Sunday, September 21 – Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sunday, September 21
We had to get up and moving this morning in order to get Big V loaded and closed up so we could leave the park and get to Morrow. The trip to town was relatively easy, with very manageable traffic. We managed to get to First Baptist Church and get parked without any trouble.
Bob and Nell met us in the parking lot around 9:15 and we went inside to meet their friends. We joined them for both Sunday school and the morning worship service and had a great time – good fellowship, good music, and a very inspiring sermon.
When the church service was over, we went with Bob and Nell to Piccadilly’s, a cafeteria-style restaurant not far from the church. We joined two other couples from their Sunday school class for an hour or so of eating and sharing stories.
After we finished with the meal and said goodbye to new friends, we went back to the church, took some pictures, said goodbye to Bob and Nell, and got back into Big V to start the day’s journey. Bob had showed us an easy way to catch a bypass to I-285, and it wasn’t long before we were mixed in with the regular Sunday traffic (which is only slightly less than the regular daily traffic) and finding our way out of town.
We had a couple of options for routes since we wouldn’t be going to Charlotte and Gastonia, and chose to exit from I-85 at I-985 to drive north toward North Carolina and the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.
In about 3 ½ hours, we found our way to Fort Wilderness RV Park near Whittier, North Carolina. The park really was in a wilderness, and we had to do some fancy negotiating to get Big V and the trailer into a site. In fact, we had to disconnect the trailer, take the hitch off of Big V, lower the trailer tongue as far as it would go, and then back Big V over the tongue assembly in order to fit in the available space.
After getting Big V set up and semi-leveled (actually, not very level at all), we just kicked back and enjoyed the beauty of the area.
Monday, September 22
Today was a day of relaxing. We both slept well last night; Barbara got up at 8:00 this morning and I woke up at 8:30. We spent most of the morning checking email, reading, and working on last week’s journal to get it ready so send out.
A little after noon we finally got cleaned up and dressed and drove the Vibe to town to have our big meal of the day (with Big V parked on a slant, we didn’t want to do any serious cooking). Then we came back to the park, did a couple of loads of laundry, and whiled away the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Tuesday, September 23
It was a basic travel day and that’s about all that can be said for it. We got up early, but waited for it to warm up a little outside before starting the chores. Barbara got the inside of Big V ready to go while I worked outside. My work got interrupted by a neighbor who had a lot of questions about our rig and lifestyle; and, while that cost me about 20 minutes, it more than paid for itself when the neighbor came over and helped hook up the trailer and guide me out of a really tight space.
We pulled away from Fort Wilderness (no kidding…that’s the real name of the park, and we thought we were in a wilderness) at 11:00 a.m., later than we had planned, but still with plenty of time to get where we planned to be today.
The ride was generally uneventful, but did get a little intense coming down some steep grades outside of Ashville, through the Pisgah National Forest. The truck speed limit for some stretches was set at 35 mph, and we could smell brake linings burning (just hoping all along that not too much of the smell was coming from us).
We decided to stop at a Love’s along the way, but found when we got there that the lines of cars were backed up from the pumps to the back of the truck parking lot. We could tell right away that there was no way to get Big V and the trailer to the pump islands, but had no choice but to join in the line and wait until we could break away and get back to the main road. About 20 miles down I-20 we finally found a good spot to pull in and have lunch and give Big V a short drink (at a “reasonable” price).
We stopped at a Wal-Mart in High Point to take a break from the 5 o’clock traffic and to buy some groceries. The pantry and refrigerator were looking pretty bare, and Mike had already given us some menus to prepare when we get to Powhatan (outside of Richmond) where our next “home” will be.
From High Point, we traveled on down I-40/I-85 to Haw River, where we stopped for the night at a Flying J Truck Stop. The scene at the truck stop reminded me of scenes from the 70’s when the “Great Gas Shortage” developed. As it was at Love’s earlier in the day, lines were formed willy-nilly from the pumps to the street and meandering all through the parking lot.
