Day 28 - Home Again, Home Again

October 29, 2019
We stopped at Dad's Junction Cafe, near New Florence, Mo, for lunch. We had eaten there once before when we camped in the area. I had one of their tenderloins then, and another one today. It fills the entire plate and it is not a thin piece of meat. Kathy says it is at least a pound of meat. It is really a meal for two. I did manage to eat half of it and brought the other half home with me.

Parked at home and partially unloaded. Got most of the stuff in the house.

I was going to wait until tomorrow or Thursday to fire up our Hardy boiler. It is supposed to rain all day  tomorrow, with a high of 37 degrees. Kathy said I might want to get it going while it was still light today, and while it wasn't raining. It was a good idea. By the time I got things going it was raining and 39 degrees (37 now). I have a few things that might need some "tweaking" tomorrow, but nothing major.

We drove 3,006 miles while we were gone. We averaged 10.7 mpg during the trip. We filled up this morning in Mt. Vernon at a Huck's station. While filling up I noticed that it was biodiesel. My truck does not like biodiesel. I found that out a couple of years ago when we were out west. My fuel mileage dropped every time I filled it with biodiesel. No different today. We paid $3.219 for the biodiesel, the most expensive fuel we purchased during the entire trip, and averaged 9/0 mpg, the worst fuel mileage of the entire trip.

It is good to be home. We praise the Lord for our safety.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 27 - Crossville, TN to Mt. Vernon, IL

October 28, 2019
Hooked up and parked in the driveway for last minute checks. Tom & Mary Lou's campground is on the right in the top photo. The two campers in the bottom photo are owned by hunters (brothers) who live about 80 miles from the campground, near Knoxville. The pay for the right to hunt on some ground near Tom & Mary Lou's. They rent, very nominal rent, spaces and leave their campers, four wheelers, etc. there most of the time. Barry was there while we were. He would leave about 6:30 in the morning and get back after dark, and the weather was nasty! Tom said the brothers have camera's set up in their hunting areas. They can access the cameras using their cell phones.

The campground is about 1/4 mile off the end of Allen Burgess Road. Tom & Mary Lou's home is about 3/8 of a mile further down the driveway behind our camper.

We drove 360 miles today, heading back toward Centertown. Another 220 miles to go tomorrow. Weather was good, sometimes enough mist to require wipers, but no real rain. Kathy drove about half the way today, her first time pulling the trailer.

At the Archway campground in Mt. Vernon. These are some interesting little cabins they rent.

The campground isn't full but it is surprisingly busy for a Monday night in the late fall.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

October 27
No rain today, PTL! It rained all day yesterday, and most of last night. Still at Kathy's brothers place near Crossville, TN.

Got to see lots of family. Tom & Kathy's sister Nancy is here. She is on her way from her home in Ohio to her home in Florida. Tom & Mary Lou's 3 kids, plus daughter-in-law & 4 grandkids also here.

Went to church at Cumberland Fellowship. WE HAD CHURCH! The Spirit moved mightily.I hope a video of the entire service is available. We have been going to this church for 20 years, whenever we are in Crossville. It is great to see the Spirit still moving, and the church still growing.

Power was out to big area last night. Started supper by candlelight.

 View from Tom & Mary Lou's front porch. Their 160 acres is at the end of a dead end road, about 13 miles south of Crossville. Their 7 acre lake is 35' deep.

God is good. May He bless you & yours.

All is well

At brotber-in-laws in TN. No wifi at campground and minimal cell service. Probably won't post for a few days.

Day 22 - Triple Creek, Cosby/Newport, TN

October 23, 2019

This morning we drove to Cosby and then to Newport. We didn't see anything worth stopping to investigate. We came back to the campground for a while and then went to Janice's Diner for lunch.

Kathy looked for restaurants on her phone and Janice's was listed as being 400 feet from us. It is only 400' but you have to wade through a fast running creek to get there. We are parked backed up against Cosby Creek. Janice's may be a little more than 400 feet. The campground entrance/exit is on Lower Bogard Road, on the left side of the photo, so you have to drive about 1.5 miles to get to the restaurant. The food was good.

