Sighhhhhhh, bugger snot, gee whiz.  Because we drove further than we anticipated yesterday we only had 298 miles to home. After finally leaving the Walmart parking lot and looking at the weather forecast for the next several days we decided to head for home.  Our first official retirement adventure has ended.  What a nice welcome home we received.  Stephanie put up some of my Halloween decorations and cooked an awesome meal for us.  Pork roast wrapped in bacon with a glaze.  Sautéed apples.  A really nice fall meal.  Absolutely delicious.  What made it perfect was everyone was able to come over for supper.  You don’t realize how much you miss everyone until you walk in the door and give them a hug.  Just not the same as talking on the phone.  Alan and I think our first trip was a success.  Learned a few things that will help with the next trip.  Yes, we are already talking about what we would like to do next!  Don’t want to be one of those couples that wind up saying woulda, coulda, shoulda done that.  Time together really is precious.  AND, go figure, we are still talking to each other after all this togetherness on the road!  37 years and counting!  Just wanted to thank everyone that wished us well and encouraged us to do this.  Especially wanted to thank Stephanie for ALL she did to help us make this trip successful. Hugs and kisses to Gregory and Michael for being our cheering squad and checking on us along the way.  It is sooooooo nice to hug all of you again.  Dad and Mom love all of you lots!  Now, we are just settling in and waiting for the new addition to the Paul family to arrive!. PS, spoiler alert, it’s a boy and his name will be Michael Joseph.

Life is VERY good.

I’m sulking.  Back to reality. Toto is home. (but only for awhile)

Today was a travel day.  Thought we were going to spend a couple of days in Pennsylvania.  Little did we realize that once past Wilkes Barre on 81 it’s no mans land for camping unless you want to travel an hour off the highway.  We ended up in a Walmart parking lot only 298 miles from home.  Two other campers joined us there.  They had the same problem.  When we were ready to leave the next morning we couldn’t figure out how we got into the parking lot without losing our a/c on the top of the camper.  Never noticed the night before that this Walmart set up overhead height clearance restrictions. They did it because across the street there is a tractor trailer fueling station/rest area and apparently Walmart doesn’t want the overflow in their parking lot.  Clearance was only 12’2″.  FYI our camper is 13’4″.  One of the Walmart employees noticed our dilemma and told us that the 12’2″ was actually a lie. That there was more clearance than that especially if driving right under the middle which is what we must have done the night before.   With the guidance of several employees we were able to leave the parking lot with NO room to spare.  The 12’2″ sign on the overhead bar was actually swinging when we left.  At one point we thought we were going to have to deflate the camper tires just to make in under.  But it didn’t come to that.  Like Alan says he would rather be lucky than good.  We were VERY lucky today.  It could have been a very expensive and embarrassing day.

What a nice riding day today.  Rode part of the Blue Ridge Parkway then took some roads less traveled.  Lucked out with the laid back but twisty kind of roads that make for the nicest kind of riding.  Got in trouble with Ranger Yogi though.  We apparently parked our bike in an area that was for golf carts only.  Ranger Yogi was not happy and made us move immediately even though we were in the process of buying an ice cream.  I thought for a moment that he was going to issue us a demerit card.  Honest Yogi, we didn’t know.  Bad Mom and Dad.  P.S. we canceled the ice cream.  Bad Yogi.  I bet he frightens children too!

Today was a travel day – headed for Virginia.  Probably somewhere near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Put about 150 miles on the bike today.  Went through the Great Smokey Mountain National Forest.  Went up to Clingmans Dome which is the highest point in Tennessee.  An interesting fact is that they say that the view has been reduced by 40% in the winter and 80% in the summer since 1948 due to human pollution.  It’s the whitish haze you see in the pictures. Sobering isn’t it?  My thing is that every time I am privileged to enjoy a moment like this it makes me realize how insignificant I really am in the grand scheme of things.  And how humans allow the, when you step back, petty things in life to intrude on their lives and diminish the joys they have been given.  I.E. Although you have seen me write about the tires on this journey, the joy and privilege of being allowed this time in our lives makes me humble.  How grateful I am for the family I have and the people that have touched my life, however briefly, over my lifetime.

Wish I could have taken a video of the people around this elk. It is the beginning of rutting season. There are signs all over the place warning you to stay back a safe distance as this time of year these animals can be especially aggressive. The video of people scrambling for cameras, running forward to get that special shot. OMG. Funny and wildly stupid.

Mom and dad were checking out the night lights of Pigeon Forge. I was afraid, very afraid.

Good grief, all this just to play golf

We did the Devil’s Triangle today.  Holy $%@#*&.  Not for the brand new rider.  But Alan done good.  Definitely kept Alan on his game.  It was uphill, off camber and steep.  You have to trust the driver on this ride.  Staying one more day to do another ride tomorrow, haven’t decided which yet.

We are in Sevierville, TN.  It was 98 out with 78% humidity.  Too hot to ride so we went looking at rvs again, Found nothing that tempted us.  Went to several antique stores.  There are bunch of them around here.  But unsuccessful with finding a rug beater.  Not even one to be found!  It was a nice hold hands, be together kind of day.  Alan changed the spare tire out so all set again.  It was a leaky valve stem.  Only $10 to fix but it’s the hassle for Alan thats the bummer.  But, still better than the last $143 to replace the last tire.

Loaded everything up today. Off we went, then about an hour in Alan was changing a tire again.  Apparently, another bad tire stem.  Some days it’s just not fun being the guy.  And it’s not like I can do anything to actually help.  We have already decided that before we do this again, if we don’t trade this unit in for another one, we are going to upgrade our tires to “G”.  This is ridiculous.  We are finding out that the newer units come with the sturdier tires.  They are actually dump truck tires.  Apparently, we are by far not the only ones with this issue.  Our neighbor told us that he was on the road when a big rig in front of him blew a tire.  The tread went under his right front tire on his motor home, took out his electric steps at the front door, took out the exhaust system for his generator, took out the front tire of the car he was towing, then took out a tire on the car that was following him!.  The police officer, when he got to the scene, asked if he was the cause of all that carnage.  He said no, he was only the recipient.  Moral of the story is don’t follow to closely behind tractor trailers!  Not a good day for him.  EXPENSIVE DAY.  When you are aware it’s amazing how many times you see someone changing a tire.  Or how many burn marks there are where someone had a car fire.  Ouch!  When you listen every one has a story.  But all is well with the Pauls.

Still in Atlanta – rained all day.  First day that we have actually had a rain day since leaving Rhode Island.  Keith, Michelle, Alan and I had a leisurely breakfast, just hung out and visited then they left to go back to Florida.  Bummer, enjoyed their company.  Hopefully, next year we will do this again with them.  Alan and I just relaxed, did laundry, found a pet store that sold Big Al’s food.  Packed up for tomorrow. It was really to late to leave.  Headed toward Knoxville to do some riding tomorrow.