Folly Beach

By 11:30 this morning we were settled into our new campsite at James Island County Park. This park's roadway is lined completely with holiday light displays that has been going on since Thanksgiving. We were told we should be back in our campsite by 4:30 or 5 this evening if we don't want to sit in line waiting to come in.

Since it is close to lunch time, we decided to drive down to Folly Beach to shop, eat, and walk the beach. Even though the restaurant we stopped at is known for their hamburgers, we had a really great fried seafood lunch at Rita's. We also listened to a one-man band while basking in the warmth on their patio. We shopped some, then took a long walk on the beach at low tide. We found out that they have a "Flip-Flop Drop" at midnight, like the ball dropping in NYC, but we don't plan to watch it. We stopped at a fresh fish market to get some shrimp for supper.

John was especially nice to me this evening. He consented to drive we through the Holiday Lights Festival here in the park and it was really awesome! My favorite was the Noah's Ark with all the animals, but there was a Toy Land, and Sea World, a patriotic scene, several nursery rhymes in lights, many snowmen, reindeer, elves and Santas. Then at 9 PM we got to watch an incredible fireworks show. It was short but mighty!

At about 10 pm (9 central) we got to visit with our friends at home who looked to be having a delightful meal and lots of wine. We will watch TV before turning in for the night -- probably before midnight.

Charleston, SC

Its COLD! I thought we were in the South where it would be warm!

When it finally acted like it might warm up a bit, we drove to Historic Charleston. But first we drove to the James Island County Park where they have a huge holiday light show and a campground. It seems to be a nicer area than where we are now. A couple of RV sites are going to open up on Monday, so we grabbed one and will move in tomorrow.

Today we elected to just walk the town, check out some restaurants, enjoy looking at old homes, stroll through the Market, eat a good lunch and decide what we will do or where we will eat in the next few days, keeping in mind that one of those days is New Year's Day. We put about 6 miles on our feet.

Time to Move South

We actually stayed a day longer at my brother's than we had planned because UPS was delayed in sending us a package with our mail in it. Although we had a great time with my family, it is time to head south! Not that it will be that much warmer until we get to the Keys, but even 5 degrees will be helpful.

We didn't get away until very late morning but we only have about a 6 hour drive to Charleston, SC. We had forgotten that there are so many people on the East Coast. Despite it being a Saturday afternoon, the traffic was horrendous. Twice we came to a standstill because of merging traffic from another highway.

The campground, Oak Plantation, is only about 10 miles from downtown so we are looking into possibly riding our bikes -- there is supposed to be a Green Trail out this way. Its too dark now to check it out.

Post Christmas Festivities - Day 3

Friday morning we decided to have breakfast in the RV and then run our errands before we got pulled into family plans. John and I went to the laundromat, the grocery store and liquor store. While out, the Jeep started acting up and running rough. After lunch John was able to get it to the Jeep dealership to be fixed. While he was doing that Marcia, Mom and I went shopping in downtown Kernersville. They have some really cute boutiques, consignment stores, a wine shop and a Vinegar & Olive Oil tasting room. Marcia showed us an old warehouse that had been converted to apartments surrounding some of these shops and a new restaurant. I wouldn't mind living there.

Marcia is a really good cook, especially since she was serving 10-14 people each meal! Not only did she serve us the Moravian chicken pie, we had a turkey, brisket, some great ribs, hamburgers and lots of left overs. Kelly and Leslie tried their hands at brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and angel food cake. They also made a pumpkin cake using pie filling and angel food cake mix that turned out pretty good.

After the kids were put to bed we got to watch "The Hobbit". Great movie! I bet you are wondering how we got to see two not yet released DVD's. Kelly's fiancé has a client who is to view these movies for the Academy Awards. He offered to let Joel have them over the holidays! Cool!

