Leaving Tomorrow

Yesterday we went to Walmart to get a load of groceries.  We had to get extra,because this weekend is our Family reunion in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. We sure don't want to be shopping when all the family are having a good time.  We also stopped at a roadside market to get some sresh vegetables. These were honest to goodness farm fresh.  So many times we have stopped at these roadside places and the vegetables come from the wholesale house.  The tomatoes were piced right out of the garden and they tasted great.
Today it is early but we will be going to the laundromat to do the laundry again. Also it will be more cleaning of the motorhome between now and tomorrow when we leave here.
So if you don't hear from me in a few days,you know I'm busy.
Thanks for stopping by.  

Jefferson City,Tennessee

Sunday
We drove down to the small community of New Market to see what it had to offer. Its just one of those small places on one of the roads that use to be the main road before those super highways were built.

We saw this nice grand old house and a couple of old churches. This is what we look for when we are in an area for a week or so. There is so much to see on the backroads of America.

Yesterday we went to look at the Glenmore Mansion. It wasn't open,so we just looked at it from the outside.

The old hand pump over the well.

Another pump,that is a crank type that I have never seen before.

We drove through Jefferson City.  This is where Carson-Newman College is located.

It has some old buildings that we like to look at. Click on the photos to make them larger.

We picked up a few things we needed while we were out. I also filled up the tank on the car at $3,33 a gallon. I know that price will be going up soon.
We had a nice short day out looking around.
Thanks for stopping by.

 

Bass Tournament

We stayed close to the motorhome yesterday,just as we do most weekends.

They were having a Bass Tournament on Cherokee Lake. It was just a local tournament not one of the large ones that they have from time to time.

Setting up table and scale for the weighing of the fish. They had a board where they wrote down each name and the weight of the fish so people coould see.

The most fun I had was watching this young fella eating up most of the free pizza.

Also saw hundreds of birds that came out of the trees. If they are thinking of flying south they had better wait a little while. At least until the hurricane is over.
We had a nice relaxing day.
Thanks for stopping by. If you like the blog tell someone about it. If you don't keep it to yourself.

 
  

Laundromat Again

Our view of Cherokee Lake from just behind our site. It is so nice to be traveling around to different places seeing all the scenery and talking to the people in the area.
Yesterday was the laundromat day and also going to Walmart to get our medicines refilled. You may wonder if we ever have a hard time finding laundromats as we travel. The short answer is no. In each town no matter how small they seem to have a laundromat. 
A funny story about one laundromat. A couple of years ago we were traveling through Ohio on a country road like we enjoy doing and it was laundry time. Nancy says "look for a laundromat" I need to do the laundry. We were going through a really small town and she says theres one. so the parking places were ninety degrees of the roadway so I pulled in taking up 5 parking spots. I looked around to see if I could see anyone or a cop to if it would be ok to park that way. No one on the streets of this little sleepy town. There was a grocery store but it wasn't open. Then I looked in the laundromat,no one there. The only place that was open was one of the three bars in town. I don't do the bar thing but sometimes you have to see about things.  So I walked inside,I thought I was in one of those movie sets. There was one patron sitting or hanging on the bar stool. The bartender reading his newspaper and finally looks up and says "yeah". I asked him if he thought the cop in town would mind if I parked that way and he said we don't have any cops in town. Then he continued to read his paper. Like I said before so much fun traveling around.

Thanks for stopping by.  I wish you the best today.

TVA

Yesterday was a lot of driving for me.  Our time at the Cumberland Gap National Park campground was about up. There is a 14 day limit so we got up early and drove down to the Tennessee Valley Authority campground,which is on Cherokee Lake,to see if they had empty sites.  I didn't want to take the motorhome until I checked it out.  They did have a few sites open. So it was back to the motorhome and prepare it for travel,plus hooking up the car.

From one of the tall mountains we had to cross we had a birds eye view of Cherokee Lake.

A closer look at the lake. The sun was shinning so it was a hazy day.

Driving the country road we saw the red barn with "See 7 States" Rock City.  The older people will remember these barns and signs that use to dot the country side.

Route 92 in the town of Rutledge passes by the old jail.
Nancy and I was pretty much worn from the traveling yesterday.
Thanks for stopping by.



 

Lincoln Memorial University

Yesterday we went to the town of Harrogate,Tennessee.

To go on the campus of the Lincoln Memorial University.  No Nancy nor I are wanting to sign up for more education.

We went to see the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum. The museum is on the small side but full of Lincoln information.

When you open the entrance door you will see a statue of young Abe with an axe and his dog. Sometimes we forget that Abe Lincoln was a railsplitter. It is said that even when he was president he could hold the large axe straight out in his hand without his arm quivering.

On the side of the entrance room is an old wagon.

As you walk through there is "Honest Abe" asking for your vote.

This is the model for the large one at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. This one is said to be worth a half million dollars.

These are only two of the busts and statues on display.

Old civil war cannon.

Another carriage.

This appears to be a painting but is a model with small buildings and small carved minature figures that keep getting small as you look back through the crowd.
We had a nice day and came away a little more educated on Abraham Lincoln.
Thanks for dropping in to check on us and do come back.
You have yourself a nice day.

 

Middlesboro,Kentucky

Yesterday we went into the city part of Middlesboro to explore and take a few photos.  The town like so many in America is not what it once was. 

The city was incorporated in 1890 as "Middlesborough", named after the town of Middlesborough,England. The U. S. Post Office began using the spelling "Middlesboro" in 1894.  If you google  "Middlesboro" you will find some interesting things about this city.

