It rained this morning and so I missed walking for a second day. We seem to have eradicated the ants. We only saw 2 this morning before we left.
We had a short drive into Georgia and down to Cartersville. We stopped in town to gather supplies and arrived at the park at around 1. They sent us to the overflow parking lot until check-in time and Tim got a nice nap.
We settled in and then went into Acworth to the laundromat.
We spent the afternoon organizing and packing.
We ate eggs for dinner and took a walk.
Tomorrow we will store the RV in Snellville and then we will go to David’s where we will spend the next few weeks. We plan to begin our big Wyoming adventure on August 19th. We will pause the blog until then.
I was sound asleep. I heard Tim shouting “Anita, get up. Come here now! We have a problem!” I ran from my bed to see what the problem might be…ants…thousands of ants. The tiny, fast kind. The kind that don’t bite…thankfully! They were running in a long, thick, and steady stream from one end of the RV to the other. A whole battalion, an army. OMG!!!! So many ants!!! These ants had gathered themselves, deployed, and were overtaking our space; all in less than 24 hours!
We got out rags and white vinegar and started to clean. Tim shook out rugs and got out ant bait. He headed to the store for ant spray while I cleaned the entire floor with vinegar a second time. Then, I began to sweep. I knew that I couldn’t leave any corpses behind because they release pheromones when they die causing other ants to return for their bodies. Yikes! I swept the entire coach 5 times and then I got out the vacuum.
We were on ant patrol; looking for any stragglers.
I actually felt bad killing the poor little guys but this is our kingdom! Tim sprayed our leveling jacks and the tires and our water supply hose and our electric cord. We felt like we had made enough progress that we could go into Chattanooga for the day as planned.
Tim made one last check outside and he saw a steady flow of ants coming from a tree branch and walking right onto the roof. He climbed the ladder and did some population control. He trimmed the branch so that the ants no longer had a bridge to the RV. I found more ants traipsing up the side of that tree from the ground. We sprayed the trunk of the tree to knee height and then annihilated the troops.
We were half scared to leave.
We drove into the city with the Jeep; our bikes on the back. We parked at the River Gallery Sculpture Garden.
We biked along Riverfront Drive and across the bridge to the other side of the Tennessee River. We shared some mango Hawaiian ice from Happy’s House, “the fun place where smiles are real.”
We biked in the waterfront park and then crossed the river again.
We rested on a pier.
These flags fly in the memory of some hometown marine heroes. They all perished in the same incident on July 16, 2015.
We biked on to Scotties on the River. We had cold water and sweet tea and a delicious lunch. We were refreshed and ready to ride again.
The city is hilly and I had to get off and push my bike on the steepest sections.
We got back to the campground at around 4. We were afraid of what we might find…but only a couple of ants remained. So far so good!
We took some celery and peanut butter and some melon to the picnic area by the water. We certainly did not want a big dinner this evening.
We have been to Chattanooga several times. We like it here and could have spent more time…but we are headed south and we will move again tomorrow.
I took the Jeep and drove to the marina and began my morning walk from there. It was so pretty walking along the water. I did the Duck Island Loop two times and then went back to the RV.
Tim had everything ready to go. We had about 200 miles to get to Harrison Bay State Park just north of Chattanooga. It was cloudy and then rainy and then pouring. It stopped as we arrived at the park. It was nice not to contend with the rain as we got settled.
Our site is right on Lake Chickamauga.
It rained most of the afternoon.
I made butter chicken with fruit and salad for our dinner. We packed our picnic and drove to a pavilion.
The morning was cloudy and the slightest bit cool. I began my walk with the scent of campfire smoke and freshly cut grass in the air. The big old trees in the park granted me shade as I went; first to the park entrance and then down to the lake. I hiked the Lakeview Trail along the water’s edge. There were lots of hills and it was good work.
Today was another moving day. It was a shorter distance and an easier drive; a straight shot down 81S. We traveled from Virginia into Tennessee. We saw this reminder several times today.
We arrived at Warrior’s Path State Park before noon. We did not know that check-in was not until 4pm. We were sent to a large parking lot to wait. I made my sandwich and sat outside on a rock to eat my lunch. I walked down tot he meadow planted especially for pollinators.
