Here's One for Brother Mike

I see big brother has been writing again.  Only glanced over the new blog entry last night but will return to it this morning and read it in detail  I always love to read his stuff.  It's full of info about my family that I either didn't know or has a point of view I hadn't thought of.  Mike and I are both baby boomers, that generation of offspring that began at the end of WWII and continued into the early 60s.  But within the boomers there are also generation gaps because things changed so rapidly after the war.  Things that were so true for his group, born in the mid/late 40s are just not the same for my group born in the mid/late 50s.  Sometimes we compare notes about our childhoods and I find it very interesting that even though we share the same home and family, we had very different lives as children.

One thing we do share though is a love for being outdoors.  Most people think I'm crazy to sell everything and take off in an RV to travel around the country and live in parks, but once when someone asked me where I was off to next and I said, "Maybe Arizona.  Wanna go?", I heard Mike say yes.  I think if circumstances were different in his life, he and Linda would jump in an RV and take off.  Only if he could take his beloved fishing boat along though.  Mike and fishing are almost inseparable.  Well, I pull a small car behind my Seeker.  And some people have travel trailers or 5th wheel trailers that they pull with trucks.  But it would be hard (and probably illegal) to pull a car and a boat behind your RV I think.  Then this past weekend I stayed at Poole's Knob in Lavergne, TN and saw the answer to Mike's problem.  So now there's no excuses about having to leave your boat at home, Big Brother.  Get you a rig like this and hit the road!

Love ya, Mike!

Alabama Rest Stop

A lot can happen in a week!

Left The Bend on Wednesday, the 5th, and drove a little over 100 miles to meet up with some friends from the Women's RV Forum at Gunthersville Lake.  Sara and Nan were already there and as I drove up I could see some excitement at our campsites.  Seems that while the girls were sitting by the lake talking a flurry of bird activity alerted them to a 6 foot timber rattlesnake  within feet of them!  When I pulled up some men from the staff were taking care of this little problem.  Need I tell you that the thought of driving on out without even stopping crossed my mind?  I spent the whole summer in the woods on the river and the only snakes I saw were the pets that the naturalist brought in to show the kids.

After all the snake excitement died down and I got into my site and set up we all got together to visit and hear some exciting details from Nan's trip to Alaska this summer.  She's been on the road since May and still won't be home for at least 2 more weeks.  Then it was time to get the 4 legged babies out for a walk and visit.  Sara has a lovable mix breed named Nicki.  This was his first trip in the rv.  Nan has a pair of Min Pins who are old pros at traveling.  She even has an outdoor playpen for them and they seem to love it.  And of course Gus was in the mix.  He even tried to make friends with Nicki and I think they hit it off pretty good.

Most of the first day was spent chatting and going to lunch in Gunthersville.  We went to a place called the Rock House and the food was wonderful.  ReadyToGo, another member of the forum who lives in Birmingham drove up for the day and took us to the restaurant.

After lunch we visited a little while then each went off to attend to different matters.  I was full and tempted to take a nap but instead opted to go to the Walmart in Scottsboro and do some geocaching along the way.  The next day, Friday, started off slow and chatty again until I decided I was being too lazy.  I needed to get my kayak out and clean it good before putting it up for a few months.  And as long as I was getting it out why not take one last paddle over to a nearby island where there happened to be a cache?  Got all my gear together and loaded Gus up for a ride.  Then I climbed in but didn't do a very good job of launching and wound up in the water instead of in the boat.  Gus of course stayed in and dry.                                                    And Sara had her camera at the ready!Oh well, it was hot and I wanted to get wet anyway.  Second try was the charm and soon Gus and I were on our way.  The island was only a mile away so it was a short paddle for me.  It was sunny so I used my PFD as a shelter for my boy.  He has gotten used to this since we did it that way on the Chattahoochee.  He likes to lay under the jacket and down between my ankles.  He almost looks innocent here, don't you think? 

The island was called Goat Island had 2 caches, but we only needed one.  At first I thought the cache would be on the far side so we paddled around the island and searched around these large limestone bluffs but realized this one was on top of the bluff and meant walking a trail across the island so we opted out of this one.  Next I paddled on around the other end of the island and found an easy place to tie up and walk in about 40 yards to the cache.  Gus really enjoyed running around loose on the island and climbing over some rocks.  Granted he doesn't climb the really big ones any more, but you could almost forget he's 14.  That was until we got back in the boat and he climbed back into his space and went to sleep while I did all the work getting us back home.  Then it was time to scrub the kayak down and put it away for a few months.  Next on the agenda was to scrub Gus which I don't have to tell you was not high on his list of things to do.  We finished the evening with a great meal.  I cooked pork chops on the grill that I got for Mother's Day.  Sara cooked corn on the cob on the stove in her new rv (first meal prepared on the stove), and Nan brought some really great cole slaw and a grape salad. 

Saturday morning everyone pulled out and heading in different directions.  I made it all the way to Merriwether Lewis campground where I hid out for the night.  I love it out there because it gets soooo dark at night.  And it was so cool that night that I had to close the windows.  Fall is definitely in the air in Tennessee.

What's next?

I'm holed up near Nashville while I take care of some business on the rv, get the oil changed in my car, and deal with house matters.  I'll be back in Hohenwald by next week seeing the family for a visit.  Planning a trip to Maine for Cacey's wedding which will also be a girl trip with Ann.  Can't wait!  And after that??????