for? Ah yes…good food! We had a plan for that too.

Last night (Tuesday) we decided to have dinner at one of the restaurants in the quaint downtown of Black Mountain. We wanted to find a place with outside seating so we could enjoy the beautiful evening. 

Here are some shots of downtown.

Our food…

Kip had a Philadelphia sandwich and I had grilled chicken with pesto and fetta cheese. I don’t know why I didn’t have the server take a picture of us. I’m sure you’ve seen people licking their plates before.

This morning  (Thursday) we drove to Brevard, NC where our friends. Anne and Bear live. We took the long way because our GPS lady is for some reason, unhappy with us. 

Kip drove the RV and I followed him in the Jeep. What should have been an hour and a half trip, turned into three hours. We were even in South Carolina for a while and got to travel another winding road through the mountains.

At last…we arrived at our new home, (Not this church. I took this along the way.) After checking in with Anne and Bear, we set our house up, grabbed a sandwich and took the three ruffkateers for a walk. A little while later, we met Bear and followed him up a winding mountain road to their beautiful log home. I’ll get pictures of it tomorrow.

Anne and Bear

The clueless couple.

Anne and Bear gave us a tour of their unbelievable log home. I have never seen anything like it. The only other house I have seen that fits the theme of the location as well, is their home at the lake where they spend the winter months.

We took a drive around their community and saw the sights of Brevard. Kip and I love it! I felt right at home when they surprised me with a visit to the thrift shop where Anne volunteers. (I made a small purchase.)

Bear said if you runnover a bicycler around here you go to prison, but if you run over a white squirrel, you get the death penalty. Apparently, seeing a white squirrel is becoming a rare thing. 

Leave it to the luck of an amateur, I spotted one!

Pictures of the golf course and lake 

Tomorrow morning Anne is going to take Kip, me and the ruffkateers on a two hour hike. We’re having lunch at a fun ice cream and sandwich shop, then we’ll visit a magnificent brewery, and go out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. 

Tonight, Anne fixed a delicious dinner. We had pork roast, baked potatoes, salad and fresh fruit. For dessert, we had the best apple cake I’ve ever put in my mouth, served with gelato. You can tell when the food is exceptional…I forget to be rude and take pictures.

Because I love …

I know I waddle when I walk

Have a mouthful when I talk!

I love food…

I go to thrift stores one by one

Buy lots of clothes and save a ton

I love good deals…

I can talk until I drop

Or until someone says STOP!

I love my friends…

I see the world through a camera lens

I hope this trip just never ends

I love RVing…

*To be contonued*

I have always wanted to see the Blue Ridge Mountains so I was pretty excited to drive from Boone, North Carolina through some of the Pisgah National Forest, by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were driving the motor home and towing the Jeep, so it was slow going but we didn’t mind. We pulled off onto several turn-outs so I could snap some good pictures of the beautiful mountains and the trees which are already starting to turn.

The photograph below doesn’t look authentic, but it has not been retouched other than to crop it a little.

We were on our way to spend a couple of days near some friends who live in the Ashville area. 

Our friends had warned us that part of the parkway was closed due to the debris caused by the storms that had pushed up from the hurricanes. We got that message yesterday, so this morning Kip called to check on the road conditions and the recording said the road was open to all traffic.

The drive had been awesome, but we were ready to get out of the mountains. Imagine our dismay when with only two miles to go, the road was barricaded.

Remember, we were driving a 38′ motor home and towing a Jeep. I hadn’t mentioned this to Kip, but I thought I had detected a little bit of a smokey smell…like burning rubber from using the breaks constantly.

Thankfully, we had not gone past the road that led to the Mt Mitchell State Park. Surely we would be able to turn around there. 

It wasn’t as if we had a choice anyway, but we were a little disappointed to find out we had to drive to the summit of Mt Mitchell where the museum and gift shop are to find a parking lot big enough for us to get turned around. 

Once we got turned around, we had to back track about fifteen curvy miles before we got on a different road. (The lady at the visitor’s center had printed a map with an alternate route down the mountain.)

I don’t think I took any pictures while on that road. I was on the drop off side going down, and I was positive I could see smoke coming off the tires. We finally made it out and all is well that ends well, right?

Except the story doesn’t end there. I had searched for an RV spot close to Ashville where I thought our friends lived. I must have missed the ‘area’ part. You know…the Ashville ‘area’. It turns out we’re an hour and a half away. We’re closer to the friends we plan to visit next. We’re moving somewhere tomorrow.

If you see three dogs and a cat trying to hitch a ride, tell them Kip and MG need them. We need both of our brains and theirs to make it through the day. 

I guess what they say is true. Ignorance is bliss.
 

We never imagined that we could have such beautiful weather. These past six weeks have been almost perfect. Pretty remarkable considering the number of states we’ve been through and the miles we’ve covered. It’s been beautiful everywhere. (A little warm in SD maybe, but I’ll take it.)

Wakey-Wakey, Sammie. It’s time to take a hike!

After our walk through the woods, we pulled out of the Cumberland Gap National Park in Virginia, and headed for the Cracker Barrel restaurant. 

I think I caught Kip with a mouthful. That’s pure maple syrup in the bottle.

After we finished our light repast, we headed for the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library, which was just down the road, but back in Kentucky.

A replica of the chair President Lincoln was seated in when he was assassinated.

