Headed Out

We attended church Saturday night, played cards with friends and finished up loading the RV on Sunday after Ted went shooting.  It so happened that we ran into our friend Letty at church and she said she would be happy to play bunco for me on Monday.  We were possibly going to have a problem with the check out time of the park.  It is 11:00 am and we wouldn't be getting out until about 1:00.  

So Monday morning around 8:30 we hit the road and drove without incident to Benton, AR.  Our only stops were at the rest area in Lufkin and the Arkansas Welcome Center where we had lunch outside at one of their picnic tables.  After setting up we went into town and had dinner at the Rib Crib, fueled up the truck and returned to the park.

We had a little earlier start on Tuesday and stopped about 1:30 in Hurricane Mills, TN.  The parks around Nashville were either too small, too expensive ($75!) or booked so we stayed at the Buffalo River KOA about 75 miles west of Nashville.  Ted had put in two days of driving and we knew we were under 300 miles to Pigeon Forge.  We called ahead and were able to add a day to our reservation in Pigeon Forge so we will be there 6 nights instead of 5.

Since we were next to a Pilot truck stop, Ted didn't unhitch but decided to stay hooked up and to fuel up there in the morning.  We were a little unlevel but not too bad.

It didn't take long to hook up the water and electric before we were off to the pool.  It wasn't terribly hot but the pool was so refreshing.  After a couple hours we went back and Ted grilled steaks for dinner.  We were in bed at 10:30, early for us.

Wednesday we drove through Nashville and Knoxville.  Right before heading south off I-40 to Pigeon Forge we stopped at a truck wash to have both the truck and trailer washed in a really, really big car wash.  That was a first for us.  My windows at home could be so dirty you couldn't see out them and it  wouldn't bother Ted.  But a few bugs on his trailer and we have to stop to have it washed!  He knew we were not going to any parks that allow rig washing.  Also, God forbid my family see a dirty trailer!

The traffic through the area from I-40 south to Cherokee, NC is stilll horrendous.  It was stop and go to our turn off but we made it okay.  Once we got our clean, shiny trailer set up we went to the motel across the street to see Karen and Ron who had just arrived too.  We checked out the pavilion to see if there were overhead fans since it is very hot here and then left to go have dinner.  I started getting a headache from the heat and having had little to eat all day.  By the time we were finished I had a rip roaring headache going on.

We came back and I took ibuprofen and laid down while Ted wiped some things down on the trailer.  Geesh!  I eventually fell asleep and was awakened when Ted said we had company.  Joe, Debbie, Karen and Ron all came for a visit.  I felt much better so we sat outside until 11:00 and had a good time. 

Karen called Thursday morning to say she and Ronnie were both sick through the night.  I think they may have had a touch of food poisoning.  They chose to stay in their room for the day.  Keith, Marge and Steve came over and we eventuually decided to go to the Bush's Beans Factory tour.  We watched the movie, toured the museum that was very interesting, visited the gift shop and then had lunch.  We ran into Joe and Debbie so they stayed at the table while we had lunch.

Our free sample!

We retuned to the campground and rested up for the evening.