Mar 29, 2020 - Pandemic Blues

2020-04-01.Pandemic Blues We are both feeling fine so far. Each day, we turn on the news to hear what is happening throughout the US. It's pretty depressing and scary even. The cost of human lives from this pandemic is simply mind-boggling. Plus, for us, there is the added stress of trying to find a place to stay and trying to decide what the restrictions/regulations are in each different state. We are also concerned about our families and friends though we understand that there is not much we can do from here or that we could do even if...

Mar 2, 2020 - Dressman State Park (Rachel & Nick’s property!), Arlington, TN

We arrived at Rachel and Nick’s home about 2:30p. I have named their beautiful four acre property Dressman State Park. It is good to be back with them and we all are eagerly awaiting Olivia’s arrival...especially Rachel! Olivia is scheduled to be delivered this coming Friday morning, March 6 by c-section.

Dec 27, 2019 - so far so good

As a general rule we do not like to drive the motor home in the dark. Ken's vision is just fine, but parking in an unfamiliar campground in the dark is rife with bad possibilities. However, this time of year with only a total of about nine hours of sunlight, we want to get as far south as possible as quickly as possible. Last fall when we had our emergency inverter repair in Ohio and drove into Indiana after dark, we noticed that our driving lights do not work. The high beams do, but it's not nice to your fellow man to shine your lights...

Nov 21, 2019 - Dressman State Park (Rachel & Nick’s property), Arlington, TN

We left Kirby Landing COE and hopped out onto I-30 to make better time. Picking up I-40 in Little Rock, we could not resist stopping in Carlisle, AR at Nick’s BBQ. This is a favorite of our having stopped here many time through the years. After a filling and delicious lunch at continued our eastbound drive. It was still raining, so the driving was tiring. We arrived at Rachel & Nick’s and set up in their driveway. They have a beautiful four acre home place which I have named Dressman State Park. We wound up calling Nick to make sure it was...

Oct 23, 2019 - Nashville, TN

Nashville is the country music capital, and it's also a really big city with big city traffic and prices. We are stopping here for 2 days/3 nights to tour some Nashville landmarks and hear some good country music. We will also visit with nephew Shawn and his family. We started well by meeting Shaw, Linda Claire, and 14-month-old Blake at a nice place for dinner, along with his cousin from his father's side Billy, who we have met a few times over the years. We had a nice time. On Thursday we caught the free campground shuttle to downtown...

Oct 22, 2019 - Sevierville, TN

Sevierville is on I-40 and is on the main access road to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, which is about 20 miles south. Our RV park is within a few miles of the interstate and is geared for big volume, but his is not the peak season. The state highway is 6 lanes and lined with tourist stuff. Some of it is pretty tacky! The park is OK but I think it is noisy. The campsite is pretty small, although I've seen smaller. Janet took a long walk around the park and tells me that we are on the main road to access the park so everyone has...

Oct 16, 2019 - A Tennessee Christmas!

Home again @ Tennessee Hills Campground from Oct-Dec. This Nov-Dec working my 5th year/season as part of Amazon's CamperForce seasonal/busy season help in Murfreesboro. Great gig, as Amazon pays for my Full Hook Up RV site @ Tennessee Hills and a salary to boot. The real reason for me enduring the early Tennessee winter is I'm Home for the Holidays with Family and Friends. HAPPY HALLOWEEN HAPPY THANKSGIVING MERRY CHRISTMAS HOHOHO!!!!!!...

Oct 11, 2019 - Jack Daniels

This morning we stopped at McD's on the way out of town for coffee. Inside it is set up to look like a recording studio. Fun. After we too I 65 towards Birmingham. I have not found a friend's address so.....About 2 hours into the drive we saw signs for Jack Daniell's Distillery. Well what could we do but turn onto hwy 50 and head to Lynchburg which proved to be almost 40 miles away....but to the east...mmmmmaybe a wee bit north. It was rolling mountains with lots of greens and russets. Some limestone cliffs showed through. Lynchburg proved...

Oct 11, 2019 - We Went to the Dogs !

When we departed the Dobbs we knew it was going to be a long drive. At the end of 218 miles, we arrived at the Thousand Trails Cherokee Landing park near Grand Junction, Tenn. Our original purpose was to rest and relax, but on our way through town we saw the Hall of Fame for Bird Dogs! As lovers of dogs, we knew we had to see this! The next day, we drove the 12 miles back to the town and signed in at the Hall of Fame. This is 30,000 square feet of everything you ever wanted to know about the bird dog of America....Officially this place is...

Oct 10, 2019 - Nashville

Yesterday we drove southwest taking I 71 from Walton through a forest of mostly russet-coloured deciduous trees over low mountains down into river valleys. We stopped in Clermont, Kentucky at the Jim Bean American Stillhouse. We took the 10a tour with Tyler....an enthusiastic guide. We learned that the mash is 70% corn, 23% rye and 7% malt. We learned the process of heating, distilling and aging. We tried the clear 127% proof wine before aging by dipping a finger into a mason jar...no need to worry about contaminates. Alcohol kills all. We...

Oct 10, 2019 - Harvest Host near Chattanooga

Time for an oil change on the rig... Our departure from the Nashville Area was delayed a bit. Our next "real" stop on the itinerary is 277 miles away. So we broke it up with an overnight stop at a farm in the Tennessee hills (actually this place was literally across the street from Georgia. Anyway, this was sort of a farm but rented by a young couple. The are trying to develop a business by providing different camping options including big rigs like us. Seems they are looking for people that like their camping on the "roughing it" side. For...

Oct 7, 2019 - Gatlinburg, TN to Nashville, TN

Travel day 5 Gatlinburg, TN to Nashville, TN traveled route I-40. Stayed at Twin Rivers Campground. Took a shuttle to downtown (honky tanks) saw Dierks Bentley whiskey row. Had a lunch at Rippy’s Honky Tonk “you pull my pork, I’ll rub your ribs. Saw Nissan Stadium. Went to Grand Ole Opry complex. Visited Madam Toussauts was museum. Discovered Dingle Beary’s (chocolate covered gummy bears,