National Corvette Museum from the website: corvette museum.org
It took three posts to really capture the essence of why we came to this area. But there was one other reason Bill picked this area. Can you guess?
What I hoped to do was lots of hiking. But it ended up raining so much, we had to find some indoor things to do. Can you believe the Mammoth Cave National Park has 84 miles of trails! These trails are not just for hiking but some are designated for bikes and horses. There is also canoeing and kayaking at this park. We only got in one day of hiking, but it was 8 miles! And it was a glorious trail. Click here to read more about the trails and view maps. Continue Reading
Walk with a Ranger on the Heritage Trail and to the Old Guides Cemetery.
After our Frozen Niagara Falls tour, we asked about additional things to do at this wonderful visitor center. We learned of two free opportunities (most tickets sale tours were sold out): a 45 minute long Porch Talk by a Park Ranger and a walk with a Ranger on the Heritage Trail. We love listening to their stories, so we enjoyed both. The Porch Talk conversation was with about 20 others and the Heritage Trail walk with two other couples. Their talks were open for questions and answers. They seemed to fill in the blanks from our tour and added to each others knowledge. Below are the interesting tidbits I picked up from these talks, from our Frozen Niagara Falls tour, as well as from materials provided at the visitor center. Most of the areas discussed below are available to see on various tours. Continue Reading
Mammoth Cave National Park, A World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Preserve
Finally, Bill got me here to see the world-famous Mammoth Cave National Park in south central Kentucky! I talked about our anticipation to visit here in our last post, Caves or Caverns.
We made our reservations to Cave Country RV Campground a week or so ahead since we knew this was the 4th of July holiday weekend. We knew we couldn’t get into the campgrounds in the park, so we didn’t really explore them. Soon after we arrived, we decided to add a day on to our stay. We loved the warm welcome we received and all the brochures we were handed to help us make the most of our time here. There was so much to do in this area, but first, let’s check out Mammoth Cave National Park, which is part of the America the Beautiful pass program. Our tickets for the tours were half price! Continue Reading
Bill doesn’t remember traveling very much with his family, except every summer, his family went to the Jersey Shore. But he remembers visiting Mammoth Caves in Kentucky with his parents and an Aunt when he was 18 or so. The caves left a great impression on him. Every time we visit caverns, he says he can’t wait to bring me here – and we are finally here! This is the fourth cave system we have visited in our marriage. So before we talk about the Mammoth Caves, let’s figure out the difference between caves and caverns and then look back at our previous three caves or were they caverns? Continue Reading
Hillman Ferry Campground Site T-42. Nice shade, but shorter than we expected.
Bill plotted the route to our first adventure to the midwest (southern Illinois), to visit his mom, brother and sister-in-law. He decided our return route to Virginia would be via Kentucky. On the way to Southern Illinois, from Alabama (click here to read our last post), we sampled Western Kentucky in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Park.
According to this website, “Land Between The Lakes (LBL) is a 170,000-acre national recreation area in Western Kentucky and Tennessee located near I-24, about 90 miles north of Nashville, TN, and just south of Paducah, KY….LBL is an inland peninsula formed when the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were impounded, creating Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley — one of the world’s largest man-made bodies of water. In 1959, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction of Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River, many recognized the recreational and environmental education benefits of what would soon become Land Between the Lakes, a near-island between two man-made lakes….In 1963, President John F. Kennedy created Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area.” Continue Reading
We were in Chattanooga, Tennessee from May 19 – 24, 2016. Continuing from the previous post, we are now on our Day 3. We headed to Lookout Mountain, known for great views and hiking. We enjoy learning about history, especially US history now that we are able to get up close and personal as we travel full time. The name “Chattanooga” comes from the Creek Indian word for “rock coming to a point.” This refers to Lookout Mountain which begins in Chattanooga and stretches 88 miles through Alabama and Georgia. We didn’t get a chance to learn more about the area since we focused on hiking – which let us to rich Civil War History.
In honor of Memorial Day, we want to include a reminder this is the holiday where we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, in all wars on behalf of the United States of America. Continue Reading
Top of Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga and the Tennessee River
We are starting our second year in our motor home, Tiffany. What a challenge this trip started out to be! We are headed to Red Bay, Alabama for our yearly service. Chattanooga was only about 200 miles from our last stop, Waynesville, NC, and then Red Bay is only about 200 more miles. So it made sense to stop here. But we weren’t sure we would be able to find a place to camp in Chattanooga, TN. I was determined for us to stop here after reading there are 57 trails within 15 miles or so of downtown! My kind of place! Continue Reading
This was our third visit here. The first time was in May, 2014, then we returned in September 2014 and most recently, May 10-13, 2016. We’ve only managed to stay three days each time. It is a great stop off on our way from our daughter’s home when we are going to the mountains. What we love is the good old fashioned hospitality and it does seem to operate a bit on Andy of Mayberry time!
Each time, we stayed in the Mayberry Campground, 114 Bunker Road, Mt. Airy, NC, Telephone: 336-789-6199. This is a Passport America campground, so the first two nights are very cheap ($16/night). If you stay longer, you can get the 10% Good Sam discount ($32/night). The sights are pretty flat, but some have more space than others. It is an easy in and out, but it is somewhat close to Highway 74 so you do hear some road noise. Click here for our review.
The first and second time we were here, we had our fifth wheel and parked in the same spot each time.
In case you didn’t put two and two together, Mt. Airy is Andy Griffiths’s home town and his show, Andy of Mayberry, was modeled after the town. The town has exploited this in a good way and have so many things to help you relive that wonderful show. We liked the show when we were younger and now watch it occasionally to relive good old family values.
We really enjoy this campground and everything about the area. So for us, what makes a location great is the ease of finding great hikes/challenging walks and history. And this place has it all. The first time we came, we were the typical tourists and went downtown, where the highlight was visiting the Andy Griffith Museum. So I’ll share those photos, although they are a few years old. But first, here are a few tidbits about Andy:
Andy Samuel Griffith (June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012) was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the only child of Carl Lee Griffith and his wife, Geneva (Nunn). Griffith was born the same day as motion picture icon Marilyn Monroe. As a baby, Griffith lived with relatives until his parents could afford to buy a home. With neither a crib nor a bed, he slept in dresser drawers for several months. In 1929, when Griffith was three, his father began working as a carpenter and purchased a home in Mount Airy’s “blue-collar” south side.
Griffith grew up listening to music. By the time he entered school, he was well aware that he was from what many considered the “wrong side of the tracks”. He was a shy student, but once he found a way to make his peers laugh, he began to come out of his shell and come into his own.
As a student at Mount Airy High School, Griffith cultivated an interest in the arts, and he participated in the school’s drama program. A growing love of music, particularly swing, would change his life. Griffith was raised as a Baptist and looked up to Ed Mickey, a minister at Grace Moravian Church, who led the brass band and taught him to sing and play the trombone. Mickey nurtured Griffith’s talent throughout high school until graduation in 1944.
He attended the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and graduated with a bachelor of music degree in 1949. He began college studying to be a Moravian preacher, but he changed his major to music and became a part of the school’s Carolina Playmakers. At UNC, he was president of the UNC chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, America’s oldest fraternity for men in music. He also played roles in several student operettas, including The Chimes of Normandy (1946), and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers (1945), The Mikado (1948) and H.M.S. Pinafore (1949).
After graduation, he taught music and drama for a few years at Goldsboro High School in Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he taught. And then he was “discovered” and went on to become an actor, television producer, Southern gospel singer, and writer. He was a Tony Award nominee for two roles, and gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan’s film A Face in the Crowd (1957) before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead character in the situation comedy, The Andy Griffith Show (1960–1968), and in the legal drama, Matlock (1986–1995).
Corner of the Museum
I’m going fishing with Andy and Opie!
I had to sweet talk him to….
…. play sheriff!
Bill is being kissed by Andy’s girlfriend, Thelma Lou.
After touring the museum, we learned about all the many many movies he was also in. So we wanted to watch some of his movies afterwards, but the only way was to buy DVDs and we can’t carry around anything else in our RV!
Of course, we also walked around the town after stopping by the Visitor Center. It came right out of the 1950’s. So quaint and laid-back.
Of course, they encourage you to take a “tour” of the town, compliments of the Sheriff.
Floyd’s Barber Shop
Barney’s Cafe. Hum, don’t recall that in the shows!
Nor did this seem to be part of the show, but maybe???
A great navigational landmark
If you watched the TV show, you heard them talk a lot about Mt. Pilot. So of course, that is real, but it is really Pilot Mountain and it is a State Park. It is also known as a navigational landmark for centuries….and we get excited as soon as we see it! And did we every enjoy this beautiful park with some great hiking and great summit views. We weren’t very original and hiked some of the same paths each time we visited.
There is also the Town of Pilot Mountain!
Entrance to the State Park
The trails are well marked and easy to navigate
We love walking in the woods!
They have made some improvements since we were first here. There now is a great trail up to the top of the mountain, but sadly, we didn’t have a chance to try it. We drove to the top each time we’ve visited. It is breathtakingly beautiful there. Next time, we WILL hike up to the top!
As you enter the top of the park, you can look over to the top of Pilot Mountain
The view from the top
Glad they have it fenced as you walk around the top
And there are many other places to hike and explore. We loved the challenge of Hanging Mountain State Park. We climbed to the top of the mountain in September 2014. This was a real coup for Bill as he really hates heights, but he loves the mountains. So he braved this climb….
I couldn’t find Bill and suddenly saw him on an opposite peak from me! And that is a group of teens below him!
We’ll let this slide show speak for itself! What a fabulous place to explore and hike!
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This last visit, we decided we needed to try something different and travel a bit aways. We used the schematic of the mountains you could see on top of Pilot Mountain to pick out Fisher Peak, on the state line of Virginia and North Carolina. It’s elevation is 3,750′ and appeared to only be 15 miles or so away. It was actually farther and we never felt we were at that elevation. And of course, a storm blew in so that made us shorten our hike.
This wasn’t the easiest place to find. It’s this exit
And through this town
Follow the signs to the Music Center…..
and you end up here. We went back down to a parking area just past the stop signs in the last picture.
We chose to walk to the trail head which added a mile to the hike.
We went through woods and …
through a meadow when we heard a lightening strike! We hightailed it back to the car.
We had hoped to spend more time here, but we were meeting friends down the road, so off we went, knowing we still had more things to see and do. So we plan to return!
This was our most recent site.
Each time we visited before, there really weren’t many others there. But this time, there were a lot more RVs. And most interesting, there was a North Carolina Chapter of “Campers on Mission” rally starting as we were leaving. We hated to miss it as we know we have much in common with these campers and enjoyed talking to them as we prepared to leave. From their website:
Campers On Mission (COM) is a national fellowship of Christian Campers who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as they go. NCCOM is one of many state chapters offering Christians of all denominations the opportunity for fellowship and service beyond the walls of their churches. Though they go as missionaries from their churches, they utilize COM as the key instrument of organization, fellowship and training.
Bill and I tried to see and learn as much as we could about the Civil War during the time we lived in Fredericksburg (1995-2004). Bill and I visited nearly every battleground in the greater Fredericksburg area (and even took a motorcycle ride to visit Gettysburg). At the time we lived here, I was a runner, so I never looked at the battlefields as places to get exercise. Now that we are visiting our daughter here, we are looking for places to hike/walk (my running days are over). People have said the battlegrounds are great places for that – but I remembered the walking areas to either be paved or asphalt. My knees prefer natural surfaces so we haven’t been back to visit them. But thanks to a national fitness organization with a local chapter, “Hike It Baby – Fredericksburg,” I’ve not only discovered a nice place to get in a good walk, I discovered an important battleground which we missed when we thought we knew all there was to know about the Civil War in Fredericksburg! Continue Reading
Hopefully, you can tell we made the best of the 21 days we spent in Lakeland, Florida while getting our RV repaired. And to think for 10 years we only lived 30 miles from here and never knew of these fascinating hiking areas as discussed in our last post.
This post is about the one hike we took on Friday, February 19, 2016, in Lake Wales. It was nothing like any hike we’ve ever done! It’s the Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park. We looked on the official State Park website and were only able to determine it was an 8,000 acres preserve with six miles of mostly white sandy hiking trails. I wondered who the person was that it was named after, it was not mentioned. All we knew after seeing this picture was it was a place we had to visit:
When we do research to find local hikes, we like to read about the area, get an idea about the trails and just be prepared. But we didn’t see much about it on the Florida State Park website, nor did we see any thing about the trails, other than it has white sandy trails in the open, take plenty water, use sunscreen and wear hats!
It was actually mostly sunny!
Trail head also had very little information about the trails.
This was how the trail started. We had no idea what was ahead!
We thought this would be a faith walk, having no idea how it would be marked and how lost could we get, anyway? I use a GPS tracker (Map My Walk app) so we always know how to find our way back to where we started – if we get lost. So far, we’ve only needed it to get us back on the right trail! 😁
Trail maps!
Yay, now we know how the trail will be marked and what our route will be.
Our actual route with Map My Walk tracker
What a relief as we really do want to have a plan when we hike. It’s really wise to know what you are getting into, but then, we didn’t really know what we were getting into! Once we found the trail map, we saw there were three choices to hike: a short loop, about 1.9 miles, a medium loop, about 3.4 miles and then the long loop, 5.5 miles. The equestrian trail was marked with red and was 8 miles. Of course, we almost always take the long hiking trail, but didn’t want to be on the equestrian trail. All we had to do was follow the white markers, which were coupled with the red markers to start off. Yep, this is also horse friendly! We never saw a horse, but did see evidence one had been in the parking lot after our return.
