Goodness. It’s been a month since we blogged anything. Let’s see if we can get you caught up. We returned to Randy and Debra’s on Sunday, August 24th. We spent the next week getting caught up with each other and enjoyed a visit to Hopelands Gardens in Aiken, SC. Great gardens if you are ever in the area. There are huge 100 year old oak and magnolia trees on the 14 acre estate. Another place we should have visited earlier. We had a traditional Labor Day of cooking on the grill and making home made ice cream.
A fun spontaneous trip
We enjoyed hiking around the lake at the Gardens
Randy also got a new tool installed on the tractor while we were there.
After that we were concerned that BB needed some exercise, so on September 2nd we drove BB to Cades Cove in Smokey Mountains National Park. We always enjoy our time at Cades Cove. There are no hookups but that’s fine with us for a few days. We rode our bikes around the loop on Wednesday when it is closed to vehicular traffic and the other days we drove the loop multiple times. We saw eight bears during our time there – always exciting. We knew it was going to be a good visit when there were two bears in the woods across the road from our camp site when we arrived. We enjoyed our week of hiking and relaxing and returned to South Carolina on Sunday refreshed and BB was in good shape.
Some people accuse us of going to Cades Cove just for the ice cream.
We saw our first bear of this visit shortly after we got set up. It was right across the road from our campsite.
On our last day we saw the mama bear and three cubs that several visitors had told us about.
The cubs were so cute.
After we watched them for a while, they crossed the road right in front of us.
In addition to the bears, we saw several deer …
… several turkeys …
… beautiful tiger swallowtail butterflies …
… and a couple of young coyotes that had obviously been fed from passing cars.
On one of our hikes we ended up fording a creek.
We found another Beyond like ours in the campground and had a nice visit with its owners.
On September 11th we drove Fred back to Camp Sumatanga in Alabama. We had doctor and dentist appointments and some business to handle and in between doctor visits we enjoyed visiting with friends. One day we helped friends with building a deck and another day we enjoyed hiking at Big Canoe Creek Nature Center in Springville. Great hiking! All was well with the medical stuff and we enjoyed the peaceful time at Sumatanga. So good to attend our church and visit with friends. It had been too long since we had been back to Alabama. We will try to do better. Until next time, stay safe!
At Sumatanga we spent a little time repairing a screen door on one of the buildings. And we got to use our new power planer to resize it.
After we resized it, we stained it, re-inserted the screen and put it back in place.
Our last week in Vermont. On Saturday, we were blessed with the wonderful news that Sally and Chester were going to work with us for another few days. Much needed help as we were committed to having Scott’s house in the dry by the end of the day Thursday. Our new team members for next week were not arriving until Sunday so we had Saturday free to explore. We returned to the Montpelier farmer’s market to get more fresh veggies. We also learned that Montpelier is the smallest US state capital. It really is small. Next we drove through the mountains to Lake Willoughby in Westmore, VT. Some locals told us that this was the prettiest place in Vermont. It was beautiful but many, many other people were enjoying the lake this weekend. It reminded us of Alaska and everyone’s rush to have one last beautiful weekend prior to the short summer season beginning to come to an end. Very surprising to us, was that the leaves were beginning to change. Up in the mountains there were some beautiful reds and yellows. We had a relaxing day enjoying the Vermont mountains.
The Capital City Farmers Market is one of the nicest one we have visited.
We bought a few vegetables at the market, but not these purple things.
Lake Willoughby
Trees already starting to show fall colors
As we drove through Lyndonville, we saw these metal sculptures on a vacant lot.
The lot and the sculptures are for sale.
And for some reason Lyndonville has this giant padlock on one corner.
Sunday, we welcomed Chris and Laura to the team. We have worked with them previously and were excited to have their help on our tiny home build. Monday morning the six of us returned to Scott’s new home. We began the day by installing the sheathing on the walls, building the ridge beam and began installing the rafters. We completed all these items on Tuesday. Wednesday, we began installing the house wrap, roof sheathing and underlayment. On Thursday, Stan and Jennie (the incoming team leaders) joined us to help complete those items. The team had the house in the dry by lunch Thursday. What an accomplishment! Two weeks of hard work by the teams and Scott and he has a new home that is now dry. We spent the afternoon with Stan and Jennie and the project coordinator, Rob, and are confident we are leaving the project in good hands. The next teams (3 weeks) will complete the home before the cold and snowy Vermont winter arrives. What a blessing!
