The parents, our friends, had to leave for a conference. We had planned to stick around a few more days. Since the kids are ok with it, we will hang out with them!
We did get a few good pictures of us after church. We figured out we met Rick in 93 and Polly in 95. It’s been so good catching up, we will miss them (& the kids), until our next visit.
Most of us went to one of their friends house and used their kayak’s, canoe, and standing paddle board. The weather was very pleasant with a little wind. 
There was a little bit of a water fight trying to get each other wet…
I even tried the paddle board, did pretty good until I decided to check my balance and wiggle a little. I went off the back and the board took off. One of the kids came out in a kayak to rescue me!
We are camped at Barks Farm Campground. Way off the beaten path! Seem to have some plenty of permanently parked! But we are right on the river and the people are very interesting.
The owner of the camp also has a couple
dogs that run around, Sadie and Bubba seem to have hit it off and are about the same size.
We took a drive out to Cades Cove in the Smokey Mountains and walked around a little. There are several original homesteads and lots a history.
There are several churches and cemeteries. The foundation is a bit rocky!!!
Not to mention wildlife…
We saw a black bear, but there were too many people and it was too far away to catch a photo.
Oh, and pretty flowers…
Once we left FL enroute to NJ for the June 13th party, we had some free time to travel around. So we took the opportunity to stop in Bowling Green, KY at T S Performance. They help diesel engines run better. Rob had bought a kit from them and he and Robert could never get it to connect, even ordered a different set of connectors. So when the tech’s came outside to take a look at what was ordered and what was in the coach, they said – “yep, that would’ve never worked”. Turns out we have an ’07 engine but it has ’10 heads and other components. The guys were having fun – made a special set of wires just for us. Then when they and Rob went to get it all tested, the computer wasn’t reading something correctly. Turns out that some wires were switched in which connector it went to… Big OOPS. That meant the guys in the shop had to recheck all the ones that were made for 2010’s.
So Rob worked from behind the RV up into the engine compartment and the tech’s worked from inside. Once it was all connected and reading correctly, we were off for a test ride – WEEEEEE.
Needless to say, Rob made sure to put the petal to the metal to see just what she could do! The techs sat on our bed with the motor compartment open, I sat in the middle of the coach to be the go between for communications and Rob had fun driving. He also made sure to stop well a few times!
I guess it had something to do with the people we hung out with. We enjoyed them so much the first time we stopped here and met them on the way to FL. As we are headed north we figured we should just backtrack and visit them again. 
Of course we all met in the first place because of all the dogs! They have 3 little ones – this cute little girl is Malonnie. 
The other 2 are Bodie and Oso.
The first time we got here and saw this, we didn’t know anything about it. We have learned a lot about it since then and I guess there is a huge craze on these. Only thing about Don’s is that inside this tent is anything but Big Green Egg cooker!
The weather has been warm but no humidity – YAY. However the bugs were definitely biting! Seems Genia gets almost as many bites as I do, almost!
They enjoyed Sadie, reminded them of one of their previous dogs. Aww.
Off we are in the morning, with a stop in Bowling Green KY for a little somethin somethin for the motor in our RV. Just a stop over stay overnight, before heading to TN and see some friends we haven’t seen in about 15 years! SOOOO excited!
Not that it hasn’t been nice, but it has been humid and quite wet with some whopper rain storms, not to mention mosquitoes which seem to love me. I enjoyed the thunder and lightening, just not the mud Sadie brought in with her. There were a few decent days thrown in that allowed us to go out and about. But it is time for a change in scenery. So off we are, backtracking a little by stopping in to see some friends in Jemison AL first. Then we will move on after a few days.
