The RV Sabbatical Journal

October 29, 2007 — York, SC

One thing we never have to worry about when visiting our good friends Tim & Chris is going hungry. Tim is an amazing chef and throws together, with little apparent effort, the most wonderful meals. I’m going to have to pace myself or I’ll gain weight for sure during our visit. We do have a few work projects on the docket that may burn up a few pounds so it may balance out in the end.

While we were in the Knoxville area a few days ago we took an afternoon and drove up to one of the TVA dams to learn and recreate a little. The Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, is a federally owned corporation created by congress in 1933. It’s goal was, and is, to provide electric power, flood control, navigation, and economic development in the watershed of the Tennessee River — an area comprising most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. It has 29 dams on the Tennessee or it’s tributaries that produce electric power and another 20 non-electric producing dams that work together to provide electricity to over 8.5 million people today. The pools of water backed up behind the dams are long narrow lakes that are great for recreation and waterfront vacation/retirement homes.

By any measure, the Tennessee Valley area was in sad shape in the early thirties. The depression only worsened things. By some accounts as many as 30% of the population suffered from malaria. Incomes were only about $600 per year with many families existing on far less. The land had been farmed too hard leading to depleted soils, erosion, and declining crop yields. Even the best timber had already been logged off. There was little industry due to the remoteness and difficult terrain. Things were tough.

The TVA played a huge part in reviving the area. It provided many jobs during construction of the dams. The electrification of the area brought all the benefits of a cheap clean power source. Industries, and resulting jobs, were attracted by cheap power. The TVA taught farmers how to improve crop yields and manage the soil. They introduced fertilizers. They replanted forests. It was, and is, a tremendous success story.

The dam we visited was Norris Dam. It was the first dam in the TVA system. Completed in 1936, it took 3 years to build. It is 265 feet high and 1,860 feel long. It holds back a pool of water 129 miles long. Although not the largest dam in the system, it’s still impressive. Nearby campgrounds, hiking trails, boat launches, and park-like picnic areas were also developed as part of the projects.

We hiked on some trails near the dam and ran into two deer — a doe and her fawn. They were so unconcerned about us that we could close, maybe only 40 or 50 feet from them. I even had enough time to get a few pictures; here’s one… the deer is laying down right in the middle of the picture:

We enjoyed the time at Norris Dam. It reminded me that, once upon a time, the government was successful at something.

T

October 27, 2007 — York, SC

What a great day for a drive in the country! Our trip from the Knoxville area to rural York, SC, in the Charlotte metro area, took us through the Appalachians on I-40. It was one of the most spectacular drives in a long time… the fall colors were in full bloom, the sun was bright, the air clear, the traffic relatively light… some pictures were taken but they just don’t do justice to reality. Wow.

This was the first real mountain test for the bus and I was anxious to see how it performed. I was pleased. On the way up the Cummins motor had power to spare despite pulling about 36,000 pounds. On the way down, the potentially most dangerous segment, the strong exhaust brake provided more than enough energy to control our descent with only nominal use of the regular brakes. The grade was as much as 6% and we had no problems at all. With this knowledge, we’re ready for any mountain around.

Our typical “moving” day sees us getting started about 10 or 11 in the morning — there’s normally no rush to get started. Once we’ve been driving for a couple hours, hunger sets in and we’ve fallen into the routine of stopping at highway rest stops along the way. For example, yesterday, the rest stop on I-40 had picnic tables and was we’ll taken care of — very clean. If leftovers need to be heated up, we fire up the generator and use the microwave. I’ve grown to prefer making our own lunches instead of eating in restaurants all the time.

Some of the roads leading to Tim and Chris’s house were a little narrow and challenging, but we arrived without incident about 4pm. They have a large lot with much of it wooded. A long driveway leads to their house, which can’t be seen from the road. Off that driveway, about a quarter of the way down, is an open area that Tim’s always called “the meadow”. It’s nicely sized for something like our bus, but getting into it might be tight and I wasn’t sure we could do it. Prior to our arrival, Tim worked at pruning and trimming trees in order to provide a turning radius for us… and it worked like a charm. I was able to back in with only a couple of mid-course corrections. For a few days, I’ve got a picture of the bus parked in the meadow on the front page of our website.

T

October 26, 2007 — Heiskell, TN near Knoxville

The Excapees Raccoon Valley RV park was nearly full when we checked in here on Wednesday. We had to take a spot with no hookups. But yesterday, Thursday, a full hookup site opened up and we moved. Even though we can exist without hookups for a week or so, it’s nice to at least have some electricity and water, which was our limiting item this time as we only had a nominal amount in the tank.

This is the first time we’re staying at an Escapees park. It’s an organization we joined a few months ago that promotes safe and responsible RV’ing and stays on top of changes in laws affecting the lifestyle. They have a number of RV parks around the country and offer deep discounts to members. This is the oldest park in the system and while it has a charm to it, it’s old and was designed with much smaller RV’s in mind. Thus, sites are small and maneuvering can be a challenge at time. On a positive note, the people are wonderful. We’ve met too many people to remember. Last night, the park had their regular Thursday night music jam session — an ever-changing number of musicians from the area show up and just play. Anything goes, but mostly country and bluegrass music (after all, it is Tennessee!). It’s truly not a concert or performance… just a jam session. People from the park sit around in chairs and, if they’re so moved, join in. If someone plays an instrument, they can jam along. Ditto if you sing. I can best describe it as “Tennessee Karaoke”. We had a blast and the clubhouse was full of campers who felt the same way.