Post Christmas Activities - Day 2

Thursday we spent most of the morning visiting then the ladies toured the Koerner's Folly. This is the home of one of Kernersville's founding fathers. It is 3 stories tall but has 7 different levels and 22 rooms including a private theater. Jules Koerner was an architect and designer so his home was a showcase of his ideas to sell his services.

The house had once been a small home connected to a horse barn with long rooms and high ceilings. So he lowered floors and made two rooms out of one. Granted, one room had a really low ceiling but it was for children so who cared.

Later that afternoon we agreed to join the crowd roller skating. I just don't know what we were thinking? Courtney, Kelly and Matt had skated here as kids so they wanted to show off to their spouses. Us older adults were just trying to relive our youth, maybe? We all were a bit wobbly starting out but did better at the end of two hours. The two little ones, Aiden and Alex, needed lots of help but had a good time. Mom and Bernie stayed home to babysit baby Haley.

Post Christmas Festvities - Day 1

It has been a noisy and busy time at my brother's home. The day after Xmas still felt like Xmas day! Matt and Leslie have three children so opening presents was a priority this morning. Then when the kids went down for naps, we watched a movie called Argo. Very good!

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent playing with the puppy, visiting, and playing a game that Denny got for Christmas. I can't remember the name but it was crazy funny.

Merry Christmas!

It has been wild and crazy and wonderful to be with family for Christmas. Denny's two daughters, Courtney and Kelly, and spouses arrived on the 23rd. Courtney brought their new puppy, a golden Lab. He is so sweet! Marcia, my sister-in-law, has created a South Carolina Christmas for us. So she served a Moravian Chicken pie for dinner.

Xmas eve was busy going to parties and church. We attended one party at a friend's home and another at Marcia's mom's home. My mom, Marcia and I attended a Xmas eve service at the Moravian Church called a Lovefeast. They serve coffee and rolls, sing carols and read scripture, all centered around Agape love which is love of Christ shared in fellowship with others.

Xmas day started with a late breakfast of Moravian sugar cake and quiches. We then spent about two hours opening gifts. After lunch some went bike riding, John and I took a long walk and others napped. Marcia prepared a great turkey and brisket dinner and then we played cards while waiting for Denny's son to arrive from Baltimore. Matt and Leslie have three children and a huge dog. John and I were NOT part of the welcoming committee as we were sound asleep in the RV when they got in about 1:30AM.

Christmas at the Potter's

We got to my brother's home in Kernersville, NC early afternoon. We had hoped to park in their driveway but the RV is just too long and wide. Luckily, they live on a cul-de-sac so there is not any traffic while we are parked on the street. With all of their kids coming home along with my mom and step dad and two dogs, we are happy to have our own retreat.

We took Denny and Marcia out for dinner. Everyone else arrives tomorrow. It will be a busy Christmas!

Stopping Early Today

We got almost 5 hours sleep. The folks at the repair place were very nice and started working on our problem promptly at 8am. We were done and on the road about 11. We now have a properly installed shade and a patched roof on our slide out.

We don't want to arrive at my brother's until Saturday and we need to dump, fill up with water and do some laundry so we found a KOA in Anderson, SC and stopped early. We had time for a good walk, got the laundry done and supper. It felt good to relax and go to bed early.

Across the South

We were on the road early and planning on a leisurely drive today, possibly even stopping to do some sightseeing. We stopped for lunch at the border of LA and MS when John thought to check on the installation of the window shade in the slide. From inside the coach he looked over the roof of the slide and discovered that there were three screws showing through. Not only could that roof leak, now every time we open or close the slide, the screws will damage the rubber seal.

We are 375 miles from the factory where we had these installed and don't really want to turn around and go back to get them to fix this. Several phone calls and an hour and half later we are going to drive to Columbus, GA to get this fixed. We have to be there by 8 AM Friday morning.

It was a long drive, especially since we are driving on the tail of the storm in 20-30 mph winds. We arrived at the repair place at midnight so they could start work as early as possible.

