Looking Back, Bucket List trip

 

Planning to not make this post about the cats, as this blog is about traveling, camping and experiencing life in a small fiberglass trailer….so I’m leading off with one of my favorite pictures from our 2009 Bucket List trip.

The photo is from Leasburg Dam State Park, just north of El Paso, one of our overnight stops heading back east.  This trip got it’s name from a fellow camper after explaining my recent retirement (4/30/09) and our desire to see Yellowstone and the Black Hills.  He said “Oh!  This is your bucket list trip.” So the name stuck!  Now we see this trip as totally insane…..traveling 6200 miles in 29 days! 

But it was my first taste of freedom from the monotonous world of working for a living.  I can close my eyes and remember the exhilaration of driving I-90 through Wyoming and Montana…..a roller coaster of blue skies, dramatic clouds and green hills.

Back then we were new to fiberglass trailers and our little 13 foot 1990 Casita was the center of our world.  We were towing with a 1998 Toyota Sienna, the odometer already escalated.  The Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, a place that I had admired from a co-worker’s photos, was our destination.

We saw the Badlands, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, Custer’s State Park and Yellowstone NP before we collapsed with exhaustion on the Snake River in Idaho.  Our trip started on May 4th…..it was only 10 days later!  And it was getting colder every day…because we were traveling north, duh!

After a three day rest, we decided to forget about Oregon and headed south to Utah.  Went from running the ceramic heater to running the air conditioning at the Slick Rock RV Park in Moab.  Visiting the national parks in Utah became our new plan and we managed to see or camp at the Arches NP, Bryce NP and Zion.  Afterward we stopped on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. 

At an Arizona gas station located at least a hundred miles from anywhere, a GA car asked us if we knew Sheryl and Chris, Scamp owners from the Atlanta area?  We affirmed that we did, marveling at the tight knit community of fiberglass trailers!    Did not know then,  this community was to become our family!

Another 10 days later we were back home after a Memorial Day weekend with family in Phoenix, a trip across Texas with a fan install at the Casita factory and a visit to Hot Springs NP in Arkansas.

Did not mean to write about this trip….just want to steer away from the cats and flowers.  Now do I go back and find all the ancient history trip pictures or just give a quick present day update?

Choosing the up date!  Feels like I am swimming in molasses trying to get stuff marked off the to-do list.  The truck has been to the shop and passed inspection for travel.  The Casita is at another shop waiting for a bearings grease and brake inspection.

I have a new shower curtain to hem, the solar panels bonding tape has just arrived and the passports have been retrieved from the safe deposit box.  Still need to decide about the mail and the yard…..wish one person could do both jobs.  Also it’s time to head to Farm Bureau for papers documenting our insurance…necessary to enter Canada.

Tomorrow we start babysitting a friend’s dog and cat for 10 days….not just any friend, but the saint that takes our cats into her home for months at a time.  This is our first time dog sitting, maybe a new vocation if the traveling ever gets old?

Changed my mind again!  Can’t have a post with only one picture!  Dug up the old photos buried on a portable hard drive.

Second night out…already in South Dakota!

The Badlands

Mt Rushmore

 

Black Hills

Yellowstone

The Arches

Bryce

North Rim Grand Canyon

Cat Wars & Spring Flowers

 

Life has been far from peaceful for the past three weeks!  Our newest family member, Sylvester, is not being welcomed by everyone.  We humans are in love with him; the two older cats are not happy!

It feels like all  I have done is feed and referee!  Due to being hungry and foraging, the new stray thinks he must eat everything in sight!  The food bowls have been put up….something totally unacceptable to the 9 and 11 year old females who have always had access to their chow.  Feeling sorry for them, I am putting their food down 3 times a day, locking and feeding Sylvester in another room.  He eats his allotted  portion and ten minutes later he acts like he’s starving.

Each night a kitty litter box goes into the bedroom and Sylvester is sequestered away from the demon cat, Princess.  Just can’t tolerate being awakened in the middle of the night to the banshee screams that they are making.  Surely they will eventually adjust. 

Princess has always had problems…definitely not a normal cat.  She growls and hisses….and purrs, simultaneously.  So far we have put a bell on her….so he can hear her coming, ordered a calming cat collar…..(hurry up Amazon!) and last night, in a fit of desperation, made up a spray bottle full of water.  This seems to be working as the morning has been quiet….only one explosion.

Temporary truce....they forgot their feud due to a bird landing on the deck!

I choose to be optimistic…..things will eventually work out.  Just like choosing to be positive about the upcoming Alaska trip.

  Training my thoughts…….    “We can do this!”  “It will be OK.” “We can handle whatever comes our way!”  And I have said over and over….. if it gets to be too much for us, we will just take another direction or come home. 

The yard has been providing lots of pleasure since everything has turned green again.  Many flowers are blooming……don’t know how they keep coming back.  We sure aren’t caring properly for them. 

(Move curser across picture….some are labeled.)

These strawberries come back every year…..even though hubby has occasionally driven over them while backing the egg into her place.

The little Chatta-Egg is resting peacefully.  She’s been home for 12 days and says she’s ready to rest up for the 12,000 mile trip next month.

