When Off The Trail

We don’t spend every minute of our lives on a trail somewhere although at times it may seem that we do.  We do intend to do a lot of hiking this summer and especially now while the weather is so nice.  So what have we been doing when not on a trail this week?

Maidenhair fern.

The first thing that comes to mind was Peanut’s vet appointment.  Oh my goodness, that didn’t go so well.  Peanut does his Jekyll and Hyde routine when it comes time to visit the vet.  He is such a sweet, loving, lap cat always wanting his head rubbed or to be held.  Walk through the door at the vet’s and the hissing, scratching, and biting begins and he refuses to let anyone, even Gene or I, to get near him.  Since he’s not afraid of strangers at home, I’m guessing it’s the smell at the vet’s office that triggers the change.  The vet finally had to just give him his shots through the mesh in his carrier and gave up on doing any examination.  I kinda think they didn’t want us to bring him back ever again.  They said they gave him a 3-year rabies and suggested that since he is a totally indoor cat that we could just skip the feline leukemia.  I don’t even know if there is such a thing as a 3-year rabies; the certificate says it expires next year.  Anyway, after we left the vet, he was perfectly fine in the car until he got car sick.  First he threw up in his carrier.  I got him out of there and put him on the floor by my feet.  He threw up again on the floor, then on me, then twice more on the floor.  I don’t know who was happier to get home, him or me.

Meadow Parsnip

While we were camped at Cades Cove, we were surprised to see friends from Nashville there.  They had brought the grandchildren up for a few days during spring break.  Our friends are hikers, but the grandchildren are small so they were busy with them--playing in the creek, horseback riding, and roasting hotdogs and smores. We stopped by their campsite a few times for short visits and enjoyed what little time we had.

False Solomon's Seal blooms at the end of the stem.

Smooth Solomon's Seal blooms under the leaves.

After we got settled at Misty River, we went into Maryville for grocery shopping.  While in town, we stopped by Target to do a little more investigating into the e-readers.  I let all that information roll around in my brain for a couple days and finally decided on the Kindle--just the basic reader; no color and no apps for me.  We went back today to make the purchase.  The time had come to either get it or forget it.  I’ve only have one other book to read of the large stack I got last fall, Wicked, and Gene is reading it right now.  Since I finished The Devil in the White City today, it was time to get over this analysis paralysis.

I really enjoyed The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  It’s about what I always call the Chicago’s World’s Fair.  It’s official name was the World’s Columbian Exposition.  Larson tells the story of the trials and tribulations of the Fair’s primary architect, Daniel Burnham.  I was fascinated by the various aspects of putting together an event of this magnitude.  It was also interesting to read about some of the “firsts” showcased at this Fair with the Ferris wheel being the most notable.  Parallel to the primary story about the construction of the Fair was the true story of a mass murderer living in Chicago at the time.  He preyed on the young women coming alone to the “big city” to visit the Fair.  This story was incredible.  Much of my spare time this week has been reading this book.

Then there were the several hours Gene spent this morning hunting down yet another leak in the bathroom.  This time I noticed water in the floor between the shower and the sink cabinet.  We have finally come to the conclusion that over time water begins to run under the caulking and down the screw holes that fasten the shower enclosure to the shower base.  The whole inside of the shower has been caulked once, twice, maybe even three times, both by Gene and by the service techs at various RV dealerships.  After we shower, we always wipe down the inside in order to keep the water from evaporating and driving up the humidity inside our rig.  The caulking doesn’t stick all that great to the medal surface of the shower enclosure in the first place, so rubbing a sponge across it as often as we do pulls it away quickly.  Gene pulled off all the old and recaulked this afternoon.  We’ll see what happens.

Our plan is to leave Misty River in the morning and move around to the North Carolina side of the Park to the Cataloochee area.  For those of you familiar with the Park, you’ll know the road that leads to Cataloochee campground is not RV friendly.  People take their RVs down there and there is also a big horse camp there and those folks take those big horse trailers down that road, but you won’t find us doing that.  We’ll get a site in a commercial campground nearby.  Cataloochee looks like it’ll be a great place for hiking this week.  We may even see the elk.

That’s what we’ve been up to this week besides hiking.  Thanks for tagging along.

Not The Day We Planned

We had another great evening with family last night at the end of which we gave and got hugs and kisses all around.  Our plan was to leave Perry this morning for Vogel State Park in north Georgia.  We weren’t in a big hurry to get on the road.  Certainly didn’t want to hit Macon or Atlanta until the rush hour was well past.  About 9:30 we were finally ready to unplug the electricity, pull in the slides and leave.

