The RoVing Coles

Maggie Valley Revisited

2011-08-23T15:59:00.001-04:00

Yes, it’s been way too long since I’ve updated our trip progress. Let me just say that I haven’t been “inspired” to write anything. That’s partly due to the fact that we’ve been here in Maggie Valley, NC, several times before and we haven’t done much that was new or different. But here goes… We arrived at Creekwood Farm RV Park on Tuesday, July 19. We love it here and it’s a bit like a

Nashville, By Way of Ohio (Again)

2011-07-25T14:13:00.001-04:00

We headed south out of Elk Rapids and spent the first night in a Wal-Mart parking lot on the west side of Toledo, OH. This became something of a turning point in the trip. It got HOT! Real HOT! (It’s STILL hot as I write this from North Carolina.) We had planned to spend the morning in Toledo and leave around noon since the distance to our next stop wasn’t far. But even by 9am, the heat was

Michigan – Part II

2011-07-15T15:19:00.001-04:00

Wow! Have we ever enjoyed being in Michigan! We arrived at Honcho Rest Campground on Wednesday afternoon. When checking in, our host mentioned the Evening on River Street event which takes place every Wednesday evening through the summer months. We headed into Elk Rapids a little after 6pm. The place was already jumping – for a small town, anyway. There were two blocks roped off and all sorts

Michigan – Part I

2011-07-06T15:09:00.001-04:00

We arrived at Mackinaw Mill Creek Camping on Friday, July 1. We’d worked out our travel so that we could arrive by about 1pm, giving us a bigger part of the day to get set up and acclimated. Mosquitoes greeted us while checking in and I was NOT happy (they seem to love me). But I must say that they weren’t very much of an issue after that first day. Thankfully! This picture was taken later, but

Oh, Ohio!

2011-07-02T13:06:00.001-04:00

We’ve come from central Florida to the ocean and then to the mountains. Our next stop is north Ohio, just off Lake Erie. We’ve been to this RV park before and really enjoyed it. We’re not close to the lake, but it’s a short drive into Port Clinton and the water. The weather was great, breezy with temps in the high 70s and low 80s. No need for air conditioning here, either. Our first full day

Into the Mountains

2011-06-27T15:46:00.001-04:00

Our next stop was Lenoir, NC, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our campground was in those mountains, outside of town. It was a gorgeous location. All the RVs were dwarfed by the tall, tall trees. We were allowed to drive the park to pick out our site location. We found what we liked fairly quickly. We got set up before the rain started, though it had obviously rained off an on

The Coast

2011-06-26T09:23:00.001-04:00

Let the summer RV trip begin! After lunch on Saturday, June 11, we took off in our motor home for a three-month trip. Our first night was spent in Walkabout Park in Woodbine, GA. We’ve stayed in this park before, before an Aussie couple took it over recently. Not much change in the park itself, but the new owners are VERY nice. By mid-morning on Sunday we were pulling into Hilton Head Island

Birthday Cruise

2011-03-12T12:50:00.001-05:00

Yes, another birthday has found me. It’s OK, it sure beats the alternative! Most years, my husband’s sister and her husband join us in traveling as his birthday is the day before mine. They had circumstances this year that prevented our getting together. So Julian and I decided to have our own birthday trip. We decided on a cruise to Curacao and Aruba, two Caribbean islands that we had never

Our Final Days of Summer 2010

2010-09-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

After several great days in north Georgia, we pulled up stakes and headed south. We stopped for one night outside of Greenville, AL, at a small city park called Sherling Lake Park. We got lucky and were given the site with the most shade and a deck, too. After we got set up, we walked down to the lake. We decided to enjoy our breakfast on that cool deck before heading down the road again.

