Leaving Hagan Stone Park

I got up on Wednesday around 7am and went outside to look at the front tire to see if it was flat or still up. To my amazement it looked okay, just to be sure I decided to take it for a spin and see if it was okay or not. I figured if it started to lose air again the warning light would come on to let me know. I ended up driving about 6 miles and it never lost air, so back to the campground I went.

Charlotte was up when I got back so we made the decision to leave and head to Tennessee, leaving our family wanting MORE of US!!. We had a few things to do in order to get ready to leave. I told Charlotte I wanted to leave by 9am. After packing, storing items, taking a bath, dumping the waste and hooking up the car we were ready, but it was 10am!!

We left the campground and hit 421N heading towards Greensboro, from there we took the I85 bypass to I40 and headed toward Winston Salem. We settled in for about an 6 hour drive in the RV. There was a little construction going on in the Hickory area, but it didn't slow us down much. After we had been on the road for a couple of hours we pulled into a rest area to let Mysti relieve herself and while there I checked on the tire to see how it was doing. Everything looked okay and we took off with another 4 hours in front of us.

When we got to the Asheville, NC area the Interstate gradually started climbing the mountains. I usually travel about 60 -62 MPH staying in the right lane out of every ones way. Our coach seems to like this speed and we the best performance at this speed ( 8.3 mpg ). When we started going up the mountains, guess what??? All those trucks that had passed me, we ended up passing them back. We went up those inclines at about 45 - 50 mph and it didn't seem to strain our RV. I had taken it out of drive and put it in 4th gear so the transmission wouldn't keep shifting as we went up, ( 4.3 mpg ) UGH ! Eventually we had to come back down the other side. At least this was a gradual decent that took close to 20 miles. Warning signs were posted about every 1/2 mile to a mile telling big trucks and large vehicles not to exceed 50 mph down the incline because of all the sharp curves, how about 15.3 mpg coming down ) :::)))

That was the exciting part of the trip and we arrived at our campground around 4:30pm central time. Just before reaching Crossville, TN. we crossed into the Central time zone. We had made reservations at Cumberland Mountain State Park just outside of Crossville.

After we got set up we were tired and just decided to have a tuna salad sandwich with the tuna Charlotte had made before we left Hagan Stone Park. As I said all of us were tired and by 9:30 we were tucked in bed asleep.

More to come!

Hagan Stone Park - 8

Tuesday morning we decided to leave as planned on Wednesday and travel to Crossville, Tennessee. This decision was made after wavering back and forward on if we should leave or stay longer. We had already stayed over an extra week and it was a hard decision to make since we've had a great two weeks visiting with our family.

After we made the decision Charlotte wanted to go do laundry so all our cloths would be clean. We gathered up everything and headed to the laundry. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to wash and dry everything. After this were stopped and ate lunch at a little Japanese rest before going to the campground.

In the afternoon April and Hayden came by after work for a visit. Just before they got there the bottom fell out, boy did it rain for about 30 minutes. Earlier in our visit I had told Hayden that she needed to draw me a picture of our RV, so she kept reminding her mom about the drawing. After they had been here for a while she took out her pencils, crayons, markers and begin to draw the inside of our RV. When she had finished she went outside ( the rain had stopped ) and sit on a table and drew the outside of the RV on the back the paper showing the inside. We had 2 drawing from a young and talented artist on the same piece of paper. We went inside and she then taped the drawing to our refrigerator. After this we got a BIG hug and kiss from Hayden and April and they had to leave as they were going to celebrate Fred's birthday ( Hayden's dad, April's husband )

We stopped by Peggy's house to pick up one of our bicycles that we had left in her garage when we first arrived in Pleasant Garden. We visited with her for a while before leaving. During this visit I started to have doubts about leaving on Wednesday, but only said something to Charlotte after we had
left. After leaving Peggy's we made a stop at Bobbie's to see her and Marvin to say good by to them. We ended up staying longer then we had planned ( sorry Marvin to keep you up! ). We had every
intentions of trying to get around to everyone to say good by, but WOW, how the time seems to fly by!

