Home Is Where We Park It:  Two Rivers Campground, Nashville, Tennessee

June 16, 2019

Temperature 95 degrees

Travel Day

Time to move further north to Nashville, Tennessee.  It looked like a rather easy drive, no more than three hours in length.  My kind of drive.  Wait, what’s that?  You have to be kidding, its raining.  Sure enough but the crazy thing is it lasted only 15 minutes.  Perfect.

Outside I started putting away what I couldn’t the night before.  Gertrude was packed into the car along with her table.  Wesley was drained and put on the back floor of the car.  Tanks were dumped and rinsed.  Water hoses stored.  Electricity disconnected.

Time to move inside.  Make sure the floor in the bedroom is clear so nothing will interfere with the slide coming in.  In it came with no issues.   On to the living room, pick up the runners, make sure nothing will stop the slide from coming it.  In it came – wait – it only will come in half way.  Oh boy now what.  Step back, take a deep breath.  Am I going to have to crank this beast in?  Let’s try taking it out again.  No problem.  Sure would be hard to drive this way.  Lets try this again.  This time all the way in with the normal moaning and groaning that is typical of this slide.  Dodged one bullet.

Slides in, jacks up, car on the rack, let’s go.  Barbara plugged the GPS in and nothing.  No power.  What?  Is our friendly ghost back again?  Lets try the side 12 volt outlet.  Nothing.  In fact none of the 12 volt lights, etc. worked.  We’ll figure this out when we get to our new home.  Now, what to use for power for the GPS.  The Halo to the rescue!

Finally we were on the road.  Stop for gas and we were rolling over hill and over dale.  This was one of those trips that went up, up, up and then down, down, down only to do it all over again.  Give it up to Graybeard he handled all of it with no sweat.

Soon enough we saw the exit for Music Land Drive and then next we saw the sign

This is an easy on, easy off from the highway.  At least today when there was no traffic.  I can only imagine what it must be like on a weekday at rush hour.

Here is our new home.

It is nothing like where we just came from.  The roads are gravel, our site is way unlevel, we have a FHU site but only 30 amp.  That little patch of grass and another on the other side is all the lawn we have.  There is minimal site separation, both to the side and in the back.  There is also no shade.  Its OK and we’ll be fine here for the next five days.  I much prefer the state and county parks and the COE parks.

Back to our 12 volt issue.  I kept thinking about it all the way here.  Finally it dawned on me, my big feet probably did it again.  Sure enough they had, somehow I had managed to once again kick the 12 volt disconnect switch and turned everything off.  Imagine that.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  A few silly bumps along the way but all’s well that ends well.

Thanks again for coming along with us.  Always enjoy your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Home Is Where We Park It: Sharon Johnston Park 

June 15, 2019

Temperature 84 Degrees Sunny

Happy Father’s Day

What a difference a couple of days can make.  Temperatures are back in the mid 80’s never dropping below the 70’s at night.  I’m still, however, keeping the blanket handy for a couple more days.

Tomorrow we’re moving north to Nashville.  We’re watching the weather real close and not liking what we’re seeing so far.  Every day we’re there they are calling for rain and thunderstorms.  Could we finally have used up our good day weather chip?

Tomorrow is Father’s Day so a special shout out to all Fathers and those who act in that capacity to all everywhere.  Since we’ll be on the road tomorrow for Father’s Day Barbara decided to treat me today.

This morning she treated me to breakfast at a special restaurant she discovered.

Open and waiting for us.

Inside we discovered a wonderful, inviting atmosphere.   This so speaks to  what Barbara and myself feel each day.  How grateful we are every day to the good Lord for the life we live together.

This is a simple but wonderful restaurant.

A nice touch on each table.

The staff was absolutely fantastic.  We could not have asked for better service.  We felt like we had come home to old friends.  Well, we placed our orders and while we were waiting we began talking to a couple behind us who had two wonderful children.  One was two and the other was seven months old.  One thing led to another and we spent some time playing with the kids and talking to their parents.  The best, though, is yet to come.  I’ll get to that in a minute.

