Royal Oaks RV Park in Bemidji, Minnesota

Went to Itasca State Park where we got to go to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Now we have been to both ends of the Mississippi River. Met some Air Force veterans with whom John had fun swapping stories.

At Paul Bunyan Park, there were very large statues of Paul and Babe, the Blue Ox.

Curry RV Park in Ironwood, Michigan

This is a city park and we pretty much had the park to ourselves. Had a storm with some downed limbs. Took the pups with us to see a very tall statue of Hiawatha. We rode to the town of Hurley, Wisconsin, which was a mining town for Iron Oar.

We use to call them “fantasies”, now we call it a bucket list.

One of mine was to go to Mackinaw Island, Michigan. That is why we are here at St. Ignace, Michigan – Tiki RV Park.

John go a BIG surprise. Robin Blanchard, our VP of Operations at SES, showed up. I knew she was coming. We had planned it even before we left home in May.

On the 14th, we went by ferry to Mackinaw Island. It was windy and chilly but we persevered. There are no cars on the island. Transportation is either by foot, bicycle, horse, or wagon. It is a colorful, bustling place. The lilacs are fantabulous and smell so good. Flowers are everywhere. The island is famous for fudge, ice cream, and the Grand Hotel.

We ate lunch at The Grand Hotel. There was a buffet for every course. If you go away hungry, it’s your own fault.

After lunch, we took a carriage tour of part of the island. Then took the ferry back to St. Ignace. At the edge of the water, where we had dinner, there was a family of 13 geese eating. The daddy goose was watching John and Robin very closely as they were taking pictures.

We went back to Mackinaw again the next day. The weather was much better. We walked around many blocks and saw a good portion of the town. Had a delightful lunch at The Yankee Rebel.

Lynn flew in that night. We DID know she was coming. After having breakfast with John and Lynn, Robin went to the airport to fly back home.

John, Ruby, and I went back to Mackinaw. We did the full carriage ride this time. The Butterfly House was awesome. Ruby became very good at getting them to stay on her hands. The blues were our favorite. Ate at The Grand Hotel again so that Lynn could enjoy it.

On the 17th, we went to Sauté St. Marie to take a tour through the Poe Lock. At this point we have seen four of the Great Lakes – Huron, Michigan, Superior, and Erie. We had a nice lunch in Sauté St. Marie.

It was an early morning on the 18th, since Ruby and Lynn were flying back to Atlanta.

A very memorable time in this part of Michigan.

Soaring Eagles RV Park, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

This is close to Frankenmuth where Bronner’s, a huge Christmas Store is located. I have ordered Christmas ornaments from here in the past. I would love to see it at nighttime. The sections go on forever. Frankenmuth is a German town.

We had a treat for dinner. John found a Japanese Steakhouse. Their hibachi show was a little different and the food was good.

Ruby has been a big help in saving me steps and doing things we ask her to do. She can put the sofa bed out and up by herself. And the pups love all the attention she gives them.

Her collection this trip has been key rings and little silver rings.

We are now in Georgetown, Kentucky at the Whispering Hills RV Park. So delighted to find a Kroger grocery store. Got the pups groomed and they won’t need another grooming for 6 weeks. Next time I will show the groomer pictures.

Took a van tour of horse farms – went by many of them and learned a lot about their histories. One that stood out was the Calumet Farms – stated by the baking powder people.

First stop was Keenland Racetrack. Fascinating place; we got to watch the horses training in various modes. A racetrack monitor rode his horse over to us and explained what the different modes were. He also made sure everyone was riding in the proper direction. We got to see every part of the racetrack and what took place when. And, of course, we got to visit the gift shop (just like at Disney).

Second stop was at a Horse Friends Farm – Old Retired Horses. There were special cemeteries also. Here, we got to meet the horses closely and feed them carrots. And Ruby made friends with one of the farm cats.

