Sharp's Travels

Today we decided to do some Geocaching along with a motorcycle ride. We put on 60 miles and I think about 4 miles of walking which was ok as we needed the exercise. One of the caches was the Hyde’s Mill. Hyde's Mill is owned by Ted Sawle Sr (now 100 years old). He also was the carpenter that crafted the Mill's present waterwheel. Now you'll see many reasons to take pictures of this as well as all the stone wheels anchored in concrete. We got back to the 5th wheel around 4:30 pm. What a great day for Geocaching.


For pictures of the day see album: Geocaching 5-31-10

This morning we drove over to Dodgeville and attended church at the Hidden Valley Community Church. We enjoyed the service very much. It is interesting going to different churches to see how they do their services. After church we made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, also picked up some chicken tenders for lunch and frozen pizza for supper. The rest of the day for me was spent watching the Indy 500 and the Coke Cola 600. Cheri did some laundry and reading, she did watch some of the racing.

I was up pretty early, still haven’t got use to the Central time. When Cheri got up I said lets go to early church. She look at like I was nuts and said its only Saturday. So after breakfast we headed out for another day on the motorcycle. It was another great day for riding. We didn’t see any wild life today. We did see a lot more wide flowers and a lot on nice scenery. We stayed off the main roads so we could do all the curves and up and down roads. Our ride was 106 miles and 4 hours long. It was 1:00 pm by the time we got back to the 5th wheel. Cheri took more pictures while we were riding. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and watching the NASCAR Race.


For pictures of the day see album: Barneveld 5-29-10

We took our time getting around this morning as we didn’t have to be anywhere so we took it easy. Around 10:15 am we took a ride on the motorcycle. We rode a lot of back roads south of Barneveld. The country side is pretty hilly so there were a lot of up and down and a lot of curves. Roads that were made for motorcycle riding. We stopped in Darlington for lunch and Cheri spotted a quilt store. So of course we had to made stop, she made a purchase of material for project that she wants to do this winter. While on our ride we seen turkeys and deer. Our trip was 104 miles and got back to the 5th wheel around 3:30 pm. It was a perfect day for riding.


For pictures of the day see album: Barneveld 5-28-10

We got around early this morning. We took a short walk and were in the hotel for breakfast by 6:30 am. After breakfast we headed over to get our driver licenses. We were done and on the road and headed back to Wisconsin by 8:15 am. We took our time going back. We made several stops at rest stops to walk. About 175 mile of the route back was a different road and was only 12 miles farther than the route we took out, but a much smoother road. We made a stop at Subway to have a sandwich for supper. We arrived back in Barneveld at 4:30 pm.

Cheri got up this morning at 4:45 am with a headache. She went out to sit in the recliner. I was awake when she got up so I got up to check on her to see what was wrong. She said that she had lain wrong and that’s what gave her the headache. I made coffee and took my shower and she said she felt better. To make a long story short we were on the road by 6:45 am headed for Sioux Falls South Dakota to get our driver licenses renewed. We made a stop to fill the truck with fuel and then we stopped in Fennimore for breakfast. After we drove about 200 miles I said Friends of ours from Waupaca Wisconsin (Greg & Jeanene Peterson) where going to leave this morning for the Black Hills. Now that we were going to be traveling the same road I had Cheri give them a call on their cell phone. Cheri asked them where they were and it turned out that they were only 3 miles ahead of us. So we all stopped at the next rest area to laugh and talk about what had just happened. Who would have guessed? We talked for about 20 minutes and then we headed out. We arrived in Sioux Falls around 3:30 pm. From door to door it was exactly 400 miles. After we got checked in to the motel we took a ride over to see what the hours were for getting our driver licenses tomorrow and also we picked up our mail at our mail forwarding place (Alternative Resources). Then it was off to Applebee’s for supper. The rest of the evening we relaxed as we are both tired from the long day of travel.

We had a thunder storm come through last night. Not a lot of rain but a lot of lighting and thunder. In fact we also had another storm come through around 2:00 am. Most of it went south of us. We were on the road by 8:30 am. Because of the time change for us we were up an hour earlier. The trip today was uneventful and we are staying Barneveld Wisconsin. We are staying in the parking lot of SMD Trucking. It is owned by a close friend of us (Todd Recob). We went out to eat this evening with Todd and Sue plus their son Jordan. We plan on leaving our 5th wheel here and head out with the truck in the morning for Sioux Fall SD to get our driver licenses renewed.

