Flea Market

I got ready and went down to the flea market while Nancy was getting herself ready.
I saw most of the stuff that they have at all of these markets. There was a guy selling rabbits,one selling dogs then there were several selling tools,rv parts and of course there was a china $1.00 store. In the past few years I've noticed about all of the flea markets have these people selling the china imports for a dollar. I bought a bungee cord in the flea market in Florida from one of the chinese places. I had it for about 3 weeks and it pulled apart right in the middle. Even though it cost a buck it wasn't a very good deal. Gotta make sure I don't get anymore of those.
Its now 12:55pm I don't know what the plans are for the rest of the day.

More Thunderstorms

Yes we did have more storms yesterday evening and a few sprinkles during the night. A chance of some rain again today.
We are going with Peach and Don to run around a little bit today. I have no idea of what we will get into,but it will be nice to run around with them.

Culloden,WV

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to Dee and the kids. It was sad to say goodbye but,thats the way it is when you are visiting. We will see them again in September at the Family Reunion.
After a pleasent drive down I-77 we arrived at Peach & Don's around 7:00pm. I set up everything then visited a little while then came back to the motorhome because it started to getting dark and we could see lightning in the distance. Around 9:00 we had a big storm hit with a lot of rain,thunder and more lightning. The wind was blowing hard also. It lasted close to an hour. We had a very restful night.

Middlebourne,WV.

While we are staying at the Conaway Lake WMA Campground we've driven through this small town several times. Yesterday I decided to stop and see if something had ever happened here. Sometimes in these small town they have interesting history of the town.

The sign says very little about the town.

The next stop was the library to see what I could find. I asked the librarian if she had any books on the towns history. She smiled and said no,but there were a couple of books on tyler county. I read through the books a little and as most towns of old they were Indian villages before the white men came. Near-by is a large indian mound but little history of the indians that was recorded they just seemed to vanish.

After coming out of the library we came to the town gazebo. We just love these gazebo's in the towns. It is where the towns have their celebrations. There was a sign on the inside of the gazebo that said it closed at 10:00pm. Since there are no doors I assume that you're not suppose to hang around after 10:00.

From there we went up the street and saw this beautiful old house that is being renovated. It looks like the old houses in the gothic novels. This home must have cost quite a sum in its day.

On down the street we came to Prunty's Pharmacy. I was hoping there was an old soda fountain inside like all the old drug stores had but no such luck. It has only been a pharmacy since 1991.

Before that it was and old general store. No one inside could tell me how old the store was.

It had the beautiful stamped metal cieling that was painted a nice white color that looked new.

Still down the street was the old First National Bank with the date 1902. It is now a craft store as most of the stores in town are.

Across the street from the bank is the court house and jail built in 1922.

A close-up on the relief on the court house depicting Justitia the lady of justice in Mythology portrays her sitting in judgement with the Sword of Justice in her left hand. A woman to her left and a man shackled in chains to the right plead for mercy from the goddess.

I went up to get an envelope to pay the site fee and what do you know. A robin decided to lay her eggs in there. I guess she thought it would be a safe place for her babies.

Saturday we all went out to the USA Steak Buffet to eat. After filling up on steak and some sides with desserts we went to WalMart where"Nanny"bought Jazzy some school clothes. Jazmyn is all excited about her first year in school.

Sunday we all went to church. It was nice seeing all of the people again and seeing some improvements in and around the church. They have added steps to go into the church and additional parking places.

After church Nancy and I had diner at Alice's Dinner. This is one of two restaurants in town. After dinner we went to the laundromat to do the clothes. We don't normally do the laundry on Sunday's but it is quit a drive into town so we decided to save a trip and do it on a Sunday.

This is nice country in this part of West Virginia. They have gas and oil wells pumping most of the day in varies fields. You have to be very careful about the way you drive because there are a lot of deer here and they will run across the road right in front of you.

Still Here

We are still here at the Conaway Lake WMA. We have made no plans on the date we are leaving. Sometimes we've got to travel slower then we want to. We have to wait for our money to catch up with the days.
I don't have a real popular blog site like some others that get a lot of income from people clicking on the google ads that are on the side of the blog. So I've got to travel a little slow.
The cost here is alright for the place.

Here is a bridge across the creek where you can get on a trail and hike up the mountain.

The only water in the campground. It has a water spigot that I've got to used a "cheater hose" to hook up my water hose to. This works out good as I'm parked close enough to where I don't have to move the motorhome.

The little great grandchildren love this place. It has a lot of running room and they come out to visit often.

After traveling all day and through the mountains.

We crossed the New River Gorge Bridge. Then some more traveling up and down steep mountain roads.

We arrived at our destination,Conaway Lake Wild Life Management Area. The wild geese were swimming in the lake.

This is really out in the boonies. There are 10 sites with 1 water faucet and an out house.

We don't have phone service here. I've got to go down to our grand daughters house to get on line and use the phone. She lives 12 miles from here.

This is looking out the door this morning. This is a nice quite place with nothing but the sound a nature.

I will post as I'm able to.

Time to Leave

Well once again it is time to hook up the car and be on to our next visit. We will be going north to West Union,WV to see our grand daughter and the two great grand children.
They have been ringing the phone off the hook and wanting us up there. This drive will be 200 or so miles. I don't like to drive that much in a day,but sometimes I've got to.

Beautiful Morning.

9:00am

It was cool when we got up this morning,but with the sun shining nice and bright it is warming up fast. It was nice to be able to sleep with the window open and feel the cool breeze during the night. The birds were singing their little songs as we were awaken to the nice sound.
We are still parked in Nancy's sister's driveway. Even though the driveway is downhill a bit a couple of boards under the front tires and the leveling jacks it evened up good. That with a 30 amp hook up what more can you asked for? She had the electric fixed just so we could plug in. WOW thats great.