Third stop was at the Womack Farm where we went into a breeding barn. Very clean and elaborate – the wood was beautiful. They rake the crushed clay/sand floor each night so they can see footprints if there has been anyone in the barn unauthorized.

This is beautiful country. I would love to come back.

Wapakoncta, Ohio KOA

Nice little park with a pool, K9 Camp, and a mining station. Ruby collects rocks, gems, and animal teeth so she had quite a “find”. She found a large geode, sharks teeth, some sea glass and several gems. The pups enjoyed the dog park. This was a rest and housekeeping stop. Cute downtown area.

Crossing Creeks Farm.

This is the third summer we have been here. We found it on Harvest Hosts but it is also on Airbnb. It is a third generation farm that has a farm store with wonderful meats.

We visited with our friends Joe and Joy West. They have restored Joe’s childhood farm house and it is adorable! We ate lunch at Nathan’s Family creamery and brought home ice cream and cheese.

Our daughter, Lynn, brought our granddaughter, Ruby to spend some time with us. She had fun seeing all the animals, especially the chickens. She has her own chickens at home in Atlanta. Noah, the son in the third generation, took her to see the chickens, ducks, and baby turkeys.

We went to see John’s Uncle Jack Daniels in Lynchburg Tennessee, went to the Squire House and had lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s.

We also spent some time in Blue Buckle, a unique little town not far from the farm. Good food and little shops.

Arrived at Tom Sawyer RV Park on the bank of the Mississippi River in West Memphis, Arkansas. Stayed at this campground until June 1st because John was concerned about getting reservations over Memorial Day Weekend It gave us a chance to do a little more exploring of Memphis, Tennessee.

We found a new breakfast restaurant downtown, The Arcade- the oldest restaurant in Memphis. Ate there several times.

We’re back! I’m relearning how to use the website.

Went to Red Bay, Alabama until May 22nd.. We had some things done at the Tiffin Factory. We stayed at Red Bay RV Park it is a lovely park with a pond that has two large fountains, a dog park, and a very good restaurant. One evening we went to the Rattlesnake Saloon for dinner. It is in a very large cave that you get to by riding in the back of a pickup truck down a steep hill. They have a live band and some audience participation.

Rattlesnake Saloon near Red Bay, Alabama.

New post to start our summer adventures. We are off to Disney today!

San Antonio, Texas. I will admit that John really didn’t want to come here. He said that after being here for basic training in 1963 when he entered the Air Force, he didn’t want to come back. But after looking at a lot of pictures of the River Walk, I wanted to visit. So he did it for me. And it is just one of the many reasons I love him. He tries to please me and he does!
Needless to say but I will- it is quite warm. We have been in the 100+ degrees weather for awhile, but there has been no humidity. San Antonio sits in a bowl surrounded by the hill country so there IS humidity.
Our visit to the Alamo was most interesting. I had not realized the final battle was on my birthday, March 6th. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside. Fortunately, most of the tour was inside and it was air conditioned. We added the audio to our tour and that allowed us to go into the exhibition hall. A lot of historical artifacts were encased here.
They are doing moisture studies, because they are trying to find ways of keeping the walls from deteriorating.
After our visit to the Alamo, we began a two mile trek to get the tickets for our River Cruise. We walked down to the river walk where I thought we could get our tickets. The online instructions were to print your vouchers and take them to this specific place to get your tickets. We kept looking at maps and asking people for directions and we kept going around in circles until we finally discovered where the River Center was. Would you believe it was right next to the Menger Hotel where we had breakfast and not on the River Walk at all? But that was just to get the vouchers printed. We had to go to another place to get the actual tickets. That was down tbd block and across the street. That meant more walking.
When we finally got our tickets, I discovered that not only did I have river cruise tickets, I had tickets for the Buckhorn Museum / Texas Ranger Museum and the Hop on Hop off bus. It was 3:00 pm by them so we were ready to go back to the MOTORHOME.
John had made reservations for us at The Chart House restaurant which is at the top of the Tower of The Americas. It was built for the 1968 World’s Fair. It is a revolving restaurant and the meal was fabulous.
The next day, we started off with the Hop on hop off bus tour. It was a double decker bus. Only the lower level was air conditioned so we chose to sit there. Guess what? It quit working. We got off where the Buckhorn Museum was. This building is a combination saloon, grill, arcade room, and the two museums. Buckhorn started collecting all kinds of antlers and animal heads to decorate the walls of his Saloon. (Right now John is aggravating me about supper and I have told him I want to catch up on this blog,)

