Traveling in Covid USA…

Before leaving the Land Between the Lakes we took one more hike around Lake Hematite. It was such a nice hike we simply had to do it once again. The trail is scenic and most of it is shaded making it a good summer hike. With the marshland boardwalk it it has everything we desire in a woodland walk.

Well it certainly was nice relaxing for three days but it was time to press on. The next morning we packed up and hit the road for our next destination. It was an easy drive down the highway and even through Nashville it was uneventful.Two hundred and seventeen miles later we pulled into the Davy Crocket Campground in Crossville, TN, a nice little campground which we would only be at for one night.

Covid-19 sure has changed how we travel this year. Normally we would never go more than about 150 miles between stops and rarley would stay less than three days at a new location. However, now we are zooming by many places we would like to be exploring. With the one night stop in Crossville the next morning we drove 267 miles for a one night stop in Max Meadows, VA.

Our one night stop in Virginia at the Fort Chiswell RV Campground was so relaxing  we decided that instead of spending one night we would slow down and stay a few nights at our next site. We really dislike this one day hopping we have been doing with rather long drives in between.

After our next stop we will have only about 114 miles to our last stop for a while. We are certainly looking forward to kicking back and relaxing once we get there…

Sharon Says Some People Still Don’t Get It!!!

I guess some people just don’t get it.  We are currently spending a month in our old home town of College Station Texas enjoying time with old friends and familiar haunts  At one of these haunts at happy hour one of our long-time friends asked incredulously, “Aren’t you ready to settle down yet…after all you live in a tin can”.  Gee whiz. I was speechless for a moment.  Then I replied that I was NOT ready to settle down nor did I feel I lived in a tin can.   It did make me pause to think about why it is so hard for old friends to wrap their minds around what we are doing.  I guess they saw that we, like many of our peers with growing families went from starter home to big and bigger homes.  So I guess this friend was flabbergasted we could go “backward”.

Upon reflection I remember we started out in a small rental apartment, moved to home ownership with a small trailer house and then sold it for a profit for our first “starter home”.  This was a 1500 square foot house with three bedrooms and two baths (1500 square feet) and was brand new!  We enjoyed that house with our toddler son for 6 years until our daughter was born.  Suddenly in short order, this once loved house soon became too small.  We kept the house as a rental income but purchased a much bigger 3 bedroom home which John, with his building expertise, expanded to a 4 bedroom 2 and a half bath 2400 square foot home.  We loved this house with the large glassed in atrium in the center filled with tropical plants and a pond. It also had a huge front and back yard. It was our American Dream….that is until the kids grew up and left.  How empty and huge it seemed without them there.  What a drag it became to clean and maintain.  I suffered quite a depression in my empty nest.

Next I had the idea we should purchase an RV to give us the opportunity to sell our big empty house, see all of our daughter, Katie’s collegiate senior year softball season then travel together as retirees!  John fully embraced the idea and as he always does he researched, gathered our funds and made a plan.  The house I once loved became the albatross of STUFF we had to sell, a place to spruce up for potential buyers and an overall speed bump to being where I wanted us to be.  With patience and hard work we unloaded the albatross and downsized enough to fit into our new condo on wheels.  Off we went and we have never looked back.

What is not to like?  Yes, it is smaller than any our former homes but I cherish that I have had a different view out of my windows every single month in these last 5 years.  I have seen beautiful beaches, mountains, deserts, meadows, and valleys.  I have met the most interesting and wonderful like-minded people I would never otherwise met had we not chosen this path.  I have no regrets and no desire to stop anytime soon.  I know that friend of mine can’t in any way see nor understand why I like this lifestyle. It makes me sad for him because I love my “tin can” and I wish I could put into words for this friend to not worry about me.  I am more than happy in this simpler, smaller house on wheels than I ever would have been had I stayed here.  How lucky I was I had John who helped us move beyond the maybe to the yes we can! I know there are legions of us that “get it” and love the opportunities offered in this nomadic life.  It’s not for everybody, but it sure is for me…

Bristol Tennessee and Bristol Virginia, Twin Cities…

We sure enjoyed our short stay at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park and will definitely stop and visit this fabulous park again. But it was time to leave Kentucky and move into the state of Virginia with our next stop being Bristol Virginia! Virginia, you say? Bet you thought Bristol was in Tennessee… well it is. Bristol, Virginia is the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee, and home to the Bristol Motor Speedway NASCAR racetrack.

