The Trip East. Tennessee part 2.

I know you are all waiting to hear about my stupidity.  And, in time, you will.  For now though, you will have to settle for a continuing narrative of the trip before I forget it.  You see, I type this from our campground in Ashland, VA.  We have arrived and are going through our process of figuring out where we buy groceries and take the dog potty. 


So, back to Tennessee.  I'll skip the actual driving to Knoxville. 

We arrived and started setting up in time for my dad to show up and give us a hand.  We got settled in at the Soaring Eagle RV park before Dad and I went out for a wine run.  Dad has a tendency, on infrequent occasions, to purchase a touch more wine than is technically required for the number of people present.  This might lead to over-consumption of the part of his guests.  Of course, theoretically speaking, this could lead to long and incoherent philosophical debates for some parties involved while other pass out on the couch.

Hypothetically, of course.

We had originally planned to leave the next day and go to the Great Smokey Mountains national park.  What with the park shut down, we decided instead to stay an extra day at the beautiful Soaring Eagle and recover. 

We needed it.  Lunch the next day was a little later than usual thanks to some uncharacteristically sensitive children who decided to just sit in their room and play instead or rousting their parents first thing in the AM. 

We didn't do much the next day, watched the Sooners play a close game.  Then it was bed time. 


After an alcohol free night (well, except for just a little scotch) we woke the next morning refreshed and ready to hit the road again.  It is always great spending even a little time with my dad.  It was really neat to see his motor home and where he spends so much time.  Pretty place.  It is surrounded by some really pretty places too, as we were to find out the next day on our drive into North Carolina. 

The trip out East. Tennessee, pt 1.

Good grief we do a lot of stuff.


Last we left after our arrival in Little Rock, AR. The RV park there is the North Little Rock RV park which is a city owned and operated park situated on the bank of the Arkansas river. Just above, and I mean almost looming above, the park is an old drawbridge which has been converted to a pedestrian bridge with the transom always raised. The bridge leads over the river to a park near downtown where the William Clinton Presidential library resides. Of course, thanks to the government shutdown, is closed.


Oh well, who needs a stinking presidential library anyway?  It is a pretty bridge though.

And that was about it.  Just a simple overnight visit, nothing fancy.

Our next day took us across the state of Arkansas and stopped just before we left.  We had to stop though, because it was the Tom Sawyer RV park and it was on the banks of the mighty Mississippi river.  I mean literally a stone's throw from the water.

They also had fishing ponds on the property that were occasionally stocked by the flooding river.  That meant that you could catch anything in there.  I caught a small gar and Max caught two turtles.  Mostly it was just relaxing for the kids and changing bait, tying hooks and lures for daddy.

Eventually Nana decided just relaxing and watching the river traffic glide by was good enough for her.

The next day was back on the road with a destination of Lebanon, TN.  We were staying in a state park there, Cedars of Lebanon.  No phone, no wifi, no TV.  It was a pretty park though.  And I am glad Sarah made reservations because the government was shut down.  That meant that all the national parks were closed and the campers who would be staying there flooded into the state parks.  Sarah made reservations a week or so before, so we had a spot.  The initial spot we chose was too tight of a fit, but they were able to shift us before the crowd arrived.

Before long, we had a visitor. Our friend Ken lives in Nashville.  Sarah has known him since high school and I met him when I met Sarah.  He is a great guy we don't get to see often enough and we spent the night laughing.

The next morning presented a challenge or two that we hadn't really expected and I almost made a colossal, unforgivable, idiotic mega mistake.  Luckily and innocent bystander was there to prevent catastrophe. 

That, however, deserves its own blog post.

Till next time. 

A brief pause

Life gets busy.  Too busy these days doing things to spend much time writing about them.  And then, when I do get time, we are out of wifi and I can't get a blog post up. 

Enough excuses. 

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, we were eating fajitas in Texas.  The next day found us in Oklahoma city with my sister and an invitation to run a 5k mud run with her on Sunday.  Being the lunatic fringe sort that we are, this sounded like a wonderful idea. 

So we woke up bright and early and got muddy.

We went home and cleaned up.  The next day we went to Wynnewood, OK to see the GW Exotic animal park.  This is a rescue facility for exotic animals.  I hate zoos.  I wasn't too fond of this place either, but I understand it is difficult to house these animals in the best of circumstances.  The day turned out better when I found a monkey friend to play with.  His name was Ricky.  I was too busy playing to take pictures. 