We were on the road by 9:15 am. We did a 325 mile day as we are spending the night in Bloomington Illinois. It was 91 degrees when we arrived here and was 87 degrees in Zephyrhills Florida. Cheri did a couple of loads of laundry after we got set up. It is the first time we have had full hookups since we left Pigeon Forge. It is also the first time we have had a place we could get our satellite TV. It was good that we got that because Cheri wouldn’t want to Miss Dancing with the Stars. We also watched the final of 24. We gained an extra hour today as we are now in the central time zone. Let see how are we going to use the extra hour, think a nap would be a good thing.

We went to 9:45 am church service at the Cross Point community church in Springfield. We got back to the 5th wheel around 11:30 am and Cheri made a peanut butter pie and a pan of brownies to take over to Ted & Gabby’s this afternoon. We got a chance to see their new 5th wheel that they picked up last week. It was very nice. They plan on leaving Wednesday or Thursday for California and plan on being gone a month. We will be going to a lot of the same places that they are going to, but we will be about 6 weeks behind them. We had a nice visit with them and celebrated Gabby’s birthday. We left around 5:00 pm and headed back to the 5th wheel as Ted & Gabby needed to spend some time with their grandkids.

Around 8:30 am this morning we went out for breakfast with Ron and Mary Jo. After a wonderful breakfast at Ron’s favorite restaurant we headed back to Ron and Mary Jo’s to visit a while before we got on the road. I made a call to Ted & Gabby Carroll (Ted was my best man when Cheri and I got married) to see if they were going to be home. Ted said that they were getting ready to make a trip to California and were leaving on Tuesday. So we closed up the 5th wheel and said our goodbyes to Ron & Mary Jo. We had a great time visiting and catching up on their trips that they have taken. We were on the road by 12:30 pm and headed for the Buck Creek State Park in Springfield Ohio. After we got set up Ted called and said they were coming over to see our 5th wheel. They didn’t have much time to spend with us as they were busy with the grand kids. We made Plans to go over to Ted & Gabby’s tomorrow afternoon. They just got a new 5th wheel and want to see it.

It started to rain around 3:00 am and I thought boy it’s going to be fun closing up the 5th wheel in the rain. We were both up early and it did stop raining for a while and it was just long enough to get the 5th wheel closed up and ready to travel. It did start to sprinkle while I was loading the motorcycle. We were on the road by 8:15 am. We drove in and out of rain most of the day, not a hard rain so it wasn’t that bad. We are here in Hamilton Ohio spending the night in the drive way of Ron & Mary Jo Walton. They are friends from our Alaskan trip. They have a beautiful place with a huge lawn. We had a wonderful visit with them and Mary Jo fixed us a great supper. While we were visiting a strong thunder storm came through it only lasted about an hour but we got an inch and half up rain, was a lot of water running across the front and back yard. After supper we sat outside on the porch visiting and looking at pictures. I had to call it a night early as I had a very bad headache. It has been many years since I have had one this bad. Cheri, Ron and Mary Jo played some dominos.

We got around early this morning for our big day at Dollywood. We left the campground at 8:30am. We went to Mel’s Diner for breakfast and then off to the trolley station. We parked the truck and got on the trolley going to Dollywood.


Dollywood covers 150 acres. The park had more than 2 million visitors each year.

The gates opened at 9:30am. We had our schedule set up for the shows we wanted to see. We browsed a few of the shops around Market Square and then headed for the Back Porch Theater. This is where some of Dolly’s uncles and cousins perform. We enjoyed the show.

We started wandering up Craftsman’s Valley. We watched the glass blower. He made a bowl with a stem on it in about 15 minutes. Of course we had to check out his store, and yes I bought a butterfly window ornament and some jewelry. We stopped by the woodcarver, carriage works, and the leather shop.

Our next show was Sha-Kon-O-Hey. It was the timeless story of the Smoky Mountains and their people. It was a terrific show. Dolly wrote 8 songs that were performed in this show. We even got to sit in a couple of reserved seats down in the second row, center. We were asked if we’d like to sit there. Oh course, you bet, we hopped right on down there!

When the show was done, we headed back up to Craftsman’s Valley. We stopped in the Grist Mill. This mill was built exactly as it would have been in the 1880’s. Roof shingles were split by hand. The door hardware was created on site. The structure’s round logs were hewed by hand. The window panes were made by the park’s glassblowers.

As soon as we walked in the door you could smell the cinnamon bread. We made our way upstairs and bought a loaf. The gal heated it for us and we took it out on the front porch, sat at a table there and pigged out!