My pink Queen T-shirt is reflected in the picture above. I included the bit of trivia below because I had forgotten that we used to eat raw potatoes with salt on them when I was a kid. Did you?

The museum was great. We left there and headed for Davy Crockett’s birthplace. Kip wore his fave DC shirt.

On the way, we stopped to see this incredible view from a roadside Veteran’s memorial.

I took a few more pictures on our drive.

The Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park in Tennessee, is down a narrow and winding road, which is what Kip had to navigate much of the day. I don’t like heights, so I could only look in the direction that was away from the plunging valleys.

I have never seen a coonskin cap with the coon’s head on it. 

(Below) Apparently, Davy was quite a story teller.

Get ready for some sensory overload. Our drive from Tennessee to North Carolina took us through Cherokee National Forest and several large towns in beautiful settings.

 (A little side note: we drove right by four Good Will stores…two were having fifty percent off sales. You’re killing me Kip!)

Around two o”clock, I called the Flintrock RV Park in Boone, North Carolina and asked if they had a pull through full service site. The guy said, “Yup.”

I asked if he needed a CC to hold it. “Nope…just come on home honey,” he said.

We pulled in around 5:30.

It’s a very nice park by a rolling creek just like in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The couple in the spot next door invited us to have dinner with them. (Campers are such good people.) We had to decline because the dogs needed a long walk. Poor Kip…those doggy bags can get pretty heavy.

We began the day at the Whispering Hills RV Park in Georgetown, Kentucky.

After a beautiful drive…

We stopped for the night at the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Middlesboro, Kentucky. At least I think it’s in Kentucky. One thing I read said it’s in Virginia. We’re very close to Tennessee too.

Tomorrow morning we will take the dogs for a long walk on one of the many trails in this park that goes on forever. Then we plan to get our home on wheels folded up again and hit the road early. We spotted a Cracker Barrel in Middlesboro and they have a great breakfast. Kip and I believe in replacing every calorie we walk off..with two calories we consume. Food has never tasted so good.

Today, I took a quarter into the truck stop because I know it takes a quarter to weigh yourself on their scales. Some of them have the added feature of a Confucius saying. I chickened out because I saw several people standing around talking by the scales, and who wants to weigh themselves with a bunch of people looking on?

I guess I’ll just have to continue on in blissful ignorance. I might not be ready yet to know how many extra lbs I’ll be taking home with me. I can’t judge by how my clothes fit because everything I own, stretches. I just hope Kip doesn’t make s contest out of it. Before this trip, I had no idea how competitive he is. 

None of that matters anyway. We both feel like we’ve benefited from this trip in countless ways. We feel good!

I’m going to cut this short tonight because this is the second time I’ve written it. The first time was so much better. The park has a lot of trees and the internet connection comes and goes. For some reason I lost the whole thing. I don’t think I could go through that again tonight without screaming.

Puleeze…do not make her scream. I’m finally getting some “scratch the cat” time and I’m drifting off to sleep. 

 

We needed to take the dogs for a long walk this morning before going to see the Ark Encounter, so we drove the short distance to Georgetown and looked around what turned out to be another beautiful little berg. In the interest of time and space, I’ll put some snapshots on here that are pretty self explanatory.

The Court House

Kip looking longingly at the bakery.

The home of Georgetown College. I just noticed Kip had his finger in this one…oh well.

Main Street has quaint little shops on both sides.

A beautiful home on Main Street

****************************

The Ark Encounter

I hope I can describe the Ark Encounter in a way that does it justice. Seeing the Creation Museum first really set the stage for today, but we sure didn’t expect the Ark to be this massive, even though we were told it’s just like the one God told Noah to build.

According to the Bible, God was so dismayed that man had become evil and selfish, He planned to flood the earth and wipe out all mankind.

This shot shows the ramp Noah and his sons built to get all the animals on board.

God told Noah to build an Ark with one door. When God shut the door, it depicted his justice and mercy. The wicked world outside the door perished, but those inside were rescued.

In preparation for the flood God planned, Noah was to build an Ark big enough to hold two of every living thing.

The flood waters would cover all of the world. God said the animals and birds and all things he wanted saved would come to the Ark when it was time. 

It took Noah and his sons seventy-five years to build the massive structure. 

The Ark we saw was built to the exact specifications, per the Bible, as Noah’s Ark. It is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high. It is the biggest timber frame structure in the world.

************************

Noah was to bring his wife, his two sons, and their wives. They were the only human beings who were saved from the flood.

Noah and his family in prayer at the beginning of the flood.

The stables

The cages for the smaller animals. Several species that were on the Ark have since become extinct.

Depictions of Noah and his sons working on the Ark

I hope you can enlarge this enough to read it. It’s very thought provoking.

The reptiles and amphibians were kept here. 

The Ark had to carry fresh water and nourishment to last an indefinite length of time. It was really interesting to see the different methods they used to store everything.

The Ark and all of it’s inhabitants drifted for one year before God allowed the water to recede. 

The exhibits explain how the earth was impacted by the flood. Places like the Grand Canyon were created in a relatively short period of time. Water erodes the earth quickly.

God promised he would never flood the whole world again.

The grounds around the Ark are beautifully landscaped. The whole story of the Ark is presented in a way that really makes sense. Kip and I highly recommend the Ark Encounter.