Updates and Redecorating

I have never particularly enjoyed having things stay the same all the time.  I get bored.  I also love home decorating.  With that in mind, we have made a lot of changes in our RV since we first bought it.  I have never cared for floral deco and the RV was full of it... the cornices and curtains, bedspread, wall paper, sofa etc... were all floral prints.  YUCK!  It's taken me awhile but I think I have gotten rid of all the floral stuff.  One of the first things we did to the RV after purchasing it was to remove those horrid day/night shades.  They were a booger to operate especially in areas where you had to climb over furniture to operate them. We replaced them with plantation style blinds and have never regretted that change.  The bedding had to be changed too and since that was a simple fix that was the second item I changed.  We now have a plain brown down filled comforter.  I recently pulled down the head board and removed the ugly floral print on it and covered it with something more contemporary.  All of the window treatments have been changed from the originals. New curtains, blinds and recovering all the cornices in fabric that is in earth tones and more on the simple side.  We replaced the two original recliners about a year or so ago.  Oh and several years ago we removed the carpet and put down wooden flooring.  We still have carpet in the bedroom and on two of the slides, one under the recliners and another under the dining table and chairs.  I have never liked the clear glass globes on the lights and we finally replaced the three hanging over the kitchen island.  The new ones look so much better.  I would love to find smaller matching ones for the dining area and living room where the recliners are located but so far no such luck.  The most recent change we made was to remove the sofa bed.  It was a regular size sofa but only had a twin size bed in it.  We donated it along with a ton of other things to Goodwill.  Hopefully someone else can use it.  We found the perfect sofa bed on Craigslist, great price, queen size bed and the color works well with my new earth tone color scheme.  We also recently replaced our large king size mattress with a nice queen size.  The RV had been upgraded to include a king size bed but it took up the entire space and made it difficult to walk around the sides of the bed.  The smaller mattress gives us more room and we absolutely love the new mattress, it is a very nice one.  The next item to replace will be the TV's.  The old ones are very heavy and now we have the new HD satellite and want to streamline the big old TV's and replace with the newer and much lighter weight HD TV's.  Below are a few photos of our upgrades and redecorating.  I should have taken before and after photos but didn't even think to do that.  

 the new globes on lights over kitchen island

 new sofa, blinds, curtains and cornices

 new queen size sofa bed

 recliners, blinds, curtains and cornices

 replaced headboard, curtains and bedding, added trim to lampshades

I plan to make some throw pillows later

 view from bedroom looking into living room and kitchen

new wood flooring

dining area with new curtains and cornices

What A Day!

