Part 2 of Day of the Cave

I decided you needed to see more pictures... so here goes!

Looking down to a river of water at the bottom of the cave

Hope You Enjoy These Pictures!

Hope You Enjoy These Pictures!

The Rolling Hills of VA

The Small Main Street of New Market, VA

THE DAY OF THE CAVERN

Wednesday was a great day.  We got up when we wanted to, ate and then got ready to leave.  No rushing, no one shouting to hurry up; it was a joy!  So off we went toward Virginia, the state of the rolling hills.  And roll, they did!  Up and down; Up and down... So many truckers on the road and on the UP part everyone was slowing way downnnnn... then on the DOWN part, everyone was speeding up!! We stayed in the right hand lane and kept a normal 60mph speed.  We were headed to Endless Caverns RV park in New Market, VA.  Cute little town.  Looked like a town you would see on TV.  So really cute and all so perfect.  We finally came to the turn off and this is what we saw.

We had to check in, get the RV all set up etc. and then we headed back to the office to go see the Caves.  A little history of this cave:  2 boys were out playing and saw a rabbit.  They ran after the rabbit and it ran down a hole.  The kids looked in the hole and it wasn't one that was shallow.  The rabbit never came out and the boys forgot about the rabbit and started down the big hole in the ground.  They did finally get their dads and that is when it was all discovered; 1879.  It has changed  owners a few times but the state of Virginia regulates it. 
The people that bought it decided to put an RV park on top of it.  Pretty smart thinking! Some of the pictures I took:

  There are so many different types...

Okay so you get the picture ... The caves are gorgeous.  If you are ever in Virginia, please stop by and  see these beautiful caves.  Also, the RV resort had everything you could want.  I'd like to go back there and stay a week.  Lots of hiking trails, pool, fishing pond, showers and all kinds of other things.  I really enjoyed it. 

But...

Thursday is a new day... so this is the end of Wednesday... Hope you like the pictures!

IF I can get a particular picture to come up, I'll post it.  One of my favorite!

Isn't he adorable???   He came right up to me.. I thought he wanted me to kiss him!  I have only seen longhorns in Texas, so this was exciting for me.  He was right at the entrace of the property of the Caves.  I just really like him a lot!  Burl said I could not have him...  :(

Night All... More to come tomorrow...

I'll be in Massachusetts (home town) by tomorrow night... YAY!!!

OUR FIRST DAY ON THE ROAD

 

I can't believe the day finally arrived.  We actually lived in Plum Nelly for 4 weeks and 5 days!  The time has flown by.  I will have fond memories of Tina who runs the place.  She is such a hard worker and sweet woman.  I think we may stay there again when we come in August.  Close to everything!

Well, we at at El Burrito (cheese biscuit) and then went to get our X-rays from our Chiropractor, Dr. Davis.  I decided I needed one last adjustment and sure enough, I did! 

When we came back to pack it up, Burl went into "moving mode" and boy he had everything picked up and the slides going in before I could say, "whats up?"  Now getting the tubes etc all unhooked etc, thats something else.  I watched, just in case I HAVE to do it.  I'm talking the Gray Water and the Black Water..  But it wasn't as bad as I expected.  Then we were off, well almost.  He pulled the RV to the side of grass near our site and I brought the car along the back to attach to the RV.  Something didn't look right but I figure Burl knows what he's doing... hmmmm

So off we went down 382 to 136 to 411 to 75.  Well, lets back up to 411!  We have crossed into Tennessee on 411 and the road is kind of narrow anyway but we were pooping along pretty good.  Then, low and behold a DETOUR!  We are not fond  of detours but they are a way of life so we decided not a problem.  Well, maybe we were overthinking!  We get to the 'small' road that they want us to drive down.. a 40' RV with a car following behind.  You know how there are always 4-9 people standing around with their little orange vests looking all holy?  Then one guy pops out his sign STOP.  Like he owns the road!  Well we were waiting, patiently I must admit.  Finally the endless line of cars, trucks and vans finished coming out of this little road.  Now we are the FIRST one in line to get onto this road.  Did I mention there are 3 vehicles on the "paving" side of the road? So we pulled onto the detour road. Now explain to me why you WORK on the road that is the detour road?  The road we were supposed to go down would not allow us as we had to go down the detour road.  But there were no vehicles or work being done on that road????  I'm confused!

Well as we are going down the DETOUR road, they have cones in the middle of the lanes. BUT, let me explain that whoever put them in the middle did not know what middle meant!  Most of them were on OUR side of the middle lane...you know where the white line is.  Well, Burl had the option of hitting the mailboxes or the cones! Our RV is large so we hit many of the cones. He did actually miss both a lot, but some of the cones probably can no longer be considered usuable again!

