RVing With a Purpose

Friday May 5, 2017

Goodness, it has been cold and rainy all day today. One person we talked to said they thought it was colder now than it was in February. We agree. It was just a raw day. The predicted low tonight is something like 44. Looking ahead it’s suppose to be 38 Sunday night in Hayesville. Too cold for May!

So now we need to tell you what has been going on. It has really been somewhat hard to write this blog some days because we were so busy but didn’t feel we should share yet. So finally, here it is. Yesterday at 4:15pm we left Hayesville and drove to Scottboro, AL. It poured rain most of the way, but stopped long enough for us to negotiate the interstates through Chattanooga. We spent the night in the noisiest Walmart parking lot we have ever experienced. It did not quiet down until after 2:00 this morning. Our last night in Fred was not a good sleep night. This morning we met Don and Pat at the Redstone Federal Credit Union and finalized the sale on FRED. Yep, we sold FRED. We purchased the motorhome on April 23, 2011, brought him home two days later and affectionately called him FRED because he is a FRont Engine Diesel. He had 19155 miles. Today when he pulled out of the parking lot with a new owner he had 51396 miles. FRED traveled the most miles in 2014 when we went to Alaska and back (click here). We spent the most time in the rig in 2016 at 32 weeks. Even if we had kept FRED until the end of this year, 2016 would have still been the winner timewise. We loved FRED. He served us well and in some ways it was hard to see him drive off to his new home. We have worked late into the night every night for the past week, packing up all our stuff that was in the rig and deciding what needed to stay at Hinton and what should be in the first load home. We are tired! So what led up to this? We did not make this decision quickly. We have been looking at newer motor homes for about 3 years. We decided that it was time for a replacement that would hopefully serve us in our mission work and travel fun for the next 10-15 years – till it’s time for us to downsize or hang up the motorhome keys. We have purchased a Tiffin Phaeton 36GH (in case you want to google it to see what we are getting) that will be ready for pickup the first week of June. So, today we are excited to have closed the sale as that brings us one step closer to our new rig. It’s also a little sad.

We know it will all be good but right now it is strange to be without a motorhome. We will be returning to North Carolina tomorrow in the pickup to finish the last week of out Hinton project and will be staying in the basement of the Lake House next week. Our next mission project will begin Father’s Day weekend and will be our first project in the new rig. Here is hoping we get a much better night’s sleep tonight.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Today was a rainy dark day, all day. This area is still short on rainfall and can use the rain but… messy and dreary. The wind has been gusting to 45mph and there have been some pretty good size limbs down across the campus. Fortunately no power outages.

Carol challenged us with her devotion using the Beatitudes from the Message Bible. If you have been reading and hearing the Beatitudes for your whole life, sometimes it’s really neat to read those old familiar verses from a different translation. Makes you consider other possibilities.

Today was another day much like the others this week. Everyone is working very hard to get this remodel completed for Hinton. Dave and Bryant first worked to block off parking in front of our RV’s with saw horses and caution tape. The Emmaus Walk will be this weekend at Hinton and with that many people on campus, parking is a real challenge and from past experience we have learned to try to prevent people from parking right next to the RV’s and to protect our parking spaces. After working on parking they also continued to work on the lighting for the tool shed and completed that task. Oneta put another and final coat of paint on the porch swing. Gene and Carol sanded the kitchen dry wall and did some additional mudding in the living room area. Anne and Max painted the lower stair well. Then Anne and Jackie finally got a coat of paint on the kitchen. YEA!! It will need another coat Monday. Cheryl and Jackie also painted the bookcase in the living room. Sandy and Steve continued to work on the upper stair well which is now about 95% complete. We also tried to clean up really well today since we won’t be back until Monday.

Most of us are pretty tired from working this week but still have a pretty busy weekend planned. Hopefully we will find time to catch some rest one of the days. Tomorrow should be a very interesting and busy day so be sure to check back in tomorrow our you will miss out.

Wednesday, May 03 2017

Today started early with a really pretty look out over the lake just as sun was rising. Located on Lake Chatuge, Hinton is really a pretty place.