The little chapel there had a number of picture quilts hanging up that were just beautiful. Someday I hope to be able to create something like that.

We had to check out the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. In July 1990 they began construction on a major eagle complex at Dollywood. We saw at least 14 eagles. I’m sure there were more we just didn’t spot. They are such an impressive bird.

We watched the blacksmith at work and checked out the old schoolhouse.

We made our way back down to the Pines Theater to catch the Kingdom Heirs Gospel quartet. The theater was full and they put on neat show.

We exited the theater right by the parade route. Dolly was in the park today and she and Kenny Rogers were driven by in an old car. That was a plus to be there the day she was in the park.

We finished making our way around the other sections of the park. We almost took a trip on the zip line but decided to do that the next time we are here.

We were ready to head out of the park a little after 5pm. We hopped on the trolley and took it back to the trolley station and picked up our truck. We made our way over to the Happy Days Diner for supper and then back home to the 5th wheel.

For pictures of the day see album: DollyWood.

We left this morning at 10:15 for Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend, TN. It was about a ½ hour drive from our campground. It was only 65 degrees so we needed our sweatshirts and jackets for the trip.


This cavern was opened to the public in 1953. It was amazing. The temperature remains a cool 58 degrees year around. There are a total of 410 steps down to the bottom section of the cavern. The formations were beautiful. We saw a 24ft high stalagmite, ribbon stalactites, flowstone draeries and much more. The big room was discovered in 1954 and is also open to the public as part of the mile-long guided tour. The big room is more than 400 ft long, 300 ft across and 150 ft deep. It is a site to see.

The newest section open to the public includes a 200 ft waterfall, which is a double waterfall. You can stand by the lower falls and look up into a lighted room where the upper falls is located.

The cavern gets over 50,000 visitors a year. It took us about 1 ½ hrs to go through it.

We stopped at a Mountain Craft Shop on the way back to the 5th wheel. I saw lots of things I’d like to have but ended up only buying a black bear to go with my bear collection.

We had left-over pizza for lunch and then left about 2:30pm to head over to the trolley station. We parked the bike at the station and took the trolley to Dollywood.

We only had time to take in 3 shows—One on Dolly’s 25th Anniversary of the Park, one 50’s & 60’s music, and one Country Music Show. They were all good.

We did take time to ride the Dollywood Express Steam Train, which takes you by most of the attractions in the park.

The park closed at 7pm and we made our way to the entrance to catch our ride back to the Trolley Station.

We ate dinner out at Mel’s Diner. It’s an old 50’s style diner with scenes of old cars painted on the windows. The atmosphere inside was really neat.

We were back home by 8pm and dog tired. It was a busy day.

For pictures of the day see album: Tuckaleechee Caverns.

This morning we headed to Gatlinburg on the motorcycle. It was a beautiful day. Gay thought we should go on the 8 mile loop road Arts & Crafts Trail. I agreed!


I checked out the listing of shops and our first stop was Baxter’s Stain Glass shop. He was off the main trail, up on the side of a hill. His shop was nice but nothing caught our eye.

Next it was Holloway’s Country Home. I was told she had quilting material but she only had kits form the Highland Craft Gallery. She gave us directions to the shop, so off we went. It was about 20 miles away. WOW! It was well worth the trip. It was an old 2-story log cabin filled with material. The quilts and projects hanging up were beautiful. I ended up buying 3 different fabrics, wording for memory quilts, a Christmas project and a book on shirts. As it turned out, I have ordered something from her shop over the internet.

We went on up the road about 1 ½ miles to the Applehouse Restaurant. It was set back up on a hill in an orchard. When we ordered our lunch, it automatically came with a glass of apple cider, apple fritters with apple butter. It was all good.

As we headed back towards town, we decided to check out the National Park’s Foothills Parkway. It was a neat ride and beautiful views from the top.

We had planned on doing the Roaring Fork Motor Trail but found it closed to traffic until May 28th. We did get to see the Ogle’s place. The Ogle homestead illustrates pioneer engineering—this was one of the few area homes of the time with running water, naturally pumped into the house from a nearby spring via log troughs. There was a house and a barn on the property.

At 6:45 we left for the Smith Family Theater. We did the dinner show. We had a Southern style buffet of fried chicken, meat loaf, pasta, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy with homemade desserts. We didn’t go away hungry.

The show had a blend of country, bluegrass, oldies rock-n-roll and gospel music with some comedy mixed in. It was a so-so show.

We watched Dancing with the Stars when we got home. I had to know who was moving on to the finals. It was time to call it a night.

