Why Stay Home: March 2016

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Loves Park. Illinois

Today we completed the back home accountant and investment visits. When we returned home we put everything from the motor home away and got ready for dinner with Natalie, Phillip, and Derek. They cooked an amazing dinner and it was great seeing them so happy.

Tuesday, 29 March 2016

Unpack RV

We spent the day unpacking the RV. We had clothes for Alaska and Florida and places between! It was warm and sunny today, but rain is predicted for tomorrow, so it was a good day to unpack.

I am now snuggled under the softest blanket ever! Natalie purchased it for me and although it says PINK it is really my favorite color! Who has the PINK logo??

Best daughter ever!!

Monday, 28 March 2016

Heading Home

Monday we awoke around 6:30 AM and had breakfast. After eating we finished preparations to begin the drive home. The drive is around 10 hours and we did not plan to do the entire trip in one day, but there was little traffic and the time seemed to pass quickly. Duf had the cruise at 62 and rarely had to take it off because of the lack of traffic, a great thing when driving an RV. We averaged 8.2 mpg which is great for our RV. We stopped a few times to use the RR and once to have lunch. When we arrived home we parked the RV in the driveway and emptied some of the refrigerator. Duf plugged the RV in so we did not empty much else because we were tired.

When we arrived home I called Natalie to tell her we had made it and she suggested she and Phillip meet at Aero for dinner.

Natalie is having car problems and we discussed those to figure out what she will need to do. Natalie entered her dog, Elcie, in a contest to get her picture on a wine bottle!! Hope she wins!!

After dinner we returned home, watched a bit of tv and went to bed.

Happy Easter

Carole sent Easter pictures from SANIBEL! The Easter eggs are made from?

On Easter Sunday I got up and walked my 10,000 steps and then we went for a ride to look around Nashville. In the afternoon we met Duffey and Katie at Blackstone Brewery for dinner. We spent a few hours with them and then we had to part. They get up at 4 AM on work days! Around 8 it rained and the wind blew for about an hour.

Yogi Bear Campground in Nashville

On Saturday we went to Kroger and then Home Depot where we got additional straps to hold our bicycles. Jerry texted us the name of a DDD restaurant and we found it, but at 2 PM there was still a long line to get served and there was no place to park so we had to skip this delight. When we left the RV tulips at the entrance to Opry Land Hotel were closed but when we came home they had already opened and continued to be beautiful colors.

We ate at the Santafe Cattle Company, not as good as Jerry’s suggestion, but close to home and our son, Duffey, and his wife, Katie, were coming for a visit, so we had to get home.

Good Food!

They came and we talked and talked and they stayed much later than they had planned! This made us happy!!! Duffey had a nice new car.

Departing and crazy trucker!

Our last day has arrived because we want to get to Nashville to spend Easter weekend with Duffey and Katie. Mike and Curls drove us to town and the Mi Pueblito restaurant where we ate lunch and then on to our RV.

It was sad to leave and we thought it would be a great trip BUT

LPYM Trucking

You have a driver that has a serious problem that puts all other drives at risk. He stopped Knoxville rush hour traffic on Highway 40 twice on March 24, 2016. Once he stopped all traffic in the right lane and once he blocked all lanes by driving his semi across the entire highway! Both times he got out of his cab and assaulted our motorhome.

The rear of his semi had LPYM 31070 on it which should help you identify the driver.

The incident began in the rain on March 24, 2016 around 6:30 PM before exit 395 where the far right lane ends.

This was our first time on this highway and we were following a semi and there were cars and semis behind us. The semi ahead of us put on his blinker to merge and was let in immediately by a car and that is the first time we saw a sign indicating that the lane was soon ending. Your driver was moving slow and located behind our tow car, we were driving a motorhome. We put on the blinker to merge and began to merge and were 1/4 way into the lane when he sped up and came up to our side with his horn blaring. We immediately stopped and instead of doing a small swerve around us he kept his path and passed us. He was still on his horn. Once past us he stopped in the lane thus blocking all traffic in the lane and got out of his cab and ran back and began pounding on the front of our motorhome and yelling. A driver in the lane over stopped and motioned for us to get in front of him, we were unable to move because your driver would not move or quit pounding on the front of our motorhome and get out of our way so that we could continue driving and stop blocking traffic. Your driver finally headed for our door and when he was no longer where we would hit him when we moved we changed lanes and continued down the highway.

