Hi All: Know it's been a while since I posted a blog. We have been pretty busy since 10 Sept.





Had a nice visit with Bob and Dorene Boardman, and left there in North Carolina and went to Tom and Judy's in Delaware. Spent 5 nights there and had a super time visiting there. Had super food and did find a Booze store and we are now solvent in Liquour with no sales tax.. hee hee..





I helped Tom install a Electric Switch for his home when the electric is interupted for some reason, such as hurricans etc... He had a generator he uses but had to disconnect the main circuit breaker etc if he loses electricity. With this system he just has to flick a few switches on the new box and hook up the generator and he's all set. Pretty neat system, and we had little trouble hooking it up to the main circuit breaker panel. He says he needs to go out and hit an electric pole to check it out. Would be better just to turn the main circuit breaker off and then check things out. hee hee.





We are now in a campground in Northern North Carolina. We got out of Delaware at 0800 this morning, Hoping that the traffic around Washington, DC would be gone by the time we got there at about 1000. Well, it worked. Traffic was not bad, and we made good time to this campground, and have all things hooked up for the night. Plan to leave early in the morning for one more stop
on the way home around Savannah, Ga I think, so we will get home some time Saturday. Will be good to get home, but both Amy and I would keep going had we scheduled more on this trip. The New motor home is super, and is so comfortable to travel in and also stay in. Glad we bought it....

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh..

Hi All: Know it's been a few days since I did a Blog. I did one a while back, had a bunch of photo's all set up and it was the biggest Blog I've done. Well, I hit some key on this dumb lap top and lost the whole blog. Been upset about ever since.

We are in Huntsville, AL now. Are at the RV campground at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. The town is so much bigger than it was when we were here in 1979. Cannot find my way around without the GPS.

Have had a great dinner and evening with Jim and Sharon Nelson who lives here. Was a super evening with them. Then last night we had another good evening with Bob and Seal Gherdes, with the Nelson's there also. Was another grand evening. Many "Sea Stories" from Bob of course. And another wonderful dinner. Will not fit in my clothes if we stay here much longer..

We have another date with Paul and Pat Gulick tonight. Have not seen them in years as well. Meeting them at a restaurant on the othere side of the mountain we have to go over, then a visit to where they live.

Plan to get together with Jim and Sharon tomorrow for lunch before we get on the road Monday for Ashville, NC for one night, then on to Clayton, NC for a couple days visiting Bob and Dorene Boardman.

Photo's above are of our campsite here in Huntsville; Me standing next to the bottome of the Saturn V nozzles. It sure is a big missile. The biggest ever. Another shot of that missile standing up outside the museum we toured here.

Having a good time here. Did check out the base. Could not find my old office building out there. Did find the PX and Commissary though. Didn't spend much in there. Prices were much higher than Publix at home....

Amy and I are still talking to each other, so all must be going OK. Will try to keep the Blog up to date better from now on..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh....

Hi All: Well, the trip to the Grand Ole Opry is over. Must say that the show was not as good as the worst one in Branson. Our seats were not real good. 14 rows back, and off in left field. To far to get good photo's of the performers. Amy did get some good shots from the big TV in the back ground on the stage.

We found a Kroger's grocery store yesterday, then thought we'd look up where the Macaroni Grill was. Found it in the "Mills" area next to the river. Well all the stores and restaurants were fenced in and shut down from the flood last year. They said the water even got in to the Grand Ole Opry and covered the stage with 4 feet of water. They did a good job of getting the Opry up and going, but sure picked awful seats. They were just padded (A Little) Church Pews and you crammed everyone in them on each section. Very uncomfortable. And if you got a few of the extra weight folks we see around here they would take up two seats, so you would have no where to sit....May never go back there again. Will go to Branson.

We do have one more show to go to tonight. It's a dinner show that is next to the campground here. We have been there a few times, I think the first time was with Jay and Lou when we travelled together??? Always has been a good show, and the food is pretty good also. But, it is now raining at 1300 and we are to be there about 1500. So may have to drive the short distance so we will be in the rain less that way??? Guess the storm in the Gulf is finally getting some rain up here??? Started last night just after we got home from the Opry..

The photo's above are of Minnie Pearl of course. (Not the real one, She's gone), Then a bad shot of the "White's", who did a good job... Jeanne Seely in the black outfit, and Connie Smith in the white outfit. Jim Ed Brown in the red outfit, sang "Pop a Top Again" his big hit. Of course Little Jimmy Dickens" He was real good for a man of 90 years old... I backed him in Okinawa while I was a member of a band in 1964 on our way to Viet Nam. Then the last performer was Billy Dean. He sang his hit song "Billy the Kid", Then said he has a suprise.. Introduced his 16 year old daughter Hannah Dean to sing a song first time on the Opry. She was super. The best singer of the night. I bet we can expect to hear from her in the years to come. Very moving. She sang Hank Williams song "I'm so lonesome I could Cry". Billy Dean did the back up singing with her. Very good...

It was an OK showing of the Opry. Like I said though, it was not as good as the Worst show we saw in Branson. It was probably our last Opry show we will be spending big money to see. Another thing that botherd me was having to sit and listen to the commmercials during the show. Hate to pay good money to listen to that...????

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh..

Hi All: We made it to Nashville. Got off a little earlier than we wanted, and got here about Noon. No problem in checking in. Got our tickets to the Grand Ole Opry for tomorrow night. The campground is pretty full. We got the last 50 amp site they had. They only have 15 of those sites of the 500 they have here. Amy is happy about that, as the washer/dryer had been going since we got hooked to the electric pole.

