The Big Apple - Redone

After logging back in to start on a new post, I discovered that Blogger had deleted the majority of this post except for the opening paragraph! I am beyond pissed! It took quite a bit of time to get this posted and I am NOT happy to have to do it again. It was saved various times as Bill was able to bring it up on his laptop and I had to do quite a bit of spacing editing. This seems to be a commonplace problem with Blogger and I am not sure why Google does not address it! I will be using Microsoft Live Writer in the future to avoid problems such as this.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=55355e11a41acf3a&hl=en

Bill's next Target store was in Stamford Connecticut which is only across the Long Island Sound from New York City so we decided to take a day and get an idea of what the city offered and if we would like to come back at a later time to explore an area or an attraction in more depth. As we are not really into the art or museum locations we were able to ignore a very large amount of the typical tourist destinations.

Our day began with a commuter train ride from New Haven, Connecticut to Grand Central Station. Grand Central was, to be honest, quite grand. I was amazed at the sheer size as well as the rather ornate ceilings and walls. http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/index.cfm We then had to walk a short distance to the northwest side of Times Square to meet up with the tour bus. Our tour guide, Faith, was a native New Yorker currently living in Brooklyn and boy did she have the accent to go with it!
http://www.allnewyorktours.com/Body.asp?tour=NYC-B0045&Page=TourDetails

We made various stops including Strawberry Fields, the 2.5 acre part of Central Park West that is dedicated to John Lennon as he lived across the street.

The Dakota Apartments where John Lennon lived and was shot and where Yoko Ono still lives today.

The tour continued with drives near the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Trump Towers.

We visited Wall Street and saw the preserved part of the original wall that was used as a stockade. Maybe if it were still in use today the brokers and bankers would have through twice about screwing us over and almost bringing the country to its knees! It was also the only place where we saw armed police in commando type gear -- they started after 9/11 when Wall Street and the surrounding blocks were closed to vehicle traffic and I'm not quite sure if it was to protect us from the stockbrokers or the stockbrokers from us!

There is also a statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall as that is where he was inaugurated and not in Washington DC. I am not quite sure why the stopped the practice as it is painfully obvious that more than ever the shots are called by Wall Street and the rich!

I would like to spend more time exploring nearby Trinity Church and it's cemetary which is to the left front of the building. http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/

Part of the tour consisted of a boat ride around New York Harbor. We saw Brooklyn and Manhattan as well as the Brooklyn and George Washington Bridges and the New Jersey side of the harbor. Of course, the tour took us by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The next time we are here we will be taking the boat ride and tour of both Ellis Island and hopefully go up into the Statue also.
http://www.nywatertaxi.com/

All in all it the visit turned out to be much like our visit to Disney World. It would have been awesome about 20 years ago as New York has a vibe that I really can't say I have felt anywhere else. But now with the traffic and people everywhere it is a nice place to visit - once in a while or course - but we definitely would not want to live there! Here are a few video scenes from our visit with the sounds of who else but Ol' Blue Eyes...

Being Home Part II

It was very difficult for both of us to be home for so short a time and then have to leave. It wasn't as hard the first time we left in October of 2009 as we knew winter was coming and it is something we both dislike rather intensely. It was not even as hard when we were back last March before Bill started this job with Prime as we didn't know what would come of it and we hadn't been so many places. It was harder for a couple of reasons, one being that summer is coming and I wanted to garden and Bill wants to fish. Also, now that we have traversed the US a couple of times and visited 26 of the 50 states we have a somewhat different view of traveling. Do we still like it? Absolutely. Do we like moving every week or so? Absolutely not. Do we like staying in Walmart parking lots or at truck stops to save money? Again, we would pass on this if we could.


Right now we are sitting in the truck section of a service stop on the Connecticut Turnpike because there are no Super Walmarts nor campgrounds near to Bill's Target in Stamford. Space is such a premium around here that the Target does not have a parking lot but rather a parking garage. I am getting tired of the loud and dirty truck stops -- Bill couldn't sleep very well this afternoon due to the noise and there were two large piss bottles left lying next to the rig from some trucker overnight.


On the other hand we are seeing and doing things that many people will never have the chance, or perhaps take the chance, to do. I know I should feel grateful that we have this opportunity but sometimes I just want to have the quiet of my woods and to wake up knowing exactly where I am in the first few coherent moments. Sometimes I actually have to remind myself where we are in the morning. I should let it go and go with the flow more but the organized part of me is frustrated at not being able to plan ahead more than two weeks or so. For example, we know this Sunday he has to be in Montgomeryville which is a northern suburb of Philadelphia. After that? He talked to one of the project managers at work today and he said that there may be work in Minnesota after that. Great! But we just spent $1000 on fuel coming home and now we have to head back that way again? And then after that Atlanta? I am not sure how we are going to be able to swing this with the fuel costs if they keep zigzagging us around like this. It is not very easy for me to find work to help out when we are in large areas like this where I don't know where I'm going and if the area is safe to work either. Plus the way they drive on I-95 is absolutely nuts. Connecticut even had to take out the toll booths as there were too many accidents on the turnpike!


