Tuscaloosa Fun

We sure enjoyed our time in Tuscaloosa.  Met a lot of great folks that made us Buckeyes feel very welcome.

Wish I would have felt up to driving in to the campus just to get a look at how they tailgate.  They have an area similar to the Grove at Ole Miss.  The Quad becomes party central on game days.

Would love to come back and enjoy another college football Saturday with these folks again.

Roll Tide!

Nashville then on to T-Town...

Had a great time visiting with Connie's Dad (and sister), along with some of our Buckeye Heartland friends in Wilmington at Thousand Trails.

Left Monday morning around 10:30a and got into Nashville (without any drama along the way) around 5:30 EST, 4:30 local time.  Love Nashville.  Stayed at Two Rivers Campground where we spent a month in October of 2011.  To recap Thousand Trails (which ran $43/night) had grass, uneven sites, water/electric only and was located in the middle of ding dong.  For $2/night more, we got a level, gravel site with full hook ups and we were 7/10 mile from Opryland.  Don't get me started.

Saw 'Miss Peggy' (so glad as its her last week there) and Lisa.  Nashville is our Carmen's birthplace, and Lisa is the fantastic story maker that made that happen.  Brought a smile to get those two back together again.

 Tuesday, we hopped on the Downtown Shuttle to take on Broadway.  Love this area.  Best live music we've happened on.  In 4 hours, we heard Modern Country, Old Country, Rock, Metal, Dueling Pianos all done very well.  We were both over served which made the shuttle a great idea for $10pp round trip, and we had a tremendous time.  Visited Tootsie's, Robert's Western World,  Rippy's Ribs, Crossroads, the Big Bang, and, of course, Margaritaville.  (It's bad when you have to go back through your receipts to remember where you've been, isn't it?)  No covers at any of these places, but you needed to have some tip money for the band.  We did a lot of "holler and a swaller".

Wednesday was a recovery day, and Thursday was travel to Tuscaloosa, AL the home of the Crimson Tide.  Again, no travel drama which we're thankful for.

 We're staying at the Elks Lodge here in T-town.  They have 7 spots with water/electric that they rent out on Football weekends for $40/night.  Great sites.  Went into the lodge last night, was asked if I brought any potatoes (um, that's "Idaho") and met a couple of really nice guys from Coshocton and Wheelersburg.  Always meet Buckeyes, even if they're dressed in Crimson.  We'll be here through Sunday.

The Travel Blog once again becomes a Travel Blog...

 Time for this blog to revert back to its roots and talk about our travels.  Thanks to all for your prayers and support of Connie, we both appreciate it.

We left Ashtabula (the home of Ohio State Football coach Urban Meyer, by the way) on Thursday, October 10th.  Kister Marina was a great time, a great place right on the Ashtabula River, and we saw a lot of old friends in addition to making several new ones.  Can easily say we had a great summer.

Our plans were to head to my Mom's area (Cardington, OH) for a couple of days, then Connie's Dad's area (Wilmington, our hometown) for a couple of days.  We got rolling casually late and about 49 miles from our exit I started noticing some smoke coming from our driver's side tires.  Immediately pulled over to see that one of our tires had let go.  <sigh>  Tires have been a big issue with us.  We've loved our rigs, but they have come with some cheap ass tires.  Had some good news as our Good Sam Roadside Assistance was very handy.  The spare was easy to get down and put on.  Only cost us about 90 minutes.

You can barely see our
rig on the horizon of this
huge parking lot

We had left things open, since Connie's treatment was Wednesday (10/9) and didn't know how she'd feel.  That being said, we didn't make reservations.  Every campground is having its 'year end', everybody get together.  So, when we arrived at the Cardinal Camping Center, we were basically put in steerage.  Gravel parking lot, 50 amp and water, but no sewage.  Not a biggie as we weren't really "camping", just storing our house for a few days.

Our daughter Bethany came down after work on Thursday, and we spend a wonderful day with my Mom shopping at Polaris (while I had the tire swapped out at NTB Polaris), just south of there.  Mom wanted to make it our "Christmas" shopping, and was a little frustrated that there was more 'shopping' than 'buying'.  Had a great dinner at Max & Erma's, then stopped over to see our friends Dave and Jean and their daughters.

Got up early Saturday morning (7:30a is early for us), walked the dogs, got the chair put back in the basement, and changed the tire.  First time on this beast, everything went very well.  Was done by 9:00a.  As I was sliding the spare back under to go up, I saw something in the remaining tire:  a screw.  Couldn't believe it.  Now, we've got problems.  Noon check out, and a had a run back into NTB Polaris.  Guy there was who waited on me the day before and I think he felt sorry for me.  Got me right in and out, so that by 10:15a, I had it on the rig and we could start tearing down.

Pretty uneventful ride until we got to our SR 73 exit for Waynesville and the traffic was backed up incredibly.  I guess there were was a big festival (Sauerkraut Festival), the Flea Market, the Renaissance Center and everything else going on.

We got into the Thousand Trails Wilmington at about 2:30p.  You'll have to read my review after I post it, but it's not going to be glowing.  Met some friends from our "Heartland Family" here, and Connie's Dad and Aunt came out and we had a wonderful dinner and time together afterward.

September - Where Does the Time Go?!

Once again, it has been a long layoff from posting.  We have had a lot going on in the month of September.

For starters, we made a visit to Wilmington on the 4th.  Nothing special, just checking in with my parents.  We spent time together enjoying the time together.

Sloopy offering her love and support.

As it turns out, that would be the last visit with Mom.  She unexpectedly passed away on September 13.  So, another trip to Wilmington.  We stayed a couple of days to help Dad with some of the paperwork stuff.    The Clinton County Senior Center had a wonderful potluck for us after the services. Was nice seeing friends and family - despite the circumstances.

Down on the farm.

During some down time, we had the opportunity to visit the farm where my maternal grandparents lived.  The dogs (Sloopy, Carmen & Tucker) really enjoyed running around and checking out all the new smells.









Back to Ashtabula.  The weather has certainly turned more to Fall.  We have had some nice afternoons that have allowed us to sit outside and watch some baseball and of course, college football.  A few visits from friends have made those afternoon and evenings very enjoyable.  All this gave us great excuses to use the new smoker grill.  Yum!


Sad time of year as we have taken the raft out of the water and put it in storage.  This year, we will leave it here since we have not made much use of it in Texas.

Yesterday, I had a followup brain MRI.  The good news is that the big tumor had not grown.  The bad news is that it had not shrunk,  either.  The doctor wants to take another check in 2-3 months, so we will have that done in Texas.  Next up is the followup spine MRI on Friday.

Folks here at Kister Marina are starting to pack up and head home for the winter.  We too, are starting to get organized for our trip south.  At this time, our departure date is scheduled for October 11.

Go Buckeyes!