Maine Tomorrow!

We extended in Murphy, NC through Monday to be sure Jan didn't have any big issues with her lip, it has been a struggle for her, but she is healing, although slowly, two steps forward, then one step back.  Your lip is a tough spot, but it will be good.

We did a bunch of walking, never got to fish again as the weather didn't cooperate.  We almost tripped over this guy walking around the campground and I have to admit I knew what it was, but had never seen one in the flesh before, a hellgrammite, the larva of the Dobsonfly, a mean looking critter!

It's about 3 inches long!

We left Murphy, NC for Sevierville, TN and a favorite campground, Two Rivers Landing right along the French Broad River.  We took our time picking out a route to avoid the incredibly windy roads between us and there, and then ended up on a terrible narrow, windy, up and down road that after about 10 miles realized it was the same road that we took last year and swore to never drive again.  This time we have marked it on all our maps, on my trip planning program on the computer, made notes on my spreadsheets so hopefully we actually will never drive that road again:-)

We got some diesel along the way and I'm happy to report that so far this year we are paying an average of $3.50/gal, much less than last year.

While here we had several things we wanted to do, go out to lunch, imagine that, hit the last Costco for a long time, and the last Publix for a long time.  We went to a new restaurant kind of out in the boonies that we had never been to before, Pawpaw's Catfish Kitchen, which turned out excellent.

Wonderful catfish and excellent shrimp!

Then we completed our other errands and were blessed with another nice night along the river, it was supposed to rain.

It sure did overnight and was still raining in the morning for our long day to northern Virginia.  So  while hooking up in the rain, the cover for the towing electrical receptacle on the motorhome broke off.  It is also what holds the wire in place, a little jury rigging and we were on our way, good until we can replace the plug.

Good old wire ties

Then a long day in pouring rain to a new campground for us, one we won't be going back to by the way.  Our normal stop was full with all our redoing of reservations.  When we arrived with a short break in the rain, it looked good, nice entry way, nice grounds right up to when we pulled in to check in and the lot was so tipped I thought we might roll over!  Scared the crap out of us.

Then we were escorted what seemed like 3 miles on winding dirt roads to our site, a pull through.  We pulled in and realized we'd never be able to pull back out in the morning, as the road had swales that were so large we were sure we'd drag, and the turn so tight we didn't think we'd make that either, so with hard rain forecast all night and the next day, we decided to unhook the truck, back out of our pull through, then back in the opposite way, drive the truck around the other side, hook it back up so we would be able to leave easily in the am.  It worked out, and we got a break in the weather long enough for HH:-)  We won't return here hence me not telling you the name of this place.

Off early in the pouring rain, managed to find our way out on the winding road, and headed to NY for the next night.  This time it rained hard all day.  Everything was okay until the wiper on my side took off to my left and got hung up on the mirror thankfully.  We were able to get off the road fairly soon only 5 miles or so with me peering through the rain.  Thankfully the arm just got loose a bit and was able to rotate on the splined shaft, a realignment with a tightened nut and we were back on the road.

Where'd the wiper go?

Fixing it in the rain

Then on to Belden Hill campground where we ended up getting a site with a very tight turn in, that turned out fine.  It is a nice place with killer views northeast of Binghamton, NY.  We spent a cold and rainy night there with a nice dinner of cod for our trip the next morning to Vermont.

Over to Brattleboro, VT and a nice KOA.  Small, pretty place with wonderful owners, but too cold and rainy to sit out either night, so no pics either, but Jan whipped up an incredible dinner, Vietnamese-Style Sticky Rice with Chicken and Chinese Sausage, it was yummy!

We wanted to do two things here.  First was to go to Singleton's for lunch, it is a general store in Proctorsville, VT, about 40 miles away.  It has groceries, guns, ammo, liquor, clothing, sporting goods, meat market, and what we were going for, killer sandwiches.  This is odd, at least for us but I heard about this place on Facebook somehow.  Posts with pictures of their sandwiches just started showing up on my feed, where they came from I don't know, but they definitely got to us.  

