The New Adventure with Sunny Days RV

I'm going to get back on the horse and start my Sunny Days Adventure blog once again.  We are 18 months out from the last entry so I will use the first few entries to catch us up. I took some notes along the way but for the most part this will start 18 months later.  It is a lesson on how time flies—this has been an action packed time for us:

July, 2016-- bring our new baby home and then our trial run to Gatlinburg

She fit!!

Bringing the whale home—it is really big but does fit behind the house.  Fitz has turned into a great driver but we have to back up and go forward to inch her into the driveway so we won’t hit the neighbor’s trees or mailbox.  We live in fear that one of the neighbors will complain but it is convenient to have our “dock” right outside the back door.  Fitz is busy getting to know the mechanical ins and outs of the vehicle.  I have enjoyed outfitting the inside.  Mid-July we made the 5 hour trek to Gatlinburg to try out the life.  Andy, Mary and Rae, along with Elizabeth and Charley came up from Knoxville –Katie and Leeton and Holden came up from Cookeville to christen her and helped us test her limits.  We learned several things:  RV parks are very reasonable for motorhomes—cabins are outrageous and rustic.  Katie slept on the sofa and declared it comfortable, the kids slept on the floor in their sleeping bags and were fine.  There was a different crowd at the RV park—no docktails to be had over conversation with the others.  The kids had a lot of friends by the time they left though. So they are judged to be more family friendly but less for the older generation.   The parks are usually pretty far away from the city (as opposed to downtown marinas) so a towed car is going to be absolutely part of this way of life.    However the trolley from Gatlinburg was only 50 cents each so we were able to enjoy the town.

It has been such a hot July in Nashville that we remember fondly last summer when we were still wearing sweats in the morning and evenings!

Repost from July 1, 2016--Happy Canada Day!

Sure is good to be back with Leeton and Holden

One year ago we were in Bobcaygeon celebrating with all the Loopers and Canadians.  We spent the spring of 2016 babysitting the 2 greatest grandkids that God could allow, provisioning the home of 30 years and reconnecting with lifetime family and friends.  Everyone seems to be doing fine –Nick is happy at Office Depot, Katie has decided to go to work since Holden will start in pre-kindergarten and Leeton will be in first grade. Friends have welcomed us back into the fold.  Between the Barksdale's, O'Donnell's,  the Gilliam’s and the Pilkinton’s, we are getting our boating fix.  Soooo…what to do now?  Sleeping until 8am has been pleasant and sitting out on the back porch watching birds, deer,  the news (politics is really crazy right now) and having movie channels available in the evenings has been great but this is what OLD people do all the time.  We aren’t there yet. The bug has bitten us and we enjoyed our traveling ways so much that we want to keep going. 

 The idea of seeing America that is not serviced by rivers and oceans has never been discussed-- I guess we had to get the Loop behind us. We had not even looked at RV web sites or for that matter been on one.  That said, today we introduce the New Sunny Days adventure vehicle: a 2003, 38 ft. Holiday Rambler RV.  Much like Sunny Days, she has a powerful diesel 330 Cummins engine, has been lightly used by her one and only previous owner (10,000 miles) and if she fits in our driveway (we find out Tuesday when we bring her home) will take us to landlocked destinations that we have only read about. She will give Fitz continuous projects and take us to places not dreams of yet.  The plan right now is to spend winter in warmer climes (starting with Florida this year), take us to a few sporting events (Bristol for the big UT vs Va. Tech game in September for starters) and then trips to the north and west during the summer months.  I cannot see us completely abandoning our boating life but this will be a fun new adventure.  I still start my day reading the AGLCA newsletter and we have had our blog printed into a book so we reminisce.  Now we make the next step.

Canada Day was awesome there last year--eventful here this year

 

 

 

She is ready to travel!

