Nov 10, 2012 - Knoxville Wrap Up

We left the Escapee's Raccoon Valley RV Park this morning and headed to Chattanooga. It was a short ride, about 2.5 hours. We were really glad that we weren't going in the other direction. It was bumper to bumper almost all the way! We really liked the Escapee's park and the Knoxville area. The Knoxville area is composed of rolling hills that were covered with deciduous trees that were changing color. We weren't there for the peak color but it was pretty none the less. We were on the outskirts of town so it was quiet and peaceful most of...

Oct 30, 2012 - Nasty Sandy!

And now for the rest of the story! We were sitting in the Baltimore area last week, blissfully ignorant of what Mother Nature was preparing to fling at us. We decided that we would leave Baltimore on Friday, October 26 and head to the Asheville, NC area. So off we go and spent the first night in Waynesboro, Virginia in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The only RV park on our route was fully booked for their Halloween festivities! During the day we kept debating if we should alter our plans and head further south and west to avoid the rain. Well, we...

Oct 27, 2011 - Escapees park near Knoxville

I've stayed here before and it's convenient to I-75, so I decided to stay here again and rest for a day. I did go letterboxing but only found 1 of four letterboxes in the next little town of Powell! I did visit 2 graveyards, a library, and a deadend street! This evening, I attended a jam session with people in the park. Members with guitars, banjos and a mandolin played and sang for a good crowd of campers and it was very nice.

Jun 30, 2011 - McDonald, TN to Heiskell, TN

Today we left our wonderful location in McDonald, TN. I'm always so sad to leave my brother and his family and my best friend and her husband. I know we'll return in a couple of months but I always feel sad when we leave. We had a short and easy drive to the Escapees RV park, Raccoon Valley. It's the first time we have visited this Escapees Park and it was just as I expected. Even though it was a holiday weekend, and they don't take reservations, we had no problem getting a site for the week. After we set up we drove to the next exit...

May 7, 2011 - Wrapping up our stay in Tennessee

Art arrived home safely from visiting his mom in Nanuet, NY. We decided to spend another week in the Knoxville area because I wanted to attend a bluegrass festival in Townsend, a gateway city to the Great Smokey Mountains and about 40 miles away. Most of the festivals or events that are held in Tennessee take place on Friday and Saturday – never on Sunday. So we decided to beat the crowds and attend on Friday. We enjoyed a fun afternoon listening to bluegrass music. All of the folks that got up to dance were clogging – not the usual dancing...

Apr 29, 2011 - Calm after the Storm

Sunny skies returned to eastern Tennessee today. It was a beautiful day with low humidity and moderate temperature. This day was such a contrast to two days ago when severe storms ripped through the Knoxville area. Our weather radio screamed out tornado warning after tornado warning starting late afternoon until after midnight. The biggest storm was around 11pm with lightning and rain like I’ve never seen before. Our bail-out bag was packed in case we needed to make a run for the brick bathhouse which was right across the road. But to think...

Apr 27, 2011 - Eastern Tennessee

Over a week ago, we left Nashville for an easy drive on the interstate to Tennessee’s third largest city – Knoxville. It is in Knoxville that we crossed the third and final time zone of America. People are beckoning us to go further east, you have to go here or see this. Nope, it’s time for us to turn north and eventually west towards the wide open plains. Being a little weary of large, populated cities at this point, we ventured hesitantly into Knoxville, Tennessee. Despite being in one of the most populated cities of Tennessee, the...

Apr 21, 2011 - Say What?

I’ve always had trouble understanding people with accents. During my working years, I often had to speak to people from different countries. I found myself saying “could you repeat that” or “I’m sorry I didn’t understand what you just said” as I tried to listen very carefully. Not the speakers fault, but my own ears. I wouldn’t have thought that I would find myself saying “could you repeat that” in this part of the country but it has happened a couple of times. There was one time when Art and I wanted to take a short walk in Devil’s Den...

Apr 19, 2011 - Plan B

I was psyched to be at home and attend Book Club, a group I see so seldom that I am always amazed that they remember me at all. I've read the book and have lots to say about it, but when we watched the weather forecast last night, it was clear that it made no sense to move on today. We've dodged tornados in Louisiana and Mississippi, and more recently a huge onslaught which tore through North Carolina this weekend. If you live in a stick house and a big storm comes your way, you just have to run down to the basement if you are lucky enough...

Apr 18, 2011 - Rebellion in the Carstrom Family

(Art Writing) I heard something go ‘thump’ last night. It wasn’t loud so the noise did not wake up Connie. I just figured that was the normal creaks of the rig so I ignored the sound. A little while later I heard some shuffling noise. Again, it was not very loud. The wind was starting to pick up a bit so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The next morning I got dressed and walked down the steps passing the front door. What a shock! I heard Pokey screaming “I need to roam free, feel the grass upon my hoofs”! Smokey was saying that he was...

Apr 18, 2011 - homeward bound

After a longer day of driving than we've had in quite some time, we find ourselves just north of Knoxville in an Escapees park. We have been members of Escapees since before we retired and it's a wonderful organization for RV'ers. While it serves and is served by primarily full time RV'ers, wannabes like us can partake of their mail forwarding services, camp in their parks for very low rates, and join their rallies in interesting places. We are close enough to the highway to get on again quickly, but far enough away so we don't hear the...

Apr 14, 2011 - Heiskell (Knoxville), TN

Thu, 14 Apr: We drove the 222 miles from Huntsville to Heiskell (north of Knoxville) in two easy legs with a lunch break at a closed truck scale just north of Chattanooga. The weather was as nice as one could ask with the dogwoods blossoming all along our route. Those trees not blossoming were either budding or displaying their proud new coat of spring-green leaves. Spring in the south is just lovely. Our route took us down the mountain from Monte Sano State Park to AL 431 (we were just a few blocks from the Kirsch house) to US 72, then...