09-06-08 Saturday (Rocky Top Tennessee)

Welcome to Nashville, Tennessee! We’re now in a different time zone, Central that is. 1 hour behind.

OK, ready for the usual travel problems? So, as we’re crossing an intersection, the GPS bitch in a box, says she’s recalculating indicating we’ve missed a turn. Neither Jim nor I heard anything to indicate we were supposed to turn so I’m not sure what happened. Although Ms. Bitch-in-a-box was going to find an alternate route, Jim’s instincts took over and he made a quick right onto a road. Problem was it was a dead end road. We tried to U-Turn and swing real wide but alas, we had to disconnect the Cherokee, reface the RV and then reconnect. We’ve gotten so quick with this!

Driving through Tennessee, we went up one hell of a mountain. Monteagle with an elevation of 2130. Trucks had difficulty going up and put their hazards on. At the top was a rest area, we grabbed a smoke and looked out at the view. Next, downhill. Jim shifted manually, and Even Brake worked well.

We arrived to Nashville, and the campground is 1 mile away from the Grand Ole Opry House. We did a small setup, no screen room, showered and set out to dinner at a local place called “Caney Fork Fish Camp”. Yeah, I know, I wonder too. Anyway, we had a free appetizer coupon from the campground. Don’t laugh; we’re on a fixed income. The food wasn’t that great. http://www.caneyforkfishcamp.com/

The Grand Ole Opry was located within a nice park area. Jim and I had never watched nor listened to the Grand Ole Opry so we didn’t know what to expect. Jim thought it was just Loretta Lynn in concert. Turns out there were many other stars or up and coming stars performing. Despite my dislike for country music, I enjoyed the show and overall experience. The best way I could describe it is: A country variety RADIO show open to a live studio audience complete with an announcer plugging each portion of the shows sponsors. They do show it on GAC (Great American Country). Tonight’s performers sang 2-3 songs each.

The Road Hammers
Jimmy Dickens
Jimmy C. Newman
Loretta Lynn (Photos and video below)
Roy Clark
Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press
Jessica Simpson (Photos and video below)
Opry Square Dancers
Jean Shepard
The Whites
Patty Loveless
Jim Ed Brown w/ Helen Cornelius
Crystal Shawanda
Connie Smith





After the show we went out to a club called Tribe. Boring. No smoking either. We had a drink and came back to the RV.

09-05-08 Friday (Welcome to the Neighborhood?)

Today was reorganization day, aka throw shit overboard day. We took the RV from Cheaha and parked it at John’s Cul-de-sac. We stripped the bed down to wash all pieces in John & Tonia’s washer. We packed up all the cold/frozen foods into coolers and started the defrosting process.

The RV needed some weight loss so we unassed a few things. We filled about 5 banker’s boxes, removed the recliner next to the steps, and ditched the bedroom TV, along with the ionizer. All was stored in John and Tonia’s basement. Jim and John’s dad, Terry along with their brother, Corey arrived last night. Jim wanted to visit with them so I went off to Wal-Mart, then CVS and other places in between in search of plastic drawer bins to put in place of the missing chairs. I found what I needed and headed back in time for dinner. Marinated flank steak on the grill was yet another incredible John Kelly Grill Creation. After dinner we migrated to the fire pit down a hill in the back of the house. We drank wine, beer and champagne around the fire. Time for bed! Terry, Corey and John needed to be up in time to go hunting. I think they were goin’ bird hunting.

Twice we returned to the RV to check on the defrosting and make the bed and both times there were local sheriff’s cars at the RV. Apparently neighbors thought we decided to live there. On the 1st visit, Jim explained and gave the cop his license and registration. Next time we re-explained we were visiting his brother for just a night and the RV wouldn’t fit up the long driveway. Anyways, back at John’s we spent the night in the basement. I wished I had taken pictures of their newly finished basement. Allow me to describe the rooms.

Tanning and fitness room.
Billiards room.
Bar room.
Dart room.
Storage room.
Large screen media room.
A guest suite complete with a HUGE bedroom, TV lounge (sectional and TV), sink room (double sink with those cool above counter basins with faucets that oozed like a waterfall), shower/toilet room (self closing toilet seat and lid, LARGE slate shower). Each room in this suite was so large. I wonder if it all seemed so large because we live in such a tiny space. All in all, their house is huge and beautiful. The outside deck, creek in the back and wooded acreage all add to its beauty.

