Rain -Rain- Rain

Mon. we went to Louisville to see my Aunt Frieda, Uncle Gerald and cousin Barbara. They were doing pretty well. They had just had a flu outbreak at the nursing home so part of it was under quarantine. Yesterday we had rain part of the day and today has been rain for most of the day. It sounds as if that is what we have to look forward to the rest of the week.

Sun. April 25th

This afternoon we were off to the First Baptist Church in Bowling Green, KY Where Paul & Mary's grand daughter Sydney was singing with the the Baptist All State Youth Choir. There were 142 4th 5th & 6th graders from throughout the state that had been selected to sing in it this weekend. They got together Fri. evening and did a performance this morning at another church and then did their final performance this afternoon in Bowling Green. They put on a very good performance.

April 25th 2009

Yesterday Paul & Mary took us about 100 miles east and north to the town of Berea. This is where Paul attended college. Berea University is very similar to the College of the Ozarks in that the student has to demonstrate a financial need and can graduate debt free. the enrollment is limited to 1500 students. We then went to the Renfro Valley where we saw the Bittersweet Cabin Museum and the Renfro Valley music center. We attended a musical comedy presentation and arrived back in Campbellsville about 11PM

Electric Bikes

Last evening ofter supper Nancy & Mary rode their electric bikes that they bought at the Tampa Super Show in Jan. There is a large parking lot across the street that is nearly empty in the evening so they had lots of room to get some experience with them.

Cambellsville, KY

Yesterday it was north on I-75 through the Appalachian Mountains to London, KY where we turned west on rte. 80 to Columbia and then north on rte 55 to Campbellsville where we are parked in the yard of our friends Paul and Mary. WE will be here until the first Mon. in May. As we traveled north into KY the trees had less budding and green so there was still a look of winter to the area as some varieties had not budded at all. There were a lot of pink blossomed Dog Woods as we came west we saw a lot of beautifully flowered white trees that we think may have been cherries. Also as we came west out of the mountains into the rolling wooded country side of Kentucky the pastures were lush and green.

Clinton, Tenn.

This morning it was north about 125 miles on I-75 to Clinton Tenn. located about 15 miles north of down town Knoxville. We are staying at the Fox Camp ground. Our reason for coming here was to spend another day at the Appalachia Museum museumofappalachia.org . We were here two years ago and I believe I did a blog at that time. The great thing about this museum is that the majority of the exhibits have a real life story to go with them. This was all put together by one man. It is located on the farm of his ancestors the exhibits are located in 3 large buildings and then there is all of the log buildings that have been moved in. This evening we drove east about 15 miles up into the Appalachian mountains what a pretty drive. If Aunt Bessie had not been in the motor home she would have felt right at home with the people of this era.

Chattanooga, TN

Today it was I75 all the way to Chattanooga. The temps are 15 degree cooler than when we left Florida. There was evidence of the heavy rains of the past few weeks along the way. We saw very little farm work done or being done. The country side as we came from Atlanta into the hills of northern GA took on a patchwork look of various greens. This was caused by the differing stages of budding out that the various trees were in. This was interspersed with dogwoods in bloom and an occasional Wisteria in full bloom.
We had tried to make arrangements to meet with Anita Caldwell a daughter of my cousin Rodney Wheeler in Atlanta so we could leave Aunt Bessie with her. Things didn't work out so Aunt Bessie is still resting quietly under our bed where we put her before leaving Sebring.
Holiday Trav-L-Park were we are staying tonight sets on a Civil War Battlefield site.

Off to the Northland

This morning we left our home in Sebring, FL with Hazen Bay ND on May 19th. our goal. We drove north on US27 to the Florida turnpike and then it was I75 to Valdosta, GA where we made our stop for the night. We drove in rain around Gainsville, FL for a while but it was not a hard rain so driving was not difficult. Just before we reached the GA. state line a van pulled up beside us waving his arms and pointing to the back of the motor home. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the car trailing of to the right side so pulled over and went back to check. The pin had come out of the tow bar on the left side so we were pulling just from the right side of the tow bar. There was no damage and luckily I had a set of pins with me that I had bought one other time when I had trouble with one of the locks. I must not have gotten the lock on tight this morning when I hooked up. We were lucky as you hear horror stories of tow cars coming completely unhooked and going off to one side or the other. Nancy said she was going to start watching the rear monitor. I said good idea as I get lax about checking it when there is never any change back there.

Easter boat parade

Sunday afternoon at 3 o:clock on Lake Josephene the annual Easter boat parade was held. This year there were 15 boats that participated. Some even tossed candy and Easter eggs to the people on the fishing pier.

HHH Easter Egg Hunt

Today was the 3rd. annual Heartland Horses for Handicapped Easter Egg Hunt put on by the volunteers. This is a fund raiser as well as a fun morning for the children. For the entrance fee of $5 each child gets to hunt Easter eggs, ride a horse around the arena once, play in the air jump house and do some other games. I am guessing we had about 150 children go through today. The eggs that they find are exchanged for prizes and of each group that goes through one is drawn for a grand prize of a large Easter basket full of candy. We also have a bake sale and sell hot dogs. One picture is our group of horses that we also use for the Handicapped program on Wed. & Thur. the last picture is our volunteer group for today.

Lawn Mower races

This afternoon Terri and I along with friends Lisa and David attended the Lawnmower races at the mower plex in Avon Park. This was a sanctioned national points race so there were mowers there from as far away as New York . It was a very warm afternoon and they had trouble keeping the track in shape. It would get to dry causing spin outs and wrecks and they would water it and then it would be wet and they would have more spinouts and wrecks. I know you can't go fast enough to spinout on a lawn mower but remember 3 classes of them are capable of running up to 60 MPH. The pictures show the running start that is used to start the race, one of the slower class races and the final is of mowers that are running 40 to 50 MPH on the strait away but a little slower on this corner shot. Oh what us retired folks do for entertainment.

Bullistic

Sat. evening found us at Fireman's Field for the 9th. annual Sebring Bullistic. This not the PBR but a step below as far as bull riders go. They have some quality bucking bulls however. This event is held on the 50 yard line of the local football field. I have never figured out how they get the football coach to go along with it. I guess the grass regrows so fast here in Florida and they really don't seem to tear it up much so it must not be a problem. Between the first go round and the last go round they have a hoola hoop contest where the winner receives $100. You are probably thinking I would try that for $100 but think again. What they do is throw hoola hoops on the ground in the arena and the contestants stand in the hoops, they then turn a bucking bull lose in the arena and the last person still standing inside their hoop is the winner.

Raver Day at Buttonwood Bay

Today was Raver Day. Raver Day you say whats that? Well that is the day that Sun Communities and the management of Buttonwood Bay host a gathering in the picnic area for all the residents of Buttonwood Bay. It lasts from noon until 3 PM but we got rained out about 1:30 today. There is musical entertainment free beer & pop along with a meal and drawing for prizes. It rained before they did the drawing for door prizes so most people had left which kinda surprised me as the rain only lasted a few minutes. Also when something is free people at Buttonwood Bay tend to stay until it is all given away. They will do the drawing and publish the numbers in the cyber news on Sun. They said there was around 700 in attendance today. There would have been more but a lot of the RVer's left on Wed. as that was the first of the month. Also a lot of other people have gone north already. It sounds like a lot more will be leaving in the next few days. Many people like to be back home before Easter. I didn't think to take my camera so I don't have any pictures.