Seeing America with Ken and Shirley

Monday, October 15, 2012

Bittersweet day today...leaving TN and heading for CA and NV..

October 15th ...again 2nd post of the day...Today is one of those really hard days..we spent the day taking things out of the house and loading the trailer and camper...honestly you'd thought we'd moved in with all that we had here..hahaha...

I think we've both been reflecting on our stay and let me first say we know how blessed we were to have Don and Dana open their new house to us for these last few months. We were here with Don in May for a few weeks and it wasn't that sad for us leaving as we knew we'd be back in August.

Today we're loading stuff just thinking how quickly this time has flown. Yes, we did do alot while we were here, but we sure enjoyed this home! Not just the house, but the beauty of TN and the people..honestly, I can't think of anywhere else that we've been where people at the checkout counter are so friendly, even in Walmart! People seem as though they're not in a hurry and always have time to talk..really nice. On Sundays when we drive through the town of Cornersville, as small as it is there are at least 3 churches but i'm thinking there's more. If I lived here I'm sure I'd be looking for a church to join and I really can't say that about anywhere else I've been. On Sunday mornings, the country station plays hours of country gospel music! It just makes our Sunday.

Even today, Ken was loading the trailer, and the neighbor, Bobby Bills called Ken, he had seen him and wanted to know if we needed any help. Ken actually was getting ready to call him to let him know we were leaving. This man is not young, barely knows us, but was going to come to help...how wonderful is that!

Anyway, these months have meant so much to the both of us, I know there will be tears tomorrow as we leave, but we will be back!! This place just gets under your skin! So happy for Don and Dana...i'm sure their lives will be wonderful once they get here!

The house won't be lonesome for long, as they'll be here in November...and we'll be home to see the kids and gkids!! If this town wasn't several states away from them, i'd talk Ken into moving here, and I know it wouldn't take much!

Don and Dana's yard...trees are turning...

All loaded and ready to go...

The house won't be lonely for long....

Don's yard and garage...

Well, on to a new adventure tomorrow! We are so blessed...!

Talking with Uncle Vic and getting ready to leave :(

October 14th...Cornersville, TN...Woke up to a drizzly morning. Kind of the way we felt...sad to be leaving, but happy to be going back to see the kids and gkids. We got ready and decided to run to WalMart to see about a few groceries and oil change stuff for the truck. It'll be a little early change, but better than a couple thousand too late. Ken is really good about that stuff, thank goodness!

He changed the oil and did a few things and then we decided to go for our last mexican lunch at La Fuentes in Lewisburg. This place is sooo good and very inexpensive! Came back and did a little cleaning, laundry etc. Took stuff out to the camper and now it's ready to go except clothes and refrig items. Ken got the trailer hooked up so the car needs to go next.

Ken had leftovers from lunch for dinner, I didn't as still too stuffed from lunch. We called it an early night, and was treated to a great light show after going to bed. Never did hear the thunder but it was beautiful!

October 13th...Uncle Vic called me again. He had called when we were returning from the Smoky Mountains and lost service. I haven't talked to him since we were at his place in 1970. He is daddy's youngest brother and is 83. He has the mind of a 20 year old and I really enjoyed talking to him.

Some of the stuff he told me but I never knew...

Grandma's family, the Maggards, used to run moonshine in Eastern KY.
Tennessee Riddle who married my great grandpa Phillips was from Giles County TN which is just a couple of miles from here at Don's place.
They left after a few years of marriage and moved to AR which is where my grandpa was born in 1884. (probably because of moonshine too)

My dad joined the CCC's in 1936 or 37 and went to AZ to work. We saw a historic site just this last trip which said that the average CCC worker made 30.00 a month and sent 25 of it home..which I am sure that's exactly what Daddy did.

He was drafted in 1942 which of course we knew.

Uncle Vic also said that grandma and grandpa really liked my mom (Hermi) that she was real quiet...MY MOM!
She didn't like cornbread, or cornflakes..

I'm sure there's alot more, and I'll be talking to him soon. Next time we're here we'll make a point of going to see him!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

2nd post of the day... for you Don and Dana!

