It's a Long Road Home, But It's Worth The Trip

Whooohoooo!!!  Sooooo, Friday, the cleanout guys were all done and left the house with lots of stuff still on the walls (pictures no one wanted), in the attic, shed and basement (with our blessing) and clean swept the house.  The investor came over on Thursday, viewed the home and determined that he would be making an offer on Friday.  The neighbor's friend, Dave, the flooring guy, came over Thursday, as well and asked to think about it overnight.  They (his long-time girlfriend and he) spent over 2 hours in the house,asking questions, surveying the property and determining what they might like to do with each room. We felt sure they wanted to make an offer, but truthfully, we were a little hesitant to sell to them, as there was a LOT of work needing done, and we weren't sure they would be able to manage the job and work full time and still maintain a good relationship with each other.  Plus, he preferred to get a mortgage, whereas we preferred to have a cash sale, as that's a whole lot quicker and doesn't need an inspection.  Well, they couldn't make up their mind, so they called Thursday night and wanted to know how much time they could take to decide.  I wanted to get the ball rolling, so I told them only till 10 am Friday morning, because I needed to get back to the investor and get contracts signed prior to Charlie (brother) going away for the following week. They finally texted me Friday morning, thanking me for being patient, but declining to make an offer. Whew, that was actually a relief. My feelings on the matter were, if it was that difficult to make such a commitment, then, by gosh, don't make the commitment.  This is NOT the right house for you!  We have always known, immediately upon arrival, when it was "our" house.  Every.single.time.  So, I've been rambling...Friday night, we accepted the offer from the investor, and Charlie was able to get, sign and return the documents via email before he left on Saturday.  You know what that meant, right???? We had some free time Saturday, as yo know we spent that doing laundry and going geocaching.  We also pre-packed up the car, with whatever we could...you know, all the extra cleaning supplies, the extra shoes, doggie food, nice clothes.  Good thing, too, because when we woke Sunday morning, it was raining! Not quite cats and dogs, but still, who wants to pack wet stuff into the car?  As we approached Delaware, the rain got heavier, as did the traffic.  We decided we would go down around Baltimore,  instead of west, across the state and back through the Amish Country.  I figured the quilt shops weren't going to be open Sunday anyway, so really no need to go that way.  Plus, our car was stuffed to the gills!  We had picked up a photo album (our WEDDING album!), some photos for Charlie & Nina (ssssshhhhh, don't tell them, Charlie will be PO'd, so I'm going to send them straight to Nina only!), a little candy dish, a soapstone walrus (don't know why he spoke to me so, but he did), a huge box of heavy duty paper rags, a smaller box of what could only be called hiney-wipes, but they were unopened and dry as a bone (good for handling the gas pumps along the way), a big box of pennies, and some more food.  This all on top of what we had brought up there, so, yeah, we were full up, with no room for fabric.  

We saw this truck and immediately thought of Barbara & Charles.

And, back over the Susquehanna River, down at the other end.

And just so I would feel right at home and freaked out, there's a set of overpasses to traverse.  Thankfully, we are on the bottom road!  I believe we were actually in Maryland at this point, though I have no picture to prove it.

And before long, we could see to West Virgina.

And got picture proof!

And the, before we could blink, we were back in Virginia, taking pictures of the cute apple bushel watertower.

Not too long after that, we ran up on a convoy.. I know you remember CW McCall...

In case you can't play that embedded video, just give a little clicky right HERE.  LOL, now it's stuck in your ear, isn't it?!  I know it is mine...

This was a convoy of brand spankin' new Ford trucks pulling what we thought were horse trailers...but, they're not.  They are HazMat Decon trailers (whatever the heck that means!  I know what HazMat is, but I always thought Decon was bug spray.)  Maybe decontamination units??

We spent the night in Abingdon, VA, and set out early the Monday morning, headed west.  Before long, we're on state number four!  Welcome to Tennessee.

See that photo below?  See that green billboard, just right of center?  Well, between that billboard, and the church spire, just to the left of it, you'll see a golden dome.  THAT is how we know we are halfway through Knoxville.  That is the Sunsphere, a tower built specifically for the 1982 World's Fair.  When we first started coming down this way, we could plainly see the entire tower and dome.  Over the years, it has become less and less visible to passersby on the Interstate.