^{Every city has to have a Farmers Market}

I like the architectural design of the old buildings that were built long ago. they were built with their own beauty and character. Not like the straight up and down buildings of today.

Many stores are empty.  The main highway is on the outskirts of the town where the fast food restaurants and the big box stores are located.  So when you have that a town slowly dies.

This was my favorite building.

A tall slim building.

Not one but four of these nice fountains. One on each corner of a cross street.  Nancy taking a rest on a park bench in the shade.

Nancy's favorite little building.

The small theater that you will find in all of the old towns. The kind where you had to go and watch  the saturday serials to see if the cowboy made it out of the stagecoach before it goes over the cliff.  Ah,those were the days.
Thanks for dropping in for a visit and do come back.

A Buffalo herd?

Its easy to forget when you are getting older. Boy do I hate to start a blog like that. Well yesterday we had to get our propane tank filled.  I always get a full tank when we start out for the summer,but for some reason I didn't on the trip and I plumb forgot about it. So friday Nancy was going to use the stove and it wouldn't light.  It took 25 gallon to fill the tank and at $3.40 a gallon.  This will last for the short time we have left on this trip.  After getting the tank filled I went into the store to pay and saw a box of fresh picked tomatoes for 69 cent a pound. Well I bought 5 large ones and soon as we got back to the motorhome Nancy and I ate one of them. Man did it taste good.

On our way back we saw these three buffalo in a field.  Ever since the year we started out in the motorhome I have been wanting to see some buffalo so yesterday I got my wish.
Thanks for stopping by.
 

Piddling Around

Yesterday was a day that is pretty normal for us.  Hanging around the motorhome looking for and doing things that need to be done.  When we set up the motorhome we like to have it sit so we don't have to move until we are ready to get on the road.  That requires a little work for me.  I don't have one of the blue tote tanks.  I use a 6 gallon water tank to empty the grey water in to take to the dump station. All the campgrounds do not allow dumping of grey water on the ground. You have to have a srong back to do this as the tank full of water weights around 48 pounds. Then we always carry five gallons of fresh water in one gallon jugs. I fill these when needed to fill the fresh water tank on the motorhome. It takes several trips with the car to do this.
I also did a repair on the folding window blinds that have been crooked for a time. Nancy says to me every once in a while "are you piddling again".
If you don't do the "pidding" soon things will fall apart.

Thanks for looking in.  Have yourself a great day.

Staying in

After being out friday evening and seeing the crowd on the roads we decided to not venture out for the weekend.  This is the same as we do when we are in the park model where we spend the winter.  I always say we have other days and why get in the way of the working people that just have the weekend to enjoy their time off from work.

This sign is posted on all the picnic tables.  We haven't seen any bears running around and are not really wanting to have a close encounter with one.  We are satisfied with the squirrels,deer and turkeys that we have seen since we have been here.
Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great day.

Going Downtown

Yesterday Nancy was going to light the stove but had no luck as we are out of propane.  I looked on line and saw that there was a Ferrellgas filling station in Middlesboro.  We went to check it out by car and sure enough the propane station was there.  I went in to see they could fill my tank on the motorhome the lady said they could.  They could have to fill it from one of the trucks that delivers the propane to the big tanks.  She says to be here at 8:00am in the morning.  I said oh thats in the middle of the night for me.  Actually we could do it,but would have to get up real early to break camp.
A young fella in side told me there was a place on the other side of the campground that fills the cylinders that may fill the motorhome.
We had it scheduled to go to the small town of Cumberland Gap. 
You,ve heard the expression "going downtown".  Well when you go to Cumberland Gap you go down into town as it is down hill.  The town has mountains all around it.  A nice small old town to be a tourist in.

Tunnel where the rail goes into the mountain from the town side.

The old train station is still here.

The old mill is now a bed and breakfast.

Another bed and breakfast.  This must have been a large house or hotel in its time way back there.

Still another large home.

We had time to walk around the mountain path to the old "Iron Furnace".

The remains of the old furnace that was once 30 feet high.  The furnace was in use for 60 years. It took a lot of trees to make the charcoal.  They cut down all the trees in a 10 acre area.  Don't worry about it now,because it has fully grown back.
We had a nice evening spending the time in the small down that was the big town in a time way back.
We did get to check out about filling the propane tank on the motorhome and in a few days we will get it filled.
Thanks for stopping by and do come back. 

Laundromat Day

To the laundromat again yesterday.  That always takes up a few hours of the day,but as you know its something that needs to be done.
Since we always start the day late by the time we got back to the motorhome it was time for dinner.  While Nancy was puting the clean clothes away I was shucking a couple of ears of corn.  We don't boil our corn in water and haven't for some time now.  If you only have a couple of ears of corn you may want to do as we do.  Wrap each ear in a paper towel and wet down then put it in the microwave for five minutes. That is for two ears. Then when done a couple of squirts of the butter spray and yum,its good.  While that was going on inside I put a few chicken breast on the grill. That with a baked potato made a good quick dinner.
Thanks for stopping by.

Around the Gap

Yesterday I got a long overdue haircut.  Then we rode up to the pinnacle of the gap.

The gap was a strategic point during the civil war. There are paths that lead to several old cannons that show where the troops were stationed.

You can see several rock forms walking around the trails.

No I didn't crawl under this one.  I did enjoy really being up in the mountains walking around. When I was much younger I spent hours upon hours in the mountains.

You can walk out on a cliff once on the top to get a great view of the valley below. You don't have to worry they have a railing around the lookout.  This is a panorama pic I took.

We saw a couple of deer as we were driving back down the mountain.
We are going to be here for some time looking to  see what the area has to offer.
Thanks for stopping by.