We then drove to a section of the Foothills Parkway, and drove the 6 mile length over to I40 and then drove it back the other way on our way home. The fall colors are really starting to pop out.

Both the start and end of the 6 mile stretch were at elevation 1,350 feet. The high point was 2,270 feet. There was a lot more color up higher. Also, there were many places to pull off into parking areas so that you could get out and see the views.

 At one of the parking areas Kathy noticed a motorcyclist taking a selfie. I went over and asked if he wanted me to take a photo of him. He did and then he took one of Kathy & I. This 6 mile stretch has to be an absolute blast to ride on a motorcycle.

 The far ridge is miles and miles from where we were standing.

 Kathy took the 3 photos below with here iPhone. 2 of them were taken thru the truck windshield. I'm not an Apple fan but her phone takes great photos.

On the way back we stopped at an orchard and was amazed at all the different varieties of apples they had for sale, and how busy they were.

Later, back at the campsite we had chili for supper while sitting around a campfire. You can see Cosby Creek in the background. Yesterday Kathy saw a lady fly fishing downstream from us, but didn't see her catch anything.

The weather was beautiful today.

Part of my reading today was John 11:1-44, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Verse 11:4 Jesus is speaking, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this." Verse 11:19 says, "and many of the people had come to pay their respects and console Martha and Mary on their loss."

I suspect that Lazarus's attitude while he was sick also brought glory to God. I don't think he whined and complained constantly. Many people came after his death. He life must have influenced many. This made me think about my attitude when I face the small trials of everyday life. Does my attitude bring glory to God? It should. Just like with Lazarus, God has his hand on my life, and your life if you are a believer. There is a purpose for every trial I face. I may not know the purpose, but I can be sure that there is one. Romans 8:28, "All things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose."

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 21 - Hendersonville, North Carolina to Cosby, Tennessee

October 22, 2019

Today turned out to be a beautiful day, after a wet start. We drove 80 miles today, total miles so far 2,166.

Packing up and leaving Hendersonville this morning, in the rain and after an all night rain, was WET. Below is the view from the back camper window this morning.

 The red hose is our sewer hose. I can imagine how many gallons of rain water went into their sanitary sewer during the night.

I was pretty much soaked by the time I had everything put up. The rain was very light by the time I backed up the truck to hook up.

We hardly had to use the wipers once we were on the road. It turned out to be a great day. There was "smoke" on the mountains.

 We saw the beginning of leaves changing color. Probably by the weekend, or middle of next week, the autumn colors will be awesome.

 Even got to go through a tunnel.

We are camped at Triple Creek Campground, near Cosby, TN. Newport, TN is the nearest town of any size. Below are views of one of the creeks. These photos are taken from our campsite.

 Below is our trailer. You can see our neighbor on one side. The space on the other side is much larger.

 Looking out into the campground from the front of our site. Some of this area is campsites but there is a large area of yard around the shower house you see in the middle of the photo.

We sat outside for quite a long time, just enjoying the cool, today's high was 74, sunny day. There was enough of a breeze that a jacket felt good.

At 10 PM the temperature is 48. It is supposed to drop to 43 by morning. We love this type of day.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 20 - Exploring the Hendersonville Area

October 21, 2019

This morning we went into Hendersonville, North Carolina, to look around. What a pleasant place to spend a few hours walking around and having lunch.

The first thing you notice is the parking. One side of the street has angle parking and the other side has parallel parking, the sides alternate. I'm sure that slows traffic down a little, but it makes for nice wide sidewalks.

Below are some pictures of the main street.

Note the fall color change in the photo below. I think one of the reasons we are seeing so many campgrounds full is because people are here to see the leaves change color.

 We had lunch at Mike's. The food was good and reasonably priced, especially for a tourist area.

Then it was back to the campground for a little rest and on to the town/village (population 110) of Chimney Rock and Chimney Rock State Park, about 8 miles north of the campground. The town/village probably totally closes down over the winter months. It is one gift shop after another, with restaurants and coffee shops thrown in for good measure.