We managed to get the rig off the main road and into the parking lot (no small feat) and then to the propane tank where we topped off the tank. From there, we pulled up a few yards to one of the RV pump islands and topped off the gasoline tank. Then, it was off to one of the specially marked RV parking lanes where we parked for the night…even got to extend the bedroom slide-out.
The rest of the night was spent on various internet chores…mapping out the final leg of the trip for tomorrow, catching up on email, and working on the journal.
FLASH…FLASH…FLASH
Congratulations to Paul and Stephanie Francis (Paul is the son of James and Susie Francis and the grandson of Jean Terpening) on the birth of their first child tonight. Wesley Paul Carrara Francis entered the world at 6:49 p.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 8 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. At the last report, Stephanie and Wesley were doing well…no report on how Paul, James, and Susie are holding up.
Wednesday, September 24
Even though we slept well among the trucks and RV’s parked at our luxury truck stop resort, we were both awake early this morning; Barbara woke up at 3:30…I woke up at 4:30, but said “to heck with it,” and went back to sleep until 5:30. Because we don’t run the generator (and thus have no heater) when we go to bed, the cold morning air gives a much more effective wake-up call than an alarm ever could.
Barbara played the part of “hunter-gatherer” this morning by going across the cold parking lot to get fresh Krispy-Kreme doughnuts from inside the travel center…what a woman!
We finally got away around 8:45 and enjoyed a leisurely drive north over some back roads. We could have taken the interstates and gone through Richmond, but that would have been out of the way and besides, we had plenty of time.
The 150-mile trip took a little over four hours, but that included some extra miles when I missed the last turnoff to the campground. With no place to turn around on a very narrow State Road 13, I had to drive about five miles until I found a place where I could pull off and jockey the rig around and get turned back in the right direction.
By 12:15 we had registered at Cozy Acres Family Campground near Powhatan, Virginia…that’s POW-uh-tan, not PO-hattan, as we were told in no uncertain terms by the ladies at the park office.
Within a couple of hours we had Big V all set up and leveled (what a relief after several days of living on a slant). We even got the canopy screen set up in record time and put the finishing touch on the site by setting out the bird feeders…now we’re “home” for a month. Before we could set up the canopy we had to remove a large mushroom growth from the gravel (lower left picture). There’s nothing to show perspective, but the growth was as large as a shovel head.
After getting the place all set up, we drove to Powhatan to look in a couple of stores at the small shopping center and do some grocery shopping at Food Lion. Mike had said he would come out to welcome us tomorrow evening; when we asked what he wanted for supper, he said that Mexican food would be great, so we had to buy a few items to fill out the menu.
Back at Big V we put away the groceries and then just kicked back for a while. I put on a pot of pinto beans so I could make refried beans tomorrow and Barbara fried up a couple of pounds of hamburger meat to use in various dishes over the next few days. We spent out “spare” time printing and cutting wrappers that Barbara had designed to put on Hershey’s miniature chocolate bars to announce the birth of Wesley Paul Carrara Francis.
By 10:00 we were both wiped out from the long day and decided to call it quits.
Thursday, September 25
I guess our new “home” setting agreed with us, because we both got a good night’s sleep…the first time in a long that has happened. I woke up at 7:15 and Barbara woke up at 7:20…almost a new record for us!
We spent the morning just piddling around the place. Without anything pressing, we could just enjoy some down time. The clouds rolled in during the night and by mid-morning we were getting sprinkles that turned into showers and downpours throughout the day.
We took time to go up the road to get our package of Hershey’s miniatures mailed off to Paul and Stephanie in Grand Prairie, Texas. From there we drove farther up Highway 60 East to find a Wal-Mart and then a Kroger’s to buy some more things we needed for tonight’s meal.
