Wandering America
October 2009 - Part II
| Visiting Family and Friends in Tennessee We were on the road again Sunday leaving Gas City, Indiana with our destination being Singing Hills Campground in Cave City, Kentucky but when we got there it was early and we decided that we didn't want to be on the road again Monday so we drove straight through to Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, Tennessee. The smoking issue had not gotten any worse but it hadn't gotten any better either.  On Monday morning I was talking with one of our neighbors who has a bus conversion and he suggested that grayish colored smoke is often the sign of a bad injector. After further discussion with a few other friends on line we decided that injectors could very well be the problem so I added some injector cleaner to the fuel tank. That maybe too little, too late; only time will tell as we press on toward Rainbow Plantation. Our time in Tennessee was spent visiting family and friends as well as just relaxing and getting caught up on a few chores around the house. Grand daughter fixes were top priority; as it turned out we were needed for "baby sitting" duty on Monday. Catia had been sick and Matt and Jackie wanted to keep her home for an additional day so I dropped Miss Judy off to stay with her while I came back home and shampooed the carpets. Wednesday we had a visit from fulltiming friends Gene and Judi. We first met them last January at Rainbow Plantation and have been in touch with them over the past nine months as they made their loop out west. They are from the Nashville area and land here often to visit family. Gene and Judi are the proud grand parents of their first grand daughter who was only a few days old. Congratulations were in order. It was fun visiting with them and sharing their travels. They are serious hikers and are getting themselves fit in order to walk about 300 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia next spring.  Our future son-in-law cooked us a wonderful meal on Thursday evening. Mary and Joel make a great couple and we are so very happy to have Joel in our family. On Friday Miss Judy prepared dinner and an apple pie to have with the grand daughters (and their parents). There is so much to see and do in this area but, we managed to keep busy with family and didn't do any sightseeing. We'll just have to come back and plant ourselves here for a few weeks in order to get out and see the sights. On Saturday we went with Catia and Kalina to the pumpkin patch. Halloween is just around the corner and every kid needs a jack-o-lantern. When we were kids we just went to some local farm and got some pumpkins but, that's not the way it is done today. Walden Farms has a regular pumpkin festival each weekend geared for the whole family.     There were corn stalk mazes, a hay bale maze, petting zoo, a snack bar, hay rides, an activity center, and various other displays along with two pumpkin patches (one for the "little kids" and one for the "big kids/adults"). The cooler weather just added to the ambiance of harvesting pumpkins and what a treat to see the excitement on our grand daughters' faces.    Catia had no problem getting into the spirit, running through the hay bale maze, petting and feeding the goats, learning about corn, and picking out her pumpkin (the whole nine yards, so to speak).      Kalina, however, wasn't quite sure what to make of it all. She just held onto grandma's or grandpa's hand and took it all in.   But, it was a great day, none the less - one that we are sure glad we didn't miss.  Escapee's Chapter 26 (Gulf Posse) Rally On Sunday we departed Cedars of Lebanon making our way toward some warmer weather and the SKP Chapter 26 (Gulf Posse) Rally in Chumuckla, Florida. We stopped over at the Woods RV Park in Montgomery, Alabama in order to have a full hook up site (Cedars of Lebanon is electric and water only) so Judy could get caught up on the laundry and not have to think about it again until after the Rally. On Monday we had a fairly short travel day arriving at the Farmer's Opry and Campground just after 1 o'clock. We were greeted by our friend Norm Payne who was the one man parking crew, selected our site, and got set up.   There were about a dozen early bird arrivals so we gathered in the clubhouse at 4 o'clock for our social hour. Norm, Linda, Judy, and I went out to dinner at what is referred to as the "No Name Cafe". It's really named "Kwickburger" but, the only sign on the place is in the window and it says, "Cafe" - there are no other identifying features on the place. The "Kwickburger" or "No Name Cafe" has good "home cooked" meals at very reasonable prices. The specials were Fried Chicken or Pot Roast Beef and came with two sides, drinks, and desserts; all for less than $20 including the tip.   Tuesday was a free day for us since we arrived early and the Rally didn't get kick-off until 4 o'clock so we went into town to mail some letters and pick up a few items for the "bag lunch". After the social hour (and Rally kick off) we came home for dinner. That evening there were cards and games going on in the clubhouse and a fire in the community fire pit. Wednesday morning began with an "omelet in a bag" breakfast which is always a favorite. For those of you who don't know what an "omelet in a bag" is - You take a couple of eggs and crack them into a plastic bag, add cheese, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, ham, etc.; then you make sure to mix them all up and seal the bag making sure to get most of the air out of the bag; and finally you drop the bag into boiling water for about 15 minutes. We had our omelets in a soft taco shell with salsa added for some extra flavoring - yum, yum. Next was the catfish feeding frenzy. We got into a caravan of about 20 vehicles and drove about a mile and a half to a catfish pond where they fed the catfish with some fish food pellets and bread. Although catfish are generally bottom feeders they were more than willing to surface for some free food. This was totally fascinating to watch, I almost couldn't stand all the excitement; after all of this excitement I just might have to take a nap.   We returned to start getting ready (for what else?) to eat lunch. It was bag lunch day - each person received a numbered paper bag and made a lunch to put in it (bag lunch). Then we took our bag lunches and placed them on the table. When it was time to eat each person came up front, drew a number, and took the bag with the corresponding number. It was alright to trade lunches, portions of lunches, etc. with others. Norm, being the prankster that he is, gathered some stones and put them in a bag. Wouldn't you know, our buddy Al got the bag so rumor has it that Al got stoned during the bag lunch. Anywhoo, it was great fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Crafts were scheduled for the afternoon. Even though it was open to men and women alike, only the women participated - they made boxes out of greeting cards. In the meantime one of men opened the hood of his motorhome and, just like bees to hive, the men began to swarm. If you ever have a problem with your rig at an Escapee's Rally, just open the hood and you'll get all the advice you need - I didn't say that it is always good advice.  