Treading Water (treading land)

I've landed in an airy limbo of not being ready to travel and not being ready to move on with life.  My commitments have been almost eliminated.  Work is practically non-existent, the rental  responsibilities have been vanquished.  The house is clean (for us) and we gave up on the yard two years ago.

The result is free time, almost too much free time!  And I am getting very restless.  It was all that I could do to not take off as I read Tiny Camper's blog about Ocean Pond. (www.tinycamper.wordpress.com)

Waiting for the time to leave is hard but we really need to be around the family at Christmas as my mom and step-dad are really getting up-there in years.  Other good reasons to stay home include David starting physical therapy and the camping bike being in the shop.  ( Trying to stay in the logical left brain when the right emotional brain wants to fly away.)

Hiking has been my mini-escape for the past two weeks.  Yesterday I got in over my head when I joined a seasoned group for an eight mile hike that was rated strenuous.  I did not die but I am sure that a few of them thought that I was a good candidate!

Another day my hubby and I rode our bikes on the river walk. The little Canon point and shoot has been going everywhere lately so I can fill up the blog with pictures.  I'll start with the Tennessee Riverwalk as it's a jewel right in the middle of town.

The Delta Queen has been docked at Coolidge Park since 2009 when federal rules declared her not seaworthy.  She is a magnificent old steam paddle wheel,  first used in 1927 in San Francisco, currently being used as a hotel.  She is in the background of the above picture.  Foreground is Tennessee River and the Walnut Street walking bridge.

Downstream from Chickamauga Dam

Another view of the Delta Queen

Biker husband and riverwalk art

This is Chickamauga Lake from Booker T Washington State Park. (sorry, no camping allowed there) It was a mostly flat 5 mile hike.

View from Signal Point

Yesterday we started from this overlook on Signal Mountain and hiked west along the ridge to Mushroom Rock where we descended, crossed a creek on a swinging bridge and climbed back up another ridge (mountain) and back down again to where the cars were waiting.

Hike route top right

View from Edwards Point

Mushroom Rock

Today has been a rest day, dreaming about the future day.

Tomorrow we have been promised rain and then winter weather with highs only in the forties for Tuesday.  

Goodbye to the 60's.  Welcome winter.  Please, no snow!

Life Between Trips and Harrison Bay State Park

We have been back from the Cherokee rally for over a month, a month without a camping trip!  Life, including bad weather and sickness, has conspired to keep us home.

It's strange how I switch gears after a few weeks in the house.  All the things that never seem to get accomplished, now they haunt me. So a few things have been done.  Started cleaning out the office and it was so bad.  Stacks of paper were on every surface and on the floor, boxes of more paper.

It's the shredding process that slows things down.  Why does our name need to be on every single piece of paper?  I want to throw it all in the garbage.  I think of living in the Casita, what would I save?

When we are off traveling in the Casita, I cannot imagine being home.  Home disappears from my mind, ceases to exist unless someone calls with a rude reminder of responsibilities.

Now, after a month at home, I can't fathom giving up the house that has the morning sun shining into the kitchen and reddish gold leaves falling in the backyard.  

That being said, I am still ready to head south as soon as the holidays are over.

We have been doing a little work on the Casita....got another good coat of polish on it and we have installed a new propane regulator for the gas tanks.  Our fridge has not been working on propane and someone mentioned that maybe we should replace the regulator as it was over 10 years old. We are not the handy dandy types but we did manage to get it installed. 

There's a small difference in the stove flame but the fridge is still broke on propane.  The next step is to take it to the local rv refrigeration guy.  Sure hope it can be fixed as new fridges are $$$.

The weather here has been gorgeous for the past two days.  I took advantage of it yesterday and visited Harrison Bay State Park....wanted to see if the campground had been updated.

Harrison Bay is the oldest state park in Tennessee turning 75 years old this year.  Unfortunately it is overdo for a makeover.  The old bathhouses are kind of grimy and the only open loop in winter was hilly with few level sites.  But the park sits on Chickamauga Lake and has miles of shoreline.  Great for fishermen and boaters!

The marina.

                   This is loop C which is closed in the winter.

                                Some winter residents.

                           View from one of the trails.

A little more info: sites are not reservable, only first come.  Winter rate is $16 which includes water and electric.  Mileage from Chattanooga is about 16 miles.

We camped there in our 13' a few years ago but did not manage to get a waterfront site. I think we'll try again in the spring.