The Beginning of the Second Week

Top of the Mountain!

 The first week went so fast and the second one is starting out at the same pace.

Campsite at Misty River

Did laundry at Misty River on Sunday. While waiting for washer to finish, met woman who has just retired from the military.  She began the school year teaching ROTC at local high school. Her husband is still in Illinois finishing up his job. He expects to join her and 3 boys in October. They grew up in the area and are moving back to be close to family. They are living in their RV while selling house in Illinois and looking for new home to buy. Some of the enjoyment of the road trip is learning other people's stories.

 

Jim and Sandra

We spent Monday with Jim and Sandra Oliver. It was nice to catch up after not seeing them for 25+ years. They have just moved to Maryville, TN to be near their daughter. We drove up the Smokey Mountain Trail then hiked to the lookout tower. The view is breathtaking. We toured the Heritage Museum then had lunch at The Apple Country Store.  Dennis got to have a fried bologna sandwich….  

 The museum had a village set up to see what it was like in the early years of the area. One such house was a "set off" house." People would travel from place to place to work on the railroad or logging camp. Houses would be put on the train using a log crane. At the next work stop the houses would be "set off" by the log crane right next to the railroad, where the family would live until the next move. If you were single or a couple you would get one house. If you had a family you would get two. Women working inside would leave the house when a logging train approached until the train passed, as they were afraid logs would fall off the train onto their house.  

 We then went to the Oliver's house, played bridge and visited. She made chicken pot pie for dinner - yeah!

We were giving Oliver's our schedule of New York tour and Sandra said, "That starts this Sunday?" Yes!  Hard to believe…..

Make new friends - keep the old - one is silver and the other is gold. And they are gold for sure!

Arrived at Fort Chiswell RV park in Max Meadows, VA safely on Tuesday. Do you know the most important accessories to bring when you camp?  Duck Tape and Electrical Tape! Here is why: we noticed the "green light" on the brake controller in the truck was occasionally blinking. It is supposed to be solid. There was no pattern to the blinking so Dennis had me call the manufacturer to ask. A man on the other end of the line was very helpful, telling us sounded like a loose ground wire. Before we called Dennis checked in the box on the hitch and saw a wire sticking out and flattened - probably always been that way, but may have just worn through due to jarring on the silky smooth roads we have been driving on…. He tucked it inside and got some of the flat out. After that had no more blinking.  The rep suggested we see if could find a loose wire and if not, needed to take in somewhere for repair.

Dennis decided to wrap the wire in electrical tape, since was all he could see might be wrong.

Will see when we head out tomorrow. There is a Camper World service location on our way to next stop.

 Beautiful campground! After we set up at least 10 others checked in.

We asked the staff to recommend a place for dinner. They suggested the Mexican Food Place across the road from the camp. Who knew? Mexican food in Virginia - it was very good and the décor was very South of the Border.

Next stop:  Mount Jackson, VA