Catching up

 

Well, we don't do anything for almost a month, then we do a lot in a few days.  After we left our poor sick bike in Ohio, we spent July just doing our usual stuff around the park.  Over Labor Day weekend  daughter Stacy and her partner Ruth Ann came for a visit.  On Saturday we drove to Pigeon Forge to visit Dollywood.  We opened the park at 9:30am and closed it at 7pm, all without a camera, unfortunately.  Between those times we walked all over the park watching the musical shows, cruising the shops, picking the best food to devour and riding the roller coasters.  We were all looking forward to the Flying Eagle so we were upset when Duane woke up with vertigo!  He managed to make his way to the blacksmith shop, the carvers' and the glassblowers (what I call the Wegley Triangle cause he gets lost in there).  The girls all went on a mine rollercoaster, then Duane decided he would try the steel 4-loop-de-loop coaster.  He didn't have any problem so we headed for the Eagle.  That was the most awsome coaster ever!!!!  With nortriptolyn and a Dramamine I managed to ride them all before I got nauseated.  By that time, Duane was feeling fine.  After lunch we sat in a darkened theater for a very nice rock and roll show.  I sang along with every song and was back to normal and ready for more fun.  We rode the Ferris Wheel, and got harnessed up for a walk around what I guess could be called scaffolding.  It was a three story framework with different kinds of steps, rope crossings and ledges.  The harness was attached to a rope which in turned slipped into a track above our heads.  We moved the ropes with us as we worked our ways around.  Great exercise, great fun.  We spent quite a bit of time moseying around Dolly's museum and took a quick tour of her bus.  We got a few souveniers then traipsed back to the Jeep and made our way home. 

 

Next day we set out to explore the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.  We drove through the tunnel under the Cumberland Mountains to the Visitors' Center.  This is very nicely done museum, theater, and gift shop.  The museum gives a very clear picture of the importance of the Cumberland Gap, the only way from the east into the far west of Kentucky.  There are dioramas, timelines, and excerpts from personal diaries of pioneers traveling to the new land.  The theater has a nice little film explaining the importance of the gap and the gift shop features the work of area artisans.  Next we drove back into Tennessee and to the top of the ridge.  From the parking lot there's a short walk to the observation point where we could see Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.  Back down the mountain we found a trail that led us to the gap itself.

   

Ruth Ann and Stacy  

 

At the top is a little gazebo where we could stand in three states at once.  All weekend we had been keeping an eye on hurricane Ike, hoping our weather would not be affected.  Our luck ran out just after this dorky pic of Louise was taken.  Thunder rumbled, clouds gathered and began to spit at us as we hurried down the trail.  By the halfway point, the showers changed to a downpour.  We splashed and dripped our way to the car where Stacy produced plastic sheets to protect her Jeep.  We made one stop on the way home--at a Red Box to rent Joyful Noise.  After leftovers for supper we made popcorn and enjoyed some more Dolly before lights out.  Monday we woke up to a soggy world so after breakfast we took a drive around Norris Dam and Lake.  After lunch the girls packed up and and took off. 

 

 

 

We did our usual stuff for 2 more weeks then got word that our bike was back from the hospital in Wisconsin and would be ready to be picked up by the 15th.  Yay!!!  We drove to Ohio on Sat. am, driving directly to the H-D shop.  They were in the process of putting the engine back in and assured us that it would be done that day.  We grabbed some lunch then headed to our other daughter's house, where Rachel, her husband Benji, and (our) grandkids Maddy, Si, and Judah welcomed us.  Maddy celebraged her 8th birthday on Sept. 11th and had her party the 15th.  Her present from us was this  "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit which I made for her.  She picked out the pattern and the fabric.  She loved it and wore it for her party. Rachel is in green in the background.

 

 

 

Dad Benji giving her the cake.  Maddy helped make the cake and did most of the decorating. 

We left the party in good hands and drove over to our friend Barbara's house.  Maddy had 4 girls over for a sleep over so we opted for a quieter evening. The shop called to say that the bike was done but they were closed.  We opted to pick it up Monday so they would have a chance to clean it up.

