Safely back at Coquina, resting from our big trip

We left Greenwood at about 8 this morning, and drove into Coquina at about 430.  Took a half hour to unload the coach, then got it parked.  The house is a whirlwind, with 6 months of accumulated stuff in all parts, but we'll sort through it and be back to normal soon.
I'll do a trip recap in the next couple of days after we catch up.

Looking forward to heading to the Liar's Club for coffee in the morning and catching up with the guys, Bette is off to Mah-Jong tomorrow, and all is well with the world. The house is in fine shape, everything works. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to take the Malibu over and see what it will cost to have all the dings repaired and get it painted- Bette is talking trading, maybe for an SSR? We rented one of those in California last February and liked the car very much.  She wants 30 mpg, not 21-22. 

Lander Soccer ladies will be here vs Flagler Saturday at 5- looking forward to watching the 3 ladies I teach give it a go. 

Last supper at O'Charley's tonight

We'll be joining the family tonight at O Charley's for our "last supper" before heading down to St Augustine.  We have a soccer game tomorrow night, so we're going tonight.  Then we'll leave Wednesday morning.

Bev and Dave are going to join us also. 

Went to Lander today for office hours, but no one came by-  guess I must have been too early for them......

Sunday at the movies

Cooper and a couple of his lady friends and I headed off to the movies this afternoon.  We were originally going to see the new Brad Pitt movie, but settled on the Dolphin Tail movie instead. It was a nice feel good movie. 

Nice cast of known and unknown actors, Not sure about Harry Connick Jr as a lead, Ashley Judd was OK, Morgan Freeman was good, Kris Kristofferson was typecast as a crusty dad, and the 2 kids in the movie were pretty good. 

Tomorrow, I'll be at Lander in the morning, and Bette is headed to Bev and Dave's shop to go play. 

Back to Saddle Hill

Yesterday turned out to be a bit of a whirlwind-  we got into the office at Coach Care at 0730, but they didn't take the coach in until after 8 a little.  We thought we would be 2.5 hours, but they discovered they had a recall, and that added an hour and a half to the stop, plus the tech had to go to lunch.  We wound up not leaving ATL until about 2 pm, instead of 11 as we originally thought we would.  Not sorry we had the warranty work done, but sorry we had to compress our other plans- we thought we would be able to visit with Bill and Danny, and get to a national park to pick up some stamps for a friend, but we were not able to do so- It was about a 40 mile jaunt up to Bills, and we knew traffic would be killer at that times of day...

We also stopped at a Blue Ox store and bought a 6 inch drop hitch for the coach, and now we are towing almost flat from the coach, as opposed to a rather severe upward degree as we were doing before.  I had noticed how high we were up, and compared it to other coaches who were towing, and we were off by a lot.  No damage, but should be a much easier tow now.  Way much less stress on the tow bar, anyway. 

Then, as we left ATL, smooth sailing for a while, then got totally smacked by construction and ran into a 7 mile stop and go backup, all for about 500 feet of road construction.. they were stripping off the top layer of road surface, and everytime a truck would fill up, they would stop traffic so another could take its place.  Grrrrrrr.

Upshot of that was instead of getting to Greenwood by 2 or 3 as we had planned, we got there at 7.  Had to hurry and unhook and head on over to Cooper's soccer match, which his team won handily.  I missed a dentist appt also, they were going to squeeze me in, but that window left. 

Boy did we get smacked with rain last night!  They are saying 2-3 inches, and I'm sure it was that much.  Clearing up just now, but they are calling for more rain tomorrow. 

Bette ran over to Newberry today to see our new granddaughter Lyric.  I'm taking the boys over to McCormick tonight for a football  game if we don't get rained out, for them to see Emerald High play there. 

We will be in Greenwood for as long as a week perhaps, doing little odd chores around town, and I have some things to do over at Lander, so by next Wed or so we will head back down to St Augustine and end the great adventure of 2011. 

Will be busy doing stuff with the boys while here, and then on Sunday, we're meeting Bev and Dave for brunch at Lander. 

Goodbye, old friend

We got word of the passing in Columbus, Ohio of Jim Harris.  Jim Harris was a warrior, a mentor, and a role model for me for most of my life. 

I came to know Jim Harris when he came to our family in 1960, as a young Marine who was assigned to my father as a cook.  That was back in the day when the armed services allowed members to work in General Officer's quarters as cooks and "stewards".  This practice was abandoned in the 1970's or 80's for the most part. 