When we got back, we started the meal preparations: I took half of the beans that I had cooked last night and turned them into refried beans, filling the house with the aroma of fried chorizo and onions. Barbara baked a cake from a recipe that Nell had given her when we visited in Morrow, Georgia, last weekend. As the time got closer for Mike to arrive, we worked together to set out all the makings for tacos and get the taquitos ready.
Mike arrived around 5:45. We hadn’t seen him since Christmas, so we had a lot of catching up to do…especially with the wedding approaching in just three weeks. We had a wonderful time talking, talking and eating, and then talking some more. Unfortunately, he had to leave earlier than he usually would to make the 34-mile drive back to his house to get sleep before facing a full day at work tomorrow. The good news---Mike and Kelly will be here tomorrow night for dinner and a full evening of visiting!
Friday, September 26
It has rained off and on since we arrived here it Powatan, but today it was strictly an “on” day. I woke up at 4:30 to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof…got up and read for a couple of hours until Barbara woke up. I turned the broadband card over to her while I went back to sleep. When I got up again at 9:00 or so, she gave the card back to me and went back to bed…just can’t seem to get our sleep patterns regulated.
A little after noon we finally got out in spite of the rain and drove up to a mall that Mike had told us about. There was a Dillard’s store that was going out of business and we hoped to find some things we needed for the wedding, but everything had been picked through so much that there wasn’t anything of interest to us.
We did go to a Sears store in the mall and found a shirt and tie to match my suit. Barbara found a couple of things that she liked, so the trip wasn’t wasted.
When we got back to Big V, we started working on the meal for tonight. I had started a loaf of bread earlier and it was time for Barbara to get the baked beans (also a new recipe from Nell!) started in the slow-cooker. Around 5:30 I started the fire in the grill and Barbara put the potatoes in the convection oven to bake. Fortunately, the rain tailed off to a few scattered light sprinkles while I grilled the ribs outside.
Mike and Kelly arrive around 6:45 and we visited a bit until it was time to eat. It started sprinkling a bit when I went out to get the ribs and about the time I got them back to the door of Big V, there was a bright flash of lightning, a loud thunderclap, and a downpour of rain…timing was everything!
For the next two hours we ate and talked, getting caught up on the latest that was going on with each of us, but mostly talking about all the wedding plans and preparations. We also sat down to look at our “calendars” to figure out when we will be able to get together again. Since both of the kids are busy with their own jobs and preparations for the wedding activities, our visits will be more limited than in the past.
In an earlier issue of the journal we posted the kid’s wedding website, but for some reason that issue was rejected by the USD 480 web. For those of you in Liberal who remember Mike and would like to get the latest information, you can go through the following link:
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KellyJividen&MikeLittle
We know they would love to get a message from you if you are so inclined.
The rain continued throughout the kid’s visit, coming down so hard at times that we felt we were inside a drum that a half-dozen middle school kids were beating on; so, we just raised our voices when necessary and continued the conversations until, after dessert and coffee, they decided that they needed to get back to Richmond. It was after 9:00 and they had a 45-minute ride through the wind and rain.
When they were gone, we turned on the television and the computer and alternately watched the presidential debate and the Artesia football game. People will talk for days about who “won” the debate (or if there was a winner), but the Bulldogs definitely won the battle of Eddy County by defeating the arch-rival Carlsbad Cavemen 28 – 24 with a come-from-behind touchdown in the waning moments of the game.
With the dishes done and the excitement of the debate and the football game over, it was well past our bedtime, so we retired to the bedroom to read and fall asleep to the droning of continued rain.
Saturday, September 27
Today was rain, rain, and more rain…We went out in the afternoon and evening to get our bearings and found that we are 13 minutes from the rehearsal dinner site, 23 minutes from the wedding site, and 43 minutes from Grove Avenue Baptist Church…and that was it for today.
