April Adventures

We had an early start on Saturday April 1 as we left Folklore Brewery and headed toward Nashville at 7:30am with 97,384.1 miles on Acey, and 114,549 still on Thor since we didn’t have to unhook for our overnight stay in Dothan, AL. Traffic was smooth sailing until we got to Montgomery and got on I-65; we ran into several slowdowns. Lots of folks are heading north!

As we passed by the Alabama Welcome Center, we saw the Saturn Rocket that has stood there for many years and was going to be removed but it was still standing! Apparently there has been second thoughts about its removal; check out this article.

Moments later, we passed the state line into Tennessee where we will be staying for a while as we prepare to build a house!

We spent nearly an hour in more slow traffic, before we were able to move on thru Nashville.

We finally arrived at Grand Ole RV Resort in Goodlettsville after 5pm; a long day of driving! We discovered they only had reservations for us to stay for 2 weeks – not the 2 months we thought we had reserved, and it didn’t appear they could accommodate us beyond the 2 weeks. We had to figure out where to stay!

On Palm Sunday, April 2, we were at Stephens Valley Church in person for Sunday School and worship. It was great to be back at our home church! We had lunch out afterwards with Eve and Chris. Then Jim and Chris worked on the brakes on Thor and on our Nissan Rogue. The Rogue has been parked at Chris’ place and he drove it about once a week and made sure it was in good operating condition.

When we were here last fall, we arranged for a logger to take out our trees, and WOW – he took them down all right – and he still needs to haul some logs off the property! It will be a while yet before we can park in Pegram!

Many of the trees were not very healthy; hollow in the middle, and no sign of the Keebler elves or their cookie factory in any of them!

Better to have the trees taken out then to have them fall on the house… So, we will plant new trees and put them where we want them. Now the stumps need to be dug up or ground down. Here’s an aerial shot from Chris’ drone footage last month.

Jim worked on the property all week, and our logger Bob came a couple of days. We ordered a porta potty and it was delivered after they had left for the day. It was placed almost ON the road and in the middle of where the driveway will go! Who thought that was a good place for it? The door opened right over the street…So Jim moved it back a few feet.

After several phone calls and no response, we moved it to the spot that we had clearly staked out, flagged and marked for it to go.

We were so glad to be back in town for Easter – and Easter Sunday was quite a day! The worship service (bulletin) was wonderful as we celebrated the resurrection our Risen Savior. A String Ensemble added a special touch!

The sermon, based on John 20:1-18 tells us about Mary who was the first one to come to see the empty tomb where Jesus had been laid. She didn’t know where He had been taken; reminding us that its amazing what we don’t see in life. She sees a man who she thinks is a gardener – but when He calls her by name, Mary!, she hears His voice and knows it is Jesus – he is alive! Her life is changed- as we are changed when we come to believe in Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Praise God!

We had lunch at Blue Moon Waterfront Grille. We did not have reservations and were delighted that we were seated right away!

On Saturday, April 15, Jim moved Acey to Yazoo Brewing where we stayed in the parking lot for 9 nights. We had fallen down on the job and did not record mileage for Acey or Thor when leaving Grand Ole RV… Well, that may be due to the fact that Linda took off with her sister Eve on Thursday to go to Chicago for their Aunt Dee’s 100^th birthday! Dee has lived longer than anyone in our family tree; definitely a milestone to celebrate! Besides the fact that it had been a long time since we had seen our 3 cousins and their wives too! Well, Linda saw Dave and Janet last year and saw Dee, Robb and Sandy in 2021.

Friday, Eve and Linda wanted to see if we could find some Swedish baked goods. Their grandmother used to bring cardamom and other coffee cakes and Limpa from the Swedish Bakery when she came to visit, and they wanted to bring Dee some cardamom to enjoy with her coffee! They found out the Swedish Bakery had closed up some time ago (2017) but found Levinson’s Bakery had cardamom bread. –They also had an assortment of cookies to bring to the family gathering later that day. This slice of Princess Cake we saved for later, and it was super delicious!

