On the Road Again

Well, we are on the road again.  Just left Dillard, Georgia where we have been workkamping at the River Vista RV Resort since the first of October.  The people there were great.  Karen and her husband, Bob, are the managers and were very easy to work for.  We were pretty much on our own to keep the cabins cleaned, as well as the wash rooms, and laundry rooms.   We had to put in 15 hours a week each to cover our sight.  If any additional hours were required we were paid a small stipend and we averaged about 20 hours a week.

We made a great friend with Tommy Hartman, the maintenance manager.  He is the brother in law of the owner and was a lot of fun.  His stories were always fun to hear, sometimes with some colorful language.  Tommy is a recovering alcoholic and was not ashamed to say it.  His journey to sobriety is an inspirational one. He gives all the credit to God for helping him.  We will not soon forget Tommy nor any of the wonderful people we met and worked with.  Below is a grouping of everyone.

We would love to come back next year but there are some changes in the plans at the resort.  It appears that next year the workkampers will be required to work 40 hours each a week.  As much as we enjoyed our stay, we are retired after all and full time jobs are not what we are looking for, but the managers have indicated that they would try to work with us if we really wanted to come back.  Time will tell.  Below are a few pictures of River Vista.

Our Spot for 3 Months.  Could not find the pot at the end of the rainbow however.  Bummer

Putting up Christmas decorations.  Really don't like icicle lights anymore.

Just so you will know we did work.  Sherree at one of the cabins we cleaned.

Where are we off to now?  Our first stop will be Stone Mountain RV Park in Stone Mountain Georgia, where we will spend a couple days with our friends Nita and Paul Crowder.  This will the our last visit for some time so it will be bitter sweet.  We  have been friends for over 40 years and have always been close.

After Stone Mountain comes Tuscaloosa, Alabama to spend Christmas with Tonya, Donnie, Wendy, Gerald and all the grand kids.  We are meeting at  Zion Avisha Wildlife Retreat and Hunting Preserve.   I know it doesn't sound very festive but it is a beautiful place and the grand kids will have a lot of room to run and play, plus Gerald's sister made arrangements with the owners for us to stay for free and you can't beat a deal like that.  We will be spending 6 days together and we are really looking forward to the visit.  I'm sure I will be blogging about our Christmas, so be prepared.

After Christmas, comes a month back in the DFW area for some RV maintenance and our annual Dr.'s appointments and get togethers with old friends and family.  We are looking forward to a full January in Dallas.

The first of February will find us at Cap Rock Canyon State Park in the panhandle of Texas acting as camp host.  We will be there from February through April and then head to Lubbock to welcome our new grand baby in May.  We will stay in Lubbock for a couple of months to help Wendy with the new baby and spend as much time with Jake, our grandson, as possible.

Back on Track

It has been quite a while since we posted anything to the blog so there is a lot to cover.  In the previous blog about the Smokey Mountain Waterfalls I mentioned that we found a very nice RV park to stay at while we hiked to the various falls.  The name of the park was River Vista RV Resort, located in Dillard, GA and is surrounded by mountains.  As we were preparing to leave we struck up a conversation with a couple that were workkamping there.  They mentioned that the managers were looking for someone to take their place around the first of October.  After a short visit with the manager he hired us on the spot.  We had to leave and return to Charlotte to have some warranty work done on the RV before the warranty ran out, but made a commitment to come back on October 5th and stay until just before Christmas.

Of course has everyone has come to realize, nothing is ever simple for us.  There were no problems with the RV warranty work but Sherree began to have some discomfort around one of her teeth that had a root canal done before we left Dallas.  She thought she would just wait until we returned to Dallas after Christmas and have it looked at then.  Her woman's intuition must have kicked in, because she decided to have it looked at just in case.  Fortunately for her, at least as far as the diagnosis, it turned out she had a major infection below the gum line.  The unfortunate part was she needed dental surgery to clean out the infection and fill the tooth from the root up.  We did make one smart decision when we retired.  We decided to Cobra our dental and boy did it help.  We found a very nice dentist that referred us to a wonderful surgeon.  When he heard that we were living in our motor home and needed to be in Dillard on October 5th, he worked Sherree into his schedule the very next day and even opened up his office on a Saturday to remove the stitches.  She had swollen and sore gums for about three weeks but in the end it was all worth it.