3:30pm

Here Jim is grilling our steaks for dinner. That Jim knows how to grill a steak to perfection.

Here's the table all set waiting for those steaks. The table wasn't the only thing waiting.

Where are those steaks?

Here they are just a couple of more minutes. After they came off the grill we dug in and did the steaks taste great. Of course it didn't surprise me,I just wish I knew how to prepare them as good.

A free place to stay and a steak dinner also. What a life,it doesn't get any better.

Thanks a million Jim and callie.

Summer Time?

We got up this morning and the temp was 54*. Man I thought it was summer?With the weather that cool it feels like winter time. I know spending the winters in Florida has us spoiled rotten.We are going down to Meador,WV today for the Blankenship Family reunion, This is the Nancy's mothers side of the family. It is down close to where we used to live before I retired from the coal mines. It is only around 90 miles but will take 2-2 1/2 of drive time. It is country road all the way.

After passing old houses that were once the pride of the owners but have now run down and are empty.

Going passed the old towns that were a busy place when every man was working in the coal mines. Have also that empty sad look to them. The buildings are boarded up and some are gone only the cement pad remains. The young people have moved away and the older ones have died only a few remain. Only a memory remains of the busy side walks and the people that were here with the pay days from the boom of the coal days gone by.

We had a great time at the reunion. The guys played and sang most of the day. These men can play any instrument they pick up and do it good. The food was good and the visit with everyone even better. A very good day.

In West Virginia

I couldn't get on the internet last night we were in an extened area and without the Verizon Network No internet. Sometimes it tough when you only have the phone to hook to the computer.

After driving through Tennesse and Virginia yesterday we saw some nice scenery.

Lots of farm land with old barns.

We got off the interstate for a short distance and drove on US 52 which was very curvy.

After getting back on I-77 we went through the tunnel in the mountain.

A little ways on the other side we came into West Virginia. We will stay here for 3 days visiting Nancy's sister (Callie).

Today we had to go to the laundromat again. It was a little early for the time to wash the clothes but we will be on the road again tomorrow. So Nancy thought it would be best to go ahead and do it.

After doing the clothes Nancy had her hair cut.

Tomorrow we will be on our way to Princeton,WV.

Our grandson Haven came over to be with us today.
We went to Big Lots to see what we could find at a bargin. We didn't get any big items,of course Haven found a toy he wanted so his Nanny got that for him. Then to WalMart again to pick up so nitro pills for me. I really don't know why I think I have to keep these. I've had them around for a year and a half now and never have taken the first one.
We then dropped by to visit our friends Lena and Earl.


On the way back homewe where stopped by this wreck. It looked like this SUV was broad sided by a car and flipped over. We got to it before the ambulance had arrived.

As we did our walking today we saw that there was some construction going on near the launch ramp. I don't know what they are going to do.

After our walk I had the small propane tank filled. From there we went to the post office and from there to the used book store where Nancy got some more books. Then we stopped in Mr. Gatti's Pizza for a late lunch. Then it was to WalMart for a few groceries. What did we do before WalMart?

Bass Tournament

We started down towards the boat launch and noticed that a lot of boaters out today.

Walking further down the hill we saw why. They are having a big bass tournament.

I counted close to 90 trucks with the boat trailers. I guess there were more than 1 person in a boat so they had a bunch of people in the tournament. It looks like they are planning on catching quite a few fish since the had 10 large bags of charcoal and a big grill.

This is the view that we have to look at when we walk around here in the campground. It is punishment but I guess we can take it.

Another Repair Day

Today was mostly spent working on the water pump. Looking at things I noticed a small leak on the water pump so in order to take it loose I had to drain the fresh water tank. I took it apart and it looked like it may have needed a new diaphargm. I went down to the new Camping World in Knoxville but they didn't have it. When I got back I cleaned it up and put it all back together. I filled the fresh tank up and tried it. Everything looked good and I saw no leaks.
Maybe it just had a loose connection.
Later in the evening we had severe storms forcasted but it only rained hard for a little while.
We took a walk and saw one of the most beautiful rainbows I have seen.

The Scenery

Today was wash day. After the laundry was finished we went to Belz Mall and did some walking. Then this being laundry day it is also pizza day. So we stopped at the Pizza Hut and had a large hand tossed one to go.


We have some nice scenery coming and going from the campground into Sevierville. Of course theres the lake that is so nice to look at.

Then the cattle in the fields on the rolling hillside.

You can even see an empty run down spooky looking house. Its just part of the things that make taking back roads interesting.

Pigeon Forge,Tennessee

When you come to Pigeon Forge you should stop into the Welcome Center to get a wealth of information about things to see and do.

They may tell you about the dinner theaters they have, Such as the Fiddler's Feast. Or they may recommend some place to eat and then a show to attend.

Pigeon Forge also has a host of wedding chapels. Many a young couple come to the mountains to get married and spend their honeymoon.

Dollywood

We decided to go out to Dollywood today. We parked the car at the trolley station and rode the trolley into Dollywood. It costs 6 dollars to take in the car and park there. It only cost 50 cents each to ride in on the trolley and they drop you off at the front gate. This is the best way for us.

Once we got into the park,we had to look up our son(Joe) who has worked here for 20 years.

He was the rain maker today. He must have did it right because it did rain for a short time.

Joe always gets us season passes and we go a couple of times a year to see some of our friends who work here.

Dollywood is adding new things each year to the park and it has grown alot in the last few years.

There are rides of many kind. Here is one thrill ride that is not for me. This one twist and turns and it looks as though it would just topple over.

Of course there is food all over the park. Here the ladies are fixing sausages with pepper and onions in the large fry pan. The smell of food is all over the park.

We had a good time seeing our friend today.