VACATION- Tennesee Time with my buddy

Ahhh to wake up in sunshine and warm weather!!!!  Although it got down to 28 overnight, and snowed a little dusting overnight....  the sun soon brought us up into the FIFTIES!!!   It was sweatshirt and slacks weather, and we were sooo happy to wear shoes instead of boots.

Steve was able to get the water pump to prime once things were easier to see in the light of day.  Not sure what he did, or what I did, but between the both of us, we got the pump working.  That was one more relief and pressure off of our minds.

Steve unhooked the Tracker and ran it over to a nearby car wash to get some of the salt off.  We carried a LOT of Wisconsin Road Salt down on the surface of the Tracker and some on the sides of the motorhome too.   We will wash that probably as we head on down the road and find a truck wash somewhere on the way.

At noon, our friends Linda and Mark came by the park to pick us up for lunch!  We went out to a nice place called Aubrey's for a good meal....

I have known Linda for many years now, and we are weaving/spinning/fiber buddies and best friends for a long time.. along with our third of our Trio... Rosie.  (we stopped at her place in Bethel, MO last vacation on our way back from Texas)   Sure wish we all lived closer together!  We write, chat, email or phone each other multiple times a day.  The spring before we sold the other house, they both came ALL the way up to my house to help me deplete some of my weaving stuff, and they hauled home a full van of goodies!

Linda has a weaving studio and some lovely looms... we spent the afternoon on her little farm, gazing at her pregnant mommy goat, and her HUGE great Pyrenees dog, Max, who guards her little herd of goats.....

 (maybe the baby goats will be born while we are here?) 

We oohed and ahhed and gabbed and chin wagged our way through her studio... it's very nice and she has such good taste in decorating her area around her workplace.  I will ask her if I can post some interior pics on my next blog.

The guys kept themselves busy chattering away about this and that....   and it kept them outta OUR hair!  LOL

We drove back to the motorhome to find both dogs snoozing.  I woke them up as I came inside.  They didn't even hear us drive up or even when I turned the key in the lock.  We had cordoned them off in the bathroom and bedroom of the motorhome, behind a babygate.  That keeps them off the front dash or trying to climb up to look out the windows.  With fresh water and food, toys, and their doggie beds, they were cozy and comfy. We turned on a tv loud enough to drown out any noises from outside that would cause them to bark.  Duke is good, but this was the first time Finney was left alone in the motorhome without us.

We asked the folks at the campsite across from us if they barked at all.  Nope.. they had even been sitting out and had their door open and didn't hear a peep.  Whew!  

Nothing can be worse than being stuck next to an RV all day long with barking dogs inside and the owners nowhere in sight.  We have put up a video camera in the past to film our dogs while we were gone, and it's pretty boring viewing.  Duke and old Ducky were always very well-behaved campground doggies.  We need to train little Finney to do the same.  I think he is off to a good start.

I took them up to a fenced in doggie play area in the RV park we are staying at.... and I had a tennis ball for a romping rolicking good time!  Soon they were both panting so we brought them back to the motorhome for a drink and rest.

Before we left Chilton, I had purchased two unbaked pot pies from Hilde's Deli.  We had froze them before we left Chilton and had them along in the motorhome freezer.  I popped them in the oven for 25 minutes and soon our meal was done. Ahhhhhh  a bit of Wisconsin on the Road.

I facebook'd Hilde and told her that now her foods were "imported" !  hahahahhaaaaa

We decided to stay another day at The Escapees Raccoon Valley RV park here in Heiskell, TN.  Tomorrow we will do some sightseeing, thrift shopping and museum going with our friends Linda and Mark.  Sure wish Rosie was with us.....

NO miles traveled today in the RV

VACATION- 3 States In A Day

Woke up this morning about 4 a.m.  We knew the temps dropped below zero overnight in Indiana where we had holed up for the night.  We had frost around the inside metal frames of all the windows and the door.  So Steve decided to get up at 4:15 and fire up the generator to plug in the electric heater too.  Brrrrrr

So now that he was wide awake, why let ME sleep??  Soon the dogs were wanting to go out, and all was cold and frosty outside.  And INSIDE???? well, due to the condensation inside all the moisture of the propane heater, and after perking coffee on the stove, plus boiling a tea kettle to have wash water for our faces.... the front windows all frosted up on the INSIDE!