Hurry Up and Wait

Sunday morning we stopped at a grocery store then headed back to McKinney, TX which took us through Dallas. Along the way, we stopped for a nice visit with John's cousin Gwen, whom we haven't seen in several years.

Monday afternoon, we were supposed to get some new window shades installed by MCD Innovations. These will be much better than the ones that came with the RV. Easier to manipulate and better insulation. We parked in their camping/parking lot so we were ready for them at any time. Before lunch we shopped, John got his hair cut and I got all my Christmas cards ready to mail. About 3 that afternoon, someone told us we were next on the list so we left the keys with the front desk and went for a walk. By 5 PM, no work had been done.

Tuesday morning we were ready at 8 AM, at 9:15 we were told it would be 1 PM before they could start, so John called our friend, Jim, and made arrangements to get together with him in the afternoon and then go out to dinner when his wife could join us. I went shopping on the square in McKinney and had a delightful afternoon. It was a great place to window shop and browse the stores. When I returned at 4:30, our friend had arrived and the installer had been at work for several hours. Five of the seven shades in the body of the RV were completed.

We had a great dinner in downtown Plano with our friends Jim & Gini. We sat and talked for quite some time after dinner enjoying their company.

Wednesday morning, the installer actually showed up a little after 8 AM and started work. It took all day to install the remaining three shades in the front part of the coach, two front side windows and the electric shade over the windshield. There was some difficulty in wiring the electricity for the windshield shade. We had thought we would play golf, but decided not to then wished we had. Everything was done a little after 5 PM. We were so bored and apprehensive of the approaching storm front that we paid up, hitched up and left by 5:45.

We drove a whopping 3 1/2 hours including a stop for supper. Tonight we are at the Walmart in Longview, TX. Our goal is to arrive in Winston-Salem, NC early afternoon on Saturday. We are taking the "southern" route through Atlanta hoping to avoid the worst of the rapidly moving cold front. We have 2.5 days to travel a little over 1000 miles.

Admiral Nimitz and the Pacific War Museums

Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet during WWII was born and raised in Fredericksburg. The old hotel that was built by his great-grandfather and run by his grandfather still stands and is part of an extensive museum concerning the Pacific War of WWII. The hotel housed the museum about Nimitz while immediately next door is a huge George W. Bush Gallery and two blocks away is the Pacific Combat Zone outdoor display. All this centers on the Pacific War started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. We actually got a lot of the history of Japan's invasions of China and Korea and the reasons it attacked the US.

This museum is so large and so full of information that they recommend you see it over a two day period. And if not two days, then plan to spend 2-4 hours going thru the Bush Gallery. It's very well done, giving us way more information than we really wanted, more than we ever learned in school and more than we will ever remember. And we only went thru 1/2 of it never mind not making it to the outdoor portion.

Part of our time constraint involved visiting with friends from San Antonio who drove up to have lunch with us. It was a very pleasant afternoon and visit.

This evening I talked John into taking me to the Lutheran Church's drive-thru Christmas Journey. Their parking lot was transformed into the Christmas story from the Angels visiting Mary to their journey, being turned away from the Inn, shepherds and Angels, the manger scene and the arrival of the Magi. Most scenes showed the characters standing/sitting in front of an elaborately painted back drop with some props. It was really a neat experience.

We then strolled over to the Market Square which is decorated with a German Pyramid Tree and a Christmas Tree. All the other trees in the park were full of multi-colored twinkle lights. Very pretty!

Fredericksburg, TX

We did not get into any big hurry to leave this morning as we only had to drive about 77 miles. And it was very cloudy and eventually it misted then rained.Weather wise it was an ugly day!

But Fredericksburg is a neat town. Despite the wet weather, we strolled the seven blocks of Historic Downtown, popping into stores every so often, sometimes shopping for goodies, sometimes taking in the decor or architecture, and sometimes staying for a wine tasting. This is the kind of place one needs to visit with girlfriends who love to shop! It's too bad we are in a small RV or I would load up on some great holiday decorations and home decor, a few new dresses and a pair of boots. Oh well, another time maybe.

