Feels Like Texas In The Fall

Crossville, Tennessee

Weather: low 60 degrees, high 80 degrees, partly cloudy skies, breezy

I took this picture of the Cumberland County Courthouse in Crossville this morning. The courthouse was built in 1905, and has been in use since then.

Last night was the first night we haven't used the air conditioner in three months. We opened a couple windows and turned the Fantastic Fan on, and covered up with a light cover. Ahhhh! It was so nice! The forecast is for more of the same for the next week. For all I know, this may be normal for the summer for this area. It felt like fall in Texas this morning.

This picture is of the Civil War Memorial in Crossville. Note that it lists the people who fought for the South as well as the North. This is the first time I've seen a memorial like this. It appears about as many fought for the North as fought for the South.

We had some chores to do around the RV in the morning. In the afternoon, we looked around the immediate area a little. Carolyn was having a rare day where her vertigo didn't flare up, and we didn't want to tempt fate by trying to do too much.

After debating what to do for supper, we decided to try a bar-b-que restaurant just down the street from where we're parked. Bad move. We tried the pulled pork sandwich, and it tasted like boiled meat with all the taste cooked out of it. We can't wait to get some Texas bar-b-que when we get back out there.

We're planning to get out and explore more tomorrow, with an eye toward celebrating a special day in our lives on Thursday.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Ozark, Alabama: The Home Of Fort Rucker

Not all who wander are lost.

We Found It!

Crossville, Tennessee

Weather: low in Tuscaloosa, Alabama - 75 degrees, high in Crossville, Tennessee - 79 degrees, clear skies

This is the Tennessee state flag.

We left Tuscaloosa bright and early this morning, looking for some cooler and less humid weather. It seems like summer has been here forever, and we just had the official start of the season less than 10 days ago. When I searched the Internet for places that were at least a little cooler, Crossville, Tennessee was one of the places I found. Since we had never been here before, we decided this would be the place to go. It looks as though we made the right decision. When we arrived here at 1500 hours, the temperature was 79 degrees, with a little breeze. According to the forecast, the low tonight should 60 degrees, and we should see weather like this for the rest of the week. Success has been attained.

After we parked and set up the RV, we rested until time to eat supper. It was decided early that I would be cooking, so I decided to cook Cracker Barrel. Not bad, if I say so myself. Carolyn said I did good. Then it was back home to rest and get ready to start exploring the area tomorrow.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Crossville, Tennessee - Golf Capital Of Tennessee

Not all who wander are lost.

Preparations For Travel

Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Deerlick Creek COE Park

Weather: low 75 degrees, high 95 degrees, clear skies until the afternoon, then mostly cloudy

This picture is of two of the flowers I found in the park. According to the book we bought yesterday, the red one is a garden phlox and the blue one is still an unknown one. Anyone care to make a guess?

It looks like a break is on the way in the hot weather the area has been experiencing. Showers have been popping up all over the area this afternoon, even though we have not gotten any. The temperatures for the next few days are forecast to be more moderate. Since we‘re leaving here tomorrow headed to the north, maybe it’ll be easier to find the cool weather we’re looking for.

We were busy this afternoon getting everything ready to travel. Laundry was washed, the truck was cleaned up (could it be we’re bringing on the showers by cleaning the truck?), the tires were checked on the truck and RV, the batteries were checked for water levels, the oil was checked on the truck………

Later in the day, I took the books and DVDs we were using back to the library. On the way home, I filled up with diesel. About the only thing left to do is dump our holding tanks on the way out of the campground.

Terri and Thomas came over tonight to tell us good-bye. We expect to come back through here in about four weeks on our way to Texas.

Cooler weather, here we come!!

More later, be safe.

Today’s Town – Grants, New Mexico: Uranium City, USA

Not all who wander are lost.

Visited Friends In Coker

Tuscaloosa, Alabama - Deerlick Creek COE Park

Weather: low 75 degrees, high 95 degrees, clear skies

This picture was taken in May of 2004 in a rest area in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California. Just a little reminder that even though the weather is scorching now, it will get better.

This morning, we visited our friends Ruth, Marsha, and Chuck in Coker. They are the owners of the RV park we stayed in several times while in Coker over the past 16 months. We consider these folks to be the salt of the earth. They are honest and hard working, and some of the nicest people a person could meet. It was great to see them again, and we enjoyed the visit. When we were leaving, they gave us a cabbage and blueberries, all picked today. I can see some good eating coming. Thanks, guys, and we'll see you soon.

After the visit to Coker, we returned home and tried to stay cool until late in the afternoon, when we met Terri and Thomas for supper at Chili's. Chili's makes a very good hamburger, especially the one with apple wood smoked bacon. These burgers are so big that I can never eat the whole thing at one time. I know what we will be having for lunch tomorrow.

When we left Chili's, we went next door to a book store, searching for a guide to North American flowers. Readers have probably noticed that we like flowers but we're not very good at identifying them. We'll see if the book we found will help.

Since we will be leaving here on Monday we will start getting ready tomorrow. Now that we're in the traveling mode again, that shouldn't be too difficult.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Spokane, Washington: Spotucky

Not all who wander are lost.

