RVing With a Purpose

Saturday, November 13, 2021

This morning we went with some friends out to “the Star” and worked on totally “rebuilding” our community star.  The Star is a huge star that hangs off a bluff on the side of our mountain that we light from Thanksgiving until the new year.  It’s so large that pilots of airplanes on the flight path to land at the Birmingham International airport will sometimes point it out to passengers.  The star was originally the project of Max’s parents Sunday School class at Lee’s Chapel UMC, over 50 years ago.  The original layout was done by one of our power company engineers as the star is located under a high-power line that runs across our mountain.  We sort of inherited the maintenance/lighting of the star a number of years ago and when we retired and aren’t in the community nearly as much, we sort of handed it off to Max’s cousin Donna and Barry who had been helping us for years.  We have done many repairs over the years but, with Barry and Donna, decided that this was the year for a major rebuild.  We met Donna and Barry and their son Brandon and friend Chris (who purchased our house) out at the bluff at 8:00 and began the work installing new anchors and cabling.  There is a lot of hiking and climbing involved and previously it also required repelling.  Since we aren’t so young any more with the new design installation we are hoping to avoid the need for repelling.  We had to drill holes into the rock faces, install new tie offs for the star points and clear a lot of debris as well as install cables.  By noon the drill and saw batteries needed recharging as did some of us, so hopefully some more work can be done over the next few days so the new star can shine this Christmas season.  We are so thankful for our wonderful family and friends who are helping to continue a tradition that means so much to so many in our community.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

When we last wrote, we had cancelled of our Natchez Trace adventure and returned to Blount County due to Aunt Jean’s death.  The next two weeks were busy with handling things for Aunt Jean (Max’s Aunt,) and a trip to Gulf Shores for the Saturday funeral of Aunt Jean, (Anne’s Aunt).  Yes, both our Aunt Jean’s died two days apart.  We decided to stay in Gulf Shores until Monday to get a little R&R and enjoy the beauty of the area.  And of course, being at the beach we also enjoyed royal red shrimp and red snapper. 

We then returned to Blount County to check on Aunt Helen and make a quick turn around and headed to the Switch It Up Huddle, a gathering of some RV friends and Youtubers in Ellijay, Georgia, at the Talona Ridge RV Resort.  For our RVing readers, Talona Ridge is a new park, not quite completed, that will actually be opening to the public in a few weeks.  It will be beautiful when all the landscaping and facilities are completed.  The staff are very welcoming and helpful.  We will definitely visit there again.  It was a beautiful weekend to be in the north Georgia mountains with all the fall colors.  We made some great new friends, hiked to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, hiked the gorgeous Amicalola Falls (729 feet high) trail – over 600 stairs (mostly metal) in addition to the bridges and various pathways.  We had some beautiful sunsets, great food and a wonderful worship service on Sunday.  Thanks so very much to Shelia and Todd and all the Switch It Up Crew.  We look forward to seeing the crew again soon.

We are now back in Alabama for about a week and then we will be setting out for our fall/winter travels.  Probably won’t update until our travels resume, hopefully 11/19.  In the mean time – everyone travel safely and we hope to see you out there on the road soon.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Last week  Anne did a lot of work on the Aunts’ bills and finances and Max cut grass and worked at Aunt Helen’s.  Thursday morning we went back to Camp Sumatanga to have a closing communion service with the NOMADS team we worked with last week.  It was great to be able to see everyone again and say our “see you down the road’s” to everyone.

We we had our annual checkups on Friday and so far the reports have been good and we don’t have to return until next year.  After our MD appointments in Cullman, we drove on up to Athens, AL – almost into Tennessee – to stay the night at a local Boondockers Welcome site.  Saturday morning we met the Lester Memorial Sleep in Heavenly Peace team at Athens First UMC.  After we got all the tools, supplies and stations unloaded and set up the church fed us a wonderful breakfast before the Athens team joined us for another bed build.  By about 12:00 we had 50 more beds built for children who currently have no bed.   We were amazed at all the wonderful linens the Athens church donated as well.  Really enjoyed meeting and making new friends from north Alabama.

