Our RV Adventures

Brandi called us today with some sad news. They had to put Miss Kitty, Landon’s long-time companion and protector, to sleep.

She was 13 years old, a good run, since the average for a Black Lab is a little over 12 years. She’d been going downhill for a good while, but finally got where she couldn’t not even walk.

Landon and Kitty were more brothers than anything else. They would fight over toys, play together, and roughhouse around.

Kitty was also very protective of Landon. So much so that when Jan and I first visited Landon when he was just a few days old, Kitty got between us and Landon and blocked us with her body, easy for a 120# dog, not letting us get close until Lowell told her we were OK. Then we were her best friends.

She will be missed by all.

Thought For The Day:

A lot of people have issues, but they just refuse to cancel their subscription.

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Since nothing much happened today, I thought I’d repost this blog from our early days of RVing. 2009, our 2nd year on the road. For some reason, it seems like just yesterday, and yet a lifetime ago.

We left Houston on March 1st, spending a month in Gulf Shores AL, and then traveling down the Gulf Coast of Florida, checking out Disney World in Orlando, Busch Gardens in Tampa, and all the way down to Key West.

Next we headed up the Atlantic Coast, where I finally got to see a Space Shuttle launch. I’d been at the landing of STS-3 at White Sands in 1983 so this completed the set for me.

Then it was on north and east all the way out to Newfoundland. Then it was back into the U.S.  and back up into Canada proper, through Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, before reentering the U.S. near Niagara Falls toward the end of September.

I’ll retrace the rest of our journey later, but this repost is about our time in the Ashville, NC area in June 2009/

June 23, 2009

More Moose and Mountains…

Today was our last full day in Asheville, NC and we had one more ‘touristy’ place we wanted to visit.

But before we headed down the road we stopped for lunch at our new favorite restaurant, the Moose Café.

There is kind of an interesting story about the large moose that greets you as you walk in the door.

They don’t really know who gave it to them.  One day a stranger just showed up and asked them if they wanted it.  Of course, they said ‘Yes’!

When we first walked in the door and saw the giant moose, I just looked over at Jan and said “No, you can’t have it”!   I’d probably have to cut it in half to get it in the coach, and Jan already has her large moose footstool.

And another great meal was had.  Jan had the Chicken Pot Pie with green beans and baby carrots, and I had the Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and sliced cantaloupe.

After lunch we traveled about 75 miles northeast to Grandfather Mountain.  This is another one of those high, scary places that Jan really doesn’t like,  but I drag her to anyway, usually by telling her there’s a gift shop involved.

But the scenery on the way there was great too.  There are a lot of Christmas tree farms in the this area.  In fact, pretty much around every curve is another hillside covered with trees.

But before I could Jan to the top of the mountain, I had to deliver on the gift shop.  And I did it one better by also delivering … wild animals.

It was a twofer!

Along with the nature museum/gift shop about half way up the mountain, they also have a small animal habitat area, with bears, bald eagles, otters, cougars, and deer.

The bears were neat because you could buy bear food (Purina makes Bear Chow?) and feed the bears in their enclosures.  And they seem to love it.

If you look closely in this next shot, you can see he’s almost got the pellet in his mouth.

Feed Me!!!!!

Here are some other pics.

After dragging Jan away from the animals and the gift shop, we headed another 1000 feet up the mountain to the top.

Grandfather Mountain is 5282 feet high with a 228 foot long swinging bridge crossing an 80 foot chasm between the two peaks.

It looks like this.

This next picture shows the overall view of the bridge on the far left that leads to the peak toward the right.

This picture shows what it looks like back toward the bridge from the cliff edge.

There is not really a path from the bridge.  You just walk/climb over the rocks.

And now for the amazing part.  I got Jan across the bridge!!

I was really proud of her.  I didn’t expect her to go the edge, so what she did do was great.

That’s Jan in green just to the right of the left hand vertical support.

And here’s a closeup.

And here we both are, thanks to a kind passerby.

We’re both somewhat less fluffy (skinnier) now.

Before we headed back to Asheville we stopped at a local produce stand and bought some fresh peaches and tomatoes.  As we left the stand Jan said she wanted to buy some day lilies as a gift and wanted to stop at a place nearby that we’d seen a sign for.

It turned out to be a private home surrounded by day lily beds. They even had their own bee hives for pollination.

They had 40 – 50 different varieties, including some rare ones that went for $30 – $40 a plant.  They had so many it was hard to pick.

And here are some pictures.

By the time we drove the 75 miles back to our coach, it was almost 6:30 pm.  And since we had to drive right by the Moose Café,  it wasn’t a hard decision to also have supper there.

So we did.

Thought For The Day:

“A man does not look behind the door unless he has stood there himself.” – W.E.B. Du Bois

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