A Trip to the Hospital

2010-09-17T16:27:00.000-04:00

We went to Cleveland, GA, to Babyland General Hospital, the home of all Cabbage Patch Kids. When we planned our trip to the mountains of north Georgia, we didn’t even know that we would be so close to the birthplace of these famous dolls. A friend heard we were coming up here and told us to be sure to go see the Hospital. I’m so glad she did. We drove up to the “Hospital” and were struck by the

North Carolina and Beyond

2010-09-15T11:24:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems to be well past time to update you on our activities of the past few weeks. I don’t have many photos to share, but I’ll give you the rundown on things we’ve done. In general, we walked anywhere from a mile to 2.5 miles when we felt like it, or when we had time. We hung out and relaxed a lot. There was a lot of reading and napping in the month of August. Then there was happy hour

Things Are Lookin' Up

2010-08-23T13:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's taken so long for an update. Yes, things have been looking up for us. We can't complain. As for updates on our "issues", here's what's new. The old monitor and new camera were mistakenly shipped to our home address. A kind neighbor noticed the package and called us, then shipped it to us here in NC. Julian got both pieces installed and now the rear camera is working great. It looks

On the Road - Finally

2010-08-07T15:28:00.000-04:00

I am writing this from the coach parked in our favorite campground outside Maggie Valley, NC. We made it - finally. But it was no small task. We have been in communication with Blue Ox. At first they told us we'd have to pay for all the new towing equipment plus the shipping of the broken pieces back to them for evaluation. Then they would decide about reimbursement. But after our local "expert"

Vacation Update

2010-07-24T14:52:00.002-04:00

If you read my previous post, you know all about how our car separated from the RV while being towed down the road. We've learned much since that post was written. On Wednesday, the insurance adjuster declared the car to be "totalled". (The check is in the mail.) So the next day we drove out on the same route that we had gone on the day of the accident. It was a little spooky driving by the

A Six-Hour Vacation

2010-07-18T15:03:00.001-04:00

We brought the RV over to the house on Thursday morning and got busy cleaning and packing it up. Everything went very smoothly. We started talking Friday morning about leaving in the afternoon instead of waiting until Saturday morning. We could leave after lunch and get about 100 miles into the drive towards North Carolina. So that’s what we did… or tried to do. We pulled away from the house at

Lancaster County, PA

2009-09-16T15:50:00.012-04:00

After four months in one spot, we got back on the road again the day after Labor Day. It was great. And without realizing it, our course was much the same as it had been one year ago when we traveled between the Finger Lakes of New York and Rehoboth Bay, DE. We didn’t realize it until driving through Tamaqua, PA. We were talking about how similar the town looked, reminding us of that drive.

The Final Month

2009-09-07T15:17:00.013-04:00

By the beginning of August and after our friends left, we felt like we'd done most of what northeast PA had to offer - from a tourist's standpoint anyway. We had traveled to most of the State Parks in the area and seen most of the major attractions. So it became a challenge to find stuff to do. We kept busy, though some of it wasn't very interesting. You know, grocery shopping, and so on.One day

Good Friends, Good Times

2009-08-05T11:01:00.011-04:00

Our good friends and neighbors, Barbara & Larry Demaline, came to Clayton Park to spend a week with us. They arrived on Friday, July 24, late in the afternoon. I can't tell you how good it was to see them when they got here! They were a much needed ray of sunshine for us.We all had a great dinner together after I got off work. Julian grilled brats that were so yummy. And being able to talk with

NEPA

2009-07-23T10:00:00.007-04:00

We've put some miles on the car traveling all around northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA). We've enjoyed it all - there are beautiful sights to drink in up here.On this day we drove southwest of Lake Henry. We took I-80 west to the Lehigh River. Once off the interstate, we drove though parts of Hickory Run State Park. This park was just as well kept as the other state parks and was really pretty. We

Claws 'n' Paws

2009-07-19T15:34:00.004-04:00

We went to Claws 'n' Paws Wild Animal Park the other day. It's only about 10 miles from here which made it a really easy trip on a day with questionable weather. We didn't get rained on, but felt like it could have happened at any time.It's a small venue, but is really packed with animals. Our first stop was the lion den. All "cages" are out in nature with very little concrete anywhere. We were

Bushkill Falls

2009-07-11T08:03:00.000-04:00

We had one of the best weather days since we arrived in Pennsylvania on Monday, July 6. So we were ready to take advantage of it - big time!We drove south to Bushkill Falls which is billed as the Niagara of Pennsylvania. Having been to Niagara Falls last summer, that may be an overstatement. However, it is one of the nicest falls we have been to anywhere and it was worth every penny of the $10