The day actually started last night when we hooked up the RV to the truck for the first time in 4 years. At one time we had that down pretty good and I must say that after all this time we still have a good system.  We had to leave very early this morning so we took showers last night and did everything we could so this morning all we'd have to do was get up and dressed and be on our way. What we had not considered was the incline the RV would be in overnight.  It was quite steep! Imagine trying to walk around inside the RV... it was wild! There was no way we could sleep on our bed in the normal fashion.  We would have both rolled off into the floor.  So we slept sideways across the bed.  I normally have a great deal of difficulty sleeping if we are not perfectly level so I was concerned.  At least our heads would be higher than our feet and we wouldn't roll off.  We must have been extra tired because we both slept well thru the night.  We were up early and on the road by 6:30am.  We had about a 30 mile drive to Camping World and the old tires we were having replaced were not looking good.  We were both a little concerned and prayed we'd make it safely. Along the way we stopped off at a truck stop to have the rig weighed.  We knew we had added weight with the hardwood flooring and other items but had taken care to get rid of as much stuff as possible.  Unfortunately we were overweight. What it boils down to is I didn't get my washer/dryer.  Needless to say I am disappointed. That means back to going to laundry mats which I absolutely hate.  Oh well... what can I say?  We did get the new tires installed as well as the fancy satellite dish.  We bought the Winegard Travl'r and it is mounted to the roof top.  It is very simple and quick, just one push of the button and it automatically locates and locks onto the satellites. Worth every penny!!!  David and I have had our share of trying to locate satellites with a dish on a tripod.  Oh the headaches that always was for us. There will likely be times we'll still have to use that method when we park in a heavily treed area but at least it won't be all the time. Now we need to find about 700 pounds to get rid of.  I don't understand all the weights, there are three different ones and apparently one of them is 700 pounds too much and has to do with the truck and weight of it with the hitch.  I'm thinking David may need to get rid of his big tool box and all those tools he thinks he needs.  Surely he can scale down to the necessities or find tools that are of multi use.  I know he's got way more than is required and tools are heavy! That's the only place I can think of where we can reduce weight.   Anyway, hooking and unhooking and rehooking and then leaving the RV behind to get the work done then driving back to the RV park this afternoon and set up again was a lot of physical work on these two old bodies. We opted not to pull under the awning this time around so we could use our new satellite dish so that meant backing into the site where our barn was located.  Oh, and today the mover finally came and moved the barn for the lady who bought it several weeks ago.  We were worried he was never going to come after promises day after day and still a no show.  But it is gone now and we are occupying the site.  After we dropped the RV off at Camping World this morning we went out to breakfast at Denny's then decided to drive on to the Cowpens National Battlefield to buy our National Park Passports.  We bought them and had them stamped.  Hoping that is the first of many, many National Parks we will visit in the coming years on our travels.  While at Cowpens I got very sick.  Not sure what was going on, but fairly sure it was something I ate at Denny's.  I wasn't able to enjoy our time at the park and we didn't get to do much of anything there.  Good thing we'd been there before and at least we got our passports and got them stamped before I got sick.  So now we are in our site here at the lake and will remain here for the next week.  We are set up and enjoying a new view and are completely wiped out.  It may be an early night.  

The Georgia Guidestones

The main thing of interest to me while on our little adventure to Georgia was to visit the Georgia Guidestones.  Living in this geographical area for most of my life I had never heard of the Georgia Guidestones until a few months ago.  As soon as I heard about them I knew I would have to make a trip there.  They are known as America’s Stonehenge.  On a knoll about 8 miles north of the town of Elberton, Georgia they stand in all their glory.  I was not disappointed.  There is a great mystery surrounding these stones.  No one knows for sure, although there is some speculation, just who was behind these stones.  Elberton is known as the granite capital of the world and the guidestones are  four granite monoliths, each nineteen feet tall. The main cluster was completed on March 22, 1980, using granite quarried from nearby Elberton.  On the top stone, carved on the four sides in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Babylonian Cuneiform, it says: "Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason." On the upright slabs, carved in eight different languages,  Swahili, Hebrew, Chinese, Russian, English, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic, are Ten Guides for the coming "Age of Reason.”  Here are the guides:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

The structure also has astronomical features.  Holes and slots carved into the granite stones are for viewing these astronomical features.  Sunbeam thru the capstone marks noon time each day.  A long diagonal hole through the center stone allows the north star, Polaris, to always be visible.  More slots indicate the annual travel of the sun allowing one to see where the sun rises on the solstices and equinoxes.  The four large stones are oriented to north, south, east and west.  There is a lot more interesting info on these stones but I don’t want to write a book here, just give enough info to let the reader know a little something about them.  I encourage you to google the Georgia Guidestones to learn more.  I found them extremely interesting and plan to go back again soon. Unfortunately some locals who don’t like having these stones in the area think they are demonic in nature have defaced the stones over the years.  The city of Elberton owns the stones and maintains trying to keep them clean.  On the day we were there vandalism was evident with not so nice graffiti spray painted on a few of the stones.  

Center of the World

Before we headed to Georgia on Sunday I looked up directions to another attraction I have been wanting to visit for some time.  As luck would have it the particular site I looked at was called Roadside America and had a list of other interesting things to see in the area.  These are off the beaten path type things that we just love discovering in our travels.  The Center of the World was one of these places.  Imagine my surprise to discover the center of the world was in Hartwell, Georgia.  Well it was at one time to one group of people.  Today a historical marker on the side of the road declares that this spot is the "Center of the World." At least it was to the Cherokee, who called it "Ah-Yeh-Li A-Lo-Hee." Trails radiated in all directions from this hub, so the designation made sense, at least, before people arrived from places that the trails didn't go (like Europe). Hartwell was also, according to the plaque placed here, a popular roosting spot for migrating passenger pigeons.  David has always insisted that HE is the center of the world so naturally he insisted that I make his photo standing next to the sign.  

click on the photo to enlarge for reading

Watson Mill Bridge

I have always loved the old covered bridges.  While in Georgia over the weekend we went to Watson Mill Bridge State Park.  It is a lovely park with a lazy river running thru it.  Canoe and pedal boat rentals are available and many people get in the water and cool off on hot summer days.  The covered bridge is a long one and the first one that I have seen that you actually drive thru.  All of the ones I have seen in the past are closed and you can walk thru them but not allowed to drive thru them so this was a treat.  The bridge was built in 1885 and was 236 feet long.  It is the longest covered bridge in Georgia and one of the longest in the United States.  And yes, this covered bridge is located in Madison County!  David and I had a picnic lunch next to the bridge and enjoyed a perfect day.

Cicadas

Yesterday we took a nice drive to Georgia and spent the day checking out a couple of state parks and took in some interesting sights while in the area.  I plan to blog about several of our experiences this week but today will focus on cicadas.  I had heard on the news that the 13 year cicadas are coming out of the ground this year and we are to be prepared for the noise they make.  So far we have not heard them and that was the last thing on our mind when we pulled into one of the state parks.  It was a quiet Sunday and as we drove into the park we could hear a horrible noise.  We both thought it was the truck.  David opened the windows and we both listened.  The sound was overpowering and certainly couldn't be anything good.  He got out and lifted the hood and we could still hear the noise.  He decided to turn off the engine and we could still hear it.  We breathed a sign of relief but that ear piercing sound was filtering thru the air and we couldn't imagine what could be causing it.  We finally stopped and talked to the camp host and she informed us it was cicadas! For about 6 weeks or so they will be making their sounds.  I've never heard anything quite like it before.  It is extremely irritating.  I suppose you would get used to it after a while.  The lady we spoke with said they have been out for about 3 weeks now and she doesn't even notice them anymore.  While in the park we noticed quite a few dead cicadas on the ground.  We didn't see any alive but the sounds they were making certainly let us know there were there.  I have included a link to the 13 year cicadas for those interested in reading more. (click the title of this blog to read get to the link). Below is a photo I took of one of the many dead cicadas we saw yesterday.  

Purchases and Work Scheduled

Today we purchased the washer/dryer unit for the RV along with the TV satellite and tires. Installations are scheduled to take place May 24-26.  With that in mind we will be leaving our current park a bit earlier than we had planned.  RV roof was cleaned yesterday and today the entire rig is being washed and waxed. We will be starting our adventure in a clean RV with the updates done.  NICE!  Now we are scrambling to find a campground for the busy Memorial Day weekend... yikes!  Thought we had it all worked out by waiting until June 1st to leave this park but because of the holiday the installation work has to be done earlier and we won't be able to come back to this site once we leave because the new satellite dish installation will prohibit us from fitting back under the awning on this particular site.  Oh well... not to worry.  We'll figure something out.  For us it just means we get to start earlier than we had planned and that is a good thing!  

