A Touch of Autumn . . .

 

There is definitely a feel of Autumn in the air this morning.  Right now it’s 63F and sunny out with a light breeze that feels like someone left the refrigerator door open.  Our overnight low dipped into the low 50s.  I awoke around 3 AM, dozed off and on, finally rolling out of bed with Maggie a bit after 5 AM.  I put on a sweatshirt with my jeans and we came over to the office.  After about 30 minutes, I smelled this “heater” smell and heard some clicks.  Felt the baseboard heater vent and, sure enough, the heat in my office had come on!  The thermostat was set around 50 from last Winter and it was chilly enough this morning to trigger it.  It’s late July, folks.  Wow.  We’ll be digging out the thermals and sweaters before long.

There has been virtually no activity here lately.  Accomplished one little yearly task – putting another stain coat on the welcome sign for our rig. It sure needs it after enduring the elements outside year-round. 

Before

 

After

 

Back in place – nicely positioned to be seen when door is open

 

We purchased our sign at a wee shop near Cherokee, NC, in August 2010, a couple of months after hitting the road. 

We like the reference to a clan, seeing as Dave is from Scotland.  Additionally, one has been known to see a majestic stag in The Highlands of that bonnie land.  This sign, although we did not have it custom made, just seemed to be waiting for us!

We spent two weeks in that area, staying at Happy Holiday Campground.  The park had changed ownership shortly before our stay, coming back under the caretaking and ownership of one of the tribal families.  Although well-kept at the time, there were many improvements planned and, from the looks of their web site, they have been accomplishing many of those.  We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.  It was still a slower pace place at that time, and I was honored with special talks with an elder gentleman of the family.  Positioned within a mile or two of an entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it was a beautiful area.  At the time we were there, it was a wee piece of Heaven.

At Happy Holiday – August 2010

That was an epic arrival at Happy Holiday, possibly our longest day of travel with the rig (I think around 400 miles) and my first towing in mountains.  Just so happened that initial event happened at night.  I remember going through tunnels and making sure we took the correct turn in town for the campground, having been cautioned to do so to avoid steep downhill grades via the other route.  (Yikes!  Don’t want to go there, for sure!)  We arrived around 10 PM, well after dark. The hosts were very nice, escorted us to our site and made sure we got settled okay.  They even returned the following morning to trim some low-hanging branches.  I remember telling Dave that I wanted to retrace the mountainous last few miles of our route in daylight so I could either say, “Oh, that wasn’t really so bad after all; it just felt like it in the dark,” or “OMG, we could’ve died!”  Hahaha!  In reality, it was an uneventful journey which in daylight was indeed impressive but in comparison to some of our adventures since that time, no big deal.  It was, however, one of my first true tests and lessons in towing our rig.  I remember feeling “warm and fuzzy,” knowing my Dad would have been proud that I landed us safe and sound.  He probably would have been grinning a bit, too.   Yep, definitely grinning.

One of my parent’s rigs, color-coordinated even, in 1988.  Note the low Holiday Rambler membership number of 1252.  Cool, eh?  This is where I get the RV bug, having grown up with similar rigs since I was a babe in arms

 

Okay, not sure how I ended up strolling down memory lane this morning.  Probably started with putting a new coat of stain on the sign.  You know how one memory leads to another.  Wish I could give Dad a tour of our 5th wheel.  He’d be like a kid in a candy store with all the new innovations to be had in RVs these days.  Two televisions?!?! Heck, he was considered a crazy pioneer for having one with us at one of the HR national rallies.  Didn’t seem so crazy after all when folks wanted to watch the first moon landing along with us.  Yep, he would definitely be grinning.

Dave’s on a bike ride this morning while it’s pleasant out.  Looks like I will need to make a Lowe’s run when he returns to get a couple more flashlights and perhaps an additional hard hat or two for visitors scheduled later this week.  There’s a quiche in my plans, too, for later today.  Hope you’re making your own memories today!

Thanks for stopping by!