09-04-08 Thursday (The Moon Walk)

We met John & Tonia at the Lake house. They had planned to take us to have a picnic at a state park. It was called “Flat Rock”. Jim and I didn’t dress well for the occasion. I guess we weren’t expecting to tow the boat part of the way and then ride in the boat via the lake the rest of the way. We’re State Park picnic virgins, ya know. I had to carry Dasher into the boat, he was terrified. This place was really cool and there was no one else around. If I had to imagine what the surface of the moon looked like, this would be it. I guess the name “Flat Rock” fits. There were picnic tables and grills all over. John grilled steaks and chicken and we had a great meal. Very nice. John, Jim and I left Tonia and the dogs behind while we took a boat trip to the dam on the lake and a very upscale lake front housing community. Very nice. The boat motor wouldn’t start for several minutes and once started, didn’t sound very good on the way back. At one point it sounded like it threw a rod so John cut it off and we limped back via trolling motor (used for fishing and VERY tiny, I could have walked faster but hadn't mastered water walking yet)to the boat slip. It took a long time. Once back we got in the vehicles and headed to the entrance of Flat Rock. Remember, we got there by boat though! When we got to the entrance it was gated and closed for September, only open weekends. Doh! We had to walk the rest of the way to meet Tonia who was carrying almost EVERYTHING with the 3 dogs by her side. John and Jim went to get the floats and I took some of the crap Tonia had to carry. Unfortunately we never got to be dragged behind the boat on the rafts or big tube he had brought. Well, it was still all awesome anyways. I never knew state parks like these existed. It was like this moon rock peninsula on a lake. You go Alabama!



We finished off the evening with a trip to Target, then dinner at Krystal Burger (I was craving them) and then onto WAL-MART. Who would have guessed?

09-03-08 Wednesday (Boat ride to dinner)

We can’t get a cell phone or internet signal on this mountain very well. It’s spotty at best so Jim and I scouted the camp grounds in the Cherokee for someplace it might work. Once we found it, we moved the coach. Seems like we can sometimes or for a very short time get a signal. John and Tonia came up to Cheaha, we visited here and then drove back (separately) through some dirt trails Tonia read about. The trails took a really long time and unfortunately aside from trees, there wasn’t much to see. But we can now say we drove through Talladega Forest.

We followed John & Tonia back to their lake house on Wedowee Lake. Gorgeous property, with a dock, jet ski’s and their boat. Dasher, Georgia and Trib enjoyed running around. Georgia plays fetch constantly. A ball, Frisbee, stick or pinecone will suffice. She will bring something to you, then run away and lay down in attack mode waiting for it to be thrown. Funny. I have video here of her diving into the lake. Dasher, on the otherhand, wouldn't dare even get onto the dock.


We left the pets behind, loaded up into the boat (driving isn’t as fun) and headed across the lake to a small restaurant called the Chow House that they frequent when at the lake house. The food was good. We returned to the lake house, and then Jim and I returned to the RV.







2 videos directly above. On the left is Georgia diving into the lake. On the right is a clip of our boat ride. I do want to mention that a few people didn't realize that there's some videos in these blog entries. Prior to this post there's about 3 others or more. 1 of us leaving Fort Myers, 1 of humming birds, and another of Krispy Kreme manufacturing. You'll notice once the video is loaded onto the screen that there will be a play button at the lower left corner, progress bar and volume control under each video. If you never noticed videos, you can go back. Enjoy.

09-2-08 Tuesday (Stuck AGAIN!)

Today we left “In The Woods” campground and made our way to Jim’s brothers (John) in Villa Rica, GA (West of Atlanta). We were supposed to go directly to Alabama, Cheaha State Park but decided to pickup Jim’s Grandmother (Betty Ann) from John’s house. Grandma said there was a cul-de-sac we could turn around in once there to get out of the development. We decided to turn around before picking her up. The 1st cul-de-sac was too small and we didn’t attempt the turn. We went up to the end of the development and this one looked just right. (Kinda like a 3 bears story). Well, we almost made the turn but a curb and lamp post stood in the way. As usual, we had to disconnect the Cherokee so we could backup the RV. After a tantrum or 2 from Jim and myself, we made it to John’s street. We’ve figured out that to make a u-turn in this monster requires 5 lanes to do so. I just hate finding out the hard way. We gave Grandma the tour. We rehooked up the Cherokee and the 3 of us drove to Alabama, Cheaha State park. It should have taken an hour but it was more like 1.5, since the RV struggled up the hills. Not quite like the scenes from “Long, Long Trailer” but close enough. Good thing I only collected 5 rocks so far. ;-) Jim and Grandma spotted a deer very close by. By the time I got out of the RV it had moved a little further but I was still able to get some pictures of it.
Cheaha (Pronounced CHE-HA) only had 3 sites used so they told us to pick a site. We found one that seemed perfect. Jim and I showed Grandma the fine art of settin’ up. We then took the Cherokee and returned to John and Tonia’s house for dinner. Side note: Comments made in the blog by the “Real Sister-in-law” is Tonia. Dasher ran outside in John’s unfenced large piece of land and did very well without running off. He enjoyed dogs Georgia and Trib. After some dinner and chatting, Jim and I returned to the coach, where we crashed for the evening very quickly. Jim’s Grandma went home the next day to be with her boyfriend Harold. Hi Harold!