Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails preserve was a little piece of heaven - so quiet, peaceful, and restful! We spent almost the entire week there without taking any day trips as we had planned. The weather was almostpicture-perfect as the sun shone, the temperatures were absolutely mildduring the day, and the nights were pleasantly cool and comfortable!

We had the pleasure of a visit from Wayne and Kathy Johnson for two nights.They came up on Wednesday and were the only occupants in the cabin section of the park. They could walk out their back door and right onto the lakefront. When they arrived on Wednesday afternoon, we all drove to Bolivar and the local Super Wal-Mart. They both bought temporary fishing permits and some bass lures. We spent one afternoon with them on the shoreline and watched them fish. Both of them got bites, but no "keepers". It was fun just sitting and watching them - Wayne takes his fishing seriously, and Kathy does a great job trying to keep up with him. When they left on Friday morning, we were sad to say goodbyes. We've had a wonderful time seeing them and sharing some special time with them.

We had originally planned to go to Memphis on a day trip, but changed our plans a bit. Instead of driving the 50 miles to Memphis, we stayed close to the preserve and got some needed chores accomplished on the coach. I was able to clean the roof, wax some parts of the coach, and do arranging in the storage bays. I went to breakfast on Saturday morning and met one of the active posters on the TTN email list. I also had the chance to talk with the owners of a motorhome that arrived on Wednesday - Maxwell, Victoria, and Jennifer Smart. They have a mid-engine Newmar MountainAire coach and are traveling around the U.S. They will visit all 48 states in one year and do a weekly radio show sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. Their schedule is grueling; even more strenuous than ours is! You can read all about them at www.smartfamilyshow.com. They have an interesting story and were very interesting to meet and talk to

We finally had to pack up and leave on Monday morning. We were able to leave early and get some miles behind us on our way to Mountain View, AR. We drove through Memphis and stopped at the Flying J in West Memphis, AR to top off the tank. We drove on up through mountainous terrain (peaks of 700') and stayed primarily on state and county roadways. When we arrived at the Spring Hill RV Park, we had a little challenge getting parked in a park built for small trailers and campers. Once we were settled, we learned that Mountain View is known for its gatherings of bluegrass musicians. These aren't big name performers; these are the folks that play acoustic instruments and enjoy the basic sounds of banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and dulcimers. The folks gather around the Courthouse each night around 7PM and have their little "jam sessions". It's a fascinating collection of simple folks who love their music. We enjoyed sitting around in circled chairs and listening to the sounds of the players

We found Arkansas to be a beautiful state. The mountains that folks refer to are small by our standards, but very similar to the roads we've traveled in the Cuyamaca Mountains east of San Diego. Lots of rolling hills and heavily treed landscape kept me watching the road. I noticed a lot more poverty than I had seen so far on this trip. We couldn't help but notice the number of mobile homes, old travel trailers, and even old motor homes that had become permanent living quarters for many of the mountain residents. We also saw some of the most beautiful mountain cabins (estates) and some amazingly low prices for real estate

We spent only one night in Mountain View and left early on Tuesday morning headed for Branson, MO. I had looked on the internet for prices of the shows in Branson and my fiscally-conservative traits popped out. OK, I'm just cheeeep!!! I don't care to take out second mortgages for entertainment. Most of the shows were in the $30-40/person price range. We arrived at Branson at the Fall Creek Resort, an AOR park that only costs us $6/night. It is a beautiful resort - huge condos, time shares, and an RV park. We checked in for only one night and cancelled our other two nights

On the way to Branson we received a phone call from Hart Ranch. There have been some interesting developments up there and they are short of help. I had offered to arrive earlier if there was a need - the phone call confirmed that the need was indeed there. We are in the process of changing our plans and arriving by next Tuesday. We still want to spend a few nights in Nebraska, so we'll be doing a little more driving than I had planned. We will take advantage of our location and stop in Lincoln for two nights and Genoa, NE for two nights.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money going to shows in Branson. The resort had a Chinese buffet scheduled for Tuesday night and several of the Branson entertainers dropped by to give us a sample of their shows. We saw Jenna Crispin, the 15-yr.-old who sang in the Clay Cooper Revue at the Orlando Monaco Rally in January. We also heard two numbers from a group called "SIX". They are six brothers who sing with no instrumental accompaniment. They make the sounds of the instruments and are fantastic! If we were to stay longer, we definitely would like to see their show. (Who knows, maybe they could be brought to a Monaco Rally some time!). We both enjoyed the buffet supper and the teases we saw for the different shows. For $7.50/person it was a great evening!