For pictures of the day see album: Gatlinburg Area.

After our morning walk I gave Gay a much needed haircut.


We planned on taking the bike on our little excursion today, but they called for rain so we ended up taking the truck. Halfway into our trip it began raining so we were glad we opted for the truck.

We arrived in Sweetwater, TN at the Lost Sea, America’s largest underground lake about 11:30am. We had a quick snack lunch before venturing in.

We began with the guided tour of the caverns. This involved a ¾ mile round trip walk on wide sloping pathways down into the cavern. We were shown colorful rock formations, a waterfall, even an old moonshine still. She told us stories of the Indians using the cavern as well as using it as a bar with dance floors. The caverns were large enough to hold a two-story building. At times we were 500ft below the surface.

At the bottom we boarded a boat for a trip around the lake. It was as long as 3 football fields. In this section of the cavern we were about 140ft below the surface. They continually stock the lake with trout. We could see them swimming around the boat. The temperature remains a constant 58 degrees year around in the caverns.

We checked out Sweetwater Village. They had a blacksmith shop, a glassblower shop, a general store and an ice cream shop. We treated ourselves to a bowl of ice cream. We took it out on the porch and sat in the rocking chairs and rocked together till our ice cream was gone.

We arrived back home about 4pm. Gay got out the grill and put on some steaks for dinner. He just finished grilling when it started to rain.

Today was another neat adventure.

For Pictures of the day see album: Lost Sea. The pictures in the cave didn’t come out very good.

We went to the Pathways Community Church in Sevierville this morning. We heard a great message and defiantly would go again if we are ever here again. On the way home we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and then a stop at the Smith Dinner Theater to get tickets for the Tuesday night show and dinner. We had a sandwich for lunch and planned on going to Dolly Wood. We were going to go after 3:00 pm, that way the next is free. Will around 2:00 pm it started to rain so we cancelled and stayed home and watched the NASCAR Race and read. It rained off and on the rest of the afternoon and evening. So it was a day of rest.

We had a rain storm come through last night and it was still raining when we went to bed.

This morning we were ready to leave for Cades Cove about 9:30am. It was 67 degrees so we put on our jackets and headed out.

We arrived about 15 minutes before the gate opened; cars were lined up to enter. We were all jammed together as we entered the park, until we arrived at the first attraction, then people began spreading out.

The cove is the 11 mile, one-way loop road. A “cove” in Smokey Mountain language is a relatively flat valley between mountains and ridges. This particular cove is a showcase for some of the Southern Appalachian Mountains treasurers.

There are over 70 historic buildings in the park. One of the oldest cabins was built in the early 1820’s. We walked back in ¼ mile to check this one out, a neat 2 -story cabin.

A must see was the three 100 plus year old churches.

The Missionary Baptist Church was located a short drive on a dirt road, just off the main highway. It was formed in 1839 by a group of Baptist expelled from the Primitive Baptist Church. There was a group in the church singing the old hymns. We sat and listened to a few songs. We explored the cemeteries at all three churches.

The Methodist Church, built in 1902, in 115 day for $115.

The primitive Baptist Church was established in 1827. This was located right along the highway easy to check out. The seats were basic board benches.

We stopped at the Elijah Oliver cabin. This cabin had a “stranger room” added to the front porch to accommodate overnight visitors.

The Gregg-Cable homestead consisted of a number of out buildings. The Cable mill, smokehouse, corn crib, barn, sorghum mill, and blacksmith shop. We checked them all out. There weren’t a lot of people around so it was easy to get in to see what we wanted.

There were 3 more cabins to see before we left the park. The weather was perfect for riding and the scenery in the park was beautiful.

On the way back, we stopped at a place where they carve anything and everything out of trees. His things were beautiful. He did carving and his wife did pottery. It was an interesting place to wander through.

We found a little restaurant about ½ ways back to the 5th wheel and stopped for lunch/dinner. It was excellent.

We decided to check out the local Harley shop before calling it a day. Gay found a tee-shirt.

We’d only been home about ½ hour and we heard thunder and the rain began. Did we ever make it home in time or what!