It was the dinette slide that was the problem.  It would begin to retract on the forward side, but would stop when the aft side wouldn’t budge.  Gene spent the next hour on the phone with the Four Winds service representative.  Then he spent the next hour trying to find a mobile repair service to come out to take a look.

George finally came early afternoon, but the diagnosis was not what we expected.  According to the Four Winds service representative, problems like this are usually caused by some foreign object (like a cat toy, for example) getting stuck in the mechanism or a broken shear pin.  All of the components of the slide mechanism are working fine.  The problem--the slide had dropped below the edge of the glide plate on the aft side preventing it from retracting.  George used a jack to lift that side up so that it could be retracted.  It’s in now and we won’t put it out again until we take it into our dealer for service which won’t be until a week from Wednesday.  Fortunately, we can get to everything with that slide in, it’s just a little less spacious.

After George left, Gene went up and extend for another night here at Fair Harbor and reconnected our utilities.  Our plan now is to continue with our plan; we’ll just lose a day of hiking in north Georgia.

This pretty much consumed our entire day, so there isn’t anything else to report.  Thanks for tagging along.

Cain's Creekside RV Park

I’m writing this tonight from Hahira, Georgia, just a few miles north of Valdosta.  We didn’t get in a rush to leave this morning, but took our time doing the last minute preparations and talking to the neighbors and anyone else who happened to walk by our site.  Even when it was time to go, we only drove to the front of the campground before stopping to fill up on propane, settle up our bill in the office, and chat with a few more of the winter regulars.  It was about 10 AM when we finally pulled away.

We’re not opposed to spending a night at Wal-mart between travel days. On our way down to Florida in January, we stayed at a Wal-mart in Valdosta.  However, temperatures were forecasted to be pretty warm this afternoon, so Gene found us a campground with full hook-ups for a Passport America rate of $15.

Us in site number 2.  I think that's the owner's home behind us.

Cain’s Creekside RV Park is almost brand new--it just opened last August.  The owner is so excited about his campground and he dotes on every customer.  He even came out to the motorhome with Gene after he checked in.  And, he was excited to share his big plans for expansion this summer.

We have the view of this pond out our front window.

The campground is small with only about 11 sites.  They’re all pull-thrus with full hook-up with 30 and 50 amp electrical posts.  This sites are moderately spacious, with gravel parking pads and grass between sites.  The owner has planted a tree on each site and some shrubs.  There are also privacy fences between each site.  The fences are not tall; they seem to be designed primary to hide the utilities and the trash can.  Each site has a brand new picnic table and a fire ring.  The sites are all in a row facing a small pond.
The land on the other side of the pond is vacant at this time, but the expansion plan is to put another row of sites over there.  Because that area is vacant now, our view across the pond is of a mobile home community.  What we see is not unattractive.  The homes are all doublewides on large lots.  The whole community looks to be well maintained.  It’s not a rundown trailer park.

That's the new office on the other side of our neighbor in site number 1.

The campground is located about a mile out of town, and we are truly out of town.  There is a large horse farm across the street.  There are no street lights and very little traffic.  The only thing to disturb the peace and quiet is the train which rumbles past about once an hour.  Fortunately, we’re not too close to a street crossing so we can barely hear the whistle.

So, we’re back on the road, and that’s our first day.  Thanks for tagging along.

Winter Chores

During the winter months of January and February is the time we set aside for the “winter chores”.  These are the chores which are hard to get done during the rest of the year when we’re busy traveling and hiking.  They include the cleaning out of drawers, cabinets, and closets, washing and waxing the rig, off loading things we haven’t used in a while, and various other tasks and maintenance jobs.

Gene is making progress on washing and waxing.  He’s gotten the roof washed.  Well, maybe that’s not much progress, but it’s a start.  I’ve cleaned out drawers and cabinets, but will make another pass to see if we can reduce that 300 pounds we’re over weight.

Gene’s project for today was to paint our step.  It hangs out there in all kinds of weather.  Not only does it get very dirty, during the year it starts to rust at the corners.  A good cleaning and fresh paint has been on his list for some time.  The step looks like new with one coat of paint.  Another will be applied tomorrow.  Sure hope I remember to step on the stool when I go out the door rather than on the fresh paint.