We are getting our first real rain showers in a long time. The forecast calls for the potential of severe weather, but we'll be monitoring our weather alert radio and hopefully sleep well anyway. Tomorrow begins the long drive to Hart Ranch - I know, I'm retired, but I would like to get there and assist in getting the park up and running.

On Wednesday, the 11th, we drove back up to Nashville. The weather had cleared up and it was supposed to be a beautiful day. Our hope was to be able to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Ryman Auditorium. We left the coach about 9:30 in our Kia with the iWay GPS attached to the windshield to guide us. I chose a route we hadn’t traveled in order to see some different countryside. The GPS took us along the back roads where we were able to enjoy some of the pristine farmland.

Our first scheduled stop was the Costco store in Franklin. We didn’t really need anything, but we wanted to do some casual shopping in the store and see what merchandise they carried. Our only purchase was a pair of gloves for each of us. They had some weatherproof gloves that normally cost $9 and they were marked down to $7/pair. The Costcos are pretty much standardized as we have found, but it’s always fun to see the different inventory that each section of the country carries.

Our next stop was the downtown Nashville attractions. When we arrived at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Dottie went in to get the prices. I found a parking spot (typically in a metropolitan area the parking spots cost - this was no different) and decided not to pay the $8 parking fee they wanted. Dottie came running out to keep me from parking when she discovered that the Museum wanted $35/person to visit with a self-guided tour which included the Ryman Theater. (I’m just too tight to pay that kind of money! If a city has an attraction that would benefit a person‘s knowledge, they don’t need to be charging those kind of high rates - keep it reasonable!) We were disappointed, but not too surprised. I found a curb parking spot, put 4 quarters in the machine, and we walked over to the Ryman Theater to at least see the outside of it. I took a few pictures and we walked back down to Broadway, the main drag in Nashville.

Broadway is a line of small restaurants and bars with the names of the famous country singers. We saw the Ernest Tubb Coffee Shop, the Charlie Daniels Lounge, and the Broadway Brew Pub. Whoa there, podner! The Broadway Brew Pub? Yep, a small microbrewery with a brewpub that had over 70 beers on tap! We walked by the window and I could see a young lady inside behind the bar with a black top and two of the biggest…most beautiful…round…brown eyes you’ve ever seen! Gotcha!! We decided to go in and have a refreshing drink. The bar wasn’t very busy so Dana, the young lady, talked with us as we sipped one of their local brews, a Yazoo pale ale. She has worked there for about two months and is making just over $2/hour (plus tips) as a barmaid. Dottie enjoyed chatting with Dana after her experiences in Rapid City last summer. Dana had a black top that had “Drink ‘til he’s cute!” printed on the back and talked me in to buying a white one for Dottie. We really enjoyed our half hour sitting and talking with her.

We left and walked back to the car just in time for the parking meter to run out of time. We drove out of the downtown area and back to the interstate to search out a Mrs. Winner’s Chicken & Biscuits. Good friend Dale Hilmen, a fellow La Mesa Sunrise Rotarian and an attorney that owns some land in Nashville as an investment, owns the property that is leased by two of the Mrs. Winner’s stores. We found one of the restaurants and stopped for some pictures and some sampling. They had special priced chicken breast filets in a biscuit for only 99 cents. We bought three of the them and a box of chicken to take home for dinner.

Back on the road we stopped at the local Sam’s Club to check out their store and got out without buying anything. The GPS took us on a meandering county road that took us to the Natchez Trace Parkway and back to the campground. We got home about 4:30 and tackled that box of warm chicken. It was a great day of being a tourist and enjoying Nashville.

Thursday was a travel day and we headed for Leighton, AL to spend a couple of day with Wayne and Kathy Johnson. We drove down the Trace until we encountered a detour for retrofitting two bridges. Our drive took us to Florence, AL and the Quad Cities of Florence/Muscle Shoals/Sheffield/Tuscumbia. We crossed the Tennessee River and arrived at the Johnson Estate about 12:30. I drove by the house very slowly to look over the approach and the driveway. They live in a rural setting with a circular driveway. I realized I was going to have to drive to the end of the street, turn around, and make another approach from the opposite direction in order to make the turn into the narrow driveway.