Four o'clock was social hour where they continued drawing door prizes followed by (what else?) eating. The Farmer's Opry provided a free meal and it was a scrumptious pork dinner with all the fixings including drinks and desserts. After dinner we socialized for a little while before turning in for the night. Thursday began with breakfast with Archie which was a pancake breakfast. The ladies enjoyed the craft time so much on Wednesday that they scheduled another one where they made butterfly pins. The men gathered here and there to "man chat" about traveling, RVs, etc.. In order to continue the eating theme, we joined together at the Opry for a nice smothered steak dinner. After lunch we all caravaned over to Holland Farms (peanut farm), the "NUTTIEST" Place Around!, to watch peanuts being processed. There had to have been two dozen vehicles in the caravan and somewhere along the line (about six vehicles in) an "outsider" got injected into the parade. He made a left turn at a light, and you guessed it, the rest of the caravan followed him. Can you just imagine the expression on his wife's face when he turned into his driveway - "Honey, guess who's coming for dinner?" That will have to be one of the memorable moments of this rally. The farmer was a real stitch; he has "Rube Goldberg-ed" everything in the process together. As we watched the peanuts go from the "hopper" through the winnowing machine into the wash auger onto the conveyor and into bags all I could think of is the old song the "Music goes 'round and around". "I blow through here the music goes 'round and around and comes out here..." But, it works and he has saved himself a bundle of money on purchasing a lot of sophisticated equipment that would cost an arm and a leg as well as the shirt off his back to pay for it and to keep it maintained.  The peanuts go from the field to the wagon:   From the wagon up a conveyor to the winnowing machine and through the wash:   Up the conveyor and onto the belt where the bad peanuts are sorted out:   Finally into bags ready to be shipped.   We got to sample some of his wares - balled (boiled) peanuts - definitely not on my list of favorites, parched (roasted) peanuts - no salt but yummy, and raw peanuts - good, but give me some more roasted peanuts pleeeze!! However, the Farmer's dawg likes his peanuts raw.  Four o'clock was picture time with Fred Merrill, the gift exchange, social hour, and some more door prizes. The gift exchange was fun - we each brought a gift, sat in a circle, and passed the gift as a story was read. Each time you heard the word right, you passed the gift to the right, whenever you heard the word left you passed the gift to the left. The key was to keep up with the story and not get confused - when the story ended some people had two gifts and others had none. Just another fun thing to do. Then the Sheriff took over (each rally has a sheriff). He has been on the trail of a real bad hombre. The alleged perpetrator had served up some rocks in a bag lunch and needed to be apprehended and punished. As it turned out the alleged perpetrator had accomplices who also needed to receive punishment. The punishment metered out was in the form of fines - all fines collected by the Sheriff will be donated to the Autism Society (so far, he had collected almost a hundred bucks in fines - lot of law breakers in this bunch). By the way, we were told that the Rally Committee looked high and low for a sheriff - to bad they found him while they were looking low!!!  The day was rounded out with Trivia Pursuit (guys against the gals) with the gals winning big time. For those not participating in Trivia Pursuit there was a community fire to congregate around. Friday was the grand finale starting with a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, OJ, and coffee at the Farmer's Opry - 'em were gooooood biscuits and gravy but, not as good as Larry's though. At ten we caravaned to the Milton Railroad Museum in Milton, Florida (you might say we all had a "one track" mind). The highlight was a real live train that passed by while we were all hanging around next to the tracks.       We went to the railroad museum with Doug and Anna and were home by one o'clock with the rest of the afternoon reserved for socialization and relaxation. At four o'clock the shenanigans began once more at the social hour with the Sheriff being put on trial and fined - the final tally of fines and other donations came to $600 to be donated to the Autism Society. I must say that this is a "wild and crazy" bunch and a lot of fun to be around. The highlight of the day was the dinner and the show at the Farmer's Opry. We had a nice (huge) dinner with choices of meats (one of which was fried catfish), veggies, rolls, and a garden salad along with drinks and a dessert. There were "pass arounds" of chicken and dumplings and fried okra as well. Needless to say, we were all "stuffed to the gills". The dinner was followed by a show with the Sawmill Country Band. We'd have to say that this dinner and show was just as good as the one we attended at the Nashville Nite-Life Dinner Theater. It was a wonderful evening of fun, food, and outstanding entertainment.  Saturday began with the farewell breakfast, packing up, and homeward bound. This was a great rally and we are sure glad we didn't miss it. Home Again, Home Again We arrived back at Rainbow Plantation at around 10:30 on Saturday morning (October 31) thus ending our six months plus jaunt for 2009. After the "Recession" of 2008 and 2009 we knew that this would be a year of hunkering down and working just to stretch our finances. Looking back over the past year we can now attest to the flexibility that this lifestyle gives us to adapt to the circumstances and make the adjustments necessary to live within our budget. We didn't travel the way we had originally planned but still got to see our grand children, family members, and friends several times throughout the year. Now it's just good to be "Home Again" enjoying the activities here at Rainbow Plantation. We are definitely thankful that we were able to acquire this ERPU (Escapees Rainbow Parks Unlimited) site here in L. A. (Lower Alabama). So until next time - Happy Travels. |