So we are now workkamping at River Vista RV Resort.  The park has six small cabins, 2 one bed rooms and four 2 bed rooms, along with 144 RV sites.  We do light housekeeping for the cabins and help around the park when needed or requested.  For 15 hours each a week we get a free slot with full hookups, free cable TV, free laundry, and free propane.  If we go over 15 hours we get a small salary.  On average we are working about 20 hours each a week and the rest of the time we are exploring the mountains and surrounding country side, meeting the locals, visiting parks and small towns in the area and learning a little about the history for the area.  Our friends from Atlanta, Nita and Paul Crowder, have been up for a visit as well as our daughter Tonya and the four grandchildren.  We took time to enjoy the beautiful Fall colors and visit more waterfalls.  The following slide shows should provide sum up our time here better that any words I use and in a much quicker time.

There will not be a lot going on from now on until Christmas when we will be getting together with our daughters' families and grandchildren.  We are getting anxious to see our daughter Wendy and her family.  We have been missing little Jake.  Can hardly wait.

Enjoy the videos.  I had some difficulty getting them to load but finally was successful.  However if you want to see them in full scree, click on view on YouTube.  Let me know what you think.

Fall Colors and Waterfalls

Smokey Mountain Grand Kids

Birthdays and Grandchildren

While we were in Charlotte, three of our grandchildren had birthdays.  Erin is now 1, Ella is 3, and Caleb is 5.  If you ask Tonya she will tell you that Sherree and I both helped, but Sherree really helped much more that I did.  Tonya always has themes for her kids' parties and these were no exception as you can see below.

Erin was a Princess

Yea!  I'm one

Princess and her court

Is this mine?

Here I go.

Am I in trouble?

Hmm... Good

Oh boy a book!

My Grammie is beautiful.  Him, not so much.

Mommy's forever baby!!

Ella loves butterflies so the theme was butterflies.

Remember the theme thing.  All these butterflies are made of chocolate, including the antenna.

Ella greeted everyone with their very on butterfly wings, which were a big hit.

What would butterflies be without flowers?

And of course there were gifts to be opened.

and finally there is Caleb who turned 5.  He and his brother Joshua are really into the Mario Brothers' games on the Wii and on their DSI's, so the theme was the Mario Brothers.  Tonya made hats for each of the arriving guests.  Half had red hats for Mario and the other half green for his brother Luigi.  All the games and party favors were centered around the Mario Brothers' video games.  All the characters were there, King Boo, Bullet Bill, Princess Peach and Yoshi.

The making of King Boo

The birthday boy (Luigi) and his brother (Mario) with mom's cool hats

Playing darts for party favors

and then there was the after party!

Followed by the after, after party, where everyone relaxed with Grandpa Nuzum, while King Boo looked on.

These are the last of the Nuzum grandchildren for this year.  January 25, 2012 Joshua will turn 9 and the Nuzum birthdays will begin anew.

Our Grandson in Lubbock, Texas is turning two on October 8th.  Unfortunately we will be unable to attend his party this year but we wish him the very best birthday ever.  Plus in mid May he will be welcoming a new brother or sister.  Sherree and I continue to be blessed with beautiful grandchildren.

Smokey Mountain Waterfalls

We have just completed time with our friends Nita and Paul Crowder.  We made plans to meet them near Highlands NC to hike and photograph some of the waterfalls in the Smokey Mountains, but first a few words about our trip from Charlotte.

We woke up early Sunday morning to prepare for our journey and since we had been in the same spot for a couple of weeks it was time to dump the black water tank.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, that is the tank that holds the sewage.  I pulled the lever and the contents began to flow and suddenly a pin hole leak appeared and raw sewage was spewing like a small fountain.  I quickly slammed the valve shut and averted a major environmental disaster.  Fortunately we had purchased a replacement hose a couple of days earlier since this one was getting a little long in the tooth, so very little time was lost and we were soon on our way. 

About half way to our destination we ran into torrential rains but were progressing very well, although somewhat slowly, when suddenly our windshield washers came to a complete halt.  Unable to see clearly we began to look for a place to pull off, but the roads were twisty and no shoulder.  About 300 yards later we came to an underpass that allowed us to pull over.  We waited for about 15 minutes for the rain to slack up and then continued on, looking for a safe place to pull off.  We found a parking lot and called the road side service.  Since it was Sunday and the next day was Labor day no repair shop was open.  The service sent an truck out to lead us to a Walmart parking lot to spend the night.  The RV gods were smiling on us however, because the tow truck driver was a mechanic and he and I finally determined the fuse was blown but it took some time to locate it.  There are more places on a motor home for fuses than one might expect and more expensive fuses.  The 15 amp fuse we needed cost $15.  Ouch!  Anyway the wipers were now working and we were on our way.