This is the only wildlife we were able to capture with our camera and enjoy. Such a beauty!
We watched this sweet heart of a bird for some time. But never could get it to look at us! “A bold and curious bird, the Florida Scrub-Jay can become hand-tame in areas where it comes in contact with people. Unfortunately, it is restricted to the rare oak scrub community of Florida, a habitat under constant threat of development, and is classified as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.” Info from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Florida_Scrub-Jay/id
We only saw two couples on the trail, but also four rangers in three vehicles monitoring the controlled burns. I’m so sorry I didn’t snap a picture of them as it was a convoy! Thankfully, all the fires were out. We talked with the one couple for a while as the rangers drove by. They were from Minnesota and in the area for only a week. They are “caregivers” for an elderly parent, so this was their week of respite. They didn’t look dressed to hike, but like us, love the outdoors. They intended to only walk a mile but agreed it was so beautiful, they went farther. They said they made it to the statute, but made no other comment, other than it was a statue. I was hoping to see it, but wondered if it was of the person who the park was named for. They were excited as they saw a large buck, but that was it. We had hoped to see the buck, too, but we were fortunate to see a few beautiful scrub jays.
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We were really enjoying the beautiful preserve, but there was no doubt, it was a strenuous walk in the soft sand with the sun beating down on us. And it is on the Lake Wales Ridge, so there were some challenging “hills.” We had stopped for lunch right after walking around the pond. It was so serene and we knew there had to be other hikers or at least fishermen in the area as there were two cars parked in the parking area. Which was very nice, by the way. With a bathroom and a covered picnic table.
While we never saw the buck, we found his prints. He was a good-sized one!
We did have to reference our map as sometimes it was unclear which direction to go. I knew I wanted to see the statue. As we approached the trail to it, we realized it would take us out-of-the-way of the trail we were on. But then, we never mind adding a little to our hikes. So up a hill we went to see it! And this was a hill!
Wildlife Biologist, Ecologist, a birder with few peers. Allen had remarkable insight into the workings of nature. Intelligent and innovative, he took a practical approach to problem solving. He was friendly and unassuming. Careless of creature comforts, smiling and non-confrontational. Beloved by family and associates. His death is a great loss to all living things. – Father
As we approached it, we only saw the backside was actually rather grim, so I didn’t even take a full picture. But we both became overwhelmed as we began to read all the quotes around it….and then we were just amazed as we saw the front:
1961-1990. “We are experiencing a period above – average extinction rate because there are very few if any ecosystems on or planet that are not affected or destroyed by man’s activities. It seems unlikely that our own species is not responsible for this accelerated extinction….Allen David Broussard
Oh my! This YOUNG man was only 29! And when you see the front, you see what a handsome, curly-headed young man he was. With a bird perched on his shoulder. We just hung out there in awe of him, wondering, what was the rest of the story?
Quote from his mother and sisters.
Quote from his wife and Monty Python!
This park immediately began to take on a new meaning to us! We knew this young man had to be something special. We just couldn’t believe the other couple didn’t say anything about it when we asked. Maybe they didn’t get close enough to read the quotes? We knew we were impacted. Then on we went, knowing we were only about 1/2 way through the trail….still thinking about him….
View from the top of the ridge!
With only about a mile to go, we reached the highest point in the preserve. And we deserved a break! This hike was undoubtedly one of the most strenuous we have ever done. So as we sat and took in the beauty of it, I was still shaken by the life of this young man. So of course, I had to “google” his name and found The Allen Broussard Conservancy which tells his story. Please visit the site to learn more. But in summary, this young man went on with his education after fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 19. He Began to make a name for himself in his research and studies. But the chemo and radiation ultimately damaged his heart. In spite of his health issues, he went on to do great things and was married. It was his dying wish to his dad to help save the land. And thus, this preserve and the conservancy were named after him…..
Pretty touching isn’t it? I can’t help stop thinking about him and his life….
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Next up, Can you believe we are back in Myrtle Beach….
Picture from my walk around Lake Wailes (that’s the original spelling) and scripture from my Bible reading that day.
To be successful as a full time RVer, you have to be flexible and have faith. Oh, and a good sense of humor goes a long way! And so far in 2016, we’ve needed all of these and more!
Like most of us, we choose to “winter” in warm climates. But we’re not big planners – so we only had a few things we hoped to do the two months we planned to be in Florida. First, we applied to be volunteer work campers last January at TopSail Hill Preserve State Park and had hoped we would start the winter there for the month of January, and then visit friends in Ocala on our way to Sebring. We didn’t get the position, so we headed straight to the Sebring area to be with family (and help my mom prepare her house to be sold after the passing of my step-dad). We had planned to spend a few days in Ocala, Florida to visit with members of our “spiritual” family, our former pastor who re-married us and his large family. We also hoped to see our dear missionary friends in Miami at some point, possibly meet them around Sebring. And then I have a friend who has a complicated life. She can only be seen on certain days, so I had hoped to visit her on one of those days while in central Florida. All we managed to do was spend the month in Sebring, plus more time with my mom; we couldn’t meet up with our friends from Miami or Ocala, but I was able to see my one other friend miraculously. Our initial planned date didn’t work out, so it looked like we would miss each other this winter. But due to the below circumstances, I was able to see her on Leap Day. That truly was a gift of a day!
As we have written many times before, we do love the beach and mountains. In the winter, the beach is a bit better than the mountains unless you are in the southwest (so we hear). We do trust our fate to our Lord and He nixed the volunteer opportunity, directed us to our legal residence where my mom lives and then had us settle in Lake Wales for three + weeks to repair our RV. We were then able to see mom a few more times before leaving Florida. (She will live closer to our daughter, so we will see her more while in Virginia.) Things always have a way of working out. But the city of Lake Wales is not near a beach nor a mountain. 😁
Now the good news is that we were camped in a parking lot with full hook ups for free. OK, so that’s not so glamorous but the price is right. We were told it would take between five and ten days for the repairs.
Imagine the blow out also took out the electric outside stair mechanism.
We have the best spot, with a tree!
Our view from inside. At least it did change. At one time, we gawked at a Prevost!
Finally were able to have family inside. We were on a level lot, so the temporary steps worked to let them all inside. Mom, my sister Marsha and her husband, Mel
ADDED info: The only thing they couldn’t do was repair or replace our MCD Wheel Cover Glide Trac. Bill’s previous line of work (auto insurance adjusted) had him scouring salvage yards for parts. But this collision center couldn’t help us. We were referred to Visone RV Automart near London, Kentucky. We made it there and got the part in June. Read about it here.
We finally finished all repairs on business day 16, and are VERY happy with them! And that was Leap Day, so it was really a gift. But we couldn’t help but wonder why it takes so long for RV parts to arrive? And then we had a bit of an issue with our new dryer we had installed in October from Camping World, Myrtle Beach. That’s a long story (more about taking so long for RV parts to arrive), so lets just say we were able to get a new dryer installed from Camping World, Bartow, just 15 minutes away from our parking lot! But the date that finally occurred was on on February 26. In spite of it taking much longer than we were told for both the RV repairs and the dryer, things just couldn’t have worked out better.
For 10 years, we lived in Sebring, Florida, just 30 miles south of Lake Wales. It’s a direct route and we have actually driven through and around this area many times. Most notable were our visits to Bok Tower. We had no idea there were also three fantastic preserves/state parks in the area.
But first a bit about the historic Bok Tower. We first visited it while we were just visiting Bill’s mom one year, around 1996 or 1997. Then we took our daughter during Christmas during one of her visits. And then we rode the motorcycle there for a day trip. We love beautiful gardens so we enjoyed spending an enchanting day walking around them. From the official website:
Bok Tower Gardens boasts one of the greatest works of famed landscape architect. The meandering, historic landscape garden was designed to be a contemplative and informal woodland setting offering a series of romantic recesses and tranquil resting spots, picturesque vistas and breathtaking views of the Singing Tower. Acres of ferns, palms, oaks and pines fashion a lush backdrop for flowering foliage and the spectacular seasonal color of azaleas, camellias and magnolias (a highlight of our spring peak bloom season) showcasing an ever-changing work of art.
We actually thought that was it for Lake Wales attractions. Oh how wrong we were! While here for our 22 days, we hiked at the Tiger Creek Preserve five times, once at Lake Kissimmee State Park and once at Alan David Broussard Catfish Creek State Park. We also had some serious rain storms so we had to find a dry place to walk in between storms. We discovered a nice walking trail around Lake Wailes, so we visited it three times. The rest of our time here was going back to Sebring a few times, shopping and taking care of the issues with the dryer.
Tiger Creek Preserve – As a reminder, this Preserve “is named after the pristine blackwater stream that forms its spine, the preserve contains hardwood swamps, hammocks, scrubby flatwoods, pine flatwoods, sandhill and longleaf pine/wiregrass habitat. Nature unfolds all year long – visitors may enjoy seasonal wildflowers and blooming grasses, or anticipate the return of the swallow-tailed kite.
“The Highlands Trail is a 7.2 mile, sandy loop trail that takes visitors through a beautiful, open pine woods area called the “central highlands.” Please allow 4 hours. A shorter side trail, the Patrick Creek Loop, crosses Patrick Creek and enters a forested wetland. Allow 2 hours.”
We wrote about our first two hikes in this amazing preserve, here. We had to return three more times after these two hikes. What a gem! There are a variety of trails so we had five very different hiking days here.
We’ll share a few pictures from our attempt to hike one of many trails, the Patrick Creek Loop Trail, and then of our last and longest hike. On February 26, the day we tried to hike to Patrick Creek, there were no signs warning it was flooded. We hiked part of it, until we hit the part where the “bridge” went underwater. And then our final day hiking, February 27, we decided to go all the way and hike to and around the Highlands Loop again. (The first time was to me, our best hike in a long time!) That’s when they finally put up a sign the Patrick Creek Loop Trial was closed due to flooding but also that the Highland Loop was closed for trail maintenance. The sign was dated March 2016, but since it was February 27, so we decided it wasn’t closed yet….
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Let’s now link the discovery of this preserve back to Edward Bok. It was part of his vision to create a preserve in this area, not far from his home in Lake Wales. He created a sanctuary now known as Bok Towers and Gardens. Bok was born October 9, 1863 in Den Helder, Netherlands. When he was six, his parents immigrated to Brooklyn, New York. His life story is truly a rags to riches tale. His lucky break came at age 19 when he was hired by a relatively new publisher, Henry Holt and Company. He made several career moves and finally at age 26, he became the editor of the Ladies Home Journal, where he served for 30 years. Within a few years he married his publisher’s daughter and they went on to be a power couple in philanthropy and well known to appreciate music and all things cultural.
His accomplishments were pretty amazing, in addition to being a prolific writer, he was concerned with American homes. He not only wanted to see homes to have some form of style, he wanted to see homes that every family could afford. He crossed the lines of architects by promoting the idea of “bungalows” as an affordable home. Even President Theodore Roosevelt made this comment:
[He] is the only man I ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an entire nation, and he did it so quickly and effectively that we didn’t know it was begun before it was finished.
We loved our visits there and were sorry we didn’t go back to the Bok Gardens this time. We highly recommend it if you are ever in the Lake Wales area. They were only about 10-15 minutes away from where we were “camped.”
Lake Kissimmee State Park – This was 20 miles away and well worth the drive. Florida definitely has beautiful state parks. I’m not very original, so it is easier to just copy from the official website about all this park has to offer. All we did was enjoy the hiking!
Florida’s cowboy heritage comes alive with living history demonstrations of the early Florida “cow hunters” in an 1876-era cow camp. White-tailed deer, bald eagles, sandhill cranes, turkeys, and bobcats have been seen in the park, located on the shores of lakes Kissimmee, Tiger, and Rosalie. Visitors enjoy boating, canoeing, and fishing in the picturesque lakes. Nature students can hike over 13 miles of trails to observe and study the abundant plant and animal life. Six miles of trails are open to equestrians. A large, shaded picnic area with pavilions is available. The park has full-facility campsites, as well as a primitive camping facility. The youth camping area can accommodate up to 50 people. The dark skies make stargazing a popular nighttime activity for campers. Located off State Road 60 15 miles east of Lake Wales.
We hiked over 7 miles here. It was just an amazing adventure for us. We saw a number of armadillos, a few Sandhill Cranes and heard lots of turkeys gobbling! The Forest Rangers had been doing some controlled burns to help with the foliage growth (common in Florida’s dense forests) so that may have chased other wildlife temporarily away. The best way to tell about the hike is with this slide show:
Our second day at the trail head. They had trail maps and a notebook to sign saying which trail you plan to hike and how many in your party.
As we finished the trail yesterday, I asked Bill, “What we should name this post?” We usually agree on most things. But he said, “Central Florida’s Best.” For him, this was a perfect day on a trail. So much better than Disney World, he continued. But maybe not the best. We’ve had a lot of GREAT hikes. But for me, I thought it was the best, at least in a long time.
We are currently in a location we would not have selected. We are here by chance. The tire blow out. GEICO Insurance. We’re in a “preferred” shop that happens to be an authorized Tiffin (our RV’s maker) repair facility. But we do know Central Florida. We’ve lived in what is called, south central Florida. I wrote about it here.