He was sitting alone in his cage.  He interacted some with Michelle and that gave me to idea to run around his cage like a crazy person. There is video, but I can't upload it right now. Besides, the whole thing was overshadowed by the character who ran the place.  He calls himself Joe Exotic, fancies himself a country star with a video and everything.  Oh yeah, and this...

Yup, that's Joe Exotic.  He also goes by the title, Tiger King.  I do believe his video is titled "I Saw a Tiger." which is much funnier when you have seen the above labeled products. 


We hung out with Miche for a while and then took off the next day for Little Rock Arkansas.  And I will get to that later I hope.  So much to write, too tired to write it. 

Vega Texas.

Back on the road again. 

Santa Fe to Vega Texas.  After talking with Sarah about it and discussing, I decided that Roosters is my favorite restaurant on I-40.  Now, I haven't completely finished driving I-40, but I have done quite a bit.  I'll almost have all of it this trip too. 

So again, if you are driving through the Texas panhandle, stop in Vega and get the fajitas at Roosters.  Worth the wait. 

Another good feature is that they are right across from the RV park. Close enough to walk. 

As we walked home Sarah said this was the first time we had walked to a restaurant since Utah.

???

When were we in Utah? 

Oh yeah.  On the way back to OKC from San Diego.  It took me a minute.  That's what this traveling will do to you. 

Bye Santa Fe!

It has been a wonderful stay here.  The RV park, Santa Fe Skies, has been tremendous.  They were even so kind as to alert us to the skies which were otherworldly at times. 

I have taken a ton of photographs, one or two even came out well.  I ran a half marathon over a mile above sea level.  Sarah and I climbed the highest mountain in New Mexico.  Sarah has been taking hot yoga classes.  We have been to the largest volcanic caldera in North America.  We watched the oldest pagan festival in the country.  We drove around the area where they made the first atomic bomb. 

Wow, what a contract. 

I was thinking last night as I was leaving the hospital for the last time.  I don't know how staff nurses do it.  Every three months I get this sense of accomplishment.  I completed another one.  To a staff nurse, it is just another three months.  Nothing to get excited about. 

I will miss some of my new friends.  I have to take a moment here to specially mention Russell Thornton, Sarah's cousin, who has been awesome and fun to hang out with.  It is great to have a celebrity chef as your tour guide through the culinary delights of a town known for its food.  Thanks Russ.  You were awesome. 

As for the cool people at work, there were too many to name without inevitably forgetting one and pissing them off so I will just say the staff at the ER here is great.  Now if they could just get some equipment. 

Washed and waxed the vehicles today.  Got routine maintainance done.  Ready to roll again.  For a couple of weeks I get to put down the burden and mantle of ER nurse and pick up the title of amateur truck driver.

Let's hit the road.

Gearing up

I worked three days in a row...I know, killer right?  Does the fact that they were 12 hour ER shifts make that sound less whiny?  Oh well. 

When last we left I was shamelessly bragging about completing a half marathon in under 2 hours.  Well, there you go.  Finished that thought.

After that I went to work breaking the car.  Well, I didn't start out trying to break the car, it just happened that way.  I was trying to repair something that broke when we fixed the AC compressor. I had to take the driver's side front wheel off to get to it and when I did, the wheel stud sheared off.  After a few hours of trying, along with the purchase of tools and parts, I discovered I would need a hydraulic press.  As much as I think tools are cool, I can't carry that in the RV.  So I put it back together and off it went to a mechanic.  Sigh.  I try so hard. 

Then work.  Then today.  Today we washed the RV and I changed the oil on the truck.  But first, Sarah and Max had to take a trip. 

It was a trip in a spaceship Max built.

They went to Antarctica to see penguins and the arctic to see Polar bears.

Santa Fe Thunder

Today I ran the Santa Fe Thunder half marathon.  It was pretty cool.  I set a goal to finish in less than two hours. That goal stopped seeming likely when I ran 1:54 in a 11.5 mile training run.  Oh well, the goal was to finish.

It was neat that, unlike the training runs, the Blerch was never a factor.

WOW.  Sarah just came running in telling me to grab the camera so I could take pictures of the amazing sky.

So I did.  Sorry for the interruption, but...

So, the running was cool, but the sky was cooler.