Earlier in the day we drove into Knoxville. Something we just had to do this trip was to meet with some old friends from my days in the fastener business. We were invited to Gene & Becky’s club for lunch and then went over to their house to visit for a couple hours. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them and promised to stop more often as we come through in the future. Thanks Gene and Becky for a wonderful time, and thanks Butch, for putting this together on such short notice.

We’re going to do a little touring of the area near here today. We’re about 10 miles north of Knoxville and there’s large lake nearby — part of the TVA system of dams, rivers, and waterways. Tennessee and the Carolinas have been on our radar screen as a possible place to settle in the future, so we’re going to get started on our review of the area today.

T

October 23, 2007 — Nashville, TN

Due to the hour, this post will be neither long nor particularly witty.

We just got back from seeing the Tuesday Night Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House near Opryland… and we had a great time. The show is also broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville. The Saturday night version of the show is supposed to be the oldest continuous radio program in the U.S., having been aired weekly on WSM since 1925. After experiencing the show tonight, I’m convinced that Garrison Keillors’ “A Prairie Home Companion” is a parody of it… right down to the similarity of sponsors — Grand Ole Opry’s Martha White Biscuits and Prairie Home Companion’s Powder Milk Biscuits. I’ve been in the audience of both and they feel very similar. And that’s a good thing. I like ‘em both.

The show we saw tonight included Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens, Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson, Mel McDaniel, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and the bluegrass group The Grascals. It was a contrast of the very old veterans and the relatively young newcomers. Little Jimmy Dickens, for example, is 87 years old and still performing… and telling the funniest jokes I’ve heard lately. Rebecca Lynn Howard is still in her 20’s and has a string of song writing and performing accomplishments behinds her… and what a voice! They were all just great and we thoroughly enjoyed the two hours.

Prior to the show, we walked over to the Opryland Hotel and had drinks and dinner. It was a tad expensive but we rationalized it on the basis of, well, “we don’t do this very often and we deserve it”. In other words, “just because”. Dar has fallen in love with this hotel and would leave me in a minute if someone offered her a job taking care of the plants and gardens in the conservatory.

Earlier in the day we drove over to The Hermitage — the home of the 7th president of the U.S., Andrew Jackson. This 1000 acre estate was a cotton plantation and self-sustaining farm during it’s day. We toured the grounds and the mansion, learned about life at that time, and the personal nuances and eccentricities of the man Jackson. He was a character with charisma, a natural leader. The experience prompted the purchase of a couple books that’ll keep me busy for a few weeks.

The rain has been nearly constant the last two days. Parts of Tennessee west of here have gotten upward of 6 inches of rain… badly needed rain. We haven’t been able to do much of anything outdoors, but what we did do was extremely satisfying. I don’t think either of us would have changed a thing we did the past two days.

Here’s the plan for tomorrow: get up early, quick breakfast, and get the bus transformed into travel mode. Then, get the wheels turning by no later than 10am. We’re heading for the Knoxville TN area for the next few nights.

Good night all.

T

October 22, 2007 — Nashville, TN

After our overnight in Bowling Green we bid ‘adieu’ to Ginnie and Kevin and got rolling for Nashville about 1pm. It wasn’t the most pleasant drive as we were headed almost directly south and directly into the glare of a bright, hot sun. The truck traffic was also heavy and the winds were gusting out of the Southeast. We did stop for fuel near the Tennessee state line and filled for less than $3/gal — something to write home about these days. The short drive today felt longer than it was and we were happy to park and get set-up for a couple days here at Two Rivers Campground near the Grand Ole Opry House and the Opryland Hotel.

Almost all of Kentucky and Tennessee are part of the extreme drought that’s plagued much of the southeast this year. Nashville is 16 inches below the average rainfall for the year. The reservoirs are drying up. There’s talk of rationing water in some areas. Considering all this, I’ll put up with a few rainy days the forecast is calling for this week. Today, we’re not planning much… perhaps a drive to a couple Corps of Engineers campgrounds nearby that we’ve heard are very nice, just to check them out.

After we got set up yesterday we went over to the Opryland Hotel. I stayed here a few years ago for a convention and thought Dar would really enjoy it… and she did! It’s a massive place, on the scale of new hotels in Las Vegas, with thousands of rooms. All the huge open areas between the various wings of the place are covered so one can walk around in air-conditioned comfort while visiting an ersatz town-center complete with stores (of course), restaurants, waterfalls, fountains, and a “river” complete with tour boats. One phase of this hotel is called the conservatory. Hundreds of feet long and almost as wide, it’s a collection of tropical plants from all over, marvelously displayed among different levels of walkways and paths, waterfalls and fake-rock walls. I thought the plants might be plastic, but Dar insists they’re all real. We enjoyed the experience once we got there. The only thing that irked me was they want $12 to park near the hotel, something I just refused to do while I’ve got two legs that work. I found a place to park at a nearby shopping mall and the walk to the hotel turned out to be certainly more enjoyable that the pleasure of bagging a close-in parking place.

That’s all I can come up with to write today. It’s raining, we’re being lazy, and enjoyin’ every minute of it.

T