The gals had some time to kill before the family get-together, so they did some sleuthing. One of Dee’s cousins lived nearby, and they had only an address and no phone number. They drove to the house and knocked on the door – and Pam invited them in! Unfortunately, they learned that Norm, who was Dee’s and Mom’s cousin, passed about a year ago. Several years ago, when Chuck was interning in Milwaukee, Jim, Chuck and Linda met Norm and Pam at Lake Geneva where they had (and still have) a lake house, and it was wonderful to see Pam again after all those years.

After a great visit with Pam, it was party time! April 14 was Dee’s 100^th birthday and our cousins arranged a fun dinner party!

Dee looks great at 100! Eve and Linda could see a lot of resemblance with their mother, her sister. Lots of family here to celebrate!

Saturday morning the gals had breakfast with Dee and Bat, her caregiver. Afterwards, they visited for a bit in Dee’s place.

Another party was scheduled for later in the afternoon, so Eve and Linda did some exploring. Their grandparents were buried in the Chicago area and they had information about where the sites were. First stop was Memorial Park.

Eve seemed to recall the swans chasing her when she visited here as a young girl. They look quite peaceful today!

They found the marker for their maternal grandparents, right where it was supposed to be!

They went on to Ridgewood Cemetery and found the area where their Great Grandmother was interred, but not the specific site.

And they struck out on the paternal grandparents’ marker – it apparently has been grown over… and it began to drizzle.

Soon it was time for the BIG party! At the door was an enlarged copy of Dee’s birth announcement!

And some fun facts about the wonderful life she has had!

And several photos covering many years on the back!

Here’s Dee with her 3 sons – our cousins, Robb, Dave and Rick.

And the whole gang!

Fun Facts about the year 1923 – things were sure different 100 years ago!

A beautiful birthday cake!

And a beautiful birthday girl!

What a blessing to be able to celebrate such a milestone!

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Last fall, we got our septic permit. There is a long story to tell with too many details! So, the short story is: we need to have a “duplicate” septic field area set aside in case the primary field fails eventually. SO, the big pile of brush from taking the trees down needs to be removed so the authorities can see the ground where the duplicate field would go. This has to be done before we can begin work on our septic tank and field.

April 19 marks 3 years that we have been living in Acey and we celebrated by having a dental checkup and getting our teeth cleaned!? We visited all 49 states that can be driven to, as well as 5 provinces in Canada. We have driven 35,871.6 miles in Acey and an additional 51,279 miles in Thor the Jeep.

On Saturday April 22, Nashville Steam (link) held an open house so folks could see the progress being made on restoring the old steam engine. Chris has been volunteering on the project in his free time and is especially looking forward to seeing the engine run!

The cab was really rusted, so a new one was made exactly like the original.

The trucks have been reworked extensively and the wheels have new tires.

Also on display were some RJ Corman engines – a recent donation to the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum – the site where the 576 engine is being restored. These classic engines still run but are obsolete.

On Monday, April 24 we left our spot at Yazoo with 97,807.1 miles on Acey,  and 116,350 on Thor. We moved west of Nashville to Tanbark Campground in Dickson where had a 2 week stay with full hookups.

Another potty story! On Friday night, someone rammed the porta potty, maybe trying to turn it over, but they just moved it a bit and there seems to be no damage done. Silly antics for weekend entertainment?!

April 29^th was a busy Saturday! Chris came out to help us work on the pile; moving brush and limbs to go into the chipper. We need to keep heavy equipment off the area so as not to disturb the ground where the duplicate field would go.

And the 29^th is the 3^rd anniversary of Jim’s retirement – my how time flies when you are having fun! His former employer, for whom Jim still does some consulting work, invited us to the Sounds game that night.

What a month; potty, parking, praises, party, Pegram, pitching and progress! Stay tuned to see what happens in May! Thanks for keeping up with us 😊