Short Stop and Off We Go

Our time in Tennessee is always too short.  While there we were able to see family and neighbors and friends.  And we completed a project with Roadrunner Builders.  Mike had been saving the back porch so we could work on it.  He wanted some insulation in the walls and ceiling and a couple of windows trimmed out.

He had the insulation done and we got to do some of the rest.  He insisted on leaving the painting for him and since we ran out of time, that was OK with us.

We worked in the middle of 'errands' we had to do at Wiegel's and Hammer's in  Halls.  We also drove over to Powell's and picked up some things at Lowe's.  Our basic workday M-W was about 9:00 ish to 4:00 or 5:00 in the evening.

The insulation is all in place along the wall and also up top in the ceiling.  Our job was to cover up the walls, finish work on the ceiling and hide the seams.

 The first order was to cut and precisely size the sheet rock for a good fit.

 Next, Pam mudded over the sheet rock screws and taped the seams.

 We added 3" PVC trim under the ceiling where the wall joined.

While that was being done, I added 2 1/2" strips over the seams on the ceiling to cover them and the screws.  Mike's brad nailer came in handy for that.

We also took our time trimming out the windows and adding window sills.  All in all, we had a lot of fun humming along working on the back room.

The next day we headed out of town and found a gem of a overnight stop in Buena Vista, VA.  We're on our way to the Fairfax area to see out son and wife.  We hate paying $40 plus for an overnight stop. And there were quite a few of those within 30 miles of where we wanted to stop for the night.

Even among those expensive places, there is no guarantee that we would get open access for our DirecTV.  That would be frustrating.  But we found a place in Buena Vista, VA.  We checked out reviews for the Glen Maury City Park campground and they were pretty good.  Nothing great.  But we were looking for one night.

I called and asked and was assured we would be able to get an open site with satellite access.  Sure enough, we arrived, paid our $19.48 (with Passport America) and parked in the open field.  We had 30 amp service (which was fine since we did not used the A/C) and water.  Perfect.

It was a tad cloudy for a while but it was a terrific evening.  We had windows and the front door open and enjoyed the fall-like day.  We slept with the windows open and thoroughly love this place.  The cell phone service was great and we had no issues at all with our DirecTV access.  And best on all the  free wifi was excellent!  What?  I can't remember when that was the case apart from the Navy bases where we've stayed.

We will definitely keep this campground on our favorites list for next time.

It was a great time seeing Mike and Joan and all in Tennessee and getting to work on their place.  Always too short, but fun to get some work done with the Roadrunner Builders.  And we look forward to a few days seeing Adam and Melissa.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Wrapup - Maynardville Nov 2015

We left the Roadrunner RV Resort and Campground about 7:30 yesterday morning after a 10 day stay.  It's always great to hang out with Joan and Mike and to see everybody.

The two things that really standout in my mind on this visit are Joan's health and a near miss with the tree we chopped down.  I already mentioned the tree in my last post.

Joan's health though I don't think I have mentioned very much.  She hasn't felt this good or gotten around this good in years!  It was really quite startling to see her get around fine and more like her 'old self'.

I think it was about five years ago she had back surgery to relieve chronic sciatic nerve pain.  It worked for a while but a second surgery was needed six months later.  That did not work and she suffered through years of extreme pain and questionable medication.  Then in August she got up from the sofa was dizzy and fell, breaking her wrist.

After surgery and staying at the hospital overnight, her nurses found out her pain medicine and blood pressure medicine were at odds and should not be taken together.  They got rid of her heavy hitting pain meds and replaced it with Motrin.  Her life changed in an unbelievable way! She is a completely different person.  After a few weeks of the new regimen she is in better health than she has been in the last 10 years!

That is the biggest memory I will carry is how she looks and feels and her quality of life has returned. This is big!

Other memories we tucked away while there were visiting with long time neighbor Helen (and granddaughter Emma.) And grand niece Kayla returned from her studies at Middle Tennessee for Thanksgiving.

I also got to spend time with nephew Joey while playing some golf with him and some of his friends.

We were able to go out to Joan and Pam's dad's place and spend some time with him.

While we were out we made the usual runs to Walmart, Hammer's, Lowes, Dollar Tree etc.  Not to early to get some stocking stuffers.

