Sunday September 30, 2018
Today was a free day so I didn't feel like I had to get up at any specific time. Of course I was up after Jim, we had our coffee I made him some eggs I had a yogurt. We talked about all we wanted to do. So we got ready and had a snack before we left and a piece of my chocolate chip zucchini cake and left. We wanted to go to what they call The Island. We went to Walmart and parked and got the trolley. It is 2.50 to ride all day.
Got off at The Island and walked around.
Then we stopped at this little info, booth. This lady Janice was telling us if we go to see sales presentation on the Wyndham we can get free tickets to a show, $50.00 meal coupon and ride the Wheel. So long story, we did. I needed my drivers ID, so Janice took us back to the truck to get it in her own car. She talked the whole time, her hubby is a retired cop, very nice lady. She showed us a back way to go, the locals use. Her hubby told her not to tell tourists.
So we got everything set. Went had a snack, pizza before going to presentation was really good. They said not high pressure, yea OK, not till you say no. We had this nice young kid 21, one on one, then a guy talked to us as a larger group with a few videos. Wyndham, a better way to vacation. We kept saying NO and kid kept finding different people to help close us. He took us into a one bedroom room to show us how "nice" they are. Anyway total of 2 hours and 25 minutes we did get out of there with our coupons. Was kind of fun to see everything we were strong though, a few years ago we might have done it.
So first we road the wheel and took a lot of pictures. Was free would have been 30.00 for both of us to ride.
They had a cool fountain like in Vegas cost 3 million, think Janice said.
Then we went to Paula Deen's to eat. We only had to wait 15 minutes,it was packed when we came out. We waited in a large gift shop they had cool stuff took some pictures, pricey though, Was really good, so worth going. was served family style. We had pick 3 entrée, had chicken, ribs and fried cat fish, was the best. and 4 sides black eye peas, squash casserole, salad with poppy seed dressing really good, coleslaw. Choice of dessert he had apple cobbler I had pumpkin butter cake, I thought was going to be like a lite butter bundt cake was more like a bar, but good. So we paid 15.37, was for drinks and tip, bill would have been 65.30 with tip.
Then we went to Comedy Barn. Walking over there, it was getting dark by this time and got some good pictures of things all lite up.
We would have paid 60.00 for both of us to go we paid nothing they kept trying to sell ya stuff. Had a large variety of snacks 3 dollar bottle of water, gee I sound like my DAD.
It was good not worth paying 60.00 in our opinion. They had some kids come up for a bit they did, and 3 older men and then 4 young guys, that was all pretty funny. One guy Danny was the best. Here is his picture.
He was right in front of us getting 2 young guys to come up and I took his pic he looked right at my camera and said CHEESE. Here are a few more picks.
We got out had to wait for trolley , took the long way till we got back to Walmart got back to FW at 11:05ish. Late night for us but fun. Total day $32.43
Saturday September 29, 2018
Jim said he slept in today, was almost 7. I got up at 7:45 AM. Had our coffee, I made smoothies.
Then we had some hard decisions to make, what to do next. We have so many different thing we want to do yet, so hard to decide what to do next. The scheduled classes this AM are Geeks on Tour a Facebook Hot Tips and Tricks, well we didn't make that one. We wanted to go to next class called "What
Does this Button Do" we wanted to go out for lunch, go horseback riding, go WalMart, go get Diesel and LP gas, go into pool and Hot tub, get wash pass and wash and wax FW. walk and ride bikes. It was SOooo hard to figure out what to do. Got ready to go ride, but it feels like a waste to miss out on a good class when sounds like something we really need and can learn a lot. So I guess you could say I talked Jim into doing the class, was very interesting. We were really hungry by then. We went to Ruby Tuesday's, we like salad bar, I got rice shrimp and broccoli. I gave Jim 2 shrimp skewers, and I saw this big brown thing in the rice I gave it to Jim I said is that beef, he said yes I said gross, I don't eat beef. I told them they said in dirty rice, menu did not say it was dirty just said rice. Anyway she took off the bill.
Then we went to WalMart then of course I didn't have my list. We got what we could remember. I got 2 sets twin sheets to donate to the Children's Home here. Came back and chilled talked with our neighbor. Started to see the stink bugs coming out. Jim got my bags out to sell. Had a snack then we went up to set up my bags. They had an ice cream social. They had 12 gals for all those people and didn't quite use it all. I offered to help dip it, they said thanks, they were ok. Jim went to fill LP while I was selling my bags.