After reloading the trucks and trailers for their trip back to Oneonta, we continued northwest to the Meriwether Lewis Campground on the Natchez Trace.  This is a first come, first serve free campground.  We were a little concerned about finding a spot on a Saturday but since we arrived about 2:00pm we still had a choice of great sites.  The campground had several large sites and even more sites for tents or smaller rigs.  It was great to be in a real campground in the woods again.  We got to do some hiking Saturday afternoon and then again after a quiet peaceful night even more hiking Sunday morning after the Lester church service.  Love time in the more rustic areas like the Trace.  We visited the Grinder Stand and museum and the Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) memorial and pioneer cemetery.  Nicely done and informative.

Unfortunately, we then got a call from the nursing home informing us that Aunt Jean had passed away.  We knew she wasn’t doing well but as of the end of the week she seemed to have stabilized at a lower level.  We are glad that she is no longer struggling.  She was 98 years old and certainly lived and exciting and adventurous life.  Of course, after receiving the news on Jean we packed up and headed back to Alabama.  We will pick up our Natchez Trace journey later.  Yesterday we worked on taking care of Jean’s affairs and not sure what the rest of the week will bring.  Aunt Helen is struggling since loosing her friend and roommate so we will stay close for now.  Prayers appreciated.

Saturday October 9, 2021

So… to catch up since our last post.  We made a quick road trip Sept 29-Oct 1 just for fun.  We spent our first night in Ethridge, TN at Ike’s Amish Depot and General Store.  This was a bit of a disappointment because when we checked, we understood everything would be open except for the produce stands across the highway from Ikes.  On our arrival, most of the little shops and places to eat were closed.  They are now open on Saturdays only.  We never were given a definitive answer on if that is a permanent change or seasonal.  Oh well, guess we will have to go back on a Saturday. We did see some beautiful Tennessee countryside, some interesting Amish farm equipment in use putting up hay, and an Amish produce auction house with some of the largest pumpkins we have ever seen.  The owner of Ike’s came by when we were in his parking lot and opened his store.  Many interesting antiques, and farm equipment.  He also had some of the candy brands from the 1950s and 60s.  For our NOMADS friends that were at annual meeting, he even sold Moxie and yes, we bought a bottle.  We haven’t yet opened it for a taste. Ike’s is a Harvest Host location so we stayed overnight in his parking lot.  It was neat to hear the sound of the Amish buggies with the clopping of the horses late into the night.  The next day we returned to Alabama stopping overnight at Monte Sano State Park on the mountain above Huntsville.  We are working to overnight at all the Alabama State Parks so this made one more marked off the list.  Monte Sano has some nice hiking trails and we had a site on the ridge overlooking the city.  Nice.  It was a nice quiet night and the next day we returned to Pine Mountain.

We quickly did laundry and cleaning so that we could go to Camp Sumatanga on Sunday afternoon.  NOMADS were working a three week project there and were a little short on workers so we decided to spend the week helping out.  It was great to see some old friends and make some new NOMADS friends.  Gary and Sharon as usual were great leaders.  We were only there for the middle week of the project so we just tried to jump in and help out with what was already in progress.  Anne worked with some of the ladies completing the window cleaning at Pool Camp cabins on Monday morning while Max worked with Gary replacing one of the signs at Pool Camp.  The rest of the week we worked making repairs on the exterior of the Retreat Center buildings.  It was great to be able to help the staff get some of their projects completed.  We are hoping to return to camp for the closing devotion and communion Thursday.  We always enjoy our time at Camp Sumatanga.  Friday morning we returned to the mountain for a few days.  We have some appointments next week and aren’t sure what we will do next.  Hope everyone has a good weekend.