Austin, Day 2

I have never been to a presidential library before, so I convinced John we should go to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library on the Univ. of Texas campus. As we are signing in, we are told that the only thing open in the Library is the reproduction of the Oval Office. The rest of the museum is being renovated and won't reopen until Dec. 22! We did get to visit a trendy neighborhood and found a nice place to buy some unique cheeses. We also found a fun hardware store. It was more a toy and Xmas store than hardware. Then we drove back to the RV and walked about 10 blocks to another barbecue joint.

Austin is known for its food trucks. There are over 2000 licensed mobile eateries throughout the city. This was one of them called La Barbecue, Cuisine Texecana. We had the brisket and a pork rib and both were good. The rib was better than Franklin's. On our walk back we stopped at a chocolate food truck and got some tasty cake-pops. We then went past the RV park and stopped at Billy's Brew and Que where we sampled some locally brewed beers.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry and chores. Tonight we are going to a sushi bar -- one of the best in the city -- called Uchi. It is only two blocks away so, of course, we're walking! That should put us at about 5 miles today!

Austin Tour

Off we go on the Lindstrom tour of Austin, TX. We walked to Congress Ave., a major thoroughfare in downtown Austin. We crossed over the Ann Richards Congress Ave. bridge. During the warm months bats live and fly out of it in mass every evening. Of course, they have already flown south for the winter. We passed many dining establishments that are recommended by one source or another. We stopped at the old Austin Opera House which is now a private Austin Club. A short walk later we are at the Capital Building. We opted to taking a self tour and enjoyed the rotunda where we saw Gov. George Bush's portrait and the star in the dome. We visited the stately Senate and elegant House chambers. A tall Christmas Tree in the center of the house chamber was decorated with ornaments from each house district.

When we left there, we were only a few blocks from Franklin Barbecue which was at the very top of John's list of places to eat. This restaurant is so popular that they run out of food EVERY DAY. In fact, we stood in line with "The Last Man Standing". This gentleman was guaranteed food but anyone in line after him was taking a chance that they would not have anything to serve. We took our chances. The only item we could not get was the moist/fat brisket but they still had lean/dry brisket, ribs and pulled pork so we were happy. We even got potato salad and coleslaw. Only 10 people after us were served. Some people will get in line starting at 9:15 AM so they can get the brisket at 11 AM when they open. And, yes, it was that good!

We walked back along Red River Road which is full of bars and then west along 6th Street which is also full of bars and music halls and dance clubs. Then we stopped at the elegant and historic Driscill Hotel which opened in 1886. Their Christmas decorations were beautiful and added to the elegance of the lobby. After wondering thru the lobby and mezzanine we continued our walk down Congress Ave, across the Lady Bird Lake (looks like a river) and stopped at the Palmer Event Center where the Armadillo Bazaar had opened for the first day. It is an arts fair that runs from Dec. 12 - 24, 11 AM - 11 PM. John was able to enjoy a Jack Daniels while I shopped. The background music was by live entertainers, the lights were low and the atmosphere was very conducive to lingering and shopping.

We have walked over 7 miles today. It was a good evening to stay home and rest!

Austin TX

It was 17°when we got up this morning and only warmed up to about 45° today. We drove down to Austin after they measured all our windows so we didn't get to leave until almost noon. We chose to get all the way through Dallas before stopping for lunch and when we arrived in Austin it was rush hour so it was a tense drive to the RV park in downtown Austin. We thought we were going to make it more than 24 hours without an "incident', but no. Only a few blocks from the RV park we didn't notice a low hanging tree limb that scrapped down the side of the RV. It's not a deep scratch and the paint seems OK, but we sure would like to quit having "problems" with the RV.

To relieve that tension, we took a walk towards downtown. We found a Whole Foods Market where I thought we could run in and pick up a couple of things I needed. That short run into the grocery store took about an hour and cost us almost $100! We even had to grab a small bite to eat to tide us over until we could get back to the RV to fix supper. Why we didn't eat at Whole Foods is a mystery.