Was considering going out for dinner, but decided to stay in and cook here. Will go out for "Lupper" tomorrow, early afternoon so we won't need to eat after the Grand Ole Opry. Doesn't look like we have a great showing for Entertainers that night. List shows: Jim Ed Brown; Connie Smith, Michael Cleveleand & Flamekeeper ?; Little Jimmy Dickens; Jesse McRenolds; Elizabeth Cook; Jeannie Seely, Stu Phillips, Wynn Varble; Opray Square Dancers, Bill Anderson, The Whites, and Billy Dean. I'm sure it will still be a good show.... Will be picked up here at the campground and delivered to the Grand Ole Opery, and brought back home..

Plan to go to the Country Hall Of Fame Monday. That will be a full day. Not shure what beyond that. Have to find a ABC store and a grocery store some time soon also.

Weather here is real hot. It was 114 a while ago on the outside thermometer. It was in the sun though.. Nice and cool in here though. Pharoah seems to be very happy. Doing his exercises as usual. (Sleeping) In the middle of the floor in everyone's way...

We will be here 5 nights, and then off to Huntsvile, AL for a visit with some USMC friends..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & (Seepy Pharaoh)...

Hi All: We had a nice visit to Loretta Lynn's campground. It was a great campground. Had bad cell phone service, and slow WiFi Service due to the fact we use Verizon for our WiFi. Still good place to relax and enjoy the Squirrels and trees...

We got on the road to the Thousand Trails campground here at Natchez Trace, TN. Took us about 3 hours to get here. No Interstate, but up and down Tennessee roads. Campground has 800 acres, and a lot of sites. However, there are a lot of folks here, and some of them look like they live here. Lots of trees, so we had to find a site that had full hookups and a clear shot to the satellite for Directv. Found one and are all set up and I'm having a Heineken and watching the world go by....We'll be here two nights, and there is nothing for us to do here but relax again. No Walmart, No grocery stores, No Nothing....Only 30 amp service here also, so hope it don't get to hot that the AC keeps us cool with only one compressor????

Photo's were taken at Loretta Lynn's tour. Took a photo of the front gate of the house they USED to live in. it's the big white house with the pillers etc. No one lives there now. We did tour inside it and it is beautiful. She lived there with their children and her husband till the kids were gone, and the husband passed away. She now lives in a smaller house out behind the big house. Didn't see her out and about. She just had a new knee replacement, so she may not be running around outside yet. There is a Grist Mill there. Hurrican Mills. That's the name of the area there. The mill is still there, but does now grind grain any more. Picture of it above, with a little plaque about it. Someone took the photo of Amy and I in front of the mansion. Rare to see a photo of us both in the same frame. hee hee.

We will be in Nashville next stop. It's only about 100 miles from here. Leave Friday morning and will be in Nashville 5 nights. Have tickets already for the Grand Ole' Opry on Saturday. I'm sure Amy has a busy 5 days for us there.....

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

Hi All: We made it to Loretta Lynn's campground in good shape. The motorhome ran like a clock. I guess it's all fixed up finally.

The Campground is sure in the woods. The picture of Amy is our front yard. The campground is inl the middle of a large tree forest. Large Oak trees, and lots of "Killer Squirrels".. There are hardly anyone in the campground now. Our closest neighbor is from Brooksville, FL About 16 miles down the road from our house. There is only about two spots in the campground that you can use the satellite dish. He is in one, and we are next to him using the other site. The signal isn't very strong, and I had to move the rig back and forth to finally get a signal that would get most of the stations. WE are OK. Can get FOX news pretty good. hee hee. That makes Amy happy???? NOT....

We drove down the road a few miles to Waverly, TN and found a restaurant called "DAVID'S PLACE" We had breakfast there and it was very good.. Had to be with a name like that. HUH Brenda????

The other photo is our campsite in the woods...

Loretta's tour place is about 2 miles from the campground. We plan to go there tomorrow and probably take a tour of her replica home etc, and her museum etc...

Went to Walmart this morning. Was good to see a lot of white folks in there this time. Seems like we stop for a half gallon milk, and spend over $100 each time. Don't know how that happens?

We leave here Wednesday for a Thousand Trails campground about 100 miles from here. Will stay there two nights. Just going there because it's a Thousand Trails campground and we're trying to get our money's worth by using them as often as we can...

Amy is busy cleaning etc today. I'ts just nice being at this campground. It was 60 degrees here this morning. Real nice place...

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

Hi All:

We took our tour thru Graceland today. Glad it was not one thing on my "Bucket list" Kinda boreing. Photo above is the "Mansion" Don't know why they call it that. It's an old house with real small rooms. Has been fixed up real nice though. We walked thru it with head phones on telling us what we see as we go along on the tour.

The photo is of "Your Know Who?" It's a painting. Pretty well done, shows him as a young man... Then we went thru his collecton of cars. Pretty impressive for sure. Here's his pink cadillac.. And then you have his grave site, so I guess he's really dead. Guess you were right Bob. You told be he was gone???? He'd be an old man these days if he had lived. Born in 1935. Two years older than me... OUCH...

We walked almost two miles on the tour today. Was good to get some exercise. After lunch in the motor home we went to the Post office, then Walmart. We have decided that Graceland is in the African American part of town. We were the only white folks in Walmart. Tom would love this part of the city..

Not going to do to much tomorrow. I have a small leak around the vent in the living room, so have to re-caulk around it, and need to clean the windows. They won't let me wash the rig in the park. Sure needs it....

Will be leaving day after tomorrow to Loretta Lynn's park about 150 miles from here. Will be good to see how the motor home runs with all the spark plugs connected...hee hee.

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh