RV There Yet?

We’ve been resting and relaxing here at Long Branch Campground since Monday. This Army Corp of Engineers campground is located just below the Center Hill Dam. So far, so good – the dam has held. (Like it has since 1949). The Center Hill Dam takes the Caney Fork River and makes it into the enormous Center Hill Lake. I think we’re the only folks in the campground without a boat of some type or at least a slew of fishing poles! We’ve been having a good time exploring the area. We started right at the campground by climbing up the dam (well, the embankment part of it at least.) It’s about 250 ft. UP. Man, are we out of shape! We took the kinder and gentler road on the way back down! On our trip to the nearby Edgar Evins State Park we walked out on a point and at the very end saw about 50 Gar (big, pointed snout fish) having a party. They were all swimming in clusters – I’d never seen that kind of fish before, let alone so many of them hanging around so close to shore. It was pretty cool to watch. Yesterday we went to Burgess Falls State Natural Area, where we enjoyed a beautiful hike. There were three main sets of falls – small, medium and large. The large one had an overlook, and then a path down to the bottom. We felt up to the challenge and proceeded down the path. Even when the sign said END OF TRAIL, we continued on and actually got to the very bottom of the falls. Pretty darn impressive! (both the sight of the falls, and that we old folks actually made it down and back!)

Today is a quiet catch-up day. I’m busy packing for Vermont and making sure that all of my stuff is put away since I won’t be back before Gary moves Lizzie to our June project. Our neighborhood is filling up. When we arrived on Monday only about 10 of the 60 spots were taken. All 60 will be filled by this evening (more boats, more fishing poles!). I’ll be leaving early early tomorrow morning to catch my flight out of Nashville, but Gary will be around for the next week. I’m sure he’ll be making lots of new friends! I’m leaving my cell phone and computer behind so it will be pretty quiet until next weekend. Ah, the good old days……

OK – here’s a sampling of pictures from this week’s adventures.
This is the hill/dam we climbed up - I’m not sure you can get the entire feel for how steep that was, but trust me, it was hand over hand.

This is a view from the top of the dam - that’s our RV pretty much in the center.

These shots are from our walk at Edgar Evins State Park. The view of the dam is from an observation tower.

Somehow I always overdo the number of waterfall pictures I take. I’ve tried to limit them here - but here are the three sizes available at Burgess Falls - Small, Medium & Large. (Can you find the fishermen at the base of the large fall? That’s where we walked to!)

So of course if you’d like to see more pictures of waterfalls, shorelines and dams, you can go here -
But this one I couldn’t resist. I think they need a new sign carver:-).

Gotta get to bed - the truck is leaving at 5:30am for the airport! Yippee!!! Girls’ Week!!!

How does that song go?

Make new friends, but keep the old.
Some are silver and the others are gold.

Every now and again, a weekend falls into place in the most amazing way. God gave us the opportunity to get together with friends we’ve known for almost 40 years, and friends we’ve known for only a year. And to top it off, He gave us beautiful weather and beautiful places to enjoy them with.

Thursday – our day with Jeff & Esther. We spent most of the day with them, walking along the beautiful waterfront in Chattanooga, enjoying a Clumpies Ice Cream Cone, and catching up on family news. It was a beautiful day in so many ways: Chattanooga is a beautiful city and the weather was about perfect, but being able to spend time with such good friends (whom we’ve known since high school!) was truly the most beautiful part of the day. Here are some shots from the day……

Friday to Sunday – Nashville with John & Rosie.
Our “new friends” were great hosts, taking us to see many of the local sights and sounds of Nashville. Oh, and Tastes! We ate at some great restaurants (Merridee’s for breakfast and Miller’s Grocery for dinner), walked around Historic Franklin and The Carter House, did a little shopping, worshipped together at Christ Community Church on Sunday, and spent the afternoon at the Opryland Hotel complex. My goodness, that was quite a place! The entire weekend was a delight – we were once again blessed with picture perfect weather, yummy food and wonderful company.
And a couple shots of our Nashville Adventure….
The Carter House (site of Civil War Battle)

Opryland….

And yes, that’s a boat ride INSIDE of the hotel…

And of course, if you’d like there are some additional shots here!

We’ve made it safely to our R&R location, but I’ll fill you in on that later! Time to hit the sack!

So just what exactly is the CSRA, you ask? I’ve learned a lot about the local designation for different areas of the country we’ve visited. We were in The Wiregrass when we were in Bonifay, Florida. We were in The Lower Tier when we were south of Binghamton, NY. So right now we are in The CSRA – which stands for Central Savannah River Area – and our time here is drawing to a close. But first – the weekend past.

