This happened last year when we came to Knoxville for an extended stay. I forget to post on my blog. This happens because instead of exploring new places, taking pictures and sightseeing we are spending time with two of our daughters and my nephew’s family. I seem to lose track of time and do not end up posting on the great and fun things we are doing while we are in Knoxville.
Since we now have many family members in Knoxville it has become our home base for medical purposes. This means at least a once a year stop over for a few weeks to have of our annual checkups. We enjoy staying up in the Smokies as it not very far from our family and the RV park has a great monthly rate, although their internet service can be a little lacking. We may try another park that I found on our next stop. This time of year is a great time to come because the humidity has subsided but the days are still warm with cool evenings. Although our first week here was very hot and humid!
Ok, so let me get you caught up on what we have been doing here other than going to doctor appointments. We arrived just before Labor Day weekend. First activity was a University of Tennessee football game. My nephew and his friends have season tickets, with parking passes, to the games and they put on a huge tailgate party. This time we even made it an official tailgate as we used our truck, with a tailgate, to haul all the stuff to the stadium parking lot. I even added a tech touch by setting up satellite TV for the tailgate. The tailgate comprised 4 parking spaces, two tents, two flat screen TV’s (one with DirecTV), bistro tables, catered food, cooling fans, and as much Tennessee orange as you can stand (and then some). We were just yards from the stadium so we got to see all the pre-game festivities (band and players walk). The only downside was the heat and humidity, it was the south at its best! Tennessee was playing a much smaller team so it was a very lopsided score and those that went to the game left just after half time. Our plan was to continue to tailgate and watch other football games but a rapidly developing thunderstorm made us pack up and leave very quickly.
Next event was the fireworks display for the annual Knoxville Boomday celebration. This is a downtown festival which is capped by a huge fireworks display on a bridge over the river in downtown Knoxville. My nephew kept saying how great the fireworks were and was really excited for us to see them. He owns a boat and last year drove his boat to see the fireworks from the river (below the bridge). This was the plan for this year but the thunderstorms kept hanging around so it appeared we would have to drive and walk to see the display. At the last minute the clouds cleared and my nephew went into quick planning mode, which he excels at, and we were on the boat in less than an hour and on our way to the fireworks. OK, he was right, this was the most spectacular fireworks display that Fran or I have ever seen. We were probably about a tenth of a mile from the bridge where they shoot them off, so our vantage point was just great. The display is timed to music playing over the radio and was amazing. The best display was when they shot off a falling stream of fireworks from the bridge. It looked a waterfall was flowing from the entire bridge! The whole display was amazing.
Following the fireworks we now had to drive back in the boat, on a dark river, about 20 miles to where our cars were. At first it was not too bad because you are in with a very large group of boats and are being escorted by police boats to keep the speed down. But once you hit open water it is a little scary as it is hard to pick out reference points and see other boats. Fortunately my nephew noticed a boat that was using a GPS with a pre-planned route so he stayed close to them and allowed us to move faster. Kudos to my nephew for this!
The following weekend we drove to Nashville to visit with our friends, the Sherwood’s. Fran was renting a car in Nashville and driving to Kansas City to visit with her family and I was staying behind. We had a great time visiting with our friends and Fran had a great time seeing her two sisters, brother, aunt, cousin and nephews.
Since those first two weeks we have settled more into a routine of visiting with our family and doing our routine chores. We did have a lot of packages waiting for us when we arrived and this kept me busy for a few days. This included a new toilet to replace the one with the broken food pedal and a new TV to replace the one in our living area. In addition I used this extended stay to work on getting rid of the oxidization that had appeared on the front fiberglass cap of our RV. A local boat shop recommended some stuff and it worked great. The front cap shines beautiful now so I went ahead and waxed the entire trailer, and paid the price the next day!
We are here for another couple of weeks then head to Memphis for a two week stop at our favorite park on the Mississippi River where we will meet up with our friends from Idaho, who now have their own RV. Following that we will begin a two week trek to Southern California, arriving in mid-November, to sit out the winter.
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