When we left Bobbie's and Marvin's we realized we hadn't eaten since lunch and it was now after 10pm. We went to McDonald's, picked up some food and took it back to the RV to eat. On the way there the " check tire light lit up on the dash", great! I looked and it said that we had a tire with the air pressure at 23lbs, should be at least 30. I pulled into the Shell station in Pleasant Garden to pump some air in it. I filled the tire up to the 30 lbs and we drove to the campground. We finally sit down and ate our food around 10:30pm. I told Charlotte if the tire was down in the morning we weren't leaving, we had to be sure the tire was okay before moving on to Tennessee. A little after 11pm we finally got in bed. To my surprise I had a good nights sleep, didn't even thing about the tire.

More to come!

Hagan Stone Park - 7

On Sunday I had been invited to play golf on Monday ( Memorial Day ) with Percy and Chuck. I told them sure, but it's been over 3 years since I had played. Even after this confession they still wanted me to go. It was decided that Percy would come by the campground and pick me up around 7:45am and we would meet Chuck at his house when he got home from the fire station. Percy called me around 7:15 and asked if I wanted a biscuit from Bo Jangles, he said a biscuit was calling to him. I asked him to pick me up a country ham biscuit. When he arrived we went over to Chucks house to wait for him. After arriving, Percy open the bag and there was his biscuit and a biscuit for Chuck, but they had left out my country ham biscuit. We searched the car just to make sure it hadn't fallen out, but it was still at Bo Jangles, both Percy and Chuck offered to share, but I declined  ( I had been eating to much and really didn't need it ). Now you know why it's important to look in the bag before leaving the drive thru window when ordering take out.

We arrived at the golf course and Percy had borrowed his son's golf clubs for me to use ( thanks Davis!! ). We had a great time on the golf course and I played much, much better then I could ever hoped for. At the end of the day Chuck had shot a 87, Percy a 91 and I had a 93. After a 3 year lay off I was surprised, guess I got rid of any bad habits I had. This outing reminded me of when we used to live in Greensboro, Percy and I used to play golf just about every Saturday with other friends.

Chuck and I had a cook out at Angie's house that was to start at 2pm and we didn't finish playing golf until 1:45. We rushed home as fast as we could and after stopping at Chucks house to pick up a few things we arrived at Angie's house around 2:30, a little late ( sorry!!). I had called Charlotte on the way and asked her to bring me a shirt, deodorant, changed of underwear, figured I'd wash off a little and spruce up for everyone., not everyone like the smell of sweat! Everyone had a good time, there was swimming for those that wanted to and just sitting around talking with family. We got the opportunity to meet Bacon, Pork-chop and Miss Piggy. Austin is hoping to breed Pork-chop and Miss Piggy who are small pot belly pigs and sell them. Bacon is a large pig he's raising to show at the fair, we'll see how that goes. We met Alex's guinea pig and a new addition to the clan, a ferret owned by Jordan. Dixie their small dog went around greeting everyone as they came in. While this was going on Tim ( Angie's husband ) cooked the hot dogs and hamburger for everyone to eat. Great job Tim, they were delicious as was everything else, especially the cakes and home made strawberry ice cream !!!!!

After the party we went back to the RV and fed Mysti her supper. While there we spent a little time with her and then we went to Chuck and Loretta's  to play some cards. We were introduced to Kim's boyfriend Callen, he seemed very nice and everyone seems to like him.We all enjoy playing Shanghai rummy ( a game we used to play when camping at the lake ). It's to complicated to explain how it's played, but if interested you can find the rules on the Internet. After cards we went back to the campground and retired for the night. A very, very enjoyable day and night !!!

More to come!

Hagan Stone Park - 6

On Sunday we started the day out attending church with family at White Rock Church. After church we went out to eat at Chili's with Percy Williams ( a longtime friend ), Peggy and Loretta. The food was delicious and the company wasn't bad either. When the meal was over and we were getting up to leave I looked down and saw a penny laying on the floor under our table. I reached down, picked it and and outside I gave it to Peggy and told her that Charles ( my brother and her husband ) sent it to us from Heaven as his way of being there with us. Even after 3 years we all miss him very much!!

