Winter Excursion 10, Day 214

We smoked a small Corn Beef Brisket today. It took most of the day. It was a seven hour cook. It came out really good and Cath made her Someday to be Famous Brisket Sauce. Along with baked beans and coleslaw we had a super good dinner. The neighbors were all happy smelling our apple wood smoke all day. They were just upset we didn't have a big enough brisket to share!

The weather continues to be perfect. Mid 70s and low humidity. It is forecast to stay that way for the rest of the trip.

We did a quick trip to the local Wally World for a few needed supplies. Other than that we just hungout and watched everyone come and go!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 213

After sleeping late and having a lazy morning we headed to Pulaski, VA to do our favorite thing. It's Laundry Day! YUK! We went to the "Super Clean" Laundromat which should ne named "Super Dirty", although the machines were clean the laundry room was dirty!

Back at camp we did our second favorite thing, People Watching. It's Friday and the campground filled up. Every site is occupied.

We have a nice family in the site next to us and we had fun watching their boys play. It reminded us of our sons when they were that age.

All is well in the Boss Camp!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 212

We left Douglas Dam Campground around 1000 and drove I-81 to Claytor Lake State Park in Virginia. This guy hung around us all morning while we ere packing up. I think folks have been feeding him. He was not afraid of us at all.

The drive was uneventful and traffic was light.

We set up camp and relaxed outside for a change. The weather is perfect, high 70s and low humidity. That's quite a change from where we were.

The Camp Host stopped by and we traded stories with her for awhile.

Here's a pic of our site. We will be here for four days.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 211

We went to the Lodge Factory Store and The SMKW (Smoky Mountain Knife Works) Store this morning. Cath needed a Lodge Store Fix and I wanted to pickup a back-up knife for my EDC (everyday carry) pocket knife. She did get some corn bread mix (yum yum) and a few kitchen essentials we didn't even know we needed. LOL! I scored a Boker USB 2.0 OTF (Out The Front) pocket knife, which is essentially a switch blade. It's a sweet little pocket knife! 

Got this pic of a classic at the SMKW store.

Back at camp we started packing up for our drive tomorrow. It will be a short one (200 miles) and the weather should be perfect.

 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 210

We hung out at camp this morning and in the afternoon we headed to the Bush's Beans Factory Store and Gift Shop. 

In our past visits they had an old Ford pickup truck, but now they have this giant bean can on wheels! We were hoping to pickup some of their bean dips, but they have discontinued that line. We did pick up a few knick-knacks and I scored a new "bean flag" T-shirt. 

On the way back to camp we stopped at Tennessee Legend Distillery and picked up a few must haves!

Back at camp the rains started again so it was cribbage time.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 209

We had to do a little food shopping this morning, but first drove to Lowes to return the toilet seat.

On the way to the food store Cath said she wanted to stop at Buc-ee's to look around.

That turned out to be a big mistake. It is Memorial Day and everyone in the world was stopping at Buc-ee's. The traffic was terrible. We found a parking spot and walked into the store. We spent 5 minutes, looked at each other and said We are outa here!

Back at camp the rain continued on and off so we played cards.

Once again dinner and a movie!

Winter Excursion 10, Day 208

It continues to be a rainy Memorial Day Weekend! It rained on and off most of the day with some heavy thunderstorms in the evening. We've been basically "camper bound".

While playing cribbage this afternoon we looked out our window and saw this guy sticking out of the tree about six foot from the camper. At first I thought it was a stick.

Then it moved out a little farther.

And finally showed himself almost completely.

He finally hit the ground and slithered down to the lake.

This whole process took almost an hour. He's about 3 feet long!

Even with all the rain the Kiddos in this cul-de-sac are having a great time.

It was another dinner and a movie evening for us.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 207

We woke up to a rainy morning, but it cleared later in the day.

I got the new toilet installed and it works great. The only issue is that it has a plastic seat and lid. We prefer wood. We drove to Lowes and picked up one that we liked, but when I went to install it the mounting bolt pattern is 5.5 inches wide, but the new toilet is 7.5 inches wide. Turns out 5.5 is industry standard and 7.5 is rare. It's so rare I can't even find one. I wrote a note to Dometic and hopefully they have an answer. Time will tell.

On the way back to camp we passed the Dam Store.

