Author: Easin' Along

Five years ago, Helen and I began traveling in an RV and immediately fell in love with the lifestyle. Those five years have included about six extended trips, which we have shared on Easin’ Along.  We took an extended trip to California and back earlier this year but plan to remain closer to home for the foreseeable future for reasons explained in previous posts. Nevertheless, the lifestyle still calls us, and we plan to spend as much time in our beloved fifth wheel as possible.

Grand Design RV is the manufacturer of our trailer and does an outstanding job of reaching out to owners of their products to keep them informed and connected to the company.  Social media is the primary vehicle for passing along items of interest to RVers. We read about product developments, tips for troubleshooting common problems, maintenance reminders, and company news daily. 

In addition to the above, Grand Design sponsors owner rallies several times a year throughout the country and posts pictures from the events on Facebook.  The idea of attending a rally has always interested Helen and me, but the timing of the events never meshed with our schedule…until this year.

Grand Design scheduled an owners’ rally in Sevierville, Tennessee, for the weekend of May 12-15 and began accepting reservations this past January.  Sevierville is outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and less than an hour away from us. Since we planned to be home around that time, we reserved a spot for the weekend and followed the Facebook posts as the planning for the event evolved. May is not our preferred month for extended RV travel since schools are letting out about that time, and finding sites in campgrounds can be a challenge.

We arrived at Sun Outdoors Resort last Friday afternoon to find a beehive of activity.  The campground has 186 campsites, and all of them were filled. Many of the attendees arrived earlier in the week and sent out Facebook messages about where to gather for opening day activities and Happy Hour(s). Volunteers greeted us at the entrance, checked us in, handed us a bag of goodies, and led us to site 146. I set up our campsite while Helen mingled about before the evening meal. 

Many of the campers had attended Grand Design rallies for years and had made friends with fellow attendees.  Large groups of old friends and acquaintances gathered to catch up, share stories of life on the road since their last meeting, and make plans around the weekend schedule. Helen didn’t take long to make new friends and return to our camp to give me the program. The program began with dinner for 385 of our new friends. Helen attended a Bingo session after the meal.

On Saturday, I attended a griddle cooking demonstration sponsored by Blackstone Griddles. The griddle chef prepared a superb offering of bacon, corn, onions, and spices intended as a side dish.  It was excellent. He also shared tips for cooking on large outdoor griddles and suggestions for cleaning and maintaining them.  Interestingly, almost all of the attendees were men.

I also attended a class on RV maintenance that dealt primarily with lubrication points.  The class leader is a quality control engineer with Grand Design, and he knew his subject very well.  The class, scheduled for an hour, went on long beyond that as the questions continued. I left the class feeling guilty, making a mental note to buy a grease gun when I got home.

We were on our own for dinner on Saturday evening since many campers chose to visit the National Park and nearby Gatlinburg during the day. I loaded up a pork nacho plate and couldn’t eat it all.  The pork was smoked to perfection, and I tried to finish it off, but I finally waved the white flag. I don’t remember what Helen chose. I remember her saying that it was good.

The weather was perfect for an evening gathered around a campfire while a group of musicians entertained us with selections of mainly old favorites. The music wafted gently over the campground for several hours, and many campers stayed well past closing time in a very relaxing environment.

We left on Sunday morning, but not before we said goodbye to a lovely couple camping next to us.  Gayle and Andre traveled from southern Georgia to spend their weekend with Grand Design owners.  We met them shortly after we arrived and enjoyed their company immensely.  Andre is very handy and shared several tips on RV maintenance that I will use soon.  We promised to stay in touch.

A three-day camping trip is much better than no camping trip, and we made the most of this one. Life is good.  We’re blessed, and we’re Easin’ Along.

Easin’ Along has been silent for two weeks while we deal with both challenge and change. First, the change…

East Tennessee residents were blessed with a beautiful spring this year. We had a perfect amount of rainfall, and, as a result, our flowers have thrived and flourished, offering a stunning foreground to a backdrop filled with lush greenery. Nevertheless, change is coming.  We’re warming up here as temperatures edge ever closer to the ninety-degree mark, which means that haze and humidity aren’t far behind. Mindful of the change, I grabbed the camera and captured what I consider some of the prized blooms of the season.

I love Columbine and Helen planted a purple variety several years ago that has thrived and spread.  The purple is not seen often in these parts, and this year’s crop was exceptional. I captured this photo at the end of the blooming season.

Rhododendrons also came out in full radiance, treating us to three brightly colored varieties in the neighborhood. The reds were very red, and the pink and purple rhodys also stood out. Heavy rain hammered these beauties hard shortly after these pictures were taken.  I’m grateful I can share them below.

