Day: January 16, 2017

Posted in Blog Series

#6: Adventures In RV Travel – January 16, 2017

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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On the Road Again!

It’s 10:30 p.m. Do you know where your traveler’s are? I’ll tell you! We are  just barely over the northern Georgia border with Tennessee, barely on the southern side of Chattanooga. Here is the other thing. We did not mean to drive this far today. It just happened. We thought we could find the type of camping area we like to stop at north of Chattanooga, but surprise! It isn’t there any more! When we are on our way to our destination, we usually stay at Flying J Truck Stops as they have spots for RV’s. They are a subsidiary of Pilot. The Pilot north of Chattanooga that used to house the Flying J does not take RVs any more. I was a bit unhappy about that when we stopped there tonight!

So, I got on the phone and started trying to find Flying J’s. Do you know what I found? Nothing. Zip. Nada. In the general area. Next step. I started trying to find campgrounds. Exactly one exit from where we were, and that was passing the Georgia state line, I found a campground with a vacancy! We zipped into there and the nice thing is we have full hookups – electricity, etc. In a Flying J, we would be “flying” under our own power. This campground has WiFi…..they say. My computer gadgetry can’t find it so I’m using a personal hot spot. What have I told you about WiFi and campgrounds? Ha! I’m proving myself right the first night on the road! 🙂 They also advertise themselves as having cable TV. Again, HA!. No sign of it.

We drove 341 miles today. We only wanted to drive 250-300. Tomorrow, I plan to sleep late, relax over several cups of tea, and not move out of this parking spot until their 11 a.m. check out time. Then, we will drive a lesser amount of miles tomorrow.

Today was a good day, however. I just had to rant about tonight first! We stopped just north of Knoxville, TN to visit a friend today. It was nice to see her and her husband, meet her band of furry kids, and see her home. We were able to stay a couple of hours since we aren’t in a big hurry to head down the road this year. It was so good to visit. Thanks, Marty and Phil!

Right now, before I go to bed, I should be unpacking and storing my stuff. Everything I own and brought with me is in boxes. Big boxes. Oh, I had time to hang up and fold many of my clothes but half of them are still folded in boxes. All my sundries are in boxes. My cosmetics are in makeup bags. Nothing is in a closet or drawer that belongs to me. But guess what!? All my husband’s stuff is nicely and neatly put away! Oh yes, it is. He is the neat freak. Well, I will have my stuff put away by the time we reach our destination and I do not want to hear another word about it! So there! 🙂

In the meantime, it is going to be a challenge to find my toothbrush!

OK, what did we see today? The most awesome sight to me as we drive south from Kentucky into Tennessee is the mountain at the border where Interstate 75 crosses the line. Jellico Mountain. It never ceases to impress and terrify me. The weather on top of that mountain is absolutely never like the weather on either side. Big trucks have a really hard time climbing it but an awfully easy time going down the other side. Jellico Mountain does have the most incredible view of the Great Smoky Mountains. I am usually too busy clinging to my seat to look closely, but I did look closely today. The Smoky Mountains were gorgeous and blue with haze. There wasn’t much fog on top but going down the other side of the mountain, there was a lot of lingering fog and it was early afternoon.

Chattanooga sits on a plateau and it, too, is a pretty picture as you are driving through on the highway. But, Jellico Mountain takes the prize in that part of Tennessee as far as I’m concerned. Here is a picture for your enjoyment. Now, I’m off to bed. I’m looking forward to tomorrow! More from “Adventures” tomorrow and I’m sure there WILL be more adventures. I just want to get to the ocean! 🙂

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Posted in Challenges

Impenetrable

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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His emotional walls are impenetrable. For 40 years, they have been impenetrable. I don’t know him any better now than I did 40 years ago. At least not emotionally. How is that possible? Is it me? Am I that clueless? Or can someone who you have known for 40 years really still be a complete mystery to you?

Maybe he has no emotions. Sociopaths really don’t have emotions. But surely he is not a sociopaths. To be honest, I’ve often wondered about that. Whether or not he is a sociopath. There are things he would do without remorse if I didn’t tell him no, that those things were wrong.

I feel like he walks around with an impenetrable shell around him, so I also walk around with a shell around me. Not impenetrable. Not at all. But a shell that keeps me from feeling much of anything most of the time. I blame him. He’s taught me how to do this. He’s taught me why to do this. To be impenetrable.

Posted in Blog Series

#5: Adventures in RV Travel – January 15

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

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We Leave in a Few Hours!

I should be sleeping instead of writing this blog post. I had to do something to wind down after a really hard day of work. The last day of packing the RV for the trip. The last day of really hard work although the first day at the RV park is pretty hard work and the days of driving aren’t easy work. We’re driving 1000 miles and right at this minute, that seems like a long way!

Today, like yesterday, was wall-to-wall packing except for a few minor things. My traveling companion got the tow dollie and car hooked up to the RV. That doesn’t sound like much work but when it is 43 degrees and raining and the tow dollie is slick, believe me, it’s not easy. Now he hopes he can make the turn out of the driveway to drive up the road! These things want to make me giggle tonight even though they are not funny. That’s because I’m so tired I’m on the verge of hysteria! If I did giggle, my traveling companion would not be amused! RV’ing is not for the faint of heart!

As for me, I made a grocery store run, stocked the pantry and refrigerator in the RV, washed all the RV dishes and pots and pans, and generally cleaned things up. Then, I came in the house and started working on my clothes. If you knew about my clothes, you would be the ones giggling! You see, I like clothes. I have a lot of clothes. But, my clothes are not necessarily all suitable for RV’ing. So, I spent a lot of time picking out what was suitable for the trip and realizing I have more cold weather clothes than warm weather clothes. Good! That means I’ll get to go shopping since we’re going to south Florida! I love jeans. Nice jeans. Levi jeans. There is a Levi outlet very near Ft. Myers. What a shame that I have to go shopping there! 🙂 Actually, I have enough jeans but who has to know?

What I don’t have are shorts because I seldom wear shorts. Maybe I can find Levi shorts? Since I’ll be making at least one trip into my beloved Everglades, I’ll definitely need shorts. Hot there! I’m a bit of an environmentalist about all wildlife. The python situation in the Everglades disturbs me.

Back to packing. We’ve covered food and clothes. But, there is so much more. We had already packed linens but we forgot towels. We almost completely forgot towels. That would not have been a good thing. I had to pack a tote for my dog and cat. A tote for my sundries like hair products. A tote for cosmetics. Multiply this by two when you take my husband into account except he doesn’t need cosmetics! Or hair products.

Finally, he is gone to bed and I am writing this blog post. We will leave by 9 a.m. tomorrow. I still have to shower and make a stab at those sundry products. Then bed for a very few hours. I’m the navigator so sleep wasn’t as necessary for me. We will drive only about 250 miles tomorrow.

We will make about a two-hour stop at a good friend’s home in Tennessee. We’ve been friends all our lives but I’ve never seen her home, so that will be fun. We’re taking things a little easier this trip to Florida and stopping when we want. We’re anxious to get there. We aren’t anxious to kill ourselves doing it!

The next time you hear from “Adventures,” (tomorrow) it will be from the road. I’m excited!