Thom and Dar's Sabbatical Journal

I think Cousin Deb's wondering if we'll ever leave... perhaps concerned we've lost our wanderlust... our love of traveling. I mean, we have found our digs here at her country estate very comfortable. And the food has been extraordinary. Speaking of food, between our almost two week stay with Tim and Chris, and our now going on a week stay with Cousin Deb, I've packed on some weight... am now almost 7 pounds over my ideal fighting weight. There's been a lot of fun and pleasure putting it on which I probably won't experience as it comes off. But come off it must. Back to Cousin Deb... perhaps as a result of her concern about us and lost wanderlust, yesterday she loaded us in the car and drove us to Charleston, about two hours away. She kept saying "See how much fun traveling can be? New places to experience... New sights to see.  "Going" can be so much fun." Cousin Deb posing with some crotchety old thing... and a big tree in the backg

It's been a long time since I've been awakened by machine gun fire. Come to think of it... I've never been awakened by machine gun fire. Except for this morning. The sharp staccato bursts were unmistakable... clearly machine gun fire. But why?  Who was creating all this ruckus? Scanning the news, there was nothing about new civil war activity (remember, the first Civil War did start in South Carolina) or an escalation of tensions between Republicans and Democrats. No news about the nut-jobs and wing-nuts in the tea party. There was nothing at all to explain this unusual wake-up call. But Cousin Deb had the answer. Her place, our current parking spot, is very close to Fort Jackson , a basic-training base for the Army. Depending on the day it's possible to hear all sorts of booms, bangs, pops, and yes, even machine gun fire. Well, that's OK by me... as these men and women need to be trained somewhere. I just wish their talents and training could be used closer to

Besides visiting State Capitol buildings, one of the other "themes" that drive our explorations is visiting National Parks. The National Park Service has hundreds of places they manage (National Monuments, National Seashores, etc.), but there are only 58 places designated National Parks by the NPS. Before today, we've visited 32 of the 58, and today knocked off number 33. Congaree National Park was so designated in 2003 -- the second newest in the System (Great Sand Dunes in Colorado is newer... in 2004). Sitting along the banks of the Congaree River, this 24,000 acre park preserves the largest contiguous area of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States. Much of the park is a floodplain of the Congaree River and depends on alternating wet and dry periods to maintain this unique ecosystem. Until the latter half of the 1800s there were over a million acres of wetland hardwood forests in South Carolina alone. But by the 1970s, less than 15,000 acres re

A few years ago, during one of our prior visits, Cousin Deb gave us a driving tour of Columbia South Carolina. One of the spots we stopped was the Capitol Building, here referred to as the State House. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday and the building wasn't open. Left to walk the grounds and view the exterior... both of which are impressive, we knew we'd have to return another time to do the interior. So today we took care of that unfinished business. Most of this building, the exterior walls anyway, pre-date the Civil War. Construction was started in 1855, slowed considerably during the war, and stopped altogether when Sherman marched through Columbia, burning some government buildings and shelling the walls of the unfinished State House. (There are six remaining scars from that action, marked by six bronze stars.) After the war, it took until 1907 to finish the building, although parts of it were put into use during the process. We found it to be a typical capitol buil

OK. It's Monday. The holiday weekend is behind us. It's time to get moving again. What's that old saying?... after two or three weeks (?) guests, like fish, start to smell. Our hosts Tim and Chris have to get back to their routine and it's time for us to uproot the bus-house from it's meadow parking spot and get on with our nomadic life. We extend a huge "Thank You" to Tim and Chris for making us feel soooo at home. So this morning, about 11:08am, after hugs and a tear or two, we watched as our friends and Heidi (their wonderdog) disappeared in the rear-view mirror. Our route would take us down I-77, about 100 miles, and then off on state roads to my cousin Deb's house. We've been to Deb's a couple times in the past, and like stopping to catch up with her when we're close. Along the way we stopped for fuel (3.91) at Pilot/Flying J, and also took advantage of their dump station to clear the holding tanks. We also needed propane, but t

First, let me report for the record, that yesterday's Thanksgiving Dinner was, without a doubt, the best we've had in many years... certainly the best we've had since starting our Sabbatical over 5 years ago. Our hosts and best-friends Tim and Chris were the culinary artists who pulled it all together in a seemingly effortless manner and we could only stand aside and marvel at the sensory performance, choreography, and simply scrumptious results. It'll be one we'll remember for a long long time. "Thanks" is not an adequate word to describe what we feel about it all. On Friday we (all four of us) loaded up in the car and drove a short distance to the Shelby North Carolina area to visit a couple wineries. The day was a good one... sunny and seasonably warm. Considering the calorie load from the previous day, we probably should have walked the 40 miles each way. While my taste runs more toward craft beer than wine (hops!... I want hops!), the purpose

Dar and I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving Day. We have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which are our family and friends. And then there's all those good folks we meet along the way. Each of those chance meetings enhances our nomadic lifestyle and provides a sense of community that we really treasure. We'll be enjoying the day with our BFFs - Tim and Chris - while we put together a traditional holiday meal here at their home.  A big 18 pound turkey, dressing, 'taters, and a selection of vegetables... and we can't forget pumpkin pie. Weather's great... mid 60s and full sun.  Enjoy the day.