Steve and Sandy brought our devotion today. It was based on an “Our Daily Bread” devotional about God is always listening. When we talk to him he always hears. We had some really good singing this morning. Bryant came down early and we had about 20 minutes of just messing around with some music before devotion and then ended our time with How Great Thou Art. Good music! We were surprised and thrilled when Jackie, the CEO of Hinton joined us for devotion. She just wanted to come spend a little time with us. We really appreciated that.

We then reviewed our work plans, marked off the items we completed yesterday and Bill added several more items to our list. The days are growing few and now there is even more to do. Hopefully we are up to the challenge. One of the things the NOMADS always do at the Hinton spring and fall projects is to change all the smoke detector batteries around campus. Cheryl and Jackie tackled that project and changed something like 98 batteries. That’s 98 trips up and down the ladder. They did an awesome job! Carol and Gene continued to work on the mudding and taping of the drywall in the kitchen and gathering area. It is looking really good. They got the second coat on all the kitchen and the first on the other. Oneta painted the retaining wall and it looks really nice. Dave and Bryant worked in the tool shed putting up some badly needed new lighting. Sandy and Steve continue work on the wall in the gathering area and the steps. It too is looking really good. The first of the paint should go on part of that tomorrow. Steve and Sandy are full-time RVers and do NOMADS projects most weeks of the year so they have a lot of experience and great skills. Max and Anne just try to keep everyone with the tools and supplies they need and fill in where we can help. Mostly we just need to stay out of the way and let this team do their thing.

And at the end of the day:

We forgot to show this yesterday. It is a comparison between the Lake House landscaping when we first arrived and this morning after all the great work the team members did yesterday.

We all went to Maria’s Hayesville Family Restaurant for lunch today. They have a nice buffet and the fried chicken was very good. Dessert come with it and Anne had the strawberry cobbler and Max the chocolate cake. It was all really good but by 2:00 we were feeling the need for a nap – which we did NOT get to take.

Then after work Dave and Carol prepared us all root beer floats and we all just sat outside in the beautiful spring afternoon and talked and laughed. Els, the lady in charge of hospitality and her husband came by and joined us for a time. Els’s husband spends several weeks each month in Haiti working with an orphanage. They are both from the Netherlands and always very interesting to talk with. It was another busy day. Only five more work days left and still lots to do.

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Today started as pretty as yesterday was messy. It was gorgeous all day today. The temps are dropping this evening but hey, it’s spring.

After a wonderful devotion given by Cheryl this morning, we went back to some of the tasks we were working on yesterday and started a few new ones. Anne and Carol continued mudding the kitchen walls, Sandy and Steve continued with the stairs/wall and Dave worked on a change order in the wiring for the kitchen. Gene and Bryant completed reinstalling the duct work in the basement ceiling and worked on replacing some of the ceiling tiles. Cheryl and Jackie re-textured the retaining wall that they cleaned last week. Later in the day, Gene jumped in to help on the kitchen walls while Bryant, Jackie, Cheryl and Oneta got to work outside cleaning out the shrubbery and flower beds around the Lake House.

While working on the landscaping, they came in contact with two southern hazards. Bryant stepped on a fire ant bed and then later found a hornets next in one of the bushes they were trimming. He came inside to tell Anne he had a photo op for Max and also a safety hazard for the team. Yes, Max went right outside and took the photo but we also got some spray to take care of the small nest. We also put some poison on the fire ants. So thankful that no one was stung and the fire ants didn’t get past the socks.

It was a very productive day and by the end of the day we had the first coat of mud on the kitchen walls, the kitchen floor repaired, the kitchen wiring roughed in (again), the shrubbery trimmed, the retaining wall re-textured and part of the stairwell walled in. Things are starting to look better around here.

After work we all went to Chevelle’s for dinner since on Tuesday evenings all burgers are on sale. The burgers were good and the onion rings quite tasty too. However, someone forgot to read our “No Accidents” sign before they went and we ended up with two drinks spilled all over the table, one by the server and the other by one of our team. Oh well, the food was good and the company great and a good time was had by all.