 Sunday we drove to Lake Loramie to visit my Uncle Paul and Aunt Rhonola.  Uncle celebrated his 95th birthday the next week.  We had a nice long lunch and visit then headed back to Barbara's.

Monday we picked up the bike and left the truck there while we rode to Christiansburg to meet with friends Pam and Eddy Shouse.  I don't know why we didn't remember to take the camera, so unfortunately you don't get to see their smiling faces.   After 3 or so hours we took the bike back to Barbara's  In the evening we met my sisters Marycarol and Martha for gabbing and pizza then back to Barbara's.  

 

 

Tuesday Duane went on a ride with his friend Wayne.  I stayed at the house and played Rummy Cubes with Barbara.  Every time we were not visiting other friends and relatives, we visited with Barbara and her fiance Gene.  They are two of the nicest people we know.  They met in church, have dated for three years and are planning to tie the knot sometime in the near future.  Barbara will sell her house and move in with Gene so this was probably our last visit to our 'bed and breakfast'.  Next time we will see them at our new b&b.  It's good to know we always have our home away from home and we thank them very much for being our friends.

 

 

 

We took our leave on Wednesday morning and drove our bike home in the truck with no problems.  Duane worked Thurs am and we both worked all day Fri. Duane rode his baby around town doing errands.  On Sat. we suited up for a long ride with new biker friends Mark and Loretta.  Our plan was to visit the HD store in Maryville then ride the Dragon's Tail over the mountain.  By the time we got to the interstate two miles away, the bike was sputtering and cutting out again.  It cut out then smoothed out then cut out all the way to Maryville so our bike went directly to the service department.  Four hours and one hour's labor later we were on the road again.  Mike and Loretta (again with no camera!  What's up with that?  Two more people you don't get to see!) ate lunch with us at the conveniently located restaurant on the HD grounds, did some shopping in the store, chatted a while, then headed down the road for ice cream, after making sure we could contact them if we needed anything.  Do we meet nice people or what?!  After the service tec found a spark plug wire touching the engine and changed it around, the bike was healthy again.  We found Mike and Loretta at the local WalMart then took the scenic route home.  Sunday we goofed off.  Duane rode the bike and I worked on a quilt which will be a wall hanging in the clubhouse here at Raccoon Valley.  Monday Mike and Loretta had other plans so we took off for the Dragon's Tail.  The road's claim to fame is 318 curves in 11 miles.  The day was perfect.  Deep blue sky, sunshine, dry roads.

 

 One of the many scenic overlooks

 

 

my view of the curve 

This overlook was popular.

 

 

inside curve 

 

 

At the end of the Tail, we took a lunch break then picked up the Cherohala Skyway in Robbinsville NC.  The Skyway is 40 miles long but if you drive the limit and stop at the scenic overlooks, it will take 2 hours to drive.  We took about 1 1/2.  We liked this drive better.  The curves were wider and more sweeping so Duane had some time to look around.  The overlooks were very clear and well maintained.   

Info boards at each overlook explain how pioneers settled in the coves and survived far from other people and stores.  The trail runs between Robbinsville and Tellico Plains TN. 

 

 

HD store in Tellico Plains

 

There you go.  With us its feast or famine.  We hope you enjoyed the feast.

Keep checking on us.  We're bound to do something interesting again soon.  This is our last week here in TN.  Next week starts a month off before we start working in FL for 5 months.  I'm sure we can regale you with our wonderful travels south!

Til that happens we're still us

Louise and Duane

 

 

 

Dayton, Ohio and the Harley Owners Group Rally

On June 26th Louise and I loaded our travel bag on the Harley and left our campground in Tennessee for Dayton, Ohio and the H.O.G. rally. We left about 7:30 am for the 305 mile ride to our friend Barbara Harmon's house. This was going to be our home for the length of the rally. Barbara's house was only 2 miles from the headquarters for the rally so we decided to take advantage of her hospitality. The ride started out with cool weather and as we climbed the mountain heading north it got cooler, than pretty dang cold. We stopped at the top and put on a few more layers.  