After lunch we went back to the campground and later in the afternoon I went over to Terry and Sherri's house to participate in some target practice with them. When I arrived there Krystal, Kim and Austin and Sherri were in the back at their gun range ( railroad ties stacked together about 5 feet tall ) in the back of their property. Everyone had a good time shooting and after a couple of hours I returned to the campground. Later just before dusk I went over to visit our neighbor Norm and we sit around talking about his travels and where we would like to go. He and his wife
( now deceased ) used to travel full time ( 10 years ) in their 5th wheeler after selling their home and all their furnishings. I never asked, but got the impression she had just recently died. He was here visiting his daughter, but was leaving on Thursday headed back to Arizona. He said he had a lot of friends there and his knees didn't hurt in Arizona's dry heat as they do when he's on the East coast. When it got dark and the pesky mosquito's started attacking we called it a night each retreating to our campers. The rest of the night we just relaxed.

More to come!

Hagan Stone Park - 5

On Saturday we started off with breakfast at Cracker Barrel with the "Renowned Ravishing Ladies of the Elvis Presley Sisterhood". For this outing the husbands were included ( to pay the bill, of course ).
In all there were 5 RRLs and 3 husbands in attendance. It was an enthusiastic breakfast, not a dull moment from start to finish.

After breakfast and a quick stop at Wally World we returned back the the RV with some supplies. While at camp we received a call from my sister Sylvia and invited them to come by and visit and look over our RV. While visiting with Sylvia and Otis my other sister Bobbie and her husband Marvin  were out driving around and stopped by. WOW, did we ever have a good time with all of them.

Later after everyone had gone it was time to put the supplies we purchased from Wally World to use by fixing Mysti's food. Mysti our dog developed stomach problems a while back and after trying different brands of dog food ( nothing helped ) Charlotte found a recipe for dog food which had chicken, carrots, celery and rice in it. Since we put her on this homemade food she has done a lot better and when she's doing good so are we!! One recipe makes food for 4 days with 3 meals a day.

While Charlotte was making the food we got a call from Chuck and Lou saying they were on their way to the campground. When they arrived we decided to do a late dinner because the kids ( Krystal, Kim and Austin ) had to be rounded up! We figured the crowds had cleared much like our breakfast (we were starving)!!! Around 7:30pm we arrived at the restaurant and enjoyed a nice dinner and the company wasn't bad either! After dinner everyone was tired, so we returned to the RV and they went home ( except for the kids who went somewhere ?? )

More to follow!

Hagan Stone Park - 4

Thursday was wash day, so we loaded up all our dirty clothes and headed to a coin laundry. Ever wonder why women have more dirty cloths then men, the things that make you say Hummmmm!! We spotted a new coin laundry one day while we were out and decided to give it a try, We don't have a washer and dryer in our RV, a lot of the newer ones do, but not us, Charlotte has said she's not sure if she would want one, she likes to get it all done in as little time as possible and this is nearly impossible in an RV. I think most people do a little bit each day so they can keep caught up.

We got the laundry done and them headed back to the campground. Later on in the day we got an invitation for dinner at my sister Bobbie's house. When we arrived that afternoon she had fried chicken, mixed vegetables and potato salad. For desert we had strawberry cobbler with whipped cream, yummy!!!. Let me tell you about the potato salad she fixed, it's my mom's receipt. When she served it and I took the first bite it seemed as good as when mom used to make it, in fact there were second and even third serving before leaving the table. I need to get the recipe from her before we leave. After supper we just sat around and watched a little TV while waiting on April to pick up her daughter Hayden. April finally arrived, her and Hayden were going uptown to Greensboro to attend a Beach Music in the Park. Every Thursday they have Beach Music performed by different groups in an outdoor park ( kinda neat )! About 9pm we said our goodbyes and headed back to the RV.

Friday morning Charlotte scheduled an appointment with April to get her nails done around 10. April would not let her pay for the appointment telling her it was her birthday present (June 4th).  What a surprise!!! Mysti and I stayed around the campground and while Charlotte was gone we broke camp and went over to dump our tanks. After this was completed we again set up the RV. Charlotte got back and we had a chicken salad sandwich for lunch.