Harris came to us just after my birth mother had died, and for the next 6 years, basically became our surragate parent.  He traveled with us from California to Parris Island, SC, then later, joined my father out in Viet Nam when he did a tour of duty out there. 

Jim married, and had children, and his proudest moments where when he invited us over to show us his new house and family in Washington DC.  His wife died suddenly a few years later, and he basically raised his children as a single parent. 

I mentioned Jim was a warrior-  in addition to being a Warrior as far as the Marine Corps was concerned, (he was in for 12 years), he was a warrior for his family, and for his church.  His dad was a minister, and Jim was a leader in his church family. 

Jim and I shared a special bond.  As a sophomore in high school, growing up in the turbulent 60's, Jim Harris was my rock.  His quiet dignity during the formulative times of my life in the South in the early 60's went a long way in helping me understand some of the bigger questions in life. 

We would have long conversations about the state of things, believe me it was confusing to be introduced to Southern Segregation as a happy go lucky Californian back in those days.  His taciturn acceptance of things taught me a lot about tolerance and finding the good and value in all human beings. 

After his Marine time, Jim settled back home in Columbus Ohio, and worked for the state of Ohio for the rest of his business life.  He was dedicated to raising his family, taking care of his church family, and being a deacon of what was right and good. 

We were able to visit from time to time, and he made a special trip to attend my father's funeral when he passed several years ago. 

I will have a special place in my heart for Jim.  I will miss him terribly, and think of him often.  I know he will rest in peace, as his good work here on Earth is now done. 

My thoughts are with his family and friends. 

Good bye, old friend.

Shipps Repairs done, down to Atlanta and Coach Care.

Coach Care came through like a champ and finished our repairs today by 2.  They installed the door gasket, took out the washer dryer, and fixed the door locks on the closet, and we were good to go.  We chugged our way 115 miles or so down I-75, fought Atlanta downtown traffic, and made our way to Coach Care, which is just south of the I-285 loop on the south side of town. 

Coach Care is taking us in at 0730 or so in the morning, and we should be clear here by 11 or so. 

We originally had the notion to run up and see Bill and Pat and visit brother Dan, but that looks like it may be shelved-  I've got a possible Dentist appt on Friday for this abcess problem I've been having, so it looks like we may have to book on over to Greenwood and be ready for early Friday visit. 

We'll have the oil changed, filters changed, chassis lube, and a 24 point checklist while we are here...  since we didn't know what the maintinance issues were with the coach when we bought it since there were no service records with the coach, we're basically going to start new. 

The Coach Care has 50 amp, and water, so we are snugged in for the night, even if it is in one of the final approach lanes for Atlanta airport! 

Over to Chattanooga for quick repairs....

Did 351 miles today, a bit much for us normally, but we wanted to go ahead and get over to Chattanooga and Shipps so we can get our repairs started a day early and early tomorrow, they will take us in.

We left Advance at 0730- GPS predicted 5:56 travel time, we actually did 5:57.  8.5 miles per gallon average, our highest yet, used 40 gallons of fuel, average speed of 59 mph, max of 75 mph, (Bette).  We did 2 pit stops and 1 fuel stop at the 12 mm on I-40 in NC right before the Tenn border.

We have a list of about 6 items for Shipps, most of them are quickies, we need a door seal put in that had to be ordered from our previous visit, and we are going to go ahead and have the washer dryer removed, and put shelving in that hole.  They felt they could sell the unit here at their store, so its a win win for both of us.  Then we have just a few quick items, and we're hoping to get the coach back before 2 pm, so we can head on down to Atlanta, and get situated at Coach Care so they can work on the coach Thursday morning, and hoping that will be not long also, and in the best case, we'll head on over to Greenwood Thursday afternoon, if not, Friday morning would be fine.  Also planning to visit with brother Dan one more time. 

Looks like we might spend several days in Greenwood, which I always look forward too.  Cooper wants me to take him to a Ware Shoals football game Friday night I believe. 

Trip is almost over, hard to believe! 

Buster in his best "is that all there is for dinner?" face

We alternated today between rain, gloom, sunshine, and now it is pretty cloudy here in Chattanooga.  Temp warmed up to 71 degrees, it was in the mid 50's for much of the way over the mountains today.....