Also on the agenda for today was to get Peanut’s blanket washed.  Like the laundry facilities in most campgrounds, washing pet blankets is a no-no.  One of our neighbors recommended a laundromat in Bushnell.  We loaded up all the laundry bright and early this morning and headed to town.  With Peanut’s blanket, an afghan, the sheets, plus our clothes and towels, I had 4 loads.  It’s almost a miracle to find 2 free washers in the small laundry facility here at the park.  I decided to avoid the frustration by doing it all at the laundromat in town.

The laundromat was awesome.  It was new--new building, new equipment.  Everything was very clean and everything worked.  But this was Monday, wash day all across America.  It was packed.  I got my laundry in because there were about a million machines, but it was difficult to walk between washer and dryer for the number of people milling around.  Plus it was expensive.  I paid double what I would have at the campground.  I’ll have to take Peanut’s blanket up there, but I won’t do my regular laundry there again.  Nice is nice, but dollars are dollars.

Our resident Florida sandhill cranes.  They're a handsome couple.

We enjoyed visiting with friends at the Super Bowl Party.  There were some mighty fine chillies to be sampled, as well.  It’s hard to eat just a few bites of ten different chillies.  There were a variety of other snack foods also which resulted in that stuffed and bloated feeling.  Emma’s mama asked for the recipe for the 7-layer Mexican dip.  Here’s the abbreviated version of what I sent her.

First layer--bean dip
Second layer--8 oz sour cream mixed with half package of taco seasoning packet
Third layer--guacamole.  I make my own, but store bought is fine
Fourth layer--grated cheese
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh layer--chopped tomato, sliced or chopped ripe olives, and sliced green onions.

Yesterday, I served it in a baking dish, but a 10 or 12 inch round serving platter makes a nice presentation.

We’re excited to welcome Lady Dyna Rider as our latest follower.  She and her husband, TM, are dreaming of retirement in 2015 when they’ll be traveling in their 5th wheel.  Thanks for tagging along, y’all.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Back at Sumter Oaks

The rally is over and we’re back at Sumter Oaks in the same spot we were in before we left.  All the same neighbors are still here.  It’s like old home days and it’s good to be back.  It’s especially good to have electricity again.

Hawthorne of some type, I think.  Spring is happening.

The last thing on our agenda before leaving the rally was to have our motorhome weighed.  I was pretty nervous about how that would turn out.  Since we live in it, it’s about as full as we can get it.  Besides all the stuff we have, we’re stocked up on groceries, as well.  The pantry, refrigerator, and freezer are FULL.  We emptied what little bit of fresh water we had left, but all of the fresh water we had used was sitting in the waste tanks.

We were pleasantly surprised with the results.  We were only 300 lbs overweight--all of it in the front.  The rear axle was perfect at 5000 lbs on each side.  Been wanting to do that for several years so were glad to have to opportunity to get it done.

Found this in the trail this morning.  The nickel gives you some sense of the size of the snail.

This morning we both needed a little leg stretcher.  We tried to walk as much as possible at the rally, but still only had about a mile and a half for the week.  We were anxious to find a trail to hike, but with other things on our to do list for today we wanted something short.  The 3.5 mile Silver Lake loop at the Croom track was perfect.

Notice the vultures in the top of the tree.

Just drying their wings, I guess.

We actually parked on the loop where the trail crossed Croom Rital Road which was only a few miles from our campground.  There really isn’t an official parking lot there, but the shoulder on the west side of the road is very deep and the grass has been cut.  There is room for 4 or 5 cars.  The Florida Trail crosses the road from the east, then crosses the Withlacoochee State Trail (a paved rail-trail conversion great for biking), then enters the woods.

This area is under water in wet weather.

Part of our hike was along the orange-blazed high water trail and another part along the blue-blazed low water trail.  Since there are drought conditions in Florida right now, we were able to make a loop using these two trails.  During wet conditions areas of the low water trail would be under the Withlacoochee River--not a place I’d want to be.  Today, however, we were able to enjoy the walk through the cypress knees and view the river well within its banks.

The trail passed a canoe camp and this sand beach.

Withlacoochee River

To help us enjoy the super bowl, there will be a chili cook-off this evening.  Several are bringing chili and the rest of us are bring goodies to go with the chili.  I’m taking that 7-layer Mexican dip.  I rarely have leftovers when I take it anywhere.

So, I guess I better get busy and get the dip made.  Thanks for tagging along.

RV Live is Good, but Busy

Some may wonder how they’ll fill their time once retired.  We have no problem with that.  Instead, we wonder where we’re going to find the time to get it all done.  Tony asked us yesterday if we get everything done we intend to do each day.  The answer is “no”.  So what have we been doing for the past two days?  Well, let’s see.