For pictures of the day see album: Cades Cove

We did our morning walk. The campground is so small that we had to look for another place to walk. We found a dead end road across from the campground that went up to some condos. I do mean up, it was a steep climb and really got the heart rate going. Greg and Jeanene arrived at 10:00 am and we had a nice visit catching up on the last couple of months. Then we went for a ride up to Gatlinburg to show us some of the places to go to. Then we headed back to Pigeon Forge to eat lunch at the Happy Days Diner. It was a very neat place and the food was great. Then we took a ride down through Sevierville and the country side and turned around at Seymour and headed back to Pigeon Forge and made a stop at the welcome center so Cheri could pick up some more information on things to do and see in the area. From there we headed to the Old Mill. The mill was built in the early 1800 on the banks of the Little Pigeon River. Over time, the mill became more than just a source of meals and flours. It became a hub of activity in the small community of Pigeon Forge. The old mills system of shafts, belts, and pulleys still get the job done today. We were too late to get a tour of the mill while it was working. We will have to come back another day. Then it was time for some ice cream which we found across the street from the Old Mill. Of course we had to make a stop at the craft store for the ladies. Then it was time to head back to the campground and say out goodbyes to Greg and Jeanene. It was a wonderful day to spend with friends.


I have uploaded pictures of the day. See album: Pigeon Forge

We were up early but took our time getting on the road. We wanted to wait for the rush hour traffic to be over before we left. We said our goodbyes to Darren when he left for work. At 10:00 am we were ready to leave Darren and Jodi’s. We said our goodbyes to Jodi and headed for Jones RV Park to get the 5th wheel out of storage. We were hooked up and the motorcycle loaded and on the road by 11:00 am. We had good roads and good weather for our trip to Pigeon Forge where we are staying at Walden’s Creek Campground. We will be staying here for 7 nights. The trip from Cherokee NC to Gatlinburg TN through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was really something. It was a long steep pull up over the mountains. I am not sure if it was the steepest pull we have done, but it rates right up there. I am sure it was the longest we have ever done. We arrived here at the campground around 3:45 pm. By the time we talked to several people and got set up it was 5:00 pm. Cheri picked up a lot of pamphlets and started putting together our itinerary for the next seven days. At 6:30 pm we headed out for supper and stopped at Bennett’s Bar-B-Que. The food was very good. We had first stopped at Mama’s Farmhouse Southern Cooking’ Family Style. It all sounded so good, but when we looked at the menu we decided we couldn’t eat $17 dollars food for each of us. On the way back to the 5th wheel we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. We got a call from Greg and Jeanene Peterson from Waupaca Wisconsin and they are camped about 8 miles from us, so tomorrow we are going to get together for a visit and site seeing.

Cheri and I did our morning walk, first time since we have been here at Darren and Jodi’s, no reason for not doing it, just laziness. I took a ride back to the welding shop where I got the fender mount welded. I just didn’t feel good about the amount of money I gave the guy that did the welding. He did a great job and felt like he deserved more so I gave them some additional cash. I apologized to him for not giving him more yesterday. It really was one of the best welding jobs I have ever seen. He said I didn’t have to do that and I said he dissevered the extra money and it made me feel better. When I got back to Darren and Jodi’s I asked Cheri if she wanted to go for a bike ride. She said where are we going? I said I don’t know, just for a ride. As it turned out we head north on I 85 for about 25 miles and then off on a lot of different roads through the country side. We stopped at a neat little hole in the wall restaurant called  Little Hooties in Hoschton. We each had soup and sandwich which was excellent. Our ride took us in the Gainesville area. We got back around 3:30 pm. It was almost 10:00 pm before Darren got home from work. That’s one of things about being an IT person, they half to do a lot of their work after other people have gone home. We talked for a while and then it was time to call it a night.

It was a mostly cloudy day and threatens to rain all day but never did, had a high temp of 74 degrees. We had recorded Dancing with the Stars and Cheri watched it this morning. After Darren left I took a ride on the motorcycle to the welding shop to have the fender mount welded. When I got there I found it closed and the building empty. So on the way back I saw a diesel truck shop. So I stopped and checked with them and they welded it for me while I waited, nice of them to do that. It was noon by the time I got back to Darren and Jodi’s. I had lunch and then put the fender back on the trailer. Cheri and I spent the afternoon working on our hard cover Alaskan picture album we are going to have printed in book form. It is going to take a while to finish, probably be winter before we get it done. I also did some checking for a GPS mount to put on the motorcycle so I can use the GPS from the truck. I found one that I think will work so I ordered it and had it sent to Coz and Nikki’s. Darren didn’t get home from work until 6:30 pm. So we went out to Golden Corral for supper. Then home to watch some TV.