It’s raining with a flood watch for the next 3 days…..glad we live on the side of a hill.  Weather is so crazy with snow in Arkansas  in MAY, 39 degrees in Memphis this AM.

Hope Mother Nature gets her seasons straightened out soon!

Sixth Annual Eggscursion!

 

This is our fourth year to attend this egg rally held in Townsend,TN, on the sleepy side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and compared to Gatlinburg, it is a laid back, sleepy place.  The picture above does not do justice to the 60 to 70 trailers present. This is a part of Loop A…there’s also a B, C, D and E? loop.  Most of us old timers make our reservations one year in advance so we can book a coveted riverside campsite.

We were fortunate to get a site at the back end of the campground with a deck overlooking the river.  It’s very private and I need the downtime to recover from all the socializing.  This rally normally has two pot lucks, music every night and an egg parade (open house showing trailer).

 

Due to heavy rain on Friday morning, the potluck breakfast is moved to 5 PM and it’s eggs and bacon for our evening meal.  I thought it sounded unappetizing, but the breakfast dinner is a hit….maybe we’ll do it again!

The temperatures plummet after the rain ends, going from highs in the 80’s to lows in the 30’s.  I am layering clothes to stay warm….again!

The entertainment does not disappoint…..clogging, ole timey fiddle music and 60’s, John Prine and Bob Dylan.  Tears flow down my face….it always happens when I hear the old stuff….. many memories!

The egg parade is Saturday morning and I am in a tizzy trying to cook a meatloaf in my yard sale crockpot and get the trailer ready to show.  I find a recipe, go to the store at 8 AM, mix it up outside in the cold…with my fingers freezing and turn the slow cooker on by 11 AM.  At noon I discover the crock pot still cold! Fooling with the outside electric breaker, I try again!  Still cold! Deciding that the pot luck will go just fine without my meatloaf, we take off to tour the trailers.

This is a brand new 19’ Escape….the only one in Missouri (at this posting).   The owners are also talented dutch oven cookers…..this is a pineapple upside down cake!  And it gives me an idea!

 

 

So many different sizes and shapes!

The owner describes this as “poor man’s central air conditioning”.

These are Olivers, made in Hohenwald, TN, and they are back into production!  We had seen one last fall at the Kansas rally, http://peteandthewonderegg.blogspot.com/, but they were not in production at that time.  Some of the Oliver family are present to explain features.

So many different trailers from many different places…..did not get a picture of the 5th wheel Escape from Canada!

 

And my hubby’s dutch oven rescues the meatloaf…..slightly overcooked….but I was proud of it!

(Forgot to get a picture.)

And then it’s Sunday morning, time for goodbyes…..see you down the road!

 

FYI: The 2014 rally will be at the Townsend KOA on the last weekend of April.  The Tremont campground has been an excellent host; the physical separation of the loops prompted the change of campgrounds. Y’all come!

Sylvester Goes Camping & Abrams Falls

 

His name is Sylvester and he is changing my mind about camping with cats.  This is the stray from my last post who finally got a name.  Although table sitting is not allowed, an exception was made for this picture. 

My camping experience with our two older female cats was miserable, putting it mildly.  They were afraid, wailed constantly in the car and cowered under the Casita bed.  Their litter box was huge and I feel into it more than once!

Sylvester has been a perfect gentleman, so far!  Sweet, affectionate and complained only mildly about being crated for the trip….oh, we are at the Tremont Campground, only a few feet from the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located in Townsend, TN.

This is the 6th annual Eggscursion….a fiberglass egg rally hosted by the Egg Camping Club of TN, GA and AL.

Thursday is the perfect day to go hiking….and our only chance since abundant rain is in the forecast.  Cades Cove is a short trip away and halfway around the 11 mile Cove loop is the Abrams Falls trailhead.

Since the goal is exercise, not photography, most of the  loop pictures are taken on the move.  This loop is one of the most heavily traveled routes in all of the Park and a good reason to only go off season.

Traffic is not too bad…we are hiking by 11:30.  The hike’s rated as moderate, 5 miles with 3 climbs, and we’re unsure of our fitness…..hope we can do at least 5 miles!

 

This is the peak of the spring wildflowers and I am wondering if we will see anything.  We are not disappointed!

Star Chickweed

Crested Dwarf Iris

Trillium, unidentified type

Bleeding heart

These rare bleeding hearts are all around the waterfall cliffs.

After one hour and forty five minutes (due to the picture taking) we arrive at Abrams Falls.

Looking for a bit of shade, we find the perfect place for lunch.

Playing with the shutter speed…..which do you like better?

The sun gets hotter as we trudge back to the car.  There’s few leaves to offer any shade.  We are counting the hills; one, two, and then, almost to the top of the third hill…. a blow out occurs!

The sole of hubby’s hiking boot comes loose! 

There’s no duct tape but a plastic grocery sack helps.  I’m concerned that his gait will be altered, placing stress on the hip replacement so we slow way down….and due to the turtle-like pace, we see a black racer heading through the brush.

Two tired hikers are happy to see the parking lot!

Coming attractions……more on the Eggscursion….and pictures if it ever stops raining!