When we went into the Texas Ranger Museum, the first part was definitely some history and exhibits about the rangers. But then there were all sorts of exhibits about the unusual- Ripley’s Believe It Or Not exhibits and circus exhibits and then back to frontier exhibits.
Then down to the Riverwalk We had a nice lunch by the river and watched people and ducks.
After lunch, we walked to get on the river cruise. Our guide was comical and knowledgeable. I’m sure it is beautiful at night with all the lights, but I don’t think you could have the same fantastic views of the buildings.
We only walked two miles on this day.

in front of the Alamo

We entered our 13th state – Texas. The name of the campground is Hilltop RV Park. The owners have tried to contrast the stark white ground with colorful metal Texan yard art. Even the metal storage building was painted to look like a cowboy place.
The historic area of Fort Stockton had signs you could read from your car so you knew what each building was. It isn’t a large town. There are also many areas that have dormitory type buildings. The oil industry is large here so there are workers who are only here during the week.
I had not thought about it, but there are many roadrunners around here. There is a big roadrunner statue downtown.

We left Pendaries, New Mexico and drove to Carlsbad, New Mexico. The office building has the same design as KOA campgrounds. In fact, when I checked in the lady told me that the previous manager was now the manager at the KOA where we stayed in Laramie, Wyoming.
New Mexico seems to be all rock. We did learn about a new land form – hog’s backs. They are like hills but the sides are kind of sharp. Very short trees on the banks of the hills.
This is also an area where they have pistachios. And we passed through Roswell, New Mexico where there were supposedly aliens.
We took the pups to Sitting Bull Falls. To get there, we drove to the bottom of a canyon. There were many signs warning about flooding waters and to not drive through them.
It wasn’t a bad walk to a platform where we could see water falling from the top. There were swimmers in the pool at the bottom. They were picnic tables along the way that were heavily shaded. There was a big difference in the temperature in the shade.
Carlsbad does have some nice restaurants. We were not here long enough to do everything there was to do but we did enjoy our stay.

It was Chammie’s turn to drive!

Pendaries RV Park Pendaries, New Mexico

John has not been able to cook outside since before Kansas. It has just been too windy. The weather was so nice, we even ate outside. This is our 12th state and we have been gone 10 weeks.
For our morning adventure, we took the pups with us. We took a ride into the country side. There were lots of Adobe buildings that were falling down and family cemeteries. They were very colorful and used lots of rocks that are very plentiful in the area.
Without the pups, we drove to Angel Fire which is a ski area. We had a nice dinner in a restaurant that was decorated for Christmas.
We didn’t get a picture, but we were on a very curvy, narrow road that had no center line. It wound back and forth up the mountain and low and behold, here comes a Dollar General eighteen wheeler. John stopped but he kept coming! When he finally stopped, our front left fender was under his trailer. There was not much room on our right side, but John was able to ease around his back. It was so scary!

These horses were across the road from each other.

June 1-5, 2021

Circle the Wagons RV Park. To me, this Park is charming. It is in La Veta, Colorado. Our campground was right by the river.
The surrounding country is beautiful. In Cucara, there is a delightful cafe called the Dog Grill and Bar. Pups are definitely welcome and we met many breeds.

Highway 12 is known as the Highway of Legends. The Legends are the natural outcropping on this Highway. They are amazing.
Took the pups to a groomer and ran errands while we waited for them.