But we never heard of this place, the amazing Tiger Creek Preserve, Lake Wales Ridge, The Nature Conservatory. From the trail brochure, it tells us, “It is located on the edge of peninsular (their word) Florida’s oldest and highest land mass, the Lake Wales Ridge. The ridge shelters some of the highest concentrations of threatened and endangered plants and animals in the United States…” It is “a high-quality blackwater seepage stream and the vegetation that falls into the creek colors the water….The preserve protects various Florida habitat – hardwood swamps and hammocks, scrubby and pine flat woods and sand hills…rare animals…including swallow-tail kits, bald eagles, gopher tortoises….” And for us, it offers great hiking, up and down this high mass in Florida, on white sandy trails as well as other diverse trails and with very well marked trails. So we were all over it! Our first day, we did one of the main and most popular hikes, just over four miles. We decided to start with it, Heron Pond Loop Trail. There are 10+ miles of trails in this nearly 5,000 acre preserve.
Entrance to the Heron Pond Trail with a memorial note honoring Ken Morrison
The day was overcast, a bit breezy and cool. So our photos aren’t the best. But it was so tranquil! And a bonus, we didn’t see any other hikers, although a couple had signed in earlier in the day.
There is always a “reward” on our hikes. We’re getting closer!
And here is the reward….
Or is this the reward? A great seat to watch for wildlife.
While we had our camera ready, we didn’t see any wildlife. But we saw lots of deer and other wildlife tracks, hog tracks/mud holes and just serene nature at it’s best. It was a bit windy so we think that kept the wildlife hunkered down.
Of course, we love history, so I had to look up Ken Morrison when we got home. The few facts they posted only made me want to know more about this man. Oh, how I would have loved to met him! Here are a few excepts from his obituary:
….He thoroughly enjoyed life until his death of natural causes at age 92.
Ken was born April 1, 1918 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Carleton College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. In 1943, he married his high school sweetheart, Helen Curtis. The family moved from New York where he was the Editor of Audubon Magazine. They settled in Babson Park, Florida and for 25 years Ken was the second Director of Bok Tower Gardens. He was President Emeritus of the Florida Audubon Society and on the Board of Trustees of the Defenders of Wildlife and the Nature Conservancy’s Florida Chapter. His lifelong love of nature grew out of a childhood fascination with birds. With his enthusiasm and knowledge, he inspired many people to appreciate and protect Florida….
Ken’s love of the English language was revealed through his public speaking abilities, his writing skills and his great sense of humor. For 10 years he wrote a weekly column “Ask the Naturalist” for the Daily Highlander and the Waynesville, NC Mountaineer. He authored two books, Mountain Lake Almanac and the Tonic of Wildness. Ken was also known for his musical talents. Although he had no training, he was a singer extraordinaire in the Vaudeville style and enjoyed music gatherings. He was a long-time member of Babson Park Community Church….
Being a minimalist who also loves to read, I hope I can find copies of his books I can “borrow” since I gave up owning books. Wouldn’t you want to read his books or his column? Anyway, we had to go back for more so the next day, we brought lunch and were prepared for a seven mile hike!
While we still had white sandy trails, we also had lots of diversity. Here are hog mud holes on the trail!
A website recommended wearing water proof boots. Of course, I did the day before when we were on all dry land. So I wasn’t prepared….
At least there were some “bridges” to help over the swampy areas. And fortunately, we never got our feet wet!
We haven’t hiked this far in a while, so we felt we needed to pace ourselves. While we started rather early for us (11:00), we decided to take our lunch break at 12:15, after only two + miles into the hike. What prompted it was the bench we found at the entrance of the Highlands Trail. We took a short break and then entered the trail ….
We were not disappointed. In fact, on one review, it said don’t do this hike unless you want the miles, the rest of the hikes show off the area. But we disagree. Granted, we wanted the miles, but we just love serenity and tranquility as we wander around in nature! And what made this so great is our conversation. I wish I had a recording of it! We talked about everything as nature prompted us….
We saw so many deer tracks, we know they were out there.
There was so much diversity! And what a fun sculpture by nature!
Should we or shouldn’t we? We never read about this…..Oh what the heck, we’re adventurists!
Oh, this is where you want to take a lunch break!
Thank you Tricia!
The view from Tricia’s Peak! Oh, to see an eagle or deer….We know they are out there….
We actually didn’t take many pictures we now realize. But we enjoyed every step of the way. We knew there was wildlife there. We saw so many different animal tracks. We recognized the deer, there were LOTS of their tracks, also birds, tortoise tracks and even snake tracts. We carefully looked to make sure we didn’t get a surprise.
The brochure warned us the trails may change directions abruptly, so pay attention! From this picture, you can see the trail is not really clear in some places.
As we began to wind down, around miles 5.4, we noticed there were two directions we could go! The whole time, the trail was clearly marked. Long story short, we ended up looking for our own tracks as we seemed to get a little lost. We know if that happens, to go back to where you last saw a trail marker. They provided phone numbers in the brochure in case this happened. But I had my “Map My Hike” tracker going, so we used it to “guess”which direction to go. As it turned out, we found a detour around all the swampy areas so we only had to walk back through a few of them. This probably added another 1/4 mile or more to our hike.
And then the excitement begins! Finally, Bill spots what may be an otter in the pond as we emerged off the trail.
They are hard to catch! See the waves? He just dove down.
Can you see him? He has his head up in the center of the picture. What a disappointment our camera was.
We watched for 15 minutes or more and enjoyed these gorgeous creatures. There we four of them. They were so playful! I saw two of them kiss! Up and down off the bank, on the other side of the pond. We just never got a descent picture. But what a treat it was! We always hope to see wildlife. So Bill said, “Oh just to see one more animal would be good!”
And then, SWOOSH! We saw two beautiful and rather large deer literally flying through the bushes beside us. And then SPLASH as they landed in the water….and then they were gone! I’ve always said the Lord hears our prayers and desires! I had just read this Psalm a few days ago and really meditated on it as I thought about all the answers to our prayers and what a wonderful lifestyle we have:
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
If you would like to learn more about the Tiger Creek Preserve, check out these websites, Nature.org and Florida Rambler, where we discovered this gem!
One day, we will make it here…and hopefully, with our two grandsons if their parents will let us have them one summer! I know their parents will want to come, too, though. Hope we can work it out!
When there are many things to see and do in an area, we try to prioritize what we would like to experience and accept the reality that we can’t do it all. Leaving a few items unchecked gives us a good reason to come back and enjoy the area again.
Such was the case here in the Black Hills area. Our wildlife encounters were just half the fun. Then there were monuments to marvel at, historic towns to visit, scenery to take in, amazing geologic formations to enjoy and a little history to learn. And I must not forget one of the most important activities – hitting the trails! So much to do in so little time – and to think we were here for two weeks!
First, the monuments –
With more than 175 miles of mapped and surveyed passageways, Jewel Cave National Monument is the third-longest cave in the world. To get underground we joined the…
It’s been over two months since we’ve had a great mountain hike. So we were chomping at the bit to get back to one of our favorite places to hike, the Shenandoah National Park. Since we were rusty, we didn’t plan to maximize our time for the hike. But as it turned out, our Lord knew best and HE ordered our steps on this date (September 2, 2015).
We’re on Interstate 64, headed from Gordonsville to the Shenandoah National Park
We love hiking in this park. We’ve hiked here many times and it may be one of our favorite go to places for excellent hiking. In fact, we’ve driven the entire distance of the scenic Skyline Drive in our truck, pulling our 5th wheel. Read about the start of that trip here. While we loved the experience, relished the beauty and fabulous panoramic views, we learned it’s not really ideal for RVs for a few reasons. Although we met others in their campers, actually dry camping there and we did think for a few minutes how cool that would be. But we’re addicted to our full hook ups (water, sewer and electricity).
Main reason we wouldn’t do it again or recommend it for motor homes, are the very winding roads and the impatience of other drivers. The speed limit is normally 35 mph (for 100 mile trip, that’s a bit slow) but people push 45 easily. The Blue Ridge Parkway further south, into North Carolina, is 45 mph for the most part. And it is every bit as beautiful.
A little description about of these scenic drives, as they get mixed up (and we were mixed up) until we drove the entire length of the Skyline (Virginia) and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina for simplicity). These are certainly some of the most beautiful roads in America! Starting at Front Royal Virginia, just 75 miles from Washington, DC, you drive south west for the next one hundred and five (105) miles down to I-64. This is called the Skyline Drive and is on the “top of the world” in the Shenandoah National Park on top of what’s called the Appalachian Mountains.
The building of the Skyline Drive was started in the middle of the summer in July 1931 and was one of the first scenic highways ever built in the United States. After you drive the 105 miles of The Skyline Drive you will then be on The Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) which has a forty five (45) mile-an-hour speed limit and continues south west for the next Four Hundred and seventy (470) miles to Cherokee North Carolina. We’ve only driven and hiked on portions of this fabulous drive. Here we are on a favorite hike at the top of the BRP.
The highest point on the parkway (south of Waynesville, near Mount Pisgah in North Carolina) is 6053 feet or above sea level on Richland Balsam Mountain at Milepost 431
And since I have it handy, one of our clearest days to show the type of panoramic views from a top of the Appalachian Mountains. Sadly, the weather was a bit gloomy to get a great picture on this day.
Our favorite view!
For this trip, we really hoped for at least a six mile hike to a beautiful water fall. There are 75 waterfalls off of Skyline Drive, and all are accessed via outstanding hikes. As we were on our way to Mile Post 84, we saw a bolt of lightening. Then we looked at our GPS which shows radar and weather. Thunderstorms predicted by 4 pm. It was only 1:00 so we decided we had time for a good hike, but decided we better not go for a long hike. I quickly looked at the map we were given when we entered the park. There is a fee to enter the park, but it is FREE for us now that Bill has an “America the Beautiful” pass. Bill remembered seeing there was a waterfall at Jones Falls Run, Mile Post 81. So we pulled over there as soon as we saw it. At least we would hike to a beautiful, but smaller waterfall at 32′. We had hoped anyway.
We were aiming for Mile Post 81, but stopped at MP 84
We stopped and examined the trailhead map. One thing we love about this park is how well it’s marked and the quality maps provided when you enter the park. It looked like we would get in at least 4 miles and it was a pretty steep descent, about 1,000 feet, meaning a rough ascent but that is what we like – a challenge. We prefer to start low and go high, but not today! Either way it is a challenge.
Trailhead for Jones Run Falls
When we arrived at the parking lot, there was a Minnie Winnie Class C motorhome and one car. Hiking during the week means you will see fewer people, which we always love – solitude. So down we began our ascent. Starting out, it was a nice path, but it began to get rocky and lots of roots. That always makes it more challenging. A family of five approached us, a mom, dad and three girls, ages about 8 to 14. They said they couldn’t make it to the falls as they had to get the girls home. They looked pretty beat, so we knew the return hike would be a challenge.
Starting off easy
It wasn’t long before we saw the owners of the Minnie Winnie, a husband, wife and their dog. They also said they didn’t make it to the falls. We thought this was strange as it was only two miles there. So we kept on, enjoying the solitude. We were approaching two miles when we ran into two college students from Prague, Czechoslovakia. There we on their last holiday before their senior year. They first visited New York City and wanted to hike on this trail! We asked them if they saw the falls. They said they had, but they did the entire hike from MP 84 and saw the Doyles River Falls. By now, we realized the Jones Falls must be dried up! We enjoyed talking to them but they said they needed to finish their trail as they were on a much longer hike and the weather was beginning to turn.
Dried up!
We use “Map my Hike” GPS tracker so it soon advised us we had completed two miles. The falls were supposed to be at 1.7 miles, so we knew it had dried up. We really felt good and decided we would go on at least another 1/2 mile for a full five mile hike. But within a minute, we heard a loud crack of lightening! We’ve been caught in a storm in the past. We were not prepared for this, we we immediately turned and began a fast pace back, up up up the mountain. The lightening kept us motivated. But we hit a few very rocky areas and could only go but so fast.
Bill going strong! But i the very rocky area.
Ah, but the ascent caught up to me and had to take a break, just 1/2 mile from the top. And of course, I am praying for the Lord to protect us. We could handle getting wet, but not stuck by lightening!
Just had to take a quick break! We were flying UP hill!
So in the end, we were a-ok and made it into the car safely. But it wasn’t 10 minutes when the heavens opened up and a serious storm started!
We really didn’t know what we were getting into when we booked our time here! In our last post, we said we were rusty and yesterday, we could have rusted out! Our next post will explain further and will be about our hike to Jones Falls Trail in the Shenandoah National Park, off of Skyline Drive.
We pre-paid for a four day, three night resort stay in this BlueGreen Vacation property, allegedly located in the foothills of the Shenandoah National Park. We would be “refunded” our money for enduring a two hour presentation about the resort. It was easy to tell we were not buyers as they had us fill out a questionnaire about our vacation styes and preferences. We have lived on “vacation” for the past two years! So for our punishment, they made us endure a full three hours. However, we will say that the presentation was excellent – but really more for young families. They missed the mark with us and retirees should exempt from the program. However, we did see lots of retirees here. Maybe they will share it with their families….but for us, it would not be cost effective.
Our view from our backyard
We were also rusty in that we didn’t really scope out the area. We usually know exactly what we will be able to do when we pick an area to stay. And we usually check the weather so we know when the best days are to hike. But for us, we ended up only being able to hike on our day three due to our obligatory two three hour presentation. It turned out to be a bad weather day we learned once we hit the Shenandoah National Park!
Cabin next door
To see our complete photo album about Shenandoah Crossings, you can visit it here, on Flickr.
So with that all said, here are the pros, cons and review of the resort and campground.
Pros: There are a lot of activities on site for children, probably from ages 2 to 17. Most are shown in our photo album on Flickr, but in summary, Putt Putt, swimming pool, splash park, playgrounds, horse back riding, tennis, tether ball, corn hole, horse shoes and more. We did see people on bicycles but they were struggling as it is hilly. There are several laundry rooms, but you probably have to drive to them, unless you are in the campground. Best part, they are FREE! Wow, what a deal.
