Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

RV'ing - Not For The Faint Of Heart

My husband and I had reservations last week in Estes Park, Colorado.  Those poor folks, as I'm sure you know, have experienced the wrath of Mother Nature.  The floods caused such horrible devastation that I'm sure it will be months, if not years, before they have recovered.  When I say we had reservations I mean at a local campground.  I've talked before about our Fifth Wheel camper and some of our travels.  Oh we don't travel a lot but almost always we spend part of September in Colorado.  This year we changed directions and went east to the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.  We met my sister and my aunt there; they stayed in a cabin near our camper.  My aunt, who has been blind for many years, loves to travel and "see" the beautiful scenery.  She has such a vivid imagination that when we describe it she can visualize it in her mind and tells everyone she talks to how beautiful it is.

We had great fun describing this to her!
This young female bear waddled across the road right in front of us and stayed a long time on the side of the parking lot there eating everything she could find - berries, acorns, crumbs left behind by tourists.  Some very stupid people got out of their cars and tried to approach her "to get a good picture."  That would not be me.  Despite the park ranger, who appeared very quickly, they just got closer and closer until the ranger had to give them a stiff warning.  You don't get close to a foraging bear!  She's getting ready for winter and she's not in the best of moods.

In Sevierville I found a couple of great quilt shops.  The name of one was Red Barn Custom Quilts (a new shop) and the other was The Cherry Pit, a shop that has been featured in the Quilt Sampler.  Both were very nice but except for a couple of necessities I refrained from buying.  Almost.   Just the pattern for this...and who could resist it?
I hope I have enough white wool to make this because I think it would be gorgeous with wool.  They used cottons and it was nice but wool...

I did a little hand stitching while I was away and I'll be back in a couple of days to show you that.

Oh and about the title of my post today?  We had a flat on the camper on the interstate in the middle of Memphis.  Yep, Memphis.  It couldn't have been a nice flat stretch of road with hardly any traffic, it had to be Memphis.  That's okay, we were able to get off and pull into the parking lot of a very nice Cracker Barrel restaurant.  We had to wait three hours for the tire guy to get there but we pulled out our lawn chairs, sat in the shade and stitched.  Well, I stitched.  My husband, he fretted.  That put us way behind getting home so we drove in the dark and got here about 10:30 p.m.  When we got out of the truck in our driveway we discovered we had another tire that had literally shredded and disappeared.  Only the rim left.  Luckily it was in the middle and the other tires kept the rim off the road and we never even knew it was gone.  If you know me at all you know I have given God all the glory - we were safe and He gave us a Cracker Barrel!  A clean bathroom, a place to eat and shop, and nice folks to welcome us.  He just gave us the perfect place to wait.  :)

I hope you're checking out the Batik Bloghop over at Sew We Quilt.....oh my goodness, there's some cute stuff to see!  And soon it will be time for the Wicked Bloghop.  I'm participating in that one and I've got a cute, easy project to show you as well as a giveaway.  I can hardly wait!

21 comments:

Sparky said...

Ohhh camping with bears ..oh my. And then a quilt shop stop with a wintery quilt. Gorgeous...yes that one is a must for winter months ,

Kristi said...

I think your photo is gorgeously close-enough; I can't imagine anyone wanting to get closer!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome bear picture! Even up here in Wisconsin, the bear are further north than I am and we never see them. Just a lot of deer.

Glad you didn't have a flat in the middle of nowhere!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I am glad your tire problems didn't make for bigger problems - so blessed. What is it with people getting close to LARGE wildlife - idiots.

Sheila said...

Your travels sound interesting and what a large bear , I would not be getting out to take pictures either . Oh the Cracker Barrel is such a nice place , love stopping there and if you have o have a flat , can't think of a better spot .

Lucky Duck Dreams said...

Camping is always an adventure! We had a flat in the first week of our 31 day trip this summer. Luckily it was 20 mins outside Duluth and not in nowhere Canada where we were headed. And luckily my dad checked the other tires. We ended up spending the weekend until we could get to a tire store on Monday and replace all 4! My dad discovered the 2011 factory installed tires were not rated for the wieght and speed of our fifth wheel and had the wrong valve stems! The others were already shifting and getting ready to blow too! Scary but fixable and just part of the many adventures on the trip.

