Asheville, North Carolina

July 19, 2008

This morning started early with concerns about the Silver Lady and her oil leak. Sue walked Pooh Bear while I crawled under the rear of the coach trying to isolate the leak. We have gone through at least two quarts of oil, mixed with the normal road dirt. The bikes, the tow dolly and the car were really a mess. I was able to isolate the area of the leak. I tried to use the tools I had with me to tighten anything and everything I could see. As you might expect, I had some tools, but not what I really needed. First I needed a set of 1/2 drive metric sockets which I did not have. I tried to make do with 3/8 s but didn't have a long handle ratchet so had a very hard time on my back trying to get any pressure. I did find several things that I could get some pressure on that were a little loose. I got back up from the job, not really sure if I had made any difference.

While all of this was going on, Sue and Pooh Bear returned, with a neighbor in tow. They struck up a conversation and soon the Husband joined us with his limited set of tools. They were from British Columbia and were taking 3 months to tour parts of the US. What wonderful people. The guys talked RV's while the gals talked about sites they had seen and still wanted to see. Their companionship took our minds and hearts off the difficulties we have recently experienced and gave a good start to the day. After they left, we backed up, broke camp and headed for a fuel stop before getting on the road.

Today was a 550 mile day the highlight of which was a stop at a rest stop where Sue made a picnic lunch for us. We took the lunch and our drinks and headed outside under some large oak trees and rested in the shade as we ate. This rest stop was just east of Nashville. We both have expressed a desire to come back to Nashville. We also didn't get to see any of Memphis so truly feel that Tennessee is a state we want to see again.

We stopped for fuel in Knoxville and continued on into North Carolina toward Asheville. We passed within less than 2 miles of the first campground on this trip in Newport, Tennessee. I-40 east of Newport and on into Asheville is very windy. I was pushing very hard driving this portion of the trip at the end of the day and our guardian angels were working overtime. We pulled into the KOA East Campground in Asheville just after 9:00 pm. They were still open and very graciously received us. KOA's give great personal service and for that we are very pleased. In this situation, we were taken to our site by a staff member in a golf cart who led us right to the site and helped with my layout on the site before he left us. This is a campground that we stayed at last year and I sure didn't want to find my way around with the Silver Lady after dark alone. All was well. We got set up quickly and Sue cooked a wonderful dinner.

We touched base with our friends and will meet them at their church in the morning for services.

We have been on the road now for 22 days. There have been many, many life changing experiences. There have been many - let's do that again experiences. There have been lessons learned and things that have frustrated us. Today at the second fuel stop, A trucker said to me, "you really handle that rig like you know what you are doing." I was so blessed by his comments, it helped put the last couple of days in perspective. Sue and I have become seasoned in all of this. Yes there are things we can and will do differently next time, but there will be a next time. We have learned so much and much of the operational things are becoming almost second nature.

I have truly treasured this time with Sue and the sharing that we have done, experientially, emotionally and spiritually.