Since it was the Labor Day weekend the choices for RV parks was limited.  Based on the Internet pictures the place I finally found seemed nice enough for our purposes and would serve as a base camp for our hiking adventures.  Talk about disappointment.  In an attempt to be as nice as possible the best I can say was it was a minus 5 stars.  Once again the RV gods smiled upon us and we were able to find a very nice park that we could move into on Labor Day afternoon.

Labor Day was a literally a wash out.  The remnants of tropical storm Lee came through.  It has been quite a while since I have seen that much rain.  Our thoughts drifted to our friends in Texas and the terrible drought they are going through and how much they could use this rain.

Tuesday was cloudy and very cool but no rain.  Finally our original purpose for the trip could be met.  Our first hike was to the Holcomb Creek Trail and the Holcomb Creek Falls.  The drive up to the trail head was scenic and the last few miles were on graveled Forest Service roads.  We even had to stop and clear the road of a fallen tree so we could pass.  Who said old retired people couldn't do hard work.

Well, now what?

What about pulling this limb down?

One old man and two younger women can do amazing things.

After all this hard work we finally made it to the trail head and started the one mile hike to Holcomb Creek Falls.  It was worth the hike as you can see by the photos below.

It's great to be surrounded my nature.

 

Holcomb Falls

First time we had ever seen a snail with the full shell.  Nature is always interesting.

We continued the next day hiking and visiting more waterfalls.  I can't remember the name of the first but the second was Bridal Veil and the third was Dry Falls, which was far from dry as you can see below.

Paul and Nita had to leave and head back to Atlanta, leaving us to our own devices for a couple of days.  We unloaded the Burgman and took to the roads for some site seeing and to check out some more local campgrounds.  The scenery was breathtaking and we discovered some more campground choices but none as nice as River Vista, where we were stopped.  We met a lot of really nice people and enjoyed our two days.  Sherree took most of the pictures below from the back of the Burgman and she did a great job.  Enjoy.

Nothing like a motorcycle ride thru the Smokies

Beautiful flowers      and         unusual Ballerina geese

Grandsons and Cars

If you were looking for somewhere to take two active young boys, what better place to go than a drag race and car show.  As it happened both events were happening at the z-Max Drag Strip and the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Since we were parked at an RV park just across the street from both venues, we thought, why not?  Checking on ticket prices I discovered the drag races were $20 a person with children getting in free and the car show was $10 and children free.  We decided to wait until late to arrive so we could see the best races.  On the way we got stuck in a traffic jam and were concerned that we might miss the best races.  As it turned out that was fortunate for us.  By the time we arrived the ticket offices were closed but the gates were open so we just walked in, free of charge.  As a retired grandparent, free is always good.  The boys had never heard of a drag race nor a car show, much less seen one.  They seemed to really enjoy the races, especially the jet car.  Talk about loud, but it was very cool.

The car show was not as much of a hit with them as it was with me.  They are not into old cars or hot rods, at least not yet.  I have never seen so many cars in one place.  The entire infield of Charlotte Motor Speedway was covered.  I could have spent hours and hours there but we stayed only for about two.  The video below sums up our time at both.

Time with friends

As we headed for Atlanta GA we called ahead to Stone Mountain Campground and RV park for reservations.  Our called was made just in time as there was only one site left that would accommodate a MH of our size.  We were not in the shade but were surrounded by trees and as a result we could not get any satellite service and for some reason our over-the-air antenna was not bringing in any signals either.  We had no TV for that week in Atlanta.  Not a real problem since we were there to visit our best friends, Nita and Paul Crowder.  As it turned out Nita and Paul surprised us with a short 2 day trip to north Georgia and a mountain cabin for a couple of days (their treat, that's really good friends).  We had a wonderful idea as the pictures below will show.  We took short day hikes to visit waterfalls and hanging bridges.  The weather was nice and the exercise did us good.  We had been couped up in the MH for too long. We needed the fresh air and sunshine.  We have been friends for over 40 years and our children are all the same age.  Nita and Paul moved to Atlanta to be close to their grandchild and two daughters.  We really missed them back in Texas.