Shadows on the trail.
From our hike on Thursday

I started Friday morning off with the laundry.  Frequent hiking tends to fill up the laundry basket in a hurry.  I used to say the thing I missed most from my stick house was the frost free freezer.  I think I need to revise that, because what I really miss most is the washer and dryer.  Both our 5th wheels were plumbed for washer/dryer, but we never had them because we didn’t want to carry the extra weight.  Now, there’s hardly room for the laundry basket in the Four Winds much less a washer/dryer.  Most campgrounds have a laundry facility and that’s where I was at 8 AM Friday morning.  I was lucky; there was no one else there.  Friday mornings can be a busy time at the laundry, but I guess the rain kept most away.  I was able to get two loads done with no waiting.

Resurrection Fern came back to life.
This shot was before the rain.

After the rain.

While I was at the laundry, Gene was taking care of financial matters--balancing the checkbook, reviewing the credit card statement, etc.

Tony and Diana stopped by before the laundry got put away and before the financing was done, so we put all that stuff aside and got out the Tennessee and Great Smoky Mountain National Park maps.  They’re going to be in Ashville, North Carolina for most of the summer and we’re planning to be in the vicinity of the Smokies, upper East Tennessee, and western North Carolina.  We were looking at possible places to met up and planning a few things to do together.

After they left we finished up with the laundry and finances and grabbed a quick lunch.  Gene had several errands to run so he scooted off to CVS, Walmart, Ace Hardware, and the Post Office.  That all took a couple hours. While he was gone I got a few household cleaning chores done, not the least of which was to clean out the litter box.  That’s a chore that I hate, but needs to be done frequently to keep the odor at bay.  While I had the hose and soft scrub out, I decided to clean the kitchen trash can.

To rest from the chores, I worked on my knitting project.  I’m pretty focused on this project.  It’s a blanket for my next grand niece due in April.  The goal is to get it finished to deliver to her excited parents when we stop by their home on our way back to Nashville in March.  That’s a priority, so I carve out some time to work on it every day.

Before Gene got back from his errands, that Maineiac, Mike stopped by.  We chatted for a little while.  After Gene got home, Mike came back, bringing Peggy with him this time.  We had a good visit and got to hear the story first hand of their soaking at Busch Gardens.  We grabbed a quick dinner between their visit and an evening of entertainment at the jam session.

Although the activities have been different, today has been much the same.  Various chores (including defrosting the freezer, my least favorite job) with friends drifting in and out.  The highlight of today, however, was the multimeter class taught by Mike for his students, Tony and Gene.  It was something to do with wires, switches, gauges, and electricity.  I’ll defer to Mike for the telling of the details.  Perhaps I should have attended the class.  While the class was going on, us girls (Diana, Peggy, and myself) each did our own thing as well as visited each other at various times and various places.  The class lasted a couple hours.

Class is in session.  You can tell which student is not working up to potential.

Another highlight of our day was the Skype call with Ansley and Kayley.  Kayley is old enough now that she understands better about the Skype call and will sit and talk for a while.  It’s a short while though, then she’s off and running again.  Still, we enjoyed talking with Ansley and seeing big girl, Kayley.

Tonight’s entertainment at the clubhouse promises to be better than the jam session, but we may pass on that.  We’re planning a 10-mile hike for tomorrow and will need to get our packs ready tonight and hit the bed early.  Diana wants to go and she’s already planning for ice cream afterwards.

RV life is so good, but busy, and it’s all fun.  Thanks for tagging along.

A Day With Vern

Vern came today and we were sooooo happy to see him.  The first priority--find and fix the leak in our back wall.  Vern spent the better part of the day with us and he removed several parts of our RV from the rear end cap.  He found several small cracks and gaps in the caulking and lots of evidence of water.  The insides of our tail lights were still wet from the rain we got two days ago.

Vern has removed all the old caulking and recaulked around the end cap.  He took the light covers off to allow for some air circulation to dry out the inside wall.  He’ll be back on Monday to caulk around the light covers.  I think Vern is going to finally put an end to this leak.