To get to Bristol we drove a little over a hundred miles through some very scenic countryside until we hit Interstate 81. Once we got off the interstate we began to look for our next park, Sugar Hollow Campground located in a city park called Sugar Hollow Park. Now finding the park wasn’t hard but getting to our campsite was a bit of an ordeal. Between the road construction at the park’s entrance and the skinny and partly dirt road into the park (along with all the low branches) you could tell that not a lot of big rigs come here. But we managed to get in and got settled into site 31 which was just fine for our two day stay even though it took a bit to get level.

We got all set up, finished lunch and then went over to see the Bristol Motor Speedway. We were fortunate in that the Speedway had a Fan Day promotion when we went so we got to watch lots of NASCAR drivers test their cars on the track for an upcoming race.

The track seats 160,000 people and is dubbed the "world's fastest half mile." There are two races per year on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit and two races per year on the NASCAR Nationwide Series circuit. They also host one race per year on the Camping World Truck Series circuit along with various other racing venues. The track was built in 1960 with its first race held in July 1961. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks in the country and we can certainly believe that! Man was it LOUD!!!

The next day we just went to the downtown area and strolled around. The main road is called State Street and it is interesting in that the state line between Virginia and Tennessee runs right down the middle of this main street. We stopped by the Visitor’s Center Bristol that has a huge guitar out front. Bristol was recognized as the "Birthplace of Country Music," according to a resolution passed by the US Congress in 1998 but hey, what do they know…

We picked up a walking tour brochure and one for a tour to see their art in public places. Bristol is a neat little town with a nice farmers market that we lucked into visiting. We scored some beautiful garden grown tomatoes along with some perfect red and yellow bell peppers and fresh corn. Love those farmer’s markets! There are several interesting murals downtown and a nice park where they have weekly musical events during the summer.

We enjoyed the Historic Downtown Bristol walking tour but I have to wonder if they shouldn’t eliminate their Art in Public Places Walking Sculpture Tour. Now I know art’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the art sculptures here lacked a lot to be desired. There were some art pieces in town not on the tour that I thought were much nicer than most of the weather beaten pieces that were on the tour. Nonetheless, we had an enjoyable day and finished it off by visiting a newly opened brewery in town, Bristol Brewing Company. We had visited one near the Speedway the day before, (Holston River Brewing Company) that was much better than this one was.

Next we are off to Christiansburg Virginia to visit nearby Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia…

Enjoying Cedars of Lebanon State Park, TN…

We chose Cedars of Lebanon State Park because of its proximity to Nashville but also because this is a really nice state park to enjoy. The sites are a bit tight and the roads inside the campground are tight as well but we felt the park was worth it.  We especially liked our site, # 45 as it was a pull through facing the woods with a large deck, picnic table and fire ring   There are several other similar pull through sites in the campground but they are harder to get to. The campground office personnel were very friendly and convenient for the campers is a laundry room located next to the office!

One day we took the girls on a hike in the park. The hike we chose was about two miles in length and was a nice loop through a wooded area close by. Instead of driving to the trailhead we walked the 1/2 mile distance to it making the hike 3 miles in length. This area is typical of the vegetation of Southeastern Forests but there are inclusions of some species found more in the Smokies of Tennessee. One of the things that make this park unique is the stand of Cedars found here that are uncommon in this area....so unique that the park was named after them.