Before we even got to Joan and Mikes, Pam made it her mission to cook and leave some food behind.  With Joan's broken hand, she has not done much cooking.  And Joan and Mike love Pam's cooking (who doesn't?) and she gladly cooked.  She not only made most of the meals each evening but made extra let at least six casseroles in the freezer for Joan and Mike.

One afternoon I painted the front bathroom.

We found a way to schedule in a couple of games of Monopoly with nephew-in-law Jeremy and his son Noah who played with us.

Over the years we've had some memorable and fun times around the Monopoly board and the evening we played was long overdue.

Mike and I took a drive up to the Kentucky border to see how far along the new bridge near Tazewell.  I always look forward to our back road trips through neighboring counties.  It has been quite interesting to drive around through the hollers and hills.

Pam and I also spent a lot of time on Brooks' stocking.  Kelly gave Pam a stocking sew kit that is one of the most intricate I've seen.  It has taken hours and hours and is almost done.

Pam does all the heavy lifting on that one and I get to thread the needles.  Hopefully it will be a labor of love from his grandmother that he enjoys over the years.

Of course there was the Thanksgiving Day meal at Mike and Joan's.

Pam and Joan and Michelle did all the cooking and we had a feast.  It was good to see Joey and girlfriend Angela, neighbor Willow and Michelle, Jeremy, Kayla, Noah.  It was a great group and we enjoyed hanging out a little bit.

And another afternoon Pam and I drove over to a new Vineyard at Willow Springs which is a couple of miles away.

Over the last 15 years we have watched this property and the surrounding acres get cleared and crops planted.  The owner has cows and a huge garden and a couple of years ago planted a small vineyard.  Then this building went up that serves as a store and office and wine processing plant.  Very interesting and quaint place.

It was another great stay at Joan and Mikes and great to spend Thanksgiving with them.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

The Auction at Powder Springs

We had been in Maynardville for about a week and we noticed signs announcing an auction for two small farms in Powder Springs, TN.  Saturday morning 9:30 AM.  Hmm...

Mike and I haven't been to one of these so we thought we'd check it out.  The day before the auction we found the property and looked around to see if there was any interesting stuff.  We were not disappointed.

Besides the property and buildings on the properties, all the equipment in the building was going to auctioned too.

Mike and I talked with one of the employees of the Stone Realty Co that was on the property and getting things ready for the next day.

We were about as ready as we could be for the auction the next day.  We found the place, checked out the things that were up for auction and that completed our pre-auction site survey.

Saturday we wanted to get there about 8:30 AM.  Powder Springs is not a big town.  Actual more like a village up in the holler.

It seemed as if there were a lot of people headed to the same auction.  Maybe it was my imagination.  I was hoping three people would show up.  But I wouldn't have been surprised if there had been 300.

We found a place to park but there weren't a lot of options.

There were about 50-60 people milling around and checking out things including the two trucks and one car for sale.

 We had enough time to register and get a number in case we wanted to bid on anything.

I asked where the coffee has half kidding and they said it was inside the double garage.  Sure enough a local church (Clinch Valley American Christian Church) was there with all kinds of food.

Mike and I had a cup of coffee and a home made cinnamon roll while we waited for things to start.

One thing we did look over was a pickup truck camper that was on the edge of the property.  I don't know how much it was worth or what it went for but I thought it was the perfect item to get at an auction.  

It was dirty, had lots of green scum buildup on the outside.  On the inside it was cluttered and dirty. But it looked like a very good camper.  With some elbow grease and a little TLC, someone could really do well with this one.  But I wasn't in the market.  Just curious.

The auctioneer got his truck and speakers into place and promptly at 9:35 AM we got under way.

I think about 10 items were sold before I was interested in bidding on anything.  They brought things out on the two tables that were set up and held them up and started going at it.

My first item of interest was a tub of electrical cords.  I think I may have left one at the last Habitat Build so I was thinking I'd spend $30 and see what happens.  It all went for $45.  The next item(s) that caught my interest was two bottle hydraulic jacks.  Again, I was hoping to get them somewhere under $40.  No dice.  Two went for $50.  But at least I was getting into the process raising my number, nodding my head and getting into the action.