A Fun Week

2009-07-08T13:09:00.009-04:00

We took a drive to the north for the first time. We went into Honesdale, which is the county seat. It's a cute little town with their tourist information housed in what may have been a train station at one time. We picked up some brochures and then headed to a Farmer Market listed in one of them. We've come to learn that a farmers market can be a farmer with a stand on the front of his property

Catching Up - Part 2

2009-07-01T14:55:00.012-04:00

The rainy weather continued. We had a Craft Fair/Flea Market scheduled here at the campground on Saturday, June 20th. Four brave souls set up tables, two were outside. Those two packed up and left fairly early because of the rain. The two others who were inside stayed the day, but I'm sure they had next to no traffic. It rained all day. I had to work most of the day and it was really quiet in the

Catching Up - Part 1

2009-06-28T15:38:00.010-04:00

Yes, it has been a while since I've posted. So I'm going to start catching up with what's been going on in our lives.I first have to tell a story. One Sunday afternoon, I was sitting at our picnic table getting the letters ready for the next update to the marquee out front. (Pictures later.) Two 10-year old girls who I've gotten to know from working in the store came walking by. Erica noticed our

This 'n' That (or Maybe Just Rambling)

2009-06-03T14:16:00.011-04:00

The weather here continues to be less than what I would call perfect. We've only had a handful of sunny days since we got here and most of those seemed to be on the cool to chilly side. It's gloomy and raining again today. Will Summer ever come?While there was a little sun this morning, Julian and Heidi went fishing on the lake. Julian said all he caught were the little ones, but he did have a

Our Summer Begins

2009-05-22T13:41:00.015-04:00

OK. I know we’ve been out ten days already. But there really hasn’t been anything too exciting to report as yet. We took our first exploratory trip yesterday, but I’ll get to that a little later.We left home on Tuesday, May 12, as planned. In fact everything on the drive up here went pretty much as planned. We spent our first night in our favorite “first night” place in South Carolina. This was

Christmas Trip

2008-12-30T11:10:00.013-05:00

On Tuesday, December 23, we took off in the RV for Cortez, FL. This is on the Gulf coast, between Tampa/St. Pete and Sarasota and only about 120 miles from home. We had been to Holiday Cove RV Park before, a couple of years ago, but it was quite different now. They have done a complete makeover, including brick pavers on every site. It’s beautiful, but in the

Thanksgiving Trip

2008-12-06T15:11:00.005-05:00

On Wednesday, November 26, we took off in the coach for several days in Ft. Myers Beach. We have been there before, but this was our first stay at San Carlos RV Park & Island Resort. This was a fairly small park situated right on Hurricane Bay, a waterway separating the mainland of Ft. Myers Beach from San Carlos Island. The photo on the home page of their web site shows how it's all laid out.Our

South Carolina, Georgia and ...

2008-10-11T12:59:00.009-04:00

Our next stop was in North Myrtle Beach, SC. We stayed at Briarcliffe, a very nice campground a mile or so off the beach.This RV resort happened to share a boundary with Barefoot Landing, a large outdoor mall with lots of shops and restaurants. When we took our morning walks, we wandered throughout the mall and easily did about 2.5 miles each time.We did a lot of exploring of the various fishing

Coastal Virginia

2008-09-27T17:39:00.005-04:00

On 9/11 we drove about 170 miles to our next stop in Virginia Beach, VA. Our route took us south on the peninsula from Delaware, through Maryland, into Virginia.And then we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge onto mainland Virginia. This bridge is 17.6 miles long with two mile-long tunnels in the middle. The bridge itself was not a big deal. As you can see it is two lanes going each way. And it wasn’t

The First State

2008-09-21T10:10:00.007-04:00

We took two days to drive from the Finger Lakes to Rehoboth Bay in Delaware. After having to re-route our drive due to excessive highway tolls, we spent one night in a Wal-Mart in Exton, PA. The good news was that this store was a part of a very large shopping mall. We walked over for dinner and found some really great food. It helped wipe out the aggravation of the re-routing process.Then it was