Anne and Chester cutting sheathing
Sally, Chris and Anne installing sheathing
Chris and Laura installing sheathing
Anne, Chester and Chris building the ridge beam
Scott and Chester helping install the ridge beam
Marking the first rafter
Scott and Chris installing the last rafters
Fastening fly rafter
Lifting the decking was a group effort
Stan and Chris installing roof underlayment
Scott installing house wrap
Anne finishing house wrap
Team picture with house in the dry
It was such a pleasure to work with our teams to help Scott build his tiny house the past two weeks. Scott became an honorary team member because he worked as hard or harder than the rest of us on his home. We will miss him. As is customary, we had dinner out Thursday evening, enjoying a meal at Nacho Mama. Great meal and fellowship.
Back at the camp, we readied Fred for the long trip back to South Carolina. We were sad to say goodbye to all our NOMADS friends but hope to see them again soon.
We pointed Fred southward at 8:30 Friday morning, staying at Harvest Hosts Friday and Saturday nights, before arriving at Randy and Debra’s home in SC about 4:30 Sunday afternoon. It was a long drive, but it was very good to be back for another visit.
We saw these funny birdhouses when we stopped again at Winn Hill Farms Harvest Host site.
Shenandoah Heritage Market is a great Harvest Host site
The NOMADS Vermont Disaster Rebuild team is still enjoying our time in Vermont. We had some rain and some hot days this week but all in all a good week. On Friday we had to say “see you at annual meeting” to Larry and Jean. Thanks, Larry and Jean for all your hard work! On Saturday we were blessed to have Pam and Jeff join us for their first disaster rebuild project. We certainly hope it will not be their last as they were such an asset to the team. Sunday we all went to West Danville UMC together and Tammy and Rodney sang the prelude for the service, and the team sang the postlude. It is such a sweet and welcoming little church. After church we had a team brunch back at the campground where we all pitched in various items. Oh, so good!
Rodney and Tammy performing prelude at the church
Delicious and fun brunch on a rainy Sunday.
Monday we all returned to Sally’s house. With all nine of us there, there was not a room untouched by NOMADS and lots of progress was made. The highlight of the week was the Bible presentation to Rosa on Monday afternoon. This was a special time for all.
Bible presentation for Rosa. She has such a sweet spirit.
When we went to Rosa’s for her Bible presentation, we finally got a picture of the finished skylight.
The remainder of the week we continued at Sally’s with the highlight being the completion of the kitchen, with the installation of the stove, range hood, sink and butcher block countertops. This family had been without these amenities for over a year. Washed dishes in the bathroom for over a year and had only a microwave for cooking. Sometimes we forget just how blessed we are. Lord, help us to remember and be grateful! A lot was accomplished this week. The house is livable again with mostly smaller items not quite completed.
Janis cutting flooring with the guillotine.
Pam making some special cuts in the flooring.
Tammy and Janis laying flooring
Herman and Jayne hanging drywall
Janis and Pam laying flooring
Rodney installing baseboard
Jeff installing trim
Jayne and Herman putting down subfloor
Jeff under the home working on the kitchen plumbing. God always sends the right people.
Jeff preparing the sink for installation
Sally’s bathroom at the end of the week.
Sally’s finished kitchen
Herman and Rodney spent some time preparing the home next door to Sally’s to be elevated next week.
Team picture for our third week
Friday morning, Max and Anne moved to a private RV park for the next week. Sugar Ridge RV Village is only about 15 minutes from the church camp, but we are taking next week off and will then return to lead two more weeks of the DR. We plan to get some rest and do some touring while we are off.
Friday evening those of us still in Vermont – Tammy and Rodney, Herman and Janis and the two of us, had reservations for “Lobstah on the Lake” dinner cruise on the Spirit of Ethan Allen that cruises Lake Champlain. We had never been to Burlington or been on Lake Champlain. Thanks to Tammy for recommending the cruise and arranging our trip. We enjoyed the company, cruising Lake Champlain, and the food! It was a really nice sunset and peaceful evening. Great way to begin our week off.
Our friends on the cruise
Of course we had to get a picture of the lighthouse at the harbor.
This is how dinner started, then continued to prime rib and sides.
