We're back in Red Bay to see if we can get the low voltage issue fixed once and for all. The guy that worked on it last time was 99.8% sure that it was the connections that were bad but we're still getting the warning. He said the only other thing he could think of would be to replace the batteries so that's what we want them to do. We've also had a new issue come up with the AC in the front of the RV so we'll get that taken care of as well and hopefully a couple of other issues. We're scheduled to go in the express bay on Monday. In the express bay you get two mechanics for three hours. After that you're back to the waiting list. Right now that's a week or two so we're hoping the express bay works.
We left the Carolinas to a view that I haven't seen since the LA riots - a guy running down the freeway at 8am smoking a cigarette and carrying a rifle. He was running with traffic looking back over his shoulder. We did a quick stop in Knoxville and then Nashville to see Rusty's cousins again before heading to Red Bay. Once we leave here we'll head to Memphis and then to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Originally we were going to take the 10 back to the west coast, but Hugo changed that plan so we'll head west on the 40 before making our way south.
Rusty's not been enjoying our new lifestyle lately. He worries a lot about problems with the RV; sometimes so much so that he can't enjoy anything about it. I keep telling him that this wasn't really how I envisioned our retirement either but that I'm not ready to give up on it yet. With respect to our family and those living in the south east I don't really get it here. The bigger cities are fun and you can pretty much do and find anything you need, but the more out of the way the place the harder it is for me to understand. There is this southern pride about the confederacy that I just don't get. Yesterday we drove south on the Nachez Trace Parkway (a national park of the most unusual kind) and while the park mentions the 10,000 years the three Native American tribes that used the trail for trade routes there is also just as many, if not more, memorials to the confederate officers and soldiers. This is a picture of the Native American burial mounds:
The area of the park is so beautiful, but then you see places and vehicles with the confederate flag and sometimes Rusty and I have to ask ourselves if we feel safe where we are - which is really stupid since our skin is white. I can't imagine what people of color feel.
There's this place outside of Knoxville called the Lost Sea. It's a large underground lake. You can take a boat ride on it. A cool tourist thing to do, but there was some memorial outside of it talking about how the cave was used by the confederate army. I get that the Civil War was part of our history, but it's almost like when you're traveling in the south that the confederate army was on the right side of history. It's very strange. I guess the fact that it's a large underground lake wasn't enough of a tourist attraction so they stock the lake with rainbow trout. There isn't anything in nature for the fish to eat so they feed them dog chow. They tell the story about how once when they were feeding the fish one jumped in the boat into this woman's lap. The woman beat the fish with her purse and then asked to keep it. She took it home to eat it and told them later it was the worst fish she's ever eaten. WTF did she expect? The trout never saw the light of day and only ever ate dog chow...sheesh. Here was this cool underground lake where they would take you on a boat ride - an actual boat ride in a cave, but someone didn't think that was good enough so they added fish.
Don't get me wrong, the south is beautiful. Green with lots of water. Coming from Southern California, that is quite different from the brown and dry we're used to. Yesterday on our drive on the parkway, we pulled over at this swamp/marshland:
We must have sat there for about 20 minutes watching some type of mammal, trying to figure out what it was. Through the binoculars it looked like the Loch Ness monster. As near as we can tell it was either a river otter or mink, or something like that. We didn't see a beaver tail so we don't think it was that. We saw some turtles and at first thought that's what it was but it didn't move like a turtle at all and then when we got out the binoculars we knew for sure it wasn't.
I guess I'm telling you the story because watching the swamp to try and figure out what the critter was is how I planned on spending my retirement. So yesterday was a good day. Today, I've got a horrible craving for Starbucks (I never thought I would say those words!) so we're thinking about driving 33 miles to Tupelo, Mississippi to the nearest Starbucks. I've got coffee here on the RV, but I want a caramel macchiato REALLY bad. If there was a Peet's, I'd go for that instead. So now you know the truth, the California liberal has raised her head and said it out loud. But keep in mind that we haven't had a coffee shop coffee since Grand Junction, Colorado - nearly two months ago.
