Trudging The Road of Happy Destiny

On July 8, we headed out in our Happy Destiny Motorhome. Destination- North Carolina.

A few months ago, we made plans with Marshall and Judy, to meet up with them and their new Motorhome, for a White Water Rafting Trip. We made our route plans and off we went.

First stop, Tampa! A mere hour drive out of town. The generator, which is the piece of equipment that allows us to have electricity to our home when not hooked up to an electric source, was not working! Jim diagnosed the problem as it needing a new fuel pump. We took it to Tampa, where there is a Onan Cummins dealer and mechanic. The mechanic informed Jim that his diagnosis was correct, and got to work installing a new one. We were there for a few hours, and when all was said and done, our generator is now working just fine. We are real happy about this. It means we can now “boondock”. Boondocking, Off the grid, Off the cord, Dispersed Camping, Dry Camping, are all names for camping or RVing without any hook ups (water, electric or sewer).  Boondocking is probably the most popular term in the RV community. We have a self contained Motorhome. With a working generator we will be able to go to more free places out in the wild and not have to worry about electricity.

Our stop for the night was The LazyDays RV Resort in Tampa. We booked this place because they had a pool! It is very, very hot and humid here in Florida. We certainly enjoyed the pool and had a nice dinner. We have grown accustomed to the simple life. Living on a boat, is just about the same as living in a motorhome. We watch TV, and we go to bed early!

LazyDays RV Park

Our next day destination is White Springs, Florida, and the Stephen Foster Folk Cultural State Park. A 250 mile trip. We have driven through this part of Florida several times now. We stayed on the interstate and arrived to the park around 3:00 in the afternoon.

Situated on the banks of the legendary Suwannee River, this center honors the memory of American composer Stephen Foster, who wrote "Old Folks at Home," the song that made the river famous. 🎵”way down upon the Suwannee River, far, far away, there’s where my heart is turning ever, home where the old folks stay”-🎶

Day 3 of our journey takes us into Georgia! Our destination is a 230 mile trip with our destination being La Costa Mobile Home and RV Park.

When planning a RV trip, it is not unlike what we did while on our Great Loop. We decide how many miles we want to drive, where we need to end up, and research parks to make our stops at.

This was a tough area to make a choice of places to stay. We were driving up through Atlanta, Georgia, and there weren’t very many choices that looked good, or had decent reviews. I picked a Mobile Home Park that had a few RV spaces. It seriously was a a community full of Mobile homes! It was ok for the night, and compared to some of the other places I looked at, this place was clean and safe.

Thursday, July 11, was the day we would drive to Bryson City, North Carolina. This is our destination to meet up with Marshall and Judy. It’s also a new state for us. On our Loop, We skirted through North Carolina over on the Atlantic Ocean side. Today we are driving to the Smoky Mountains and we were both pretty excited about this part of our adventure. On the way out of Georgia, we stopped at a roadside farm. Jaemor Farms. We bought the very best Georgia Peaches, some super sweet blackberries, some sweet onions, some sweet popcorn, some peach ice cream and some boiled peanuts! You can tell the two of us definitely have a sweet tooth!!!

Then, off we go!

Welcome to North Carolina

As we entered the Nantahala National Forest, the views were incredible. So green and so lush. Our trip took us up 30 miles on nothing but winding road, and I was totally fine with Jim driving. He’s done a lot of mountain driving, I have not. There were several occasions when I gripped the arm of the chair as he swung this 31 foot monster around the switchbacks. He did a great job getting us safely to our campsite.

We are headed to Smoky Mountain Meadows RV Park in Bryson City, North Carolina. Marshall and Judy chose the location because of its close location to the River Rafting place we will go to on Sunday. The campground itself, was a big lot, right at the base of the Smoky Mountains. The weather was interesting. It was humid, and warm, but the mountains themselves were covered in what looked like smoke. I asked Jim about this and here is what we found out about the “smoke”.

That famous fog that surrounds the Smoky Mountains actually is produced by native vegetation in the area. You probably learned in school that plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. However, plants let out more than just oxygen. They release something called volatile organic compounds. 

This may sound bad or dangerous, but it’s not! They are totally natural! These chemicals have a high vapor pressure and in the right environment form the vapors or fog that you see. With millions of plants and trees in the Smoky Mountains they all give off of these vapors that cause the “smokey” appearance. 

It really is pretty and changes all the time. We settled in to our campsite while we waited for Marshall and Judy to arrive. We took the bikes off their rack and went for a ride. It was really nice.

Marshall and Judy arrived to the campsite around 6:00 pm. It was my job to prepare dinner, since, they were arriving late. This is their first adventure in their new motor home. They just finished their Great Loop and bought their new, big, beautiful RV. Mindy, their adorable puppy dog, who did the whole Loop with them, is, of course, along with them. It’s so fun to see them all after several months. We barbecued hamburgers and caught up on all of our shenanigans. RV midnight is just like Looper midnight. 9:00 pm. 😂

They brought along their car, so Friday we ventured into Bryson City and checked out the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad, and agreed that Saturday, we would take the 5 hour railroad trip through the Smoky Mountains. We did a little sightseeing through the town, stopped for some groceries. We also drove to the Hemlock Inn . Marshall and Judy honeymooned here over 30 years ago. It was a beautiful sight, and I know they enjoyed reminiscing over days gone by.

View from the Hemlock Inn

We returned to camp and just relaxed between rainstorms. Mindy got awfully wet and muddy, so Judy had to give her a bath! The weather is interesting here. It can go from bright and sunny to a pop up rainstorm in a matter of minutes.