Finally breakfast arrived.  We started off with Beignets.  We had wanted to try them in New Orleans but never got around to it.  This was our chance and we were not going to let it slip away.  Maybe some are wondering what they are (I didn’t know at first!) they are lightly fried pastries sprinkled with powdered sugar.  They are so yummy!

Here is our breakfast.  Barbara had the French Toast.  Not just regular French Toast but Apple Cinnamon French Toast.  She gave a big thumbs up on her choice.

I had one of my favorites which is Country Fried Steak, scrambled eggs, and Biscuits and Gravy.  We both had coffee and bacon to round things out.  I too gave a big thumbs up to my breakfast.  We both were members of the clean plate club.

The big surprise was yet to come.  Remember the young couple with the two young children?  Well, we said good-bye to them and wished them a good day as they prepared to leave.  We then loitered over our coffee for a few more minutes and finally asked for the check.  That’s when we found out our breakfast had been paid for by the young couple we had been talking with.  We were floored to put it mildly.   Now its our turn to find an opportunity to pay it forward.

Returning home it was time to finish up a few chores that needed doing.  I changed the oil filter on Graybeard.  I run synthetic oil in the engine which I change every 8.000 miles.  But I change the oil filter every 4,000 miles.  Just my way of doing things.  Next, I gave Graybeard a bath.  Top to bottom, front to back.  Looks so much better now.  I also checked the tire pressure since we’ll be on the road tomorrow.  Under the hood was the last chore and all looked good there.

While I was fussing around outside Barbara was inside making muffins, cleaning counters, doing dishes and putting things in order for our move tomorrow.

Now its time for me to get my stuff in order for Travel Day.  So I’m going to call it a night at this point.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  A busy day from beginning to end but filled with the kind of things we both like to do.

Thanks for checking in with us.  We always enjoy your company.  Catch you sometime tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

Home Is Where We Park It: Sharon Johnston Park 

June 14, 2019

Temperature Morning 51 Degrees – Afternoon 74 Degrees

Sunny

A Look At Our New Home

When we awoke this morning it was a wee bit chilly, at least for us.  Thankfully, we had pulled out the extra blanket and so until Marti got me up I was snug as a bug in a rug.  The day, though, warmed up quickly and so all was well.

I had so many little things I wanted to accomplish today but somehow the day got away from me and of the many items needing attention only one got done.  Ah well, there is always tomorrow.

Well, actually two got done.  I took the time to get out and about and take some pictures of our wonderful new home.

Here is my front lawn.  So green, so well taken care of,  properly cut.  Best part is, I don’t have to do a thing to keep it this way – I don’t even have to cut it.

And it’s the same with the back.  Absolutely beautiful and I don’t have to lift a finger to keep it this way.  What more could one ask for.

I have a wonderful pool.  Of course someone other than me is responsible for its upkeep.  I just get to enjoy it.

I have a guard on duty 7/24.  Never asks for a day off, nor for a pay raise.  It’s a comfort knowing he is always there, ever watchful.

I also have various lawn decorations, like this.  Can’t remember where I found this one.  Oh, that’s right it was here when I got here!

This is my rose and rock garden.  You ought to see it when it is in full bloom.  Again, I get to enjoy it but don’t have to take care of it.  I don’t even have to mulch it.

Less I forget, I also have a small lake fully stocked with fish.  It’s nice to just sit on it’s banks or drop a line in and drown a few worms.

So what you think?  How many can Boast of such a home?  I have this one and others in so many other locations.  We consider ourselves to be absolutely blessed beyond measure to have a home like this.  Thank you Lord for the privilege of being able to enjoy this beautiful world that you have created for us.

The other item I checked off?  I finally changed the air filter in Little Graybeard.  I know, wow, what a big job!

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Nothing earth shaking, nothing major just a day to kick back and enjoy the day and each other’s company.  That’s my kind of day.  The other items, they’ll be there tomorrow, or the day after, or maybe the day after that.  I’ll get to them.  Rule #2 of Retirement:  Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow.