If you don’t have pets and really don’t appreciate dogs barking and cats meowing (or pigs squealing as our neighbors had last week) this place is for you. We noticed no dog poop to walk around, but then we hit the horse manure….but that’s under the cons….If you love wine and wine tastings, this is also a great location. That’s about the main thing to do close by if you want an outside activity from the resort.
We can speak about our cabin, it has everything you would want for a great cabin camping experience. Really nice towels for bathroom, kitchen and the pool. Comfortable beds with linens and pillows. The kitchen is fully stocked with utensils, dishes, cook ware, outdoor grill with all utensils (they are under the sink), paper towels, dish soap, dishwasher soap, salt and pepper shaker, even two servings of delicious coffee grounds. You just need to bring your own aluminum foil, baggies, etc., condiments and food. Nicely appointed and it looks like a working wood fireplace. We didn’t try it.
Swimming Pools area
Cons: Our big deal is to be able to take nice walks and long hikes. Our first day here, we didn’t see the on-site hiking or walking trails. It looked like you would have to walk on the road and most vehicles seem to exceed the 15 mph speed limits. Day 2, I was desperate for a walk and said I did see people walking around the laundry area (near the stables). So the good news is that we managed a challenging three mile hike around the campground (where I took most of the photos), but the bad news is that a good stretch of it meant we had to tip toe around horse manure. On day three, we did have to drive to the Shenandoah National Park for a great hike…but it took us 1 1/2 hour to drive 64 miles to the trail head we selected. That was a real bummer as it was advertised as being in the foothills.
Stables
If you want to eat out, it was recommended to drive to Charlottesville. It is at least 30 minutes to get there. This is a very rural area, so the speed limits and roads dictate you don’t go anywhere fast. We don’t enjoy eating out, so we had to pick between Walmart Super Store or a Food Lion to shop for groceries. We had no idea they had such a nice grill, so off we went for steaks, etc. It took at least 30 minutes to go 16 miles to go to Walmart. We thought it would have more variety. We were pleased with our rib eye steaks, corn on the cob, baked potatoes (I had a sweet one), mushrooms, onions and fresh salad. For our second night, we brought an easy meal. And our third night, Bill bought a frozen pizza and I had left over homemade manicotti (made by our son in law) with fresh salads.
And of course, if your pets are like your children, you can’t come here. In fact, if pets were allowed, our daughter and family would have joined us for a day or two. We were told, NO PETS. But then when we walked around the campground, we saw several there.
RV Campground: It looked deluxe, but pricey. All sites were flat, concrete pads, outdoor grills, picnic tables and some had hot tubs (presidential suite). Great area for children and within a short walk to the swimming pools, splash park, Fitness Center, General Store and more.
RV Campground
Would we return here? No, it’s not for us. But was it nice and would we recommend it? Only if you fully understood what you were getting into. So our lesson learned? Let’s go back to scripture as we usually bathe our travels in prayer….
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
It was the birth of our first grandson that catapulted us into RVing. We needed a solution to visiting him since we lived in Florida and he was in Virginia. We wrote about it here. So fast forward two years and we’ve now welcomed our second grandson into the world! In between their births, we’ve stayed traveled between 66 campgrounds, with 49 of them being the first time we’ve camped there, and we are now at approximately 474 nights in a camper. And we are changing how we travel now that we have a motor home.
We had to do a cost benefit analysis of how we were traveling and we’ve read about other full time travelers doing the same. Bottom line, we are slowing down between campgrounds. To get the best rates, we need to stay a minimum of 7 days and the absolute best rates are for 30 day stays. We have learned the more you set up and tear down your camper, the easier it gets. We’ve now done it so much, it’s second nature. BUT, we’ve now realized we are rusty when it comes to traveling to a new location.
And this is where we are now. We made reservations through our Choice Hotels membership right before grandson #1 was born. And I got “hood-winked” so to speak. I spent $199 for a four day three night vacation in Myrtle Beach. We knew it was a nice area and had plenty of great campgrounds. So we really wanted to let our daughter and her husband stay in the hotel and we would just camp there for a mini vacation for them. And as part of the deal, we would get back a $200 Mastercard Gift card for listening to a two hour presentation. It sounded good at the time, but we never could coordinate that trip and grandson #2 came along. So the deal was about to expire and we found out there was another resort close by where we could stay, Shenandoah Crossings in Gordonsville, VA. It’s at the foothills of the Shenandoah National Park. This was where we discovered we loved to hike between 2003 and 2004. You can read about our one year of monthly hikes here. Ah sweet memories….so here we are!
We decided to leave our RV. It was just cheaper to leave it and stay in a cabin in this resort. We actually had planned to drive here in the motor home after it was time to leave our daughter and grandsons. But long story short, this deal was about to expire and we need to stay a little longer to help them out. And besides, who could leave this bundle of joy so soon?
Baby brother!
Next up, our adventures at Shenandoah Crossings, rusty as they are! But let us not forget this important scripture as we move on….
Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
We needed some fun after a grueling week, talked about here. We are so grateful the culture of the Tiffin Motorhome enterprise is so upbeat and friendly, but it was a rough week.
Whatever we do, where ever we are, we do look to have fun! But we are really pretty boring people. First and foremost with us is enjoying God’s creation, from beaches, to mountains, to flowers to babies – especially our grandson and our soon to be second grandchild! We can’t wait to bring our grandsons along with us one day….
While we are traveling, our favorite activity is to go hiking, especially in the mountains, state parks or wherever there is challenging terrain and we love to take very long walks on beaches (especially Myrtle Beach or Topsail). At a minimum, we both like to walk at least two miles a day wherever we are. We also both enjoy history, so that means visiting local museums. And who doesn’t enjoy a beautiful botanical garden or any gardens? But Bill also enjoys keeping his vehicles clean and polished! So we found a few things we could do to enjoy our time in Red Bay, Alabama while we get our new, but old, motor home repaired and spruced up to suit us.
HIKING: The first thing we do in a new area is search out places to hike. When we arrived here, we did a google search and discovered what appeared to be the closest place was 40 miles away. We decided when we first arrived, we didn’t have the time to drive that far. So Bill went out and walked all around town, looking for a place I could walk. I can’t walk very long on sidewalks/concrete. He saw alot and enjoyed the quaint town, but found no green spaces. Little did we know, the Allegro Campground and Service area has plenty of asphalt and dirt roads, so we enjoyed lots of walks around the grounds and surrounding neighborhoods. I use Map My Walk app, so calculated nearly 15 miles in the short time we’ve been in Red Bay, excluding the two day hikes.
We discovered on our drive back from Illinois, that Tishomingo State Park, Mississippi is only about 10-15 miles away! We were so happy to discover this. The day we were having our Cap Rails switched out, a day long process, we planned to enjoy the day in the woods. We dropped the motor home off in Bay 17 at 7:00 am. It was foggy out, so we hung out in the Service Lounge while the sun burned the fog off. We needed to be back by 2:30, so we headed out around 10:30. (It’s easy to lose track of time. We have spent a lot of time getting to know new people. You get to talking and a few hours can slip by!)
This park is located right off the Natchez Trace Parkway, at milepost 304, located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It is “steeped in history” and has fabulous scenery (why we love State Parks). There have been archaeological excavations that confirmed the presence of Paleo Indians as early as 7000 B.C. The park is named after the leader of the Chickasaw nation, Chief Tishomingo. The famous Natchez Trace Parkway is the premier highway of the early 1800s and as a modern scenic highway, runs directly through the park. What also makes this park unique is the landscape of massive rock formations and fern-filled crevices found no where else in Mississippi. Yes, we hiked in Mississippi – which borders Red Bay! Here are a few pictures from our nearly 5 mile hike:
Entrance
Pioneer Cabin
Diverse Terrain
We couldn’t wait to go back…so on Saturday, we headed back over. But we were delayed as we found someone to install a part for us that would be cheaper to do rather than have it installed during our servicing. So we didn’t spend as much time there as we would have liked, only hiking about three miles. It was also the hottest day of the year and we felt it! Here are a few more pictures, but clickhere (Flickr) to see all our pictures from the park.
Our Phaeton would fit on this site!
Entrance for the tour.
TIFFIN FACTORY TOUR: We had no expectations for this tour. But this was nothing we could have imagined! They ask you to be there by 9:15 and they start at 9:30 sharp. You are asked to sign in and put on eye protection they provide. Then you are give a headset and receiver. They have coffee and restrooms. Be prepared to stand and walk for nearly two hours! We were shown a short videoas an introduction and then each of the two tour guides introduces themselves and starts with additional history. We then walked over to the factory, or at least one building to start learning how Tiffin’s are made.
We started the tour with history: In 1941, Bob Tiffin’s father Alex started Tiffin Supply Company, a lumberyard and general merchandise store in Red Bay, Alabama. From that business start-up, two more generations of Tiffins and more than 50,000 RV owners have profited by Alex Tiffin’s strong sense of customer service. Bob joined his father at Tiffin Supply, which sold just about everything needed to build and furnish a house.
In 1965, Alex Tiffin and a handful of investors bought a state-of-the-art cotton gin, when cotton was still king in Alabama and much of the South. The operations manager quit before the first bale arrived for ginning. Alex turned to his 23-year-old son Bob, who took to the cotton business, machinery and management like it was second nature.
Soon he had the gin operating at ten bales an hour. He still marvels at the way the gin was engineered. Looking back years later, Bob smiles about his abiding fondness for anything mechanical — especially something that rolls.
As the cotton gin became a steady contributor to the Tiffin enterprise, a new manufacturing operation came to the area. The Commodore Company opened plants to build manufactured housing and recreational vehicles. Many of their supplies were purchased from Tiffin Supply Co. The Tiffins learned more and more about their new customer and its products. After three years, the Commodore Co. called it quits, closing its doors. Always eager for a new challenge, the Tiffins purchased the facility, and Tiffin Motorhomes was born.
The tour then started in what used to be the cotton warehouse. We were reminded that Bob Tiffin doesn’t like to build new when he can “recycle” a building! This warehouse is now where they process all the lumber and prepare it for the wood cabinets and any wooden trims! Yes, they make the cabinets by hand and we saw it in action. We didn’t need to wear face masks, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone take the tour that has breathing problems and can’t stand for nearly two hours.
Wood preparation shop
We then moved outside and walked over to the Chassis center. There was an outdoor presentation of the four chassis before going inside to see how they are engineered. The welding shop was near by, but we couldn’t see inside. We saw how the wood shop has grown and will now expand into the Chassis center. There is some transition with the chassis’ as they build some themselves and others are from Freight-liner.
Outdoor chassis presentation, moving from the wood shop to the chassis shop.
We were warned we would begin to wonder when we would see the motor homes actually being built, and indeed, we began to wonder. So into the actual “factory” which is not necessarily like an assembly line, but is divided into 12 separate departments. What was most interesting is that each part has a unique six digit number. If you want to watch your coach being built, those numbers will be fun to keep track of and watch.
Note the head sets and standing! We are entering the shop where they begin production. Note the # 6, #5, & #4 – that’s where the parts move from site to site.
From here we watched how they prepare the exterior walls. This was fascinating and using state of the art equipment. Then we saw how they prepare the countertops and then the plumbing. Next was to see how they prepare the wiring for the units. Amazingly, approximately 3 miles of wire is put into the largest units! We were then able to see how the plumbing and wiring is installed into the chassis. The next step is seeing how the tile floors are assembled and then lifted onto the chassis. The coach is now ready for the interior walls and cabinets. It was fun seeing how they move the units around, going from station to station.
After interior walls, plumbing and electric, time for the outside walls
The next phase is to install the exterior walls, using cranes. And then the roofs are prepared, including the air conditioners and then set on top, again, using cranes. The slide-outs are assembled first, and then installed on the chassis. The front unit is also assembled with glass before being installed. Next step is to prepare the coach for paint. Currently, the actual painting is done in Belmont, Mississippi. We were all encouraged to go there to watch, but they don’t give tours. By now, the tour was over, but we were invited to go inside and look at the new models! We didn’t dare do this as we want to stay happy with our 2010! We finished the tour looking at the 1975 Allegro on display for nostalgia’s sake!
It was so sad to see the yellow and green faded out shag carpet….we had it in our second house! We’re really old!
You can watch a short you-tube video of the tour, which included painting the coach. Our complete photo album from the Tiffin Factory tour also on Flickr:
RED BAY MUSEUM: This is a very small and quaint museum. Usually when left alone, we can spend at least 2-3 hours in this size. But we were the only visitors and the tour guide wanted to accompany us through it. He said he was a “transplant” and didn’t really know the history very well. So he couldn’t answer too many questions. But was a musician so he really keyed in on all the “famous” musicians who visited the town, and especially the Tammy Wynette exhibits. While Bill has a lot of untapped musical talent, he wasn’t that interested…and I have little to no musical talents so I wasn’t interested in famous musicians for the most part. Just sayin’….
Bill hates having his picture taken, but he hates taking pictures with my iPhone even more!
We hate seeing a “church” in a museum and pray it doesn’t come to this one day….but these were donated when the church was updated!
Red Bay celebrated it’s centennial in 2007
CHURCH: We always make it a point to attend church on Sunday. And for some reason, we keep picking on the First Baptist Churches – or rather, we keep feeling the calling to attend their services. We have never been disappointed and the message always speaks to our hearts. The message this week was on God’s faithfulness and it drove home how good and kind He has been to us! And to this town.
