Today was different from our other days here. Rich needed to take the trailer to Camping World for some repairs and checks, so Nancy packed up a bunch of possible projects for the day and went into the house at 7:00. Usually, we eat breakfast in the camper and come out after everyone has left the house. Nancy found out what a lively household this is in the morning! Terrye was having coffee to go and was ready to head off to work. Phil was playing his electric guitar in the basement, along with loud music, to get energized for the [View Full Entry]

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After breakfast, we went shopping. Then we gathered up our laundry and went to the laundromat. We had seven loads with the towels and sheets! It took us a couple of hours, but it was worth it. For dinner we had left-over beans and cornbread. Jodie called and said that Seth had found a good ticket for her so she could join us all for Thanksgiving! She can fly from Reno to Dallas to New York and then ride with Seth and Vivian and Rowan down to Tennessee. We are all so happy and excited! Nancy's brother Martin came over and [View Full Entry]

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Today, we were planning on taking our camper and Nancy's sister, Jan, and going up to the Smokey Mountains for the weekend. There was snow up there and it was about 10 degrees, so we simped out and decided we would have more fun if we just drove up there for the day since we couldn't go hiking anyway. We drove up to Pigeon Forge. Jan was interested in the dinner show, the Dixie Stampede, which is a Dolly Parton wild west show. The tickets were sold out for today, and none of the rest of the family was interested for [View Full Entry]

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Rich tended his beans at 3:00 AM. In the morning, he added six smoked hamhocks and two pounds of bacon. Then we spent the rest of the morning sanding and refinishing the neat wooden high chair we had found in Virginia. You can see in the pictures what an ingenious chair it is! After that, Rich went to the VA clinic to see if they would give him a knee brace. They said they don't have any supplies like that. He would have to drive to Johnson City to the VA Hospital. Next, he tried an orthopedic clinic. they couldn't sell [View Full Entry]

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We began the day by starting a huge pot of beans. Last night, we soaked eight pounds of dry mixed beans. This morning, we started slow-cooking them in a huge pot that Phil found in his basement. Don and Betty came by to take us to a Jewelry TV tent sale. They both work for Jewelry TV which is based right here in Knoxville. The Home and Garden channel is here, too. The tent sale was fun. There were lots of gift items besides jewelry. We bought a couple of Christmas gifts, and Rich bought a stone chess set. The pieces [View Full Entry]

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We're here! We slept in and lounged around. Nancy's brother Phil had his four wisdom teeth extracted in the morning. It took two hours! His lovely wife Terrye was the surgical assistant and two of his sons watched part of the "procedure". When he got home and had slept for awhile, we visited. He was pretty funny under the influence of pain medication. He couldn't remember questions he had just asked. His sons Boone and Neal were taking very good care of him and making him comply with doctor's (and Terrye's) orders. Later, Rich loaded up his empty oxygen bottes and [View Full Entry]

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We woke to two inches of snow and more coming down! Maybe we won't have Thanksgiving since it looks like it's Christmas already! Rich fixed his breakfast surprise recipe for all of us. It is eggs and cheese and a surprise! After breakfast, we went to the camper to get ready to leave and we couldn't get the slide to go in because it had too much snow on top! We had to borrow a ladder and a push broom and Rich climbed up to push the snow off! Our goodbyes said, we headed out a little before noon. The road [View Full Entry]

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While we were on the hilltop, we didn't have Wi-Fi, so we got behind. We had a liesurely morning and a tasty breakfast. Nancy's Cousin David took us to a point on a hill where we could see the Greenbriar River at the bottom of the valley. He had cut the road out there. It was a lovely view up there. Then he drove us on a tour of the boundaries of the 300+ acre farm with pastures, a hayfield, and woods. Then, while Jim went to his office in Charleston, the rest of us went in our truck to do [View Full Entry]

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The day is cloudy and windy. It took us until noon to repack the truck and clean up the camper. We've spent a week in Virginia! Now, pulling the trailer, the truck is like a dream and Rich is very happily driving up and down the mountains. Around 2:00, as we were getting hungry, we saw a brown highway sign that said Appalachian Arts and Crafts. We thought it would be fun to look at the art and to break for lunch. We pulled into Clifton Forge, a pretty little town in the mountains. Alas, the Arts and Crafts store was [View Full Entry]

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We woke to a light rain. As we began packing the essentials back into the truck, there was a little sunshine. We were preparing to backtrack to Charlottesville to see Monticello. We had planned on a stop there before the truck acted up, so we had had to pass it by. Once we got to the Interstate, it began to pour rain! We passed a Wal-Mart distribution center that had to have had at least 200 Wal-Mart trailers! We didn't mention it, but there have been Wal-Marts all over every place we've been. The new truck is behaving like a dream [View Full Entry]

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