Coming down the hill to Cincinnati

 We arrived at Barbara's about 6 hours later. The ride was pretty easy with very little traffic along the way. After resting for a little while we were off to Marion's Pizza to meet up with friends Wayne and Denise. I worked with Wayne for 25 years at GM. Marion's is a Dayton area pizza place--one of our favorites. Every time we go to Dayton we have stop for their pizzas. 

Wayne, Denise and Barbara

 On Wednesday we headed to our daughter's house for a grandkid fix. Well, that and to visit with daughter Rachel and her husband Benji. We had a really good dinner and a great visit. 

Daughter Rachel's family

 Thursday was the start of the HOG rally. We got to Best Western Hotel, the headquarters of the rally, about 8:30 am and picked up our preregistration packet. They had a guided ride taking off at 9:15 so we signed up and went to get lined up. Right on time, the lead man called to start our bikes and we were off. The ride took us on round about way to Mason, Ohio and the Powder Keg Harley dealer. Did I say a round about way? We went way west, then south, before heading east. We rode about 80 miles to get to the dealership. If they would have gone down the interstate the ride would have been about 40 miles. All of the guided rides were on the back roads of Ohio. The idea was not to get anywhere in a hurry, but it was to enjoy the ride and the scenery.  

Powder Keg Harley in Mason, Ohio

 

 I lived in Ohio most of my life and I didn't know there were so many scenic roads around Dayton. 

 Our next stop was the Wright Brothers Hanger where a reproduction of their plane is kept. Another place I had never visited.

 We arrived back at the Best Western after a ride of 135 miles. I am not a big fan of the group rides because  you have ride in formation all the time. This ride was not as tiring as some of the other group rides I have been on. I guess I am getting more relaxed doing these rides and really enjoyed this one.

Just a few of the bikes at the rally

 Thursday night was the opening ceremonies and a catered dinner. The food was good and we stuck around for the opening. They had a band playing after the opening of the rally. We listened for a short time and decided to head back to Barbara's to rest up for the next day. 

 Louise wanted to go for a visit with her Uncle Paul who just turn 95 years young. Friday morning we rode north to Fort Loramie. We had a nice visit, then headed back to the rally. On the way back to the rally, my bike started to miss pretty badly. It had been missing a little when it got really hot on long rides, but this time it was much worst. When we got back to Dayton, I called the local Harley shop and they said bring it right over. I was not sure I was going to make it there for all the missing it was doing. When I got there the service manager had gone to lunch and the wait started. In their defense, there was a rally going on and they were very busy. I waited about 2 hours before they got around to checking my bike. After a test ride and hooking it up to a test machine, I was told I had a burnt valve. NOOOO!!!!!! It seems that whoever put the new exhaust on the bike, done before I bought it, they had failed to tune the bike to the new pipes which caused the problem. I decided to leave the bike with them for repairs. I was told it would take about a week before it was done. This left us without a bike and our rally over. Now how do we get back to Knoxville? When we got back to the house, Barbara and her friend Gene offered to take us back to our rv park. Did I say they our REALLY GOOD friends. Since our rally was over, we left on Saturday to head back. Our friends stayed the night with us then headed back to Ohio. Thank you so much dear friends.

Buckeye Harley where my bike is being fixed

We will return to Ohio for a week visit with family and to pick up the bike on the 19th of July. I sure hope they have it ready by then. We will take the truck up so we can drop a desk off we have for Rachel and to load the bike in for the trip back.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Texas to Knoxville...

I don't know why I haven't sat down here to blog lately, lazy I guess. So I will try to catch things up in one posting. Let's get started....

After leaving the Kilgore area, we headed for Livingston, TX and the Rainbows End Escapees Park. For those that know, Rainbows End is the headquarters for the Escapees club that we work for. We spent a couple of days visiting with friends in the park and then it was off to Surf Side Beach to visit with son Jesse.

We left the rv at the park and rode the Harley south. The trip was only about 150 miles. The worst part was having to get through Houston. I thought we left late enough to miss all the traffic, but guess what, we didn't. We sat in traffic for about an hour. After we made it through, it was a clear shot on south. Jesse  was working so we stopped at a Harley dealer along the way. 