Sherree relaxing and enjoying the morning view.  The evening view was even more stunning .

Best Friends forever.  The hanging bridge.  Sherree overcame her fear of heights.  Keeping a man down & on the trail.

A long walk up

At the end of the day, it is all about relaxing.

We left Atlanta and headed up to Bald Ridge Campground on Lake Sidney Lanier.  It is a Corp of Engineer Park and is the nicest park we have visited since we started our journey.  We were surrounded by trees and near the water.  School had already started in Georgia so there were very few campers.  We almost had the whole park to ourselves.  We spent some time with the camp hosts and they gave us some information that will help us if we decided to pursue a camp host position at some of the Corp of Engineer Parks.  It involves a bidding process that requires some preparation so we are just discussing the opportunity at the moment.  One more week without TV.  Still too many trees.

We left Bald Ridge and headed for Gaffney to have the computer replaced in the MH and to have the annual service done.  While there we visited Cowpens National Battleground.  We have seen the signs for Cowpens along the interstate for several years and just assumed it was a Civil War battlefield.  Not true.  It is a Revolutionary War battlefield.  It occurred on January 17th, 1791 in the latter part of the southern campaign and became known as the turning point of the revolution in the south.  We were fortunate to meet up with a volunteer that conducted guided tours but since no one else was visiting at the moment, Sherree and I received our own personal lecture on the battle and its combatants.  He was very interesting and if he had been my high school history teacher I probably would have enjoyed that class much.  Sherree and I were both struck with the realization that very little is ever said about the Revolutionary War in the South, and as it turns out without the victory at Cowpens the outcome of the revolution could have been much different.  

Tragedy on the Interstate

Back on the road again, heading for Atlanta to visit our good friends, Nita and Paul Crowder, with a short stop over in Gaffney at the Freightliner service center as discussed in the last post.  After a night in Gaffney we headed out for Atlanta.  After a short period we started seeing highway signs warning of an accident at mile marker 22.  Sure enough at about mile marker 30, traffic came to a stop.  From that point on it was creep time.  We were getting frustrated and complaining about the delay until we came upon the accident.  It was terrible.  It involved two 18 wheelers and 2 other vehicles.  Needless to say there were multiple fatalities.  We took the following pictures, and now when the traffic slows or comes to a stop we think about this accident and traffic becomes a minor annoyance.  We give thanks for all our blessing and our chance to travel as we do.  After viewing the photos below, we feel sure whoever reads this will feel the same.

Approaching mile marker 22.  Traffic as far as the eye can see.

First thing we saw was the tractor of an 18 wheeler with the top shorn off.

Second  was this scene.  The tractor of the second 18 wheeler had gone over the edge.  A black pickup was stuck in the side and underneath the trailer was a gray SUV.  From the tracks (just to the left in the picture) it appears that someone crossed over the median.

After passing the accident scene we could see all the approaching traffic stopped for miles.

We discovered later from the news that there were 4 fatalities.  We said prayers for everyone that evening.

Next a more pleasant post.

Catching Up Part 2

We had a terrible scare on the 5th of July.  We had returned to the MH for a night's rest when we got a call from our daughter, Wendy, in Lubbock, wanting to know what was happening with Erin, our youngest granddaughter.  It seems that shortly after we left Tonya's for the evening, Erin experienced a seizure and Donnie had Tweeted that they were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.  Since we did not have a Twitter account, we did not know what was happening, and in the rush to the hospital know one had called.  In this modern world of social networking, tweeting was the quickest way to let friends know that Erin needed their prayers.  We rushed to the hospital and they were already in the ER and everything was going well.  It appears that she had a febrile seizure.  These are seizures that are brought on by a rapid rise in body temperature.  Erin had been a little under the weather, but it did not seem serious.  For reasons known only to God, Tonya went upstairs to check on her after putting her to bed.  Tonya brought her downstairs just as the seizure began.  After a long grueling night in the ER and after pee'ing in a cup (Erin is very advanced for a 9 month old), everyone is doing well.  All the prayers were answered and they now know that Erin needs medication as soon as she develops fever for any reason.  It is a condition that is normally outgrown, thank goodness. 