Babies

I love birds.  Since we've been in this spot we've had five bird houses and each year usually only one will have birds in it.  Each year a pair of Eastern Blue Birds have taken up residence in one of the boxes and raised three or four nests of babies over the course of the summer.  I am not sure if it is the same two birds who stay all summer or not but the same house is used over and over and over all summer then the next summer they choose a different house and use it all summer too.  This year we have been doubly fortunate as two of our bird houses have residents in them.  A pair of Finches are raising their young in one and a pair of Eastern Blue Birds are raising their babies in another at the same time.  Both of the houses stay busy all day long with the mother and father birds flying in and out every few minutes with food for their babies.  I've yet to see any of the babies but we certainly hear them singing all day long.  They are quite noisy but it is music to my ears.  I have a few bird feeders that I plan to take along in our travels and hope to have a few birds stop by for feeding but this may be the last of us having the opportunity to have babies to watch.  Along with the Finches and Blue Birds we also have a pair of mallard ducks that visit us daily.  They know I always have food for them so they make an appearance several times a day.  I'm thinking they may have a  nest nearby along the lake edge although I've not seen one but they tend to hang out there all the time when they are not here at our RV site.  We are leaving the five bird houses behind when we leave and hope that the birds will continue to use them and bring joy to future occupants of this site.  

Preparing

David and I have been in this RV park for the past four years.  Now we are in a position to travel again and can't wait to hit the road.  In the beginning we are not planning on straying too far away.  We have reservations up until mid July and at this point we don't want to make plans any further out.  We are spending our remaining weeks of May trying to prepare everything for full time traveling.  Two new batteries were installed this week and today for the first time since we moved the fifth wheel into this spot we pulled in the four slides.  YES!  They worked just fine.  We pulled up the carpet about a year or so ago and had wood flooring installed so today we were both holding our breath as we tested the slides.  I'm thinking that test should have been performed when the flooring was being installed but at this point it doesn't matter because they work fine.  I have completely organized everything inside the RV as well as the basement storage area.  Everything is in clear plastic boxes with snap lock lids and properly labeled.  I have to have things organized and I am just hoping David will do his best to help keep it that way.  We had a big sale a couple of weeks ago and got rid of all the stuff that has been accumulating over the past four years.  Sold our car, washer and dryer, big refrigerator/freezer and now the last big item remaining is the 10x16 storage barn we had built on the adjacent site. Once that is sold we can breathe a big sigh of relief.  Now we are updating the RV to get it all ready for our adventures.... new TV satellite and washer/dryer are to be installed soon as well as new tires for the RV.  We will be leaving this park near the end of May and heading to a state park in Georgia.  In our remaining days here we hope to take in a couple of factory tours that we have been meaning to take but have not had time until now.  If we fit them in I will be sure to blog about them.  

Wrightsville Beach, NC

After the interesting geocache find we opted to spend the day at Wrightsville Beach.  It was a hot, sunny day and just perfect.  The water was cool but that didn't stop Hannah, Jordan and Elizabeth from getting in the ocean.  The entire family played bocce ball and David is the king when it comes to winning that game.  What fun! Wrightsville Beach is a pretty beach and although it is still fairly early in the season it was quite crowded for the Easter weekend holiday.

Hannah the mermaid

Wrightsville Beach sand dunes

Wilmington, NC

David and I are getting ready to hit the road and start traveling in our RV again.  The past month has been a very busy one with us getting everything prepared and getting rid of the "stuff" we have accumulated over the past few years.  It is amazing how quickly you gather things.  Last weekend was Easter and we decided to take a trip to the coast of NC to visit our son and daughter-in-law.  This was a car trip but I wanted to blog about the trip because of something we did that was fun and interesting and I felt I needed to share.  We had our grand daughter with us on the trip and decided to do some geocaching.  Jordan took us to a cache he had previously found and it had to do with Venus Fly Trap plants.  The only place on the planet where they grow in the wild is within a 100 mile radius of Wilmington, NC.  I have always been fascinated by these plants and over the years I have owned several but this was the first time I had ever seen them growing wild.  They were just coming up for the season and were still on the small side but it was fantastic to see them.  Lots of pitcher plants were blooming as well.  Below are a couple of photos.

Hannah, Elizabeth and Jordan walking on the trail where the Venus Fly Traps and Pitcher plants were growing

Venus Fly Traps growing in the wild