Then the entertainment was Spittin Image to twin brothers sang and played guitar had a lot of funny stick. A couple came in later sat down next to Jim, said football game she wanted to watch they were missing Jim said yea, Penn State they were for them too, From Pa also so funny. We left after 8:30 came home had some pork he grilled last night. Forgot I got tuna out of the freezer last night have to grill it tomorrow. I did blog while Jim watched his football I shower record SNL and went to bed.
Friday September 28, 2018
Woke up after 8 AM came downstairs and Jim was not here. Never heard him leave. We went up to first class with Geeks on Tour You've taken pictures with your phone, now what?
While he was gone I made bed, got ready, started a load of cloths, vacuumed, and washed dishes. I ate some breakfast mini muffins that were leftover yesterday.
Jim got back around 10:15, about to make some eggs and we had an appointment with Ricky's RV Repair between 10:30 and 11:30 they got here just after 10:30, we used them for other jobs last time we were in TN.
We had a quick lite lunch I made Jim 1 chicken wrap and each a ham and cheese sandwich with a few chips. Then we got the bikes out and took a ride around. It was misting out when the RV tect was here, now it was not raining but humid. We rode bikes into an empty site and looked at the river that runs behind the campground, it was raging.
We had some boneless pork ribs that needed cooked, Jim put the grill on, had to change bottle to one of the 40 lb bottles he took a shower then I watched them. When all that was done we went a few sites up the road to our Merry Marylanders group, we would have been early, was suppose to start at 3 the neighbor behind us that lives here started talking to us and asking us a lot of questions. I learned the group was known for starting early, we missed all the intros of everyone. It was a smaller group so it was easier to talk with a lot of people. We had some snacks then it was time to head over to the Pork BBQ picnic. They had a big fire going and we talked with a lot of different people. they had pork, chips and Oreo cookies. Then they did Karaoke and people danced a little. We did one dance. We went home about 8:30, I took a shower and we watched a little TV before bed.
Thursday September 27, 2018
I woke up almost 8:30 AM Jim was already up an hour and a half. He went up by himself to get Danish and fresh fruit breakfast. They did a Sky Med talk during that time. I had coffee and made the bed, made a smoothie and had a yogurt. He came back a good hour later. He was telling me about Sky Med it is like Medical Transport Insurance, a helicopter ride can cost 50k. So I had the mini muffins and fresh fruit he brought back for me, sweet guy.
I got ready and stopped and signed up for Sky Med on our way out then we took a drive to the Bush Bean Factory. We have been wanting to do it ever since we have been coming here. It was a really nice drive, about 16 miles.
Nice gift shop and a movie of how beans are made. Didn't stay to long.
So we wanted to take a different ride back. So we did, we drove and drove and I put GPS on and it said we were 28 miles away, WHAT how did that happen. The roads were narrow and a lot of curves. We didn't have lunch yet and we had a long way to go. There was flashing lights at one curve and a car was down in a ditch upside down. And before that a tree was covering left lane, a car was directing traffic till police got there. We came out the East end of Gatlinburg We got back at 3:05 we were to be at class talking about Passport American and caravans. We got to FW ate Leftover spaghetti I had frozen. We got down at 3:25 so glad I had all the food premade. I didn't really cook since we got here but eggs for breakfast.
We went to class, came right back and Jim took a shower and we went back up at 5 for catered meal of turkey, or pork, sweet potato casserole, butter beans, stuffing, salad and chocolate pie. They had entertainment a singer Katie Brooks very good and funny.
Jim cut out a little early, I was going to walk back, but at the end the electric went out in the building for a second and was pouring I texted Jim and he came and picked me up. We watched a little TV and went to bed, he almost always goes before me especially when we are not working.
September 26, 2018
Jim was up at 6AM and I got up after 7:30. We watched some Today Show, had our coffee. Jim made himself bacon and eggs. I had a yogurt for breakfast.
Today is the first day the Rally officially starts. We had to go up to the event room for registration between 8:30 to 11, we arrived up there right before 10:30. We always walked up but we had so much rain over night and all morning really, we had to drive up there.
We went back to RV and had lunch, more burgers and chips I grilled some onions for them. Went back
they had a lot of stuff we had to do, then they had a First Timers Meeting we had to go to. About 20 couples attended that. They had cookies and tea. Then when that meeting was over we went out and looked at the new FW that RV's for LESS brings for our group to look at. They are a local dealership that does a lot for rally's held here. They had Landmark's and DRV's, it was pouring then my feet were soaked. It stopped long enough for us to get back inside.
Then they had a class with Techno RV Tire/Weight load safety TST TPMS Monitoring Systems. One thing we still need to get is a Tire Presser MS.