This is really a little sleepy hallow, except for this HUGE RVs that drive around town….While on our way to the Tiffin Tour, we were diverted from the route….I could see a police officer hunkered behind his vehicle, weapon drawn. I immediately thought it was those fugitives who escaped from prison in New York. But no, it was a drug addict that took 5 hostages in the local pharmacy. The pharmacist was an amazing woman, who happened to be a member of First Baptist Church (as was the owner of it). She was able to get the customer’s freed and stayed with the shotgun bearing addict. He just wanted drugs, so she complied and gave him what he wanted…and maybe a little more. Once he was out, she took the shotgun and turned it over to the police….of which there were about 50 by then! So the message really had special meaning for this congregation and town as they were all called to pray for a safe turn out!
What even made this Sunday better, was that we met a couple here that needed a ride to church. Their car was in the shop. So what a blessing to get to worship with like-minded believers and get to know them and their work. They are full-timers, too. But they just sold their 5 acre farm-ette – the wife’s dream was to have chickens and grow all her own vegetables….but she just felt ready to give it up and go full time and serve the Lord in various ministries. They belong to “Campers on Mission.” Did I mention they were in their early 70s?
The sermon was taken from Lamentations 3:22-23:
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
We had the best hike of 2015 at this park and the Weeping Ridge Campground! For us, the hiking is the best feature of this park. There are many small nature trails/hikes, but there are two main longer and challenging hikes, each 7 miles long over very diverse terrain with lots of different views and scenery.
I’m not good at summarizing so here is a bit about the park from the official website: “High bluffs overlooking the Apalachicola River make Torreya one of Florida’s most scenic places. The park is named for an extremely rare species of Torreya tree that only grows on the bluffs along the Apalachicola River. Developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, Torreya is popular for camping, hiking, and picnicking. Bird-watching is also a popular activity. Over 100 species of birds have been spotted in the park. Forests of hardwood trees provide the finest display of fall color found in Florida.”
This park is very isolated, so it was quiet from the sounds of traffic or mass transportation (no trains, planes or fast automobiles). But this also means, we had to come well-stocked. We had read reviews, so we were prepared. We also loved waking up to the sounds of serenading birds. It really doesn’t get much better than this….except for a few minor inconveniences that we have to accept as they go along with the lifestyle. Dirt roads means dirty vehicles; spring time, so lots of pollen; and then the dreaded mosquito season! And as we were warned, the copperheads were starting to move – mating season! Fortunately, we didn’t see one…or at least come close to one. We may have passed one and it’s camouflage worked!
Wetook four hikes and left the “Torreya Challenge” for our next visit. What we loved most about the hiking were the views of Apalachicola River, which feeds the productive Apalachicola Bay, the high plateaus, steep bluffs, the deep ravines, the rich hardwood hammocks, pine flatwoods, and hiking down into floodplain forests.
Our first hike was on the Weeping Ridge Trail. Directions said allow 30 minutes and it was every bit that! We went down into a deep ravine…but then you have to climb back up! We’re glad we had our hiking poles and used them. Here are a few pictures from this hike:
It was 1.6 miles for us and took 33 minutes of actual moving. We did stop and enjoyed the scenery.
On our day two, we decided to hike the Torreya Trail, which is about 7 miles. Debbie was feeling so good and excited to be in such a great hiking environment, she took a long way to the dumpster and clocked a mile before the big hike started. Her final total was 8.04 mile for a total walking time of two hours and 45 minutes. Bill hiked the full 7 miles. We were outside in this beautiful park nearly 5 hours by the time we returned to our campsite. We enjoyed all the scenery and had a snack while we sat on a bench, enjoying the river. Here are a few pictures of this hike, which captures the best this park has to offer – having not seen the Torreya Challenge!
Such rich foliage.Looking up at the Gregory HouseGreat trailsWe sat on a bench and watched the fast moving riverThis was a “staircase” root structure to climb downSuch diversityThere were a number of “bridges” over ravines and streams.The Trail is on the left, the Challenge is on rightThis was our big hike!
On day three, we decided to take a shorter hike. We tried to get to the trailhead for the Torreya Challenge. We walked at least three miles round trip and never made it there. It was quite a hike just trying to get over there so we decided we will just have to come back! So we made a great campfire and enjoyed the campground.
On our day 4 was a bonus to the park, touring of the Historic Gregory House. From a website, a few details: the Gregory House is “beautiful Southern mansion built in 1849, the house is open to the public on a daily basis. The house was built by Jason Gregory, a prominent Calhoun County planter, in 1849. The home originally stood across the river from the state park at Ocheesee Landing, but was moved here and restored during the 1930s….”
We hope to return here next winter, January-February time frame. Our next stop is our last Florida State Park for a while, Little Talbot Island in Jacksonville.
For a full write up about Torreya State Park campground, our review is on Campendium.
We can’t wait to return to this campground. For us, this has been a fabulous week, even though we took a half of a day to drive to Pensacola to go to an Urgent Care Clinic. What makes this park so great is that it is isolated and surrounded by such great beauty. But if you have an emergency, it was only a 30 mile drive.
We have been hiking in the woods for years, so we know to check Bill for ticks as he seems to pick one up every time. But after our first big hike on our Day 2, we were pretty exhausted and decided it had been too cold for the ticks to come out.
The next morning, Day 3, we decided to check and guess what, the big tick was actually sucking the lifeblood out of me (Debbie). Since the last time I removed a tick, we had a problem with it (Bill developed a bulls eye from the bite), I googled how to correctly remove a tick. The first thing it said was to stay calm (I needed that since I was freaking out), it’s not that big of a deal (or something to that effect). Then Bill did exactly what it said but he could not get the tick off.
Tick removal key
And it started to turn red….so off we went before breakfast to the closest Urgent Care Clinic in our health care plan. The great news is that the doctor just bought a tick key and was happy to finally try it. He confessed they don’t always get them out as easily as one would think. So it worked perfectly and off we went for the antibiotic “just in case” and to Gander Mountain to buy our own key! We now own the best device to remove ticks! And the great news is that we didn’t have another all week!
After we returned from Pensacola, we decided we would take a shorter hike from the campground. We enjoyed the Chain of Lakes Nature Trail. It was a 4.5 mile hike from our campground to the trail head and back. It was beautiful and unique as you can see from these pictures. But again, we didn’t see any birds or hear another wild life. But we did meet two fine young men. One was on Spring Break from college (studying to be a dentist) and his long time friend who is assigned to NAS Whiting, in pilot training. It’s so refreshing to met such young people of promise, out enjoying a beautiful day in nature.
Day 4: We were now ready to tackle the rest of the Juniper Creek Nature Trail, hiking north. We began the hike from our campsite, out of the front of the campground and to the trail head. This trail was pretty unremarkable compared to the hike on Day 2. Once we got on the trail, about 3/4 mile, the forest had been thinned out by a controlled burn. Knowing we had 8 miles ahead of us, we thought we would make good time, so we had a good pace. Once we entered the denser forest, the trail narrowed (ugh, ticks?) and actually began to appear that very few people hike on this part of the trail. Once we hit the 4 mile mark, we thought we came to the road where we had hiked down from the northern trail head on Day 2. We went a little further to make sure, and since the trail hadn’t been very challenging, another 1/2 mile was ok. When we turned around, we realized we had been hiking downhill and now we faced our first challenge: hiking uphill! We really enjoyed the fact that we had hiked the entire length of this trail, even if over two days! Here are just a few pictures:
Official trailhead using blue blazes.Trail was really pretty easy most of the way.There was an interesting bridge or two.Alligator Creek
Day 5: The weather forecast was 100% chance of rain! So we decided to go into Milton and do laundry and pick up a few groceries. The closest laundry mat in Milton didn’t have hot water, so we drove a few more miles west to Pace. The laundry mat is behind the dry cleaners in the Winn Dixie Shopping Center. They have secure wifi on top of plenty of machines.
While it looked like rain all day, it never did rain. We hoped the weather would remain good and on Day 6, we would rent kayaks from The Original Blackwater Canoe Rental and try it. Our campground is within walking distance of the terminus of the river trip. The Blackwater River is perfect for beginners and is the only sand bottom river left in the United States. But that 100% rain came a day late, on our last day here. We originally were supposed to leave on Day 6, but we checked with Reserve America and booked another night, which meant we had to change sites. We decided it was worth saving $30 and canceled the private RV Resort we had booked.
We then cooked our meals for the next few days, and then spent time outside visiting other campers. We met a lot of wonderful people who also loved this campground! Most had been here before. We had hoped to have a campfire as the weather cooled down a bit. But the rain started back up, but we had such a full week, it was OK!
We are headed to Ochlocknee River State Park near Sopchoppy. We expect more of what we had here as these two state parks were recommended to us by another couple, The Lowes, also full-timers, bloggers, nature lovers (especially photograph fabulous pictures of birds) and they love to hike! (PS they recommended the PixxiBook.com site to convert our blog to photo books!)
“Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3
We’ve only stayed at a few places where we’ve said, WOW, this is great! This is one such park, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. So upfront, what we liked right away: it’s in a state park but has full hook-ups, price is right, small but enough room between sites, level sites, small gravel base to it, and on every site: barbecue grill, picnic table, campfire ring and clothes line (seems these last two things are in most state park campgrounds). The camp host was very helpful and sold firewood bundles for $5.50. (Our official review of the park on Campendium.)
We only found two things that might hinder ones ability to enjoy this campground. First, as we are learning with all the Florida State Parks during peak season, it is hard to get reservations for the dates you want (like Friday and Saturday nights). But we have learned some ways to work around it. More later. And the next was the sound of freedom. This State Park is near Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting, one of the Navy’s two primary pilot training bases. We have both lived near military bases so the sound only makes us think of “freedom.” And sadly, while we were here, the 11 Military crewmen were killed in a training accident nearby. We will never denigrate our military and we will always appreciate the sounds of freedom. So for us, this was not a negative.
The drive here was beautiful but we did have a concern or two due to a narrow bridge as we got closer – but it’s under construction. Here are pictures of our drive here and the campground:
We let a truck coming towards us cross the bridge first! We’re here!Note the sign says “Campground full”There is a fee to enter, camp or even dry camp.We were on Titi Circle. These sites seem smaller, thus more “crowded”Such beautiful sites!
Upon arrival and an easy set up, we took off to explore and scope out the hiking. We walked as big of a loop as possible around the campground and it was only 1.78 to the beach and fabulous scenery. Here is a gallery of our first walk:
After walking around the campsites, we found this entrance.Love the “mirror” lake effect!We never saw any other wildlifeLots of little beaches around the river. This is the main one at the campgroundPart of the board walk to the pavilions Oh, my! Well we are in Florida after all!Some parts of the nature trail have lots of roots! And some parts of the trail make for an easy walk. Our route for the 1.78 mile walk around the campground and on a nature trail
We were ready for an adventurous week, although the weather reports said Monday would be the only day without rain. So we had to decide how could we maximize our hiking. We did some research and discovered the Juniper Creek 8.1 mile hike, one way. It would start at the Deaton Bridge Trailhead, less than a mile from our campsite, ending at the Red Rock Trailhead. The highlights were to hike along Juniper Creek, experience a dramatic view from top of The Bluffs (we couldn’t resist this!), see more sandy beaches and hopefully see some laurel blooms that start in the spring. We did some evidence of spring!
One thing we love about hiking is the solitude, the beauty of God’s creation and just being in nature! We only saw four people on this hike. As we drove on Red Rocks Road to the parking lot, we saw a hiker emerge from the woods. By the time we parked and got our gear ready, he was close to us, coming down to the creek for more water. His name is Mover and he started hiking at Key West in January and is s headed to Canada! He told us he spent the night in the shelter on this trail. We asked if he saw The Bluffs and he said he did…but we’re not really sure if he did or not as they were not easy to find if you followed the blue blaze trail. We didn’t walk down far enough to enter at the official trailhead…so we walked right to them.
The trail was very diverseThe Bluffs! These are not easy to find unless you are looking for them!We came right to them….Debbie standing as close to the edge as she dared!These are at least 100 feet deep.More trail diversity!Bill will pay for taking the only picture of the shelter with Debbie reading the hikers log!We were so glad we had our hiking poles!There were nine such “bridges.”We saw one kayaker and these two canoeists. The stopped at the shelter for a break. They had quite a climb up!This is the official trailhead. We came out here after 8 miles. The Florida Nature Trail continues across the street.
So what more can we experience after this perfect day? It doesn’t get much better than this….or does it! Read here for the next post as we continue this fabulous adventure in the Blackwater RIVER State Park.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
Ok, I have to now be honest. There is one thing we don’t like here…and that is the reservation system. First, it’s hard to get winter reservations over a few days, especially Friday and Saturday night. We do all we can to avoid traveling on Sundays. That is our sacred day, if you want to call it that. We feel it is important to worship our Lord God Almighty “corporately” (with other like-minded believers) once a week. Read Chapter 3, OK, we forgave each other, now what?) We worship Him privately and every day. In fact, we feel closer to Him in this lifestyle because we no longer have all the trappings of our “stuff” and the routines of life. When you live in a “tin box” it seems you need Him more…..we really are living on faith. And we are free to see Him in all His glory as we travel along the beaches, in the mountains, in the history of this great nation, among the beauty of His gardens, in the faces of those we meet, and most importantly in our ability to see family along the way! But about that reservation system, while we could only get four days which puts us out of here on a Sunday, it really is sort of good as this park never seemed really crammed full of people!