Entering Houston traffic

Louise' reflection in my helmet.

Jesse's pad
We ran around with Jesse for a couple of days, then he had to work again.  We took that day to ride the bike  to Galveston for the day. The road from Surfside to Galveston runs right along the beach for some 40 miles. It was a nice day but a little windy. The wind was blowing right off the ocean. When we got back you could write your name in the salt film on the bike and on our helmets.

The new pier park in Galveston

After a hurricane blew down a bunch of trees around Galveston, chainsaw carvers were brought in to carve images in the stumps that remained.Some of these were really impressive carvings. We followed the map we picked up at the  visitors center and took pictures of most of them. We looked around town at some of the houses there, then took off back to Surfside.

Tree stump carving

We ran out of our time with Jesse and headed back to Livingston. 

A view of Houston from the south

When we returned to the park we started to get things ready to move on. Our goal was  Birmingham, AL. The trip there was a pretty easy trip, mostly state roads. It took us 2 days to reach our goal. The first night on the road we stopped at  the River View RV Park, in Vidalia, LA. This park is a Passport America park and as the name indicates, is right on the Mississippi River. It is a very nice park with a great view, swimming pool and a public walking path that follows the river.

The next day we continued on to Birmingham. We actually we stayed in Bessemer, AL at the Elks Lodge. We had 50 amp electric and water hook ups. The down side to this Lodge was where it was located. It was not in a very good neighborhood. We had planned to stay there through the weekend but decided to leave after 2 nights. While we were there, we headed out to Tannehill State Park. This park is the site of one of the many blast furnaces in the area. This was a big steel making area years ago. There is still a modern steel plant in the area. The park has a nice museum about the making of iron and it's rolel in the civil war. They have a lot of log cabins, a blacksmith shop, and several artists on site along with a rebuilt blast furnace. The bad thing was that all the craft people were only there on the weekend and were there on Thursday. After Louise and I talked it over, we decided to head on to Knoxville instead of staying at the Elks over the weekend.

The blast furnace at Tannehill State Park

Friday, we hooked up and headed on to Knoxville and the Escapees Raccoon Valley RV Park. This will be our home till the end of September. We arrived there on the 1st of June. We were not scheduled to start to work there till the 1st of July. As we were pulling off the interstate on the road to the park I got a call from the manager there. He wanted to know if we could start early. Since we were there anyway, why not save our free night stays we have earned. 

A couple of weeks ago I rode in a Ride Against Autism bike ride . I have done several donation rides in the past. This one cost $10.00 to ride in. There were around 60 riders in it. The ride covered about 60 miles. After the ride they had several bands playing at the Harley dealer. 

The line up for the charity ride

We stopped at the dam on Norris Lake for a break

On Thursday of this week Louise and I rode to Muddy Pond Tennessee. Muddy Pond is a Mennonite settlement with several leather shops and various  general stores selling all kinds things. We had been there several years ago. There are 2 other families in the rv park that have motorcycles. I suggested that we go for a ride and they were all for it. The ride was 180 miles round trip and took us on some really curvy roads. We all had a great time and the scenery was beautiful.   

Our riding partners in my mirror

Jim and Lanette

Dan

Louise and yours truly

So it's on to our next adventure. We leave Knoxville on Tuesday heading to Englewood, Ohio for the Harley Owners Group State Rally. We will ride the bike up there, 300 miles.  We will return to our rv park the following Monday. We have never been to a state rally so we are looking forward to finding out if we like this sort of thing or not. What better place for our first big rally than our home area.  I hope to have lots to report when we get back.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

On to Kilgore

On Monday we left Van Alstyne for Kilgore and a visit with son Jeremy and his family. I had to get the truck registered in Texas also. On the way to Kilgore  our Pressure Pro tire monitor system went off telling us we had a tire that was loosing air. We pulled over in Greenville, TX and called our road service. The service showed up in about 30 minutes and had us back on the road about 20 minutes later. That was the second tire to go bad of the original tires that came with the trailer.  We decided to have them all replaced on our way out of Kilgore. We arrived at Shallow Creek RV Park shortly after noon and settled in for a week stay. We stay at Shallow Creek every time we are in that area. The park is a little pricey for us, $150.00 for a week,  but it is only 3 miles from the kids so it saves us a lot of gas. 