We ate a couple of mornings at a place called The Corner Cafe. The owner and cook had a temper, but the place was very clean and the food was good. The second morning he wore a t shirt that said “Anger Speaks!”

On our last day, we ate at a restaurant named Alys. I had a stuffed trout ( with the head on) and John had a huge rack of lamb. The restaurant was a complete surprise!

JUNE 5 – JUNE 8, 2021

Pendaries RV Park – Rociada, New Mexico Our 12TH state!

Nice campground – hilly, rocky, with Ponderosa Pines. In the 50s in the morning and warming up during the day.
We did a lot of riding looking at Adobe buildings and family cemeteries on the property of the family’s ranch.

John had not been able to cook outside since before Kansas because of the wind. He fixed us a wonderful breakfast. The pups were willing to assist him.
John and I decided to go Angel Fire which is a Ski Area. On the way, we stopped at a Grist Mill in Mora. A historic foundation is restoring it to become a community center. We then took a narrow road that WAS paved but had no center stripe. It was a winding road up the mountain. Coming around a curve, we were greeted by a Dollar General 18 wheeler. I don’t think he was supposed to be on that road. When we both came to a standstill, our front left fender was UNDER his left rear trailer. To our right was straight down the side of the mountain. John was able to move to the right just a little and ease around him. God was truly with us.
We ate a late lunch- early dinner in a cute restaurant that was decorated for Christmas on the inside. Then headed back to the campground.
Riding through the countryside, we, of course, saw all sorts of animals, farms, and topography. The picture below is one of my favorite.

As we leave this campground, we have been gone 10 weeks.

We left Laramie, Wyoming and entered Colorado at 10:45 Mountain Standard Time.. It was a pretty apprehensive drive because we were going up in elevation and the roads were curvy. But, we arrived safely at the Cripple Creek Hospitality House and RV Park. Gorgeous views of the mountains all around us.
The town was saved by the opening of casinos in the early 60s. The gold mines had shut down except for a big one in Victor, CO. It is still going today and is quite profitable. We played in at least five different casinos and we hardly touched the surface.

We had a fantastic tour of the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. If you have read my previous blogs, you read about the salt mine in Kansas that was 650 ft down. This mine is 1000 feet down. And where the salt mine had huge rooms, this one was a narrow passageway. Steve was a fantastic tour guide and knew what he was talking bout because he is a second generation miner and loves his job.

John, the pups, and I did some driving around back roads and saw some pretty interesting views. John kept saying he wanted to buy property that was for sale, but I told him the commute was too far!

There is a train ride in Cripple Creek where the engineer gives you a comprehensive history of gold prospecting in the area. As we went along the track, he pointed out where there were prospecting holes and where there had been mines in the past. He also described the fires in 1896 that destroyed the town and resulted in the buildings in the business district having to be made of brick instead of wood. One place he stopped was called Echo Valley. We COULD hear the echoes of the train whistles across the valley.

He referred to the descendants of the donkeys that had worked in the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine. They are allowed to roam the town and the town folks take care of them.
On Sunday, we had a surprise! Robin Blanchard and her daughter, Ashley Lucas-Lee showed up at the Hospitality House. Robin was on the way home from Hawaii and Ashley flew to Denver to meet her and drive to Cripple Creek. She had bet John she would show up so he had to pay up.

We needed to cram a lot in the short time they were going to be there, so it was casino, eat, casino, eat, casino, gold mine tour, shop, casino, eat, train ride, one hour of rest, casino, eat, and last but not least, feed the donkeys.

The only drawback to our visit to Cripple Creek was the thin air at 9494 ft altitude. They sell cans of Oxygen Boost- some have flavors. We did buy some and I think it helped John. My prescription inhaler was my best bet. I think we were acclimating about the time we had to leave.