We just didn’t get to see or do enough here! Next time, we hope to hike on every nature trail, not only walk more on the beach, but hopefully, be able to sit and enjoy the sounds of the waves lapping against the perfectly white sands! So we managed at least a five mile nature hike. We walk for our health and well-being. And we hope it is going to keep us younger and more limber as we begin to fully enjoy our retirement years.
Here is our campsite and immediate area. The tree roots really damaged this streets concrete pads.
Just us…and showing neighbors on each side.
So here are some of our remaining pictures:
Campground layoutCan you see the deer?GorgeousWe walked to the nature trail via the beachWe just can’t get enough of the beachThe dunes for which this area is named for, Topsail Hill. The tallest one is 25 feet!Approaching the entrance of the trailPristine woods!Petrified sea foam? We didn’t touch itWell marked signagePeeking at Morris LakeNote the signFabulous nature trailsAnd now back to the campsite!
We’re addicted – to Florida State Parks! This is our second one and it was a wonderful as the Florida Caverns, but in a different way. Initially, we were a bit underwhelmed. We were warned by our tent camping neighbor the falls weren’t big, but they did go deep. So as soon as we set up camp (we only drove 25 miles to this park), we took a quick hike to see the falls. We were surprised to see a sweet little beach and very nice trails and “board walks” around the sink holes.
Well, our neighbor was right, these were not really big falls, but they were still a sight to behold. Then we figured out this park isn’t very big either! We love to hike and thought we would have longer hikes in this park. Click here for our official review of the park.
Here are pictures of day one, Friday, February 27, 2015:
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Day 2, Saturday, February 28, 2015 pictures. Not the best photography and I forgot to turn on the Map My Hike app. We guessed it had to be three miles and we were panting up and down a few hills:
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We hadn’t had an opportunity to build a campfire, so we were able to have a campfire here each night. We are focusing on the positive, but there was a family reunion nearby that had many “wild” children (with little to no adult supervision) running around and bike riding down the hill in front of our campsite. Our immediate neighbors were great, but for first 3 days, these precious children were rambunctious. However, we knew this environment was good for them…so we tried to not let it bother us! And we hoped and prayed none of them got hurt. While that hindered the solitude we wanted to enjoy, we loved the fact we could just walk from our camper to a hike. At least it was quiet on our walks as the children stayed on the pavement!
We went to First Baptist Church of Chipley Sunday morning. We were amazed this little town had three services. We really enjoyed the second service which had a great mix of hymns and contemporary worship. The sermon was what we needed to hear and the people very welcoming. We were encouraged to not be shy about our faith, to reevaluate our “mission.” So we did and vowed to try to reach out more and to really not let a bunch of wild children get to us!
Upon arrival back to camp, it seemed deserted! Everyone was gone – except the hosts and a few campers who never were there. So we began to really relax, enjoy the quiet, prepared lunch and were looking forward to more exploring. We took the complete fence line trail around the campground and were disappointed to learn it was only 2.36 miles! But those hills and changing terrain still gave us a good workout.
Then about mid day, we heard a lot of noise….there goes the peace and quiet! We saw two trucks and a bunch of college aged men setting up camp….and they seemed a bit rowdy….
I had to go check them out….and “reach out.” They said they were on spring break from Florida College. We’ve lived in Florida for 10 years and we’ve never heard of the college, so I googled it when I returned to the camper. It’s a small Christian college so when the guys said they wouldn’t be wild, I knew we had nothing to worry about. Slowly, the campground filled up again.
We built our campfire the third night and began to enjoy the warmth and solitude. But then I began to hear men singing, softly. Bill thought it was road noise from I-10. It was the first time we could hear the traffic a little, but I thought I heard “hallelujah.” I kept straining and finally had to sneak over to listen. I heard a song I love, “Blessed be the name of the Lord” so then I knew it was the 8 young men, sitting around their campfire, singing praise and worship songs. What a blessing to hear their sweet melodies in this serene setting! We made brief introductions and it was so rewarding to learn about their plans for their future employment, all very diverse. They invited us over to join them, but since we had our fire going and neither wanted to embarrass ourselves with our weak voices. Well, Bill can carry a tune, but I say I sing monotone and am tone deaf! But we enjoyed their singing in the serenity of God’s creation!
New tires now all the way around!
Monday, March 2, 2015: We still needed two tires after our one flat in Crystal River. Bill decided we should replace all four tires on the camper. So we spent a lot of time trying to find someone who sells this unusual tire size. It was looking hopeless to find the tire, but then we found a tire store in Marianna sold them. That was near the Florida Caverns State Park. We kicked ourselves that we didn’t search for them sooner since we were staying there. But to be honest, we had too much fun to even think about the tire situation. So we made Monday a work day. Bill dropped me off to do our laundry in Chipley, then he drove the 25 miles back to Marianna.
On the way back in to the campground, we saw a van setting up a directional sign into the campground. We wondered what that might bring. It turned out to be about a group of about 16 cyclists on an adventure ride begin arriving in mid-afternoon. Two campsites next to us filled up with tents and bike gear while their coordinator set up the kitchen, dining and equipment area next to the young men. These cyclists were mostly young to middle aged adults on “vacation.” They rode 60 miles to the campground, from St. Andrew State Park in Panama City Beach. They were going to ride about 350 miles over 6 days. I later learned “Adventure Cycling” is a nationwide non-profit that promotes cycling.
Here are more pictures of the sites around us, focusing on the new neighbors, the cyclists and the young men’s campsite:
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And finally, our last day here and more pics of things I forgot to photograph!
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Our challenge for this State Park experience was to learn to conserve water as this site only had water and electricity-no sewer hookup. We were pleased to report at the end, we can make it for 5 days! Bill did carry a 5 gallon bucket of our kitchen water to the dishwashing station each day. We couldn’t conserve on water while we cooked and did our dishes in scalding water.
So in summary, the highlights to this campground was: making friends with the 8 young men – they came over and convinced us to join them our last night there; meeting the adventure cyclists (if my knees were better, I could see riding along with them); the daily hikes, even if shorter than we prefer, they were hilly enough to challenge us; nightly campfires, especially the night we enjoyed singing with the young men around their campfire; and learning we can now camp for 5 nights without sewer hook ups.
So now I have 8 new young friends on FaceBook and I keep singing (silently, to myself and the Lord) “In Christ Alone” – which we all sang around the campfire our last night here. What GREAT memories and new friends we made!
In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled, when strivings cease My comforter, my all in all Here, in the love of Christ, I stand
In Christ alone, who took on flesh Fullness of God in helpless babe This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save ‘Til on that cross, as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin, on Him, was laid Here, in the death of Christ, I live
There in the ground, His body lay Light of the world, by darkness, slain Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave, He rose again And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me For I am His and He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ
We just finished the cavern tour! It was cooler outside than in the caverns, which was unusual.
Finally, we are staying in a state park! In looking for a Class A motorhome, we’ve said we wanted one 35′ so we can stay in state and national parks. BUT with all the things we want in one, it looks like we’d need a 40′ one. Long story short, we’ve put that big purchase on hold and said why not see if we even like camping in State Parks. So we’ve made reservations at three in the Panhandle of Florida. Bill actually sets the itinerary and I just enjoy the ride. How and why he picked these campgrounds is beyond me, but I have loved everywhere he has taken us! He’s been reading travel magazines for years and traveling like this is really a long held dream of his.
What a great start to our experiences and what a great first park to learn the ropes. We’ve always said the only thing we really needed to camp as a full-hook up (water, electricity and sewer). We rarely use any of the amenities at the RV resorts. About the only thing we’ve done in the 47 locations for 378 nights was sleep and eat in our RV. We normally go and explore the county we are staying in. As full timers, we seem to be on the roll, seeing as many places as we can, learning as much history as possible, climb as many mountains as possible and take long walks on the beach when on the coast.
The blue dot is our campsite
And now we have slowed our pace down and we like it! We arrived on Monday, February 23, 2015 at around 2 pm. The Ranger who checked us in said there were two Cavern Tours we could take, 2:30 or 3:30. Then there are no tours on Tuesday or Wednesday. We felt fortunate we could make the 3:30 tour. So we set up quickly and got acclimated.
We couldn’t believe how great the site was, very level with not only water and electricity, but also sewer! WOW! But we soon learned this is rare. We were prepared to learn how to not use fill our tanks….that’s another subject. We had a little problem as we tried to use the sewer so we had to ask for the Camp Host to help us. As it turned out, the last user left their cap stuck in it! She was excited when she saw our for sale sign. Her daughter and husband were in the market for a used 5th wheel. So we gave her the grand tour and almost missed the 3:30 tour!
So off for the cavern tour, which was lead by a wonderful volunteer. He is a disabled vet with a great wit and tremendous knowledge of the caverns. There were nine of us, all adults. He said he was so glad as he had several 5th grade classes earlier in the day. TIP: If you are more into solitude and like a quieter environment, go on the later tours. They host about 20 elementary students at a time and as we learned, they all like to talk at the same time. We could hear each group echoing over the hills as they meandered around the trails waiting for their turns with a tour guide when we went back on Thursday around 1:00 pm. From one official website:
Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna is far removed from the white sand beaches that give Florida its fame, but is nevertheless a place of remarkable beauty.
Much of Florida has a karst topography. This is the term geologists use to mean the state rests over layers of limestone and dolomite. Over thousands of years, trickling water slowly erodes away these strata, creating caves and caverns.
Evidence of the state’s karst topography can be seen in its many springs and sinkholes, but few possess the stunning natural beauty of the massive tour cave at Florida Caverns State Park. Easy to access from Interstate 10 and U.S. Highways 231 and 90,the park is a remarkable place.” And we agree!
Here are a few pictures from inside these unique caverns:
Spell binding!
We had to squeeze into some spaces
Bill had to duck a lot!
Everyone was mesmarized
Enchanting!
All caverns seem to add colored lights to accentuate the caverns
Our view as we came out. We could hardly wait to return to explore the tops of the cavern.
We went home to eat as we skipped lunch to set up and hurry for the tour. We had left over home made beef vegetable soup and a fresh salad. The soup was great after an invigorating day outside and in a cool forest setting.
We couldn’t wait to get out and take a long hike, right from our site! We had no idea where it would lead or what we would see, but the Ranger said we should see some beautiful birds and deer. No bears here! So we ended up walking on the trail to the stables, primitive campground and picnic area. It was 4.7 miles and we did see a herd of deer! But no birds…I think we were too noisy!
The next day, there was 100% chance of rain by 1:00, so we went out earlier and took the fence line trail, which ended up being 4.16 miles. We only saw squirrels and a few birds, but it was still a glorious walk in the woods! Here are a few pictures from this walk:
The trails were well marked.
These are called “buttressed” trees. They had to adapt to the water by forming wide trunks.
There were two overlooks to really see the sink holes filled with water.
These sink holes are filled with water.
Looking up!
The weather most of the week.
Our last day, we went back to hike on the few trails above the cavern. We read in Trip Advisor that these trails were a bit challenging. There were a lot of roots and rough terrain. But somehow we missed the trail and ended up climbing a challenging hill, which is something we do like!
As we survey the area, we have no idea what we are in for!
Bluff Trail entrance.
Should we try it?
Bill’s not sure about it. He’ll have to duck the whole way through and we have no idea what all is in there.
Ok, slightly wet.
But we are challenged to squeeze through this tunnel cave…we did it!
Here I am coming out in one piece and not muddy!
Challenging terrain.
Florida foliage-which we love.
There were a number of holes down into the cavern, fenced off for safety.
This challenge is in response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Express Yourself.” I needed a prompt to blog during our “down time” to handle the mundane tasks of life. Today, I am supposed to finish preparing our taxes for our accountant. We’re due a refund so I don’t need much motivation, but being a full-timer now, makes it so hard to sit inside the camper while it is a GORGEOUS day outside. I’ve already put it off enough and today is my deadline. So after reading Ingrid’s blog post this morning, I decided to take a quick detour and join this weekly photo challenge!
There are four things in this world I love as we travel. So first, the foundation of our marriage began walking on a beach in Jacksonville, Florida 40 years ago, just about to the month! We were “falling” in love and discovered we both love the beach. Here is a picture of our recent walk on Little Talbot Island near Jacksonville.
The walk to the beach
Bill lived in Jacksonville, FL soon after graduating from Vale Tech training institute. He fell in love with the beaches and vowed to never move north….then he met me (Debbie), who was from the north. And like the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, it looks like we’ve been wandering that long too!
We decided to travel full time because we no longer care, where we live (in a stix and bricks house). Because as much as we love the beach, we’ve decided it’s not the place to live…permanently! We love to visit and during the off season! We just bundle up a bit!
So the next thing we discovered about each other is that we love to visit historic places, museums and gardens. So while in Jacksonville, we went to a garden/museum we had not visited before, the Cummer Museum, a garden and art museum. Now this was a bonus visit as it also had a great water feature, the St. John’s River! My words just can’t do it justice! And then this fabulous urban museum overlooks the St. John River where I captured a boat gliding by with a bridge just peeking through my pictures. This was once a sanctuary for a family to express themselves, entertain and eventually help rebuild Jacksonville after the great fire of 1901.
And then our third love, we discovered we had was in July 2003, hiking! After we moved to Florida in 2005 (the Bible says God will give you the desires of your heart, so this was after 30 years of marriage), we thought our new found love of the mountains was never to be revisited. But alas, in November 2013, we discovered we could easily find ways to hike. We just take our mobile-home with us and go to the mountains. And have we ever! Here are a few snaps of our most recent visit to the mountains, near Franklin, NC.