Day broke bright and clear and cold... 36 degrees here a few mile north of Knoxville TN. Hopped out of bed, fired up the furnace, switched on the engine block heater to start warming the fifteen hundred pounds of cold Cummins steel, and started a pot of coffee before slipping back between the sheets. Total elapsed time of less than a minute. After things warmed a bit we got serious about final preps for moving and had the bus-house on the road at 10:30am. Stopped for fuel just east of Knoxville (3.83 diesel) and continued on I-40 toward Asheville NC. Between Knoxville and Asheville the road follows a narrow gorge through the mountains cut by the Pigeon River. A 4 lane divided highway fits, but just barely, in the narrowest stretch that extends for maybe 30 or 40 miles. There are no high passes or steep grades, but plenty of twists and turns that keep the speed of trucks and fat old RVs like ours below 50 for much of that portion. click to enlarge Even though many, maybe even mo

A portion of the original unaltered Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap. Walking with Daniel Boone. A short update on this cloudy rainy day. We're now planning to leave Raccoon Valley SKP Park tomorrow, Tuesday. The inclement weather is supposed to end tonight and the next few days will be much nicer, albeit much cooler. We're going to let the overnight freezing temps warm a bit before we go... to let the sun work on any ice at the higher elevations along our path. But the day looks like a good one for travel. With any luck at all, we'll be arriving at Tim and Chris's house south of Charlotte by late afternoon.

We're in rain-delay here at Raccoon Valley SKP in Tennessee. A large cold air mass is moving eastward setting off showers and storms as it passes through. As I'm writing (Monday afternoon) a steady heavy rain is falling. It's going to rain for the rest of the day, then clear up and turn much cooler tomorrow. Saturday, the 10th, we hung around the RV park and did nothing noteworthy. But yesterday, the 11th, we drove up to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, about an hour northeast of here. If you look at a map, it's right where the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. Most of us have heard of the Cumberland Gap... I know I have since I was a kid. But I really didn't know much detail about it or it's importance to the development of our country. Specifically, it's one of only three natural "gaps" in the Appalachians that allow for an easy passage from one side of the mountains to the other. During the late 1700s and ea

Knowing we'd be loosing an hour today by moving into the Eastern Time Zone, an early start was preferred. Preferred, but not realized. As it was we finally got going about 10am (11am EST), which was still OK since the distance today was just a little over 200 miles. We've really become fans of Kentucky Parkways. There are 9 of them, each built years ago (when States actually had money to spend on projects like this) to ease travel around this rugged State. These four lane interstate-like roadways used to be tollways. But unlike some other States (Illinois for one), they tore down the toll booths once the initial bonds were paid off. Apparently due to where they're placed and what they connect, we've found the traffic is on the light side... and not many trucks. The majority of truck traffic sticks to the frantic Interstate system. We took the Cumberland Parkway to the east from the Mammoth Cave area --  a wonderful road. Poking along at 55 miles per hour and 1500

Had originally planned to head east today... to somewhere near Knoxville TN. But we woke to heavy fog and eventually decided that a day spent getting caught up on pictures, writing, a little maintenance, and other administrivia would be in order. So we paid for another day and will travel tomorrow.

Stayed up until almost 1am last night watching Romney crash and burn. All I'm going to say about the whole affair is that if the Republicans couldn't win the Presidency this year, they have no hope of ever winning again -- at least in their current form and with their current cast of clueless characters. I just don't see any organization that includes the so-called "tea party" ever finding a way to include the increasingly important and growing numbers of Hispanics and other minorities. They're simply mutually exclusive. Today we drove into Mammoth Cave National Park. Considering the cloudy and dreary weather, it was a perfect day to hike through caverns a few hundred feet below the surface. The Park Service recently opened a new visitor center where we stopped first to orient ourselves and learn more about the Park and it's features. Just last week they opened the new museum exhibit area which included a couple films that provided a good overview for

Decided not to partake in a Cracker Barrel breakfast this morning. It probably wasn't in our best interest to take on a load of calories since we were going to be driving and sitting on our butts most of the day. And if you don't burn off the calories you know what happens... just look around. The route today from Effingham IL had us continuing south on I-57, then east on I-64 (very relaxed and parkway-like) to I-164 down around Evansville IN where we hooked US-41 south for a few miles, crossed into Kentucky and found the Audubon Parkway. When we got to Owensboro we followed the US-60 loop around the south end of the city and eventually got onto the William Natcher Parkway which took us all the way to Bowling Green. A short jaunt north on I-65 took us to Cave City and the Cave Country RV Park. Total distance today was about 320 miles. Once we got off I-57 the traffic was light and the roads were in good shape... one of those very relaxed and comfortable drives. We're pa

We rolled out of the farmyard this morning about 8:40. First stop was the tire store, Pomps, where I had the new tires installed a week ago.  They like checking the lug nut torque after a few miles... to make sure everything is snug... if you can call almost 500 ft/lbs "snug".  Sounds "eff"-ing TIGHT to me. Back on the road by 10am, we pointed the nose south and added 350 miles to the odometer before we stopped. Well, the odometer said 350 miles but the GPS insisted it was a bit over 370 miles. The difference between the two is the result of the new larger diameter tires. When it's convenient, and when I'm near a Cummins/Allison shop in the next few weeks, I'll have them adjust the on-board computer for the new shoes. We stopped tonight at a familiar spot... a Cracker Barrel in Effingham Illinois. In April of last year we parked in the exact same spot on our way back to Wisconsin from our Winter in Texas. While they don't charge anything for the

We arrived in Beaver Dam back in mid-July. So when we blow out of town tomorrow, Monday, we'll have been here about three and a half months.  Well, we did take almost a month of that time in Michigan -- the "lower" part for more than a week and the "upper" part... the Yooper part... the part that really should have been part of Wisconsin, for more than two weeks. But other than that we've been right here, on our RV pad out at the farm, for going-on three months. The reason we make Beaver Dam part of our annual rotation is family. All four of our parents live in the area, all four are in their 80s, and all four, like most folks lucky enough to achieve octogenarian status, have health and medical issues to deal with from time to time. Since we're able to do so, we like being able to lend-a-hand, helping with repairs, maintenance, and up-keep on their homes, and just being there for them... like they were for us many years ago. But the thermometer is fa