Traveling again…

Corinne National Parks & Monuments 1 Comment

I just took a look at when I wrote our last blog post. February? I can’t believe it’s been that long ago. Our on-line silence in an indication that our summer did not transpire as we had hoped. The plan was to take the RV to Alaska. Alas, that did not happen. Here’s why…

The House

First, the new house did not get done by April. There are too many reasons to list here as to why. If you want the full details, go visit our house building blog at https://house.cjsquare.com. See how many holes you can count in our drywall.

The outside of the house getting stacked stone on the accent pillars and chimney.

We were able to move into the “kind of” finished house in late May. We spent most of June and July with subcontractors underfoot trying to finish up details. Unfortunately, not all is finished yet, but hopefully soon.

The Knee

The second reason Alaska didn’t happen is my right knee. It had been getting progressively worse over time. If you recall, I had a full knee replacement on my left knee in February of 2021. Now it was time for the right knee. I really like the surgeon in Rochester who did the first knee. You know what is coming….road trip!

We made reservations at an RV park in the Rochester area for all of August and September. In mid-July, we hit the road.

Our home for two months.

The first two weeks were a whirlwind of doctor’s appointments for both of us. Finally, on August 14th, I got my new knee.

After the surgery, the surgeon said it looked like a shark had taken a chunk out of my knee cap. Yes, it was that bad.

I now have a matched set.

The next seven weeks were spent recuperating, going to physical therapy, and recuperating some more. Fortunately, this knee proved to be much more cooperative than the first knee, probably because the surrounding muscles weren’t as totally out-of-whack as they were with the first knee. Rehab happened three weeks quicker than I expected. Yay!

We put a recliner in the RV for my recuperation. This arrangement worked surprisingly well!

Our 48th state!

On October 1, we finally hit the road again. Wow, did that feel wonderful! Our first destination was our nation’s newest National Park in West Virginia, New River Gorge National Park. We have had the RV in every state of the 48 contiguous except for West Virginia. It was time to check this off the Bucket List. Done! Plus we got to see another National Park.

New River Gorge has been in the National Park system all along, designated as a National River in 1978. In 2020, it got promoted to a National Park.

The New River Gorge in the early morning. The fog was heavy.
This is the same area 30 minutes later. The sun did its thing and burned the fog off.
The New River Gorge Bridge opened in 1977. It was a game changer for the area. To get across prior to this bridge, people had to descend into the Gorge, take a ferry, and then ascend the opposite wall of the Gorge.
Down in the Gorge, it’s easy to find the streams and creeks that feed into the New River.
The banks of the New River used to support many coal mining towns. The towns are gone now, but this is still a coal mining area. We saw multiple trains go by full of coal.
We also had the experience of the road along the New River being blocked by a coal train. After 20 minutes of waiting, Jim talked to the train engineer. One of the locomotives was broken down and traffic was backing up (all five vehicles). They ended up disconnecting from the coal cars and the working locomotive moved the broken locomotive out of the way. That was a first!

Headed Westward

After a few days in West Virginia, we made a stop in Crossville, Tennessee to visit Dan and Amy (full-time RVing friends) and check out the community where they are building a house. From there, we headed to Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas. Stopping here is never a hardship. Jim loves to watch the barges and tugs navigate the Mississippi River.

Sunrise over the Mississippi. Water levels are really low, but the barges are still making their way through.

What’s next?

There is an annular eclipse next weekend that we hope to be in place for. After that, it’s time to get back to our new home.

As for Alaska…we hope to make that our destination the Summer of 2024. Now that I can make it around a grocery store again (couldn’t do that a few months ago) without being in agony, Alaska is very doable! Before then, I am sure there will be some RV trips around the Southwest this Fall and Winter.

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