I decided this evening was a good time to bake Christmas sugar cookies. The cookie dough and icing were made ahead of time. I used a coke can as a rolling pin and  I only had a biscuit cutter to make shapes. Its pretty amazing what you can do with a biscuit cutter! This is the first time I've used the convection oven. The cookies turned out ok, just not as crisp as I like my sugar cookies.

On Towards Dallas

Actually, we are not going to Dallas, but the town where we are going is a suburb of Dallas. We were able to get on the road by about 8:30 this morning and had a fairly uneventful drive to McKinney, TX except for a small incident involving our steps. During one rest stop we had parked so close to a curb that the steps didn't fully extend so when we got ready to depart, they did not retract. The next time we pulled up next to a curb they scraped really hard! No damage but it sure scared us!

We are in McKinney to have all new roller window shades installed. We will have UV blocking daytime shade that will keep the heat out and night time shade to keep prying eyes out. John is looking forward to not fighting with the accordion shades we currently have. John also visited with the hearing aid guy at a nearby Costco. He got some reassurance that the aides were working well and some tips on how to get them in his ears comfortably. We then stopped for dinner on the McKinney Square. Afterward we walked around the square and stopped for a wine tasting before heading to the RV. I fell in love with the McKinney Square. There were such neat boutiques, shops, home decor stores and restaurants.

Hot Springs, AR

Not only did it rain most of the night, but also half the morning. But we always say that we won't let rain keep us from enjoying a trip. So we put on our raincoats and proceeded to hike over Hot Springs Mountain to Bath House Row. It was about a 2.4 mile hike in the woods and then we walked the historic district. Most of the Bath Houses were closed (its Sunday) but they are handsome buildings. The hot waters that feed into the bath houses comes from rain water that filtered down into the earth where it is super heated, filtered and then finds its way back up. Scientists figure this water is over 4000 years old and is almost pure. There are eight bath houses remaining in the park. There are also several fountain areas where a person can fill jugs with this spring water to drink. Many claim medicinal and curative powers.

We had a nice lunch and then proceeded to hike back to the campground. There is over 26 miles of trails around Hot Springs Mountain, North Mt. and West Mt. Even though its cloudy and rainy, it has been fairly warm so the hike, even in rain, was not bad. Yes, we got rained on again. In all we hiked about 7 miles.

I brought all the makings for Xmas candy and sugar cookies so over the next few days I'll be doing my Christmas cooking! That's why we are hiking!!

Are Birds in the RV Bad Luck?

After much discussion and several compromises, we left town on Dec. 6 for our Winter Adventure. And it is starting out to be quite an adventure already.

It started a few days before leaving as we were loading up the RV. I left the door open while I was stowing clothes and thought I heard a noise. Then a few minutes later John came into the RV and while talking with me noticed a bird had flown in and was perched on a window ledge. After much shooing, flying and shouting, the bird knocked itself silly by flying into the windshield and I was able to capture and release the poor thing. Now the question is: Is a bird in the RV good or bad luck? We are thinking bad luck.

We picked up a new faucet for the kitchen sink in the RV and had it installed by the RV dealership the day we left home. We spent the night in Carthage and discovered that the faucet was too big for our sink so now the sink cover/cutting boards don't fit. No big deal, but a hassle. We took them to Lowe's and they cut them for us.

Saturday morning as we were pulling onto the highway we discovered the table was fully extended and would not stay stowed. So we returned to the RV dealership. But because their service department was closed, John had to figure out how to repair it himself. This put us on the road two hours behind schedule. The day was wet and dreary, not good for sightseeing. We drove to Hot Springs, AR to stay at the National Park and almost took a wrong turn going thru town. We took a walk after supper and got rained on. We didn't get much sleep due to thunder storms.

Not the best way to start a trip.