Gallivanting

We spent the day gallivanting about the countryside in an attempt to familiarize ourselves with the communities surrounding Murfreesboro.  As you well know, Murfreesboro is home to three of our grand children and someday we are going to want to settle down somewhere.  Being that the other three grand children live in the frigid north, it won’t be there.  Further, our daughter now lives in a champagne area and we only have a beer budget so it won’t be there either.

Tennessee offers a climate and the centrality that is most suitable to our lifestyle and travels.  Right now we are looking for a parcel of land where we could install hook ups for one or more RVs and be able to build a small home in the future.  Don’t worry, we won’t be “coming off the road” for another three or four years (remember the beer pocketbook?).   

We found several communities that could easily fit the bill for our future home sweet home.  East of Murfreesboro there is the town of Woodbury (also, Bradyville and Readyville).  Then south of Murfreesboro there’s Eagleville and Chapel Hill (also, Unionville).  We are currently looking at places no further than 30 minutes away from Murfreesboro; after all, it’s all about grand children!!

We haven’t looked at any specific piece of property at this time; that’s for future trips to this area.  Yesterday was just an overview with lots of fact finding (things like amenities, churches, taxes, restrictions, etc., etc.) left to do before we nail down an area.  So, it will be an ongoing process for awhile yet.

Our time here in Tennessee is growing short.  Before we know it, we’ll be setting up housekeeping back at the Plantation – Rainbow Plantation, that is, in Summerdale, Alabama.  It will seem nice to get “home” again after our six month jaunt. 

Today is a work day and a grand child day.  I suspect there will be pictures again tomorrow from the proud grand parents.  Take Care, Have Fun, and God Bless. 

An Outing With Kalina

What is it with kids and history?  Here we were walking along the Greenway Trail which follows the Stones River and passes through the middle of a Civil War Battlefield and Miss Kalina could have cared less.  We even walked past the site where General Braxton Bragg established his headquarters and Kalina was not impressed.  However, upon seeing the plastic playground equipment that was erected not three hundred feet from Gen. Bragg’s headquarters, her eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning.  What’s with two year olds these days?

 

The Greenway Trail is a nicely paved four and a half mile biking, hiking, running, and/or walking trail.  It begins on the field where General Breckinridge, under the command of General Bragg, engaged in a battle with Union forces and makes it’s way to Cannonsburg Village in downtown Murfreesboro.  The trail links several major historical sites within the Stones River National Battlefield as well as providing recreation.

 

We had to cross a railroad track in order to get to the playground.  Notice what the sign says.  Well alrighty then, I guess we’ll just have to wait!!

As you can tell by the pictures, the slide won out over the Fortress Rosencrans and Redoubt Brannan (battlefield sites) – maybe next time Grandpa!!  Use your cursor over the pictures to see the captions.

       

While we were there, Kalina made a friend – John, John.  Also, notice the static electricity thing going on here!!

 

We did get to visit one historic site which just happened to be next to the playground.  This is the site where General Braxton Bragg established his headquarters on December 31st, 1862.  The battle took place on January 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of 1863.

 

Here’s a couple of “parting shots”.  This bench was right next to where we parked the truck (notice the railroad tracks behind us).  It wasn’t five minutes into the ride home before someone crashed right where she was sitting.

 

As we always say, “It’s all about grand children!”  What a beautiful day it was even though Kalina didn’t prove to be a history buff!!!  “Memories are made of this!”  Until next time . . . . .

The Glitch

Judy needed to get some blood work done so we took off for Lab Corp early in the morning.  While I was waiting for her in the truck listening to the radio I heard an old classic song by Dean Martin.  Normally this would have been a good thing, but it was the song itself that sort of raised my hackles - “Home For The Holidays”.  We haven’t even had our Jack-O-Lantern yet!!  Nor have we burped over our turkey!!!  It’s Waaaaaaay Too Early For Christmas Songs On The Radio!!!!  It’s not even mid October, for Pete’s sake!!!!!  Hello!!!!!!  No more Jingle Bells, PLEASE, for at least another month.

