Dispatch from the Road 2025

 October 2025 We had a road trip planned for this month. We were going to a three day Bluegrass Festival in Manteo North Carolina but we cancelled because weather. There is a Nor’easter forecast to hit the Outer Banks at the same time as the festival. The event is held outdoors with no overhead shelter, and it just didn’t seem like a good idea to go that distance for a show that would probably be cancelled.  Too cold for me! It’s a good thing we cancelled, the campground we were scheduled to stay at was cut off when the ocean cut off a low-lying section of highway. We would either not be able to get to it or if we had we would have been trapped on the barrier island.  washed out roads November 2025 We had no travel planned this month but we did have a visitor. RaeAnne flew in to spend time with her mother, We enjoyed her company for a week. Millie and Rae Anne Truck problems again! In 2024 we had the bearings in the differential replaced in Los Alamos. Thirty thousand mil...

  October 15-20 2025 I made another trip to Larry’s mobile Home in Trainer, PA. Again, I went by myself, drove at night and stayed at the Marriot Residence inn in nearby Glenn Mills PA. It’s no fun for Millie when I go on these work trips. When I work, I’m like a machine, I work long days, don’t stop for breaks or meals and don’t even like to talk while working. Not many people can keep up with me or want to be around me for that matter. I have a Sigma personality, and it shows when I’m focused on a task. Just stay out of my way! Our main job was to install skirting around the base of the trailer. This is required by the park and has several good benefits. It will keep the cold arctic air that blows off the Delaware River from freezing the underside of the trailer, and it will keep the neighborhood Ferrel cats from nesting under the trailer. Also, I think it greatly improves the look of the place. Another 0-dark thirty departure and an all night drive and I was home 10 hours later....

 Saturday September 27 2025 On Friday night, we had decided we would get up early and drive straight through on the return trip to our home. It is a distance of +/- 400 miles, which we can easily do in a day. We don’t even try to suppress the beeline syndrome anymore, when we are within a day’s drive of home, we just go. There is no sense fooling ourselves with a tentative overnight stop somewhere, we just go home. making a beeline for home! We set an alarm clock for these early departures but don’t really need it as we wake up looking at the clock every hour or so. A little after 3 am Millie asked if I was ready to go and I jumped right out of bed.  We had prepped the RV the night before for a speedy departure, about all we had to do was bring in the slide-out and disconnect the power cord and by 4 am we were out on the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway headed for Gatlinburg. My original plan was to beat the tourist traffic in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg that increases in volume ...

 Friday September 26th 2025 Although we really enjoyed our low-key week here in Pigeon Forge, today’s event is the reason we came to town.  Millie has been a fan of Dr David Jeremiah for many years. She watches his sermons online and we have several of his CD sets that we listen to when traveling with the RV.  Dr Jeremiah is an evangelical pastor and author who has successful enterprises, many accolades and no scandals. He has a charismatic presence and in a confident commanding voice delivers the unchanging word of God to an ever-changing world. Wow, that’s a mouthful, that last line I borrowed from his online bio. I do enjoy listening to his CD’s and hopefully retain some of his teachings, but this posting is not about me, back to the storyline. So, Millie has liked Dr Jeremiah for many years but has never seen him in person. I happened to see that he would be speaking at the National Quartet Convention here in Pigeon forge and wouldn’t that be great if I could get tick...

 Thursday September 25 2025 Not much going on this morning, we returned some clothes Millie had purchased from Beall’s the other day. While we were out, we checked out the parking situation at the Comedy Barn. As usual with these smaller theaters, the parking lot was small and tight, it made our truck feel bigger just driving through it.  We have tickets for the evening show today and though we’d get there a little early to get a parking spot. That didn’t work out as planned, when we arrived the line of people waiting for the theater doors to open was wrapped around the building. Ironically, there was a big empty spot for the truck in the parking lot. The comedy barn has been a long running show in Pigeon Forge and advertises itself as a clean family show. It was every bit suitable for everyone. There were no stand-up comedians per say, the show was a series of skits all done by different entertainers.  There was a dog act, a juggler, a ventriloquist, a couple singing act...

 Tuesday September 23, 2025 We did some shopping this morning, there is a tool store near where we are It is called Workshop tools, that’s a bit of a misnomer, if you’re expecting large power tools, they don’t have any. What do have is all sorts of small hand tools and a large selection of, for lack of a better name, gadgets. After walking around for at least forty-five minutes, after handling dozens of tools or stuff I walked out with……nothing!  One of several locations they have in Pigeon Forge Later while getting my thoughts for this blog posting together, I said to myself, you bought nothing, how did that even happen? I think it’s a combination of things, first most tools I took a shine to, I already have at least one of them, more than likely two or more. Second, my little two car garage shop is full, I don’t have room for more of anything. And third, I’m hate to admit it but I’m getting a little age on and would I actually use what I looked at?  Anyhow, it was enjoy...