We have moved from campground to campground a couple of times.  The KOA where we were staying was not the best.  We have stayed there in the past and it was very nice and well kept.  Things have gone down hill however, so we started looking for another place.  We found it at Cane Creek Campground in Waxhaw, NC which is closer to my daughter's family in Indian Trail.  It is a very nice county run facility on a small lake and is very woodsy, as you can see from the picture.

Of course the move was not as easy as it sounds.  We decided to wash the MH before we moved and as luck would have it, the campground owner stopped by and informed us that there was a 50% chance of rain that day.  Too late we had already finished.  We decided to wait until the skies cleared and the roads were dry.  Well that didn't work either.  About a quarter mile after we left, Sherree noticed we had left the small awning over the entry door out, but she was able to bring it in on the fly.  Thank goodness for remotes.  Then the skies opened up and we were drenched and the roads were wet.  Fortunately the rain did not last long and we made it to Cane Creek, but not without incident.  Surely you didn't expect this to go smoothly.  I must say the NC road signs are terrible.  We were following the GPS and came to a T in the road.  We were on Cane Creek road and it T'd into Cane Creek Road.  Left or right???  The GPS was no help so I guessed left.  Wrong guess.  Now it takes some room to turn a 40 ft. MH and towed pickup around.  I found what I thought was a good place.  Second wrong decision.  We managed to block the road and Sherree had to direct traffic as I unhooked the pickup.

Notice the flashing light.  Not a good place to hold up traffic!

We are getting so good at unhooking it, that little time was wasted but we got a lot of inquires offering assistance.  The roads may not be well marked but the people were nice.  When we got to Cane Creek we backed into our spot and in extending the driver's side slide we discovered we were too close to the trees.  We had to bring in the sides and the leveling jacks and move the MH over about 2 feet.  Finally we were successfully hooked up.

We have not gone unscathed as far as the "Peek Luck", or curse as my daughter says.  We had some problems with our satellite dish and had to have some parts replaced, but that was covered by warranty.  We had an opportunity one day to do a little riding on our scooter to see the countryside as we were checking out camp sites to move too.  We missed a turn and in making a u-turn in the road I managed to lose it and the bike tipped over with us on it.  It was at the bottom of a hill and the adrenaline was flowing as we picked up the 600 lb. scooter.  Actually I think Sherree could have picked it up by herself.  We were not hurt, nor was the scooter, but I was embarrassed more that anything.  In 42 years of riding I have never done that.

I have mentioned the overheating problem in previous posts so we decided to stop by the Freightliner manufacturing facility in Gaffney, SC to have it checked out.  They discovered that the computer that manages all the gauges was mismatched to the engine.  Of course, as our luck would have it, the part was not available.  It has been ordered and we are stopping by as we head back to North Carolina from Atlanta where we have been visiting our close friends, Nita and Paul Crowder.  More about that in a later post.  There was one last "Peek Luck" episode however.  After fueling up in Gaffney at a Walmart, we pulled in the parking lot to hook up the truck.  We had left it unhooked due to space constraints at the Walmart fueling station.  We hooked up the truck and the Easy Brake, our supplementary braking system, said we had blown a stoplight fuse and it would not work.  Replaced the fuse and it still did not work.  Now what?  We decided to head on into Atlanta without the Easy Brake and check it out when we arrived.  Turns out it was not blown fuse nor a bad bulb, but a loose connection in the tail light .  It's now repaired and Easy Brake is happy.  Next stop, Atlanta, GA and our friends, the Crowders.

Catching up

It has been quite a while since I posted our adventures.  We have been busy visiting with our daughter, Tonya and her family in Indian Trail NC.  We arrived on June 29th and checked into the KOA in Fort Mill SC which is only about 20 miles from Tonya's.  We made a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and had a wonderful time.  Even if you are not a NASCAR fan, it is a really interesting place to visit.  There is an amazing amount of science that goes into racing.  I would recommend a visit if anyone is in the Charlotte area for a few days.  The pictures below are just a taste of what is there.

That's me in the left most picture trying my hand at driving.  I'm lousy.  I don't think I made it around the track one time without crashing.  I'm better at driving the MH but it is also a lot slower.

The grandkids had a great time.  Joshua tried his hand at changing a tire.  It was a timed event and for an 8 year old I thought he did a great job.  Check it out below.