Sometimes this life feels almost surreal, like we have been doing it forever and that it is "normal".

Being Home Part I

When Bill found out that he would have a week off from work the week before Easter we debated driving the rig all the way from Falls Church, Virginia to Pickerel only to drive back to Stamford, Connecticut for his next Target store. I had to return to Wisconsin to get my driver's license renewed as the state of Wisconsin would allow me to get an eye exam at my own expense and then mail them the paperwork. What they couldn't seem to comprehend is that General Delivery IS an address. They flat out refused to send my new license to either the house in Pickerel or to a General Delivery address. Which was somewhat ok as I did have to see my doctor in order to continue getting my fibromyalgia meds. So we left Virginia on Wednesday, April 13 after Bill and Junior had gotten a few hours sleep. That actually put us ahead of schedule as we had not know how many days each of this new Target project would take so I had not made any of our appointments until Tuesday the 19th to be on the safe side especially as along the way Bill had to stop in Terre Haute Indiana, downtown Chicago and Kenosha to do initial inspections on three Dollar Trees.


After 2 1/2 long days of driving we finally arrived home on Friday night the 15th. We had added two additional stops -- one in Kenosha so I was sure to have my driver's license for the weekend and not have to wait in line on a Monday at the DMV in Rhinelander and one at Wendt's for the first fish fry we have had in over a year. We were so glad that the quality of perch at Wendt's had not changed one bit although it is up to $35 for 30 oz. Bill and I ordered the 30 oz dinner and split it and it was gone in short order. This was Michelle and Junior's first Wisconsin fish fry and they really liked it. We had told them many times that as far as fish goes catfish can't touch perch fish fry with a 10 foot pole. Unfortunately later in our visit we have to say we were disappointed in the fish at the Darboy Club. Wendt's definitely does not have to worry about them as far as competition -- Wendt's blows the Darboy Club out of the water.


So good news was that we were home. The bad news was more than we had bargained for. We knew that there had been mice in the house -- where would you go in winter in Pickerel? But the mice were the least of the problems. Pretty much everything motorized was broken. The boiler had gone out sometime over the winter and anything that had a little bit of water in it froze up. That includes the boiler itself, the woodburner, the hydrogen peroxide water filter system, the washer, the dish washer, the emergency generator and to top it off, the hot tub heater. I had been dreaming of the hot tub for weeks and was not able to get into it even once. Bill repaired the boiler and the woodburner as we did need the heat but we decided to leave the rest to fix for when we can get back and stay for some time. No sense fixing something that would just turn around and break again next winter.


Our friends Al and Jan, who Bill met while working at Amazon in 2009, had done a remodel of their Adventurer and posted pictures on Facebook. It got me very much wanting to redo our rig so that my paperwork and office stuff would be more organized.

My organization nemesis has always been paper and living in the rig definitely did not improve the situation. The bench seating was never used except on one side for my desk. The sofa and Bill's chair by the door were done in equally ugly colors and patterns and the walls were white with confetti-like streamers of blue, green and pink.  Granted our rig is 13 years old but I want to believe that good taste is good taste. Even rigs that I see that are brand new are gorgeous on the outside but the inside is all chrome and mirrors. Why can't RV interiors be done with specific styles that are somewhat attractive? Granted our style is "Retro North of Hwy 64" but it fits us and suits us much better than the white confetti did.

Because weight is always paramount in an RV along with something being anchored down, we decided to go to the IKEA in Woodbridge Virginia while we were out there and see what they had. Truth be told I had never understood the fascination with IKEA but I sure do now! I am a convert! The store was huge and everything set up to give you ideas as well as step by step instructions on how to put together the items in various combinations.  We brought the desk and bookcase back in the back of the truck as most everything at IKEA is sold unassembled.





We had started to lay peel and stick tiles to the floor last year because the carpeting was way, way too ugly and way too hard to keep clean with the monsters. Unfortunately we waited too long to buy the entire amount of tiles from Lowe's and they had discountinued the style. So we had to choose a new one which you see on the upper part of the floor slide. We will be ripping out the older stuff on the lower level so it all matches. And this time we will do it right away! So our first chore after arriving home besides trying to repair what needed repairing in the house was to rip out the old sofa and chair.

