(click here for today's pictures)
Everyone stayed in their spot last night which was good, and we all stayed warm which was also good since it was in the 20s outside. It was actually so chilly that pretty early in the evening our water hose froze. That was to be expected, and not a big deal. Robby threw the cold hose in the car for the night, and we just used our 40 gallons of fresh water.
Robby and I woke up before most everyone else. We were both dressed and ready before Anderson and Graham started waking up. As soon as we could, we headed out to explore. Keaton was the only one who we could convince to go with us. We weren't really sure where we would end up so that is probably why we didn't have many takers to accompany us.
We drove through the Unicoi State Park for a little bit. Then we saw a sign pointing towards Anna Ruby Falls. We thought that we would check it out. We had to drive and drive to get there and eventually entered a national forest.
After we went through the admission gate, we were committed and headed towards Anna Ruby falls. First, we looked around the gift shop because that is what we do! (Remember, I love gift shops-rarely buy anything unless it is an ornament, can be used as an ornament or a sticker for the camper.)
We were happy to see that the trail to the falls were just .4 miles. The walk was beautiful-we were walking in a mountain valley with trees everywhere and in the middle of the valley was a stream running over smooth rocks and boulders. It was so very pretty.
Now the trail started off nice-it was paved and even flat. But soon the flatness turned to a steep incline. Gracious me. Robby and I were huffing and puffing while Keaton was just bee bopping along. We did make if to the end of the trail and came upon the most beautiful waterfall.
We stopped to take some pictures, but the pictures of course didn't do it justice at all. We have seen some beautiful places today. One lake that we drove over, Robby said that it was comparable to Lake Tahoe. These falls were so pretty that I wished that I would have made all of the kids come with us.
We soon headed back to the campground and even stopped at their gift shop. Then it was time to quickly clean up and head out. Now, when we leave-Robby has to unhook our electricity, water (which he unhooked last night after it started to freeze), dump the black and grey water and put in the slides (I don't really like doing that,)
Now, while he is doing this, I work on the inside. Today, there were all of the beds to make and blankets to put away. Heaters, the ice chest, shoes, and anything that can fall have to put away. Then I do like to sweep because for some reason we have so much sand in this camper on this trip. We had less sand at the beach than we do on this trip.
I was still working on my inside list when Robby finished outside and came into help. Soon Robby was pulling out one way to turn around and I was pulling out in the van another way to meet at our hook up location.
I dove to where we had planned on meeting but deemed it too car-sy for a hook up and directed Robby to stop at another spot. He quickly met up with me and we hooked that car up. It was much easier when things weren't slippery. Even though I don't have to lay on the ground like Robby, I do have to stick my hands all around the messy wheels so I do get a bit messy.
We were soon on the road together and were closely following Robby's app which was using RV directions. Now the roads weren't as curvy, as one lane, or gravelly like yesterday, but if those roads were RV friendly then, gracious I would hate to be on the non-RV friendly roads.
Actually, it was a nice two lane highway that did happen to curve up and down through the Appalachian Mountains. Even though they were RV friendly roads, I still helped Robby brake as best I could.
The road also followed the Ocoee River. The river was full of rapids and is a big rafting and canoeing area. Robby even has a co-worker who comes to that river a few times a year to kayak. It was pretty, and we probably would have pulled off for a picture or two...but you know! (Not many parking spots for us!)
Speaking of parking-we decided to go to Chattanooga to explore a little bit. We found what we wanted to do and I found a parking area at a grocery store....except everyone was out shopping, and there were no parking anywhere around. We did drive around a bit, but quickly decided that there were too many folks around to park our rig.
We then went across the river to see another area, but eventually ended up a sculpture garden in Chattanooga. It was perfect-there was plenty of parking which we used up. Once we stopped, we fixed our lunches and then took a walk around the sculpture garden.
The kids pulled out a football, soccer ball and jump rope for our walk-we were just gone about 15 minutes, but everything was played with. Then we were back on the road headed towards Jackson, Tennessee.
We drove until we made it to Murfreesboro and stopped for gas...and ice cream and empanadas. The gas station had ice cream with all you want toppings so that was fun for the kids. Once everyone returned to the car, Robby pulled away from the gas pump.
You can’t make really sharp turns in this thing, and we were soon right near the curb...and a light pole. I had to jump out to make sure that we could clear it and we could-by just a few inches. We all breathed a sigh of relief and were back on the interstate.
We knew that we could have made it home tonight, but it would have been late plus we would have missed tomorrow's stop at IKEA. So we stopped at Jackson at the Walmart there to spend the night. Apparently this is a common over night spot though there is no one else here right now.
We found the Walmart, scoped it out, got gas and then settled in to make our supper. We ate leftovers and then worked on bedding for everyone, Right now, I am about to take my nightly shower after I get the bathroom warm!
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