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!

 

What ELSE have we been doing these last 8 weeks?

Well, glad you asked that!  OK, so I asked it for you...nonetheless...we've been BUSY!  As we walked the various trails, we'd occasionally come across cairns that kids or other hikers built and left for others.  We were tasked with dismantling the cairns when we found them, so that lizards and other creepy crawlies could have their homes at least returned to them, if not fully restored. Here's Driver, up at Cactus Rock Trail, at Warbler Vista returning neatly stacked rocks to their more natural, scattered state.

But, just around the corner, what did our eyes behold?  Holy smokes, someone must have spent HOURS arranging all these rocks, juuuuuust so, in perfectly concentric and even circles.  The entire structure was about 4 or 5 rocks high, and a good 10 feet across.  It must have taken over 2 hours to amass and arrange all these rocks. Oh well, c'est la vie. Or death, if you really want to get technical.  We killed the cairn...

But we thought the path here could use a little more definition, so we took the biggest, flattest rocks and lined the pathway with 'em.  You'll note, we left plenty for the lizards and other creepy crawlies...

This little cactus was nearby...the very littlest one was only about the size of a dime.  I really did want to take him home, but...yeah....we live in an RV and we already have a houseplant, what would we do with another one? Besides, I'm pretty sure since this is Federal land, it would/could be considered a felony to remove plant material.  Especially if it turned out to be a rare type of cactus.  So, in the end, we took his photo (I'm sure he gave consent, even tho I cannot produce a signed release form) and simply moved on.  

Back on the homefront, I was able to get a little bit of sewing done.  This is an applique project that I have had in a bag for several years now.  About 12, if I stop to really count them up.  The fabrics were purchased on my very first shop hop, which took place in Sarasota, waaaaay back when I first started my quilting journey.  Gail had talked me into buying the pattern and fabrics, but I always felt it was way out of my skill set to complete.  As I recall, I knew we'd have some downtime eventually, so I bagged everything up and stuck it all under by bathroom sink.  Well, I was looking for a specific cleaner one day, and I ran across the bagged fabric.  Since I wasn't doing masks anymore, I thought it was high time to get started on this puppy.  Over the course of about 3 days, it all came together, and it's ready to be quilted here.

Here we are at the end of June, and we ventured out to the grocery store.  We were pleasantly surprised to see this posted prominently at the entrance:

And, have you heard about the Saharan Dust Storm? We had never ever heard of it before, but, apparently, it's a normal thing, at least around these parts.  We didn't really know what to expect, but when it arrived, we knew it. It was super hazy and our eyes burned after just a few minutes outside.  The hillside we could so plainly see last week is hardly visible through the haze today.

Here's the newscaster, showing downtown Austin.  Usually we can see all the buildings plain as day, but tonight, it was only clear as mud.

The next morning, Cixto, the head maintenance dude warned us about a creepy crawly that was accidentally run over on our driveway.  This is what a very large, very dead coral snake looks like.  Coral snakes are rather reclusive, but they do come out in search of water and food during excessively dry periods.  They usually only bite when handled or stepped on, but, ya know, I'm really not crazy about taking that chance, and, sorry, not sorry, I won't be missing this little guy.  (Little, he was NOT.  He was about 2 feet long, which, for a coral snake, is pretty danged long!)

Red on Yellow, Kill a Fellow.  I think this is the first venomous snake I've ever seen whose head is not triangular in shape, nor could we tell if his pupil slits were vertical (venomous) or not (friendly).  Heck, we couldn't even see his beady little eyes! Yeah, sorry dude, not sorry.  RIP

We went out to another part of the Refuge, one that is not open to the public.  There's an old ranch house there, with 2 more campsites in the front yard, that we were tasked with cleaning up.  We were to trim trees, weed whack the flower bed and cut the grass all around.  You know, all the things Driver gave up when we sold the house in Crystal River.  At one of the campsites, we found another volunteer's rock collection.  There were some really pretty ones, and I was tempted...but, like the cactus, we just took a photo and moved on.  There's only but so much room in that camper, and I'd really rather have food and fabric.  Or maybe fabric and food, yeah, that's probably more accurate. 

And speaking of food, look what WE got gifted with!  Homegrown 'maters, with a side of fresh basil.  YUUUUUMMMY!

Good thing we ate well last night, and yes, those tomatoes were the star of the meal.  We waited till it got good and hot, then we headed out to Warbler Vista, to help Cixto put in the bumpers for the new parking lot at Quarry Canyon trailhead.  You can't really tell from the photo, but, just behind Driver's left foot is a 2 foot drop-off.  And, from what we heard, someone had already driven off the "cliff."  Or maybe the Refuge Manager was afraid someone would drive off the cliff.  I don't really know for sure, but I know we were there to put those bumpers in.  Neatly, and evenly spaced.  There were 15 bumpers, all told, but only room enough for 12, so we put the other 3 as parallel spaces, on the other side of the lot. Sure made me wish I understood geometry better.  As it was, we relied on the string, the measuring tapes, OCD and my eagle-eye.

Here are the masterminds, debating on whether or not the bumper is in line with the other two.

Every now and then, I volunteer to finish up a quilt.  Sometimes, it's just a collection of blocks, sometimes, it's a whole top that's been quilted and just needs binding, sometimes it's a top that needs batting, backing AND binding.  This was one of those. It is comprised of fishing-related fabrics, with a few Norman Rockwell scenes thrown in.  I had originally planned to donate it to Friends of Balcones Canyonlands, for them to auction off at a fund-raiser if we ever return to normal, pre-COVID processes.  However, it appears to have been made with fabric that is, shall we say, less than expensive?  There were a few places where the sewist kinda skimped on the seam allowances, and the fabric is fraying a bit.  And the only way to repair it is with fusible, but there's just no fabric to turn under, sooooo.....I don't think it's going to be good enough to auction off.  I know if *I* were to win a quilt at a raffle, I would expect it to be in perfect condition, and not already falling apart.