The reason we came to Laramie, Wyoming was to visit with our high school classmate, Flew Pringle. We have been trying to do this for a few summers, but circumstances had prevented it.
This woman never stops. Flew is involved in several things with the senior citizens, a theatrical group, and the Moose Club. She kept us very busy. We even visited some of her family members while we were in Cheyenne.
Everyday there were many things to do, so that by the end of the day, we were ready for our bed. I’m just going to list them and then post some pictures. We started off with a quick tour of Laramie in the rain and slushy hail. The next day it was a jam session at the Senior Center. Flew had a friend sing “My Best Friend” for John and I. She said the song made her think of us.
There was dancing at the Moose Club and Bingo the next night. We had a private tour of the Ivanson Mansion Laramie Plains Museum which was absolutely fascinating. Shopped at the Prairie Golden Bakery. Went to the Territorial Prison where Butch Cassidy was incarcerated. ( Bill Wilson, FLEW’s husband is a brick mason and there is a picture of him working on the prison.) Made a couple of trips over the Snowy Range that had just opened up.
In front of Flew Wilson’s house are two beautiful Flowering Almonds. I took some cuttings. I hope they root.
We had a great time and met a lot of friendly people.

Paddy in the snow on the Snowy Range.

The views we saw on the Snowy Range were breathtaking.

We had never thought about snowshoes for horses before.

They finally caught up with John Vassar.

Our friend Flew Wilson.

We played tourists today. Had a light breakfast and then took a train ride at the campground where we are. The main purpose of this trip were the bison. We learned that there IS a difference between Buffalo and bison. Those in our country are Bison.
Originally, over 300,000 acres were owned by the first governor of Wyoming. Terry Bison Ranch now covers about 28,000 acres.
We got to feed the Bison and spend quite a bit of time with them. We watched a mom who had just given birth. She bathed her baby and encouraged it to stand up and finally nurse.

We passed by several bison grazing.

We went into the city of Cheyenne to eat lunch at the Luxury Diner.

Then on to the Union Pacific Train Museum.

Woke up to a foggy, wet, cold morning. Last night we ate dinner at The Senator’s Restaurant here at Terry Bison Ranch. We had the Prime Rib buffet. It was pretty good and there was entertainment.

After eating some lunch, we decided to do a little exploring. We drove into the city of Cheyenne. As a fundraiser, some places had large painted boots in front of them.

These are two peacocks that live in the campground where we are.

Happy Friday! Still leaning about the blog. We are leaving Big Springs, NE today and heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Where we have been the past two days is a working farm. Haven’t seen too much work going on, but I don’t how much work cows need.

Finally I have gotten back to the blog on my IPad. I’ve written a lot on JOHN’S lap top but I couldn’t add pictures so I didn’t post it.
We are in Big Springs, Nebraska. When we arrived yesterday, it was very windy and later raining quite a bit.
Today, we started out with breakfast at Max’s Highway Diner.

Lots of gasoline signs and old car memorabilia.

After breakfast, we went back and got the pups and took off exploring. First place was a sod house. We short leased to pups because there was a sign cautioning about rattlesnakes. The sod house is a Lions Club project.

Chammie and John exploring.

We then drove up to an area where exhibits gave a great explanation of what we were looking at.

This was a school in the early 1900s.
McGreer Campground in Big Springs is on a working farm.

One last thing today. John did something he has done several times during the years. I posted it on Face Book. He wanted me to video his fording a tributary of the Platte River. So he drove off without me. It really bothered our oldest daughter, Kathy when she was little.

John wanted to go visit his Uncle Jack – as in Jack Daniels. We headed to Lynchburg,TN to visit the “shrine”. We first went to the Squire House. John and are I both Tennessee Squires.. The Tennessee Squire Association is a marketing venue with members all over the world. One must be nominated. John was nominated many years ago by Tuck TUCKER, the owner of a B&B where we were staying A squire may nominate two people a year.
Of course, we did a little shopping downtown. Two members of our family are getting surprise gifts.