In the 1930s, my paternal grandmother planted Peony bulbs in front of her home in LaFollette, Tennessee.  When my grandmother moved out of the house, my mother dug up a few of the bulbs and transplanted them in our yard in Knoxville.  Those plants have thrived in three different locations since then, and we have an offspring of them in our yard.  The blossoms are primarily bright white, but some have a pink stripe. I call them “Candy Stripe Peonies.” These beauties sit next to our Spirea, which has also had a great spring.

Now, for the challenge…

Helen had a setback in her breast cancer treatment this week.  She developed an infection after her surgery.  This was unfortunate because she was doing very well and on her way to resuming normal activities (as if she ever slowed down), but during a checkup with her surgeon, he noticed a change. We checked her into the hospital that afternoon for additional surgery and a heavy regimen of antibiotics.

The treatments greatly improved the situation and she returned home after two days feeling well enough to pick a basketful of the Peonies to bring inside. They are now sitting in a vase on our screen porch alongside her puzzle of the month.

The setback means that we are essentially starting over with her treatment, but her attitude remains positive and we still firmly believe that we’re blessed beyond our ability to comprehend.  Thanks to all who have reached out with cards, food, phone calls, well-wishes, and prayers—even from people we’ve never met in person. We’re overwhelmed when we think about how each of you has enriched our lives, and we can’t thank you enough.

Hopefully, and if all goes well, we’re bustin’ out of here on a short camping trip this coming weekend. We’re going to a three-day RV rally in Sevierville, Tennessee sponsored by the manufacturer of our fifth wheel. Over 180 RVs are expected to fill the campground and a lot of activities are planned to keep us busy. I’ll have details posted soon, so please come back. We’re Easin’ Along once more.

It has been a glorious week in Knoxville, Tennessee. The temperatures are comfortable and warming up a bit more.  Our flowers, flowering trees, and shrubs are peaking rapidly.  The annual Dogwood Arts Festival offers a big weekend celebration with music, food, and all things art on the World’s Fair Site lawn. After two weeks of some serious stuff, I was ready to join in the fun until life threw us a curveball.

My favorite line from the movie City Slickers goes like this–“There’s no such thing as a normal life…there’s just life!” This favored line is accurate, and Helen and I proved it this week. Ease Along with us and get a glimpse of a week with more than a smidgen of ups and downs.

Helen began the week feeling no ill effects from her surgery and was more than capable of functioning somewhat normally.  Her caregiver (that would be me) was quite impressed and extremely grateful.  In addition, and most importantly, we’ve been overwhelmed and beyond grateful for the love and support sent by friends from across the country. Our neighbors, Helen’s close friends, and gal-pals have been nothing short of amazing with their love, support, and attention. Our church family deserves special mention for the meals sent to us when we had no intention or desire to cook for ourselves. Helen has received a basketful of cards and letters from friends everywhere. Those cards have gone a long way toward keeping her spirits up.

I won’t get into all of the tasks required of a breast cancer patient post-op, but it can get very involved.  Nevertheless, Helen was handling things well and was ready to move on to the next step. On Thursday, we went to an office visit with one of the surgeons.  Dr. Gibson was pleased with her progress and spent some time explaining the process from this point on very thoroughly. After the surgery, he had covered this with us, but not much of it sank in.

We visited with Dr. Lo, the second surgeon involved in Helen’s operation, on Friday.  Dr. Lo was also pleased with her progress and began some of the next steps of her treatment. Again, I’ll leave out the details, but Helen left Dr. Lo’s office in a lot of pain.  My solution was to take her to the Waffle House for breakfast.  Breakfast helped, but she was still very uncomfortable.  I knew it had to be severe because Helen never complains. We planned to attend the Dogwood Arts Festival downtown later in the day, and she assured me that she planned to go after a short rest.

I took her back home, then left to run an errand.  When I returned, she looked at me somewhat teary-eyed (very unusual) and said she had suddenly developed a high fever and felt ill.  Fortunately, and ironically, she had ordered eight government-issued COVID-19 test kits that arrived the day before.  She took the test, and…you guessed it, she tested positive. 

We didn’t attend the Festival, and Helen went from bad to worse, then went to bed. Our family doctor called in an anti-viral medication for her, but it was only available at a pharmacy across town.  I left her once more to retrieve the medicine, thinking, “How much more can she take?”

It was a long night, but I’m delighted to report that Helen was much better by morning.  She still had a fever and was in some pain, but nothing like the previous day. She is now working on her puzzle. I tested negative, but I’m Easin’ Along a long way away from direct contact.  I’m sure readers will understand.

There’s no such thing as a normal life. Every once in a while, God will pull you through a keyhole.