And again,we crossed over The Tennessee River.

So, here's a cool place.  We were originally going to stop here overnight, with the camper, as this is a Harvest Host spot, but, well, you all know what happened to THAT plan.  It was abandoned when we abandoned the camper in Dallas.  We, just so happened, we came back by here, and there are plenty of hotels to choose from in Jackson, TN, so we decided we would come here first, taste a bit o'shine, then go find a spot to stay the night.  What a FUN visit it was!  Didn't say free, now, did I.

As we approached the tasting room, we were presented this lovely warning about potential injury or death of a participant.  Hmmmm,is this somewhere we should be going?  Heck yeah!  Onward we went!

The porch was so inviting and rustic.

But, step inside, oh my, oh MY.  This is Sandy, behind the bar.

A small, VERY small, sampling.

As you turned back around, to view the door, take note of Pappy's old, original still, up over the door.  Note the different woods used, too.  The dark is walnut, and the lighter posts supporting the header are ginko.  EVERY BOARD was planed and hewn from trees grown ON THE PROPERTY.  And EVERY BOARD was hand planed and hewn by Samuel T Bryant (the son) and Samuel P (Pete) Bryant (the father) themSELVES.  BY HAND, people, by HAND.  The son was educated as a chemical engineer, but when he got tired of that, he pivoted to being an arborist.  And eventually, he had too many medical issues to continue with that passion, so he started making moonshine, using his Pappy's still and recipes.  They've only been at it 6 years, and this beautiful event space has only been open for the last 3. And in their spare time, they own and operate a fine dining establishment downtown (nope, we went to back to the hotel and finished up our leftover fried chicken.)

This the Samuel P and his lovely bride of 51 years.  They had been out trimming trees when we drove up, but they came inside to meet us and visit with Bailey. They met when he went to purchase a German Shepherd puppy from a friend of hers who had a litter for sale.  They met and went on a date, and the rest, as they say, is history.  Sam, the son, had retired to the back office shortly after meeting and greeting us, but this couple was just as gracious as our days have been long.  They were welcoming and invited us over and over to come on back.  They told us not to worry about whether or not they were open, just come on in and park.  And bring our friends.  They were sooo sweet.  But, what about the shine??

Oh, it was good.  We got to taste Sea Salt Caramel, Coconut, Strawberry, Blueberry, Peach, and plain Tennessee.  We bought the blueberry and I will be making cheesecake with it when we get settled for more than a day at a time.  Get ready Charles, you're my quality control!  The quonset hut in the back there is where the bottles are boxed up and packaged for retail.  We couldn't take a tour, as it was too late (not sure we would have spent the $20 to do so), but we got the samples all for free.  They sure did warm me up!

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early, and once again, we were on the road by 8 am.  We didn't go far when we found another fun truck to follow.  Terry made sure to keep us on track though, even though Barb was encouraging us with a vigorous, Yes! Yes! Yes!  Terry shut her down quickly, with a bigger NOOOOOO!  I can't wait till we can start square dancing again and see all these good people!

And on the way through Little Rock, Arkansas, we saw the CarVana tower. I think I'll start looking for unicorns now. Seriously,is this the way of the future? Would YOU buy a used car, sight unseen, not test driven, or anything? We wouldn't. Gotta pass the smell test, for me, if nothing else.

Of course, there are some more high overpasses to deal with....

This is the Mississippi River, which splits Memphis, TN from West Memphis, AR.  We sure don't want to be stuck in West Memphis again, remember, that's where we lost our tow dolly tire and fender.  And, NO, they have certainly NOT made any restitution nor reparations for any of that debacle.

But before we could get to Arkansas, we had to cross the bridge....which brings me to today's interesting load.  It was an oversized one again.  Took up both lanes behind us.  No idea what was under that cover.  But it was monstrous!

And here's a different oversized load - this was a brand new Army Armored Personnel Carrier of sorts.

And here we are arriving in West Memphis.  Keep driving Honey, keep driving!

What have we here?  Oversized load number THREE!

An engine of sorts.  For something big, that's all I know!

And this is what a load of axels and drive shafts looks like.  How do I know that?  Because we saw OURS, just last week!

And, before we knew it, we were entering Texarkana, a city split by State Line Avenue.  Northbound lanes are in Arkansas, Southbound lanes are in Texas.