On Tuesday we headed for the tax office to register the truck we bought in Arizona. I had a feeling that we in for a headache when I called to find out what they needed. I was told they wanted a copy of the title with our name on it. I called the bank, they said that because AZ is a paperless state they could not help us. Before we left AZ, I went to the dealer that I bought it from to see what they could do. They gave the paper that AZ issues now instead of the title. I then went to an AZ title office. There I was told that what the dealer had given me was all that they issue. Now we go to the office in TX and was told that would not except the paper we had, we needed a title. Here we go........ The office in Longview called Austin. Austin says they can not register without the title. Also, TX wanted a receipt for the taxes we paid in AZ. The lady in Longview   tried to explain to Austin that the paper I had was all that AZ would give me. After several hours I got on the phone in a conference call with Austin and the dealer in AZ. They went round and round about the title for what seemed like 20 minutes. Finally Austin said the paper tile I had was ok, but they needed a receipt for the taxes which the dealer said they would fax. Wednesday, we got the truck inspected and returned to the title office. They had received  all the paperwork from AZ and we got the tags. We are legal...

Allie braiding the dolls hair

Jenifer Allie and Luke

Heading out on the river

 Jeremy has a place on the Sabine River. He put in  a concrete boat ramp so he can launch his boats on the river. Jeremy does a lot of fishing and sets a lot of trot lines out. We took 2 boats up river to a beach area where the kids can swim. While the kids swam, I fished. I caught a couple nice catfish and few smaller ones. Jeremy went up river to set out a trot line. Pictured below is picture of a 6 foot gar that was on the trot line the next morning.

This is a really nice beach

Fish caught

Louise setting in the shade

Grandpa playing with Allie

This is not a real good pic but this fish was caught on the trout line. It was a gar about 6 feet long. We let it go

A fish Luke reeled in

We had a great time visiting with the kids, but all to soon we must be off. On Monday, we stopped at the tire store in Kilgore and had all the tires replaced on the trailer before heading to Livingston, TX and the headquarters of the the Escapees RV Club. We will leave the trailer set here and take the bike to Surfside to visit Jesse.
Till next time
Duane and Louise

Time with the Texas kids.... stop one

After returning from California, we closed up the rv and headed for Texas. We stopped in Deming, NM, at Dream Catchers RV park to visit with friends there. We were planning on staying one night but the wind came up and the rain came down, so we ended up staying 3 nights. We wanted to get to Dallas area so we could attend the memorial service for our daughter-in-laws Mother. We made the trip from Deming with one overnight in Pecos, TX. We pulled into Van Alstyne, Texas after driving over 400 miles on day 2. We found a place to park the rv in Van Alstyne at the home of an Escapee member that allows you to park, with electric, for free if you are a member of the club. We had stayed there in December when we passed through the area and called them to check and see if they still were letting members stay. They told us to come on in. After arriving there, they came out to welcome us and tell us that any time we are in the area, don't call just come on in and park. There are still some really nice people out there. This place is only 7 miles from the kids house in an area that lacks rv parks.The closest rv park to the kids is some 20 miles away, so this is really nice for us.

Buckling up Ava's shoes

Emma

                                   

Story time

Playing the a wi game

Dressed to dance

Bath time

                                   

We spent the next few days visiting with Duane Jr and family. The twins, Emma and Ava have grown a bunch since we last saw them in December. They will be three in June and are talking a lot. It is so much fun to watch them interact. They play really well together and you hear them just chatting away at each other. I don't understand all of what they are saying but they seem to understand each other just fine.

We really enjoyed our visit with Jr. and family. I don't think we will get back this way for a year, so we are trying to spend as much time with all the Texas kids as we can.

All to soon we had to move on. The temporary tags on the new truck were about to expire and I had a feeling that there may a problem and I was right, more on that in the next blog.

Till next time
Duane and Louise