March 29th, 2022

My brother John (you will meet brother-in-law John in another post) has the most incredible tickets to the Tampa Bay Lightening and even though he knows I know and care very little about the actual game of sports, I love the spectacle of it all. Check out these seats!

The penalty boxes are right to each side of the seats, so we got to witness a lot of the smack talk

And I’m not sure exactly why the most profitable team in hockey (so says my brother) has such a need for duct tape, but it did bring me back to my old radio days!

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March 24th, 2022

We stayed an extra night in the Blue Ridge KOA so we didn’t have to make the drive down to Lake Blackshear in stormy weather.

Got up early this morning and got on the road by 8:30. We made it through Atlanta area traffic without too much trouble and I even participated in a Zoom call from the truck.

We got to Lake Blackshear and Georgia Veterans State Park, to find out that while we are here they are having a Watermelon festival including a Chili Cookoff, art festival and air balloons! What a happy surprise!

Our neighbors on both sides of us have been so welcoming and helpful!

Tim picked up a steak at Stripling’s General Store and we had a wonderful dinner with the lake right in our “backyard.”

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March 24th, 2022

Lessons learned today?

Lesson number one:

It’s more than OK to take time away from camping when you see a sign that says “the only salt cave in North Georgia” and the fact that this salt cave is attached to a fabulous spa didn’t hurt either!

Serenity In The Mountains lived up to it’s name. I had a wonderful 90 minute massage followed by 45 minutes in their salt cave, which is supposed to be very good for inflammation and anything else that ails you. Not sure if it worked, but it sure was relaxing!

If you get to Blue Ridge, Georgia on your travels, I HIGHLY recommend checking out this beautiful place. If you don’t have a 5th wheel to go home to they have a lovely resort attached to the spa!

We were supposed to be packing up to leave Blue Ridge and head to Lake Blackshear tomorrow morning, but there are some good storms coming through tonight and it’s going to rain heavily most of the day tomorrow. We thought about hooking up tonight and sleeping in the rig attached to the truck so we could stay a bit drier. We would then just take off in the AM for a minimum of four hours of rainy driving with the RV in tow – but I had an epiphany while relaxing in the salt cave.

Lesson number two:

We are RETIRED! The KOA we are staying at is not full and we don’t have to be at work tomorrow – so….we are staying another night in Blue Ridge and will be on the road on what we think will be a sunny Thursday drive instead of a miserable, rainy Wednesday. Why didn’t we think of this idea in the first place? We have never had the luxury of just waiting another day – for anything. Even vacations were carefully planned.

Not to say we don’t have anything on the calendar. I’m going to be attending a We Exist meeting on Thursday from our drive and tomorrow’s rainy day will give me some time to work on a marketing project! Yes, I’m taking a tiny baby step into doing some freelance work. (under 5 hours to start – I DO remember lesson number two – we are RETIRED!) 🙂

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March 22, 2022

On our way down to Blue Ridge, GA, my brother John Elmer texted to say he and Chris Behrens Elmer would be here this weekend too! We only overlapped a day, but they came over to see the RV and we had a great dinner together at Black Sheep! Great food, great company. It’s a gorgeous restaurant that looks like it was built into an old house.

Today, Tim and Reba and I started on our commitment to walk every day. We only did a little over a mile for this first day, but we got to explore the Blue Ridge KOA and the beautiful Toccoa River.

Went downtown Blue Ridge today to walk around and I found the perfect purse for our travels. Just big enough for a small wallet, glasses and my phone and I lived up to our new rule, if you buy something you have to get rid of two things! Kicked an old too big and a too small purse to the curb. Living in a 5th wheel can really put a needed crimp in a shopping habit!

The park is very, very nice. I believe it’s about two years old and it sits right on the river. We saw some folks fishing there today. We considered getting the poles out, but really didn’t see them getting any action and we would need to purchase a Georgia fishing license…might change our minds and try it out tomorrow.

We are getting used to some of the home chores that need to get done even when you are living in an RV. KOA has a great laundry facility and Tim made quick work of all our dirty clothes!

I’ll be brushing off my Girl Scout skills and starting our fire shortly and there may be a bourbon and a pig-in-a-blanket in my future!

I’ll post more pics in a few minutes. I’m having some trouble getting the phone pics to upload to the Ipad – technology…..sheesh….

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March 16th, 2022

Another day – another ten lessons in patience. I understand that as you get older it is important to continue to learn new things. 🙂

We had hoped to leave about 10am today, but with the truck window repair we were delayed.

Got the truck about noon and the new back window looks great. Hooked up the RV and got the final things packed in. Got gas and while we were on the road later than we hoped, we were confident that we would make it to the park before dark.

Did I mention we are continuing to learn new things???

Drove through Chicago suburban traffic and Indianapolis traffic which made us get to the nearly 16,000 acre Brown County State Park just as the sun disappeared. You might ask, how do you find pull through site number 409 in a giant park in the dark? You don’t find it from your truck. You drive up and down and all around then you get out with your iphone flashlight and just hoof it down the various paths.

So our first night in the camper will be in the spot, but not fully set up. We will get up with the sun and fix everything, stay for one more night, then off to Nashville, Tennessee.

I can’t wait to see this place in the daylight. As the sun was setting and we were trying to find our spot we turned a corner and saw the most magnificent view. I’ll post a picture of it tomorrow. Now it’s time for a bourbon in a red solo cup.

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March 16th, 2022

We had a much more relaxing day today. Here are our lessons from yesterday.

Without knowing what I was doing, I reserved a pull-through site in Brown County State Park in Indiana. I thought that meant a larger site and easier to get into. Wrong.

The only pull-through sites in this incredible park are in the Taylor Ridge loop which is GORGEOUS, but heavily wooded. We got here last night in the dark, so we got to our site and simply pulled in and slept hooked up for the night. We were nowhere near level and did not have room to put out the awnings so after trying to re-position, we went to the camp office and the wonderful woman at the desk helped us get settled into a much larger back in site. The site itself is not as wooded, but there are gorgeous woods all around us and……we backed in without too much trouble!

AND – guess what we saw in the new camping area? Another Alliance RV Owners – Ally! We stopped to wave and say hi on our way out to get some gas but we have not met them yet. They are in a larger version – a 365.

There is a bath house in this area and as there are not water hookups, that is coming in handy.

A man came over from a couple of sites away as Tim was fixing a delicious burger and roasted potato dinner on the fire. He is 70 years old, wearing a Harley shirt and he shared some fire starters that he swears by. He said that he got his first Harley in high school and I believe he said he was on his 20th bike. We invited him and his wife over to share a bourbon later.

Just sitting by the fire, catching you all up on our adventures. I’ll drop a few pictures in so you can see how beautiful it is here and that we actually were able to back in and feed ourselves today! 🙂

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Monday March 7th, 2022

We had gotten everything off the moving truck and into Emily and Alex’s garage. It was not organized yet, but we were getting there.

Tim and I piled into the truck, got all gassed up and headed to Elkhorn to pick up the RV. Got all the way up there and as we pulled into the parking lot, we looked around and she was not sitting in front, waiting for us!

They forgot we were coming and didn’t have the cameras installed and the bike rack had not even gotten to them yet.

Oh, well – jumped back in the truck and headed back to Aurora. Our sales guy would call us when everything was ready.

We spent the next couple of days organizing everything we were going to bring with us into the “rooms” of the RV they belonged in.

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