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Casey HillCasey Hill
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Joined Aug 9, 2023 Read more
  • Keep On Keepin' On
    1
    Day 168–173

    Nashville, TN

    May 2 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    We spent the weekend at a cute Air B&B in downtown Nashville for Jess' 40th birthday!

    We had a lot of fun, lots of food and lots of drinks. And we even had a line dancing class which is fun no matter what, but maybe a little easier to do if you're sober -- Jess, we're all looking at you...

    Mr. Sammiches managed to have his first solo weekend in the RV. We had a wifi camera and wifi thermometer to monitor how he was doing and ensure his automated feeder worked. He was more than a little happy to have company when we arrived back home Monday morning.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 161–168

    Townsend, TN

    April 25 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    We spent a week here in Townsend, a very small town just a few steps away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

    Between some rainy days and the need to do normal life stuff and get ready for our next stop to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday, a week was just not enough!

    I got in a couple hikes on the small trail right here at the RV park and one longer one in the National Park itself.

    We managed to enjoy some tasty food and drinks down the road at a place adjacent to the closest flat, empty spot to the mountains. There we saw what appeared to be the town's entire first responder population prepare for, and then guide in, a medivac helicopter. Someone who had been rescued off the mountain (we presume) was brought by ambulance, and transferred to the helo for a ride to Knoxville (we also presume).

    We also did a test run of Mr. Sammichs' automated feeder in anticipation of our Air B&B stay in downtown Nashville this weekend. Claims of being tamper-proof were greatly overstated. Sadly, I was too annoyed cleaning up all the food Wednesday morning to get what now would be a pretty funny picture of the destruction.

    Subsequent efforts involving taping the feeder to the floor like a hostage ready for enhanced interrogation were more successful.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 154–161

    Gatlinburg, TN

    April 18 ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    After several weeks Smoky Mountain-adjacent, we are now a few miles down the road and in actual walking distance of the national park.

    Gatlinburg is more compact and, if it's even possible, more touristy than Pigeon Forge. But, there are actual hiking trails into the actual mountains that we can get to in biking distance, yay! I did severally hikes and walks and came across deer, turkeys, chipmunks, lots of song birds, and, the highlight of the show: a mama bear and her two cubs (I even snagged some video of one of the cubs)!

    We had an exciting milestone here in Gatlinburg: our first significant DIY RV repair! Though we have already replaced a faucet, this project was a bit more involved. One of the pumps inside our water hearing unit went out and was making it pretty hard (though thankfully not impossible) for us to get hot water. After some research we were able to get the parts we needed, overcome some challenges that arose during the repair, and successfully get dependable hot water back to the shower! Victory is ours!!

    Anyway, we'll be heading deeper into the mountains for our next Smoky Mountain stop before finally arriving at our scheduled 40th birthday bash for my sister, Jess, in Nashville.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    1
    1121
    Day 129–154

    Pigeon Forge, TN

    March 24 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F

    We stayed in Pigeon Forge for several weeks, largely to pass the time after leaving Florida before our fun birthday weekend for Jess which will be in early May in Nashville.

    This town is very touristy, but that does mean that we have a lot of restaurants and even a couple of grocery stores right around the corner and riding our bicycles is faster than driving a car would be if we had one. The traffic is a little nuts.

    Coincidentally, we found out that my good friend and colleague, Julie, and her family would be visiting Pigeon Forge while we were here. She lives in Chicago and her family came down for a quick spring break trip that was planned without having any idea that we would be here.

    Julie and I have been long distance friends for a couple of years and this was the first time we've ever met in person since becoming friends! Our families seemed to get along pretty well and we had a nice dinner and then came back to the RV for a campfire and s'mores.

    We weren't able to take much advantage of being in the Smokey Mountains on the hiking front as all the trailheads were too far away and not safe to cycle to, but next week we're down the street in Gatlinburg and at the end of April we'll be spending a week much deeper in the mountains for me to get my nature and hiking fix.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Sammiches is settling in pretty well and dipping his toe in the lap cat waters ... mostly with Christian. And spring has sprung--even in our travel day sink of plants :)    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 128–129

    Gadsden, AL

    March 23 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Our whirlwind jaunt across Alabama wraps up with one night at the Back Forty Beer Company. After what I will conservatively call a night of "overdoing it" at last night's brewery followed by 5 hours driving on one headache and one upset tummy, we are taking it easy tonight and hanging out with poor Mr. Sammiches who may be starting to think that he will be travelling 250 miles every day for the rest of his life.