“Our congregation is like fudge; mostly sweet, with a few nuts.” – Church Signs
Venturing around Virginia…Jim & Barbara
Sunday, September 21
We had to get up and moving this morning in order to get Big V loaded and closed up so we could leave the park and get to Morrow. The trip to town was relatively easy, with very manageable traffic. We managed to get to First Baptist Church and get parked without any trouble.
Bob and Nell met us in the parking lot around 9:15 and we went inside to meet their friends. We joined them for both Sunday school and the morning worship service and had a great time – good fellowship, good music, and a very inspiring sermon.
When the church service was over, we went with Bob and Nell to Piccadilly’s, a cafeteria-style restaurant not far from the church. We joined two other couples from their Sunday school class for an hour or so of eating and sharing stories.
After we finished with the meal and said goodbye to new friends, we went back to the church, took some pictures, said goodbye to Bob and Nell, and got back into Big V to start the day’s journey. Bob had showed us an easy way to catch a bypass to I-285, and it wasn’t long before we were mixed in with the regular Sunday traffic (which is only slightly less than the regular daily traffic) and finding our way out of town.We had a couple of options for routes since we wouldn’t be going to Charlotte and Gastonia, and chose to exit from I-85 at I-985 to drive north toward North Carolina and the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.
In about 3 ½ hours, we found our way to Fort Wilderness RV Park near Whittier, North Carolina. The park really was in a wilderness, and we had to do some fancy negotiating to get Big V and the trailer into a site. In fact, we had to disconnect the trailer, take the hitch off of Big V, lower the trailer tongue as far as it would go, and then back Big V over the tongue assembly in order to fit in the available space.
After getting Big V set up and semi-leveled (actually, not very level at all), we just kicked back and enjoyed the beauty of the area.
Monday, September 22
Today was a day of relaxing. We both slept well last night; Barbara got up at 8:00 this morning and I woke up at 8:30. We spent most of the morning checking email, reading, and working on last week’s journal to get it ready so send out.
A little after noon we finally got cleaned up and dressed and drove the Vibe to town to have our big meal of the day (with Big V parked on a slant, we didn’t want to do any serious cooking). Then we came back to the park, did a couple of loads of laundry, and whiled away the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Tuesday, September 23
It was a basic travel day and that’s about all that can be said for it. We got up early, but waited for it to warm up a little outside before starting the chores. Barbara got the inside of Big V ready to go while I worked outside. My work got interrupted by a neighbor who had a lot of questions about our rig and lifestyle; and, while that cost me about 20 minutes, it more than paid for itself when the neighbor came over and helped hook up the trailer and guide me out of a really tight space.
We pulled away from Fort Wilderness (no kidding…that’s the real name of the park, and we thought we were in a wilderness) at 11:00 a.m., later than we had planned, but still with plenty of time to get where we planned to be today.
The ride was generally uneventful, but did get a little intense coming down some steep grades outside of Ashville, through the Pisgah National Forest. The truck speed limit for some stretches was set at 35 mph, and we could smell brake linings burning (just hoping all along that not too much of the smell was coming from us).
We decided to stop at a Love’s along the way, but found when we got there that the lines of cars were backed up from the pumps to the back of the truck parking lot. We could tell right away that there was no way to get Big V and the trailer to the pump islands, but had no choice but to join in the line and wait until we could break away and get back to the main road. About 20 miles down I-20 we finally found a good spot to pull in and have lunch and give Big V a short drink (at a “reasonable” price).We stopped at a Wal-Mart in High Point to take a break from the 5 o’clock traffic and to buy some groceries. The pantry and refrigerator were looking pretty bare, and Mike had already given us some menus to prepare when we get to Powhatan (outside of Richmond) where our next “home” will be.
From High Point, we traveled on down I-40/I-85 to Haw River, where we stopped for the night at a Flying J Truck Stop. The scene at the truck stop reminded me of scenes from the 70’s when the “Great Gas Shortage” developed. As it was at Love’s earlier in the day, lines were formed willy-nilly from the pumps to the street and meandering all through the parking lot.
