Sunday morning we packed up the motor home and headed to Dad's to celebrate his 99th birthday. We're taking the motor home this time with the intent of perhaps camping a little on this trip.
And we started right out the gate spending the night in the Walmart parking lot near Dad's home in Nashville. Some people think it's rather humorous that we (and a lot of other RVers) stay at Walmarts when traveling. However, it makes a lot of sense. They all have vastly overbuilt parking lots which are underutilized, they are lighted, have security patrols all night, and we can always go into the Walmart to pick up items or rent a movie. And it is usually fairly quiet as long as the Walmart is not on a major highway. Anyway, we enjoy it.
Monday is Dad's 99th birthday, a rare milestone. Dad's doing very well, is active and enjoys the attention that age brings.
We have planned lunch with him and few friends. This morning early, I decided to check and see if I can get the tires balanced on the motor home. I've had good luck before at the Colony Tire Store in Rocky Mount. They have an opening, so I head over early. It turns out that it ends up taking all day (and part of Tuesday) to get those giant tires balanced.
We have lunch and I'm back at the tire place for the afternoon.
Monday night I go with Dad to his VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) meeting. He again receives a lot of attention and the whole group sings happy birthday. This is probably the 6th or 7th time today he's had happy birthday wishes.
Monday night, back in the Walmart parking lot.
Tuesday morning I'm back at Colony Tires and they are finally able to get everything balanced.
We head West, stop to have lunch with Slade (to celebrate his 40th++ birthday),
Late afternoon and the sun is blinding through the big windshield, so we find another Walmart (Mocksville) and settle in for a quiet evening. It's great to be able to just stop. The trip from home to the mountain house is only 7 hours, and we're in our third day getting there.
Wednesday morning, we find ourselves at another RV dealer. And this time, we find a new motor home that we both think might be worth considering to replace our beloved Tropi Cal. It's a little smaller than ours - only 32 feet versus our 33, and it's narrower (95 inches wide compared to 102), but it's a very well built coach (Tiffin), and we're seriously considering it.
By late afternoon, we're again heading West - no deal - yet.
We unhitch the car in Marion, Clara drives it on to Spruce Pine and I stop at the Y and swim a while. We finally end up at the mountain house and settle in.
Thur Oct 23
The grass needs mowing. I thought it should have stopped growing by now. Oh Well! Mow it!
The yard looks great. I guess I've done something wrong. I usually manage to kill lawns. i.e. Beaufort.
I start doing a lot of research on new motor homes. I mean a lot of research. I don't know where this is going to take us.
I've got a call into our financial advisor. I hope he tells me I've got money and I should buy a new motor home.
Fri Oct 24
Clara rides down the mountain to Marion with me and after I swim and she shops, we spend the afternoon at Tom Johnson RV sales. The salesman is a patient man. I even consider a new gas model. We must have looked at every potential option.
Our financial advisor says, sure you've got the money. But "What are you going to do for money when you get old?"
Tonight we head over to Kit's for dinner with Bubba, Susan, Ed and Jan.
Sat Oct 25
This morning, I do some minor maintenance on our motor home, which requires both of us. After we finish the work, we look at each other, and almost simultaneously say, "We don't need a new motor home!"
We've both come to the conclusion that we have a great motor home in our old 2006 National Tropi-Cal. It's taken us a lot of great places and it should be able to take us to some more great places. So, let's keep it. AND we are!
About 5 o"clock, Clara decides she's made way to much vegetable soup, so she call Kit, Bill and Judy over and we share a "little" of the big pot of soup.
Sun, Oct 26
We both sleep better last night, knowing the decision on a new motor home is behind us. We actually look forward to making some upgrades to ours. It's going to be fun. It may not last more than a couple more years, but we'll make it ours.
This afternoon (after a good swim) we head down to the Orchard. It's their last day for this year.
It's a beautiful day and the crowds are huge - and the music is great. We try to go out in the orchard and pick some apples, but I've got on the wrong shoes so we decide we'll come back tomorrow and get a nice bunch of apples.
Tonight, we have our neighbors, Jared and Lane, Kit, and Will and Bonnie over for ribs. Clara has a great (fantastic) recipe for ribs.
Mon, Oct 27
Minor work on the motor home (Boy, am I glad we're not thinking about getting rid of it).
Tonight, Bill, Judy and Bill come over to (again) help reduce the size of the pot of soup, plus now we have shrimp chowder Clara made today from last nights left-overs.
Tomorrow we load up the motor home and head out for a few days around Western North Carolina
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| Another beautiful sunset |