We spent the night at Wyndham Garden, one of the nicest hotels yet (not the Brinson nice, but nice enough), and one of the least expensive, too.  Once we checked in, we had a bit of time before dinner, so we took Bailey down to the doggie park and walked around a little.  Well, WE walked.  She shuffled and snuffled, and when she saw we had wandered away, she came a-running!  After that, we found an easy geocache then went on to Whataburger.  We knew it would be our last Whataburger for some time, so we were really looking forward to savoring thick, juicy burgers.  And one of us even sprang for jalapenos!  Boy, talk about disappointed.  The burgers were dry and not that tasty, and not a single jalapeno slice anywhere!  

Once again, we rose early, and got on the road around 8 am.  Easy to do when you don't linger over coffee and breakfast!  Thanks, COVID, that's ONE good thing to come out of all this!  When we saw the high overpasses below, we knew we were approaching Dallas.  And, just like a horse headed for the barn, we picked up just a bit of speed.

As we went through Rockwall,  I took note of their watertower, and wondered why they had a sailboat.  We are inland, you know...

Aaaahhh....it's Lake Ray Hubbard, a reservoir for the vicinity.  It's one of the largest lakes in north Texas and spans 22,000 acres.

After a short stop at the local Kroger ('cuz there are no HEBs in Dallas!!) store to stock back up on all the fruits and veggies we'll need for the next few days, remember, we gave all that stuff away before we left, and we arrived back at Premier Truck South, where our camper was patiently waiting.  And, it was plugged in, which meant, in all likelihood, that our frozen foods were just fine, and it WAS COOL INSIDE.  Oh yeah, baby, it was dark and cool.  

Yes, it's a bit messy - that's our bicycle rack under the Mexican blanket on the sofa, and yes, that's our emergency box on top of it, but, hey, it's cool, and it's HOME!  The mechanics were supposed to sanitize it when they were through, and I think they did.  At the very least, they have sprayed new-car-smell inside, and it smells clean!  The driver's seat even still has its plastic slipcover!  Oh boy, does it look GOOD.  Never mind the mess!  It got worse before it got better.  All that stuff we had crammed in the car, plus all the new groceries, plus the stuff from Dad's house, PLUS the big wheeled cooler we purchased still has to fit in here somehow.  And somehow, we made it all work.  A few phone calls later, and a doggie walk, and now it's time to go see what's for dinner.  I can't wait to get back on the road, in the direction I want to head, and start cooking our own food, serving on our own dishes,  taking showers in our own bathroom, and sleeping in our own bed.  And having our own washer and dryer, at my convenience.  Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled, but that's the way I like it!

We have reservations for somewhere in Louisiana tomorrow...and it promises to be a long day, 400 miles or so.  Safe travels to you all!  Stay well and we'll see you again in a few days with another tale from the road!

 

Cleanout, Cleanup and SOLD!

Annnd, a good morning it was! This hotel, in Winchester, VA, was still serving their "free" breakfast buffet.  Of sorts.  They offered yogurt, dry muffins, juice and a pass through pancake oven.  You push a button, a squirt of batter comes out and rides a conveyor belt through the oven, and voila, 1 minute later, you've got your pancake!  Ready for syrup and butter.  Too bad there wasn't any available. That's ok, a quick bite to eat, brush the teeth and we're back on the road again.  

After a few miles of construction, we passed into West Virginia.  Then Maryland.  It was quick, and it all looked the same:

Then, before we knew it, we were finally in Pennsylvania.  I'm not sure we were there to pursue our happiness, but we did hope to achieve some closure and peace of mind.

I don't really remember much about the area, but I don't recall ever seeing this part of the state.  We were really quite surprised to see such vast farms and acres of corn.  It's been a looong time since we've had good corn, so maybe we'll manage to find some before we leave?

We also didn't realize there were mountains in this part of the state.   I remember the Poconos, but they are in the eastern half, so, I dunno what's going on here.

Ummmm....did we take a wrong turn somewhere?

Texas may have some large farms (I believe they call 'em RANCHES), but they do not have the building complexes that seem to be so prevalent here.

I believe this is the Susquehanna River, runs right through Harrisburg.

Now, THIS is one sign we didn't want to see ever again...