The trip from then when we got on 75 was a breeze.  I wasn't even nervous.  I do have to keep telling him the "blinker" is on so he'll shut the bloody thing off!  He can't hear worth... crap!  Why does he have hearing aids and not wear them?  Okay, I take that back, I don't wear mine either. 

We were getting hungry and I came up with the idea of eating a big meal so that when we got to the campground, we could leave the car attached and not have that to deal with in the morning.  Well we came to a TA Travel Place that had a restaurant (buffet) so we stopped.  Really good food too.  We took our time so Burl could rest his eyes and relax.  The tension of watching the road and watching the crazy traffic is stressful.  I wanted him rested as we drove.  The restaurant was called the Davy Crockett Restaurant.  The placemat taught us all the "southern slang" words.  It was really amusing.  When I was done, went to use the facilities and while I was in there, it sounded like the roof was going to cave in.  Well a thunderstorm had hit while I was in the bathroom!  It was pouring.. I mean really pouring!  We were waiting around for about 30 minutes and it stopped and the sun came out.  Weird!  I was walking over to the RV and walked through a puddle (the whole yard was a puddle) that was up to my ankle!!!  But, we missed the rain.  Burl is not anxious to drive in the rain.  So God took care of us.

We arrived at our destination and what a huge campground.  Remember we came from Plum Nelly with maybe 25 but this place has 160!  When we got it all set up, the rains came again.  It took a lot of the humidity away and cooled it down.  It felt good. 

After about an hour we decide to take a walk around the park.  There are so many different types of vehicles here.. trailers, 5th wheels, Motorcoaches, and others that I don't know what they are called.  We walked down to what looked like water.  It was a large lake with trees all around it.  The Campground butts the road next to the lake and it is beautiful.  The landscape is beautiful too.  It is interesting to see the different types of campgrounds. 

Now we are sitting in our living room, Burl watching "Deadliest Catch" and me on the computer.  This is our life.  We plan to leave out of here early to stop and get breakfast and head to VA.  We found a cool campground called, NASCAR RV Resort at Endless Caverns.  Really excited about that.  But for now, sleep well and talk to you tomorrow!

Packing Day

This was an experience I hope never to repeat!  Packing wasn't too bad, but then loading it and unloading it was a nightmare!  We had some great friends come over to help pack it onto a 26' UHaul truck.  Then we had to attach a car "holder" for my G6 for transportation back to Ellijay.  That went well except, as we looked over the house, we missed a LOT of stuff! So guess we'll be having a table at the Flea Market! 

Then off to Savannah.  5 long hours but the traffic was not bad and the weather was great.  Victoria and Steven and Burl really worked hard getting the "stuff" into our Storage Unit.  OMG!  It was so hot and humid and I could not help very much due to my back not feeling that great.  I did help with the little boxes.  It took them 3 hours for ALL of that stuff.  AMAZING!  We were really tired Friday night and went to bed early.

Saturday.... Victoria has a horse at Oetgen Ranch.  His name is Max.  Well, they were a part of  "Stand Up for America" and we were going to help decorate their float for the parade.  Things did not acturally turn out with us helping to decorate but we got there in time to be part of the parade. 

They actually put us on a Golf Cart in front of the float for the ranch float so we could wave to everyone. We threw candy to all the kids and waved to all the people watching.  We were close to last in the parade but had so much fun waving and smiling.  In fact, the local TV station had Burl and I on  waving to the crowds.  It was hot, so we drank a lot of water!  A nursing home that we went by had waters waiting for us.  That was great!  The parade took about an hour!  A lot longer than Ellijay, GA! This picture is of the owner of the ranch and some friends. 
When the parade was over, we headed to the fair grounds for food and see what was for sale.  Then we got the call from my school friend Jim Steffanides from Leominster (now Florida) that he was in  town at Victoria's house.  So, off we went to her house to see Jim who I haven't seen in 45 years! 
Our visit was great and we told him we were going to see Max, Victoria's horse at the ranch.  Off we went, dragging Jim along.  He really had fun though!  Max is so massive and such a gentle giant.  We watched as Victoria brought him out, brushed him and really loved on him.  He is such a beautiful horse. 

That night we went to see the 8 Mile Band.  They were totally awesome.  Friends of Victoria so we got some pics with them and had a great night. All in all, it was a great weekend in Guyton, Georgia!