I ♥ NY

2008-09-14T10:46:00.019-04:00

Our next stop was Indian Village on Canandaigua Lake, one of the finger lakes of western New York. This is a private park of about 98% park models. You can’t stay here if you don’t know someone who spends the summer here. We are friends with a couple who live in our development in Florida who come here every summer. In fact Jean was raised in the Canandaigua, NY, area.Larry took Julian out in the

Niagara Falls - In Two Days

2008-08-29T15:39:00.024-04:00

On August 17, we moved from Ohio to Niagara Falls, NY… well, actually North Tonawanda, NY, about 20 minutes from the actual falls. We continued to have good weather and good driving conditions. Shortly after getting set up, we signed up for tours to both sides of the falls.On Monday, we were picked up at our campground and had a great tour guide for the American side. Our first stop was the Cave

Oh, Ohio!

2008-08-16T18:21:00.019-04:00

On Sunday, 8/10, we arrived at Erie Islands Resort & Marina. It’s a great campground; not many trees, but all the sites are pull-thru and very wide. We were probably at least two miles (as the crow flies) from Lake Erie, but at $10 a night – who’s complaining. We spent our first full day driving around the area, through Port Clinton, by the lake, out to Marblehead and back through Catawba

Good Times, Good Friends

2008-08-09T13:57:00.009-04:00

We’ve continued to keep busy since I last made an entry here. Not all of it is of great interest to the reader, so I’ll summarize: - We got the air conditioning fixed. What a relief knowing that we’ll be heading into hotter territory soon. - Another couple who are our friends joined us for a week at Creekwood.

Festivals and Fun

2008-07-27T12:32:00.010-04:00

On Saturday, the 12th, we went to the Maggie Valley Summer Arts and Crafts Festival. It was fun to see all the different crafts people had to sell. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking through the various tents. Our friends, Ken & Stacy, arrived on the 14th. It’s been fun to see them again. We had dinner together that evening and then a fish fry together for lunch the next day. (We do

Boone Over the 4th

2008-07-09T16:46:00.014-04:00

We left Asheboro on Monday, June 30, for Boone, NC. This town is named after THE Daniel Boone and is situated high in the Appalachian Mountains. The drive was only about 135 miles, but it was just about all up hill on somewhat narrow roads making it slow going. But it’s beautiful country, so we didn’t mind it! We got settled in and met several of the neighboring dogs, including a silver

And now for the fun stuff...

2008-06-29T15:17:00.017-04:00

We left home on Thursday, June 19, as scheduled. The weather was great, traffic was relatively light. We stopped in Hero, FL, (just north of Jacksonville) for Krystal Burgers. I closed the laptop, putting it in sleep mode… from which the screen never recovered. I was able to squint just right and see things on the screen just enough to get the exit number to the RV Park where we planned to

If it's not one thing, it's another!

2008-06-25T15:32:00.003-04:00

This will be quick and dirty. We've not had a marvelous start to our trip. Don't worry, we're fine.We left the house on Thursday morning, 6/19, as scheduled. The laptop screen crapped out on us after stopping for lunch. I only got the PC back today with it fixed. And that was a run-around chore, the details of which I won't bore you with.So not having a computer meant no blogging and a lot of

Ten-Day Tune-Up

2008-04-28T15:19:00.012-04:00

We spent 10 days in the RV as sort of a “tune-up trip” before heading out on the 3-month summer trip. This way we can make note of things we forgot, etc., so we don’t do the same thing on that trip. But not only are we “getting the kinks out” we’re also having FUN! We arrived in Ft. Myers Beach, FL, on Friday, April 18. After getting settled in, we went to Anthony’s for dinner. We had very

From Bummer to Boone

2008-04-22T14:03:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, we sat down to make the initial reservations for our Summer Trip. It's only two months away and definitely time to get on it. We are using Coast to Coast resorts whenever possible, as we can save quite a bit on nightly rates. Our plan was to spend two weeks in Banjo Creek near Asheboro, then three nights in Stone Mountain State Park (where they don't take reservations). Then on to