Then I went to work with a gallon of khaki colored paint and in two coats voilà! The ugly white confetti walls were gone. I am not quite all the way organized but am well on my way compared to using the bench seating. Pumpkin and Dozey are not too thrilled that their sofa is gone but right now we have quilts on the floor between the bookcase and the driver's seat for them until we can find a small enough something to fit in that space. We are thinking about getting pet beds but I don't think
Dozer will use one as he likes hogging ours too much except when it is just too hot. This project took quite some time while we were home but it is so worth it that I feel more comfortable and things aren't all over the place. If we have to live in it we want to be comfortable in it.

That Crazy Town - Nashville Tennessee

While in Nashville we had been thinking of doing some sightseeing but from what I read on TripAdvisor.com the Opry isn't what it used to be and the Country Music Hall of Fame focuses a lot of attention on old time country and that just wasn't working for us so on Friday April 1 we decided to go down to downtown Nashville check out the music that was playing in the multitude of bars that play live music. As we had the RV in the airport parknig we took the shuttle to the main terminal and caught a taxi from there to downtown. That decision came from deciding that $25 one way was a  lot cheaper than checking out the food in the Nashville jail.

We had the driver let us out near the convention center and then we started walking. In the following video you will see just some of the street views from the area around the convention center including the Wild Horse Saloon which was only in restaurant mode when we stopped. We had also passed by the Cadillac Ranch and it was closed so we didn't get a chance to go in there. The three best stops were Coyote Ugly which you will see at the end of this video. Our two favorite stops, Buck Wild and Tootsie's which will be in the later videos with some of the live music. I really did love this sign that was behind the bar at Coyote Ugly!

We stopped at Buck Wild towards the end of the afternoon and saw they were doing karaoke. Not just amateur karaoke but some up and coming names were there too. The bartender, Kristen, was from Chicago and was singing when we entered. When Bill went up to get drinks from the bar she got them for him and never missed a beat. She was very good but then another singer sent around the tip jar as she wouldn't sing for free -- and did she have a voice.. Her name is Casey Simpson and she was actually a finalist on Nashville Star. In my opinion anyone who can sing Pat Benatar and sing it well has one hell of a voice. She is waiting to catch a break to hit the big time and as the song says, "everybody plays and everybody sings". She is planning on trying out again for American Idol and I would definitely be voting for her! We stayed there for quite some time and just had a ball. Junior decided (after a nominal amount of beer) to get up on stage and try singing. Well, we aren't sure but we pretty much think that he didn't realize that in karaoke he needs to actually SING the words out loud! It seems he forgot.


http://www.caseysimpson.com/
http://www.buckwildnashville.com/


After leaving Buck Wild we headed over to Tootsie's which is about the most famous bar downtown. It was the starting place for many country artists including Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and others. I have always wanted to learn how to play the fiddle -- NOT violin music but bluegrass or Celtic type fiddle music. The band that was playing, which we never caught the name of, had an awesome female fiddler who couldn't have been more than 25 years old but boy could she "rosin up the bow"! In all, it was one of the best nights out that we have had for a long, long time. I would recommend that everybody check out the music scene downtown if you are ever in Nashville.


http://www.tootsies.net/

Raleigh NC to Nashville TN

On Monday night we moved to the long term parking area at Raleigh-Durham airport as Bill and Junior had to fly to Alburquerque early Tuesday morning. It worked out really nice as they were able to catch a shuttle in the parking lot and I didn't have to fight early morning commuter traffic. Later that morning Michelle and I left to head to Nashville to pick them up on Thursday night. On Tuesday we made it as far as Iron Duff North Carolina and stayed at a Pilot truck stop.


Wednesday morning saw us driving westward in the rain and clouds. We passed quite a few of the Nascar trailers on I-40 heading back home to North Carolina. The 48 and the 20 cars stick in my mind although there were others that were just going by too fast to see when driving a large vehicle in bad weather in the moutains. We made it to Mt Juliet Tennessee stayed in the Walmart parking lot. We then moved to to the Nashville airport afternoon and stayed in the economy lot on Thursday and Friday nights after Bill and Junior's flight arrived around 7:10 pm on Thursday.

While posting our "Go Back" list a while ago I had forgotten about two other locations that we do want to spend more time in. I had forgotten the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee as well as the Parker/Lake Havasu area of Arizona. Now with being in North Carolina for some time we are adding anywhere from Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee to Asheville North Carolina as being an area we want to explore further.


1. Heber Valley in Utah


2. San Diego (well MY list at least as Bill keeps up about the traffic!)


3. Gulf Coast of Mississippi


4.Gulf Coast of Texas


5.Black Hills of South Dakota


6. Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee to Asheville North Carolina


7. Parker/Lake Havasu Arizona


So there is our list after visiting 25 of the 50 states so far. Of course, places like the UP and Northern Minnesota are also on it, just not listed as they are close to home obviously.


