Back From The Wild Blue Yonder

The Wild Blue Yonder

Chattahoochee Forest in Northeast Georgia

I just returned from 3 days in the wild blue yonder.  I guess you noticed I had no internet access.  But that's OK, the weather was cool, the scenery awesome and best of all I rendezvoused with some old Caribbean sailors. What fun!  Well, they really aren't old, but old friends.  We met in the Caribbean eons ago.  Our love for travel, sailboats, live music and laughter made us all three great friends. 


Harley and I hiked all over the woods, hills and streams, getting our feet wet and enjoying the new scenery which was much cooler because we were about 2500 feet above sea level, compared to our usual 700 feet at Hartwell Lake.

My little old motorhome hides in the woods. 

I also checked on a future work situation, and did some research for an article. But my heart just enjoyed communing with the mountains. I didn't see any wildlife, but rumors of a black bear making the rounds, had prompted the park service to put up notices. A few campers talked about it, but no one had seen him.  


Harley and I hunted all over for tracks in likely bear places, but found none. One night we accidentally stayed out too late walking. Suddenly the forest was dark. 


Very dark and somewhat spooky. 


We carefully and semi-rapidly made our way back to the wheel estate, hoping we didn't startle a tip-toeing bear. I was sorry I didn't at least have a flash light with me. 


Just like sailing at sea, a few things broke in the wheel estate, so I am busier than a one-armed paper hanger with full blown poison ivy. Some things I don't think I can fix on my own, but I might as well research them, so I understand what's wrong. 


I only got lost three times coming home, in spite of maps, and written directions. It was as if my wheel estate didn't want to return to the lower elevation. There is an intersection where the highway signs are completely misleading. They point straight ahead, but you are meant to make a hard left. I've encountered this before in Georgia. Not sure the sign hanger is a traveler too. Maybe he likes to laugh about the lost travelers. 


Mostly my newly broken list goes something like this:

• speedometer swings wildly from 0-100 when I am driving, this renders the cruise control useless, but it's wildly entertaining, sometimes it settles down to give me a more or less accurate speed, I seem to drive 18 or 80 according to the speedometer
• the odometer went out once for a few miles, then resumed, something must be jarred loose some where, it's an electronic odometer
• transmission shifts funny when starting out, rather strange and annoying, but once I get going, it seems happy.  I shifted to 2nd when in the steeper section of the mountains, that of course made it happy, but this rough shifting on flat level roads at reduced speeds is something new, it's always drove like a charm in the past. 
• awning frame was apparently bent by the previous storm about 4 weeks ago, so it's just not happy with my short arms, insisting I grow an 18 foot long arm, to make it go in and out right, I have pieced this awning frame and awning back together several times, I think it's just begging for a replacement at 16+ years old. 
• hot water converted to a trickle in the kitchen, where I use it the most, but works fine in the bathroom sink, this is a puzzler, I need to tear into
• fresh water tank sprung a leak, but I might have fixed that by tightening up the hose clamp on the fill hose that leads to the tank
• outside faucet leaks, no matter how tight I screw it in, maybe I can take it apart and look to replace a washer

Oh life is so much fun!  I thought my motorhome was in great shape, but maintenance and repairs creep up when you're trying to do something else. 


I really didn't drive many miles, about 80 miles on Sunday and 80 on Wednesday.  Monday I went in my friends' car to Helen Georgia and sightseeing in the mountains. Tuesday, my friends departed so Harley and I spent the day on foot and paw.


Now that I am back at the lake, I am hot and tired. Even Harley seems pooped.  We went for a walk and the heat really hit us hard, so we came back, tongues hanging out.  


We are lucky to make it back alive. This car load of drinkers came around the corner on the wrong side of the road, we were already in the ditch, but they missed up by inches, while tossing beer cans at us! Their windows were down so I am sure they heard me scream.    It freaked us out, we scampered back home pretty frightened. My heart was acting wildly, I guess it scared me badly. 


In Vogel State Park, where we stayed 3 nights, we tried to rescue a homeless dog, but didn't gain her confidence enough to put a snare type leash on her. However, we donated the snare leash and dog treats to another family that was interested in working with her.  Already she was following them around on walks. Rumor is she has a new adopted home to go to, if someone can get her on a leash and to the park ranger. Harley gave her lots of loving and tried to get her to play. She was quite beautiful, but every time I pulled out my camera, she ran away. She won't let anyone pet her or touch her, poor thing. But she did let Harley sniff her over and romp with her. Thanks to the generosity of campers, she is well fed. The other family was going to be there several more days and felt confident with the donated snare leash, they might be able to finally leash her for a trip to her new home. 


Blogger has been acting up since last night, not letting me post, and rearranging my editing without my permission. Grrrr......  I may have to switch formats. This one just fights with me a lot and I am clueless why.