We managed to get the rig off the main road and into the parking lot (no small feat) and then to the propane tank where we topped off the tank. From there, we pulled up a few yards to one of the RV pump islands and topped off the gasoline tank. Then, it was off to one of the specially marked RV parking lanes where we parked for the night…even got to extend the bedroom slide-out.
The rest of the night was spent on various internet chores…mapping out the final leg of the trip for tomorrow, catching up on email, and working on the journal.
FLASH…FLASH…FLASH
Congratulations to Paul and Stephanie Francis (Paul is the son of James and Susie Francis and the grandson of Jean Terpening) on the birth of their first child tonight. Wesley Paul Carrara Francis entered the world at 6:49 p.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 8 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. At the last report, Stephanie and Wesley were doing well…no report on how Paul, James, and Susie are holding up.
Wednesday, September 24Even though we slept well among the trucks and RV’s parked at our luxury truck stop resort, we were both awake early this morning; Barbara woke up at 3:30…I woke up at 4:30, but said “to heck with it,” and went back to sleep until 5:30. Because we don’t run the generator (and thus have no heater) when we go to bed, the cold morning air gives a much more effective wake-up call than an alarm ever could.
Barbara played the part of “hunter-gatherer” this morning by going across the cold parking lot to get fresh Krispy-Kreme doughnuts from inside the travel center…what a woman!
We finally got away around 8:45 and enjoyed a leisurely drive north over some back roads. We could have taken the interstates and gone through Richmond, but that would have been out of the way and besides, we had plenty of time.
The 150-mile trip took a little over four hours, but that included some extra miles when I missed the last turnoff to the campground. With no place to turn around on a very narrow State Road 13, I had to drive about five miles until I found a place where I could pull off and jockey the rig around and get turned back in the right direction.
By 12:15 we had registered at Cozy Acres Family Campground near Powhatan, Virginia…that’s POW-uh-tan, not PO-hattan, as we were told in no uncertain terms by the ladies at the park office.
Within a couple of hours we had Big V all set up and leveled (what a relief after several days of living on a slant). We even got the canopy screen set up in record time and put the finishing touch on the site by setting out the bird feeders…now we’re “home” for a month. Before we could set up the canopy we had to remove a large mushroom growth from the gravel (lower left picture). There’s nothing to show perspective, but the growth was as large as a shovel head.
After getting the place all set up, we drove to Powhatan to look in a couple of stores at the small shopping center and do some grocery shopping at Food Lion. Mike had said he would come out to welcome us tomorrow evening; when we asked what he wanted for supper, he said that Mexican food would be great, so we had to buy a few items to fill out the menu.Back at Big V we put away the groceries and then just kicked back for a while. I put on a pot of pinto beans so I could make refried beans tomorrow and Barbara fried up a couple of pounds of hamburger meat to use in various dishes over the next few days. We spent out “spare” time printing and cutting wrappers that Barbara had designed to put on Hershey’s miniature chocolate bars to announce the birth of Wesley Paul Carrara Francis.
By 10:00 we were both wiped out from the long day and decided to call it quits.
Thursday, September 25
I guess our new “home” setting agreed with us, because we both got a good night’s sleep…the first time in a long that has happened. I woke up at 7:15 and Barbara woke up at 7:20…almost a new record for us!
We spent the morning just piddling around the place. Without anything pressing, we could just enjoy some down time. The clouds rolled in during the night and by mid-morning we were getting sprinkles that turned into showers and downpours throughout the day.
We took time to go up the road to get our package of Hershey’s miniatures mailed off to Paul and Stephanie in Grand Prairie, Texas. From there we drove farther up Highway 60 East to find a Wal-Mart and then a Kroger’s to buy some more things we needed for tonight’s meal.