We left Vern on his own and made a quick trip to Walmart this morning.  During the rain on Wednesday, I was dashing from the car to the motor home with my head down trying not to get too wet while also trying to avoid the deep puddles.  I totally forgot about the awning arm and hit it almost as hard as it could be hit without doing serious damage to it or myself.  Of course, as short as I am, I hit right at eye level and the collision really did a number on my glasses.  Luckily, it was only the frames that were damaged and not the lenses.  For the past two days I’ve been wearing an old pair of reading specs I picked up at a drug store somewhere.  Needless to say, it was a priority to get my glasses fixed today.  The technician took his little tool and had my glasses “bent” back into shape in less than a minute.  It is so good to be able to see again.

The cranes are always wandering about the campground.

While at Walmart, I picked up a toaster oven.  I know, it takes up a whole lot of space on a very small counter, but I couldn’t help it.  I’ve been wanting one for a long time and it’s what I had in mind when I asked for a Walmart gift card for Christmas.  We’ve already taken the regular toaster up to the free table in the club house and the new toaster oven has claimed almost all the space on the counter.  I warmed bread for dinner which took only a fraction of the time it would have taken in the range oven.  Besides, I didn’t have to take all the cat supplies out of the oven to use it.  It was much easier to clean the bread crumbs out of the bottom than from the regular toaster.  The feature I’m most anxious to use is the broiler.  I think I’m gonna love it.

We want to welcome Pam and Wayne as our latest followers.  Check out the great photography at their site, Nomadic Newfies.  We're certainly glad to have you guys tagging along on our journey.

Tomorrow is another hiking day plus the citrus market at Floral City.

That’s all for today. Thanks for tagging along.

Blue and White Loop Hike

We were out there doing it today and I have the sore body to prove it.  After due deliberation over the map, we put together a 6.5 mile loop starting on the Blue Trail and crossing over to the White Trail via the Orange connector.  I suppose if you’re color blind, you could be in deep dodo.

For this hike we used the north trailhead. The Blue, Red, White, and Yellow trails all start from here so the parking lot is huge.  If that lot is full, there’s an overflow lot.  This parking lot has something I’ve never seen before at a trailhead, and I just have to mention it--a changing room.  After a hike I’m always anxious to get out of wet, sweaty clothes.  I have done contortion acts in the front seat of the car trying to change into dry clothes.  I was very impressed to see this little changing area.  It’s brand new; in fact, they were working on it this afternoon when we got back to the parking lot.  Looks for all the world like another Eagle scout project.

As you can see from the trail profile, we had a climb right from the beginning.  There were three stream crossings pretty soon after we started, but they were just trickles that could be easily stepped over.  Just before the one mile mark there is a side trail to Eagle’s Nest Overlook.  Being up pretty high, we thought there would be a good view, so we took the very, very steep quarter mile side trail to the overlook.  To our disappointment, there was a huge boulder at the overlook which completely blocked the view unless you wanted to climb to the top of the boulder.  Thanks, but no thanks.

This rock was in the way of my view.

Back on the Blue Trail we continued our climb to the ridge.  Once on the top, it was easy going until we intersected with the Orange Connector.  We passed trails to overlooks, but we didn’t fall for that trick every time.  We did take one side trail over to the edge of the ridge, but the view was obstructed by trees.  At the Orange Connector we stopped for our lunch break.  It was such a beautiful day and so warm in the sun that we actually stretched out on the ground for a few minutes.  Well, Gene was on the ground, I was on may clean and dry poncho.

We passed this backcountry campsite on the Orange Connector.

Lots of stuff to look at at the intersection where the Orange and Red trails intersected.

The Orange Connector took us off the ridge top, past the red trail, and over to the next ridge and the White Trail.  I think the hike along the ridge on the White Trail was a nicer hike than along the ridge on the Blue Trail.  The White Trail followed a very narrow ridge line, passing over our highest elevation of the day at 1286 ft, until it dropped off into the holler (that’s a real southern word for you).   After about a mile of almost vertical descent, we found ourselves at Peavine Branch in Maggie’s Glen.  From there it was an easy walk out to the parking lot.

Found this boulder field on the Orange Connector

I enjoyed this ridge walk on the White trail

Now for something all together different--electricity.  Emma’s mama, Judy, asked if we used a surge protector and if it had protected our rig.  No, we don’t have a surge protector.  I know, lots of folks out there recommend having one.  From what I understand about electricity (and that’s very, very little), that for our 30 amp rig, we plug into the 30 amp outlet, and that’s what we get.  There is no more than 30 amps of electricity going to come through that outlet unless something bad happens at the utility or if lightning strikes a wire or a transformer or something.  My understanding is that surges can also occur within the RV from large appliances turning on and off.