In the afternoon we went over to Providence Friends Meeting, the grave site of Charlotte's dad, and put American flags on his grave and her uncles graves. All had served in the military and this was to honor them on Memorial Day. All of the Whitley men served in WWII and all returned home unharmed! Amazing!!!

Tonight we couldn't decide where we wanted to eat so we just decided to eat here. We had purchased some Neeses Country Sausage earlier in the week, so I cooked it, eggs scrambled with green pepper and onions, grits and tomatoes for supper, boy was it good ! The rest of the night we relaxed after cleaning up the dishes.

More to follow

Hagan Stone Park - 3

On Tuesday we stayed around the campground in the morning and later drove over to get our America The Beautiful pass from the National Park Service at the Guilford Battleground Memorial Park. We decided to each get a pass just in case one was lost we would still have another one to use. It took all of about 10 minutes from the time we parked until the time we left to get our passes. After we left the park and on our way back we JUST HAD to stop at Stameys BBQ and eat lunch. Believe me the BBQ in Florida is nothing like it is in NC.

When we got through with lunch we decided to go over to Westminister Gardens and visit my parents and my brother Charles's graves. When we're in town we like to go over and see how the place is looking. This time we noticed an improvement as all the geese that once roamed the area were gone. When you have 10 - 15 geese around there's going to be a lot of droppings everywhere, but not this time, you could actually walk on the sidewalk and not step into ( you know ). We also have plots here so this will be our final resting place too!

On the way back we did the nostalgic tour of Greensboro as we drove by our old home on Juniper St. just to see what it looked like after we sold it 30 years ago. It still had the original bones, but a new front porch and rear deck had been added. As we drove back we decided to drop by Charles and Peggy's old home on Royalton Dr. since we were in the area. Not much had changed, but for some reason it seemed smaller!! A lot of fun memories were had in both of those homes.

Tuesday night we went to Red Lobster with the Saunders clan to celebrate Terry Cooper's birthday. The food was good and the company was exceptional!! Happy birthday Terry !!!

On Wednesday we went grocery shopping in the morning and on the way back we looked at some property for sale on the outskirts of Pleasant Garden. A man has two different plots of land for sale, one is 1 acre and the other is 2 acres. The land looks okay, there are a lot of trees and branches laying all over the place due to the bad ice storms they had this winter. Not sure if we're ready for this, we're going to sit back and keep a watch on this property.

In the afternoon we went to Cutting Edge Farms in Randleman to watch Kim and her BFF Kristie take a riding lessons. They have been riding several years and we watched as they practiced their riding and jumping over fences of various heights. Let me tell you, both of them did extremely good and Charlotte and I are very proud on them.

 

 

After we watched them practice we left and went to a local Mexican Resturant with the whole gang for dinner. I had the pleasure of eating with Cindy, Kristie, Kim, Krystal, Peggy, Loretta, and Charlotte, WOW, any guy would be jealous of me, being with 7 ladies!!!! Back to the RV for a little rest before heading to bed .

 

More to follow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hagan Stone Park - 2

On Sunday we attended church with some of our family at White Rock Church of the Nazarene. This is the church that my parents attended and most of our family still worship there. After church we went to my sister Bobbie's home and enjoyed lunch with her, her husband Marvin, their kids and grand kids, what a wonderful time we had.

After lunch we just hung around talking and laughing as we were enjoying being with family. In the afternoon we went back to the campground and my cousin Doris, her husband Jim came over to visit us at our RV. They didn't have to go far as they were camped just across the campground from us. It has been fun visiting with them and getting to know them, what a wonderful couple they are. They are leaving tomorrow headed back to their home in Liberty, we all promised to stay in touch instead of just seeing each other at funerals ( not a good thing )! The rest of Sunday we just hung around the RV and relaxed.