Travel Day— We do not have to go as far today. Heading to Crossing Creeks Farms near Shelbyville, Tennessee. This is our third visit here. It is such a pleasant place. It is an Airbnb. They have one site with full hook ups ( we are on this site) and two other sites with electricity only. There is a full bathhouse. A three generation family does all the chores, managing the farm, and running the Farm Store that sells their wonderful beef, pork, poultry, and eggs – chicken and duck.
III Rivers Kitchen provides all sorts of tasty treats As I type, I am enjoying some raisin bread. . The families have put in several raised vegetable beds hoping to grow enough to sell in their farm store. Often, you can find things that are grown by local farmers.
The day we arrived one of the first things we saw was a three day old calf. Mama looked very protective of her baby. On a tour of the farm we discovered they had increased their pig, duck, and sheep population. Their egg layers and processing chickens are in larger “condos”.

Nora and Caleb’s pet chicken came to visit.

We really hated to leave Bear Den where we feel so comfortable, but we have more adventures ahead. So we left this morning and headed to Crossville, Tennessee. Tennessee is our fifth state of travel for 2021..

We have been here before at the Crossville KOA. They have made many improvements since last year.. Staying here for two nights allowed us to explore the campground. Paddy and Chammie loved being able to run in the dog park without leashes.
In this part of Tennessee, the trees are full of leaves and the grass looks so lush – the kind you can run barefoot through.

Our last full day at Bear Den Mountain Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Spruce Pine, NC. Tomorrow we head for Tennessee.

Most of our past trips together (beginning in 1968) have been in the summer. So we have thoroughly enjoyed watching the mountains “green up” this past week. And the flowers have been amazing.

Where our home is on the Suwannee River, there are no rocks except for Limestone. And anyone who knows me well, knows that I collect rocks from everywhere we go. We had to pay extra for the weight we brought back from Maine. I have built a rock wall by the side of where I park my car with all these rocks. I have all sizes. This trip, I am trying to limit the size since we plan to go so many places. Below is a picture of the ones I have collected in North Carolina.

The past two days have been spent traveling back and forth to Marion, NC in order for John to get some necessary items for the MOTORHOME. (hereafter the MOTORHOME will be referred to as MH) Among the items was meat from a local store, West Court Market. We discovered it a few trips back.
On our travels, we saw some pretty mountain scenery. Pepper Creek Road is a favorite. It’s a hardpan, dirt mixed with gravel road that has lots of curves in it. John loves to drive the Jeep on it. However the very first time we were on it, I was driving. It was kind of scary. There are warning signs about no large trucks and no RVs.

Pepper Creek waterfall

John wanted to go down 226A to Marion. Our current Jeep had not been on 226A, so of course he wanted to drive it. He already had the sticker for it. 226A is a road that motorcyclists and sports car drivers like to travel because of the steepness and winding curves. It is known as Diamond Back because of those curves. A few years ago, we accidentally went down it in the MH. Our granddaughter, Anna Richardson, was with us. When we got to the bottom, Anna said, “Granddaddy, I smell something burning!” I told her it was the brakes. Needless to say, the MH, got a sticker!

This picture doesn’t do this waterfall justice. I’m hoping John will post a picture of it. I think he has a better one. He has learned a new term from me. “Leafing out”. The trees have certainly been leafing out since we have been here.

I am still learning how to operate this blog. Thank you for being patient with me and a big shout out to Nola Morse, in our SES office. She has been so sweet to help me. Of course, I know it’s part of her duties, but she has such a positive attitude and I DO appreciate her.

Today was a cloudy, cool day. It was forecasted to get up to 70 degrees, but I don’t think it ever made it. The day was pleasant enough for a drive through the mountains in this part of the state. We started out in Spruce Pine, NC and headed to Boone, NC.
On the way, we stopped at another Mast General Store in Valle Crus, NC. I think this is my favorite Mast General. It still has an old fashioned working Post Office. (ASA Maynard, I mailed a birthday card to you from this store.) I also bought myself a pair of red shoes. They looked so much better with what I was wearing, that I wore them out of the store.