Another neat fact about this area is the large amount of sink holes located in and around the park. It makes sense that there could be some sink holes as we noticed lots of exposed limestone along the trails. Limestone degrades over time as water trickles through it causing caverns underground that eventually collapse creating these sink holes.

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There were lots of sink holes along the trail and even an occasional cave carved out via erosion. The three mile loop was a pleasant and mostly flat hike. As we finished the trail we continued on back to the campground and I kept hearing a hawk in a tree that we tried to find. A motorist stopped by and asked what we were doing.  He explained there had been sightings of a pair of hawks that had reared some young here. In fact on a later day Sharon and I saw two young hawks feeding on something on the ground.

After dinner for the full camping experience the girls wanted a fire so they could make some s'mores.  Of course no sooner had I made a big fire we began to hear thunder.  Sharon quickly skewered some marshmallows and passed them out along with some umbrellas.  Yep, we found a way to roast the marshmallows under umbrellas in pouring rain.  The rest of the evening was spent laughing while playing Phase 10 and Skip Bo.  I think the girls had fun despite the rain.

After the girls went back to North Carolina Sharon and I decided to play some disc golf. Cedar of Lebanon SP has its own disc golf course. We really enjoyed playing this well laid out 18 hole course. The holes are rather short in distance but the number of trees in the way more than made up for the lack of distance. We have been having a lot of overnight rains in the park since we got here and it never became more evident that when we got to hole number ten. The basket for hole ten was in a small sink hole and was submerged in water. I didn’t notice it until after I tossed my approach shot but fortunately my orange disc was visible under the water.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Cedars of Lebanon SP and toyed with the idea of staying another night but alas our site was already reserved. Therefore we moseyed on a short northerly route till we arrived at a remote Corps of Engineer park in Kentucky called Tailwater, Barron River Lake Campground. We will be here through the weekend before moving along once again…

Touring Nashville Tennessee with our Daughter…

We awoke really early to leave Charles and Sandy's beautiful farm. We left by 6:00 am which was by far the earliest we had ever left a site! Why were we leaving so early? Well I had my very first ever Veteran’s Affairs Hospital (VA hospital) appointment and we had to be in Murfreesboro, TN for the 8:00 am appointment. We pulled the motorhome into the Equestrian Center nearby which had ample parking and un-hitched the CRV to drive over to the VA hospital. My appointment went splendidly and now I am finally in the VA system even though I was honorably discharged from the Air Force over forty years ago.

I was impressed with how efficient the VA was with my three appointments. They graciously gave me a free breakfast voucher in the cafeteria after my fasting blood work which was really nice. By noon I was done and we left Murfreesboro to travel a short distance north to Cedars of Lebanon State Park near Lebanon, Tennessee. We didn’t like our originally reserved site and when we asked the ranger if there had been any cancelations for this July fourth weekend we were surprised to hear there were.  He gave us a list and we picked a great pull-through site on the outer loop with a nice wooded view and no neighbors… score!

The cost here is about $23.00 per night with all fees included.  It is only water and electric, but at least it is 50 amp. The weather was thunderstormy the day we got there. Our daughter and her roommate were slated to arrive by car later in the night. We did have a bit of bad weather that evening and there was even a tornado near Lebanon about 10 miles NE of us. Thankfully, Katie and Heather made in in safely and we began to plan for the weekend.

The next morning we made breakfast and a picnic lunch to take along for our tour of nearby Nashville TN. Our first stop was at to Centennial Park to see the Parthenon. This is such a neat replica that we simply had to show it to the girls. Next we went over to see the state capitol building. We parked at the base of the hill where there is still 2 hour free parking and walked up the hill to tour the building. Sadly, it was closed this July 3rd so we strolled around the capitol grounds and looked at the panoramic view of the city from atop the hill.