National park # 164 of 395- Guilford Courthouse

Slept in this morning to 930. We decided we would have a short travel day- so we headed 50 miles up the road to Greensboro, NC, for our next park, the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

This was the scene of one of the major battles of the American Revolutionary War, and there is about 200 acres you can walk around in to get the feel of the day's events.  There is a nice VC with lots of displays, and there was a 30 minute movie, but we didn't get to see that.  

Got a pin, 2 stamps, and a postcard.   One more of the list of NC sites, think we have like 4 more to complete the state.  

Stopped by a Wal mart to get our flu shot (who doesn't,) ate lunch at Subway, then headed on home.  

Tomorrow is dinner with the Markowskis up in Clemmons, then early Tuesday, we are off to Chattanooga, if Ship's can take us in time, and the campground didn't get flooded out and made useless from our last visit a couple of weeks ago....  

On down to Advance

After overnighting at Beckley, W.Va at Wal mart, we headed for about 180 miles or so down I-77 to Advance, NC to Forest Lake, the Thousand Trails campground.

It was gray and rainy on the way down, temps not much above 50. 

We took the day off and rested.  Tomorrow, we'll head on over to Greensboro to the Guilford Courthouse National Park, and then see if there is anything else in the area.

Monday, we'll visit with friends of Bette's from her New Jersey days- she hasn't seen them for over 30 years. 

Our spot here in Forest Lake is in C-1, a nice spot, full sat, 50 amp and sewer.  They charge 3.00 a night extra for 50 amp, fine, we'll run all the juice we can to get our money's worth. 

Right across from us, and right behind us, the park has completely roped off 2 prime sites and labeled them "this site could be yours". meaning that they took 2 prime sites off the grid advertising them as for sale seasonal sites.  Another prime example of how Thousand Trails is screwing members, especially like us, who paid premiums for memberships to be "assured" of sites, and then run into crap like this-  There was also a big sign out front:  Public sites available... which means so much for membership sites. 

Since we pulled in, several coaches have driven by, and there are no sites available in the "prime section" of the park.  We run into the same thing at Parks like Hershey, and our favorite at Moody Beach.  Sturbridge is also hard to get a good spot anymore. 

We used our RPI membership more than ever before this summer, and will continue to do so-  Thousand Trails and ROD had a pissing match and have cancelled off each others reciprocity, so now our ROD is worthless after March of next year-  They wanted 1500 dollars for a "new" membership. 

We also became expert at finding and using COE sites this summer, and spots from recreation.gov also.  And, with our new coach, it is not a hassle and is actually comfortable for one nighters at Wal Mart.  Thousand Trails be damned! 

Sadly, the majority of our trip next summer will be at Thousand Trails sites.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get in and park for the times we will be wanting. 
Rant over.

We dropped a day off our stay here at Advance, so we will now be heading over to Chattanooga earlier, and may just go ahead and do the drive in one day instead of the original plan to do it in two days, and then get to Atlanta earlier for our Coach Care stop, and then add to our stay in Greenwood for up to a week perhaps.  I've gotten to the point that I cherish any time I can get with my grandsons, and Bette wants to work up in Bev and Dave's shop, so were good to go. 
St Augustine by about October 1st maybe. 

Ohio done, off to West Virginia in the morning...

Today, we spent time rummaging through local shops with the Kingstons, and then had our "last supper" at Der Dutchman- nice food, and it has been great to spend time with Dan and Kippy...

I continue to feel a little better each day with my tooth problems..  and I can dial back on the pain meds, which is a good thing. 

Tomorrow, we're heading off to Beckley West Virginia, which is a 4 hour something trip over all Interstate, and then we'll park at a Wal Mart, and I'll head out to a couple of visitor's centers for the three National Parks in the State.

We had originally thought we would do 2 nights there, and now, were thinking maybe just the one night, then we'll go ahead and head on down to North Carolina for up to 4 nights. 

We will be heading back to South Carolina for a few days at the end of the trip. 

Weather got for sure fall like today-  It's about 47 as we speak, and supposed to get cooler tonight.... 

Should be a pretty drive tomorrow... mostly on I-77. 

More than a little "light rain"

About 11 or so tonight, the rains came, and will be with us for a while.  Not big thunderboomers, but a good light general rain, along with a cold front.  Temps are headed into the high 40's for the morning.  We're sitting here with our toasty little fireplace just beaming out warm rays as we type.