We unhooked the car and I carefully maneuvered the coach into the driveway. With our huge wheelbase, turning the coach so as not to damage the lawn was a real challenge. Between some low wires and tree branches, I wasn’t as successful as I would like to have been, but I got the coach parked facing out into the street with as little lawn damage as possible. As soon as I stopped, Wayne grabbed a tree trimmer and we snipped some branches to prepare for our pending departure. We ran an extension cord and hooked up to a 20-amp outlet, enough to keep the batteries charged.

Our stay with Wayne and Kathy has been a very relaxing respite from the campgrounds we’ve been seeing. Both of them have been wonderful hosts and we have had the privilege of sampling Kathy’s fantastic cooking. On Friday morning we struck out to see the Coon Dog Cemetery. It’s in a remote part of the county and the GPS took us directly to it. The GPS even had the cemetery as one of its many points-of-interest. We walked around and looked at some of the graves and headstones and took some photos. It’s a very quiet location and had the first “occupant” in 1937. There are probably close to 100 graves that are only for coon dogs.

From there we drove to Red Bay, AL and the Tiffin Motorhome Co., the maker of the Allegro brand of motor homes. We arrived too early for the afternoon tour at 2PM, so we found a BBQ restaurant and had lunch. We were back at 2 for the tour and joined 8 others. The plant is small compared to Monaco, but very interesting to see the construction of the coaches. When the time comes for us to upgrade our coach I wouldn’t consider anything but Monaco. However, I have to admit I was impressed with the construction of the Allegros. The plant wasn’t as clean as Monaco's, but the end product is well-made. There are only 13 coaches a week being manufactured and the workmanship was very well done. We toured the plant in about 90 minutes and then had the chance to walk aboard some of the coaches waiting on the line that weren’t yet sold. The top-of-the-line Zephyr is a magnificent coach with some very nice luxury items on the interior. The coaches are built on Spartan chassis with 500-hp Cummins engines. The plant tour was interesting and informative, and Wayne and Kathy also seemed to enjoy it.

On Friday night the Johnsons took us to Dale’s Steakhouse on the river in Florence. We had a fantastic first-class dinner among several high school prom attendees. The young ladies were decked out in beautiful gowns accompanied by their dates dressed in tuxes. It was fun to see these kids and brought back memories of over 40? years ago.

Saturday was a day to stay home with bad weather forecasts. We experienced a huge line of thunderstorms that passed the country and rained on us. In spite of the rain I was able to change the oil on the Kia and grease the u-joints on the coach. I got a little wet, but it was only rain water and the job is finally completed. We were up early on Sunday morning to join Wayne and Kathy for Sunday school and church at the Leighton Baptist Church. Both of us enjoyed the warmth of the congregation and the friendliness we encountered. Some long-time friends of the Johnsons dropped by on their way home to central Alabama and we listened to some funny stories and memories. Sunday night was a quiet evening in preparation for our departure on Monday for the Cherokee Landing TTN park.

On Monday morning I was up early and getting the coach prepared for travel. After securing everything, I got the coach started and slowly rolled out the driveway. With Dottie watching carefully, I was able to pull into the street and make the slow turn without getting the rear wheels in the drainage ditch. We hitched up, said our goodbyes, and began to roll toward the highway. Wayne had made a phone call to a local propane dealer and they were waiting for us to fill the tank. We headed west on US-72 all the way to Walnut, MS and turned north on MS-15/TN-125 before turning west at Middleton on TN-57. We topped the fuel tank in Walnut paying $2.80/gallon for diesel fuel. We drove right past the entrance to Cherokee Landing since there was no sign. After turning around, I found the entrance, drove the 2 miles to the Ranger Station and got checked in. Much to our surprise, there are a few full hook-up sites in the park, and we got one of them. That is a pleasant relief since Dottie can use the washing machine and save some effort in washing clothes. It also means we can take showers in our coach and not have to use the restrooms.

The park is a place of absolute peace and quiet! We’ve been told we will see deer walking through the park and hear wild birds in the trees. Wayne and Kathy will drive up and spend Wednesday and Thursday with us in a cabin we already have reserved for them. It will be a great week!!