Hope everyone is staying well and not working too hard - that still is the BEST thing about being retired.
xoxxo
Julie
We left the Carolinas to a view that I haven't seen since the LA riots - a guy running down the freeway at 8am smoking a cigarette and carrying a rifle. He was running with traffic looking back over his shoulder. We did a quick stop in Knoxville and then Nashville to see Rusty's cousins again before heading to Red Bay. Once we leave here we'll head to Memphis and then to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Originally we were going to take the 10 back to the west coast, but Hugo changed that plan so we'll head west on the 40 before making our way south.
Rusty's not been enjoying our new lifestyle lately. He worries a lot about problems with the RV; sometimes so much so that he can't enjoy anything about it. I keep telling him that this wasn't really how I envisioned our retirement either but that I'm not ready to give up on it yet. With respect to our family and those living in the south east I don't really get it here. The bigger cities are fun and you can pretty much do and find anything you need, but the more out of the way the place the harder it is for me to understand. There is this southern pride about the confederacy that I just don't get. Yesterday we drove south on the Nachez Trace Parkway (a national park of the most unusual kind) and while the park mentions the 10,000 years the three Native American tribes that used the trail for trade routes there is also just as many, if not more, memorials to the confederate officers and soldiers. This is a picture of the Native American burial mounds:
The area of the park is so beautiful, but then you see places and vehicles with the confederate flag and sometimes Rusty and I have to ask ourselves if we feel safe where we are - which is really stupid since our skin is white. I can't imagine what people of color feel.
There's this place outside of Knoxville called the Lost Sea. It's a large underground lake. You can take a boat ride on it. A cool tourist thing to do, but there was some memorial outside of it talking about how the cave was used by the confederate army. I get that the Civil War was part of our history, but it's almost like when you're traveling in the south that the confederate army was on the right side of history. It's very strange. I guess the fact that it's a large underground lake wasn't enough of a tourist attraction so they stock the lake with rainbow trout. There isn't anything in nature for the fish to eat so they feed them dog chow. They tell the story about how once when they were feeding the fish one jumped in the boat into this woman's lap. The woman beat the fish with her purse and then asked to keep it. She took it home to eat it and told them later it was the worst fish she's ever eaten. WTF did she expect? The trout never saw the light of day and only ever ate dog chow...sheesh. Here was this cool underground lake where they would take you on a boat ride - an actual boat ride in a cave, but someone didn't think that was good enough so they added fish.
Don't get me wrong, the south is beautiful. Green with lots of water. Coming from Southern California, that is quite different from the brown and dry we're used to. Yesterday on our drive on the parkway, we pulled over at this swamp/marshland:
We must have sat there for about 20 minutes watching some type of mammal, trying to figure out what it was. Through the binoculars it looked like the Loch Ness monster. As near as we can tell it was either a river otter or mink, or something like that. We didn't see a beaver tail so we don't think it was that. We saw some turtles and at first thought that's what it was but it didn't move like a turtle at all and then when we got out the binoculars we knew for sure it wasn't.
I guess I'm telling you the story because watching the swamp to try and figure out what the critter was is how I planned on spending my retirement. So yesterday was a good day. Today, I've got a horrible craving for Starbucks (I never thought I would say those words!) so we're thinking about driving 33 miles to Tupelo, Mississippi to the nearest Starbucks. I've got coffee here on the RV, but I want a caramel macchiato REALLY bad. If there was a Peet's, I'd go for that instead. So now you know the truth, the California liberal has raised her head and said it out loud. But keep in mind that we haven't had a coffee shop coffee since Grand Junction, Colorado - nearly two months ago.
Hope everyone is staying well and not working too hard - that still is the BEST thing about being retired.
xoxxo
Julie
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