When we got back, we started the meal preparations: I took half of the beans that I had cooked last night and turned them into refried beans, filling the house with the aroma of fried chorizo and onions. Barbara baked a cake from a recipe that Nell had given her when we visited in Morrow, Georgia, last weekend. As the time got closer for Mike to arrive, we worked together to set out all the makings for tacos and get the taquitos ready.
Mike arrived around 5:45. We hadn’t seen him since Christmas, so we had a lot of catching up to do…especially with the wedding approaching in just three weeks. We had a wonderful time talking, talking and eating, and then talking some more. Unfortunately, he had to leave earlier than he usually would to make the 34-mile drive back to his house to get sleep before facing a full day at work tomorrow. The good news---Mike and Kelly will be here tomorrow night for dinner and a full evening of visiting!
Friday, September 26
It has rained off and on since we arrived here it Powatan, but today it was strictly an “on” day. I woke up at 4:30 to the sound of raindrops hitting the roof…got up and read for a couple of hours until Barbara woke up. I turned the broadband card over to her while I went back to sleep. When I got up again at 9:00 or so, she gave the card back to me and went back to bed…just can’t seem to get our sleep patterns regulated.
A little after noon we finally got out in spite of the rain and drove up to a mall that Mike had told us about. There was a Dillard’s store that was going out of business and we hoped to find some things we needed for the wedding, but everything had been picked through so much that there wasn’t anything of interest to us.
We did go to a Sears store in the mall and found a shirt and tie to match my suit. Barbara found a couple of things that she liked, so the trip wasn’t wasted.
When we got back to Big V, we started working on the meal for tonight. I had started a loaf of bread earlier and it was time for Barbara to get the baked beans (also a new recipe from Nell!) started in the slow-cooker. Around 5:30 I started the fire in the grill and Barbara put the potatoes in the convection oven to bake. Fortunately, the rain tailed off to a few scattered light sprinkles while I grilled the ribs outside.
Mike and Kelly arrive around 6:45 and we visited a bit until it was time to eat. It started sprinkling a bit when I went out to get the ribs and about the time I got them back to the door of Big V, there was a bright flash of lightning, a loud thunderclap, and a downpour of rain…timing was everything!
For the next two hours we ate and talked, getting caught up on the latest that was going on with each of us, but mostly talking about all the wedding plans and preparations. We also sat down to look at our “calendars” to figure out when we will be able to get together again. Since both of the kids are busy with their own jobs and preparations for the wedding activities, our visits will be more limited than in the past.
In an earlier issue of the journal we posted the kid’s wedding website, but for some reason that issue was rejected by the USD 480 web. For those of you in Liberal who remember Mike and would like to get the latest information, you can go through the following link:
www.theknot.com/ourwedding/KellyJividen&MikeLittle
We know they would love to get a message from you if you are so inclined.
The rain continued throughout the kid’s visit, coming down so hard at times that we felt we were inside a drum that a half-dozen middle school kids were beating on; so, we just raised our voices when necessary and continued the conversations until, after dessert and coffee, they decided that they needed to get back to Richmond. It was after 9:00 and they had a 45-minute ride through the wind and rain.
When they were gone, we turned on the television and the computer and alternately watched the presidential debate and the Artesia football game. People will talk for days about who “won” the debate (or if there was a winner), but the Bulldogs definitely won the battle of Eddy County by defeating the arch-rival Carlsbad Cavemen 28 – 24 with a come-from-behind touchdown in the waning moments of the game.
With the dishes done and the excitement of the debate and the football game over, it was well past our bedtime, so we retired to the bedroom to read and fall asleep to the droning of continued rain.
Saturday, September 27
Today was rain, rain, and more rain…We went out in the afternoon and evening to get our bearings and found that we are 13 minutes from the rehearsal dinner site, 23 minutes from the wedding site, and 43 minutes from Grove Avenue Baptist Church…and that was it for today.
“Our congregation is like fudge; mostly sweet, with a few nuts.” – Church Signs
Venturing around Virginia…Jim & Barbara