In just a short time we saw him speeding down the shoulder of the road heading for us. He got beside us and had his window down yelling at us. Then staying on the shoulder of the highway he sped ahead of us and drove his semi across the highway blocking all lanes,he jumped out and again ran to us and began yelling and banging on the front of our motorhome. Twice he ran back to his cab and we feared he had a gun, but each time he came back and pounded on the front of our motorhome. I was on the phone with 911 and they told us to get off at the next exit which would have been 395 when we could get past him. The car next to us tried to talk to the driver but he just yelled at them so they rolled their window up and motioned they were also calling 911.

After about 4 minutes of stalling all traffic and pounding on the front of our motorhome yelling at us he returned to his cab and started to drive. We got into the far left lane and tried to go slow and stay away from him but he came beside us and continued to yell and then he spotted a weight station and just cut across all lanes to get there, he almost hit cars with his abrupt maneuver to get to the weight station.

We exited the highway at 396 to avoid having him catch us again. This man has a real problem that needs to be dealt with. We are not asking for the damages he did to our $400,000. coach, our only request is that this driver stays off the road until he gets some help.

Scared to be on a highway with LPYM trucks.

This was a crazy incident!

After a bad driving day we were able to continue on to Nashville and find a camping spot at Yogi Bear Campground where we will stay until Monday.

NC. Asheville

This day we decided to drive to Asheville through Lake Lure. Beautiful Lake Lure is a summer retreat with a lake lined with beautiful homes. The road around the lake is paved but very thin and winding so we would not want to have to drive it in the summer when it is bumper to bumper traffic.

Our first stop in Asheville was the amazing and historic Grove Park Inn

where we had drinks on the veranda and took in the amazing view of the city. Mike and Curls took us to the hotel spa where they enjoy hanging out when they stay at the Inn.

We left the Grove and drive downtown to walk around, have drinks and lunch. They took us to a quaint furniture store where they had purchased much of their furniture. We got some amazing ideas looking around this store! We stopped at The Brier Garden for drinks and appetizers and to watch the interesting people wander by the open windows. We left the Brier for Chocolate Fetish, a store of beautifully crafted delicious chocolate of all types!

Our next stop was the Wedge Brewing Company for a drink and peanuts! We sat outside and again watched the people. Next to the Wedge was an interesting shop of old items, many we had when we were kids and now are popular for decorating.

The Iron District

We ended the day at Sierra Nevada Brewing which was quite an amazing place. It was a huge campus with a brewery, restaurant and of course a gift shop. We had enough appetizers here to call it dinner! They definitely have a chef because the food was amazing, even the quail!

From here Curls took the keys from Mike and drove us the hour home. When we arrived we had a cookie and retired to bed.

Fun in paradise

The following morning Duf and Mike went for a ride on their four wheeler while Curls and I looked at her Devotion Garden area, walked around their yard, ate cookies, and when the guys returned we took a ride on the four wheeler. Around noon we packed a lunch and drove 1/2 way down the drive to a pond where we fished for bass. There were some large bass in the lake but they were safe from us! After lunch we returned to their house and Mike got out their guns. We shot at targets, it was amazing how many bullets we used. They are great shots and hit their little targets and surprisingly enough Duf and I were able to hit the targets also!!!

This is the same Jeep we almost sunk in the Alaska riptide!

Plug your ears because the gunfire is loud!

We said farewell to Sandi, Harry, and Kay and left Perry, GA for Rutherfordton, NC on Monday, March 21. We parked the motorhome in Rutherfordton where Mike and Curls picked us up for a few days stay at their home. They live outside Rutherfordton on the top of a mountain. Their driveway is 3 2/1 miles of a single lane, gravel, switch-back, road up the mountain to the top where their home is located. Their home is beautiful and the setting and view are even more amazing. Our bedroom was larger than our entire motorhome.

Our first day we spent talking and catching up. Curls served the most delicious Elk stew for dinner. We stayed up past midnight talking. Curls is an amazing cookie baker and I must say we ate more cookies than we needed BUT they were Delicious!!

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Country Music

Tonight's entertainment was Mark Chesnutt, Lorrie Morgan and Joe Diffie. The band consisted of 5 guitars and a piano plus each singer had a guitar! Lorrie's guitar was full of sparkle. The performance was great but the couple next to me were drinking so much rock gutt alcohol that stunk and he kept grabbing me so we had to move!