 


Since they don't seem to name RV's, I will call her our new Sunny Days-RV

 


OMG! Boat-less in Nashville

Our home for The Great Loop Adventure

Mother’s Day May 8, 2016 we head for Ft. Myers Beach and Sunny Days with an offer on the table for Sunny Days.  Eddie and Andrea Toomer saw her sitting on the hard in Ft. Myers and saw that she was for sell and gave us a call while we were in Nashville selling Next Chapter.  We were always of a mind to put both boats on the market and hope that one would sell and we could pay off bills and simplify.  2 dockages, insurance, places to keep up plus our dirt home had gotten complicated.  Well, we met with Eddie and Andrea pretty quickly when we got to Ft. Myers and all of the sudden we were boat-less.  Sunny Days was a remarkable boat—we owned her for 3 years, she guided us around the eastern United States and was a safe, reliable vehicle for the greatest adventure of our life.  She is in great hands with Andrea and Eddie.  Now what to do?  The last 3 years has been like going to college—a continuous high, with some fear of the unknown, challenges daily but with a roommate that is your lover and best friend.   I only wish this for everyone.

The dolphin followed us from Fort Myers to Englewood where Sunny Days will live

Captain Eddie with friend Mike got a checkout cruise from Fitz--
Andrea and Eddie are planning a Bahamas' trip for August and the Loop in 2017

  Now we have graduated from the College of the Great Loop, with no job and in need of direction for the next phase.  We hightailed it home so we could go to Knoxville and see niece Abby and her significant Miles Smith off for a year in Germany.  Miles has a terrific new job with Bosh (the refrigeration company) and they leave this week for a year of training and adventure.  They have 6 months in Germany, then 3 months in China, then another 3 months in Germany.   They plan on traveling extensively while there (including staying in an ice house/hotel in Denmark).  She has promised me a blog of their adventure.

Abby and Miles-- we will miss them terribly but they are off for an adventure of a lifetime

Best lifetime girlfriends--Elizabeth and Mary --I am so lucky

This is perfect odds--8 adults to 1 baby-- niece Rae is a great running buddy

Great celebration dinner at Chesapeake's in Knoxville with our besties

  We are beginning to work on our dirt home and getting it ready for us again and reconnecting with our Nashville life. There is a lot to be done.   We go to boat sites daily to shop for our next boat.  Terry likes to say that in our forty years of marriage we have not been without a boat.  The real story is (I did take the pledge not to correct any of his stories in front of people) that in between houseboats The Kid and Therapy then Next Chapter,  we had about 6 weeks of being boat-less.  It was the longest 6 weeks of our married life.  We should be glad Katie and Nick even speak to us as we dragged them to marina after marina looking for the perfect replacement.  The fact of the matter is that we need to have a boat-- so we are actively looking for an ocean going, 2 stateroom boat we can go to Bahamas in and use as a winter cottage in warmer climes. We fell in love with the 49 Defevers, Oceans and Bayliners so we have a little bit of a blueprint.  Wouldn’t it be fun to find one in the Northeast so we could bring her south and revisit NYC, Cape May, Washington DC, Williamsburg,  Charleston and Southport OR find a boat on Lake Michigan and spend another week in Mackinac Island and Chicago. We would also like to bring her to Nashville or the Tennessee River for the warmer months.   In other words we have more adventures in our sites-- meanwhile we will stay connected to our new Loop buddies through their blogs/FB and see if we can entice them to come visit us in Nashville. 

We got to go to niece Emily's brunch after her high school graduation

Helped Cheryl celebrate her birthday

Nick helped us with the babysitting detail

The children were  our biggest cheerleaders

What a Month!

We left FMB on April 12^th with Sunny Days on the hard to get new paint on the bottom.  It is a 15 hour drive back to Nashville so we decided that retired people do not need to drive it all in one day.  We arrived at Next Chapter at Rock Harbor Marina on Wednesday the 13^th in time to reconnect with all our friends and family at our home dock.  Scott and Pamela Moore had seen our Boat Trader ad for Next Chapter and called about seeing her when we got back.  Well they came, they saw and they bought.  Suddenly we are one boat owners.  We worked much too hard moving our stuff out of Nick’s Condo, Katie's, Next Chapter and storage and moved into our “dirt” home.  The kids had come and gotten their stuff and anything we had that they could make use of 3 years ago—we did not repo very much from them so now we are left with a pretty empty dirt home.  It reminds us of when we first got married—the only difference is the furniture we had then was thrift shop bargains and now all we have are the antiques we inherited that the kids didn’t want to use, 1 bed and the back porch furniture.  We will work on the house this summer. 

