Friday, November 25, 2022

24 November 2022 Thanksgiving Punt

 We had planned to go to Cynthia’s house for Thanksgiving but we received a call Wednesday that she had come down with the flu that Felix was just getting over. So we all decided to put Thanksgiving off for a couple of days until she recovered. So we pulled a ham we had in the freezer out and made a trip to the store to pick up some sides and made ourselves a nice Ham, Augratan Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce and Green Bean Casserole feast. Hopefully Cynthia will feel better in a couple of days and the rest of us avoid getting the flu. 



21 November 2022 Arlington to Conroe

 The drive down to Conroe was uneventful. The last half of the drive was in the rain. We are staying at the Leisure Lane RV Resort ($21 per day monthly rate). We are in the exact same spot as last year. Seems our request for another spot was lost. But the major issue we had with the old spot, a noise pump, has gone away. We will be here until 1 March 2023. Now its time to get ready for the busy holidays. David also has several maintenance projects planned for out time here. 



5 – 21 November 2022 Home Time

 After getting settled in, David pulled out his suitcase and packed. He spent 6-11 December in Germany for work meetings.  While there, he got his fill of wonderful German food and beer. Meantime, Leslie stayed in DFW and met up with her Mom and her best friend Mona several times. After David returned and had recovered from jet lag, we made a whirl wind tour of meeting up with friends, both our dentists, our financial advisor Eli, our Chiropractor Dr. Adams (should have heard the bones crunching!), and family. We managed to squeeze in lunch/dinners with Jim and Sharon, Diane and Donny, Mona and Wade, Rick, Ann and June, and Rick and Samantha. 

German Beer!1

Oompha Band

Schwein Hosen!


Friday, November 4, 2022

4 November 2022 Sixth and Final Day of Power Drive 2022

 Today we drove 225 miles from Texarkana to Arlington TX. So, we drove 1,545 miles in six days. The weather reports last night warned us bad weather was going to be going through Dallas and Fort Worth by 1PM. So, we were up early and on the road by 08:30AM. We pulled into the Dallas/Arlington KOA campground ($51 per night with KOA discount) just as the first round of heavy rain started coming down. When we followed our escort towards our site, we realized there were a couple of issues. First there was a low hanging tree branch across the narrow road to our site that had to be cut back. The second was the site they assigned us had a tree right on the corner and another directly across the road. There is no way we could make that corner with the limited room. So, in the pouring rain, they sent someone out to cut back the tree limb then had us pull through to a holding area while they figured out another site. By the time they figured out where they could park us, the first line of storms had passed through, so we were able to unhitch and get set up with just a light drizzle. Another round of severe thunderstorms rolled through about two hours later. We looked out the window and realized we were complete surrounded by water and there was a river running under the back of our rig. Turns out there is a drainage canal running around the property and when it rains hard, and gets full, it takes a short cut across the RV park. And for this privilege, we get to pay $50 a night.

Dallas/Arlington KOA Site

A river runs through it!


3 November 2022 Fifth Day of Power Drive 2022

 Today we drove 280 miles from West Memphis AR to Texarkana TX. Today reinforced why we don’t like doing multiple back to back driving days. It’s boring, except when people do stupid things around us, its tiring, and it’s hard to keep the concentration on the road. We’re staying at the Shady Pine RV Park ($58 per night) on the southwest side of town. We really liked this RV Park. The roads and sites are concrete and made to handle big rigs. It is great being back in Texas. It always feels good to see that welcome to Texas sign. After we got set up, we headed out to get some groceries, fuel and most importantly, TexMex!!!! 



Wednesday, November 2, 2022

2 November 2022 Fourth Day of Power Drive 2022

 Today we drove 235 miles from Goodlettesville TN to West Memphis AR. Compared to yesterday, this was a much more relaxed drive. The traffic in Nashville and Memphis were a pain, as we expected. We arrived safely in West Memphis, right on the Mississippi River, after 4.5 hours. We are staying at the Tom Sawyer RV Park ($53 per night with GSC). We could look out our windows and see the tugboats and barges moving on the river. We were amazed by how low the river is. We heard that it was very low due to a drought up river, but were amazed to see it so low compared to when we passed this area in the spring. We wish we were staying longer to explore this area.