Our Columbus, Georgia Trip



Columbus, Georgia is where our son Dennis and his family live.  His wife Kathy is from Columbus, so when they got married they continued living there.  They have three kids, (Kristin, Blake & Meagan) a cat and a dog, and a beautiful big house with a wonderful pool. 
We headed out to their house on Thursday after my dr. appointment in Alpharetta.  When we got there, it was very hot so, I jumped in the pool!  I really love the pool! 
Friday morning Kathy, being the hiker she is, asked Burl and I if we wanted to go for a nice hike in Pine Mountain.  We said yes and off we went, including our grandson, Blake.  It took a while to get to where we were going but it was a nice ride.  Finally we arrived and prepared to start off on our nice hike.  Kathy has a 'fitbit' which tells you the amount of steps, miles and determines according to up and downs of the hike, how many flights of stairs you climb.  The trail we were taking was about 2.5 miles and that was good for us.  So Blake started out.  With him being an Eagle Scout who hikes quite often, he was our leader.  Burl followed him and really did a great job keeping up.  I fell in behind Burl and was quite proud of him staying right with Blake.  Kathy brought up the rear making sure I didn't drop on the spot from overheatedness (is that a word?).  We kept up and finally came to a spot (lookout spot) that you could see for miles.  It was beautiful.  Plus we also saw a turtle! 
At this point we could turn around and go back the same way or go down another trail that would still lead us to the beginning again.  We chose that latter and off we went.  Now this trail was not as level as what we had already traveled.  The land began going upward.  It wasn't real fast and high at the same time; it was just continuously going upward.  Sweat was dripping off me.. and I didn't seem to keep up with Burl as well as I had done earlier.  It was beautiful until we came to the part where the tornado came through and took out a wide stretch of trees.  It was sad to see so many trees fallen.  It brought me back to the tornado of April 2011 that took out all our trees in the back and side yard and put a hole in our roof after 3 trees fell on it.  We were in MO at the time, thank God, but it sure scared my dogs who were in the house at the time.  So, I related to the downed trees.  We finally reached the end of the trail and I was out of water and soaked to the skin.  Plus I need the bathroom, so off to the Park Office we went to use the facilities.  We walked out back to see the view and it was amazing!  Then on the way back, we saw a SNAIL!  Yep, a pretty orangish colored snail.  He was so pretty.  I took a pic of him, but still haven't figured out how to put pics on the blog.  If I figure it out, you'll see him! After all that, Kathy told us we had walked 5 miles; equivalent to 44 flights of stairs (determined by the up and down of the land).  Thats pretty cool for two oldies like Burl and me.
When we got back to Kathy's house, I headed to the pool!  Did I say how much I love the pool?  It felt so good!  When Dennis came home, we all got ready to head out to dinner at Houlihans in downtown Columbus.  Excellent Food!!!  If you are ever downtown and want good food, good price and excellent hospitality, go to Houlihans!

On Saturday, I immediately put on my bathing suit and stayed in the pool until I knew it was time to head home.  I really love their pool and totally enjoyed just relaxing in the pool.  It gave Kathy and I time to just talk.  As it turns out, we'll be able to meet up with them again on their vacation in July in NC.  That will give us more family time; time for us to enjoy Kristin and Meagan.  It really was a great weekend!

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

This has been a day of reminicing.  I have been teaching for 14 years in Gilmer County, GA.  The first nine years were at GMS (Gilmer Middle School), then off to CCMS (Clear Creek Middle School) for four years and then back to GMS for my last year. 

Reflecting back on my teaching career in Georgia brings both smiles and tears.  Smiles from so many wonderful experiences with so many wonderful people; and tears because I miss so many of my students as they have left me and gone on to finish school and get "a life." 

I remember my first class of 8 self-contained children.  They were both a blessing and a challenge.  I remember how my Samantha would climb under the desk and expect me to climb under there with her (she was really trying to hide).  I did climb under there once, and realized that was her pleasure; never did it again.  I remember her blonde hair, blue eyes and a precious smile.  In another year, I remember David, a dark haired boy who couldn't read but wanted to so badly.  He did leave my class being able to  read; and actually helped his dad to learn to read!  I've seen him in Walmart with his wife and daughter.  I feel rewarded when I think of him.  There are so many others that stick in my mind but this blog would go on forever.  I do have to mention Jimmy.  Jimmy was one of my favorites.  He was one of those kids that you loved and disliked at the same time!  He'd do things that he knew would upset me, but always had a "reason" why he did it.  He is graduating this year and I feel proud to have been his teacher for one year.  I love that boy. 

There are a lot of students who were not on my caseload, just normal kids that were in my inclusion classes that I absolutely love.  This year I was blessed with one of the best inclusion classes I've ever had. 

Just some of the kids were Luke, Samantha, Jenny, Mackenzie, Mateo, ... oh I could name them all.  They were all so special.  But its time to say good bye and they will continue their journey to 7th grade next year and on to their future.  We are both walking into our future, but in different directions.  They are beginning and I am retiring (good way of putting it). 

I look forward to our retirement; our RV life on the road.  It sure is easy to clean!  I'm planning our first major trip and know that it will change along the way.  I am a planner and Burl wants to be spontaneous.  Ok, we can do this.. I'll plan, he'll change it!  We can live with that. 