Sunset on the Lake Champlain
Saturday morning, we hiked to the Danville Community Fair in “downtown” Danville. We had read on a sign that it was only 1.4 miles from Sugar Ridge on the rail trail, so a walk seemed a good idea since we wouldn’t have to worry about parking. It was actually 3 miles to the fair. Oh, well. We got our steps – total of 8 miles and 22,276 steps for the day. It was a nice community fair and we did make a few purchases of food items.
The trail we walked to the fair
It was very well attended.
One of the local emergency responder departments uses this food trailer to raise money.
Our favorite find at the fair was white peach sorbet. Surprised?
Today, Sunday, we took it easy. Everyone stay safe and remember to shine like Jesus wherever you go.
On Saturday we had the pleasure of welcoming Tammy and Rodney to Vermont to join the NOMADS Disaster Rebuild team. It was great to have two more hard workers assisting Larry and Jean, Herman and Janis, Jayne, and Anne and Max in repairing Sally’s home and Rosa’s home. It’s always great to have a full team. Before the workweek began, Sunday we all enjoyed going to the West Danville UMC to worship.
West Danville UMC
Commemorative plate at the church
Monday morning Larry and Jean continued work at Sally’s, installing the OSB subflooring and dry wall in the bedrooms and hallway. Tammy began the painting in the kitchen while Anne and Janis continued working on finishing the drywall. Tuesday Tammy and Janis removed the wall cabinets in the kitchen. Wednesday, Rodney joined the crew at Sally’s and he, Larry and Jean spent the remainder of the week installing the new wall and base cabinets in the kitchen. Anne and Tammy, with some part-time help from Max and Jean began the installation of the vinyl plank flooring in bedroom #1. There is still much work to be done at Sally’s, but we made good progress this week.
Larry and Rodney on cabinet installation duty
The cabinet crew did a great job with the new cabinets.
Jean ripping the first row of flooring for one of the rooms
Anne, Jean and Tammy installing vinyl plank flooring in really tight quarters
Monday Max, Rodney, Jayne, and Herman returned to Rosa’s house to continue the work of installing the skylight and roofing. With that work complete, Tuesday they began the work on the two bathrooms repairing the floor in one and the damaged ceiling around the skylight in the other. By Thursday afternoon all that work was complete, and we are looking forward to scheduling a Bible presentation next week.
We wanted to make sure there were no leaks around the new skylight.
New skylight installed!
After we finished installing the skylight we had to get the shingles on the roof.
Almost finished with the shingles
Rodney, Jayne and Herman installing the metal ridge cap – the final step in repairing the roof.
Herman spent quite a while repairing the Rosa’s bathroom floor.
Janis laying the new vinyl plank flooring
Herman and Janis did a great job.
Jayne and Rodney removing the old ceiling around the skylight
Jayne applying the first coat of mud to the bathroom ceiling.
The new skylight from inside showing the new drywall. Jayne finished it Thursday afternoon, but we didn’t go back and get a finished picture.
Week eight of the NOMADS Vermont Disaster Rebuild was a pleasure. As predicted, the temperatures cooled and the entire team enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was so much easier to accomplish our work assignments in 74 degree weather rather than the 90+ degrees of last week. At the end of our work week, we again stopped for pizza and ice cream on the way back to camp. Since we pass by the ice cream place every day some of us enjoyed ice cream more than once this week. We all enjoyed our weekend in Vermont. Max and Anne visited farmers’ markets and Goodrich’s Maple Farm. We really enjoyed the Maple Farm visit because one of the owners, Ruth, spent about 1.5 hours sharing her impressive knowledge of all things maple as well as general Vermont information such as: The Goodrich Family has owned the farm for over 200 years. They harvest the sap from over 160,000 trees each spring. They are the 4th largest privately owned maple syrup farm in the nation. They no longer use buckets but rather tubing that runs from the trees to a collection point in the woods and is then is transported to the sugar house for processing. Some of the water is removed by reverse osmosis before the cooking begins. They designed and patented a cooker that can make a gallon of syrup in 37 seconds. They produce 60-80 THOUSAND gallons of syrup each year. Amazing! Of course we purchased syrup and other maple items before saying goodbye to Ruth.
Goodrich’s Maple Farm is just around the corner from the camp.
Part of our team with Ruth beside the machine her husband invented.
This cross section of a maple tree shows how long it has been tapped. You can see the tap holes from over the centuries.
Examples of damaged tubing and the culprits
We also visited (and made a few purchases) at the farmers market in Montpelier and came home and prepared a great meal of halibut and fresh veggies. More from Vermont next week.
RVing With a Purpose 