We’re on the road again! We left the Forest Lake Thousand Trails preserve about 9AM on Tuesday morning. I had decided to avoid the Interstate 40 traffic and take the back roads, as much as possible. We started out traveling on US64 and US70. The choice was a good one as we discovered the back roads are a lot more enjoyable to drive on. The roads were in perfect shape on US70 since they have almost all been recovered with asphalt. We found almost no traffic on this highway and the homes and small towns are a real joy to drive through. There were a few times that the small towns created a hassle with their signal lights and narrow streets in the incorporated towns. We had a couple of challenges when we had to turn in the mid-city areas, but these weren’t impossible to deal with. The terrain along US70 is rolling hillsides and up-and-down roadways. It probably added another hour to our travel time, but it was worth every minute.

We drove along at a much slower pace than the freeway, but we were able to enjoy the scenery and the roadway. I could hear the chatter from the trucks on I-40 (since we basically paralleled the interstate). As we drove through Hickory, NC, we saw a Super Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club collocated on the same lot. Dottie had a list of things she needed, so we pulled in to the Super Wally and did some necessity shopping. It was a good break, but I was anxious to get back on the road knowing we were moving slower than usual. The real problem with the slower roads is the occasional stop-and-go traffic we encountered. It’s harder on the brakes, a little more stressful in the metropolitan area, and we really use the Pac-brake a lot. But, the beauty of the back roads, the simplicity of the living, and the peace and quiet of the country roads makes up for the hassle in the towns.

It took us almost six hours to travel 170 miles and we finally arrived at Waynesville, NC a little after 3PM. Our destination was the Waynesville Elks Lodge. It’s located on the south edge of town in an old, two-story house. Waynesville is on the eastern slope of the Great Smokie Mountain Range. We enjoyed a couple of Bloody Mary drinks before dinner and retired to the coach for the evening. Our little weather alert radio started going off every 15-20 minutes about 11PM. It was warning of a squall line that had the potential for penny-sized hail and was moving east right in our direction. Shortly after midnight I decided that we should probably retract our slide-outs just in case. It wasn’t 10 minutes before the squall line arrived and dumped some wind-driven rain on us for about 45 minutes. We sat on the sofa for almost half an hour watching the rain come down. It was definitely a horizontal rain and we could see it in the lights outside the Lodge. When it was over, everything quieted down for the remainder of the night. In other adjoining areas of the state there was evidence of tornado activity and extremely strong winds. We were glad we secured the slide-outs (only moments before the weather reached us).

When we got up on Wednesday morning, the ground was wet and showed signs of a good, heavy rain. We didn’t get any hail, but nearly an inch of water had fallen. Thank goodness we were parked on an asphalt parking lot. We pulled out of the parking lot and headed for I-40. I decided to stay on the interstate since I knew we were going to be traveling through mountainous terrain with a lot of up-and-down driving. We had some spectacular scenery through the mountains and only reached a high of 2600’. But it was very reminiscent of traveling through the Rockies in the West. We followed a rapidly flowing river next to I-40 and even drove through a couple of tunnels. The truckers’ chatter on the CB was often entertaining, and at times became disgusting. In spite of all that, I enjoy listening to the CB and getting warned of hazards, construction, traffic issues, etc. prior to encountering it.

We arrived in Crossville, TN and Breckenridge Lake RV Resort. I had heard about this park for several years as it’s one of the home park choices offered by brokers selling used campground memberships. The park is rather small with only 60 sights, but it is clean and well maintained. I’d love to return here and spend more time in the area. The temperatures have gotten cool in the last few days - we’ve lost those warm temperatures that we enjoyed the first couple of months of the year. We saw some temps that were down in the high 30’s on Wednesday night. There is obviously so much to do in the Crossville area and we just didn’t take the time to snoop around and check out the local sights.

We were up and on the road early Thursday morning, the 5th. A little after 8AM we were ready to pull out of Breckenridge Lake and continue heading west. I decided to avoid the concrete slab of I-40 and chose US 70 instead. (It’s interesting to me, but I received an email from one of you saying you enjoy tracking our route on a map and reading about the places we traversed.) We drove US-70 all the way to Tenn. 96 and into Murfreesboro, TN. We visited the local Super Wal-Mart there and restocked some of Dottie’s vegetable supply. From there we continued on T-96 to T-840 and on to I-65 south to Columbia and US412 to the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The Parkway is a sight to see! It is a narrow two-lane road that runs from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. It covers some of the most pristine countryside in Tennessee. We drove in total amazement at the lack of traffic, the quiet beauty of the tall trees and narrow shoulders, and the lack of human trash on the roadsides. It’s a spectacular roadway and we hope to see a lot more of it in the next week. I’d hate to have any mechanical problems along the Trace as there’s nowhere to pull off the road except on what could be a very soft, dirt shoulder. We arrived at the Natchez Trace Thousand Trails preserve and found a spot to park.