We had a great dinner and sat outside and chatted some more. The bugs are not bad here, surprisingly. This has made for a nice stay. Jim and I enjoyed being able to sit outside, without getting eaten alive! 🦟

We got up bright and early on a Saturday morning. Judy prepared a lovely breakfast and we then headed off to the Railway. The train was to leave at 10:30. We got our seats and off we went. We rode the rails along the beautiful Nantahala River. It was a 44 mile round trip, which carried us trough the winding, mountainous hills. We traveled alongside Fontana Lake, and saw many boaters out enjoying the beautiful day. This was a great trip, and we were able to see where we would be River Rafting the following day. There was a layover stop of an hour, so we popped into the meal car and got us a hotdog. We all, had a really good time.

Sunday, July 13. River Rafting Day! It’s why we are here! We drove 30 minutes to a rafting facility where we met up with 12 other people who are part of our group. Marshall and Judy have a neighbor, who is a guide for these trips. We got the instructions, our life jackets, and then all loaded into a van for the trip to the starting point. The river trip is 8 miles and on the river we will go about 4mph. The trip down the rapids will take about two and a half hours. It was a warm, humid day, but trust me when I say, it’s gonna be a wet ride for sure. The water is very chilly and it is going to pour rain on us! I was a bit scared, but I learned on the Great Loop, that I have the power to face my fear, suck it up, and carry on. It ended up being a fantastic journey, and both Jim and I had a great time. It was fun doing it with our friends. Memories that will last a lifetime!

Our Boat Going Over a Fall!

At the end of the ride is a huge waterfall. It was awesome, and we were all grateful none of us fell out of the boat!

The raft center people picked us and our boats up in the van and we made the trip back to where we started from. This adventure was super cool and I’m really glad I can now say “yep, I’ve done that “!

We changed into dry clothes, said our thank you, and our goodbyes. We went into Bryson City and had some dinner. Judy and Marshall got pizza, Jim ordered lasagna and me, I ordered a Stromboli. Look at the size of this thing! Yum!

Monday morning we said our goodbyes to Marshall and Judy. They are traveling home to South Carolina and we are headed toward home too.

Our destination, before we head home, is Orlando, Florida. Here we will get to see my son Mike, his wife and 3 of our granddaughters! They are on a Universal-Disney vacation, all the way from California! I have not seen them in many, many months. We will take 3 driving days to get there.

First stop, Dames Ferry State Park in Juliette, Georgia. If you ever saw the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, well, it was filmed in this city. The Whistle Stop Restaurant, is here. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we arrived, so no fried Green Tomatoes for me! Our spot was right on the lake and it was very pretty.

Next day, back to Stephen Foster Folk Cultural State Park. We took a long bike ride and enjoyed the museums. Before we got there we stopped at a sausage store off the highway. Carroll’s Sausage Store is a big, huge meat market and specialty store. We bought several pieces of meat including bacon wrapped, sausage stuffed pork chops. Jim grilled them and I’m telling you, they were scrumptious!

Our reservation in Orlando does not start until Thursday, so we went to a KOA campground in Apopka, Florida on Wednesday. They have a pool, and it is so freakin hot here in Florida. Unfortunately for us, the afternoon we arrived, there was a huge thunder and lightning storm, so they closed the pool. Ugh! We weathered the storm from the comfort of our RV, ate leftover bacon wrapped pork chops and hit the hay. The next day we were able to enjoy the pool for a bit before we headed out towards Orlando.

Our trip to Orlando was uneventful. We arrived to Bill Fredrick State Park on Turkey Lake.

Tonight, my son and his family are coming over for dinner. The girls don’t know we are here, so this was a nice surprise for them. It was great to see them all, and hear about their vacation.

Being far from my kids and grandkids is hard sometimes. But, I’m enjoying this life I have with Jim, in Florida. We are not going back to California we are planting our roots here I’m sure I will make some trips back to California, but for now, my feet are here. my son and his wife think Florida is wonderful! Maybe one day they will move here!

Our time together was fun. We barbecued, rode bikes and went fishing. the girls watched movies in the air conditioned RV. All in all, we had a nice visit and we were really happy to spend time with them all.

We headed for home on Saturday the 20th. We had a great 2 week trip on the road! We are pretty darned good at this RV stuff. We didnt have any issues with the RV. It ran great, and delivered us safely to each and every location.

We have a lot on our plate right now, and are juggling many things. We are, in the midst of all this traveling, buying a home. I’d like to tell you, that you CAN buy a home, while driving cross country, in a mobile home. That is, if you have a guy like Jim. We had to make a few stops at the UPS store along the way, to copy, print, sign and scan legal documents. Jim made his fair share of phone calls, but it all got done. He’s just the best at navigation. Whether it be boat navigation, RV navigation, or navigating through paperwork and people, he gets the job done. I’m so blessed to be on this journey with him.

We are home now on the Happy Destiny. I’ve been packing up some things and getting ready to move us into our new home. We certainly acquired a few extra things over the past 506 days, but we still don’t have a lot of “stuff”, so moving off the boat should not be that big of a deal. Once we have removed everything from the boat, we will get her all spiffed up and ready to sell. That will be a sad day, but, the memories made on her will always be forefront in our minds!

I hope you enjoyed this travelblog. I know it was long winded, but, as much as I write for y’all, I write for me too. I love looking back at my blogs. I love reliving the adventures, remembering where we’ve been, and who we’ve shared our time with. Thanks for sharing all this with me. ❤️