From Nashville to Livingston Trip

We spent 2 nights in this state (sort of) park . Very nice and peaceful, no cp or internet service. It has an excellent museum, full 50 amp hookups: 15 dollars per night. The river is within walking distance. Moreso when we were there as it was in flood stage as you can see below. Also the next picture shows what you need to live in if you live near the Ms River.



The site we parked on was a little short, of course we didn't discover til too late there were longer sites futher up in the campground.
Getting back to the museum, it is about the civil war and the history of the town of Grand Gulf. It does not exist anymore due to floods, yellow fever, and hurricanes. There were 2 places where the Rebels dug in, we toured one of them there on the grounds. Then had to drive a mile up the road to see the other one, called Fort Corbin. As you all know there are 2 things (both #1) that John hates mud and gravel roads. I was driving and out of the corner of my eye, I see Johns neck come up. (It was like 2 antenna came out of his head that said WARNING WARNING). He said.." Is that mud?" (of course it was, it had been raining for 3 days!) I said "looks like it, but it doesn't go very far" and kept driving.
Later we were talking about it and I described what I thought he looked like, and he said yeah, that was the pay back he got for all the times he drove by some store and then said "Oh did you want to stop". He said I plowed right thru the mud...... of course I didn't, I slowed to at least 20.
The Escapees Park is about 7 miles south of Livingston (pop 5800). We will start observing tomorrow and figure out how we are suppose to do things. Took a t.b. test today, first one we've ever had. Didn't even know it was still around. We are looking forward to getting started. I am real excited and John is a little tentitive. (He read the rules, I mean really read them and I scanned them) I told him, I'm sure they are not as strict as it reads.
Will keep you posted

GRADUATION!

Proud dad enjoying this milestone in their lives.

Proud grandparents enjoying her happiness

Waiting on evefryone to get thru taking pictures so we all can go eat!

This whole week-end was an eye opening experience. Truthfully I'm worn out. Had to dress up for 3 days, or I should say GOT to do it. I ventured out in heels for Bacc on Saturday, thinking I wouldn't have to walk very far. Boy did I pay for that. The Bacc was downtown Nashville in a Catholic church. The church looks very old, but they have taken very good care of it. In fact it is in the vicinity of Vanderbuilt collage. I couldn't remember Dave and Trices Bacc and Dave said his class voted not to have one. But don't thing the Catholic kids have that much voting power.
Dave came in on time Saturday night, went by to eat and then on to watch Kate's dance class perform. They were invited to do one of their routines in theater that was honoring women and their work. Got home late from that. Kate wanted to go eat breakfast with all the family and her favorite place ... yes downtown Nashville. (That was where the theater was) We are getting to know Nashvillle pretty well. Then home, showers and get dress up (one more time) . The guys looked pretty sharp. The ceremony was really good. The speaker was the head master and he did a agreat job. Talked about accepting failure and learning from it, to keep trying. He is leaving the school for a position in Liverpool, England. I know they hate to lose him.
Then it was picture time (again) and off to go eat. There were 10 of us and we headed for .... you guessed it downtown Nashville to eat at a Cheesecake Factory. It was very good first time for us at one of those. Of course it is one of Kates favorite. By the way the size of her class was 163 and the whole shooting match to get them graduated took about 2 hours. Not bad at all, also it was held at the Grand Ole Opery.
Dave left today (Monday) at6:20, so we left the coach at 5. Dave and I both told John to get us up about quarter of 5 ..... just enough time to get eyes open and clothes on.
Well I know you all are about worn out reading this, but wanted to share our experiences with you. Oh yes, I wanted to mention it was so wonderful to hear God and Jesus talked about all 3 days of these ceremonies!
We leave tomorrow headed for Livingston,Tx.

Our Beautiful Granddaughter: KATE

Here is Kate coming over to visit us at our park

She and grandpa getting the GPS ready for our treks to her different graduation ceremonies.(of course they are all in different places)

She is very small (didn't get that from my side of the family!)

