Time to catch up again

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post so I would think it is time to get you caught up as to where we are and what we have been doing. 

In the last episode we were in the Knoxville area staying at an RV park in the Smokies.  We had a great visit there celebrating Thanksgiving with my nephew and his family, who live in the area, plus seeing my neice and her family who came in, with their RV, for the holiday.  In addition, being there a month allowed us to spend a lot of time with our youngest daughter Kim.  On the 13th of December we moved back to the Nashville area to spend Christmas with our friends Richard and Cheryl, so that is where you find us now. 

Since arriving here we have done a couple of outings with them.  The first was a trip to Lynchburg, Tennessee to the Jack Daniel’s distillery.  I had been there something like 25 years ago and remembered a little from the tour but nothing about seeing the town.  It has changed significantly in that the distillery has added a huge visitor center and the tour seemed to be more involved and much longer.  What is so fascinating about this place is that it was built in a dry county, no liquor is sold.  So for the distillery to get its license a special law had to be passed, about 100 years ago, that allowed it to produce liquor but not to sell it on the premises.  This meant, when I last visited, you ended the tour with a cup of lemonade, not a sample of Jack Daniel’s.  That has changed due to some creative legal interpretation of the laws.  They now offer an “enhanced” tour that you pay $10 for and at the end get to sample the products.  Not sure how that gets around the law, but it has something to do with paying for the tour, go figure!  Next you can buy bottles of their product and then you get the whiskey for free!  That is how they get around the county law.  You are buying the bottle not the whiskey.  Still do not understand it, but I have got to believe the county is lenient to Jack Daniel’s as it has to be the largest employer in the area and it does bring in a lot of tourists.  Now sadly we went on Sunday and there are no liquor sales allowed in Tennessee so we did not get to do any tasting.  The tour was great and seeing the little of town of Lynchburg was fun.

Next up was a visit to the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas decorations.  Now this was impressive.  Outside the hotel at the main entrance they have encased all the trees in lights.  It is just amazing to see how many lights are involved and how detailed the installation was. It was difficult to get a picture that would show the scene so I stole this one from their website

Here are the lights I thought were the most impressive in how detailed the installation is

Here is one from inside

If you have never been to this hotel it is impressive, if just to walk around and see everything that is inside.  Just a couple of years ago it was shut down for over a year because the whole first floor was under water when Nashville was hit by flooding.  They have done a wonderful job of restoring the place.  When we were here back in November we went to the Opry Mills mall, which is next door and noticed that a levee has been built on the river side of the hotel to protect it from future flooding.

We are here until after New Years and then will try to find someplace warmer as it is getting a little cold here in Tennessee.

Merry Christmas!

Ford vs. Ford

 

Here is my latest rant.  While we are here in the Knoxville area it was time to get an oil change on our truck.  I normally go to Ford dealers to get this done as they do a nice multipoint inspection and, hopefully, use factory recommended parts and supplies.  I know I probably pay a little more, but I think it is worth it.  For a diesel engine and oil change is a little pricey as it holds 15 quarts of oil.  At dealers I have paid $80 to $100 for this service.

Here in Knoxville there are two Ford dealers that are near our RV park.  One is Ted Russell Ford in Knoxville and the other is Lenoir City Ford.  I decided to go with Ted Russell as it was closer to some other places that we were going to that day.  We showed up for the appointment and I learned that they charge $138 for an oil change.  I asked if they did something additional on an oil change that would justify that cost and was told no, that is their normal charge.  Against by better judgment I went ahead with the oil change.  After the multipoint inspection was completed the service advisor comes to me and tells me I need new wipers (I knew that and told him I would replace on my own), the air cleaner was close to being replaced (I knew that and felt it could wait until next time) and lastly he tells me the rear brakes need replacing.  The service guy advised that the rotors could still be machined so the repair should be done.  He quoted me a price of $391 for just rear brakes.  I know the brakes and rotors on this truck are huge but that price seemed unreasonable.  I told him I would think about it.

Later that day I called the other Ford dealer, Lenoir City Ford, and asked them what they charge for a one axle brake job on a Super Duty pickup.  I was told it would be around $250.  I set up an appointment for Tuesday of this week.  I went to the dealership and spoke with the nicest service advisor.  I told him what had gone on and that I was told I needed rear brakes.  He said they would first have the service tech take a look at the brakes and determine what had to be done.  About 45 minutes later the advisor brings me out to the truck, with the tires off, and the service tech tells me that the brakes on the rear are about 50% used and the fronts are showing even less wear.  As the truck has 51,000 miles on it that would mean I do not need brakes for  probably 12 to 18 months.  I took a look and thanked them.  I got the truck back and there was NO CHARGE!!!

So, a huge shout out to Lenoir City Ford and big $%^$ to Ted Russell Ford!

Let’s Get Caught Up

 

As I mentioned previously my blogs during this holiday season would be sporadic as we are visiting with friends in family in the Nashville and Knoxville areas.  It has been about a month since my last posting so I think it is time to get caught up.

The week before Thanksgiving we moved from Nashville to Knoxville where we will be spending a month.  If you are an avid follower of this blog you will know that our youngest daughter recently moved to Knoxville and my nephew, and his family, have resided here for a number of years.  Because of this we thought having Thanksgiving here would be a great family reunion.  However up until a a few weeks before Thanksgiving did we realize just how fantastic it would be.  Originally it was to be Fran and I, our daughter Kim, our daughter Kelly (from Ohio), my nephews family and some relatives from his wife’s family.  As the holiday approached we were excited to learn that our oldest daughter Katie, now living in Portland, would be able to come for a week and my niece (from Houston) would be coming with her family in their RV.  So for Thanksgiving we had a total of 23 people!

It was so great seeing just about everybody on my side of the family and being able to spend a week with our three daughters.  As it will not be possible for all of our kids to get together with us for Christmas we celebrated a little early, the day before Thanksgiving.

Here is the best part of the week

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!