The 6th grade teachers gave me a beautiful glass plaque.  It says, "A teacher affects eternity; he or she can never tell where their influence stops."  I cried because that has always been my wish; to affect my students and hopefully in a positive way.  I love being a teacher and will always be a teacher, just one that travels the country!  I'll find children along my path that will need encouragement or direction and I'll be there to offer what I have. 

God has blessed us so much and I can't give him enough glory for what He's done in our lives.  He is the reason we can have this time together.  He is the reason we have health and enough money to travel.  He is the reason we live.  I give all glory and honor to my Heavenly Father. 

I thank all of you who have touched MY life and helped me walk this journey.  Many of you are much younger than me, some older and some about the same age.  YOU ALL have made a difference in my life.  I love you all and will end this blog with:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all things acknowledge him and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3: 5, 6

Our First Week in the RV

This week has been hectic for Burl.  I'm at work while he is running around trying to close up the house and get settled in the RV.  Sounds easier than it really is.  Especially... when you have problems.

Problem # 1:  The free would not make ice cubes.  We did what everyone suggested and it still didn't work.  So we called Hank @ RVOLOGY.  What an amazing gentleman he is.  Found out we had blown something. Not really sure what it was.. but Hank fixed it.  The next day, still no ice.  So he came out again and found out what had happened.  It took a couple hours but he finally was able to say good-bye.  We kept his phone number!  Two days later, we decided to use our handy dandy washer/dryer (in one) with just white clothes.  Makes for a small load.  Well we took our other two loads to the washer/dryer at Plum Nelly.  We had a couple errands to run, so off we went knowing the laundry would take care of itself.  When we came back, we got our clothes at the washer/dryer place and then headed to RV for our other clothes. 

THE FLOOR WAS SOAKED!!!  The carpet, the bathroom, water everywhere!!!  We didn't have a clue as to what went wrong.  We tried wiping up the water with our towels and found more and more water!  OMGosh.. how can such a small place hold so much water!!!  We finally realized we couldn't fix whatever the problem was so called Hank.  He told Burl what went wrong and due to our "ignorance" of RV stuff, we didn't do the hoses right with the water.  So we put towels down hoping by morning the carpet would be dry.  Next day... Not Dry!  Call Hank!  His sweet wife brought a huge fan to dry out the carpet.  It took 2 days!!! Needless to say, I'm not interested in using the Washer/Dryer again until someone with knowledge of how it REALLY works shows ME!  I'm not trusting Burl to do this again! 

Since then it hasn't been too bad.  Gavin, our grandson, along with Cahriana and TJ came to visit on Friday.  Gavin is in from California on leave from Marines before he heads out to Japan and such places.  I just didn't realize how much stuff  kids have!  But we had a great time and they left out of here in the rain this morning.  It was such a blesing to have them here before we head out on our journey.  But, after church I had some cleaning to do while it was raining outside and I could be inside.  Cahriana & TJ bought me a Shark Steam Mop for my tile floors.  Great day to try it out.  WOW!  I love it!  My tile floors are actually white!  So Mother Day turned out to be a real winner, thanks to Cahriana!!! 

Now its back to just us.  Burl is comfy sitting is his chair and I am comfy sitting, typing on my computer.  Our bed (Number Bed) is so comfortable and we sleep so well.  I actually sleep better in the RV than I did in my house.  Hmmm ....

Only 2 weeks from Tuesday and we head out of Ellijay to Massachusetts... our first full stop.  I'm making our itinerary for our trip up there and then on to Canada.  I'll keep you all in the know with pictures and things of importance. 

Signing off this wet Mothers Day wishing all the moms out there reading this blog  a BLESSED MOTHERS DAY~ 

Moving Into The RV and its trials...

                                                         Yard Sale # 1, 2 and hopefully NOT 3

We had packed our entire house and had friends move the boxes etc. into a 26' UHaul truck.We drove down to Savannah and put all that  "stuff" in a 10x25 Storage Unit.  We had an awesome weekend with Victoria & Steven.  Went to a parade and became part of the parade, saw Victoria's horse, MAX, and then went to a concert that was totally awesome. 
We came home and moved in the RV!  The first and second night was awesome.  Things are back to normal... well maybe SOME THINGS aren't.  We have too much stuff!!  So.. we start looking around to find things we don't need.  So we have ANOTHER yard sale!  That sale is over and we are STILL looking to remove stuff, but it is easier to get around now.  Not too much in the walkway.  I don't like clutter and mess so this is becoming a big deal.  Burl is working so hard to get it all done, while I am at work.  Oh yeah, WORK.  Only 9 more days of work.  Only 21 days until we head out for our journey.  So excited!!