Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Good morning. It rained lightly all night long. There were flash flood warnings in the mountains, but we were fine here. Our sweet little creek is a red roiling river this morning! 

Jonathan Creek  ... picture was taken at 7 o’clock from 

bed. 💦 

Jeremy and girlfriend Kim are coming to visit about lunchtime today. (Maybe Paula too?) Mark’s planning to cook up a feast on the grill.) The rain is supposed to clear by afternoon and we’ll have a nice cool evening for the Cherokee show tonight! 

The three of them arrived 45 minutes late as they missed the exit ... and were close to Tennessee before they realized. 🤪 We had the picnic table set up and Mark cooked up chicken, brats and hotdogs. It was nice and cool; a great change from last week! 

Kim, Paula, Jeremy, Pam and me. Mark was walking the kids. 

The drive to Cherokee was easier this time. We drove to Waynesville to pick up the 276 to 74 to 441 ... perfect 4 lane highway all the way! Thanks Paula for the directions! 

We had great seats for the show, Unto These Hills. 

The RV group was sitting in the same section as us, 35 rows back. They spotted my hair and Pete got them all calling ‘Julie’ at one time. Haha. So, I stood up and took their picture!

That’s them! 😂

Then our friend Linda took our picture ...

such movie stars 🤩

We were back home safely by 11ish ... had decaf coffee and warmed up by the fireplace. 

Monday July 22, 2019

Good morning clouds ☁️ and raindrops on the windows 🥰. (Mark had a tough time getting me inside last night; I wanted so sit on the patio in the rain.) 

So today’s fun for the VIP Camping party is a bus trip to Biltmore house. Since Mark and I have been a few times, we’re going to chill out around the area. We offered to walk Lexi at 1 o’clock.

Pam arrives today from Minnesota and will meet us and all the family for a dinner this evening in Asheville. It’s going to be a great, noisy affair! We haven’t met Savannah and Marshall’s two children, so we know it’s two years since we’ve visited. Paula has called everyone ... like a rally of the troops! 😂

Here we ate at The Moose Cafe in Asheville!

What a great family! ❤️ (We’re missing Jonathan who had to work tonight!)

Sunday July 21, 2019

Good afternoon! Well THAT was quite the drive with a plethora of ‘S’ curves and vertical rock walls! Yikes! It’s a good thing we’re not gamblers wanting to partake at Harrah’s! We remembered several sites and shops from our trip in 1993! Bottom line ... we’ll stick to Maggie Valley and Waynesville areas!

Purdy! Great weather! High of 82F

This evening 111 of us were treated to dinner at J. Arthur’s in Maggie Valley! The restaurant is very nice ... and the service and food was excellent. 

Well, most of us are in Mark’s picture! After dinner, Mark started a bonfire 🔥 and 10 joined us. It was beautiful hearing the splashing of Jonathan Creek, coyotes and the crackling fire. It was a magical evening! To bed at 11:45 due to a thunderstorm. 

Saturday July 20, 2019

Good morning sunshine! We’re being a bit lazier than usual ... 😊  but off to Publix and to look about Waynesville. 

The downtown Waynesville area is really nice! We’ll have a browsing day there for sure! Mark found a cigar store so he’s happy. 

Actually, the store had a meager selection, but he bought a few. 

Dinner with 23 pals at Bocelli’s in Waynesville was delicious! The service was very good too!



Tomorrow, 38 more RVs arrive. It’s going to be a ginormous PARTAY. 

After dinner, we sat on our porch ... no bugs! Karen and Pete joined us ... then Donna and Bobby ... then Susan and Larry. It’s nice to know so many fellow RVers! 

Tomorrow, we’re taking the kids for a ride to Cherokee. 😜

Friday July 19, 2019

Good morning! Mark and Mz Bee are still sleeping while Robbie and I watching Telly. It’s our travel day to Maggie Valley ... check-in isn’t til noon, so they can sleep a bit longer! ❤️

Yesterday, Wayne picked up their ‘new’ Gator ...

which was shipped from home. It looks very nice! 

Bonnie’s been busy with Ella’s 4 puppies.

They’re tuckered out 😍 All these pups are females!

We left the CG at 8:21 ... winding country roads to I-40 but Mark handled it like the pro he is. 😍

Arriving at the Pride RV Park ... we sat at the bank of Jonathan Creek with a welcome cocktail. Well, I saw the erronous time on our microwave clock and thought it was very close to happy hour! 😂

That’s a babbling creek behind us! 👍🏻

BeeZee and Robbie had a bit of fun with their dad in Jonathan Creek. Mark said the temperature was about 70F. 

After dinner, we sat outside with several friends from our VIP camping club who have arrived a couple of days early. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs, and came in about midnight.

Thursday July 18, 2019

Good morning sunshine! It’s a gorgeous start to our day at Lake Hickory RV. Much of the United States is under a extreme temperature warning. We are very fortunate to be here at Hickory Lake as the high today is predicted to be 89. No matter what some say, populations say, scientists state we are into an era of extreme climate change. Without major impact and change by ‘we the people’ we may not be able to hold this to a 1.5° global change. Sad. We stupid stupid humans are destroying life left and right. All inhabitants of this planet 🌎 must suffer our greed. 

On a lighter note, Randy, Dawn and Makenna are off to Michigan for Jan‘s 80th birthday party.

Safe travels ❤️ ... and have a blast. 

Mark hiked about the property this morning taking pictures! 

Our campsite at the top of the hill ...

Hickory Lake

This afternoon we took a drive to downtown Hickory. Much construction work is going on ... but it’s going to be very nice. Give this town 5 years and it’s a happening place. 👍🏻

Tonight Mark’s cooking shrimp and rice for our dinner ... tomorrow we’re off to Maggie Valley for a week’s fun. Pam joins us Monday!

Wednesday July 17, 2019

Good morning y’all. We’re on the road already having left the campground at 7:15. We had one potential trouble spot when the GPS wasn’t clear with the route. Luckily, I was watching and kept us on track. We had a few very rough spots around Richmond Virginia that played havoc with our driver side electric mirror ... it’s kind of manual only now. Mostly though, the roads have been good. 

At 10:15 we entered ...

Yay! We have 308 miles to Maggie Valley ... but don’t plan to get there til Friday. We’ll find a nice cool spot for 2 nights, somewhere. 

Hahaha ...

It must be mirror problem day! 😜 Plus this guy got a bullet hole in the back window. Bang bang. What the heck?

After looking through our old (2013) Good Sam book I found a clean RV park with 50 amp service on Hickory Lake. It’s nice; the usual narrow roads getting in the last few mikes, but do-able. 

And, it’s gated. 🤷‍♀️

Great!!! And only $40 a night. 

We’ll explore the area tomorrow ... but that’s it for tonight. It’s wine:30.