 We drove up the WINDING one mile long road to the park entrance/ticket booth. We were to cheap to pay $34 to see Chimney Rock and so we drove back down.

Elevations: The campground is 2,200 feet above sea level. On the way to Chimney Rock we went up to 2,350 then down to 1,060 when we arrived in the town. During the one mile WINDING climb up to the ticket booth we climbed to 1,610 feet. They say the road to the ticket booth is 2 lane. We met a couple of cars going the other way as we went up and down. In every case one of the cars picked a wide spot, pulled to the edge of the road and stopped, to let the other car pass.

Once we got back down we parked and walked around the town and down along the creek bank. These boulders are monsters.

 It was a cloudy day and the tops of the mountains were in fog most of the time.

One of the reasons we went to Chimney Rock was because some of our tourist info told about all the orchards out that way. We had no idea North Carolina was such a producer of apples. North Carolina is 7^th in US apple production, with over 200 commercial apple operations comprised of 9,000 acres of apple orchards (another site claims 300 commercial operations and 14,000 acres of orchards). 70-80% of North Carolina apples come from the Blue Ridge area. There are 150 apple orchards in Henderson County. There are 28 direct farm markets selling to the public in the Hendersonville area. We stopped at one on the way back to Hendersonville, and bought some apples and a squast.

We went to Binions for supper. My steak was good and Kathy liked her chicken. Local reviews talk about it being worth the wait to get in. We got there a little after 6 and didn't have to wait for a table (mind you this was a Monday night). On the way out there must have been 20-30 people waiting for a table.

Tomorrow we plan to move to Triple Creek Campground near Newport, TN. It was our 2nd choice campground. Our 1st choice was booked full all week. We plan on staying there two nights so that we can spend a day close to the "mountains". Then it will be on to Crossville to spend a few days with family before heading back to Missouri.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 19 - Soggy Charleston to Hendersonville, North Carolina

October 20, 2019

Today was a travel day. We left a very wet Hollywood, South Carolina (just south of Charleston) and drove 250 miles to a campground near Hendersonville, North Carolina. We have driven 2,045 miles so far.

We still can't get over all the traffic out here. Note the steady stream in the east bound lanes as well as all the traffic traveling west with us. This was typical from about 50 miles east of Columbia until around 30 miles west of Columbia. Traffic was heavy for all of todays 250 miles.

Got the worst fuel mileage of the trip today as we climbed from a low of 8 feet below sea level to over 2,000 feet above sea level. I26 is constantly uphill 110 feet then down 100 feet, then up 110 feet and down 100 feet, and up 110 feet and down 100 feet. Most of the grades are moderately steep with a few steep enough where semi's were going 40-45 mph. As a side note, on the way to Charleston, as we drove around the west side of town on the Interstate loop we were as much as 30 feet below sea level. Why would anyone build an Interstate highway 30 feet below sea level?

The campground here is interesting. A LOT of the folks appear to be permanent residents. Sites are relatively close together. People are friendly and helpful. James, who, with his family, is camped next to us, jumped up to help direct us into our site. He also knew the site had problems with the 30 amp outlet and asked if I had a 50 amp to 30 amp plug. When I told him I didn't have one with me he called the lady who checked us in and she brought one to us.

We are close to a highway. Between the highway noise, that combined with the noise of families just having fun, makes it NOISY!

Our cheap indoor digital indoor antenna allowed us to get the NASCAR race (figuring out why our crank up ourdoor antenna doesn't work will be on my to do list when we get home). Kathy watched most of the race, I watched the last few laps.

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow. We plan on looking around Hendersonville tomorrow and maybe even Asheville.

One of the Scriptures in today's Daily Devotional was Joshua 1:9 "The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of the battle." I was not in the military, but I am supposed to be a soldier. It made me wonder, what type of soldier am I? I’m afraid that I’m not a very good one. Most of the time I refuse to acknowledge that I am involved in a battle. I tend to hide my head in the sand. At other times I tend to cower during a skirmish, probably because I’ve forgotten to “wear” my weapons and armor (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Oh that I would always boldly “march” to the old hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers”.