She and her best friend at the awards ceremony

We arrived in Nashville Wednesday the 21 with no mishaps. When we left Pigeon Forge, I saw Kroger had diesel for $4.35. So John stopped and with my card we got it for $$3.31. That will be the last we see of 4. 3o's. Here in Nashville it went up yesterday (Thur) to 4.69. Seems as if everytime we drive out of the park it has gone up 2 cents.
ANYWAY we have really enjoyed visiting with Kate. Yesterday, went to her dance practice and watched that for awhile. The recital is in June, so we won't be seeing it. Took her to lunch she chose Pinera Bread. I know that some of you LOVE that place. We had already eaten, so John and I split a cinnamon roll. It was very good.
Kate went on to do teen-age things and John and I decided to drive up to Gallatin,Tenn. About 40 years ago John came to ride in a quarter horse futurity. It was held on a farm called King Bee Farm. So he wanted to drive up to see if it was still there. We didn't think it probably was since everything has grown up so. So we are driving along and there it was, a sign that said King Bee Farms. Turned into it and it looked very prosperous. Went on up to the barn as we saw a pickup sitting there. John got out and started to ask the guy if there had been a race track there. But before he got that said the guy said,"Are you John Lively?"

I'm sure John about fell over . Anyway the guy just rents stalls there and didn't have anything to do with it when John was there in the late 60's. He knew John because his dad use to ride him in Raton,NMexico. As John and this guy were talking over old times, the lady that owns the farm came driving up. She is 92 years old and is still running the quarter horse farm. That was a lot of fun.
MORE Later

On the Road to Pigeon Forge, Tenn

Have arrived in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. When we got here the park on a scale of 1-5 was about 2. The best thing is we get satelite and 50 amp. When the guy brought us to the site, he has a dog that circles the cart and barks continously as it moves. It went down hill from there. After John got the coach backed in, he got out to come back and see how it fit (which is normal) and we discussed that he needed to move it over just a little more to get out from under a tree. He went back to get in and he had shut the door (not normal). It was locked.
Sooooo he ran up to the office and the owner got him a phone book , John looked up a lock-smith, called and the guy said he would be right out. He did come in about 15 minutes. It took him about 10 minutes and it was open. John said, " I could just kiss you!" The locksmith smith said "that's ok, I'll just take the money." I'm sure he has heard that a lot. The cost was 40 bucks (and well spent!)
We drove up to Knoxville and drove around looking for some civil war history. Didn't have that much I was interested in, found a couple of Forts. We saw Tenn. U. and it is a pretty campus (big!) Went by Sams and stocked up.
This area reminds us so much of Branson, Missouri, on a lot bigger scale. Went to Gatlinberg today and I could not believe how busy it was for an early Sunday am. It is not even the tourist season yet .... wonder what it will be like during the summer.
Will hit the outlet malls tomorrow, John is excited.
WE sure enjoyed the races Saturday and hope there is a triple crown winner in June!

Missing Pictures

Will try again with the pictures. The first is the Biltmore and then at the Cherokee Museum and Village

Visting Biltmore and Cherokees

There were suppose to be some pictures with this visit, but I can't seem to find them. We started off together, but got separated.
Mother's Day went to visit the Biltmore and it was worth every penny. What a beautiful place. The estate started off with 125,ooo acres and is now down to 8000 acres. The house took 6 years to build and George Vanderbilt only got to live in it for 19 years before he died. It was opened up in 1930 to the public. I don't know if the family continued living there or when they moved out. It is quite the commercial business now. Anywhere from renting Land Rovers for an "off-road experience" to renting Segways, fly-fishing school etc.
The gardens were beautiful and they had fresh flowers thru-out the house as it was fresh flower month.
The day starting out was rainy, cold and foggy. Temp:53 and didn't improve too much. You know us Flordians can't stand temps below 75. But we dug out coats, long pants and socks and had a good time.

Monday we went to the Cherokee Museum and enjoyed it. Was erected in 1974 and they have taken good care of it. When we went in an older gentleman greeted us and asked us where we were from etc. John told him we were from the Western Cherokee area near a town called Tahlequah, Ok. He corrected Johns pronouncement of it. Of course John said it the way it had been called our whole lives, the man said it was pronounced TA-lee-quah.
Finished up there about 11, took about 2 hours. Then drove on up to the Village. It is how the People lived in the 1700's. Very interesting, had a lot of artists doing pottery, hand weaving, weaving baskets, making arrow-heads, blow guns and darts. The end of the darts are made from thistles that have been dried. We went thru a village in Tahlequah similar to this one, but this one was much better. Also they had a huge log that was being burned to use as a dug out or a canoe.
That's it for the Lively explorations. What a great nation we live in and how priviledged we feel we are to be able to explore it.