    Interestingly, this was our first overnight in 100% boondock mode. Before now we've always at least had a 120v power cord (or, more commonly, 50 amp). Not having electric has its largest effect on our HVAC because we can't run our air conditioning on battery. Fortunately, we are into cooler climes and only needed the furnace overnight.

    One more day of driving on Sunday and then we'll be staying put for a few weeks in Pigeon Forge, TN.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 127–128

    Dothan, AL

    March 22 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    We have finally escaped Florida and it is glorious. We're spending a single night here at this Harvest Host, Folklore Brewing. Harvest Host is a neat program that allows us to park right at a brewery or winery or other attraction, patronize it, and spend the night.

    This brewery also makes mead, which I enjoyed since I don't really like beer. There was also a Cajun restaurant on the premises allowing us to enjoy some tasty etouffee and fried oysters.

    And now for the update you've all been waiting to hear: Mr. Sammichs did not hate his first driving day... but he did not love it either. Mostly he hid out behind the recliner and he spent a little bit of the time yowling and discontent. None of that, of course, stopped him from partaking of a meal during one of our stopovers and again immediately upon arriving at the brewery.

    Also, upon our return to Cherry after dinner, he let us know he lives now on the dining table...which we will discuss later.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 120–127

    Gainesville, FL

    March 15 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    This smaller college town was a most welcome change from the largely retirement-aged mega-suburbs where we spent a lot of our winter.

    But, our impending exit from the retirement home that is southern Florida in the winter has been overshadowed by an even more exciting event: we found a new family member!

    Our RV park was across the street from the county animal shelter where we met Mr. Sammiches. Sammy is settling in pretty well so far and we've got his diet plan underway to get him to a healthy weight so he can be with us for as long as possible :)

    He was a bit dubious when we packed up the rig and brought in the slides. Stay tuned to hear how his first driving day goes as we head to Alabama to spend the night at a brewery!    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 113–120

    North Fort Myers, FL

    March 8 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    We're back from vacation, back to work, and back to eating like people who don't aspire to top 400 lbs. Now we can do things like work on hiring a new employee, install a new kitchen faucet because ours is infuriating, and plan some RV stops as we head into spring and out of Florida.

    The RV park is not the greatest with regards to the overall feel--its a bit crowded and junky. But, we lucked out with a spot almost on then end, and the neighbor off our front door isn't here (just a jeep parked off out of our line of sight). So our patio overlooks a lovely bit of riverside forest that definitely scratches my itch for a bit more nature and less suburbia. There's also a nice park next door with some pretty walking paths.

    It has been consistently warm (maybe a bit too warm) for weeks but we finally got a couple of nice cool mornings in the 50s which were great for working on the patio. Christian called it "TOO COLD" and stayed inside until it was 80 again.

    The roads here aren't the greatest for biking, but we did Uber downtown on our last night and went to a speakeasy and saw a cool band where the vocalist/banjoist also played the part of the brass section vocally, it was pretty cool.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 106–113

    Key West, FL

    March 1 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    We decided to set aside work and chores and logistics for the week to take vacation!

    We had a really lovely lot with a big tiki hut to hang out in and look out at the bay. We rented kayaks for the week to get out and explore a bit.

    We are 15 miles from downtown Key West and not in convenient range of a grocery store or many restaurants. So we mostly stayed in our tiki, enjoyed the weather, drank too much, and cooked indulgent meals outside.    Read more

  • Keep On Keepin' On
    Day 104–106

    Everglades, FL

    February 28 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    We spent one day and two nights here in the Everglades National Park. It is a really lovely slice of nature that was especially nice for me. I needed a break from resort RV parks and suburbia/city life.

    We got our interagency annual pass so now we are all prepared for more national park visits!

    We saw an osprey nest with a mom and her babies and we took a boat tour through the mangroves and saw manatees and crocodiles and a lot of different kinds of birds and plants.

    The sky was pretty expressive at times due to some very large controlled burns, which we fortunately remained upwind of.

    The mosquitoes here are as dormant as they get in this area, which is to say: still quite active. They're huge and can bite you right through your clothes. Christian was a good sport but this is not his jam.    Read more

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