John had promised me trout, so we went to the Banner Elk Cafe and Tavern for lunch. He had corned beef and cabbage. It was quite a popular place.
After lunch, we decided to save Boone for another day. So we went back to Bear Den campground and spent the rest of the day taking care of house hold needs, talking with fellow campers, and taking the pups for long walks.

John likes to call the mountains in this area,”the far blue mountains”.

We arrived at Bear Den Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Spruce Pine, NC and were all set up by 4:00pm. This is the fifth time we have been here but never at this time of year. The trees are just beginning to leaf out so you can see the views through the trees. When we have been here before, we have had to stop at overlooks to see the mountains and valleys.
John has a new Blackstone griddle and he was anxious to use it. We had breakfast for supper. He was happy to be back in his favorite site here. It is early in the season and there are not many campers here. Very quiet except when the wind blows. I can’t tell if it is roaring or howling!

Very rainy day. In fact, it has rained quite heavily all day. But no complaints from me because today is the first day of our trip that it has rained this much. And rain has not changed much of what we have wanted to do. That’s why God made raincoats. Even our pups have raincoats.

John took Chammie out and she has a yellow slicker.
We went to P.F.Chang’s for lunch in Biltmore Village. This area is a town center that has shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and a Western Carolina University location. We have stayed at the Hilton located there several times – especially to visit the Biltmore House at Christmas. One year our friends, Laurie and Mike Williams were with us and another year our granddaughter, Anna Richardson. When Anna was with us, it had snowed six inches and we went to REI in the Village to get her boots. We went three Christmases in a row.
The rest of the day was spent being lazy.

Today, we decided to go into Hendersonville, NC. My maiden name is Henderson, but I do not know of any ancestors or relatives in the area. All my Henderson relatives are in Georgia and Florida..

One of our favorite stores in the area is The Mast General Store. There is a location in Hendersonville so, of course, we had to go there.
The historic downtown has some adorable shops..John likes to tell me they are closed or he tells the people working in them that I have stolen credit cards. Usually, he picks out more things than I do! I am always looking ahead to family birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmas.
Since we don’t want to fill up the jeep or the MOTORHOME with extra, unnecessary weight, we often send things home at the UPS store. We did this today sending one box to our office and one box home.

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This a close up of a redbud tree. They are everywhere. I took a close up picture so that I could identify the tree. I have an app on my phone called “Picture This” that allows me to identify plants and trees. Now everyone knows one of my secrets.
We found an excellent bakery. There were so many goodies and we wanted so many of them. We tried to be good and only got a loaf of pumpernickel bread, two donuts, and two gingerbread men.

We are at Lake Rutledge RV Resort in Fletcher,NC. Today is our 9th day of travel. North Carolina is the fourth state in which we have been.

I realize I have skipped several days. It has been an adventure of visiting family, eating out, and traveling roads that are under construction. Even I-26 had construction going on.
We like to travel backroads if we can. The wisteria has been gorgeous and everywhere. The further north we go, spring is beginning. The nights have been cold and the days warm.

This picture was taken yesterday as we were approaching Fletcher,NC. Hopefully, it is the first of many more.

We had a short but sweet visit with our daughter, Marie. She lives in Greenwood, South Carolina. We “glamped” at Lake Greenwood Motorcoach Resort in Cross Hill, SC. Our site was right by the water. The pups had new sounds- boats going by, building across the lake, and honking geese.
The sunsets were beautiful as we walked the pups. We went up and down because this is not flat country. Good exercise for us also.

Learning how to use this blog. I know enough about computers to be dangerous.. This is a test entry to see if this works.

We are leaving White Springs today and traveling to Charleston, SC. We are going to see our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.