Today's odd load...a monster Tonka Toy

Soooo, you know we've been really sheltered, there on the Refuge, and we haven't been out of our little cocoon in quite some time, this trip being the exception.  We haven't really been paying attention to any activities other than what we see on the nightly news, so when we drove by the Olive Garden, we were really surprised to see minimal social distancing, and fewer masks than deemed required by local ordinance.  ???  What's up with that?  Are we the only ones that seem to think there's a pandemic going on and people should be exhibiting a little more concern for others, and themselves too?  Is it any wonder we want to retreat back under our rock?

We passed through several small towns and PA's Amish Country on the way to Newtown Square.

And, since it was only about noon (how could that even BE?  We had already been in four states, and it was still just noon!!), it was too early to check into the hotel, so we just went straight on to Dad's house.  We had seen photos, from when Charlie was there, but, Oh.My.Gosh.  NOTHING could have prepared us for the actual reality of 40+ years of accumulation on top of physical infirmities on top of being closed up for the last 9 months.  Please, friends, please do your children a BIG favor, don't be afraid to throw things out!

But, hey, we did find this chair up in the attic.  As I recall, it was needlepointed by my Grandmother's mother, so, that makes it ummmm, pretty darned old.

A couple of days ago, I had posted an ad on Craigslist, for the stained glass tools and supplies.  Charlie had mentioned there was well over $1000 worth, but we had no pictures, so I just asked for $350 for the whole lot.  A very nice lady, who happens to be a dental hygienist responded, and after a bit of chat, she said she'd take the lot off our hands.  She actually lived in Maryland, about an hour away, and we arranged for her to come up to get the glass.  She asked if she should bring her utility trailer and I told her she was certainly welcome to do so.  Sooo, she and her hubby drove on up and helped us go through the rubble.  They found lots of treasures and every bit they took away was that much less the cleanout guys were going to have to haul to the landfill.  They spent a couple of hours searching all the nooks and crannies for items of interest or things they could use.  Truthfully, I was happy to see it all go.  Along the way, we all chatted a bit (which was really hard, considering we were all wearing masks, plus the foul odor of the house and the heat...apparently, it's SUMMER here in PA, and it was hot and muggy!) and we learned a little about them and they learned a little about us.  Their names are Lisa and Bill, and they are very nice people.  In another lifetime, we could all be very good friends, I'm sure.  But, they live in MD, and we don't, so it's unlikely we'll ever cross paths again.  But, if you're reading this, Lisa & Bill, please know that you really touched our hearts and we are glad to have made your acquaintance.  It was an honor to meet you.

Off they go, with their haul!

It was late when we finally got back to the hotel, but, hey, we found a pizza joint that uses only mozzarella and has good reviews.  And, boy, was it GOOD!

The next morning, we were right back at it, bright and early.  Here is just a part of the camera collection... I put these on Craigslist too, but the only person that contacted me was one young man looking for PlayStations and X Boxes.  HAHA, yeah, none of that here.  Although, the neighbor Harry, was able to get a city pickup truck here and FILLED the ENTIRE bed with obsolete electronics.  Lordy, you really just cannot imagine..nor would you want to.  Just trust me.  It was all too much.

Here's the garage, after several hours and truckloads of cleanout.  It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate.  I know he used to keep a car and 3 motorcycles in here.  Please, people, don't do this to your kids!  

And, finally, the last load is headed out!  Let me tell you a quick story about that last load,too. It contains the washer and dryer, and why do you suppose that is?  We WANTED to sell them on Craigslist, and hoped to get a couple hundred bucks out of the pair.  Yeah, no.  Dick Luck, remember?  We had been expecting to do our laundry when we got to Dad's house, knowing he had a washer/dryer for us to use.  Charlie had mentioned that they appeared to be relatively new, so we were glad to see them when we arrived.  They were dirty and grody, so we figured, we'd put some of Dad's clothes through a cycle, just to check 'em out, make sure they worked, and hopefully, get rid of some of the grime, before we put our own clothes in.  HA, said God.  The washer worked great, all through the fill, soak and rinse.  Then came the spin.  Or, in our case, the not spin.  Yup, it drained some but did.not.spin.  Soooo, we were left with a tub full of sopping wet clothes.  OK, so, no big deal, right?  The washer's no good, but what about the dryer?  Well, I took a couple of the sodden shirts out, wrung 'em out in the sink and tossed 'em in the dryer.  Set the timer and pushed start.  Fired right up and started turning.  Walked about 20 feet away, came back into the room and hollered, I SMELL SMOKE!  I guess the good thing about that is that I could smell, right? Proves I don't have COVID!  We all ran over to the dyer, stopped the drum and opened the door.  Smoke just poured out and we decided not to sell the dryer either.  In all truth, we considered putting it back on and letting it run while we went out for lunch. Good thing we're honest peeps.