Weekend Getaway

2008-01-30T10:24:00.001-05:00

I guess weekends aren’t really that much different from the week days in our retired lifestyle. But it seemed the only time we could get away from our many activities and commitments. Besides our schedule, we needed to coordinate with our friends who went with us. Anyway, last Friday we packed up the coach and headed west to Homosassa Springs. We’ve been to that area several times, but this

Trip of a Lifetime

2007-10-20T17:01:00.000-04:00

Over the past three months, we’ve driven nearly 5200 miles through 19 states; 10 of those were new territory for the coach. Our most eastern point was the intersection of I-95 and I-26 in South Carolina. Our most northern point was Spearfish, SD. To the west, we visited the Acoma Pueblo in NM. Our southern-most point was, of course, our

Delightful Grandkids

2007-10-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

The last BIG thing on our marvelous trip was a stop in the Dallas area to see our grandchildren. And what a wonderful time that turned out to be. We arrived at our campground early enough to get set up and cleaned up before heading to Chris’s house after he got off work. The first order of business there was to see what grandpa and grandma brought the kids. Sha’Micah (almost 2) got a bear,

Enchanting Skies

2007-10-10T17:52:00.000-04:00

OK, think of every adjective and expression you can that relates to something beautiful, wondrous, exciting, awesome, and so on and so on and so on. And even then you probably won’t be close to what we felt and saw during our days at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was a phenomenal experience. We stayed in the RV parking area just south of the launch field. This was a huge dirt field with

The Pueblos

2007-10-10T16:42:00.000-04:00

Taos Pueblo While in Taos, we drove out to explore Taos Pueblo, about two miles north of town. It was very flat, very dusty and very brown. We took the tour and learned a lot about their culture, which has continued in this spot for over a thousand years. They still, to this day, have no running water and no electricity. In fact, they are working very hard to retain all of the old ways as well

Land of Enchantment

2007-10-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

We spent the first night back in the coach at a beautiful little campground at the top of Raton Pass. We were so close to the state line that we could have walked back to Colorado. The views were (I’m running out of adjectives here) awesome. We could see for miles and miles. I know these photos don’t fully do it justice, but I still have to share. When I went outside this morning to take some

Colorful Colorado

2007-10-01T20:06:00.000-04:00

After leaving the Rapid City area, we headed straight south through the panhandle of Nebraska. This is fairly bleak country – we saw some cows and a few windmills, but little else, not even houses. We wondered who owned the cows and where they lived. We spent one night in Cheyenne, WY, and then arrived in the Denver area on Thursday, 9/20. We parked the RV in the driveway next door, a vacant

South Dakota

2007-09-18T16:25:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, we drove from Chamberlain, SD, to our new home for a week, Hart Ranch, just outside of Rapid City, SD. It was all interstate, so we made great time.Since we had the time, we stopped in Wall to check out the “world famous” Wall Drug. That place is really something. It’s at least one square city block in size and seems to be

The Missouri River

2007-09-12T18:12:00.000-04:00

It was an easy drive from the Lake Okoboji area to Chamberlain, SD. Almost all of it was interstate across southern Minnesota and South Dakota. It was nearly all farm land, and very pretty in it’s own right. When we were fairly close to Chamberlain, it was like we crossed a line. It seemed that I just blinked and the whole landscape was completely different: rolling hills and bluffs and then the

Lake Okoboji, Iowa

2007-09-11T18:56:00.000-04:00

Our next stop on this three-month adventure was Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Referred to as the Iowa Great Lakes, this string of lakes is located in the north-northwestern part of the state. In fact, it’s so far north that if you aren’t careful where you drive, you’ll end up in Minnesota. We stayed at Cutty’s Okoboji Resort, a membership only RV park. It was a really nice campground except for the

Family Time in Lincoln, NE

2007-09-05T07:48:00.001-04:00

We spent the 29th, Julian’s birthday, on the road to St. Joseph, MO. It turned out to be a long (and beautiful) day of driving, so we had dinner in and went to bed early.We added extra days to our stay there so that we could go to the local casino – sort of a birthday present to Julian. So Thursday morning we were off to Terrible’s St. Jo Frontier Casino. We got all sorts of perks when we signed

