Heading West (Western NC) again

Sun, Oct 19 to Wed, Oct 22

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),

 and spend a leisurely afternoon enjoying the drive in the motor home.  We stop at one RV sales location and look at motor homes - it seems we're always looking.

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

Another beautiful sunset

Bill and Jan come to Beaufort

Sat Oct 11

Bill and Jan are traveling a few weeks along the coast on SC and NC in their motor home and are stopping here for a few days.

We parked their RV in the Lantz's yard and set about having fun.

Sun Oct 11

In marginal weather, we head down to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse.  The day was fairly clear, but the temperature, especially on the water is about 1 degree too cool.  We put up the wind curtains on the way back.

We also had more wind than forecast, which made for a bumpy ride on parts of the trip that weren't in sheltered water.  But it was a fun trip.

Once we arrived back in Taylors Creek mid afternoon, we decided we'd stop at the Finz Restaurant dock for some dinner.  Although Clara had fixed some read good sandwiches for the trip, they remained in the refrigerator at the house.  It turned out to a great day and a perfect boat trip, topped off with a good dinner and fun afternoon.

Mon Oct 12

We decided we'd take an afternoon cocktail cruise in perfect weather conditions.  We headed over to Shackleford and Clara wanted to drop a line in the water.  We ended up catching 13 bluefish and Clara was ready to keep fishing until dark.  We finally convinced her we had enough.  Come to find out that there is a 15 fish per person limit - and - nobody on the boat had a fishing license anyway.

The fishermen toast a successful catch

After fishing, we dropped anchor, had drinks and finally headed back.  When we arrived at the dock, there were some law enforcement guys on the dock, so we decided to go on down the creek and drop Jan and Clara off at the dock near the house with the fish (and adult beverages) and we went back down to the dock and left the boat for the boathouse crew to retrieve the next day.

I really regret having to take this picture (Jan getting out of the boat at the dock near the house0

The only problem with catching fish is having to clean them.

Tues Oct 13

Winds are getting a little high today, so we decide not to take the boat out.  However, Bill and I met Joe out at the sail boat for an afternoon of rotating the rum locker.

Fried Blue Fish (yumm, yumm)

Tonight, we had blue fish, both stewed and fried.  Of course we had way more than the four of us could eat, so Maddie and Jean came over and helped us clean the plate.

Wed Oct 14

The B's are having a rough time getting headed back to Ashevlle,  There is a huge band of heavy rains, which hit here around noon today, that have given them a good excuse to stay around for another day.  Great with us.

Thurs Oct 15

The B's head out for home in Asheville.

We were with the B's when they bought their motor home in Tucson.  We took a picture of them similar to this one as they were taking delivery.

September - October in the mountains

Mon Sept 29

Let's go to the mountain house!

And we're off, heading West to Spruce Pine.

Tues Sept 30

The mornings are cool and there's almost always clouds in the valley this time of year.

Clara had called some friends from Beaufort who have a home near Grandfather Mountain, Gary and Judy Mercer and arranged for us to meet them in Linville for lunch.  As this is near the Y, I had a chance to swim a while before lunch.  After a nice lunch, we drove back by the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The grass in the yard really needs mowing.  It's almost 12 inches high. It looks great, but the it's going to be a job getting it mowed.  I raise the lawn mower deck as high as possible and start mowing.  I must have dumped the grass catcher a dozen times.

Of course, after mowing the grass, it's time for a little relaxing.

I love the mountains.  We've spend a majority of our adult lives living in the mountains and they really do feel like home.  It's always great to get back up here and experience the Parkway and it's beautiful views. Although we've seen a lot of beautiful sights traveling around the country, there is nothing like sitting on the deck of our home overlooking the view and watching the sunset behind the Black Mountain Range

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This evening Jared and Lane, our neighbors in the log cabin next door came over and we had a nice evening getting caught up on all that is happening.

Wed Oct 1

A work day - and a hard one.  There's always work to be done - especially this year.  We've been up here so infrequently and everything keeps growing.

This evening we go over to the country club for dinner with Bill, Judy, Kit, Will and Bonnie.

Our house taken from Kit's deck about 3 miles away.

Thurs Oct 2

We're off to Linville and the Y, while Clara stays at the Crossnore consignment shop.

On the way back from Linville, we noted a subdivision that has gone all out for Halloween.

After a nice afternoon, where Clara decides the front steps need a little sprucing up with paint, we enjoy a perfect afternoon on the back deck reading, listening to the birds and watching the sun sink into the mountains.

Note the glass of wind on the steps.  

Fri Oct 3

A rainy day

Down the mountain to Marion's Y for swimming, then Clara and I go look at motor homes at Tom Johnsons RV Center.  We keep looking for something we like better than what we have.  So far, nothing has shown up.

Fog on the mountain.

Continental Divide Road

Sat Oct 4

A cold front came through this morning, but we only got to 44 mph winds here on the mountain. This is the time of year when cold fronts start bringing high winds.  It may get down to freezing tonight.

This afternoon to the Orchard.

Clara and Bill Carson take to the dance floor

We really missed Anna and Evan helping us pick apples in The Orchard

There's a bear on the mountain.  This is at the entry to our subdivision.

Sun Oct 5

The temperature only got down to 35 here at the house last night.  But it's still cold.  I need to head South.

Today we are tourists!  After lunch we decide to drive up to Mount Mitchell.  We haven't been there in quite a while, and today it is perfectly clear - a great day to enjoy the ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the view from Mount Mitchell

Clara's comment:  "An old tree and and old man".  Ouch!

The colors are changing.

Icicles on the road up to Mount Mitchell.  It was 22 degrees on the mountain last night.

The clouds were really different - like flying saucers

Clara thinks our home is there!!!  We can see the Northern part of the Black Mountain Range from our house in the summer - and the Mount Mitchell peak in the winter.

A little nap after the 300 foot walk from the parking lot to the top of the mountain.

Mon Oct 6

Arranging to get things done.  One of the things I enjoy the least about coming up to the mountain house is the cleaning on the morning we leave.  Clara likes to leave it perfect, and of course I think it looks perfect.  Anyway, I think we've finally found someone to clean the house (to Clara's standards) after we leave.  Now if I can only keep her from wanting to clean the house so the housekeeper doesn't think we're slobs.

I've been wanting to replace a whole section of shingles in one spot on the roof for years.  Every winter, we seem to lose a few shingles in this area and we have to keep replacing them one or two at the time.  We initially had shingles installed that are rated for 90 mph winds, but it's obvious that in this corner, the winds are getting considerable above 90.  Bill Carson has recommended a local contractor and he came by this afternoon and he is going to replace a whole section of shingles with shingles rated at 120 mph.

Tues, Oct 7

Clara left this morning to go to Asheville to spend the night with Diane Howell, a friend from her days as an X-Ray Tech at Memorial Mission Hospital.  They're making arrangements to meet a bunch of the "old gang" who use to work together at the hospital.

I spend a very peaceful day doing absolutely nothing.

Wed, Oct 8

The crew to replace the shingles shows up bright and early at 8:30, awaking me.

I think we have this problem corrected.

The view from the roof is quite spectacular.  Kinda makes we wish we had built a 3 story house

Tomorrow we head back to Beaufort for a few days and hopefully, we'll be back on the mountain in a couple of weeks.