On April 19^th Leeton turned 6 and on May 1^st Holden turned 4, they had a joint birthday party on April 30^th.  Katie and Scott are sooooo smart—they had about 25 children at the Y for a swim party and where the children had a lot of fun and options.  Great Fun or as Leeton put it—the best day of her life.  We celebrated Mother’s Day by going to dinner with Nick at the Family Wash—a trendy place in East Nashville that was wonderful.  Best Mother’s Day present –Nick paid for dinner.  I would recommend this place for sure.  And our children definitely are the best—I feel very loved.   Sunday of Mother’s Day (the 8^th) we left for FMB to either sell Sunny Days or put her away at Glades Boat Storage near Lake Okeechobee for Hurricane Season. 

 

 

Katie and Leeton went to a Daisy's Tea

 

The Norris Family

 

Holden and his Buds at his 4th Birthday Party

 

We sold Next Chapter--she is in great hands

 

We caught up and had dinner with Terry's siblings while in town

 

Cayo Costa near Boca Grande

Cayo Costa—we decided to clean out the refrigerator and prepare the boat to be put away for the summer by anchoring out at one of the most secluded, beautiful beaches in southwest Florida.  Our vacation from vacation.  We had the most company at our anchorage there since Canada—about 30 boats mostly sailboats—and it is not even a weekend.  Then we found a little inlet where the manatees hang out.  Oh my—you see these overhead shots on the net of pods of manatees and in Cayo Costa we found one.  Of course we did not have our camera with us but we had the experience- up close and personal with the cows of the sea.  Then we motored the 35 miles back to Ft. Myers Beach/Salty Sam’s where on April 12^th we put Sunny Days on the hard at Olsen’s Boatyard where she will get a bottom job.  We go to Nashville until May 9^th-see you in a month!

Beautiful Beach with white sand, lots of shells and terns



Crowded anchorage



Real Florida!?

New friends--Melissa and George Irving from Fort Worth aboard a
beautiful Carver named Paradise Falls they just retired and are ready to cruise

Salty Sam's Marina was a good stay.

 

Grandkids and their Momma come to visit

Katie and the kids drove down from Nashville for the week without any drama stopping near Atlanta to see Cousin Brooke.  The Pink Shell Resort at Ft. Myers Beach turned out to be the perfect choice for spring break for a 5 year old and 3 year old.  They had a pool, beach, movies, tattoos and lots of children.  Leeton and Holden have grown up while we weren’t watching.  Leeton proved to be quite the social butterfly and Holden thinks anything Leeton approves of is fine with him.  We had an ice cream disaster and a couple of meltdowns but all in all it was a most excellent week with Katie and the kids. Their drive home, however, seemed like Florida was evacuating –long and harsh.   Additionally, the Lady Vols made it to the Elite 8 and saved Holly Warlick’s job— and Villanova beat Scott's team --UNC for the NCAA final--sports are on hiatus until football starts in August.  We also caught up with Looper friends--Pam and Jim Shipp aboard Silver Boots.  We had not seen them since Whitaker Point Marina in Oriental, NC two years ago--it was great to see them.

Great Beach-Great Kids

Dancing on the Pirate Ship--Pieces of Eight

Easter Egg Hunt

Salty Sam's

Out to lunch at the Matanzas Inn

Tatoos!

Leeton made a friend--Tess on the boat next door

Friends South

We got to be “those people” yet again when our friends Sally and Steve Gilliam came down with his brother and sister-in-law (Keith and SuEllen) in Keith’s center console fishing boat and anchored off FMB.  We have walked this beach many times over the last month and wondered: who were those people?  Keith and SuEllen live down here year round and gave us lots of tips on good restaurants and fun things to do when the kids are here.  As always we had a blast with the Gilliam’s and Sally and I got to catch up as did Steve and Fitz.  Then on Friday we went into Naples and picnicked with Marsha and the Tennyson’s at the park across from Marsha’s condo at Beacon House.  What fun to have friends with which to visit.  Storms due Saturday and Sunday with extra wind on Monday, we settle in to watch a little March Madness—NOT—what has happened to basketball when representing the homefront is MTSU –good for them but that is about all to brag about.   Even the Lady Vols are struggling- maybe NASCAR will be entertaining. 

SuEllen and Sally--Girlfriends should never be underestimated.

 

Cute Guys!

 

The gang came out to Sunny Days

 

Wedding on the beach--we thought they were going to run into the surf.

 

Picnicking with the buds.

 

Great place for sunset

 

 

Loved the yacht in the horizon

 

Fitz fixing the $3 flashlight--no project is too small.