Future Pit Crew Member

 

Future Drivers

                                               Joshua                  Ella                   Caleb

The Biltmore

We pulled out of South Carolina on the 27th of June and headed for Asheville,  North Carolina to visit the Biltmore Estate.  We have been wanting to visit the Biltmore ever since Tonya and her family moved to Charlotte, but it seemed  every time we came up there was not enough time.  Now that we are retired, we no longer have that excuse.  We had reservations at the Bear Creek Campground just outside of Asheville and it was very nice, and would recommend it to anyone visiting the area.  We only had one issue and it was minor and easily overcome.  Sherree is always the one that directs the backing-in process when we don't have a pull through.  She tried to back us into the wrong place, but we finally got on the same page and all went smoothly.

The Biltmore was only about 5 miles or so from the campground so it was an easy drive.  Alicia had ordered tickets ahead of time and if anyone is planning to go, significant savings can be realized by doing the same.  The Biltmore is a private estate and as such, the entrance fees and tours fund the upkeep.  If you are ever in the area it is definitely worth your time and money to see it.  Some pictures are posted below but only from the outside.  No photos are allowed inside.  It is beyond our comprehension that someone 33 years old and unmarried could build such a magnificent place.  We did not have time to take any of the specialty tours but we will be back and will take some if not all of the tours.  We also visited the winery onsite and had a great time at the free wine tasting.  Free is always good.

 As you peer at the windows and over the doors there are figures everywhere and no two are alike.  None of this can be seen from the road.  When guests arrived they drove through several miles of beautifully landscaped roads, as did we, and suddenly one rounds the corner and sees the house.

A closer view of the front enterance

This restaurant was at one time stables

One could spend a day just walking through the gardens.  We only had time to drive by.

This was the only day we experienced any rain on our trip.  As we completed the wine tour we went to the Biltmore village.  It is a group of shops for souvenirs and food.  There was a ice cream shop and it sheltered us from the rain and at the same time satisfied our sweet tooth.  All in all the trip to the Biltmore was all we expected and as mentioned earlier we will be back.

Familiy Reunion

Pulled out of DFW on June 18 and headed for Clarksville, Texas to pick up Dudley's sister Alicia, and her husband, Jamey.  Struck out on a trip to visit family Dudley and Alicia had not seen for several years.  They have cousins in Atlanta, Georgia and near Greenville, South Carolina.  We were a little concerned that it might feel cramped with four adults in the MH but that was not the case.  We had plenty of room and enjoyed the drive every day.

First stop was Atlanta to visit their cousin Pat Cannon.  That turned into a search for a missing person.  Dudley and Alicia had not been able to contact Pat for some time and when we arrived at her home no one answered the door.  Her car was in the garage, the lawn had be freshly mowed, and there were a few letters in the mailbox.  In fact Alicia's last letter was there. Where could she be?  Alicia and Sherree went to one neighbor and Dudley headed in the other direction.  The girls encountered some large dogs at the first house and decided not to go to the door.  No one was home at the residence that Dudley tried. The second try by the girls was more successful.  The neighbors were good friends with Pat and knew that she had moved to an assisted living apartment in Gainsville, Georgia after a stay in the hospital.  Thank goodness for GPS.  We headed to Gainsville, found Pat and had a great visit.  We got her new address and phone number so we can keep in touch.

 Although in a wheel chair for the moment we found Pat to be in good spirits and doing well. 

We next headed for Greenville, South Carolina to visit our cousins there.  We met at Buddy and Donna Dudley's home where we visited with them and as well as Larry, Buddy's brother.  Also there were sisters Mickey and Jackie.  Dudley, Alicia, Larry, Buddy, Mickey, and Jackie are all first cousins.  With the exception of Buddy and Donna,  Dudley and Alicia and not seen any of the others of over 20 years.  It was a wonderful visit.  We hope it's not another 20 years before we see them again.

 Our wonderful hosts, Buddy and Donna Dudley

We cannot thank them enough for letting us use their beautiful home to gather.  Although we ask Donna not to go to a lot of trouble she had great food prepared for us and we all ate our fill.  True southern hospitality.

Here is the whole group.  From left to right are sisters, Jackie & Mickey, sister and brother, Alicia and Dudley, and brothers Buddy and Larry.  After a lot of discussion we all decided we have not aged a day.  

Not a very serious group.

Even the in-laws had a great time talking car and motorcycle racing.