After the class we drove back and had dinner, changed Jim showered and shaved. I called and left a message with Chris and Dave from TN we met them in Florida. She texted me later they are 120 miles away, they were going to come with there camper and see if they could get a site here. Hope we get to see them.
We went back at 6 they did 50/50 drawing and some other stuff like that, then we had dessert, had cake vanilla and chocolate. Then they had entertainment
"Voices of Legends" a one man show did all kinds of different people singing. I kept track of all the singers. I counted 35 starting back in the 50"s like Paul Anka , Neil Diamond, Elvis, The Rat Pack, Tom Jones he was very good. Here are a few pictures.
They still had left over cake so we had another. Then they did some drawing. We went back home. We were inside a few minutes and I heard the fridge beep. Here we had left the fridge open, it said it was 67 in there, lucky it is pretty empty. took a good half hour till it was back to 38. We watched some TV. I showered, and Jim went to bed first, I watched Jimmy Fallon first and blogged then bed.
Today a beautiful morning and day, I woke up right before 8. Had some of Jim's wonderful coffee. He had the blog pictures up already. I made a smoothie for us, I had a bowl of cereal later.
We relaxed for awhile and watched the Today Show. Jim was working on trip planning for out west. He booked a California TT, he was really into it, having fun. We had some lunch, Jim had the rest of the white chicken chili and I made him two more chicken wraps. I had small bowl of 3 bean chili and I took 2 slices of the cheesecake I made in the Instant Pot and had in the freezer to see how it would hold up, well it was great, at least that is what Jim says.
So after lunch we went on a fun run to see what we could find. We went into this Smoky Mountain knife works store, we never went into all the times we were here. It was huge and had so many neat things to look at. Old real war relics. kitchen stuff household items, a lot of signs with funny sayings, and tons of knifes and guns. Many floors, you can spend a lot of time in there.
They have a store called JR Cheep, went into before, I could be in there for hours, tons of kitchen stuff, takes a little fun out of looking when you have no room for stuff.
Then we went to the Coleman camping store looking for lawn chairs. Then the DeWalt store we found a mini leaf blower to get rid of stuff on top of the slides. A comfort mat very light weight to put under our nice mat to protect from big stones they have at TTH.
Next we went to Kroger food store. Got eggs, beer, chips you know the basics. Very nice store. Then we drove up the strip looked around, so much to look at.
Then we went to Harbor Freight still looking for chairs, so far non I liked as much as the ones at CW the Club chairs.
Then we came back home put stuff away. And I heated up the smoked pork and left over Jambalaya I had frozen, and some mixed veggies and chips.
We got the bikes out and road up and got some wood
Jim started a fire, I watched some of my shows, and blogged. Jim was still trip planning out at the fire, he came in and washed dishes and we watched a little TV together.
September 24, 2018
Woke up about 7:30 Jim already had coffee made. I made a great breakfast with leftover stuffed French toast and peach crepes, from the I Hop last night. I also made eggs and I had 3 mini pancakes in the freezer I had made for the Grandkids, and it sounds weird, but I had 2 leftover hotdogs we had too. was really good. I had some wraps I made for a quick lunch on the road. I put chicken, tomatoes, mayo, BBQ sauce, cheese. We packed up and left at 9:53. He had to make a big u turn to get out of here. We got back on 81 South and drove over 2 hours. We kept having light rain on and off, never really got to heavy. Found a Petro truck stop, we filled up then parked in a big spot and had our quick wraps, protein bar and a Pepsi. Got back on the road and in just a little over 2 hours from then we were HERE, yea.
We checked in Jim got some beer and we were set up. We picked out our spot a year ago when we were here for an RV Dreams Rally. They have very level sites so that didn't take long. We are getting quite good at fast set up. He does outside, I do inside. I said It is amazing how quick I make the inside look like we never left.
Then I called Direct TV to change our address to local TV channels. That took 12 minutes. Now all set for the new shows starting this week.
I made dinner around 5:30 I heated up a couple burgers Jim grilled before we left, turkey for me 2 beef for him. And white chicken chili soup, I had 3 bean veggie chili I made both in the Instant Pot.
Then we got our new bikes out and after Jim fixed the chain that came off my bike it was bent, and put air in a tire we were ready to take a ride. They did get quite scratched up in the back of the truck. It was fun to see all the Lifestyles here like ours. The group was having a camp fire so we walked up with our chairs and met some people Sara and Tommy. There are something like 96 couples here.
It started raining a little, was after 8 by then, so we walked back and took showers and got ready to watch The Voice, Jim talked to a friend he used to work with, then he went outside to talk with someone else, I made popcorn watched TV and went to bed after 11.
Where Ever we Roam, We Are Always At HOME