But I didn't want to get carried away.  So I didn't bid on anything that I couldn't use.  I also bid on a drill press.  It went for $100.  Mike wasn't bidding on anything yet.  After about an hour, they brought out a tool box full of what looked like a dozen types of vise grips.  I stuck with this one and got it $42.

That was cool.  I looked through them and figured they each cost $5 - $10 a piece so I made out OK.  Plus I could give 2-3 in sets to my kids for Christmas gifts since they each have houses and need tools.  You can see my justification/rationalization gear kicking in here.

When I got home, I found that I actually had a total of 20 tools.

Plus a sturdy hard plastic tool box I can use.

Back at the auction, they moved their attention over to the trucks, the car and some equipment on the property.  They sold a lawn mower, a riding lawn mower and came to a wood chipper.

To my surprise Mike jumped into the bidding and stuck with it.  $200 later, he owned a wood chipper on its on trailer.  He called Joan and she didn't seem to be as excited as we were...We drove home and picked up a towing trailer and loaded it on to take it back to his place.

We towed it home and that was our day at the auction.

They did sell both trucks and the car.  The 1998 Dodge Ram went for $3100.  The 2003 Chevrolet went for $3700 and the 2011 Volkswagon Passat went for $13,000.

The first farm was auctioned for $35,000 and the second one was at $45,000.  Those prices were too low for the owner, so he did not sell them.

Meanwhile back at Mikes, we looked up the price of a new Dr. Chipper and found it is priced at $4,999.

We also found one on Craigslist for $1800.  Mike rebuilds and sells riding lawn mowers and could get this thing in top condition.  Even if he sells it for  $1000, he will make a big return on investment.

It was quite an entertaining day at the auction and we will look for another one to go to when we return to Maynardville.

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Niece Heidi is on Day 2 of 'Dressember.

Check it out here

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are spending time with Pam's sister and brother-in-law in Maynardville, TN.  Though we miss our kids we are very glad to be with family and relatives at this time.  And looking forward to seeing our kids in a few weeks.

We'll have some time around the table and just hang out and watch football and maybe get in a game or two of Monopoly today.

And get going on the turkey for some good eating in the mid afternoon!

We are very grateful for this past year and to be able to be full-timing.  We can't think of anything we'd rather be doing at this time or our lives.  ...And we're thankful for all we have and have to share.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your holiday is a great one.

Projects at Mike and Joan's

We left Maynardville, TN on Monday after almost a week there.  It was an easy drive to Red Bay, AL with good roads and average traffic the whole way.

We had plenty to do at Mike and Joan's and spent a couple of days working of some projects around the house.

First was replacing the front door.

Things moved along fine with the first part of it.  We removed the door, and then the frame and trim around it.

The new door went in fairly easy.

The bump in the road happened with the fancy door handle and dead bolt.

The dead bolt went in pretty quickly.  The door handle under it did not.  It was a real head scratcher.  We didn't realize the there is a universal mechanism inside to pull and turn to make a right hand latch into a left hand latch.  Once we got some instruction back at Lowe's showing us that, we went back and finished installing the handle.  It took probably an hour to line every thing up and get the thing secured.

Next, we worked on the bedroom.  First, we pulled old carpet up and removed the carpet tack and form padding.

Then the ceiling was painted, and we tackled the walls.  Pam took down the old border wall paper.

And we started putting the new laminate flooring down.

It took the better part of two days, but the floor got finished after a quite a few breaks...

It turned out well and then we moved all the furniture back into the bedroom.

Besides doing something productive, I think we like helping out and learning things.  Some things I learned:

• Installing doors. There is more than one way to install a door.  In this case, we removed the door from the frame,  plumbed it and then secured it. Other times I have installed doors with the door left in the frame.
• Door handles.  We knew about right hand and left hand doors when we bought the door at Lowe's.  We were surprised by the door handle latch that was for right hand doors.  We learned door handles have a universal piece you pull out and twist to make the latch point the other way.
• Laminate flooring.  I don't know if I have ever installed it but it is very easy.  Especially with the foam, sliding floor backing on each piece.  Once you get a system down, it goes fairly fast.  As long as your knees and back holds out...

That was the crux of our projects at Mike and Joan's.  It was fun, we learned some more things and were happy with the results.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!