Vickie said...

We went to Yellowstone in June. We always knew when we were driving up on a bear siting, lots of vehicles and a park ranger. Only 2 bears and I didn't get to see anything but the silhouette....darn ! I think the people that try to get close must be very inner big city people that don't watch the Discovery channel. LOL Glad y'all made it home safe and sound !

Ray and Jeanne said...

It sounds like a great trip even with the flat tires. Glad all turned out well. I love the pattern you bought! We will get home tomorrow - left the Tetons a day early due to a 12-18" snowstorm moving in. ~Jeanne

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

You are a wise woman not to get close. We have foxes out in our neighborhood and all the neighbors feed them dog food. They often have babies under our storage building. I do love watching them play, but they are wild. One came up behind my husband and growled one day when he was watering the plants.

We do not by choice get close.

Rhonda M said...

You were not too far from me, just about 4 hours south of where I am in Kentucky. Welcome to God's country! :) I hope you enjoyed your trip!

Quilt n Queen said...

We were vacationing in Severville in May just after DH retired. When we lived in eastern Tennessee the closest quilt shop was the Cherry Pit. I couldn't resist the Smores and Hot Chocolate pattern either. I haven't made it yet...a quilt project for the future. We have vacationed in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge many times and have never seen a bear. I heard on the news that there was a bear in downtown Gatlinburg this summer. It is beautiful country. Happy stitching!!

Sherrill said...

Oh good grief, people can be so stupid! As evidenced EVERY TIME we go to Yellowstone. I'm always SHOCKED at the people walking right up to buffalo, bear, etc. for the perfect photo op! DUMB! And we experienced something like your flat every time we went out in the trailer or motorhome. What's up with that? Our flat was in Phoenix on the freeway with 595 degree (or thereabouts) concrete that poor DH had to lay on to change the tire! UGH But we still loved being in the great outdoors rather than a motel room.

Lesley said...

You certainly had an adventure! Glad you returned safe and sound with lots of stories to tell!

Susannah said...

Hi Marlene, I am so glad you were able to get a way for a while...just you and hubby. Sounds like you had a great time. I love the pattern that you bought. It is right up my alley. Sorry about the tires but you were able to get to your driveway with the second one. God was with you .

Blessings, my dear,
Susannah

Belinda said...

That is just awesome that God gave you Cracker Barrel!!! And why are people so fearless of wild animals these days? It just doesn't make sense.

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

Glad you made it home. The grandson was on a field trip yesterday and his school bus had a blow out. He said that was exciting.
We have 2 late fall trips planned in our Casita, both just finalized yesterday. I can hardly wait. One to Oklahoma (blacksmith conference) and one to Steelville Mo for 2 music shows. One is Isaac's Gospel show, the other is Dailey and Vincent. I can hardaly wait!!

Adrienne said...

I love the things RVing brings to life - even the starts and stops and lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my! It is definitely a lifestyle that's not for everyone but I'm so thankful my sweetheart and I can include time away together in adventures we would miss if we didn't have our little cabin-on-wheels!
~Adrienne~

Catherine said...

Love your post. We`ve had a couple of faint of heart moments too. Glad to read you were able to get to a nice Cracker Barre to wait for the tire guy.

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

I love that you saw a bear. Rare site anymore around these parts.

I guess I should say I'm glad you got some stitiching done, even under the stressful situation.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas wall hanging. So cute.

Lori @ Back Porch Ramblings said...

G;ad you could get away even if it was a different direction than usual. We will be in Tennessee in a couple of weeks. I might just check out those shops. :) We had a flat on our tool trailer on the way to New Orleans a couple of years ago during rush hour in St Louis. The only worse city would have been Memphis during rush hour. I feel your pain. :)

Carrie P. said...

when we went to Yosemite last year people got out of their cars to take pictures of bears. what were they thinking. a ranger got on to them too.
So glad to hear you made it home safe by the grace of God. He is good.