Yes this was worth waiting for on RT.276 in the Mt Pisgah N.F. Luckily I was driving as I don't think John would have agreed w/me on the worth waiting for.
We are in a PPA campground near Waynesville,NC. It is such a nice park, quite and peaceful and has a creek on the perimeter.
Today we explored Waynesville. Very vibrant town (no superwalmart) and was pretty busy on a Saturday aft.
Tomorrow is Biltmore Mansion Day. We picked that day as I get in free for Mothers Day. Nothing like saving 48 dollars. THEN we will visit the Cherokee Village on Monday and the Museum on another day.
We had some interesting neighbors. They had a decal on the back window that said "Hike Naked ...It Makes Your Cheeks Rosey" Are you reading, Myron and Dorcus? (they are big hikers) Too bad the neighbors were gone when we got back. I think it is too bad anyway.
Getting back to our trip today, we came back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and that was a beautiful drive also.

At The Fix It Shop

Reeves Custom Coaches is near Waynesboro, Ga. When we got there Monday, lo and behold there was (I thought) a pickle ball court. As soon as John and Fred got thru talking about what needed to be done to the coach, (I thought they would never get thru) I asked about the court. Fred said it was a minature tennis court. (I never heard of such a thing) I asked if we could clean it up and mark it w/chalk and he said of course. So we kept busy playing. It was a beautiful place as you can see, had a lake, picnic tables etc. Sometimes churches rent it for retreats. It was very quiet and peaceful and ab out 30 miles from Augusta.
Hopefully the slide is repaired and we don't have to put a C clamp on it any more. :)
Today is May 8, Thursday and we are leaving for Carolina Landing a Thousand Trails Park. Will spend the night and move on to N.Carolina.

Just A Thought

I told John that I didn't want to live any where I had to read signs like this.

On The Road Again! Georgia 1st Stop

We left about 6:30 Sunday May 4th heading for Sylvania, Ga. It is the closest to Waynesboro for our slide fix . Went straight up I-95, got off on Ga.hwy 21, arrived at campground about 3. There was a side stop at Camping World. Had been looking for a stopping place for lunch, but no chance with all the construction going on. THERE it was right on 95, so stopped, had lunch and then went in and explored. It was a very nice one attached to a rv sales.
The campground is very nice, has a pretty pond with (according to owner) huge catfish in it. He also said there was pellets I could feed them. Hate to say it but I'm a sucker for putting quarters in pellet machine to feed any kind of varmint. Will have to check that out. Don't know if you can tell or not, but the lovebugs weren't too bad. Of course that was the 2nd thing John did, the first being hooking electric up.
I'm kind of surprised I have a connection here as it is kind of in the middle of nowhere here.

Throwing THE Hat Away

Mitch a friend of ours has told John (several times) he wished he would throw that hat away, it was so ugly BECAUSE it is over used. Today May 3 is our last day to play pickle ball and John said ,"Take a picture of me throwing this hat away, so Mitch will have proof." So Mitch there you have it, just for you.

Game of Pickleball

This is the game of pickleball, John is serving
..... great shot(picture I mean). Learning the score is the hardest thing to learn about the game. As you can see it can be played on tennis courts. It is a lot of fun and I call it "old peoples tennis".

When the game is over, every one meets at the net and says "good game". Of course a lot of people especially if they have lost are lying. Seriously, if you get a chance learn to play it.

Barb and Mitch invited us to go with them to eat in the Animal Wonderland Lodge .... a buffet. They said it looked really good a lot of new dishes. Most of you know I am not one for new dishes, so was a little apprehensive , but when we were walking toward our table, I saw someone eating french fries!!
So knew I wouldn't starve. Did enjoy the meal and learned how to pronounce some dishes I will never try.
John discovered he was almost as tall as Mitch when he stood on the steps. We were wandering around looking at the animals. Hope you can see the baby giraffe - he was 6 weeks old the one next to him was a year. The other picture has vultures in it. I was quite amazed how well they blended into their surroundings.
Really enjoyed the evening and am glad we went.

Dressed up

Since most of the pickleball players have never seen us in anything but ragged shorts and shirts and hair never combed, thought I would show we could clean up a little. This was taken Christmas 2007. Don't get use to it as we really ..... enjoy our pickleball clothes.

Our family

This is our family ... our son David and his wife Kelly.
Our daughter Patrice. She lives in Miami and our son lives in Ocala. Pretty convenient for us when we are in Florida.