on the road to Florida

so much has taken place lately, it is all a blur. We presently are in a campground in Knoxville North, which is about 15 miles North of Knoxville. The trip down was about 600 miles, almost exactly half of the trip to Florida, when going on I-75. The weather was great until late in the day when light rain began to fall.

The motorhome ran great, the cat was good, and now we get a chance to slow down. We have four days of music, and old time crafts, etc. Also here with us is Jerry and Shirley Burkley and Roger and Claudine Vaillancourt of the fiddle club.

Prior to leaving we completed the closing of Lakeside, the Vikings, and Tuesday morning, Ripley. We worked all day Monday, took time off in the evening to visit the casino in Erie, with Lester and Sue then spent all morning Tuesday until we were ready to leave about 11:00 AM, so we did.

On Saturday, Janice and Don went with us to Dereks' house to celebrate our annual early Christmas. Greg and Judy showed up, which was great, as some of us were not sure he really existed(refer to earlier blog). Jerry and Alison and Shawn and Cheyenne were there as were Derek, Liza, Charlotte, Grace and Eli(Duh!) everybody seemed to have good time.

Sunday was the day we completed the Viking Shutdown, then attended the Viking Trailer Association fund raiser. Lester and Sue, and Sues' mother, Ray and Luella and Betty Jean Rideout Johnson. Janice won $50, and Derek won $100, otherwise the rest of us were "losers". Following the fundraiser everyone except Ray and Luella came to Ripley where we were fed by , who else? Laura. It was great to see Janice and Don up north. They flew up to assist Norma in her trip down to Florida. They left Monday morning and arrived in Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon. you will to go to Normas blog for detail

The rest of the time was a blur, as we had to bring in the tractor, golfcart, and Windstar batteries to keep from freezing, check tire pressures on the motorhome, load the wheelchair on top, load the motorhome with all the stuff and food going to florida, secure all the doors, shut down the upstairs furnace, set the downstairs furnace, disconnect all the electrical devices, remove all three computers and the dish receiver, and numerous other details. Is it all worth doing. After arriving in Florida, it sure is!