I went into the RV and read and took a nap. A little before two, we got a call to say that our site was ready. I put some chicken into the crockpot for dinner. Tim went to walk the Bluffs Trail and got some nice pictures of this pileated woodpecker.
Later in the afternoon, the power to the campground was out after a transformer blew. We needed to make a new dinner plan. We searched restaurants in the area and found Raffaele’s Italian Restaurant. It was close and had good reviews. As we were leaving the power was restored. There were also loud claps of thunder. We drove to town and had a great dinner with fresh salads and chicken marsala and chicken piccata. It poured while we were eating.
After eating, we decided to drive into Kingsport. I put it into GPS and it gave me directions for Kingsport Town Center which was not downtown Kingsport but rather a mall. We did find our way. We parked and took our bikes off and went to explore. Tim was intent on finding his way to the Riverfront Park. We meandered our way across town on sidewalks and streets and at the park, we discovered a bike path that lead us directly back to the center of town. It began to rain again this evening after we had returned to the campground. Not everything went smoothly today but we continued to adapt and modify our plan and we made the best of it and still had a very good day!
We were up early. I took one last walk along Gores Mill Road. I will be really happy to walk someplace new tomorrow morning. I did almost three miles and when I got back home, Tim had already fired up the coach and he was getting ready to roll. Kyle and Wade came out to say goodbye…bittersweet…
We are on our way to Atlanta. We decided to take the long way there and avoid driving on 95S. Instead, we took 70 to 340 through Harpers Ferry and then 81, south into Virginia. This is a much more pleasant drive; prettier and much less intense. Since it was Sunday, the traffic was lighter and there were far fewer trucks. Tim drove just over 300 miles today.
We stopped for the night at Claytor Lake State Park, south of Roanoke.
We packed a picnic dinner and rode our bikes down to the lake. It was spitting rain but we were in a nice pavilion. We watched three generations of men fishing in the lake. The little boy was probably 4 years old. His dad and granddad took turns casting for him. The boy immediately reeled his line in, often catching his hook on the rocky bottom. His dad caught a tiny fish. He cast it out again and let the boy bring it in. The child was so happy…such joy!
1105 May 29, 2024 – July 20,2024 Home Again, Home Again
The beginning of June had us busy with lots of appointments for labwork and physicals and other fun stuff.
This spring, we began to entertain the idea of replacing our RV. Our Tiffin was 10 years old and had needed a lot of attention and repairs over the past couple of years. It was time for us to dig deep and decide if we wanted to continue to travel fulltime or if it might be time to settle somewhere. We really enjoy our vagabond life and we wanted to keep going. We had weighed the pros and cons. The reasons to look for something new were suddenly compelling and so we shopped. We ended up driving to General RV in Ashland, Virginia where we found two amazing rigs. In the end, Tim loved our old Tiffin and so, our new RV is also a Tiffin.
Packing and moving out and moving back in was a lot of work. But we are now settled and organized. We spent a couple of weeks in Kyle’s driveway getting acquainted with all the buttons and bells and whistles.
In July, we took our maiden voyage, a three day trip to Confluence Pennsylvania. It was very hot on the day we arrived. We actually went to an ice cream parlor at 5pm and ate our soft serve dinner in the cool air conditioning. Later for a snack, we ate icy acai with yogurt and fruit.
The two subsequent days were better. We cycled 11 miles each day on the GAP, Great Allegany Passage, bike trail. It was shaded and the trail followed the Youghiogheny River with pretty views of the rapids.
We also went to visit the small town of Ohiopyle. We walked along the waterfall and toured the visitor center. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Twisted Spoke Cafe.
On Friday, July 12th, Tim celebrated his birthday. We drove back home so that Kyle and Tim could see the Orioles play the Yankees.
Our time at home was also spent visiting with lots of friends and family. We celebrated both our birthdays, Father’s Day, our anniversary, and 4th of July. Lots of fun!
The highlight of these past two months was the time we got to spend with Kyle and Allison and Wade. The baby is growing so quickly. At his 4 month checkup, he placed on a normal newborn growth curve. It has been fun watching him giggle and engage when we sing to him. The Happy Song makes him smile every time. Wade loves when we read to him and Apples Up On Top and Brown Bear are his favorites.