After Darren left for work I took off with the motorcycle and headed to Frazier’s Harley Davidson to have the oil change and a general check up. Cost me $64 dollars much better than the price that Killer Creek Harley wanted to charge me. I was so happy about the price that I splurged and bought a Harley Davidson belt buckle. They did tell me that I needed a new battery which I already knew. I had a hard time justifying $150 dollars for the battery and 23 dollars for the install. So when I got back to Darren and Jodi’s I did an internet search for a new battery and the best price I could come up with was $85 dollars. That’s a lot better than $150 dollars but I would have to order it out and we aren’t staying any place long enough to have one shipped to us. So I took the battery out of the bike and was going to bite the bullet and take the old one in and get the new one. Well I found some corrosion on the battery connections. I gave them a good cleaning and put the battery back in. I am going to do some more riding and see if this makes a different. I couldn’t get Cheri to go with me this morning. She said it was too cold and windy. It was another 50 degree morning. This afternoon I took apart one of the fenders on Darren’s motorcycle trailer as it was broken and needs to be welded. I found a welding shop about 11 miles from here. Was going to go with the motorcycle but it looks like rain so when I checked the radar, sure enough there was rain in the area. I guess I will wait until tomorrow to make the trip to the welding shop. The rain started around 4:30 pm. Darren did chicken on the grill in the rain, I watched from the patio door. The good thing was that it was a light rain. After supper we settled in for an evening of TV.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers that raised us to be upstanding adults. Cheri got call from both of our daughters wishing her a happy mothers day.This morning we went to church with Darren and Jodi. After church Darren I made a trip to the grocery store in the jeep. With the top down, the doors off, a morning temp of 50 degrees and no jacket it was a cold ride. When we got back Jodi was making a potato salad and Darren started the grill and grilled up some brats, one of my favorite meals. After lunch Darren and I took a ride over to the Harley dealer to take back a jacket Darren had bought for Jodi. It was a little on the cool side to day with a high of 67 degrees. So we needed a jacket to ride the bike. It was a fun ride because there wasn’t much traffic to contend with. I was told that some of you people were having trouble getting to our web album. Darren worked on our web site this afternoon and I think the problem has been resolved. He also added a new RV news link as the old one didn’t change any of the stories. We ordered in Domino’s pizza for supper. It is the first time we have had Domino’s pizza since they changed their recipe. It was pretty good. We settled in for an evening of TV. We watched the Amazing Race; we wanted the cowboys to win but no luck for them.

Darren needed to go and get the new license plates for his new jeep. So we decided to take the motorcycles to get them. When we got the bikes out Darren couldn’t get his started as the alarm system wouldn’t shut off. He has the keyless alarm system and when you get near the bike with the fob it should turn off the alarm system. So he went and got the other fob and that wouldn’t work either. We tried several things and nothing would work. We finally gave up and took the jeep to get the tags. Will when we got there we had to wait in line for over an hour. When we got to the window to get the tags the girl looked up and found the dealer still hadn’t transferred the title. So Darren was a little hot under the collar, no he was a lot hot. We headed to the dealer to see what the problem was and after talking to the salesman and his boss Darren was told the person that takes care of titles was off for the weekend. They promised to call Darren Monday morning (now its wait and see). On the way home I got to thinking about the motorcycle alarm system. When we got home we picked up the fobs and headed to the Harley dealer. They seemed to think that the batteries in the fobs are bad. So on the way home we stopped and bought new batteries for the fobs. We put the new batteries in and sure enough the alarm system work ok and Darren was able to start the bike. While Darren and I were doing this Jodi and Cheri had gone for a manicure and pedicure. From there they went shopping. My bike needs the 15,000 mile check up done. So while we were at the Harley dealer I check to see how much it would cost to have it done. The service rep said it would be $380 dollars. I decided to change the oil myself and forgo the 15,000 checkup. When the girls got home we decided to go for a motorcycle ride and ended up going by a different Harley dealer so we stopped to shop. Jodi bought a very nice zip up sweat shirt and Cheri got a cap. I thought that while I was there I would check their price on the 15,000 check up and they told me it would be $168 dollars. A big difference in price so I think I will take the bike in Monday and have the work done. Darren and Jodi fixed a wonderful supper of beef, chicken, and veggie sis kabobs on the grill. The meat had been marinated in a jerk sauce. By the time supper was over and we settled in for an evening of TV it was after 8:00 pm.