Today, the Kingstons and Bette and I did the local tour of shops, I made it for the first round at least, and then retired due to toothache related headaches.  The abcess seems to be falling under the spell of the antibiotics, but the pain medicine has a definite shelf life of about three hours, problem is I'm only supposed to take them every 6 hours....  At least the intense pain of a couple of days ago has pretty much abated. 

We're hoping the rain will pass so we can go touring again tomorrow, supposed to head to the city of Charm, Ohio tomorrow, and then we'll do our "last supper" with the Kingstons tomorrow night, as we are due to head for West Virginia on Friday morning.

Bette and I hashed the balance of the trip around this morning, still not sure what the final version will look like.  Because we are making a stop back in Chattanooga, we are doubling back for at least part of the trip...  we know we are headed for West Virginia, I cut that visit back a full day, then we are going to Advance NC for three days, I added a day there, so she can visit with friends she hasn't seen for 30 years from New Jersey. 
Then, we'll head over I-40 to probably Knoxville Tn for the night, then I've allowed 2 days for repairs at Chattanooga.  Then its 3 days in Atlanta, and I added a repair stop at the Coach Care there for routine repairs oil change, filter changes, lube and so forth.  Then, we will most probably double back over to Greenwood for a day or three so we can stop by Prosperity on the way back to St Augustine to see our latest "granddaughter", Lyric Grimsley.  Then, home to St Augustine, probably around 30 September or so. 

2 Parks today, and a side dish off the bucket list.

I loaded up on my pain meds and decided to make a try for the Cleveland parks that I had missed twice before.  Had a decent success.

Left Berlin at 8, dropped Bette off at Aunt Skips at 9, and headed to Cleveland by 915.  I forgot Bette had made me change the GPS to shortest routing, so I took every stupid back road in the world up to the first stop, Mentor Ohio in the northern Cleveland suburbs. 

The 159th park was the James Garfield NHS-  This was originally the President's homestead of about 180 or so acres, today, it is down to a sliver of about 8 acres or so.  The main house survives, and a nice Visitor's Center.  I watched an 18 minute movie, but was pressed for time, so I didn't get to take the house tour.  Next time. 

From there, about 15 miles or so down the road to an item that had been on my personal bucket list to visit, and I got that done today.

The David Berger National Memorial is located on the grounds of the Mandel Jewish Center in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
David Berger was one of the 11 athletes killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics.  He was born in the United States, but moved to Israel to follow his dream of competing in weight lifting.

He was taken hostage by Arab men, and was among the 9 athletes taken hostage and killed in a botched rescue attempt by the German police.  There were 2 others killed at the Munich complex. 

The memorial depicts the Olympic rings broken in half, and sits on a base of 11 segments, representing those who were killed.  It was a moving moment, thinking back on that day, remembering like I'm sure many others do, the riveting reporting of Jim McKay as he told us the events of the day. 

While I was at the Berger, I spoke with a gentleman who gave me a heads up about my next planned stop, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park- in that he mentioned that there were very few of the visitor centers open on Tuesday, and he was right.  So I wound up visiting the Boston Store VC, and a stamping location across the street, and another store that had a stamp over at the Railroad Station.  The other locations were closed!   Not to worry, counts as a visit-  park number 160!  

For sure have to bring Cooper back here next visit to Ohio, so we can ride the train, and get our additional stamps. 

Got three pins for the day, a couple of postcards, so Cooper, watch the mail!

When we got back to Berlin, about 4, Dan and Kippy had arrived and were finishing setting up-  They will be here for 3 weeks.  We're headed out to dinner somewhere tonight and will play tomorrow-  Still feeling a tad rough with the abcess, have to tough it out.  Hope I at least get some sleep tonight- haven't slept but about 2-3 hours a night for the last 2 nights due to the pain.....

Tooth issues revisited,, ugh

I was totally struck down late last night by incredible pain in the tooth I had a cavity filled about two weeks ago in Greenwood. 

Fortunately, Aunt Skip was able to contact her local dentist and he was able to see me at 1:30 today.  Verdict:  an abcess. 

Was given two options, treat with medicines and see if it goes away, or revisit original dentist back in Greenwood when we are back there in a couple of weeks, and have a root canal done. 

Opted for the medicines, so I now have a course of antibiotics and some moderate pain meds to take for the next few days to see if we can knock it down.

Need pain relief, for real. 