1 November 2022 Third Day of Power Drive 2022

 Today we drove 325 miles from Flat Creek NC to Goodlettesville TN. The first 60 miles were stressful with 25 miles of construction (Narrow lanes, construction traffic, lane switching, and rough roads) followed by several steep and curvy climbs and downhills. Following the first stressful sections, the remainder was boring with long stretch of straight road. But the leaves are still colorful and beautiful. We arrived safely in Goodlettesville, north of Nashville, after 7.5 hours. We are staying at the Grand Ole RV Park ($49.71 per night) in Goodlette TN. We stayed here in the spring and liked the location. I did not get a picture of our site.

31 October 2022 Vanderbilts and Leaves

 We had planned to get up early this morning and drive the Blue Ridge parkway before our tour time, but when the alarm went off, it was raining hard. So we decided to sleep in and let the rain blow through since the low clouds would have blocked the views. After breakfast we made our way to the Biltmore Estate for our 12:15 tour time ($100 a piece). Touring the Biltmore was one of Leslie’s bucket list items. So, we planned this break in our power drive so we could explore the estate of the Vanderbilts. We got lucky in that the house is 90% decorated for Christmas. It takes them 6-8 weeks for them to decorate the estate for Christmas. The main thing missing is the 35 foot fresh Douglas Fir which will arrive on Thursday and they will open for Christmas the following day. We spent about 3 hours touring the Biltmore. The craftsmanship is totally amazing. They started construction in 1895 and mostly complete in 1903. They wired the house for both AC and DC since it was not clear at the time whether Tesla or Edison would win the power war. They included two OTIS elevators, two bowling lanes, and indoor pool, central heating, multiple huge refrigerators, etc. All cutting edge technology at the time. The house is built of locally quarried stone, and iron. Very little wood was used in the structure to reduce the impact of fires. Even the roof trusses are iron. They built a railway spur to bring in the building supplies. There are 33 guest rooms, Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilts private bedrooms, and 43 bathrooms. We were able to tour the public rooms, the private bedrooms, and some of the quest rooms. The house is over 175,000 square feet, 250 rooms total and 65 fireplaces. Incredible. The Christmas decorations were spectacular. 

Following our tour of the mansion, we drove around the property and gardens until we came to the winery. We did not know we had to make reservations for the complimentary wine tasting included in our ticket price. Not wanting to wait, we went to the wine bar and did a flight of their wines each. North Carolina became our 18th state where we have tasted wines. We found several wines we liked and walked away with a few bottles for the holidays. 

By the time we finished our wine, the sun had come out and the day was beautiful. We left the estate and drove down US25 to the Blueridge Park Way. We jumped on the parkway heading east and drove about 15 miles east, stopping at the pull outs to marvel at the beautiful fall colors. We came upon two cars pulled over on the side of the road and as we drove past, Leslie called out BEAR!! So we turned around and came back to see a good sized black bear eating along the edge of the road and then heading onto the road. We took the opportunity of all the cars being stopped to turn around and continue on our way. After turning around at the 15 mile mark, we headed back to US25. As we came to the stretch of road where we had seen the Bear, we found it was still there at the edge of the road. It walked out in the middle of the road as we approached so we put on the emergency flashers and slowly followed the bear down the road snapping many pictures. It finally got tired of us following and turned off into the brush and out of sight. What a special day!

Entrance Sign to Biltmore

The Biltmore

The Billiards Room

Formal Dining Room

Christmas Tree outside the music room

The Music Room which was finished in 1976

The Main Balcony

View off the Balcony

The Tapestry Room

Christmas Trees 

Private family dining room

Private Family living area

Indoor Pool

The Kitchen

Formal Gardens

Wine Flight

Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

Black Bear

Black Bear

Blue Ridge Parkway

Visitor Center Sign


30 October 2022 Second Day of Power Drive 2022

Today we drove 200 miles from Greensboro to Flat Creek NC. As we started climbing into Appalachian Mountains the trees were showing their spectacular fall colors making it a very pretty drive. We are staying at the Lakewood RV Park ($62 per night with GSC) in Flat Rock NC. I did not get a picture of our site.