Augusta –We left early on Saturday and were on the Riverwalk by 9AM. It was a beautiful day – bright and sunny, with endless blue skies. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll on the river’s edge, a walk into town, a visit to the Augusta Museum of History, lunch at the White Elephant Café, a tour of the Ezekiel Harris House (2nd oldest house in Augusta), a stop at a local fabric store (sorry, but that HAD to happen!), and finally a visit to The Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson. All interesting. All good. I’m glad we were able to get “into town” and see the sights. We did not make it any of the 12 non-member golf courses, but I understand they are all beautiful! Here are some shots of the day –
The Riverwalk Marina

Woodrow’s Boyhood Home

And some flowers in the Wilson Garden (probably not original to the garden )

And there are some other shots here if you’d like to see more.

Mother’s day was quiet - but I had sweet conversations with all of my beautiful children, so it was a good day. Gary pampered me with a nice lunch, and we had a DQ for dinner. Works for me!

Finishing up the project –
Betty and I continue to sort and pack Bibles. The thought of these Bibles getting into the hands of people around the globe who otherwise would never have the opportunity to own one, was very heartening. The guys have been all over the warehouse – repairing floors, painting what needed to be painted, moving shelving – whatever. It’s been a good project - good people and good times. But tomorrow after work we head out to some new adventures. First to Chattanooga where we’ll be connecting with dear friends, Jeff & Esther Talley. They are “in country” (they are missionaries in Slovakia) until Friday and we are delighted to be able to exchange hugs. From there we head to Nashville where we’ll be visiting some Sower friends. And then Monday we head into a campground for a little R&R! So we have a busy weekend ahead, which should be full of hugs and laughter and good friends. But right now – it’s time to put away the breakables and latch down all movable parts!

Here’s a memory collage of our times here – I know it’s kind of small, but I hope you can get a feel for how very blessed we feel to be part of this ministry.

God is so Good!

To Johnson City we went! The river was the Savannah and the woods were the beautiful mountains along US26 between Asheville and Johnson City. It was a glorious drive both going north on Sunday afternoon and heading south on Tuesday afternoon. Our assignment – reassemble 12 office cubicles in the STL North American headquarters. Since the guys had taken them all apart, they had a pretty good handle on putting them back together again. We ladies were the gophers and the holders and the pushers and the carriers. We got a pretty good rhythm down and with the help of one other guy at the warehouse managed to get the job done by Tuesday lunch time. For those of you who call a cubicle home during the day – we now have intimate knowledge of the ins and outs of those efficient spaces. And while they seemed pretty sterile while we were putting them up, but by the next day they had taken on the personality of each occupant. Everyone seemed pretty happy with the end results, and we were pleased with our little four state road trip (that someone else paid for!).
Here are some other highlights of our little excursion~
On our way north we stopped for a quick visit with my nephew Jonathan and his wife Emily in Asheville. We hadn’t seen them in 2 ½ years – so it was a good, though short, visit. Here is a picture of them (with his mom & dad) taken in November 2004.

And here is shot of them with us taken on Sunday.

I don’t think I have EVER seen Jon with that much hair (and I don’t think his dad has either!). What a sweet visit we had!

Although our time in Johnson City was spent mostly at work, we did enjoy a nice dinner out (Cheddars Café – new to us, and very good) and got in a little shopping. We were still on the hunt for the replacement coffee maker (we’d been brewing our morning java into a Pyrex 4 cup measure), and I’m pleased to announce that Best Buy came through with a great “open box” deal on a nice Cuisinart Thermal Coffee Maker. Sweet.

And the scenery – WOW! Even though it was interstate most of the way, it was still a delight. Here are some of my favorite shots – most taken from the NC rest stop (heading south) or a scenic overlook also in NC. But the smoky mountains one was taken out of the moving car through an open window. I love the blue blue sky on most of them, but the hazy mountain one is probably my favorite.

All in all, a very fun adventure.

Oh – did I mention two nights sleeping in a king size bed, 100 channels on the TV, a really fine full size shower and a free continental breakfast complete with make your own Belgium waffles? Ooooooooooo

We head out on a little mini-adventure this afternoon. All four of us will be heading to Johnson City for a day or two to re-assemble the office cubicles that the guys dis-assembled last week. The drive to Johnson City takes us through some beautiful country (and Asheville, NC where we get to stop for a quick visit with my nephew and his wife - Jon & Emily ), so we’re excited about our little side trip - especially since someone else will pay for the gas and accommodations! Gotta love it!

Have a blessed Lord’s Day all!