Thanks for joining us today.  We’re glad you were part of our day.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Home Is Where We Park It: Sharon Johnston Park 

June 13, 2019

Temperature 83 Degrees

Sunny with a Light Breeze

U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville 

Good Morning World!  Wow, what a beautiful day we woke to today.  A bit chilly, 51 degrees but a clear blue sky and just a hint of a breeze.

Thursday was sight-seeing day and another opportunity to cross another place off our Bucket List –  the U.S. Space and Rocket Center

Going to just give you an overview right now since I have so many pictures to sort through and put in order.  But here we go.  This was our destination.

This year the Center is celebrating the 50th year of our first successful mission to the moon.

 On July 16, 1969 at 9:32 a.m. at NASA’s Launch Pad 39A, Apollo 11’s five F1 engines on Nasa’s Saturn-V AS-506 rocket ignited to slowly lift three Americans and humankind’s dreams aboard the historic mission to the Moon.  This is lift off on that day.

There are tons of other exhibits about this, what led to it, how it came about, the men involved and the flights leading up to it.

There is a whole building about and so many  exhibits about the Saturn V.  The Saturn V Rocket is a symbol of ingenuity and “can-do” spirit for the world. For this region, the towering Saturn V replica is a faithful reminder of what was accomplished here in Huntsville by those with a can do mind set and continues to serve as a welcome beacon to those traveling in the Huntsville area.

Here are the five main F-1 engines on the fist stage.

This is a 1:10 scale model of the rocket.  It consists of the Saturn V rocket, the different stages, and the Apollo spacecraft on top.  By the time of launch day the rocket and the Apollo spacecraft had a total of more than 6 million individual parts that had to work together in perfect harmony for a successful mission.  On launch day the Saturn V stood 363 feet tall and weighed 6.5 million pounds.  It carried 203,400 gallons of kerosene and 318,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen.  It generated 7.6 million pounds of thrust, more than 85 Hoover Dams.

At the very top was the Apollo Spacecraft.  The Command Module housed the three man crew from lift off to splash down, except when two of them where in the lunar module going to and returning from the moon.

There is also a detailed display regarding the International Space Station.   Some facts about the ISS:

• it travels around the earth at a speed of 17,500 mph
• it orbits the earth at a distance of 236 to 286 miles up
• it is equivalent in size to a five bedroom house with two bathrooms, it has a gym, and a 360 degree viewing window
• it weights 924, 739 pounds,
• it’s length is that of a football field with end zones.

This will give you an idea of what part of the ISS was contributed by what country.

A replica of one section of the ISS.

Everything that takes place on the ISS – all the experiments, storage of all items, communication with those onboard, etc. – goes through the Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstville.   By the way did you know those onboard get the weekend off.

This is a dynamic map that constantly shows the location of the ISS at any given moment.

These are some live pictures that are constantly transmitted back to earth by the ISS.

This is what happens when they loose visual contact with the ISS– which happens quite frequently but never lasts more than a minute or two.

This is the  Laboratory Training Complex.  This is a realistic mockup of one part of the ISS.  Those from the U.S. going to the ISS to conduct experiments use mock ups here of those experiments in order to  learn st how to conduct them and the various steps involved in each experiment.

The Center is also home to Space Camp.  This is what actually brought us here.  We saw a movie many years ago about the Space Camp and decided we wanted to visit the Center where it was located.

This is one of the training rooms.

Hanging up there are two of the campers on a mission that they have been assigned to complete.

A part of their training complex.

Their living quarters.

The woman on the far right in this picture is a graduate of Space Camp and will be spending her next year aboard the ISS.

OK, this is just a small part of the Space and Rocket Complex.  In the days ahead as I get pictures sorted out I’ll be bringing you more about it.  If you haven’t been here put it on your must list to visit.  There are several great RV parks in the area so finding a place to stay here in the area will be no problem.

Our day on The Road of Retirement yesterday was a great one.  It was a long day but worth every minute of the time we spent out and about.  I wish I had had more time to spend there but by the end of the day I was on information overload and already had some six hundred pictures to sort through.  It was, in so many words, time to cry Uncle.

Thanks for traveling with us.  We always appreciate your company.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

See you on down the road!