We discovered our love of hiking goes back to our childhoods. Bill played in the hilly woods growing up outside of Pittsburgh, PA. And I spent a glorious six years in Colorado Springs, CO as an adventurous little girl.
View near Fontana Dam, NCOne of the many falls in the areaWe can’t get enough of water features!
So this brings me to our last great love of things on this earth and it is because of this, we have become full-time RVers! So we praise God for whom all blessings flow for delivering to us the next best thing in life, next to our own child, is our grandson! You see, when he was born, we lived 800 miles apart. And we were in Florida where Bill had yearned to return after our marriage nearly 40 years ago! So here I sit in the warmth of Florida while I blog, and thinking on these things that really help express who I am!
As we write this (January 23, 2015), we have now spent 347 nights in our RV, changed our location 44 times, have stayed in 29 different RV Resorts, and towed our rig around 12,000 miles! So far, we have only been traveling around Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. We became official full-timers on July 16, 2014 after we sold our home. We have been asked what is it really like living in an RV full-time. First of all, we must love it as we sold our home after nearly a year of extended stay RVing (we’d stay in some places for a month or two). But most important, we are now about to start on a 10 year plan, hoping to do this at least 10 more years. We’re discovering with this type of commitment, a Class A Motorhome is in our near future for multiple reasons.
We digress, let’s look at our perfect travel day in our world of adventure. We keep a handwritten journal about each stay with enough notes to remind us of the adventure. So just a page from our journal on one of our nearly perfect travel adventures: ]
On May 3, 2014 we woke up about 6 am, excited about our next adventure, to travel from Front Royal, Virginia to Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA, Staunton, Virginia. We ate our normal breakfast, fresh fruit, grains and protein. Then we packed up and secured the inside of the RV for the trip. Debbie generally does all the inside work while Bill goes outside and does the harder things such as cleaning out the black and gray tanks! We’ll spare you all the details, but Debbie has the better end of the deal! But it is all team work, working closely together to make sure every thing is secured.
The weather was perfect so no glitches and within an hour, we are locked and loaded up! We make an easy lunch to carry, simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some chips and water. We love only traveling 200-250 miles a day, but for this, it was only about 90 miles. But we drove on the Scenic Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park (cost is $10 but the pass is for a week or so. Next time, we will be eligible to pay the same price but the pass will be for a life time. A benefit of being over 62). This is a 35 mile per hour road with fabulous scenery and many winding turns. What could have been a quick trip, under two hours, we took our time, driving for over four hours. It was simply amazing as you can see in just a few of our pictures:
We originally had planned to stay on Skyline and then onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. But we were going to meet friends to camp near Asheville, NC on May 9. We could have taken a week to make the trip whereas we needed to make better time!
Our arrival at our destination was about as good as they get! We were greeted with enthusiastic KOA Staff. They did everything to make us feel welcome and refreshed us by saying we had a prime spot (for no extra charge). This is the beauty of traveling “off season” and during the week! We have a nice big window that rarely has a great view and they made sure we had that view of the lake!
Driving into the campgroundPart of our walk looking at our site, second from the leftOur view from our window
We each have designated jobs, again Debbie setting up inside and Bill outside. Again, as a team, all jobs were done with Debbie preparing dinner. For those who know us, know Bill is really the cook of the family. But he likes to cook once and eat twice, so Debbie only had to make fresh salads and heat up leftovers!
After dinner, we were ready to take a nice long walk around the park. Debbie was so excited about the trip, she stayed inside and downloaded pictures and journaled while Bill visited with our very interesting neighbors.
We always start our day with prayer and at the end of the day, give thanks to our Lord for another safe travel day! We went to bed around 9 pm, ready for a good night sleep so we could hit the mountains for lots of great hiking!
I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from?
We’ve seen really cool travel maps from other’s blog sites but when we tried to make ours, it looked confusing. It’s at the bottom of this page, so we’re going to break our trips down with a summary of our time spent on each road trip up until we became full timers. We haven’t been able to blog about each location as initially hoped. We can blame it on poor internet connectivity and poor time management – having too much fun to find time to blog – but then we need the blog to help us remember what we’ve done!
Let’s break this down to our first two trips:
Dates 9/5-7/2013 & 9/17-21/2013
We bought our Keystone Cougar X-lite RV on September 4, 2013 at Camping World, Tampa, FL. We had looked at Class A motor homes for about 3 years, but when it came to buy one, we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. But we needed an RV for our upcoming month long stay near our new grandson. I’ve blogged about that journey here. We about gave up on buying anything when we stopped at “just one more” RV show. This time Bill said let’s look in everything. We parked at the same time next to a brand new Ford F-150 Ecoboost. The new proud owner said he was there to look at 5th wheels to tow. We were shocked you could tow one, so we headed to the first 5th wheel we saw. We stepped inside and were so impressed. Then a man came in and said randomly, “Can you believe, you can tow this with a Ford F-150 Ecoboost?” We were hooked and long story short, we bought ours the next day! And it was the end of the year sales on the Ford Trucks, so what a great time to buy a new 2013 truck! The RV salesman gave us two free nights to stay just a mile from the store at Tampa East RV Resort. Even thought it poured down rain our first night, we felt we were at “home.”
We went home and began to plan our “maiden voyage” to Port St. Lucie RV Resort. We lived about smack dab in the middle of these two resorts, so around a two hour drive to our home. Again, we were so comfortable, we couldn’t wait to make our first trip up to Fredericksburg, Virginia to spend a month with our first grandson.
OUR THIRD ROAD TRIP:
10/4-12/1/2013 (56 nights)
Our daughter had to return to work when her baby was 2 months old. So we suggested coming up for a month to watch him so he wouldn’t start day care until he was 3 months old. What a blessing that was! We were excited to get there, but to also begin some fun adventures in our new RV. So we stopped at Jekyll Island, South Carolina (#2 on map) for our first stop on the way up the coast. There was great history (we did a self guided walking tour as well as the tram tour) and fabulous beaches. A very serene island! We enjoyed church at the friendly and historic Baptist Church. What a great time and we vowed we would return one day! But so far, we haven’t….By the way, we love the beach, which was one thing we had in common when we first met!
Bill researched and discovered the closest RV parks that were right on the beach were in Myrtle Beach. While it sounded good, I (Debbie) was a bit concerned about all the sand getting into our moving parts, our slides! But my fears were alleviated when I saw we were actually on the other side of dunes and on a concrete slab. So we stayed in Ocean Lakes Campground (#3 on map) and discovered Myrtle Beach is the best beach for a long walk! We vowed we would return and we have!
After staying on the beach, it was time to go learn how to be grand parents. So off we were to the Fredericksburg/Washington DC KOA Campground (#4 on map), just a few miles from our daughter’s home. This resort is very nice, but I don’t know how bigger RV’s make it down the narrow and winding road. It is very convenient from I-95 but far enough away that you don’t hear the road noise. We stayed here for 40 nights and loved every second we had with our precious grand baby. If not for the fun so far in our RV, I may have put my foot down and said we need to move back to Fredericksburg….but that would have not gone over very well with Bill since he vowed he would never move back there due to the traffic! But I digress.
Bill has a knack for finding interesting places to visit. So after some research, he selected Forest Lake RV (#5 on map), Advance, North Carolina. We didn’t blog about this stay, but we had a blast. However, this campground was a bit lacking in ambience, but it had all the amenities we needed (full hook ups). And the bonus was that since I post on Facebook where we are, we were able to meet up with a long lost cousin and had a great time touring the Billy Graham Library and Museum with them. We also had some great hiking (Boone’s Cave, Lexington, NC) as we discovered in 2003 how much we love to hike in the mountains. We both love history, so finding interesting places to visit, coupled with either mountains or beaches makes for a lot of fun and adventure for us.
Speaking of history, our next stop was in Milledgeville, Georgia. This was the first state capital of Georgia. The campground name was very deceiving but the history we stumbled on made up for the basic campground, Scenic Mountain RV Resort (#6 on map). Good parts about the “resort” (a term that doesn’t really do it justice) was that it was conveniently located to the wonderful history, the price was excellent (Passport America), laundry room was nice, and the NEW staff was super friendly and helpful. The downside was that most of people in the resort were full time residents. That tends to change the “ambiance” of a park. What we loved about Milledgeville was that it is a small college town and the historic area has been fabulously preserved. We visited several mansions, but our favorite was the Old Capital Museum. The Docent or tour guide was a college student studying history. What a bonus and it was our favorite historical tour to date. We enjoyed church at Covenant Presbyterian Church – same name as our church in Sebring. As for hiking, we couldn’t find that scenic mountain! But one mansion we toured had a great self-guided walking tour of the grounds, a good one mile walk.
And the final location, Panama City Beach RV Resort (#7 on map). You get what you pay for! This was our most expensive resort to date, but it was absolutely fabulous! I’m not good at keeping track of how much we spend, but it was around $45 and they did give Good Sam Club discount. We actually met friends here (they camped in a pop-up tent in the Saint Andrews State Park, within walking distance) there for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The bad news was that it was the coldest week ever! The water was turned off one night due to the freezing temperatures. But hanging out with friends made it worthwhile! We enjoyed an evening at their campsite with a campfire cooked dinner (yummy)!
The next day, they came to our camper for a warm Thanksgiving dinner inside (it was so cold outside). We each prepared part of the meal so it was no burden for anyone. We had planned to cook a turkey in our new stove…what a shock when we finally looked inside it. You can only cook a pan of brownies in it! So we cheated and let Publix cook the turkey for us.
The best lesson we learned here was when to travel. The absolutely worst day to try and drive, especially when it was a normally 7 hour trip, is the Sunday after a holiday. It took us 11 hours to get home. NOT FUN towing a 5th wheel. What is so sad is that since we are retired, there was no rush to get home and we wished we had stayed another day or found a place to stop about 1/2 home. So we vowed we will limit our travel days and actually learned the best days to travel are Tuesdays and Thursdays for some reason. And we absolutely loved the long journey and the 56 nights!
FOURTH ROAD TRIP
12/18/2013-1/7/2014 (23 nights)
We learned how to be flexible this time out. Our grandson became ill and couldn’t be in day care. I can pack a suitcase in about 30 minutes, so I flew up as fast as I could get to the airport. We had planned to return for Christmas, but not sure if the weather would allow it. We had two weeks to decide. Bill joined me about two weeks later, towing the RV! So he made his first trip by himself, traveling to Jolly Time Acres, St. George, SC. It was a Passport America campground, basic, but the friendly staff made it pleasant. Bill learned he can hook up and unhook the 5th wheel by himself as well as do all the setting up. Then he headed back to the Fredericksburg/Washington DC KOA campground again, for our second stay. That was over 800 miles in two days! But since he traveled mid-week, traffic wasn’t bad. We had a fantastic Christmas, having a grandbaby made it so special. My sister and her husband live about 2 hours away from our daughter, so it was great that they came up for the day and we meet again a few days later.
Our trip home was back to the beach, Myrtle Beach, but this time, PirateLand. It was next door virtually to Ocean Lakes. We ended up preferring PirateLand because they give the Good Sam Club discount. Both are equally good, although Ocean Lakes may have a bit more ambiance! This winter was unusual, so we were told, so it was a bit cold. In fact, the day we left it was 19 degrees! As Bill unhooked the water, some dripped as usual, but it froze the minute it hit the concrete pad! Thanks again to FaceBook, we got up with an old prayer partner from our first church in New Jersey. So we hung out with him some, had dinner together, visited his home and learned more about the area.
Our final leg of the trip home was to stay in the Jacksonville North/St. Mary’s KOA. We joined KOA so earned enough points for a free night! This KOA is very convenient to I-95. The staff is outstanding and of course, there are all the normal amenities. Plus it has a nice layout that we could get in a two mile walk at night. By now, we have spend a total of 87 nights in our RV and towed it 4,627 miles. We are beginning to dream about going full-time!
FIFTH ROAD TRIP and last before we become full-timers!
3/22-5/20/2014 (55 nights)
Time for our spring visit to our daughter to celebrate her birthday and our anniversary (in the same month, so we make a big deal for both every year). Might as well see as much as possible as we have the luxury of time for this road trip. We stayed at 9 resorts and this time decided to add the mountains to our return trip. But was you may begin to notice, we are returning to some of our favorite places, if nothing else, they are convenient for our trek between Florida and Virginia.
First stop is back to the Jacksonville North/St. Mary’s KOA. It had been about 10 weeks since we were out in the RV. It was in the shop nearly the whole time getting a bunch of warranty repairs taken care of. We also began to sell off our rental properties as we now have the vision to go full time. So Bill had to do a lot of labor (worked 7 days a week for three weeks – but took time off for Church) as he prepared some of the houses for sale. We are learning as we age, we need to take our time doing things (like packing) so we had a great list of everything we knew we needed as we planned for nearly two months on the road. But of course, we forgot the wonderful lunch we had packed for our arrival to the KOA (it’s only about 4 hours from home), rain gear, shower soap, and dish soap. Thank goodness for Walmart for the little things, but guess we’ll get wet if it rains (main thing is to use while Bill may empty our tanks in the rain).
We initially planned to go to Cedar Creek, NC from here, but when we woke up, we heard Myrtle Beach calling us! What a draw it has on us. (Editing this in July 2023, now we know the draw as this is where we “settled” down!) We stayed back in PirateLand. This time we toured historic Georgetown. We arrived in summer clothes, but quickly had to bundle up! We loved the history of the rice plantations. We didn’t know that this area was the rice capital of the US until after the Civil War. We only stayed here 3 days as we needed to get to our daughter’s to help them get their townhome ready to sell.