Kentucky and Missouri

2007-08-30T09:24:00.000-04:00

It seems like forever since I’ve been able to post. So now it’s catch-up time. Boy! Do we miss easy internet access. We toured another cave just outside Cave City, KY. Crystal Onyx Cave is a small cave, but was very beautiful inside. We spent a little less than an hour inside and really enjoyed it. Here are a couple of shots that we took while inside. Our tour was very “intimate” with only

Moving Time

2007-08-19T14:45:00.000-04:00

We enjoyed a quiet day at home last Sunday. The weather was a little cooler, so we had lunch on the patio. We both sat outside reading our books, till we finished them. There was time for naps and playing cards. We had cocktails at the creek and watched the hoards of ducks on the creek. The babies have grown so much that they are hard to tell apart from the adults. A month is a long time in “duck

A Quiet Week

2007-08-12T15:37:00.000-04:00

Here it is Sunday again, and I haven’t written anything. That’s partly because we haven’t done any true sight-seeing. Our friends left on Monday, around noon-time. They had a short drive to Atlanta where they were going to get to see their new granddaughter for the first time. After they left, we went out and did some grocery shopping and then hung around and had dinner in. On Tuesday, we

Great Smoky Mountain Railroad

2007-08-05T14:38:00.000-04:00

It’s been a very busy week – that’s why the blogging got a little behind. Monday was the trip to Devil’s Courthouse. Tuesday was a shopping day, groceries and other necessities. We had dinner out with our friends at a marvelous restaurant called Sweet Onion. Wednesday found us just about as far west as you can go in North Carolina to walk the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Thursday was gambling

“Only God Can Make a Tree”

2007-08-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

It’s not like we haven’t seen any trees since we’ve been in North Carolina. They are everywhere and of every kind. But our hike through Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest was something else! This was another excursion with our friends, the Demalines. Here we are at the base of the 1¼ mile trail which passes by the memorial. This is the first sort of water fall/stream that we walked over. It was

Devil's Courthouse

2007-08-04T14:29:00.000-04:00

On Monday, July 30, we went to Devil’s Courthouse. This is a rock formation off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We took Heidi with us and our friends also took their dog. We figured it was time to include the puppies in our outing. The drive to this particular spot was just as beautiful as every other drive we’ve taken. North Carolina is a beautiful state. We are in constant awe! We parked the

Successful Fishing!

2007-07-30T16:11:00.001-04:00

So last Friday, our friends from home and Julian & I went to Cherokee (again) to see if we couldn't get lucky fishing on the reservation. We bought our one-day licenses & worms and found a great spot on the ponds just outside the KOA campground.Not long after we arrived, we saw the hatchery truck dumping fish into our pond. We certainly hoped that this was a good sign. Lots of fish in the pond

Day Trip to Cades Cove

2007-07-26T12:12:00.001-04:00

Since the last posting, we've been doing some of the more mundane things of life. We went out to dinner one evening. We did laundry. We cleaned house. We took our walks and just generally enjoyed our place in the world.And then on Monday afternoon, our neighbors from Leesburg arrived. They will be here for two weeks and it will be fun having them around to do stuff with. They got their motor

First Stop: Creekwood Farm, North Carolina

2007-07-22T14:34:00.000-04:00

In spite of it taking me a week to get this first entry, we did arrive here in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina on Monday, July 16, after spending last Sunday night in a quaint little RV park in Canadys, SC. Arriving here at Creekwood Farm RV Park was a little like coming home. We were both very excited and happy to get here. Here’s a look at our “home” after we got fully set up and settled

Where in the World?

2007-07-14T12:02:00.001-04:00

Where in the world are the Coles? Well, we are at home, packing up the coach for our three-month adventure. But tomorrow morning we will be taking off. We'll drive about 350 miles and spend one night in South Carolina. From there, we'll make our way to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. After we get settled in there, I'll be posting more pictures and stories. So check in from time to time to see just

Nothin' Could Be Fine-ahhhh!