This park is huge! It is an old NACO park and I’m very pleasantly surprised at the size and condition of the park. Our experiences with NACO parks in the West is that they are older, not well-maintained, and small in comparison to the other Thousand Trails parks. This park is in excellent shape and shows the pride of the member workers who take care of things. Even now, before the start of the season, the Trading Post serves breakfast every morning and has meals on the weekend nights. The big draw for the park is the Chief Creek Lake. I talked with some of the folks in the store this morning and heard that they catch bass, catfish, crappie, rock fish, etc. There were several boats ready to go after breakfast to catch their limits. The park is heavily treed and we had to search for a site that would allow us to use our satellite dish. Regular TV reception is weak as is cell phone reception. My Wilson cell phone antenna helps to improve the reception, but it still isn’t very strong.

On Friday morning we drove in to Lawrenceburg to get a 20’ sewer hose from the local Super Wally. It’s about 20 miles to town and we looked around to see what we could find. We have also discovered that there is an Amish village close to here, so we’ll be sure to drive over there for a visit.

On Saturday, the 7th, we had a very pleasant visit from some old friends from our days in Selma, AL. Wayne and Kathy Johnson, who now live near Florence, AL, drove up to Natchez Trace TTN to spend a couple of nights with us. We reserved a cabin for them and they arrived about 1PM. We had a gone down to the Ranger Station to make sure everything was ready and they pulled in while we were standing there. It was a wonderful reunion and a thrill to see them!

We spent Saturday night at the coach and had chicken barbequed on the new grill. The temperatures were still forecast to get down in the 20’s, but we cooked the bird slowly over the heat outside. We caught up on all the news for Dottie and retired for the night.

The cabin we had reserved had a window air conditioner, two beds, and most of what was needed for food preparation. Although Kathy is a fantastic cook, she didn’t need to do any cooking up here. The cabin was comfortable, but not lavish. This was our first time renting a cabin and we discovered that the process was easy and well worth the effort to have good friends join us.

On Sunday morning we arose to a temperature of 21 degrees and prepared for church. The minister that conducted the service has a church of his own in town. He comes out to the preserve to conduct a worship service and then rushes back to town for his own service and Sunday school class. He led a very relaxed service with a few hymns and a message about Easter and its real meaning. It was a very short service followed communion for those that wished. We, along with most of the worshippers, remain for the communion service. When the minister was completed, he wasted no time in getting in his car and getting back in to town.

Wayne and Kathy offered to drive us to Nashville to see the Opreyland Hotel - wow!!! What a place! It reminded me of the Mall of America in Minneapolis. It’s a huge hotel complex with several sections and the whole complex is covered and climate-controlled. There are many different themed areas and it was amazing to walk all the way around the hotel complex. We couldn’t begin to see everything and were amazed at the prices in the stores and restaurants. Since it was Easter Sunday, the buffets were charging only $35 per person! We decided that we weren’t really that hungry and would wait to get a bite of eat on the way home. This is a place to make as a destination and see the huge hotel park.

On the way home we found a Famous Dave’s BBQ restaurant and stopped for an early dinner. The food was excellent and we enjoyed the break from the car. We arrived back at the park by about 5:30. Wayne went to their cabin for a short nap, and Kathy came over to the coach to talk with Dottie and share more stories. When Wayne woke up, he came over and we sat until almost 9PM telling stories. It was a fun-filled day with good friends!

On Monday morning we were up in time for breakfast down at the Country Store. We talked about our stay with them in the next few days and are looking forward to seeing them and some of the sights they want to show us. They left about 11AM and headed back to Leighton, AL, their home. We stayed in the coach and got some washing and other odd chores completed. I got a new GPS, and Lowrence iWay 250c. There is a learning curve on this little device and I’m having a great time playing with it and learning how to use it. We have the GPS with our mapping software, but that works with the laptop. We needed a device to use in the Kia without having to haul a laptop with us. This little gem is really amazing in the database that it contains and the way it warns you of pending turns. So far, it has exceeded my expectations. Maybe it’ll make things easier navigating around areas where we’re not familiar with the roads.