So, I'll fix the bad spots, and one by one, I'll quilt the blocks with this splashy-looking design.  I think it looks like the water splash made by a fish and it suits the fabric perfectly.

And, back out on the Refuge, the work never ends.  The couple that was here prior to us did nothing for the entire time they were here, because they got here just as the Refuge closed to the public.  Personally, I don't see HOW they could sit and do nothing - I can look around and see at least 16 projects that need doing, in every direction!  All I can figure is they were not the outdoorsy type, nor were they self-motivated.  Or maybe they were counting on doing office work only, and since the office was closed, there was no work for them.  I dunno.  Doesn't really matter, either.  Just so long as WE were busy, we were happy.  Here's Driver, cleaning up the Handicapped path at Doeskin Ranch.

Didn't he do a good job?

We traveled Cow Creek Road again on the way back to the camper.  Check out the babies head-butting in the back.  They were sooo cute!

Daddy kept a close eye on his harem.  He was a monster.

And the next day, we got to pack up a couple of shelving units and move 'em.

This is the Arts & Crafts section...just about rivals MY collection, doesn't it!  LOL  Yeah...I am NOT looking forward to moving our storage unit contents again, but I AM looking forward to accessing it!

And, this time, along Cow Creek Road, they were just walking down the shoulder of the road.  Well, it would be the shoulder if there had been room to have a shoulder...I mean, I rolled down my window, and SHE.WAS.RIGHT.THERE!!  I could have reached out and touched the end of her horn, but I didn't.  Remember, Daddy was somewhere nearby, even if I couldn't see him, and I didn't really relish the idea of explaining a new dent in the company truck.

That night we watched the weather forecast....y'all know I like it hot, but geeze, this is just a wee bit excessive.  Break out the icees!

And what ELSE did we do?  Well, at Doeskin Ranch, there's a trail that's a bit overgrown.  A long time ago, a Boy Scout Eagle candidate created and installed numbered posts, correlating with points of interest along Creek Trail.  I don't know if anyone has ever trimmed the foliage back from the posts before, but we decided the post numbers needed painting and the foliage needed trimmed.  So that's what we did, by gum.  Yeah, it was hot this day too.  

See, this is the same post.  Doesn't it look much better now?

Annnnnd, the next day, which I think may have actually been the next week, we're back at the new parking lot up at Quarry Canyon trailhead.  Talk about figuring.  Wow, this one was quite the challenge.  First, there are specific ADA regulations governing this sort of space, and they had to be in compliance or we might just as well not have a handicapped space.  But, regulations said we HAVE to supply at least 1 handicapped space, soooo....break out the protractor and string lines again.  

Boy, that looks good.  Cixto was sure proud.

All of our shadow selves were proud and happy to call it done (almost).  But wait.....look at the blue stripe, just over Cixto's hat....Look really close!  See that place the blue paint is missing??  What the heck???

Well, here's the thing.  And, yes, you can imagine our disappointment when we discovered it.  This parking lot is GRAVEL.  And even though it was sealed, this paint laid just on top of the gravel.  And the least little scuff with your toe (or the end of the measuring tape, in the case of that blue line) dislodged the gravel enough to make the lines disappear.  Yup.  For reals buddy, for reals.  Oh.My.Gawd.  All that work.  Ugh.  Now what?  Well, let's think about this a minute.  There are firemen onsite....firemen have firehoses....So, Ben, the purveyor of those yummy tomatoes came up with the bright idea of nailing lengths of firehose into the gravel, then painting the hoses.  I'll be a son of a gun.  Genius!  So Cixto spent another day with us, installing the hoses and nailing them through packed gravel and rock.  It was hard, yes, and yes, it was HOT. But, after nailing and painting, boy, oh boy, did it look good. 

That's some even striping, even on a curve!

So, check out our campsite improvements.  In the front there, you'll see Driver's tomato plants - they're doing so very well.  Remember, they only cost 10 cents a piece!  And Ben gifted us with a little jalapeno pepper that got planted in the middle section; it's doing great too, just loaded with little flowers and little bitty jalapenos!  And, what exactly is that bright blue thing behind the camper?  Well, you've heard me mention it's hot, right?  Just how hot is it?  It's hot enough that we talked Amazon into bringing us a little kiddie pool.  Oh yeah, baby....  Yes, we have to put a few gallons of new water in every day, just to cool it off a bit, otherwise, it's scalding hot. But, whooooweeee, it is like sitting in a hot tub, very relaxing and refreshing after a hard, hot day at work.  Definitely worth the investment.

And, speaking of improvements....Cixto noticed the road leading to our campsite was eroded and almost impassible.  So he brought some bedrock and gravel up the road and started rebuilding it.  Just for us!

I tried to get him to let me drive, but, nooooo...he wasn't playing that game..

So, ya know I'm writing this post from Whitney, TX tonight, after a short day on the road.  We are on the way to PA, to clear out, and hopefully, sell my dad's house.  We have Craigslisted the darkroom equipment and stained glass supplies, and we have interested parties for both lots.  We also have 3 potential buyers for the house, and one appraisal that may or may not be done (long story, not worth telling).  But, I did want to catch you up on what we've been doing over these last few weeks.  Still lots more to come, so stay tuned!  And, YES, it stayed HOT!