Monday we decided to empty our holding tanks while the campground was just about empty. This took about an hour due to having to basically break camp, move the RV to the dump station, empty the tanks and then go back to our space and set up again. Sounds harder then it really is. After this we had made plans to meet Bobbie and Marvin and go over to the Guilford Memorial Battleground Park so that we could get the Senior pass "America the Beautiful". This pass cost $10 and gets you into all the National Parks and also get you 1/2 off on camping and other charges. You can only purchase it after you turn 62. Anyway, we got to the visitor center and found out that they were closed on Sunday and Monday, no pass today. On the way back we decided to stop and get some lunch at Kickback Jacks ( gotta eat ), great food and company.

In the afternoon Charlotte went to pick strawberries with my niece Sherri and Kim. Charlotte said they had a great time and ended up picking strawberries for several other people. Mysti and I just stayed at the RV and relaxed waiting for Charlotte to return. After picking strawberries Charlotte attended a ballgame where Jayson the grandson of Charlotte's friend Linda Shore was playing. Needless to say it wasn't a good game for Jayson's team and Charlotte vows not to attend any other games. Later we had some fresh strawberries for a snack after Charlotte got back.

More to come

Hagan Stone Park

We made surprise visits to all the family members and we've had a great time so far. Being around family just seems so right and we both are welcoming the opportunity. Most of our activities have centered around visiting and of course eating.

In the afternoon we met some campers that were parked next to us and after talking a little while one of the ladies said she knew some Saunders from Greensboro. She asked me if I knew Argie and Lillian Saunders, WOW, I told her that that was my uncle and aunt, Argie was my dad's brother. We talked some more about this and come to find out that Lillian was her aunt and she knew all my cousins which would also be her cousins!!! I really need to buy that lotto ticket. Now what are the odds of meeting one of my cousins (Doris) and them meeting a distant cousin (Shirley) at the same campground on the same weekend?, I really need to buy that lotto ticket!!!

In the afternoon we went to visit my older sister Sylvia and her husband Otis, again no announcement, just knocked on the door. After hugs all around we went inside and got started on getting caught up. We had been there a little while when Deborah their daughter ( my niece ) came in with our great-great nephew and niece Gabe and Lily. They had been at Hagan Stone Park at the playground. We sat around and talked a little more and then Gabe and Lily put on a demonstration of Tae Quan Do. Gabe's working on getting his black belt and Lily her green belt, not bad for a 9 and 5 year old boy and girl !!

On Friday night the campground began filling up in the afternoon as people arrived for the "bluegrass festival" that was being held on Saturday. My niece Sherri and her husband Terry came over after buying a bright yellow Mazda Miata for her " mid life crisis" ::)) We walked around the campground and listened as there were several different bands playing throughout the night, at times there were bands playing at each end. All in all it was fun and the music was different than we usually listen to, but we like all different kinds of music and this was something new for both of us. We fell asleep with the sound of bluegrass music being played through out the campground.

On Saturday morning we had the opportunity to attend soccer games that two of of great nieces were playing. In the early game we watched Hayden and in the second game we watched Alex, both had good games. After the game we stayed around and watched as they got trophies for the season.

In the afternoon we went out to eat with my nephew Chuck, his wife Loretta and their kids, Krystal and Kim. It just felt so natural to be with them and after dinner we ended up at their house to play cards, wow, where did the time go as it was close to midnight before we got in bed.

More to come!

We left our campground in Wilson, NC headed to Hagan Stone Park near Pleasant Garden, NC to spend some time with my family. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there from Wilson, ( remember we're retired and in no hurry ). When we got to the park we followed directions to the campground on a winding dirt road cut throughout the woods, followed by a park ranger. The campground where we would have to stay only had 2 campers in it (yea)!!, this was going to be nice!

Let me explain a little about this campground, this was a city park which was built in the county a long way from the city limits of Greensboro, NC. Somewhere in the past years it has become a county park being staffed and maintained by county personnel. It had been over 30 years since we had been to this park and they've done a very good job of adding and maintaining the facilities.

Ok, back to us arriving at the park. We pulled up to the dump station and parked as we had decided to dump our tanks and then walk around and look at the different sites to determine which would work best for us. The park ranger that had been following us came up and asked if he could help us, sure thing!. We told him we wanted a site for about a week as we were from out of state and would be visiting family. He said that he didn't have anything that long as the campground was full for the weekend because there was a "bluegrass festival" going on this weekend, the best he could do would be for three nights, but would go to the office to confirm ( bummer!) When I had looked at their web site it said it was first come first served on sites, except for holidays or special events, didn't know about the festival.