Wound up losing today as a run around day, but no worries.  I may even stay in tomorrow, pending how fast the meds take hold, if that in fact is what fixes the problem. 

Bette and Skip spent a fun day doing girl things, lunch out, and going to various craft shops.  Bette even didn't spend too much today! 

Tomorrow, if I wake up feeling better, I'll drop Bette off at Skips and then head up to metro Cleveland area, to visit Garfield in Mentor and then hit Cuyahoga in south Cleveland on the way back. 

Spoke to the Kingstons, they are safely in at Charleston WVa, so they should roll in in the early afternoon tomorrow.  They are a couple of rows up from us.  Looking forward to seeing them again, haven't seen them since April 21st! 

Nice weather today, high in the low 80's. 

The Clinton County Corn Festival, and then on to Berlin Ohio

Saturday, I decided not to make a special trip over to Chillicothe, Ohio, and we decided to take a rest day.  I did notice that the local Clinton County Corn Festival was on, so we couldn't miss that!  It was at the fairgrounds, about 7 miles away, and we got there just as the tractor parade was starting.... had every tractor from about a hundred miles around, it seemed. 

We spent about three hours walking through the antiques, swap meets, and so forth, and had a good time.  Had a nice hot dog lunch. 

They had 3 buildings this size full of stuff. Bette bought a couple of things.

Nice old truck.... Model T? 

Bette rushed to shoot this, thought they were so cute....

Today, we made 189 miles on over to our home for the next 5 days, Berlin, Ohio.  It is located in the epicenter of the Amish Culture in Ohio.  We've been here several times before, and this particular time of the year coincides with several festivals around.  We'll also visit Aunt Skip while were here, I'll run up to Mentor and Cleveland Ohio for National Parks, and then we'll spend about three days with Kippy and Dan, who are on the road and on the way up. 

National Park # 158:  Hopewell Culture - Chillicothe, Ohio

This park features the story of the Hopewell Culture of native Americans, who were probably here 2000+ years ago.  For some reason, they built mounds and berms- not for housing, but for ceremonial reasons... It seems there were mounds all over the Eastern Part of the US, but not so many remain.  These are reproductions from maps...

Essentially, this is what you see... you can walk amongst them we didn't, but we did watch a nice movie about the story of the place.  Very interesting. 
Got 2 stamps, a postcard, and a pin here. 

Ranger Tom was very very into his job-  He clearly was an expert about the nature of the park, and as such, gave us a private session of his knowledge.  It's nice to see someone who really learns about the area he works in.  Here, he is explaining to Bette about the mounds and berms. 

On the way over to Berlin, we passed the national headquarters of the Longaberger Basket folks, and as you can see, they have a pretty unique building.  I had seen this once before, guess we went this way to Berlin once! 
Fortunately for me, Bette doesn't collect these, they are a mite expensive...

We made it to Berlin about 330, and got to a nice spot at Scenic Hills.  The spots next to us are empty, so we are hoping the Kingstons will be put near or next to us.   We got here just as it started to sprinkle, and now, there is a pretty nasty thunder and lightning storm around.  No rainfall as of yet, though, but it's coming.  

We always freak out, or Bette does, on the way to Berlin-  It's not easy to get to, and you have to travel a series of farm/back roads to get here...  Then, to add to the adventure, you have to deal with Amish Buggies, and pedestrians, since they walk everywhere, as well as narrow roads, lots of hills too.   Wheel gripping kind of trip for about 50 miles or so....

Fixing to have a terrific storm-  hope there's no hail....We're right in the red area below Mansfield... and now it's really coming down. 

Bette forgot to turn the valve again and flooded the water tank again.  Wonderful. 

Did Dayton today, boy did I do Dayton!

Today was Dayton.  Had no idea Dayton was a big as it is.. Pretty city, old city, interesting city. 

Main goals for today were the Dayton Aviation National Historical Site, which actually is several sites, the Dayton Dragons Baseball team, the US Air Force Museum, and as a bonus, the National Packard Museum!

Went first to Dayton Dragons, of course it was closed... Not open to 12.  Fine.

Then went over to the National Packard Museum.  Not open to 12  .  Fine. 

No worries, went to the first unit of the Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP, the Wright Cycle Shop in town.  Wonder site.  The cycle shop was actually undergoing renovations, as in a new cedar shake roof (what budget problems?) but I was able to go through it anyway.  The main Visitors Center had a wonderful, but tad long film, and 2 floors of exhibits and artifacts. 

