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.