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.

Really On The Move Now

Yeah, I know the last post was titled On The Move, and while it was true, now that we have met our obligations in Atlanta and have moved up the road to North Carolina, we are really on the move.  I want to share a few more pictures of Talona Ridge to show how beautiful it is, and the view, amazing!

Our first evening that we arrived was overcast and quickly turned to rain and lasted through the whole next day, making it perfect to hunker down, watch the weather move in and out on the mountains, catch a movie, read a bunch, and have wonderful Chicken Pho for dinner.

Our schedule after that rain day was full.  Our friend's John and Dianne came up and we met for lunch, then we all went up to our site and sat outside on a glorious day, enjoyed the view, the companionship, and drinks and cigars.  The next day was a big dentist day, cleanings for both of us, and Jan finally, finally after 3 1/2 years got her permanent crown!  We finished up the day with a nice lunch out, and since it was another beautiful day thoroughly enjoyed the 50 plus mile drive.  Followed by a nice evening, happy hour, Jan made a Sticky Pork Belly bowl, delish, and a beautiful sunset.

John and Dianne surprised us with an invitation to come down and spend the night at their place on Wednesday, and then on our way back we could go to our dermatologist appointments.  We had a wonderful time, excellent food and steaks for dinner, super bourbon and topped it off with cigars and a fire.  Wonderful time and so good neither of us took even one picture:-(

After our doctor appointments we stopped at a BBQ place, Williamson Brothers, a place we hadn't been to for at least 15 years and enjoyed a delicious lunch and enough for a second lunch the next day:-)  I guess we'll have to make it less than 15 years in the future.

It rained on and off our last day, but we were able to enjoy our last evening HH, hunkered down in between the truck and motorhome, still with a view though:-)

I had rotated the truck tires while in Florida, but they seemed to be a little bit cupped on the front, comes from towing a lot, but we were surprised to find we had put more than 5000 miles on since, so before we left I went to a very nice Mom and Pop tire shop in Ellijay and had them rotated.  The forecast was for a bunch of rain for our short 50 mile drive, but it wasn't raining, so off we went to try to beat it.  Jan drove separately, didn't seem worth hooking up for the short drive to only unhook as soon as we got there, Peachtree Cove in Murphy, NC, one of our favorite small campgrounds.  But Murphy in Murphy I guess, brought on the rain only 7 miles out, so now our pristine washed and waxed coach is dirty again and will remain so for quite some time until we get somewhere that will let us wash, and we are afraid it won't be until the very end of June!

We are here for 6 nights and hope to get some fishing in.  Here we are in our rainy spot.

Stay tuned!

On The Move!

We left RCR at about noon on a very hot day for our foray to Josam's Frame and Alignment in Orlando for our 0700 am appointment for 6 tires, Balance Masters for the drive axle, new desiccant cartridge for our air system, and a front end alignment.  We pulled into our very plush spot for the night outside the fence to be ready bright and early.  We found a little shade and set up for happy hour:-)

After an uneventful night with our generator purring like a kitten for more than 20 hours, we headed in for our appointment.

The Balance Master on the drive

Our appointment went very well and we were all done by noon.  But since all was so smooth, Murphy decided to raise his head.  We went to start the generator, and it was quite reluctant, but it finally ran, but only produced power on one leg, we shut it down and tried a couple more times, we also reset the double breaker on the unit several times, all to no avail, we need our gen to run our AC's, so it was a HOT, HOT ride to our campground, Grand Oaks about 50 miles away.  Also this area of Florida was enjoying almost record high temps, over 95 degrees.

So early the next morning, I tackled the generator.  I checked a few things first, connections in and out of the circuit breaker, then the circuit breaker itself, but ultimately I had to try to start it and see what the power out looked like.  Warned our neighbors, started it up, and................... it worked......perfectly!  Now what?  Well, since it was already over 80 degrees at 0900am I decided to chalk it up as a fluke and press on.  By the way, since then it has run perfectly for hours on our drives, although it is a bit reluctant to start.

Beautiful Grand Oaks

We planned on 3 nights here so we could do several things, we wanted to go out to lunch, imagine that, and check out a campground for December between Lady Lake and Ocala, and just ride around.  This is in fact, a beautiful area of Florida, rolling hills, lots of trees, and gorgeous horse farms.  So first off to The Villages for lunch.  We went to a great place called Bluefin, sat outside in the shade and enjoyed a shared lunch.

Pretty sure the golf carts far outnumber the other vehicles:-)

Tuna Tartare

Awesome conch fritters

And calamari

Then we went and visited the campground we were interested in, Sunkissed.  We were able to ride around and really liked what we saw, big roomy paved sites, all with patios, nice pool, pickle ball, etc.  We decided to make a reservation for a week in Dec, and for the first time ever we were turned away, because they only allow RV's newer than 2008 model, and ours is a 2007.  We have been to many places that have an age requirement, but in all cases a picture of our coach gets us immediate approval, in fact where we are now has a 10 year old rule, but with our picture they welcomed us.  In this case it was made clear that there are NO exceptions to the rule, period.  Okay their place, their rules, but disappointing.

Another blog I follow talks a lot about Sanford, FL as a very desirable place, nice walking, marina, tons of restaurants, right on a huge lake, Lake Monroe, the terminus of the navigable St John river that flows to Jacksonville, so we wanted to check it out.  Obviously we had to tie that in with getting lunch, well the top rated restaurant is Hollerbach's, a German place.  We don't have German very often, maybe once a year but the menu looked really good, so we gave it a try, and we were so glad we did, absolutely amazing, highly recommended.  It is a huge place, and again since it was so hot outside opted to eat inside.  Huge room, lots of activity, and great service even so.  We shared and had plenty to take back for lunch the next day!

A two sausage plate, one Bratwurst, and one Weisswurst
with awesome sauerkraut and german potato salad

And this amazing pork shank, Eisbein, with mashed potatoes with bacon, apple, and onions
and wonderful sauerkraut.
This was sensational!

As for the town itself, we don't know, it sure looks nice, wide bricked sidewalks, pretty waterfront, lots of shops and restaurants and bars, but also lots and lots of homeless, beggars, even saw a wild altercation on the sidewalk, so we'll hold on our opinion until we try visiting again.

On the way back we stumbled across a sign, Welcome to Tavares, America's Seaplane City, well we had to check that out.  We found a city run seaplane base and a cute town, that I think will warrant more future exploring.

A couple more shots of Grand Oaks, a really nice equestrian spot with views and walking.

So after a few enjoyable days at Grand Oaks it was time to move north, hurray!  A quick stop in Americus, GA for the night.

Jan made a great shrimp and vegetable dish for dinner, nice, light, and tasty.

Then a fairly long day to Ellijay, GA in the northern part of the state, but still giving us access to Atlanta, yes, dentists and docs, and friends.  We have never stayed here before, it is really top shelf, all paved, patios, fire pits, both wood and gas, club houses, pools, hot tubs, pickle ball, and all nicely manicured, and did I mention the incredible views!  The resort is on 3 levels commensurate with pricing:-)  The lowest level with hardly any views, the next tier some views, but up on the top where we splurged to be the views are amazing, even with the cloud cover. Talona Ridge is a very, very nice place.

A view down from the club house

Our site!

Here for a week, lots to do.