Next we went over to nearby Bicentennial park and had a nice picnic lunch.  This is a large park with many historical tributes to the State of Tennessee. After lunch we stopped by Vanderbilt University as it is one of our favorites.  After a few photos we headed to downtown Nashville and luckily found a roadside parking meter with a broken ticket dispenser so we got to park free again in Nashville which is unheard of! Once parked we took the girls along music row where we visited many of the well known music establishments including Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Legends Corner, Second Fiddle, The Stage, Layla's Bluegrass Inn and many other honky tonks.

We even saw a guy walking around town with a goat on a leash. Everyone on the streets of Nashville looked at the pair as though they were weird. Although they may appear to be weird we had more in common with them than we first thought. Why? I later read in the local newspaper that the fellow is trying to visit every state with his goat that he rescued. Looks like he is doing the same as most full time RV’ers.

We heard a lot of great music but were getting pretty thirsty so we drove over to check out  Nashville’s 2014 Reader’s Choice Awardee for Best New Brewery, Tennessee Brew Works. This was a pretty good brewery and the best we have had in Nashville. They even had live music! Katie ordered an appetizer of stacked onion rings made with a stout beer batter accompanied by a really yummy dip.  We tried just about every beer they had and liked most of them. Soon thereafter the day came to a close and we headed back to the state park: but what a delight it was showing the girls Nashville, TN…

More Distilleries and Miss Mary Bobo’s…

Wow what a fun few days we had visiting friends Charles and Sandy in Middle Tennessee! Our last day there was as great as our first two. Sandy had a prior commitment early that day so Charles came over to take us to another tour of a distillery. This time we toured Charles Dickel and although they weren’t in production the lady who guided the tour was very informative.

The distillery is located in a sleepy little town called Cascade Hollow and originated in the mid 1800’s. Charles Dickel  grew the distillery into Tennessee's largest distillery but then came prohibition in 1919 and it was forced to close.After nearly forty years in 1958, Master Distiller Ralph Dupps rebuilt the distillery.and since then no one has had to be without George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.

After the tour Charles had a treat in store for us by taking us to Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House and Restaurant which is a well known southern food establishment. This restored  historic boarding house serves up classic southern cuisine and is all you can eat served family style.  We were assigned a dining room and when the bell rang we were escorted to our room by a hostess. What a cozy room it was featuring the original fireplace and mantle. The table in our room seated 12 so we were sitting with strangers but that is what family style is all about.

Our hostess had us each introduce ourselves so soon we were no longer strangers. Then she told us a bit about the history of the boarding house and about the local area as well. The restaurant is owned by Jack Daniels Distillery which is also located in the town of Lynchburg (which is interestingly a dry town). She then explained our servers were awarded two years fully paid college and in return worked at the restaurant during the summer and college breaks. She had one of the servers introduce himself and he told us he planned to receive a business degree so he could hopefully return to this town and work for Jack Daniels distillery!

The food appeared and was placed on a giant lazy-susan in the middle of the table.  Everyone was instructed to simply rotate and spoon out their foods of choice. Today’s menu included fried chicken, meat loaf, okra, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, black eyed peas, corn bread and coleslaw. They also served some fabulous apples stewed in, you guessed it, Jack Daniels! After lunch our servers brought out our dessert which was a chocolate brownie pie topped with Jack Daniel's special whipped cream.

We noticed they even have an RV park, a small city park, right behind Miss Mary Bobo's which has electric and water hookups (no sewer). It is walking distance to the Lynchburg town square and  to the Jack Daniel's distillery as well as the restaurant. 

After lunch we toured the nearby Jack Daniel's distillery and unfortunately a thunderstorm was rolling through the area so the tour guide couldn’t allow us to exit the bus somewhat diminishing our experience. But after that wonderful lunch we really didn’t care. especially since the tour guide was very entertaining.

Wow our time  visiting Charles and Sandy's beautiful farm went by fast and we had such wonderful hosts. However, it was indeed time to move on. We planned to leave bright and early as I had my first ever VA hospital appointment in Murfreesboro, TN and then after the appointment we plan to travel to just south of Lebanon, Tennessee…