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!

Christ the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle, see His banner go!

At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!

Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; Brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise!

Like a mighty army moves the church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod; we are not divided; all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

Onward, then ye people, join our happy throng, blend with ours your voices I the triumph song; glory, laud, and honor, unto Christ the King; this thro’ countless ages men and angels sing.

(The hymn was written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. It is the Salvation Army’s most used processional.)

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 18 - Still in Soggy Charleston

October 19, 2019

It has rained all day again. Sometimes light, sometimes moderate, but always raining. The mud puddles in the campground were about dried up, but they are overflowing again.

Kathy did a couple of loads of laundry this morning. They have gargantuan washers and dryers, industrial strength. She said they hold about twice what her washer at home will hold, and it has a large capacity.

We went out for lunch to another highly rated place, not fancy but highly rated. People here must have far different tastes than me. (Actually I think its the "emperor's new clothes" syndrome. The food isn't that good but enough high brow people have praised it so rather than admit that the food isn't good you praise it.) The place's crab cakes were raved about. Kathy ordered one and said it was okay. The only things on the menu that even appealed to me were the roast pork and gravy or a hamburger (apparently the only way to get beef here is in the ground form). The roast pork was okay, probably even good if you are a pork roast lover. My mashed potatoes (mashed with the skins on) were good, as was the corn bread.

We stopped and topped off the fuel tank on the way back.That was our adventures for the day. I sat outside, under our awning, and read for awhile, and then took a nap. By the time my nap was over there was to much standing water to set outside. We may need a tug boat to get us  out in the morning 😄.

The spot we are in right now doesn't have a sewer connection so we will need to dump our waste tanks on our way out in the morning.Then the plan is to head for the Asheville, NC area and spend the next couple of nights there. If we find it to be interesting we will stay a 3rd night. As a side note, the 1st two campgrounds we called there were full up. We have never had this much trouble finding available sites at campgrounds, especially during the week. Maybe it is the great economy, more people have enough money to travel.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 17 - Still in Charleston

October 18, 2019

It was another beautiful day here. But first let me finish yesterday. We took the ferry out to Fort Sumter. It was interesting to see the remnants of the old fort and to read about the battles for Charleston. The problem is that history is written by the victors and the oft repeated lie that 600,000 Americans were killed during the War of Northern Aggression was all about slavery sickens me.

Can anyone believe that when the original nation/states were voting whether or not to join the "union" that they would have voted to do so it the Constitution contained a section saying, "If you vote to empower a central government, by joining the union, and at some future time decide it was a bad decision and want out, you won't be allowed out. If you choose to try and leave anyway the central government you are voting to support will invade your land, and beat you into subservience to it." The people had just fought a war to overthrow a despotic central government. They would never have voted to join another one. Yes, slavery was terrible, but it was Constitutional. If Northern states really wanted to end slavery they should have done so by amending the Constitution, not murdering and robbing those who lived in the Southern states. OK, I'm now officially off my soapbox.

The 900 foot long USS Yorktown, a WWII era aircraft carrier, is anchored, and open for tours. I'm sure it would have been interesting but neither of us felt up to all the walking. 

Have I mention the TRAFFIC here 😀? It took us 50 minutes to drive the 17 miles from downtown to the campground. Yesterday we thought we might do 2 days of downtown sightseeing but there is no way the 2nd day was worth fighting the traffic again.

Traffic is so bad that we have decided not to go to Savannah. Sunday we are starting our journey home. We hope than when we get 200-300 miles from the coast the congestion will become tolerable. We hope we can find some place where we can spend several  nights in the mountains on our way back.

Today we didn't do much, other make some decisions that we will spend a couple of nights in the Asheville, NC area when we leave here, and look for campgrounds in that area. 

