So what have we been doing?

Due to various reasons we tried to extend our stay in Atlanta, but we were told there was no room in the inn, so we stayed with our original plan and went north, yeah north, to Hiawassee, GA.

Our spot at Allatoona Landing NW of Atlanta

The leaves are gone in the mountains of Georgia

We went to a favorite campground of ours, Riverbend Campground, and little did we know, and lucky we had reservations, it is a destination for Thanksgiving.  They cook up more than 10 turkeys and people come from far and wide to enjoy a Thanksgiving pot luck together.  We passed since we had planned a small Thanksgiving for ourselves this year.

Mostly we just chilled out, more truth to that since it was too cold in the late afternoons and evening to sit out even with our fire pit.  Other than the chilly temps the weather was spectacular.  We took a lot of walks and a few rides in the truck to enjoy the scenery. Might as well brace yourselves, there will be pictures of food in this post:-)  We went to Dahlonega, one of our favorite north GA towns that we used to motorcycle to when we lived in GA.  It was quiet, being off season and pleasant.

Our view of the square from our table at
The Back Porch Oyster Bar

My delicious scallop dish

And Jan's shrimp Po Boy

It was funny as we thought we had absolutely scoured the roads up here especially when we had our bike, but we fell upon a road we had never been on.  This is North Carolina now.  We initially went to Nantahala Lake that we had never visited, and then followed Wayah Rd down to Rte 74, now 74 we had been on many times, but never Wayah Rd.  Well we discovered a part of the river that was spectacular for fishing. Further down river it is famous for it's kayaking, tubing, and canoeing.  In fact the upper portion was lined with fishermen, even this late in the year.  We marked it carefully and plan to come back and fish it in the spring!

No, it's not night, it is in a very narrow gorge that doesn't allow a lot of sun.
Look closely, that guy is holding a BIG fish!

Next we made our way to Charleston, SC, an absolutely beautiful city that we haven't been able to spend enough time in before.  We found a great campground with easy access to downtown at the Mt Pleasant KOA.

Our very nice campsite

And its view

They even rent out a railroad car!

We first took a bus tour of Charleston, and I will blow their horn.  It was on Pineapple Tours, and the owner Ben is an outgoing knowledgable person, but our guide Neal Cook was incredible.  His family has been in this area going back to the Revolutionary War, and he is a history major, and has his master's in history as well, and had the knack of bringing it all to life on our informative and wonderful 90 minute tour.

We went to a recommended waterfront restaurant for our lunch that day, and it was good, but the view was better:(

Our view for lunch

That is Castle Pinckney on the left and famous Fort Sumter on the right

We walked miles around the city, and had a wonderful time.  The weather was perfect, low humidity and about 70.  We went out to lunch another day and made out much, much better, in fact it was great.  We went to Poogan's Porch and had a fabulous lunch!  It is set in a restored Victorian house and the food and service were fabulous.

The shrimp and grits have a reputation of being the best in Charleston,
and I would agree!!

These were recommended to us by the waitress and what a find!
They are pimiento cheese fritters in a green tomato jam
Yeah, there were four, but we were busy devouring them before I took a picture:)

We walked and walked and had a great time.

This was in a graveyard dating back to the 1700's

We are big Pat Conroy fans, and of course, his novels are mostly set in Charleston, but he actually lived as an adult in Beaufort, SC about 80 miles south.  We wanted to have a look see, so off we went.  Beaufort is a small quaint town right on the water in the marshes of the low country, nice to walk around, but pretty small to spend much time in our opinion. 

Waterfront Beaufort

We later found out Pat Conroy actually lived on Fripp Island about 20 miles outside of Beaufort, and also found out it is private, so we didn't go.  But while in Beaufort we had another fantastic lunch at Sea Eagle Market.  Fresh, fresh seafood!

Lunch!

So our time here has come to an end and we will continue moving south to our Florida winter digs, but we have a few more stops, and a service to accomplish along the way.  Off to Brunswick, GA today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've had a lot happen this year in our family, so our personal Thanksgiving will be very small, in fact just the two of us.  The smallest gathering in quite a few years, but we are still very thankful for a great year.  We had the honor of being invited to a wonderful Mini-Thanksgiving feast by Brett and Sandra which was very enjoyable and delicious to boot.  

Jan and I with Brett and Sandra  🦃

We were able to see our daughter Kelly as we came East, and our son Jason came to visit this last weekend.  

I want to say how thankful I am for my wife and companion, Jan who helps so much with the execution and enjoyment of our lifestyle on the road especially when she puts on her "Diesel Mechanic" hat.  Not only is she the love of my life, but she jumps right in whenever anything needs repair to help me and in many cases just fixes things herself.  I thought I would relive some of the bigger items she has helped me with or done herself.  

Some of the highlights:

We have replaced 4 AC's on the coach ourselves, yes we only have 3, but have replaced one twice.
Our huge project of repairing and replacing our rotted out floor.
Replaced our stovetop.
Replaced our transfer switch.
Replaced our Aquahot unit.
Recovered a slide nut that had fallen off, disappeared, and reinstalled it.
Temporary fix for our broken tile.
Wiring for our toad brake indicator.
Engine coolant tank removal, repair, and reinstall.
Remove and relocate our auxiliary air compressor for our leveling system.
Repair of our front ride height valve.
Replace washer/dryer.
Remounted motorhome wiper system.
Replace microwave/convection oven.
Removal of leaking hydraulic cooler and replacement.
Replacement of a slide motor solenoid.

Ha, there is even more, but I don't want to discourage anyone from this lifestyle if I can help it:-)  And just so you know, this represents quite a few years...

Without her jumping in, crawling under, fitting into tiny spots, fastening this, replacing that, wiring this or that, or anything else that needed to be done I would probably be on the side of the road somewhere, still working on many of these items.

Here she is, installing a wire along the bottom of the coach
for our toad brake indicator

And still smiling!

Under the bed helping to reinstall a gear that had shifted causing our slide to not move

About to remove our poorly situated aux air compressor

To its new location

Installed!

Our rear slide mechanism with the elusive nut that I couldn't get to

The bottom nut reinstalled

Our front ride height valve that I couldn't get to way under the collapsed coach

Jan's hand under the coach about to replace the slide pump solenoid

The solenoid

Replaced and wired

Representative of our AC replacements
The ramp we built to slide the 100# AC unit up and the bad one down.
Me on the top and Jan pushing from below

Success!

New one installed and old one in the box to go back down

Our shattered tile in our new floor

Bad tile removed

Getting the last few pieces out

Temporary plywood floor installed

Microwave ready to come out

Reaching way in for the mounting bolts

Jan is using the force here, as she can't see:)

Our leaking cooler

Jan cleaning ATF and grime off the louvers

Making a final adjustment on her end

And one more project comes to a successful completion

So have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Hope you have as much to be thankful for as I do.  It is so wonderful to have family and friends and a lifestyle that you enjoy and to be able to share it with someone who truly is my better half.