Tennessee

 Tuesday 8th November

We packed everything up again and had a long 340 mile drive to Tennessee. In the past we have driven to our son Taylor's home when he lived in North Carolina and had no problem with the 650 mile drive in one day but driving the truck and RV is very different and we need to take it slow. The 340 miles felt too much in one day but we wanted to get further south as we were concerned with the time of year there being a possibility the weather could change quickly.

See a lot of big crosses in the South.

We arrived at our first State Campground, Panther Creek, Morristown, Tennessee and stayed here for 3 nights. The campsite was one big loop on a hill and we had a back in site 16. The sites were quite close to each other.

https://tnstateparks.com/parks/campground/panther-creek

We enjoyed being able to relax for a few days and went on some nice walks and saw an owl called Oliver at the visitor center that had been rescued and now lives there. 

A hike took us from the lake edge......

.....to the top of the hills.

Which way?

We are planning on using State Campgrounds whenever we can as they are much cheaper than privately owned ones, we do not really need the extra frills that they charge you for such as swimming pools and tennis courts. The State campgrounds are in beautiful areas that are usually more remote so Iwill  need to be prepared with grocery supplies to last a while as it may sometimes be quite a drive to the nearest supermarket.

A rule of State Campgrounds is you can only stay a maximum of fourteen days then you have to leave but can return after 3 days. This is great for us, we only plan on staying in one place for two weeks and it means the campsites are not filled with long term people.

We are homeless.

 Monday 7th November 2022

We did our first pack up the RV and drove to Virginia, 143 miles to Endless Caverns, New Market.

https://endlesscaverns.com/

It was another pull through site E66, which was nestled in the middle of the woods with very hilly tracks soit  took some skills to negotiate it. Arrived early with the shorter drive and we were able to get unhooked and go for a walk up the hill to the Endless Caverns sign. It was very like the Hollywood sign. 

Campsite entrance.

Halfway up we got the call the buyers had signed the papers and our home of 15 years was sold.

A big N

Watched the sun beginning to set

Not a great pic but yes I was there!

It would have been cool to take a tour of the caverns but they were finished for the day. Our day ended in Virginia with us not owning a home but looking forward to the road ahead.

We are off!

 Sunday November 6th 2022, we pre signed the home sale documents, the house was empty and clean, the new owners came for a walk through and then we were off! Goodbye New Jersey and hello new places and lots of new challenges. 

Hitched up and ready to go.

We drove to our first campsite, just over 200 miles to Ye Old Mill Campground, Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania

http://www.historicmillandcamping.com/

 It was a beautiful drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike going through mountain tunnels.

Tunnels through the mountains.

 John was awesome with his first long drive. The site we had at the campground was what is called a pull through which as it sounds means we drove straight through it to park the RV, we did not need to back into it which was one less thing to worry about on our first day. I had picked the campsite as it was near the highway so we did not have to go too far to rejoin it the next day but I didn't realize how close or noisy the big tractor trailers would be. A lesson learned, check what roads or railway lines are near a campsite.

A celebratory bottle of non alcoholic bubbly.
We did it!

Burnt Cabins Grist Mill

The campsite was set next to the mill and there was a small store. I love going into stores when traveling to see what new things I can discover. This store sold fry pies which we had not seen before. Like a fruit pastry turnover or hand pie but fried not baked. They were very nice warmed up with some ice cream!

Another chapter begins

When we lived in England we had a static caravan (mobile home) in Swarland, Northumberland that we would go to each weekend and holidays from early Spring until the park shut for the season in mid Autumn. We loved going there as it was such a switch off from regular home and work life, there were no commitments, no to do lists, just time together as a family, hiking, bike riding, going to the beach.

We left England in October 2007 to begin a new chapter in New Jersey, USA and lived there for 15 years.

 The house was set in a beautiful rural setting with lots of trees and a lot of grass! Initially we did not miss our quiet weekends at the caravan and enjoyed working around the property but after 15 years, the kids long ago left home, we had enough of spending all our time on the house and garden maintenance and wanted to see the country we lived in.

Since Covid John had been working exclusively at home which opened new doors, we did not have to be in New Jersey for his job he could work anywhere as long as he had internet. We experimented by renting an AirBnB for two months in November and December 2021 in Palm Coast Florida and loved the free time we had, plus the warm Winter weather made it so nice to be able to go outside for a walk or bike ride without freezing.

 We began to  discuss the possibilty of selling the house and continuing to do longer term rentals around the country as a way to explore and see new places but we would need furnished properties and places that allowed our dog Morgan so that would have limited our choices. We had discussed lots of times the idea of buying an RV every time we drove on the I95 to visit our kids and see them passing us. At some point the decision was made, we would do the last planned renovations to the house in 2022 and sell it in Spring 2023 around the time of our daughter's wedding. 

They say God laughs when you make a plan, maybe that's why we have never been big long term planners. The housing market that was going crazy with prices soaring and properties selling within days was predicted to be ending soon. Having been at the wrong end of the property market each time we have bought and sold homes we did not want that happening again so pushed our timeline up to late Summer 2022.

On John's 60th birthday we bought an RV. Since Covid RV sales like the housing market had been crazy and we were so happy to find an RV we liked and would suit our new life. Then a similar search began for a truck. There was a world wide shortage of components and trucks were very hard to get but John tracked one down.

GMC Sierra 3500 HD Denali 2022 Dually

Jayco Pinnacle 36SSWS 2020

This Youtube has a walk through of our model RV if you would like to see what our new home is like.

https://youtu.be/taz0Xb-hlM

 After an awful lot of work and me falling off a ladder and breaking my sternum in June which slowed progress for a few weeks we sold the house, had a big garage sale, gave away a lot of stuff to charity or on Facebook Marketplace and packed a big mobile storage unit and RV. The unit will remain at the storage facility in New Jersey until we decide where we want it then it can be transported to us.

                 

 

The storage pod arrived and was inspected by Morgan.

John's years of training packing family suitcases and cars to go on road trips or to take daughter to college in Florida helped a lot with figuring out how to pack a lot of stuff into a 16'x7'x7' box. He claimed packing the car for the college trip was worse!

Time to go!

Hello, pleased to meet you, welcome.

 Hi, let me introduce ourselves. I am Ros (or if I'm in trouble my full title is Rosalind) and I am married to John. He is 60 and I am 51 and we have been married for 31 years. We have two children, Taylor, our son who has just moved to Colorado with his girlfriend Becca, 3 dogs and a cat. Emily, our daughter lives in Florida with her fiancé Leif and their cat.

Morgan is our Aussie Shepherd mix who will be 9 years old in December.

We are originally from Newcastle Upon Tyne and Washington Tyne & Wear England and moved to America in 2007 when John was offered a transfer. We have lived in Belle Mead, Montgomery, New Jersey for 15 years.

John works for a global medical device company in the finance department and me??? I have never had an answer to that question! I am title less!

We are please to meet you, welcome to our new life and travel stories.