This morning I was up pretty early. I guess I am not use to a different bed. I did some work on the computer and after checking everything out. Cheri came down and we watched some of the morning news on TV. Jodi came down a little later and fixed breakfast for us. Then it was time for Darren to leave for work and Jodi went upstairs to work. It is nice that she can work from home. She has been doing it for almost a year now. I went out to the garage and put the seat we use to have on our motorcycle on Darren’s bike. I also took the tail trunk off of our bike and drilled some new mounting holes so that I could set the tail trunk back a little farther so Cheri could have a little more seat room. Around 11:30 am Cheri and I took the bike for a ride and went to Harry’s Farm Market. It is a huge grocery store that caries all organic foods. It was quite the eye opener for me. I have never seen so many organic foods before. Also foods from all over the world, many we never heard of before. They have all kinds of foods prepared that you can buy by the pound. We each had a bowl of New England clam chowder, it was excellent. Friends in Florida had told us about the store and that they carried peach salsa. We did find it and of course we had to buy some along with a few other things. We had a nice ride back to Darren and Jodi’s and Cheri had to go and tell Jodi about our experience. When Darren got home we opened the peach salsa and it was very good. Then we went was outside so Darren could check out the seat on his bike, we will go for a ride tomorrow. Then we put the top down on their new jeep and also took the doors off. Darren and Jodi took us out for supper at South of the Border for some very good Mexican food. Of course we had to take the jeep which didn’t make Cheri and Jodi very happy because their hair was going to get windblown. When we got back home Darren showed us pictures from his trip to Brazil. Then we watch the movie Hangover, which was very funny. By the time that was over it was time for bed.

We were up and out for our morning walk at 6:15 am. It was a little foggy out and when we walked by the pasture with the horses I had to go back and get our camera to get the attached pictures. Seeing the horses in the mist was beautiful. After our walk it was time to go and have free pancakes at the Rec Hall. Cheri had to take her peanut butter as she likes that on the pancakes along with the syrup. Today was move day and we were on the road by 10:00 am. We only had about 140 miles to go. We put the 5th wheel in storage at Jones RV Resort in Norcross. It is about 10 miles from Darren and Jodi’s. We will be staying with Darren and Jodi for 7 days. We got to Darren and Jodi’s around 1:00 pm. We had a nice visit with Jodi and then took it easy until Darren got home around 5:00 pm. Jodi fixed us a very nice supper. Darren and Jodi’s kitchen light had quit working and so I checked it out and found that the ballast transformer was bad. So after supper we made a trip to Home Depot to get a new one. After we got that project done it was time to watch Survivor on TV. At 9:30 pm I called it a night and headed for bed, Cheri was about a half hour behind me.

We were ready to head up to the hall for their pancake breakfast by 7am. We did our walk after breakfast, then showered and were ready for our day.

We took a bike trip from our campground in Unadilla, GA to Plains, GA. It was about 50 miles. The temperature was a nice 76 degrees when we left and we had a cool breeze coming at us as we rode. In an hour, we were pulling into the Visitors Center at Plains, the home of our 39th President, Jimmy Carter. We talked to the gal in the Visitors Center and got all the points of interest to visit while we were there.

Outside the center, we had to get pictures of the beautiful flowered bushes, the geese with their little chicks and the bottle tree.

The bottle tree was a neat site. In folk customs the bright colored bottles were used to trap spirits. They say when the wind blew you could hear the spirits moaning inside the bottles. Today the bottle tree is considered the poor man’s stain glass windows.

We wanted to get a quick bite to eat before taking in the sites so we headed for Mom’s Kitchen. It was ok, but nothing to write home about.

We stopped at the Plains High School Museum. There we watched a short movie about the life of Jimmy Carter and then took a self guided tour of the museum. It was very interesting and well laid out.

Plains, GA is famous for its peanuts, so it was a must to get a picture of the bike with the big peanut.

On down the road, we drove into the Baptist Church parking lot where Jimmy Carter goes to church every Sunday. He even teaches Sunday School 2 or 3 times a month there. It is a small congregation. I wonder what the routine is when the Secret Service men drive in to drop of Jimmy & Roselyn Carter!

Plains is a very small town. We stopped to get a picture of the main street, the Plains Depot, headquarters for Carter’s Presidential Campaign., and brother Billy’s service station.

The Carter Compound is on the outskirts of town. It is all fenced in and the house close to the highway houses the Secret Service Agents. You cannot see the Carter house from the road. We did see the outside and inside of their house on a video we watched at the Museum.

Our last stop of the day was Carter’s boyhood home. We toured the house, barn, outbuilding and caretakers home. It is free to tour and all very interesting.

We arrived back at the 5th wheel at 5pm. Gay got the grill and fixed steaks for supper. It is 79 degrees. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride!