October 13th...Got back to Don and Dana's this afternoon and wanted to retake a few pictures so we could all see the difference in the trees since we left a few days ago! So here you go...

Your bush out back..looks beautiful!

Your neighbor's tree...

Your trees out front have really colored pretty!

So pretty!!

We are at Don's now starting to get ready to head for Nv and CA. We really love this place and TN! People are so nice and friendly, and it's beautiful! They really do have four seasons here, and people are crazy about Fall. We noticed on the drive how many houses are all done up for Halloween and then when they remove the bats and ghosts etc...they will have hay bales, scarecrows and pumpkins to get them through Thanksgiving! I would love to be here to see how they decorate for Christmas and winter!

KOA...Cleveland, TN

TN river

Highway outside of Cleveland, TN...Gorgeous!

Again, beautiful colors...

Highway 108 TN

Cute old house TN

You know me and my barns!

Highway 64 barn!

Guess I went a little crazy with pictures of leaves! But it's so Gorgeous!

October 10th...We left Crossville and the beautiful state park, headed for the Smoky Mountain National Park. We had a beautiful drive and it really didn't take that long to get there. We stopped in Townsend Tn at the little visitor center and had lunch in the camper. After that we drove into the park. We headed for Cades Cove and hoped to get a campground for the night.. We did, but one of the last sites that wasn't reserved. Nice, $20.00 a night no hookups but still very nice.

We decided to take the drive of Cades Cove Loop, an 11 mile drive. I asked at the info booth and he said it would probably take an hour or so, so I said well maybe we'll take it tomorrow, he replied if you do it then it would probably take 3 or 4 hours! Sooo many people, a beautiful drive but when we got to this little grist mill, the traffic stopped!! We were stuck for about an hour, not quite knowing why...well, it was a DEER...how ridiculous...these people stopping a million times for a deer! So when that broke and we got through it was smooth sailing until people saw a BEAR...we waited and finally got through...amazing! So we were probably gone about 2 1/2 hours for 11 miles...never again..

Had a nice night, got up, slowly got ready and then headed out to go over the top into Cherokee, NC...we decided to see about finding a grocery store in Pigeon Forge, TN..wow that was a chore...that little city has sure grown, and of course being the time of year, crowded, crowded, crowded!!! We did find a nice Mexican Restaurant and had some great food!

After lunch we headed over the park and it was incredible!! The colors are gorgeous and it was really cool to see so many people out enjoying the beauty of America!! Love it!

We made it to Cherokee, NC and thought we'd find a campground, but then decided that we'd go back to another campground in the park. We went to the Smokemount Campground, again $20.00 a night and sits very nicely. Not quite as crowded as the Cades Cove so that was great. Cold nights, but beautiful!

Got up the next am and we took a nice little walk around the park and took a few pics.

Headed through Cherokee and over to the Cherohula Skyway..this is a 41 mile parkway, through NC into TN. The Skyway took almost 40 years to build and cost over 100 million dollars, but if you see it it's definitely worth it! Especially the colors in NC!! The trees were every color you could think of including PINK!! AWESOME! AWESOME!

I would gladly go do this drive again, during the same time as it was so beautiful! We had a nice picnic lunch in the camper!

I have to say, only because this skyway isn't as advertised as the Park, there was very few people on the skyway!! And the colors had the Park beat, I have never seen anything as beautiful as this area!!

We made it to Cleveland, TN and the KOA..it was nice to have a real shower and some cable tv..( I know, spoiled I am)...

We left and headed for Cracker Barrel for breakfast...yummyyyy!! Then we took a beautiful drive, TN, 108,111, and another i'll have to look up..two lane and four lane highways..we even saw one highway twice, from different ways as I missed the turn on the map! But beautiful, the highways are so gorgeous...haven't opened a book yet!! I love this neck of the woods!

Got back to Don's house and it felt good to be "home"...sad thing is we are here to get ready to go home..so these few days are precious to us..such a special place..we were so blessed to have the time here...I know when Don and Dana finally get to move here, they won't want to leave..TN is a special place, and if it weren't for the kids and gkids in CA i would move here in a heartbeat!