Second we wanted to go back to the Woodstock Farmer's Market, another 22 miles farther to hopefully get some amazing locally raised pork that we had before, and maybe some fresh fish.

It all worked out great, especially for a cool, murky day, the drive was nice, spring is just starting to spring here, Singleton's was very cool, and the sandwiches were out of this world.  We got there just in time, we ordered and all of a sudden a crowd arrived, all locals this time of the year, and they just kept on coming.

And our sandwiches.

This is the Smokehouse, smoked ham, smoked turkey, smoked bacon,
cheddar, lettuce, and maple mustard on wheat

I didn't do very well with the picture, but this one was the Bomb!
It is the Smokey,
brisket, cheddar, caramelized onions, and volcano mustard on rye

Downside is there is nowhere in the store to eat and much too cold and rainy outside, so we ate in the truck, but wow so good.  Then off to Woodstock and we were lucky enough to get a bunch of pork for the freezer.  So another cold and rainy night here and then off to Maine early tomorrow.

Ha! On The Move? Nope!

So I left you as we pulled into our spot in Peachtree Cove for 6 nights.  We made the most of a rainy, but pleasant evening with HH and cigars under the awning:-)

We planned the next day to go into Blairsville, GA to a Cuban restaurant we like, but it was closed so we chose a very highly rated sushi restaurant instead, The Sushi Shack, yeah in the mountains of GA, but it was really good, and very busy, they have quite a following.

Yummy!

Then we took a long way back past Nantahala Lake and down the river to our fishing area to check things out and have coffee.  It was a gorgeous day!

Then back to our campground which has a nice river view as well.

Jan topped off the day with a delicious Shrimp and Udon Noodle stir fry.

The next day we were off to Rib Country, our favorite BBQ place outside of Cooper's in Llano, TX:-)

Then after lunch we rode down to Blue Ridge, GA to visit a fly shop and walked around town, another gorgeous day.

That brought us to Tuesday and Jan's call from the dermatologist's office that her biopsy was positive.  They said she would need MOHS surgery, an outpatient procedure.  We waited for the surgeon's office to call and set up the details.  We both looked at each other and were so thankful we were still in NC and not farther north.  She was given a date asap on Thursday in Marietta, GA, a mere 100 miles away.  She would need to be there at 10:30am and plan to spend at least 3 hours, and would need to return a week later to have the stitches removed.  WOW.  We were shocked, and for good reason, no one ever wants to hear the C word, I had already had my go with it, and now unfortunately it was Jan's turn.  We were on our way to go fishing when the call came, so we turned around to revamp our plans to make sure we could do it.  First we extended in Murphy, NC, then readjusted all the next reservations which would push off our arrival in Maine by about a week.  Lots of phone calls and emails, but we got it done, Jan made coffee, then we went fishing.

We fished for a few hours then took a break for coffee.

I was finishing my coffee

Jan went back to fishing

And it paid off for her!

We packed a lunch and went fishing the whole next day, and although it was great on the river we both got stained.

The butterflies were having more luck than we were:-)

The big day arrived, we drove the 2 hours to Marietta, met the surgeon and his wonderful staff, she went in right before 1030am.  The MOHS procedure is where the surgeon removes a certain amount of skin and tissue, then it is analyzed, and if needed it is repeated again and again so the least amount of tissue is removed, but still gets all the cancer.  That translates into a short procedure and a fairly long wait each time as it takes 45 minutes plus or minus for the evaluation.  Jan was "trouble" the Doc said:-)  4 times he had to remove tissue until she was clear, she never got out until after 4pm.  Long, long day, BUT, the good news, they got it all, and NO stitches!  The best news is she is doing great, her lip is healing nicely, and doesn't need any follow up!  She asked me to pass on some advice, "Don't forget your sunscreen!"

Coming home after a long, long day

This morning the bandage is off, she is managing very well, little discomfort, we even went and took a walk along the river in town.

Then we had the distinct pleasure of redoing our plans again.