While the ranger was headed back to the office we decided to take what we could get and then maybe move over to my nephew or nieces house for a couple day and then come back after the weekend. I started to unhitched the car when I saw a lady coming toward me and thought maybe she had a question about our camper when she asked if I was Ken Saunders, it was then I realized that it was
my cousin Doris. What do you thinks the odds are on driving over 800 miles and telling no one you're coming and meeting your cousin whom you haven't seen in about 3 years in a little county park. I guess I should have went to the store and got a lotto ticket! She and her husband Jim had driven up from their house in Liberty to reserve a space for the festival. We enjoyed a brief talk as the ranger had come back and took Jim to look at a site while we continues to talk. Jim liked the site and went to the office to reserve it, now after unhooking our car I drove over to the office. The ranger had located a site that we could use because of a cancellation that had just came through (whew!), no moving.

I drove back to the camper and we found the site. It was a back-in, not really a problem. We got it backed in and leveled, put out the slides, hooked up the electric and water ( no sewer hook ups ) Finally we were parked,  time to relax and surprise family.

More to come

We spent all day in Rocky Mount with Charlotte's mom and when we finally got back to the RV that night around 9pm we were bushed. We fed Mysti and everyone was in bed by 10pm.

On Sunday Mother's Day we got up early and went by and picked up some breakfast for us and Mrs Whitley. After we ate Charlotte helped her mom with picking out her clothes for later in the day. We had decided that we were going out to dinner around 3:30 with Charlotte's sister Janet, her husband Matt. We decided to go to Pizza Inn where Clayton ( nephew ) works and for Mother's Day they were letting all the Mothers eat free. During our dinner Clayton got off work and joined for dinner which made Mrs Whitley's day. After dinner we returned to Mrs Whitley's apartment and stayed for a few hours more before heading back to the RV to get some rest before turning in for the night.

Monday morning we got up late and ate a little breakfast before we had  a conference call about "long term insurance" This is something both Charlotte and I wanted to get more information on. After our call we headed over to see Mrs Whitley and ended up staying until about 7 pm. We said our goodbye's to Mrs Whitley and explained that we were going to Greensboro to surprise my sisters and other family members.

More to come

We left Walmart on Thursday morning headed to Wilson, NC where we'll be staying until Tuesday morning. Our drive of about 325 miles was uneventful and the scenery was the same as we drove North on I-95. We're staying at the Kampers Lodge just outside of Wilson, NC. After checking in around 3pm we decided to just relax the rest of the day and go visit Charlotte's Mom the next day.

We've been getting up around 7:30am, taking showers and then eating breakfast before we head over to visit Mrs Whitley spending most of the afternoon with her and leaving to get back to the RV around 8pm, makes for a long day.

Mrs Whitley has her good days and then she has some bad ones. Dementia is such a cruel disease, not only for the person that has it, but also for family members. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

More to come

Seemed like we had a million of things to do on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before we left on our trip. Finally on Wednesday we loaded the last few things in the RV and hit the road headed to see Charlotte's mom in NC. This is supposed to be a surprise, we'll see!

We left around 10:30am and after driving around 6 hours we pulled into a Walmart in Pooler, Ga         ( close to Savannah ) to officially spend our first night as retirees in our RV boondocking in their parking lot. After finding a spot out of everyone way we went across the parking lot to eat dinner at a Ruby Tuesday. When we can out after about an hour there were 3 other RV' s there and 4 big 18 wheelers parked in the same area as we were. We spent a little time messing around on the computers and then off to bed.

More to come!

It's official, I've retired and now on to new adventures. Wednesday was my last day at work and the Branch had a luncheon with present employees and some friends I worked with in the past. Thanks to all the employees in Sarasota, you're a good team and made it easy to manage. I really appreciate the gifts and they will come in handy as we start our adventures in the RV. The book that John K. put together is beautiful, thanks to John and all that helped. It'll be with us in the RV!!

More to come