Here we are, on the road: We’re in Bowling Green, Kentucky

Sunday, April 25, 2010 Lorraine’s report

Hello from soggy Bowling Green, Kentucky. Man oh man, did we have a storm come through here Friday night and Saturday. There was thunder, lightening, a ton of rain and some wind. It was down right miserable and sort of scary, since they had been talking about Twister’s touching down as a possibility around here on the radio.

Well, last Sunday I got back home from Sunnyvale, CA and my beautiful granddaughter’s 5^th birthday. We had a lot of fun together, and I hated leaving our little family out west there. Kaitlyn was so angry with me leaving, she wouldn’t say ‘goodbye’. I told her that it was okay, and we would probably see her again in the fall. Thank you Susy, Mark and Kaitlyn for letting me come and visit; I loved seeing you all and it was so hard to leave you!

Chuck picked me up at Nashville airport and we stopped to eat, then headed for home. On the way home, we received a call from Brannon in Red Bay, Alabama. Chuck had called him to see if he could bring the coach back to Red Bay to have a new Direct TV Satellite installed while I was in CA; however, Brannon was at the rally in Gulf Shores and couldn’t fit us in. Since we bought the new TV and receiver, the satellite was not working properly, bringing in only half the stations; we needed a new one that was compatible with the new receiver.

Brannon wanted us to head back to Red Bay, so he could do the work on Tuesday morning. Arriving home at 8:30 pm central time, having been on the go since 6 am Pacific Time, I unpacked my bags and went to bed, totally worn out.

We got up Monday morning and while I packed up the coach, Chuck drove to the post office in Hohenwald to hopefully pick up the water filters he had ordered and should be there waiting for us. They weren’t there yet.

We continued on to Red Bay, stopping by Russellville’s Walmart for supplies, then on to the Tiffin RV park only to find it totally full, with dry camping on the runway only. So off we went to Brannon’s shop in Vina, Alabama. We arrived by 3:30 or so and had to wait until Brannon was finished working before we could set up for the evening, after 6 pm. Brannon had 50 amp and water for us to use, so we were good.

Tuesday we were up early, ready and waiting for Brannon. We told him we had several requests. He would do all he could before his next appointment at noon. We had the satellite changed out, he installed the fan in the bedroom and fixed the jake brake. That was all he had time and parts for; that was enough. We spent the afternoon picking up other parts we hadn’t gotten the last time. We spent another night at Brannon’s.

Wednesday, we were up early so Brannon’s customers could get into his place. We headed back to Hohenwald to the post office hoping the water filters had come in; they did.

So off we headed to Bowling Green, Kentucky to visit Chuck’s sister, Corliss, her husband, Phil and our niece, Samantha, since Bowling Green was only 4 hours or so away from Red Bay. We arrived and parked the coach up by the shop behind their house. Corliss and Phil came in and we visited a bit before Samantha came home from school. Stacy, their other daughter brought Sammy home along with her two children, Nicki and Adam and we all had a nice time visiting.

Since coming here we have visited, enjoyed great food, reminisced and basically had a wonderful visit. Corliss and Phil have such a beautiful piece of land and home here, it’s so peaceful and quiet, we love to come here. Thank you Corliss, Phil and Sammy for letting us come to visit.

Thursday was Phil and Corliss’s 21^st wedding anniversary. We were here two years ago and celebrated with them, so this year we did also. Thank you two for letting us help celebrate with you. May you continue to have many more years of happiness together.

Until next time, be well…………..Lorraine

4/25/10 Chuck’s report

Ok, Ok, we missed posting last week, maybe I should have posted a note saying we didn’t write or post our weekly blog. I didn’t have anything to write about, Lorraine was in California for our grand daughter’s 5th birthday and party and I didn’t see any need to post, sorry.

While I was in Hohenwald I had plenty of time to complete a few items I had been putting off plus cleaned the coach inside and out. The weather was really nice, 70s and 80s most days, in fact, I got sunburned twice, not used to that much sun I guess.

We had a new television and Direct TV satellite receiver installed when we were in Red Bay two weeks ago. We had trouble getting all the channels and after doing some checking, I found we had two options. One was to continue paying for channels we couldn’t get, the other was to replace our satellite antenna. I called one of the guys back in Red Bay, he said he could fit us in for the replacement on Tuesday afternoon after Lorraine got back on Sunday. So we decided to go with option two, replace the antenna which required a trip back to Red Bay.

Our plans were for me to pick her up at the airport Sunday afternoon, give her a day to get stuff straightened and put away then leave on Tuesday morning for our 4 hour trip back to Red Bay. I picked her up at the airport in Nashville and we went to dinner at a Cracker Barrel, one of our favorite places. As we were walking back to the car after eating, I got a call from Brannon asking if we could be at his place by 7:00 on Tuesday morning instead of Tuesday afternoon. That threw a bit of a wrench in our plans, causing us to leave Monday so we could park at his place overnight and be ready by 7:00 on Tuesday. So, Lorraine’s travels continued without much of a break to rest up. But I’m glad she’s back and life is back to normal for us.

Brannon said the guy that took our afternoon appointment was still waiting for parts so he would have some free time. I took part of the extra time he had to have him install a ceiling fan in our bedroom and also put a brake switch on our engine brake after he changed out the antenna. While he was working on the coach, Lorraine and I had lots of running to do. We had to go to the Tiffin store at the camp ground, to McKinney’s RV parts and supply place and Bay Diesel. Lorraine also made an appointment to have her hair done at a place she’s been to twice before. All in all, a busy day but we got everything done. For those who have been in Red Bay, we also had breakfast at Katie Cakes.

Brannon finished sometime after 1:00, we got back to the coach by 5:00, spent the night there once again and left on Wednesday morning. We then headed North to my sister’s place in Bowling Green for a visit. My sister, Corliss, her husband, Phil and their daughter, Samantha live just outside town on a very nice place and allow us to park at their barn plus supplied water and electricity. They own and operate a home construction business here in town but have left work early each day so they could spend more time visiting with us and showing us the area. We sure appreciate all they have done with and for us while we’ve been here.

Phil is planning a cook out today, they invited their other daughter, Stacy and her family, husband Steve, daughter Nicki and son Adam. The weather was nice through Friday night when it started to rain. Yesterday we had severe weather with possible tornado, high winds and hail and lots of rain. We only got the rain, not much wind and no hail, yea. Forecast for today is for better weather, in the 70s once again, great weather for a Bar-B-Q.

We aren’t real sure of our plans after leaving here. Lorraine got a call from our son, Rich. He’s in Florida for a while, still too cold to do much back in Alaska where he lives. We are trying to work out a meeting place so we can see him, will know more later. Probably we will head to St. Augustine and he will drive up. Corliss and Phil really like Destin, Florida and may have talked us into checking it out on the way to meet with Rich.

So for now, once again, our plans are in Jell-O, maybe even more fluid than that. We are still planning on probably heading up the East coast for the rest of the spring. We have reservations in Virginia for Labor Day week, easily changed if needed. Beyond that, we are in roaming mode once again. I’ve been looking at places along the coast, need to work on it a bit more but have some ideas in mind at least.

So with that, I’ll add a few pictures and get this posted.

The real reason Lorraine went back to California.