I'm having issues with my phone. I can neither make nor receive calls while in the campground. I can access the Internet, I can text and receive texts, I can use my phone as a WiFi hotspot, as I am doing right now; but I can't make or receive phone calls. As bad as I hated to think about driving toward Charleston the only AT&T store I could find was that way, so we headed there to see if they could determine the problem.

On the way was the Angel Oak restaurant. Kathy had read a lot of reviews by people who raved about the food being great. Whatever she ordered was edible enough that she ate most of it. My macaroni and cheese over pulled pork (the most palatable looking entree on the menu, I tried ordering a plain salad but they were only available in the evening) was TERRIBLE! I managed to scrape off some of the macaroni and eat it but the pulled pork tasted rotten to me. Kathy tasted it and said it wasn't rotten, she said they actually spiced to to taste that bad. The good thing was that my phone started working properly while there. The bad thing was that since my phone seemed to be working OK we didn't continue on to the AT&T store. When we got back to the campground I couldn't make or receive calls again.

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow but I'm sure we will go somewhere. It will be interesting to see if my phone works normally when we get away from the campground.

The following was today's daily devotional. I found it quite thought provoking:

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU are the recipient of limitless ability . . . incredible strength? Just read a few familiar lines out of the Book, slowly for a change:

“I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:4).

And one more:

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13

Wait a minute now. Did you read every word—or did you skip a line or two? If so, please go back and slowly graze over those four statements written to you, a Christian. It’s important.

When we face the tough trials in our lives, our response comes down to two common words in our vocabulary. Little words—but oh, so different!—“can’t” and “won’t.”

We prefer to use “can’t.”

Yet any Christian who really takes those four passages seriously will have to confess the word really should be “won’t.” Why? Because we have been given the power, the ability to overcome. The moment you begin believing the truth about God’s supernatural enablement that allows you to overcome your struggle rather than succumb to it, will be the moment you step into a whole new experience of joyful living and freedom. The question is not “why can’t you?” The question is “why won’t you?”

"Good Morning, Lord . . . Can We Talk?: A Year of Scriptural Meditations" by Charles R. Swindoll

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

Day 16 Charleston

October 17, 2019

Weather was beautiful here today. We went to downtown Charleston to do some sightseeing. We parked on the 4th floor of the parking garage at the downtown Visitors center.

The antenna hit the floor framing above us but we didn't scrape the roof of the truck. We had to go up to an area where there were few cars because there was no way I could get into a space between 2 cars. 

Then it was on to the line at the Visitors Center. I had purchased tickets for the Fort Sumter ferry online but wanted to check out available attractions and services. One nice thing is that there are free busses that run 3 loops around the city. They all start at the Visitors Center but cross one anothers path at other places. There are stops approximately every 4 blocks so you can get off, check something out, maybe walk a few more blocks, and then get back on.

The Charleston harbor.

Fort Sumter is a little island just left of center in the photo below.

The park along the coast is nice. This is a wading fountain. There are steps to walk down into the knee deep, clean, water. A sign limits occupancy to a maximum of 24 and notes that all children must be supervised.

Kathy stayed out by the water and I walked around looking at buildings.

I took the photo below to show the street sign. The door is the door in the building above.

 

 The house in the photo below looked quite out of place. The original section was built in 1852.

The Charleston "Market", an expensive flea market. It is blocks long. You cross the street and enter it, walk the block, walk out, cross a street, walk into another section and keep going. It didn't take us long to walk thru it. The only thing I saw that interested me were some timber roof trusses. I didn't notice Kathy stopping to seriously check anything out.

Then it was on to important stuff, LUNCH. We saw Sticky Fingers as we were walking to the next bus stop. The good was great and the background music, mostly blues, was good. And the food was very reasonably priced. My pulled pork, with beans and cole slaw, was only $10. Very cheap in a touristy area.

Try as we might, we just couldn't finish it.

We walked enough that we were pooped by the time we left Charleston. I will post some additional information about our ferry trip to Fort Sumter tomorrow.

God is good. May He bless you and yours.