It's been such a pleasure coming "home" every night to our room at Brinton Suites, a lovely little kitchenette with an outdoor patio and this peaceful view.  We have breakfast and dinner out here every day.  Just being outside in the fresh air and watching the birds at the feeders restores our souls. 

Have y'all ever seen one of these mobile shredding trucks?  They are amazing!  Charlie had filled 4 large trash bags with files and papers he thought should be shredded.  I cleaned out 2 filing cabinets with more of the same.  He was thinking we could just burn the lot of it, but....nah....that would take forever, and we weren't sure the neighbors would be too keen on that.  These guys came on out, wheeled that big ole can down the driveway, loaded it up and pushed it back up to the truck.

The can was placed in the bay, the arms came out...

The can was sucked up, and that's when the magic really started!  Somehow, the can got dumped, the truck rattled and shook, and poof!  Papers, staples and paper clips were turned into mulch.  Or, whatever they call shred.  They handed me a destruction certificate, ran our credit card, and then they were on their way.  Easy-peasy.  

Every day, we got to pass Pete's Produce Stand, and this little charmer was guarding the gate. She's made from an old oil tank, a bucket, some paint and a few other upcycled metal pieces.  She's a real cutie, eh? 

Also at the produce stand, was this little wonky house.  Up till this day, the door had been closed, so we didn't know it was a lending library until we stopped to take this picture.

And this is the actual produce retail area.

So, all this time, we've been in discussion with an investor, a neighbor, and another neighbor's friend, trying to get this house sold.  The neighbor wanted it for her daughter, a single mom, working full time, with FOUR, count 'em, FOUR kids.  Being as the house is in terrible disrepair and is in dire need of (expensive) updating, we didn't think it was suitable for her.  And the neighbor's friend and his girlfriend spent 2 hours walking through it and discussing the possibilities last night, but, ultimately, they declined to make an offer.  However, the investor was not afraid.  He flips houses for a living, and he seemed well versed in the sales process, even though we were going to do it all electronically.  He offered us enough money to pay the taxes and a quick closing, to get it off our hands, so we accepted his offer this morning, and within minutes of me telling him so, he had the paperwork completed and sent to Charlie via email.  Now, ya gotta remember, Phoenix is 3 hours behind us, so when I called Charlie to get him to check his email, it was only 7:30 am.  Sorry Charlie!  But, I thought you'd want to know....and take action, quick, before he changed his mind. By noon, we had the car somewhat packed up, and we had the afternoon free.  What to do?  I know, we can go geocaching!  Check out our first Pennsylvania smiley!  

And the next one..it was a tiny bison tube, tied to a string and dropped down the sign post.  Cute hide!

 

We saw this little guy on the way to another cache...Ben Franklin, the Punctual Plumber.

Now, THIS brought back some fond memories, of some dear friends.  Barbara and Charles, we have been reminiscing about those crab cakes your brought us from Maryland and all the good times we've shared.  We can't wait to get back to Silver Springs and see y'all again!

This is one of the tiniest caches we've ever seen.  That rolled paper is actually the log, and it's only about an eighth of an inch wide.  Yeah, really.

So we got to celebrate World Geocaching Day and the 20th Anniversary of Geocaching, as well as the sale of Dad's house and the cleanup we've all been working towards for 20 years.  Tomorrow, we get to head back to Dallas to pick up our motorhome.  Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you about that!  Thursday, we got a call from Laurie, telling us they were expecting our power steering hose to arrive on Friday, around noon.  And what do ya know?!  Friday about 3 pm, Laurie called and told us she had our hose in her hand!!!  Whoooohooo!!  They are going to install it on Monday, will take a day or two, and it should be ready by Wednesday!!  So we are ready to hit the road once more.  Dallas, here we come!

Till next time, y'all stay safe and well, remember to mask up!  Life is precious!