Who would have known we’d be trying to sell our homes at the same time as our daughter. But it helped that Bill is a good painter and really can do about any work needed around a house. So that was how he kept himself occupied while I took care of our grandson, who had a cold. Then Bill got sick as a dog with the flu! He was down and out for about 5 days. I ended up with strep throat, but caught it right away so I only missed one day. So without going into great detail, we needed a week off, so we headed down to Cedar Point, NC for 4 days. We had a great time, discovered Emerald Isle; met up with our family’s Marine who gave us a tour of Camp LaJune and had dinner with his family (he and his wife have a son and twin girls); toured Fort Macon and learned more civil war history, and found a few places for some good walks. It was a really full four days! Then back to Fredericksburg to work and find time to celebrate our anniversary and our daughter’s birthday.
Sadly, it was time to leave our grandson. We never knew a baby boy could change our lives like he did! But then, there was another Baby Boy who changed the world! We are looking forward to celebrating His Birthday this CHRISTmas!
So off we were to return to Florida via the mountains, after all, it was now spring time. We decided we wanted to travel on the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. We did make the entire Skyline Drive and it was pleasant enough, just a bit too slow since we were meeting friends. So much to see and so little time! We actually thought about returning and possibly boon docking on the parkway, but decided we’re addicted to the luxury of full hook ups!
We stayed at the entrance of the Skyline Drive to get us oriented (and pay $10 for a week of on and off the parkway). I blogged about our stay at North Fork Resort in Front Royal, Virginia. Let’s just say we loved the mountains but we probably won’t return to this particular resort! It was definitely the worst one so far (and as I write this after 39 stays, it is still the worst one). Why? The way they treated us! It had the basics we needed, full hook up, but the initial phone call for the reservation should have been a clue they don’t like “strangers.” And it went downhill from there….
Our next stop at the Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA had to be better and it was like night and day! WOW, they made us feel so welcome and couldn’t do enough to make sure our stay was the best. And this one ranks up there as one of the best! We were asked if we’d like to back up to the lake for one thing. Awesome! The “neighbors” who watched were a hoot and very friendly! We loved this place alone and will return one day! Sadly, we haven’t had time to blog about it.
No blog for the next two stops, either. Next, was a short drive so we stopped over night and had a full day to see the sights. We stayed at Yogi Bear’s Jelly Stone Camp Resort at Natural Bridge, Virginia. What a nice campground and beautiful sight this was. We didn’t stay longer because we had a deadline to meet up with our friends. We want to return and spend more time here and especially see the night time Natural Bridge Light show, which tells the story of creation.
Our next stop was Mount Airy where we stayed at the Mayberry Campground. This was a love at first sight experience! From the initial greeting at the office, to the site, the sights around town and the hiking, we vowed to return and we have! We stayed three days and they were three of the most relaxing days of all! No wonder Andy Griffith was such a charming and sweet man! This town raises them that way!
Our next stop was our driving force to get us finally to Ashland, NC.We had wanted to visit here for the 10 years we lived in Fredericksburg but just never made the time. This is one of our best experiences, really enjoyed the church we found, had great hiking and camping with friends – the same friends we spent Thanksgiving with at Panama City Beach. Thankfully, I managed to find time to blog about this GREAT time with our dear friends! Not sure if I ever mentioned, they were the ones who encouraged us to try the mountains for a vacation.
It was now time to get back along the coast, to I-95 to bee-line our way home to Sebring. But first, we spend a fabulous 6 days in Charleston, NC. I was able to blog about this great historical city. The campground was very basic, full hooks ups and a decent enough laundry room. The location was good as we drove both south and north to see all the sights. We tried to see everything so we wouldn’t have to return. We think we succeeded this time. I guess I didn’t mention that part of the reason we are in North Carolina so much is to see if there is a location we would eventually want to settle down in – since Bill doesn’t want to live in Fredericksburg again. I’m OK with that, but my only request is that we live only about 5 hours from our grandson. So far, nothing has really hit us. But Myrtle Beach is the biggest draw, but we don’t think we could live in a resort town again. We lived in Virginia Beach for 7 years. It is also beyond my mandatory 5 hour drive! LOL!
Our journey is about to come to an end on May 20, 2014, with another overnight stay at the Jacksonville/St. Mary KOA. We’re so glad these excursions ended on such a positive note. We’re now ready to make the plunge. Miraculously, all of our rental homes sold in the depressed market and didn’t kill us too badly (we had a lot of solid equity). So now for the last one to sell – our own home, as well as Bill’s motorcycle (sold the day we “listed it” to someone who had expressed an interest). And to get rid of everything! So in the midst of all this, our daughter’s home sold and they bought a much larger home. So praise God, we’ll gave her a lot of our furniture! We love how things just manage to work out.
But we had no idea how busy our June was about to become because we also have a date to travel to Illinois to spend 10 days with Bill’s mom (June 26-July 8, 2014). We were approaching six weeks of not seeing our grandson – and it’s my birthday and Father’s Day mid-June. So we decided to just drive our car up and stay in a hotel for a “quick trip” from June 12-June 21. We could help our daughter move out of her house along with the celebrations. And wouldn’t you know it, we listed our house right before we left and it sold on June 15 with a closing date of July 15! Talk about adventures! What a whirlwind June and July became! We wrote a blog post how we ended up becoming Full Time RVers – on July 15, 2014!
We have stayed in some very nice “resort” campgrounds. But we’ve noticed, we don’t spend any time there! We take off for the day, to sightsee or be with our grandson. So finally, we spent most of our time in Asheville – at the campground! We did pay more for this one, as with some of the other private resort campgrounds, and finally felt we got our monies worth. We do attribute this to the fact we met friends there and they know how to camp! This was our second time to camp with them and it made it really special.
For one, they love making a campfire, so we really enjoyed it, especially the food cooked on it. While our particular sites didn’t have the view (covered by trees) we did take time and sat and enjoyed the view from this common area, where my friend is fully enjoying the beautiful view! We all sat here for a few hours, soaking it up!
The ride up the mountain to the top to the campground was a bit challenging. All we could think about was what if a Class A motor home was coming down the hill towards us! There was only room for one vehicle! But they said they have never had a problem as everyone comes and goes during the proper check in and check out times. Well, everyone except us! We arrived early. Oh well, no one was coming down late. The manager said that if someone is coming in extra early, they will block the road so only one vehicle is on it. We talked to several owners of bigger RVs and no one seemed bothered by the drive up. I guess that means we are still rookies.
Our campsite was actually the end site for RVs. We were told that all the wild life comes up to our site early in the morning, so we hoped to see some…but while eating dinner our first night, we had a visitor, a wild turkey! That was about it for the wildlife. We were cautioned about leaving food outside as there had been some black bear activity. We did enjoy a short hike on a trail nearby, but we didn’t have that much excitement…
Our second day there, Saturday, we went downtown Asheville to shop at Mast General Store. Bill and I needed new hiking boots and I needed a new pair of hiking pants. They gave us GREAT service! We were amazed at how vibrant the downtown was. Busy busy busy! Bill had to search for a place to park. Our truck doesn’t like old downtowns where the parking places a small. Since we’re not shoppers, so we were happy just going to the one store. Our friends visited a few other stores while we took our time getting fitted. We were all hungry for dinner, fresh mountain air, so we hurried home to start the grill and campfire. We had a wonderful dinner enjoying the outdoors.
Sunday, we went to church, which was also Mother’s Day. We found Walnut Hills Baptist Church to attend. It was so vibrant and alive with young people and families! It was very encouraging! The sermon was one of those we will remember for a long time! The pastor used a snickers bar and a diet coke to illustrate his point. Ask us sometime about it!
The rest of the day was pure relaxation – until time to cook an early dinner on the grill and campfire! We all pitched in, so that helped and was fun. We did spend a lot of time in the community park for the great views.
One of the main things we wanted to see in Asheville was The Biltmore. Our friends had seen it many times before – and when it was cheaper – so we went after they left Monday (the husband still works). We didn’t know what to expect, except that it was a place to see. I was hoping it would be worth the money as it is a bit pricy…but we decided in the end, it was well worth it! We wanted to take full advantage of all it had to offer, so we were prepared to do some hiking and brought our lunch and lots of water. The hiking was really more around the grounds but in between the gardens. I saw one other “hiker” in hiking garb – we looked out of place! Most people seemed there for a little stroll where as we were dressed for hiking! It turned out to be just over 3 miles if you take all the side trails and walked all the gardens. While that was good, we were over dressed in our hiking clothes, but it was a good way to break in our new shoes we bought Saturday. We needed all the water I managed to carry as it was hot and sunny!
From the website about the gardens: “Stroll acres of formal and informal gardens designed by America’s foremost landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. From the beauty of the Italian Garden to the breathtaking trees in America’s first managed forest, Biltmore’s lush landscape is a living tribute to Olmsted’s genius. Our horticultural experts continually work to preserve the original vision for the gardens and grounds, including our Rose Garden that features more than 250 varieties. “As a century-old model for forest conservation (and, more recently, for sustainability, thanks to six acres of solar panels), Biltmore continues to honor Vanderbilt’s legacy of environmental protection. “Hike the grounds of our estate at your own pace with our extensive network of trails. Enjoy a walk along the French Broad River, through lush green forests, or the open meadows of Deer Park. Take a stroll on the 2.5 miles of paths in our manicured gardens.”
The Biltmore!
After we toured the house and grounds, we went back for our truck, then had to drive a short ways to the Antler Hill Village. There was more to see there, mainly a showcase for their Vineyards (and wine business – a financial mainstay). But we wanted to learn more about the family life of the Vanderbilt’s. So we visited the Biltmore Legacy – a museum of sorts that really gave the family history you barely touched on at the mansion. After we were done, we decided to really do everything, you needed to be there two days! And ideally, if we didn’t have the RV, we’d want to stay at the Biltmore Hotel on the grounds. Everything was so elegant and the staff was second to none! Just so gracious and pleasant to encounter every where! To learn more, visit their website, which starts out by saying “Travel to a whole new state of mind!”
Our time in North Carolina came to an end and we headed south on Tuesday. We wanted to see so much more, including Maggie Valley. A dear friend was going to stay in her family’s cottage nearby for a month. We had hoped to meet up with her, but missed her by 4 days. So much to see and do and so little time!
Here is a picture of Colin on May 10, his first day at a play ground and in a swing! I think he likes it!
So as I close, I just looked over some scriptures I bookmarked this year as I read through the Bible. I really liked these verses and they seem to reflect how I was feeling as we headed south, and farther away from Colin, Psalm 143:8 & 10:
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!”
Just one of MANY summits and scenes since we began our latest adventure travel.
Reminds me: Isaiah 40:31
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Entrance to the National Park. There is a $10 fee for 7 days use. Once you hit 62, you just pay $10 for a lifetime pass. Something to look forward to….
We lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia from 1996 – 2004, but never visited this quaint town before now. In fact, we didn’t start really enjoying the Shenandoah Valley or the Appalachian Mountains until our last year there. We discovered hiking in July 2003 and loved it – but we moved to Florida in November 2004.
So now was our chance to go back and enjoy some great memories and hike! And we planned to drive the entire Skyline Drive, which we mistakenly thought was also the Blue Ridge Parkway, which near the Virginia/ North Carolina state line. Our ultimate destination for this trip was to meet friends at Campfire Resorts in Asheville, NC.
The North Fork RV Resort, part of Passport America’s discount program, so the price was great and the location perfect for what we wanted to do. BUT we were pretty shocked at the resort and the front office staff when you either call to make your reservation or when you arrive. They were not friendly or welcoming. We now see how important this first impression is and how it sets the tone for your stay. But first a few positive statements: the price was perfect and the location was great – oh, I already said that….OK for the cons: This is an owner operated resort so we don’t think they really like “visitors.” We were clumped in one area and there was not much room for parking our truck. Fortunately, it was off season so we had room, but for some reason, our second night there, we had a neighbor right next door and then we saw how there really was not much room! Funny, there were so many empty spots, why put someone right next to us? And RULES and SIGNS every where telling you what you could and couldn’t do. I should have taken a picture of a few of them….It was more annoying than any thing and we vowed to not stay here again….
The entrance and our parking spot at resort:
Here we are!Tight siteAnd narrow sights
We had a GREAT time. We were close to the entrance to the National Park which was ideal. We paid $10 for unlimited entrance to the park for 7 days. It is our plan to drive the Skyline Drive to North Carolina, so we would have had to pay the fee then anyway.
So here are a few pictures of our first afternoon. We had all afternoon to hike! We hiked what is called “Fox Hollow” and Snead Farm, for a total of 5.5 miles! We saw lots of deer and learned more about the history of how the National Park “took” over the homes of about 450 mountain resident families. What we visited at the remains of a barn and root cellar.
Breathtaking viewsDebbie catching the viewsSkyline Drive!
The next day, we decided to visit the Shenandoah Caverns in the morning and hike in the afternoon. We loved the Luray Caverns, so why not? We read the reviews and they said not as nice, but we figured how bad could they be? Maybe a bit pricey and not as cold! We did enjoy them, but Luray Caverns were definitely bigger! I log how long our hikes are, so even monitored it in the Caverns, which was a total of 1.8 miles! Then we hiked to the Fort Windham Rocks for another 2.4 miles.
So while we are here, it has only been a day since we saw Colin, we still received an updated picture of him! I think he misses us already!
“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people, from this time forth and forevermore.”
WHENEVER ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS (LIFE,LIBERTY,AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS) IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE A NEW GOVERNMENT― Thomas Jefferson
Examining scripture to properly interpret it. “Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman tested by trial who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Follow the Tumble Lees! 