Seriously...  it was frosted thick on the INSIDE.....  (we have had this happen other years before on the first night on the road in February, so it wasn't a surprise)    Steve couldn't sleep and saw the traffic moving well on the interstate, so wanted to head out early.  He fired up the engine and turned on the defrost blower on HIGH.  We have two rotating fans to help spread the warm air, and we have two large fans called O2 Cool fans that we set on each corner to also help move the air around.  Soon we were on our way.

We drove till about 6:30 a.m. and pulled over at a nice wayside to make up some breakfast.  The roads had been clear, but now were having a layer of a mist or humidity on them.  The skies were clear blue and no clouds, but the moisture was possibly making slick driving surfaces and we saw more cars in the ditches.  Not sure if they were new ones just crashed in or leftover cars from last night.  By the time we were done with breakfast, the sun was up and shining bright, and the pavement was clear and dry! 

We drove on towards Columbus, Indiana and pulled off the interstate into a parking lot of a big commercial factory that was closed for the day.  Steve found a nice spot in the sunshine for parking the rig, and we unhooked the Tracker.  It was my turn for a little Fiber Adventure!   I drove 10 miles of backroads, twisting and turning along till I reached my friend Chris Gustin's studio....  http://homesteadweaver.com/   I delivered some hugs to her from other weaving friends, and was introduced to her kind and friendly husband, Bob.  We chatted for a while and discussed various projects she was working on. 

She has a beautiful shop that has been featured in magazines and news stories.

She is also part of  the Brown County Artist Tour each year. 

We looked and ooh and ahhed together

 and every where I looked was something that I found fascinating 

or creative or just completely wonderful! 

The pic on the left below of her rugs wouldn't focus right on my camera, because of the texture of these great rugs, the camera didn't know what to focus on!   She also makes these beautiful mobius shawls in such pretty colors.

Besides selling wonderful items, Chris has three different areas set up with looms to take lessons on or enjoy watching her weave on them.  This loom of lovely cherry wood is sure a sweetie!

This is part of the new addition she added since last time I had been at her studio.  She has larger looms here and can weave wider rugs in this area.   The walls are lined with cones of every color of the rainbow! (artfully arranged of course)

Too soon, it was time for me to leave... .we hugged our goodbyes as Chris's husband Bob was loading my bags of goodies into the Tracker.  Shhhh do you think Steve won't see all that new yarn and stuff hidden in the back of the Tracker?  heh heh.

I wound my way back to a patiently waiting Steveio and doggers Finney and Duke.  They had taken a nap while I was gone and were now ready to get back on the road.  We hooked up the Tracker, double checked the connections and headed on south down the road again.  We were hoping to find places withOUT any snow... wonder how far south we have to drive to get away from it?

We drove into Kentucky....  nope, still snow.  Dangnabbit!  

As we crossed over the bridge into Kentucky,  I just leaned over with the cell phone and snapped this pic of a barge going up the river.  It came out pretty good at 50 mph taken on a whim between the posts of the bridge supports!

We drove on, and still was that danged snow snow and more snow on the ground.   Of course we had to snap some pics of this tunnel, I think I have pics of this same tunnel every time we go this way!

 It's not a long tunnel, but just kinda fun to say we went through one 

and saw the light at the end of the tunnel! LOL

We found these frozen waterfalls in the sections of cut through parts of the mountains very pretty... just flash frozen in mid stream.  How cool is that?

From there, we wound out way through narrow valleys and up on top of high hills.  After Jellico Mountain, we cruised our way down down down in the darkness until we entered Tennessee  (too dark for a pic of the sign, sorry!)

We knew where we were going...  just three miles from our friends Linda and Mark Baldwin's home is a nice little RV park run by the Escapees.  It's called Raccoon Valley RV Park   We had called ahead and they said pull in any time to any empty site and we can pay up in the morning.  How nice is that?


First off, we had to get the dogs out on their leashes to do their thing...  oh my were they ever surprised to see GRASS!!!!    It was not SNOW!   They were both so confused---  the last time they were out the door in Kentucky it was all snow, and now .. strangely.. it was grass???

How could this be?  Our magic motorhome brought us to some grass?

It was after dark as we got settled into our campsite, but we knew where to go and got leveled out and set up.  Once Steve plugged us in, I was able to make up some supper. It was now after 7 p.m. and we hate setting up in the dark.  Steve hooked up our water lines so we could take showers. but the temps are going to drop so we had to unhook the hose to stow away to prevent freezing.  Dang, our water pump is not priming and has some air in the lines from the big fresh water tank.  ACK!   He messed with it for a while, but gave up.  He can look at it more in the daylight and figure it out.

I just went to let the dogs out for one last time before bed... guess what??? 

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!

409 miles traveled today

704 miles total