For pictures of the day see album: Plains GA

When we walked this morning we see that Dean & Betty had left for Wisconsin. It was another warm humid day. Cheri had gotten the change rolled so I went to the bank to cash it in. We had $140.00 in change. On the way to the bank I got a call that our glasses were ready to pick up. So after the bank I went back and picked up Cheri and off to Dade City to get our glasses. It was 11:00 am when we got done there so we stopped to get a pulled pork sandwich for an early lunch. From there we went to Wal-Mart to fill up the truck with fuel. We hadn’t planned on leaving until Wednesday but Cheri said let’s leave today, so it was back to the 5th wheel to close up and hit the road. By the time we got things put away, closed up, hooked up and said our goodbyes to Grandma it was 1:20 pm. We had about 100 miles of driving in rain. We arrived at Southern Trails RV Resort in Unadilla, GA about 6:30 pm. The trip today was 316 miles. We will be here for two nights. This is always our first night out as it is our home campground.

We didn’t hear anything on our glasses today. Cheri went through all of our change and now only needs 5 quarters and she will have two sets of state quarter books done. We picked up Grandma and took her to Wal-Mart to get her medicine and some groceries. On the way over we stopped by the bank to cash in our change. The gal looked at me and said you have to roll the change. I guess most banks will not take loose change anymore, one more service gone by the way. I worked on getting the patio map cleaned up and put away. I also power washed the patio. I think all that is left to do is grease the pin on the 5th wheel and fill up the truck with fuel. Later this afternoon we picked up Grandma and went over to Dean & Betty’s to play dominos. Betty won the first game and Cheri won the next one. It is still very hot and humid, a high temp of 91 today.

This was our last Sunday for going to church here. I talked to Pastor Dean and asked him if there was something that he could e-mail Grandma about the services. He said he would e-mail her is outline of the services. We said our goodbyes and told him we would see him in the fall. After church we came back to pick up Dean & Betty and take them with us to Golden Corral for lunch. We were taking Grandma out for Mother’s day as we will not be here next weekend. The temp got up to 93 degrees today and still very muggy. After lunch we went back to Dean & Betty’s to play dominos. Betty won one game and I won the other game. It was after 3:00 pm before we got home. I played on the computer and Cheri read. Once again we didn’t do our evening walk because of the heat and humidity. Later we made an evening of TV and no supper. With the big lunch we didn’t need any supper. Well we did have a bowl of ice cream while watching TV.

Wow! It’s the first day of May already hard to believe. This morning when we walked we see Dean & Betty hadn’t left. After we finished our walk we stopped back by their place to see if something was wrong. They said they got up at 3:15 am and turned on the TV to check the weather and decided to wait another day as there was a lot of very bad weather that they would be heading through. It was very warm this morning and muggy. So I went to work right away on cleaning out the basement on the 5th wheel and also the shed. I have everything that we want to take with us. I also changed the vacuum cleaner bag and was going to put in a new water filter and found that I didn’t have one. So I got to take a trip to Lowe’s to get one. I took the motorcycle and had planned on going for a ride this afternoon but after the trip over to Lowe’s I decided it was too hot for bike riding. Cheri worked inside the 5th wheel and has everything ready to leave. We had planned on leaving Monday morning, but that got changed when Cheri called to see about our new eye glasses. We were told that they wouldn’t be in until Monday or Tuesday. After looking at the long range weather report it is probably a good thing as the weather doesn’t look very good for Monday and Tuesday. We didn’t do our evening walk as it was too hot and muggy to be out. We had a high of 90 degrees and at 11:00 pm when we went to bed it was still 79 degrees.

We got a little damp on our morning walk. It just started to rain as we were finishing our walk. The rain didn’t last long, threaten to rain all forenoon and then only had a few sprinkles. The humidity has arrived in Florida. It was very humid and near 90 degrees today. Cheri did laundry and sorted through her information on all the states she has saved to start getting places that we are going to visit this summer. Between rain showers I worked on getting things that needed to put into the storage shed and things from the storage shed to the 5th wheel. This afternoon we make a trip to Wal-Mart and Radio Shack to get a battery for Grandma’s help dialer. It was time to change the battery in the transmitter that she wears around her neck. Of course it takes a special battery. Around 5:00 pm we walked over to say goodbye to Dean & Betty as they are leaving for the north at 4:00 am in the morning. I would guess there are only about 60 people left in the park and 40 of them live here full time. We didn’t do our evening walk as the heat and humidity was just too much for us