The main VC



The cycle shop, where the Wright brothers got their start, after a print shop.

From there, I went to the Paul Lawrence Dunbar unit of the park, about 4 blocks away.  Paul Lewis Dunbar was associated with the Wright Brothers.  The actual house was actually a little run down-  Got a stamp at the VC and headed back downtown to get the two locations I missed.





From there, I swung back to the Packard Museum, and was glad that I did.  It is in two buildings in an older part of town, and has about 50 old Packards, from very early to the last model year, 1956, plus tons of Packard Artifacts.. really enjoyed it.  Bill, I'll be sending you a long email with photos...

From there, I swung back over to 5th 3rd field, home of the Dayton Dragons.  They were out of town, and are actually in the playoffs.  The team store was closed, supposed to open at noon, then they opened it for me specially, and I got a ball and pin, (they only had pink baseballs) 

Interesting factoid, as you can see, the stadium is right down town, and they have a world record in that they have sold out like the last 877 games, every game since the stadium originally opened.  Wow!!

Then, on over to another unit of Dayton Aviation, which was located in something called the Carrilon Park. Not sure why there was a stamp there, but there was.  This is actually a part of the Dayton History Collection, and as such there were many interesting displays, including lots of NCR old timey cash registers- so Bev, this is for you!  They had a room full of em!

Next was a side trip to the Wright Patterson Air Base, for a quick scan of the National Air Force Museum- this one is the mother of plane museums.  several hangars worth, plus exhibits outside.  You can spend a half a day here alone, but I just zipped through, since I was on my way to Huffman Prairie.  Best deal is that it is free! 

This is the B-29 "Bock's Car" that dropped the 2nd Atomic bomb on Japan

Last stop of the day was the visitors center for the Huffman Prairie Field- that is where the Wright brothers perfected their flying machine after the original flying done at Kitty Hawk.  Got three stamps there. 

This is a memorial at the site, to the Wright Brothers.

I had a chore finding the place, I-75 was under construction, ramps were closed, exit numbers were changed, and it was a mess as the GPS kept trying to get me to circle around... Finally after losing several minutes, I outfoxed it and got to the site.

Whew!  What a day.  8 stamps, 5 pins, a baseball, and 2 movies, but I have been wanting to get to Dayton for a long time, and glad I did.  If I ever get the chance, need to take the grandsons here. 

Tomorrow is over to Chillicothe Ohio for a visit to Hopewell Culture NP. 

Off to Wal Mart up the road for provisions....

Off to Ohio, busy day.

We did something around 270  miles today, moving the trip along by a day or so, since we didn't get to have repairs made in Chattanooga...

We had a nice breakfast at McDonalds, then headed up and over to I-75 in the mist and gloom....

Don't think the temperatures made it much above the middle 50's today.  It never rained hard, but it was sure misty on and off. 

We stopped for a couple of hours at a Wal Mart off I-71 in Cincinnatti, so I could make three stops:
First was National Park # 156, The William Howard Taft NHS. 
Basically, this is his family home place, with a visitor center attached.  Watched a nice 14 minute movie, got 2 stamps, a pin, and of all things a baseball, since Pres Taft was the first President to throw out a baseball at the opening game of the major leagues... also got a postcard and one to mail to Cooper.  Nice venue.

I wasn't able to do the house tour, due to time constraints, so I'll get that the next time  I'm in town. 
Next, then downtown a little further to the Underground RailRoad History Museum, a very well done site that describes the struggle of Blacks to be free and get to freedom in America.  Nicely done, got a pin.

Then, about a two block trip down the road to the Great American Ball park, home to the Cincinnati Reds.  Beautiful venue.  The Reds won't be back in town until Monday...  got a pin and a ball.  Have to come back to a game here sometime, and bring Cooper!

Now, time for a rant:

As we headed up to Wilmington Ohio, our goal for the day, we stopped at a rest area, and these fellows pulled in:

What this is is two touring bass boats sponsored by the National Guard.  Pulled by two fully dressed out Chevrolet Suburbans.  Fishing boats!!!  There were three staff members in each SUV.   Note the huge outboards- about 12,000 a piece, I believe.  Here we are in the middle of a huge economic crisis, and here is around a quarter million dollars of rolling stock in the guise of a recruiting tool-  Fishing boats!!!  I would love to know exactly how many young men have rushed down to the recruiting office and signed up as a result of this recruiting effort, and while I'm on the subject, how many have signed up as a result of the NASCAR teams, the funny car teams, the Unlimited Hydroplane teams, and whatever similar programs are out there...  I don't know what the budget is for these items, but its in the millions, for sure.  And it should be stopped.  NOW.  Leave the sponsorships to the beer companies, the food chains and others.  Think the military services should find other ways to bring young men into the service, like having sharp recruiters. 