I decided to try and eat some Southern food items when we went to various restaurants lately. At a small BBQ joint we stopped at for lunch one day I tried a baked Vidalia onion dish. Now I love onions but I found out I don't like them really sweet, with lots of butter and bread crumbs on top. Then at a Southern style buffet restaurant I tried the turnip greens....they seem to be somewhat of an acquired taste. The server told me most people put vinegar on them in order to eat them. Hmmmm.....I still haven't had the chance to try the collard greens or the black eyed peas. At the same Southern buffet there was a dish called fat back. When I asked the server what is was she said pig fat sliced thin and the deep fried....that too, I believe, would be an acquired taste! Why is everything fried and highly salted down here?

Spruce Pine North Carolina

We left Cherokee and headed east towards Raleigh-Durham where Bill and Junior have to catch a flight to Alburquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday. We decided to stop at a small town called Spruce Pine to check out a gem mining attraction. Before we left Wisconsin I had purchased two books detailing mountain roads and the grades - one for the West and one for the East. We have used the Western edition quite extensively but for some reason we failed to check the Eastern edition before heading north on Hwy 226 from I-40 here in North Carolina. We.will.not.make.that.mistake.AGAIN. It was a nightmare of hairpin turns and in one spot actually had a 14% grade....that's right FOURTEEN PER CENT.  Needless to say, we will NOT be leaving Spruce Pine the same way. We will have to go west back to catch up with I-40 and add 70 miles or so to our trip but that will be much better than the roller coaster ride we came here on.


http://www.mountaindirectory.com/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Highway_226A

Spruce Pine is called "The Mineral City" as gem mining is an important part of the economy and culture of the area. So on Friday we decided to be real tourists and go to one of the multitude of gemstone mining attractions that are in the Spruce Pine area called Gem Mountain. We decided to go to this particular attraction because it had been featured on TLC's show "The Hunt for Amazing Treasures" and we remembered seeing it.

It goes like this. You go inside the flume area where there is a long trench of cold (did I say cold?) stream water. After buying a bucket of gems which range in price from $25 for a 4 gallon bucket of mixed gems all the way to $800 for a huge, huge bucket of pricey stones like emeralds. We opted to share the $25 bucket and proceeded to look for the next Hope Diamond.

I was a bit disappointed that our bucket did not contain any peridot which is my new gem of choice along with diamonds of course. It took an hour to empty our bucket between the two of us. The guy working at the time was nice enough to come and throw a couple of peridots into Bill's sifter so I did come away with a couple!



 As you can see we didn't come away with anything resembling the Hope Diamond but we did get a couple of decent sized amythests, emeralds and rose quartz pieces. When you are done panning you take your bag into the store where the gemologists tell what what is worth keeping and what is not. Of course they also encourage you to have them cut and set your stones in a piece of jewelry. I asked him how much it would cost to take one of the peridots and made it a silver ring. He told me it would be about $45 to cut it and $40 to mount it. Add that to the $25 for the bucket and I probably could have gotten a much better deal on a sale at Kohls! They were also 4 weeks out in getting the jewelry to you. If they are 4 weeks behind now imagine how behind they are when the full summer tourist season hits. All in all it was a good time and a chance to do something different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_Pine,_North_Carolina

http://www.gemmountain.com/

The Southern Appalachians

We spent Friday and Saturday nights at Old Federal Campground. Our campsite was right on Lake Lanier and Saturday was a gorgeous day. The only problem was that the campground was a Army Corps of Engineer campground so Bill had to hid his beer again as no alcohol is permitted.

http://www.lakelanier.com/directory/campgrounds/old-federal-park/view-details/

We then drove to Cherokee North Carolina, the southern end of Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We had been here last summer while Bill was working in Knoxville but this time we got to spend 4 nights staying at Harrah's Casino parking lot boondocking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrah's_Cherokee

Mingus Mill - Smoky Mt National Park

At this time of year the problem with the diseased hemlocks is not so evident as it was last summer mostly because all the deciduous trees do not have their leaves yet.

This time of year there were quite a few small waterfalls along the road that we did not see last year as they probably had dried up by mid summer and this was the spring run off from the snow in the mountains.

We were able to travel the first 50 miles or so of the northbound Blue Ridge Parkway. It was beautiful of course, but we imagine it is much more scenic in the summer and especially in October when all the leaves are changing. It must be so as rates for just about everything are listed as double the price in October. At this time of year the leaves are not on the trees yet so everything looks quite dead.

We stopped at a visitor center at Waterrock Knob and Bill and Junior had to prove they were in shape so they hiked to the summit which is at 6292 feet. Of couse today his lower back hurts so much he can hardly walk. But he made it all the way to the top. Some of the views from his hike are in the following video.

Fast forward to today in Spruce Pine North Carolina and the temperature is heading downward to below freezing tonight....what happened to spring?