Well, on another note, we maybe Escapees but that doesn’t mean that we have escaped from the everyday hassles of life.  After we returned home from the lab, Judy went online to check our bank accounts.  This is something that she does everyday to ensure that we don’t have any unauthorized charges.  However, she got a “no online banking established for this account” message.  After a phone call to customer service to find out what had happened, it was evident that a trip to the local branch bank was required. 

Sometimes you just need to get in front of someone, face to face, in order to break the “do loop” cycle.  My line was simple, “You guys broke it, you guys gotta fix it!!!”  And, they did just that, however, before it was all “fixed” we had invested no less than four hours of our time. 

It’s quite apparent that we could never have “fixed” the problem at home on the phone with a customer service representative.  The problem was a “glitch” that occurred in the system while assimilating the Wachovia accounts into Wells Fargo accounts.  It required a mystical genius waving his wand over the system software while holding his mouth right and pressing a few thousand keys to straighten out the mess.  Anyhow, mission accomplished!!

With most of the day shot, we just came home and spent time on the computer and reading while listening to raindrops falling on our roof.  Oh yes, Judy spent some time on one of her basket weaving projects as well – it was scrapbooking this time. 

Today we’re going on an outing with grand daughter number four, Kalina. 
We’ve not decided where we’re going or what we’re going to do, but it should be quite entertaining and extremely tiring.  We know where little tikes get their energy; they suck it right straight out of old people.  No wonder we need several naps a day whenever grand kids are entwined into our lives.  Tune in tomorrow to see how it all went.  I’m quite sure there will be some pictures.

A Housekeeping Day

After several days of activities, it’s time to do the chores.  It doesn’t take long to fall behind on the housekeeping when you get yourselves into the busy cycle.

Miss Judy took a huge basket of laundry off to Matt and Jackie’s while I stayed at home and took care of the routine daily chores as well as vacuuming the house.  I, also, ran the “Furminatior” over the katts – Alex loves it while Katie, not so much.

I’ve needed a new pair of sandals for a long time now and haven’t found any that I’ve liked, so we made a trip up to the Outlet Mall in Lebanon.  And there they were, waiting for me on the clearance rack at the Reebok/Rockport store.

Then we came home where we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the rain gently falling on our roof.  Nice and pleasant and relaxing - I even cut a few zzz’s.

A little computer time and a little television time rounded out the day.  The rain continued on and off throughout the night and is supposed to continue through the rest of the day.  So, it might just be a nice quiet PJ day at home.  We’ll see, but we are in need of a restful day.

The Gathering

Gene and Judi showed up at Cedars of Lebanon around one thirty.  We sat and chatted for about an hour catching up on each other’s happenings since our last get together in Maine way back in August.  Then it was time to hit the trail heading for The Gathering at Defeated Creek Campground in Carthage, Tennessee.

A whole herd of Escapees has descended on Middle Tennessee.  No, there wasn’t a prison break although you may think so after you see some of the pictures. 

Anywhoo, before arriving at Defeated Creek we made a stop at the Tater Knob Overlook which “overlooks” Lake Cordell Hull.  This is a man made lake created when the Corps of Engineers dammed the Cumberland River in Smith County.

 

Here’s a picture of Judi and Gene that Judy took while I took a picture of her taking the picture.  Didcha follow all that?

We arrived at “The Gathering” right on time.  People were showing up and food was coming out – ya can’t have a Fulltimer’s gathering without food and drink!!!  There are a lot of pictures so just place your cursor over the picture for the caption.

It was a great evening, as it always is whenever a group of RVers gather for a Social Time and/or Happy Hour.  Here’s a couple of pictures of a beautiful ending to a beautiful day.

Have I ever told you that one of the best parts of this lifestyle is the people you meet and the friends you make?  We have lots and lots and lots of friends – waaaay more than when we lived in stix and brix!!!

Well, in the words of Jenny’s dad - “That’s it for today!”