So, a surge protector that plugs into the post at the campsite might protect against the lightning strike or the disaster at the utility company.  It seems to me the real danger is from those surges which occur inside the RV which are on the other side of that surge protector at the post.  There are probably few people in America that don’t have surge protectors on their computers.  For us, because we have so few electrical outlets and because of their locations, we have those extension cord/surge protectors all over our RV.  The only things not plugged into one are the microwave, refrigerator, AC, and the small TV in the bedroom.

In the incident on Monday, that was not a surge.  There was a short, either in our plug or in the campground post, which caused the problem.  If the problem had been in the post and If we had had a surge protector plugged into the outlet, the surge protector would have been fried but would have protected our electrical cord (I think).  However, it only cost $18 for a new end on our cord and a new surge protector would have been much more than that.

Just one other thing for completeness sake.  We have one of those small testers which measures voltage and frequency.  Gene always tests the electrical post before plugging our rig into the outlet.  Then we plug the tester into an outlet inside the rig and leave it plugged in.  It will alarm if the voltage is either too low or too high.  We’ve never had a too high alarm in the 6 years we’ve been RVing.  We’ve had low voltage occasionally, usually during the summer about dinner time when everybody has their ACs cranked up to very cold.

Hope that helps, Judy. I think that’s more than I really know about electricity anyway.

I also got a comment from that Maineiac in Motion, Mike, who suggested I use some other term besides “melt down”.  From a man who spent his career in nuclear energy, I guess “melt down” is a pretty scary term.

That’s it from me for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Melt Down

Boy, have we had a day.  I don’t think I want to call it exciting, but it was certainly different from what we had planned.

Yesterday ended well.  We had a relaxing evening and when we got tired we locked the door, pulled down the shades, turned off the lights and went to bed.  About 3 AM I had to go to the bathroom and when I got back in bed I noticed the electricity was off.  That was strange because I could see the lights were on in the bath house.  I looked out another window and could see Christmas lights brightly shining on a rig across the way.  Since it appeared to only be us without power, I woke Gene up to report my findings.

He was not thrilled, but got out of bed anyway.  Our breaker inside was not tripped, so he put on shoes and a coat and went outside to check the post.  All seemed well, so he unplugged and plugged our cord back into the outlet.  That set off sparks and sizzles.  The electricity came on, but only for an instant.  Gene unplugged the cord and left the problem for the light of day.

A quick check of the post this morning indicated that things had gotten a little hot in there.  Just before 8 AM Gene called the park office to report the problem.  There was someone from maintenance at our site within 10 minutes.  He had all the parts to change out the unit in the post and after about an hour he plugged us back in.  We had electricity briefly and then it went out again.  By this time, one of the work campers had showed up on the scene.  Their second project was to change the breaker box at the post.  With that done, they plugged us in again and again we had electricity briefly.

Immediately after Gene had made the call to the park office, he had called Four Winds tech support and described to him what the end of our electrical cord looked like.  It was only slightly scorched, so the tech guy felt like it would be safe to use.  However, after the maintenance guy and the work camper had replaced all the parts in the post, they started looking at our cord.  It was more damaged than Gene had realized.  They sent Gene off to get a replacement.  Luckily, a camp store just a few miles down the road had one and we dashed off to get it.  I had to do the driving because Gene’s back is still not as good as it should be.

From the time we got back with the replacement part, the work camper had it reinstalled and electricity flowing within 30 minutes.  And he did it for free.  How nice was that.  Better bake that man some brownies.

As we were leaving the campground to get the electrical part, we passed an ambulance, a couple police cars, a few park ranger cars, and a fire truck parked on the side of the road near the turn off for the Wildlife Center.  We couldn’t see where there had been a crash, but there were so many cars there it was hard to tell what was going on.  We thought maybe a motorist had hit a bicyclist.  The road is curvy and it could easily happen.  When we got back to the park with our electrical part, even more fire trucks and police cars were there.  Now they had the road blocked.  I pulled over to the shoulder to wait.

Finally, after we had sat there for about 20 minutes, one of the policemen came over and suggested we might want to go around.  When I asked what had happened all he said was “hunting accident”.   Before I could move, a news van pulled up behind me.  My window was still down from talking with the police officer, so the reporter started asking me questions.  One of her questions was if we’d seen the helicopter.  That was a pretty juicy tidbit of information, so I asked her what had happened.  She said hunting accident, too, but she didn’t rush off like the policeman had.  We learned from her that bow hunting is allowed in Oak Mountain State Park.  That was a surprise to us.  We’d never even considered there’d be hunters here.  She didn’t have much more information to share and the party started to break up anyway, so we were waved on through.