2007-04-25T14:42:00.000-04:00

Or maybe the title should be “By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea”. I couldn’t decide. But either way, our week by the sea in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was definitely fine!We stayed at Ocean Lakes Family Campground. This complex was amazing. They boast 3400 sites, but my calculations allowed for about 900 RV sites. The rest were permanent homes. They

Branson for Christmas

2006-12-15T10:50:00.000-05:00

Why would anyone leave the warmth of Florida in December? For the Christmas shows in Branson, MO, of course. This was an organized tour put together by the Good Sam Club. The package included our RV site, seven shows, three tours and all but one dinner. It was an opportunity we simply couldn’t pass up. We left home on November 30, and drove as far as Ozark, AL. We had planned to stop in the

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - The First Week

2006-08-27T09:40:00.000-04:00

On July 15, 2006, we departed our home in central Florida in our 33' motor home. We headed up I-95, through Jacksonville and Georgia and into South Carolina. We were exited and happy to finally be on our way. Our first night was spent in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I know, not very exciting, but the price was right. Wal-Mart loves RVers - we buy stuff there.On Sunday, we were up early and back on the

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - The Second Week

2006-08-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

Since the fishing at Creekwood wasn’t great and Fontana Lake didn’t pan out, we needed to try something else. So this time we headed north to Hot Springs, also nearly into Tennessee. We talked to the Forestry guy there and then went to the French Broad River as he suggested. We found a great place and put the lines in the water. Julian had a couple of strikes early on, but wasn’t able to cash in

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - The Third Week

2006-08-25T16:21:00.000-04:00

In previous posts I have mentioned that Heidi is a very good traveler. She seems to be happy as long as she’s with us, so she’ll put up with a lot. Here she is in one of her favorite places.And lest you think she isn’t getting spoiled enough, this picture will put your mind at rest. She loves being on her daddy’s lap. This week we had live entertainment at Creekwood Farm on Saturday evening. Hobo

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - The Fourth Week

2006-08-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

When we returned from our morning walk on Saturday, there was a call from the furniture store telling us our table was ready. That was fast!We got cleaned up and then went to one of the neighboring towns for the “Mater Fest”. We didn’t buy tomatoes, though they had cases and cases to be sold. They did look pretty good, though. We bought a couple things for Heidi, most notably some treats designed

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - The Fifth Week

2006-08-23T13:45:00.000-04:00

This week brings with it our last days at Creekwod Farm. It’s time to move on, but it’s also a little sad to be leaving. We’ve enjoyed being in this place enormously. Lots of fun stuff to do. The sights have been unbelievable. And there’s something comforting in being in one place for a long time. It’s more like home that way, I guess.So there was laundry and shopping and packing to do before

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation – The Sixth Week

2006-08-22T16:55:00.000-04:00

Moving day came again on Sunday. This time we are off to Meadows of Dan, Virginia. (Yes, that’s the name of the town, also the name of the campground.) It was about 240 miles from Knoxville. It rained off and on all day – pretty hard at times – but we had good roads and no problems getting there.And what a beautiful place it was! Our site was up on a hill with great

Julian and Donna and Ernesto Too

2006-08-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

The events of the past 24 hours are just screaming to be written – even though it is out of order, chronologically speaking.We're at Waves, a village on the NC Outer Banks. We are at Camp Hatteras RV Park. So was Ernesto!The storm is now moving north of here but still producing occasional rain with some wind. Between the wind and the rain, it was a very noisy night.This morning around 7:30, we

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation – The Seventh Week

2006-08-20T17:18:00.000-04:00

Over the next days (still at Tranter’s Creek) we went for a drive around the area a couple of different times. We found a couple restaurants, but they seemed to be closed on the days we wanted to eat at them. We also found time to just hang around. Julian even gave fishing another try. Here’s proof. Have you guessed it? No fish were caught here. But the river was

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation – Week Eight (The Final Days)

2006-08-19T15:38:00.000-04:00

We drove north to Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills. We toured the Wright Brothers Memorial which was very interesting. From where this picture was taken, you can see the four markers showing the distance of each of their flights that day. There would have been other flights after lunch. But they had a lesson to learn. Always tie down an airplane when not in use. A wind