End of rant.

At about 4 or so, we made it to our home for the next couple of days, the Thousand Trails here at Wilmington, Ohio.  We have a nice site, only 30 amp, but that's ok, since its chilly, and we aren't using any air conditioning.  Full Sat, sewer, and very level, and right next to the showers/rest rooms.  Very quiet here.  Since we knocked off Cincinnati on the way over, we're going to do Dayton Ohio tomorrow, then Chillicothe Ohio on Saturday, then head over to Berlin on Sunday, two days early. 

We heard today that our new "granddaughter," Lyric Grimsley is doing well, her momma Megan is sore, but doing well also.  Great news that, and we also had a photo texted to us, she's a cutie! 

Dayton Aviation National Park tomorrow- been waiting for that one for a while!

2 Days of Chaos....

We left Greenwood on schedule Tuesday morning at about 0730, after sad goodbyes to the grandsons...  Sure they'll miss us for about 15 minutes......

First stop was Lawrenceville, Ga, for a quick stop at CoolRay Stadium, home to the AAA Lawrenceville Braves, they of the Atlanta Braves.  Their season was actually done on Labor Day, but we talked the team store person in to letting us get a pin and two balls.  Beautiful new stadium, 64 Million dollars worth, according to Wiki.  Wow.

Then, we made it over to our planned overnight, Lake Allatoona COE, which is north of Atlanta, off of I-75.  Nice campground, lots of room, 50 amp, water, and about 12 miles from my brother Bill's house.  We got to see my brother Dan for just a few minutes, he had had a very tiring day-  Prior to that, we ran over for a revisit to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield- so I could get a 25th anniv. stamp.  Didn't find the new book the NPS has out for the Civil War 150th anniv celebrations....

We called later in the evening to Shipp's in Chattanooga to verify that our parts had arrived, and that we were set to go for Wednesday morning, and that's where the wheels fell off, so to speak.

Casey, our service advisor mentioned that they had had a "little rain."  Like 10 inches of rain from the tropical storm Lee. There was flooding, like lots of flooding.   They had to move units, the campground was underwater, so there was no place for us to stay:

Hopefully, the campground isn't ruined, but fraid the electric is gone at the least!

What we decided to do was stop by Chattanooga and reschedule the repairs, which we loosely did, and will now have to stop back by Chattanooga, making like a 360 mile detour from Advance NC on the way home. 

So, Chattanooga was off the table.  Being the cracker jack RV'ers that we are, we immediately monitored and adjusted our trip plans...  naturally...

What we did was to accelerate our next day plans by visiting the last two National Park Locations we were lacking to complete the State of Tennessee:  Obed Wild and Scenic River, (Wartburg), and Big South Fork National Recreation Area (Oneida).  We settled into the Wal Mart at Oneida TN, then went over to Big South Fork Visitor Center.  We'll stay here tonight, then head up to the Cincinnati Metro area tomorrow, and get to Wilmington Ohio Thousand Trails two days ahead of schedule. 

We're all nestled in at the Oneida Wal mart for the night, filled up with provisions.  As previously mentioned, we are surely in fall like weather, the temps didn't get much higher than 62 all day and may hit the lower 50's tonight- good sleeping weather.

Tomorrow, slight sleep in, then off up I-75 towards Lexington Ky, perhaps a stop there for baseball, then on to a Wal Mart off I-71 in Cincinnati, for Cincinnati Reds baseball and a visit to William Howard Taft NHS, then another 50 miles or so to Wilmington Ohio Thousand Trails for a couple of nights, so I can get to the Parks in Dayton Ohio area and Chillicothe, Ohio. 

We added 2 days to our stay in Berlin, Ohio, so we can enjoy Skip and Dan and Kippy for more time, and cut off a day at Beckley WVa for the tours there, and now we've added a Chattanooga stop.  Will also stop by Atlanta again, then over to SC before heading home...  May have to move our Drs. appointments, but that's easy to do.