Being curious about hunting in the park, for my own safety don’t you know, I did a little internet researching this afternoon.  I learned that officials started allowing bow hunting in Oak Mountain to help thin the deer herd which is over populated here and thus not very healthy.

This evening, I learned from one of the local TV channels, that a hunter had shot himself in the chest when he fell out of a tree stand.  He apparently had a hand gun tucked away in a pocket somewhere.  Now that explains the party on the road--a real crime scene investigation.

That was our day.  Hope yours was just as exciting. Thanks for tagging along.

Oak Mountain State Park

Today was a moving day.  We’re now settled in at Oak Mountain State Park.  We paid for three nights, but who knows how long we’ll stay.

We had a beautiful day for traveling even if it was on the cold side.  Because overnight temperatures were forecasted to be about 27 degrees last night, Gene unhooked our water and sewer lines late yesterday afternoon.  That only left the electricity for this morning.  Getting the car hitched was a cold job. We definitely needed gloves to handle all those icy tow bar parts.

We took I-65 the 60 or so miles to the Oak Mountain exit.  There were a few rough spots, but for the most part I-65 is in good condition except in Birmingham.  Through Birmingham was the roughest ride we’ve had in a long time.  Plus there were a few miles of construction.  By the time we got to our exit we were more than ready to be off the interstate.

Oak Mountain State Park covers nearly 10,000 acres just on the outskirts of Birmingham.  It seems this park has it all--hiking trails, mountain biking, horse trails, golf course, a lake for canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats, swimming, and two fishing lakes.  They have cabins as well as a large campground for overnight visitors.

The campground has over a 100 sites, most of which are RV sites with full hook-ups and free WiFi.  The campground is wooded, but there are sites that are more open than others.  The sites are spacious like you would expect in a state park and this campground will accommodate big rigs.  The interior roads are paved and the parking pads are gravel and most are pull-thrus.  I didn’t walk around the campground too much, but of the few sites I saw many had pretty good sized ruts in the parking pads.  The site we’re in does, as well, and it’ll be a rough spot to get over when we’re ready to leave.  The sites are nearly level.

The campground is situated on one end of Beaver Lake.  I walked down there this afternoon to check it out.  With the rain this week, there seems to be plenty of water in the lake.  Some sections of the lake trail are too wet to walk on.  We’ll save that trail for a few days.

At the very end of the lake it looks like it may be out of bounds a little.

I think that’ll do for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Budgets and Vacuums

I think the rain may have moved on out of here.  It sure has been a drab and wet couple of days.  We’ve gotten a lot done inside, though.

Our little Christmas Tree

Last week I got a new vacuum.  Since moving into an RV 6 years ago the vacuum cleaner, a mundane thing that I really never gave much thought to, has been an ongoing issue.  In our first 5th wheel (Montana) I brought my house vacuum with me.  There was a real coat closet right by the door and that’s where I stored that huge upright vacuum.  I liked that vacuum and it did a good job of cleaning the carpets, but it was large for an RV.  Plus, it was heavy to lift of the steps to the bedroom and cumbersome in tight corners.  But, I had attachment galore that would clean every nook and cranny.

When we moved into our Everest 5th wheel, I didn’t even wait to be asked.  I ordered a central vacuum.  I thought I’d love it, but that affair never got off the ground.  My main objection was the lack of suction.  Then there was the hose which was about a mile and a half long.  It plugged in at the steps to the bedroom and would reach all the way to the back wall.  While I vacuumed, the hose banged into everything, cabinets and furniture alike.  I didn’t have a coat closet in the Everest, either, so I stored that massive hose in the basement.  That was a pain to get in and out two or three times a week.

Then we moved into the Class C.  Now, there’s really no space to store a vacuum.  I asked around of other Class C owners and finally purchased a small hand-held, cordless Shark vacuum.  It worked great for vacuuming the upholstery, but crawling around on hands and knees to vacuum the carpet got old quickly.  Being cordless it had to be charged all the time.  That vacuum was out in the way more often than not.  It finally got to where it wouldn’t hold a charge, so we were in the marked once again for a new vacuum.

Friends told us about a Shark hand-held with an electrical cord.  That sounded better than cordless, so we searched around until we finally found one.  It had a powerful motor and a larger beater brush and was far superior to the smaller shark.  I liked it better, but I was still crawling around on the floor.