Back On Line

Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Deerlick Creek COE Park

Weather: low 73 degrees, high 95 degrees, clear skies

When my morning walk and breakfast were completed, I tried to connect to the Internet. We had a good signal, but were unable to connect. I took the computer and air card to the AT&T store to see if they could help, since that was the advice I received from the help line last night. I arrived at the store early, so decided to see if I could connect to the net while waiting for them to open. Guess what? No problem with connecting at all. I disconnected and tried connecting several more times with no problems. It was obvious that the problem is not with the air card or computer, so I returned home, rather than spend a lot of time explaining a problem that seemed to have gone away.

When I got back home, I tried connecting again. No luck, even though the signal seems adequate. Could it be that there is a problem with the cell tower?

If this issue continues, it makes it a little difficult to post the blog. I may have to drive into the edge of Tuscaloosa when I’m ready to post. A little inconvenient, perhaps, but at least I’ll be able to access the net.

Did anyone notice that the House of Representatives passed a climate control bill today? Are those idiots determined to bankrupt the country and put more people out of work? We want to protect the environment, but the way they're going about this using unproven science is idiocy. Hopefully, the Senate will bring some sense into the debate. If not, elections are about 16 months away. Of course, neither party is covering themselves with glory.

Regardless of how we may feel about the way Michael Jackson lived, the world lost a great musical talent yesterday. It's too bad the latter part of his life was filled with controversy.

More later, be safe.

Today’s Town – Elgin, Texas: Texas Main Street City

Not all who wander are lost.

Internet Connection Issues

Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Deerlick Creek COE Park

Weather: low 70 degrees, high 95 degrees, clear skies

This picture was taken just down the street from our RV. It looks somewhat like a bottle brush. Does anyone know what it is?

After a rather late start this morning (at least for us), we picked up Thomas and took a trip east of Tuscaloosa. I had wanted to check out Burchfield Branch COE Park, located east of Deerlick on the same body of water, Holt Lake. We turned north at Brookwood and drove for what seemed like an hour across country on a road that was winding, twisting, up and down, and with railroad crossings that were as rough as any we have ever crossed. Along the way, we saw several coal mines that are in operation, and several that had closed. Once a mine has been closed for good, the land is reclaimed to a condition as close as possible to what it previously looked like.

Eventually, we stumbled upon the park and drove through it to see if it would work for us. The park is a cozy little area located on the lake with about 40 sites. It is one of the older COE parks that we have visited, and most of the sites would not work for us. In fact, we only found four that were large enough. The park is perfect for smaller RVs. It’s doubtful we will use it, except in an emergency. We don’t mind being in the boondocks, but they must have to pipe sunlight into this place. If we do have to use it, we’ll probably come in to it from the Hoover or Bessemer areas.

When we left the campground, we drove on to the east to Abernant. We had received a lead about where to find some graves for some of my ancestors on my father’s side, and were hopeful we would find something that would enable us to expand our knowledge about my ancestors. We found the cemetery easily, and with a little searching, found the information we were looking for. There is a possibility that we also found the graves of my paternal great-grandparents. More research will need to be done, but the lead looks promising.

Leaving the cemetery, we returned home, settling into the air conditioning for the rest of the day. In the evening, I spent a lot of time trying to get on the Internet. We had an excellent signal, but couldn’t connect. Calling the AT&T help line was not any help, even though I felt the people I talked to did everything they could to help me. I’ll go to the AT&T store tomorrow to see if they can help.

More later, be safe.

Today’s Town – San Francisco, California: Fog City

Not all who wander are lost.

Wild Flowers

Tuscaloosa, Alabama - Deerlick Creek COE Park

Weather: low 77 degrees, high 94 degrees, mostly clear skies

The heat seems to have moderated a little today, with lower humidity and a breeze now and then. That won't stop us from trying to find cooler weather next week.

There are some unique flowers (at least to us) in the park. We know this first one as an oak leaf hydrangea. The next picture is known to us as bee balm. Tomorrow, I'm going to look for a book of North American flowers so we can better identify the beautiful flowers we find.

This was a fairly slow day for us. I started searching the Internet for a place or places to go to in Tennessee next week. We're not decided on the first stop yet, and may not make a decision until we're ready to stop the first day.

Late in the afternoon, we went to visit Terri and Thomas, and had a good visit. After the visit, we decided it was time to satisfy our yen for a Hardee's hamburger, so that meant I was cooking supper. This was the first hamburger we've had in almost two weeks, so it was pretty good. Since we were close to the WalMart Mall, we decided to pick up a few grocery items we needed. Then, it was back home, taking a different route that Terri told us about that saved us about five miles. Plus, it was a better road.

When we arrived home, I walked around the campsites, writing down the ones that will work for us in the future. Out of about 40 sites, I found 24 that will work for the size of the RV. I still have to figure out which ones will allow us to get a satellite signal for watching television. We can pick up a few channels with the bat wing antenna, but prefer to use the satellite dish.

We plan to drive up to Abernant tomorrow to check out some genealogy leads on my paternal great-grandparents. Our hope is that clues will be found that clears up some mysteries and get us back beyond the 1850s in our search for information about my family. On the way, we're going to check out another COE campground to see if it will work for us. So, a little road trip to help still the wanderlust.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Mobile, Alabama: The Home Of Mardi Gras

Not all who wander are lost.