RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, November 29, 2020

This Sunday was much different from last week.  Today rather than 8 miles and over 25,000 steps we have barely over 10,000 steps. It has rained all day with very brief periods of misting rain.  But more on today later.  First let us catch you up on our wonderful Thanksgiving week. 

Last Sunday we were in Gaffney awaiting our Monday appointment for Fred’s annual service.  We checked in at the service center at 7:45 and they were all ready for us with the paperwork for our desired work already complete – annual service on Fred and generator, check for any recalls that were ready to be worked and schedule our service next year – Monday before Thanksgiving just like this year.  Fred received a great report with no problems found and all work complete and was back in our campsite by about 1:00.  We ran a few more errands after paying our bill and stayed the night at the service center.  Tuesday morning we were on the way to see Randy and Debra.  It was so good so see them.  We had not seen them since Randy’s two week follow up after his heart attack so this week was especially special.  Randy looks and seems to feel great.  Just a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for every day!  Anne and Debra always have fun planning our meals and cooking.  The guys always have some project that needs work.  This time it was the tractor and taking down some pine trees.  None of the four of us ever left the property after we arrived until we headed to Hattiesburg, MS on Friday morning.  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We stopped for the night Friday night in a rest area south of Tuscaloosa on I 20 shortly before the MS state line.  It had started to rain so we called it a day.  It rained most of the night but by 7:00 am Saturday morning all the storms we to our east.  It was a very easy drive on into Hattiesburg yesterday and we were able to get parked, set up at Oak Grove UMC and made a grocery store run before it began to rain again.   It is still raining – 5:30 pm Sunday.  Not a problem.  We have enjoyed a quiet day, been blessed by our church service at Lester Memorial as well as the service at Oak Grove which we also streamed.  Tomorrow we were begin our work repairing homes damaged by tornadoes.  Please pray for the safety and health of our team.

Sunday, November 22, 2020

It’s Sunday, so of course we started today with our live stream of our worship service at Lester Memorial.  Great service!  We will be so glad when Covid is history and we can all worship in person but are so glad our church will continue to live stream for those of us who can’t always be there in person.

Of course, we also enjoyed more of our goodies from Sunny’s Donuts for our breakfast today.  Today’s treat was cinnamon rolls.  YUM!  Max also found another hike (we did eat cinnamon rolls) when he was looking for new things to do in Gaffney.  Today’s hike was the Lake Whelchel Trail which loops around the lake that is the water source for Gaffney and the surrounding areas.  The trail also happens to be part of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail that stretches 330 miles from Virginia to Gaffney, SC.  The Patriots used this trail during the Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain. The Lake Welchel portion was 8.5 miles of trail through a mostly wooded area with many ups and downs and roots and rocks.  It was a very peaceful trail that today seemed to be used more by mountain bikers than hikers but we think it is a great hiking trail.  It is scenic forest, similar to much of the north Alabama forests with views of the lake for much of the route.  It took us just under three hours to complete and was a good workout.  We are already making plans to do this hike again next year.  It was another great day!

Saturday, November 21, 2020

We are on the road again!  We spend the first part of the week getting the houses ready to leave again, all the laundry done and Fred ready for travel.  There were also dental appointments and some shopping to do.  Friday we headed to Gaffney, SC to the Freightliner service center for Fred’s annual maintenance.  We arrived yesterday afternoon and are set up waiting for service Monday.

Today we hiked a Broad River Greenway trail, a calm and peaceful, approximately 5 mile, trail running by the river.  This Greenway is just about a 15 minute drive from the service center and we never knew it was here until Max happened to find it online this morning.  The internet is such a great thing!  It’s been a fun, relaxing day.  Everybody stay safe!

Saturday, November 14, 2020

We have been the busy ones this week.  Of course, first things first, we worshiped with our Lester Memorial friends Sunday morning.  We have decided to go back to streaming our services due to the major spike in the Covid cases in our area.

Our leaves are in full color.  Our mountain is so very pretty.  It is also time to do all the fall maintenance items for FRED.  We started on Sunday afternoon – a beautiful day – and washed the roof and applied 303 Protectant.    Monday, we washed the entire rig.  Then we had to wait a couple of days because of rain and more rain.  Then we began waxing in sections.  As of today, we have the entire rig waxed.  Feels good to have that job done.  Now we need to do our tank sanitizing that we also do every 6 months.

Tuesday night we had Boondockers Welcome guests stay with us.  They were a sweet couple with two sons age 8 and 10.  They are circumventing the lower 48 and plan to be back home in Washington state for Christmas.  We visited with them a little – social distancing and masks – and would loved to have shared a meal with them if it had been non-covid times.  Instead we just made them a loaf of blueberry bread for them to enjoy in their motorhome.  They left Wednesday morning heading to Montgomery.

We are thanking God for our new addition to our family, our great niece, Miriam Noel, 5#15oz, born Wednesday.  Of course, she is beautiful.  God is so Good!

Stay safe and healthy.