My new Eureka Quick-up

For several months I’ve been thinking about a tiny upright, but we really don’t have a place to store even a small upright.  Nevertheless, that thought has been in my mind.  Last Friday, the motor in the second Shark burnt up.  We headed over to the vacuum department at Wal-mart.  I found a Eureka upright with a removable handle which just snaps into place.  Perfect.  The vacuum part is not much larger than the first Shark I had.  And it was only $22.  It is so easy to use I’ve vacuumed every day.  I love it.  It might not last long, but for $22 it doesn’t have to last a lifetime.

Gene’s big project for the day has been the budget for next year.  That always leads to interesting discussions.  Most categories stayed the same.  We increased groceries, but lowered gasoline.  Of course, 2011 was the year our gas budget was $800/month to get us to Alaska and back.  We have a more reasonable $450/month for gas this year.  At the beginning of 2011 we had lowered our campground fees to $22/night.  We were slightly under that budget for the year, so we’re leaving it at $22 for 2012.  Of course, we had several boondocking nights this year and will try to do that again next year.  Besides gas, groceries seems to be the thing we are consistently over budget on.  We’ve increased groceries by almost $100/month.  Lipitor has just gone generic and we’re really hoping to see a reduction in that big bill each month.  In the end, it looks like we’ll be able to continue this lifestyle for another year.

Well, I’ve rattled on plenty with nothing much to say.  We’re moving tomorrow to Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham.  They’ve got trails there, too.

That’s it.  Thanks for tagging along.

The Rest of the Story

Well, the rains came.  Once started, they didn’t stop all night last night.  Today, we’ve had sprinkles off and on, but mostly just a dreary day.  Late this afternoon, it started raining again and, if we can believe the forecast, will rain all night and throughout tomorrow.  It’s cold, too.

Found this on one of our hikes this week.

The rain has given us the opportunity to stay inside and get some real work done.  Gene had computer maintenance to do and kept himself occupied while I did the laundry.  Right after lunch we got out and got our errands done before the next round of heavy rain started.  We buzzed through Wal-mart, Lowes, and Hobby Lobby and were back at home within a couple hours.

This hawk hangs our on this utility pole next door.  We see him nearly every day.

We haven’t just been hiking since we got here, although that’s pretty much how it seems.  I’ve decorated our humble abode with the few Christmas decorations I have.  Like last year, I stopped in Hobby Lobby and picked up one of the smallest trees they have.  It’s about 2 feet tall and sits perfectly on the large shelf we have over the cab.  I put on one strand of lights and about 40 miniature ornaments.  Even has a star on top.  So far, Peanut has left it alone.  There’s no storage space to keep it, of course, so after Christmas I’ll give it away.  I think Kayley may have last year’s tree in her room this year.

Peanut got in some big trouble his first Christmas.  We were living in the Montana 5th wheel then and I put up a small tree, maybe 4 feet.  We came home one afternoon from work and found the tree toppled over, ornaments everywhere, and Peanut in the middle of the tree.  After that we did things a little differently when it came to Christmas decorations.

We decorated the garland above the slides; well out of the reach of a certain CAT.

I continue to enter a few posts from the old Trip Journal into Blogger every day.  I’m about halfway through 2008 now.  That was the year we went to New York for the summer.  It’s been fun rereading those old posts and especially looking at the photos.

On our way to the trailheads, we’ve been seeing some of rural Northern Alabama.  It’s farmland planted in the summer with primarily corn, cotton, and hay.  Of course, the fields are empty now.  Most have been cut and are ready for spring planting when the time comes.  There are a fair number of dairy farmers with large herds of cattle.  It seems like poultry farms were big business at one time.  There are many of those long, low barns used by poultry raisers.  They’re dilapidated and falling down now. The communities we pass through are small with a church or two, a gas station, a small market, and a few houses.

We came across this old store one day.  Looks like they used to sell gas, too.  There was a small shed on one side and an outhouse on the other.  I loved the outhouse with the galvanized tub hanging on the side.  When I was a small child and visited my grandparents, I’d get a bath in a tub just like that on Saturday night.  This outhouse, complete with its bathtub, reminded me of Judy, Emma’s mama, and her post a few days ago (Nov 24) about her first shower.  I’m not sure I could even get in a tub like that anymore.  One thing I’m pretty sure of--if I got in, I’d have a tough time getting out!

So, that’s the rest of what we’ve been doing this week.  Thanks for tagging along.