Check out the Blog Post from 15 May 22 (Winter Excursion 6, Day 198). I wrote about the Dam Store the first time we stayed in this area.😂

Winter Excursion 10, Day 206

We left camp this morning and drove to the Camping World near Asheville, NC. We have been having issues we our RV toilet and the closest one that we wanted was in Hendersonville near Asheville. We traveled I-40 to get there. We didn't realize that this part of I-40 was destroyed by the flooding two years ago. The highway basically collapsed into Pigeon River. It is still under construction and is basically a two lane road. It took us around 3 hours to go 100 miles. The traffic was bumper to bumper and stopped often. Here's a few pics. This reconstruction will take years.

Back at camp we relaxed after a six hour drive that should have taken less than four! 

We had a nice dinner and watched a lousy B rated movie!

Winter Excursion 10, Days 204 & 205

I know I've been remiss with the blog, but we have been a little out of sorts with all the truck issues we've had. Now that things are back to normal I will try to do the blog right.

We spent Wednesday packing up and saying goodbye to all our friends at Dames Ferry. It is a great place to host. The staff is super. Here's our last site at Dames Ferry before we leave tomorrow.

Thursday morning we were up early and on the road by 0900. We rode I-75 the whole way to our new campground at Douglas Dam Headwater Campground near Sevierville, TN. Here's a few pics of I-75 in Atlanta. What a zoo and it's not even rush hour! At least traffic keep moving although not real fast.

It was a 300 mile trip and we are now back on schedule. We will stay at Douglas Dam for six nights. Here's our site on Flat Creek which is really a lake due to the dam.

 

Winter Excursion 10, Days 203

WE GOT THE TRUCK BACK TODAY! It's only been 48 days, but it's here and running great. ✌

We moved the camper from it's "non-site" to Site #12 at Dames Ferry. We will be here for two nights and then back on our schedule.

We got notified (and pics) that our new truck has been delivered so we are jazzed to get home and take possession. 

We will do some grocery shopping tomorrow and say goodbye (again) to our friends and co-workers at Dames Ferry. They have all been great while our truck was gone.

All is well in the Boss Camp once again.

Winter Excursion 10, Days 193 - 202

During this time period we left Charleston and headed back to Dames Ferry (where the camper is), spent the night and then headed to Nashville. We were in the Nashville area for Catherine's Nieces' wedding. Cath was the Maid of Honor.

Also during this time our new truck was delivered to our dealer in NY.

We got word our current truck repairs were completed. After the wedding weekend we drove back to Dames Ferry and will get our current truck tomorrow. We will stay at Dames Ferry until 21 May. That will put us back on track for our reservations on the way home.

It's been a crazy past seven weeks. Hope we never need to go through it again!

Winter Excursion 10, Days 185 - 192

We are still in Charleston waiting to hear the truck is done back at Dames Ferry.

We are having a good time with the Kids and kiddos, but will be happy when we can resume our travels with the camper.

Stayed tuned for further details! We should get the truck this coming week.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 184

It rained all day and we were house bound for the most part.

Wesley and I had a cribbage match. I won the first two games and he won the next three.

The girls all went to a movie and did some shopping. Cath got a new dress for Emily's wedding.

Wesley and I stayed home. We watched a little of the Derby and had some left over chicken for dinner.

The rain finally stopped around 1800 and we got a little walk in for the dogs. 

Winter Excursion 10, Day 183

We had great plans for today, but most of it did not happen.

The AT&T repair man was scheduled to arrive this morning and repair the Kid's new fiber internet hookup. The system was just installed yesterday, but it keeps dropping out. He didn't show up until 1700.

We were going to go to the RiverDog's baseball game this evening, but it got rained out!

So we decided to watch a movie, but the internet continues to keep dropping out. So no movie!

We were going to have baseball food for dinner, but we had some super good chicken thigh fillets on the flattop.

The good news today (besides dinner) was that our new truck has been built and shipped. It will be waiting for us when we get home in June.

Winter Excursion 10, Day 182

We were up at 0700 and started getting ready to move the camper to a "non camping site". It used to be a camping site years ago, but when the State Park system took it over there were a few sites that got closed. The good news is there is power at this non-site so we can run the refrigerator and one of the ACs. That will keep the camper cool and dry! We moved the camper over to that site and by 1100 we were on the road.

We did the 325 mile drive to the Kids and arrived around 1630. Charleston traffic was terrible. It took us an hour to do the last 25 miles!

It was great to see the Kids and Kiddos. We all had a good evening catching up on news.

All is well in the Boss Camp, but will be better we we get our truck back!   

Winter Excursion 10, Day 181

We spent the day finishing packing up and doing camper maintenance.

All the staff stopped by to say goodbye, but we will be seeing everyone again when our truck is fixed and we get it back.

We went out to dinner and got our Italian Fix at Olive Garden. We ordered "Senior Portions". We are starting to realize that we can't eat as much as we use to!