The month of May and the return to our family in Indiana. The excitement was built up to see our little grandson, his parents, and our grand puppies after 6 months away. But first we had some miles to cross before being reunited.

**Note: Now you can click on any photo to make it larger.

Arkansas

We finished out our final week in Arkansas before traveling to Tennessee to visit friends. During that final week we had a special hike in store to the top of Sam’s Throne. There we released our first scattering of Josie’s ashes. We had decided to scatter small amounts of her ashes in some of her favorite spots. Josie was one of the few dogs (weighing 60 pounds) that we know of to make it on top of Sam’s Throne. There is a quite a rock scramble to get to the top. When she was with us it required some hoisting to get her on top and getting her back down was quite interesting. But we managed. So it seemed appropriate to start the scattering at Sam’s Throne.

We packed a bottle of wine to toast her and reminisced about our hike with her there. The views as always were incredible. When the time felt right I poured out a small amount in the palm of my hand and gently blew the ashes into the wind.

One last boating excursion on the Buffalo National River to round out our time in Arkansas. The Narrows has been on my list since the first year visiting and we finally made it there. We put in at Woolum and motored mostly up river, we had to walk it through a couple of spots. Now, we felt like old pros at portaging the boat up river. This particular section was quite lovely and the float back was very relaxing.

I am already plotting sections to do on the river next year. Goodbye Sam’s Throne, until next year.

To break up the trip to our friends’ place in Tennessee we stopped in at Lake Charles State park. It was a nice layover and almost exactly halfway. Our spot was large and spacious. The water level was way down by several feet. Nice quiet state park and a bonus late check out time of 3 pm (unheard of). We took full advantage as our travel day wasn’t very long.

Tennessee

Last year we did not make it to our friends’ place in northwestern Tennessee. This year we stopped in and made up for lost time. Parking our RV on their big piece of property away from it all and enjoying some catch up time with Carrie (Jim was out of town), and their dog Ky. A nice weekend stopover before heading to our final spot in Kentucky before making it back to Indiana.

Kentucky – Land Between the Lakes

We found this place last year and loved it. It’s the perfect spot before arriving back to Indianapolis. Enjoyed some lake time before the rush of the city envelopes us once again. Within a 4 – 5 hour drive from the kids’ driveway this is now a go to stopover. We spent a week here enjoying the lake front spot.

However, this year due to Memorial Day weekend falling a little earlier this place was busier than last year. People were already saving spots for the holiday weekend. We lucked out and scored one of the last spots on the lake. Despite the amount of people the place was quiet and a relaxing way to spend a week.

While out on our boat we saw numerous birds including bald eagles, ospreys, pelicans, herons, and ducks.

“Back Home Again in Indiana”

On our way back there was a potential for severe thunderstorms. We got an early start to hopefully miss them. And we managed to skirt them for most of the drive. However, right about the Bloomington area we could no longer avoid the thunderstorms. It was by far the worst storm we (and by we I mean Shane) have driven through in the RV. It was the afternoon and it was dark! Torrential downpour made for a rough last 45 minutes of our drive. But we made it in one piece.

In all of our excitement of the reunion with the kids and dashing off to swim school for Ryker, I left our window open over the couch. Later that evening I discovered my computer was wet. On travel days I set it under one of the pillows on the couch for safe travel. Needless to say it was done. Shane tried his best to revive it but a no go on that one. On the up side I love my new smaller computer. It is perfect for mobile computing as I like to work outside or sit on the couch. Shitake happens, you got to roll with it.

The reunion with family was priceless as always. Our sweet grandson took all of half an hour to warm back up to us and then it was like we were never away. He loves coming out to our RV which he calls “the truck”. He is at such a fun age, talking, walking, and his personality really shining through.

As usual we had (still in the process) some projects to tackle. And for me some new things to add to our RV lifestyle. I was very excited to dive in and get started.

First up wine making! Yep that’s right I have decided to take up wine making on the road. However, not in the 6 gallon way but in smaller batches of 1 gallon at a time. My first batch is coming along nicely and is currently in the clearing phase (not pictured). I will let you know how it turns out!

Next up a hydroponic garden. I have always wanted to grow some lettuce and such in our RV and I finally found a viable solution. This small hydroponics garden is the answer. Utilizing a small footprint and light on the power consumption, I have the ability to grow 12 items at once. For this first (trial round) I planted 4 kinds of lettuce, basil, oregano, cilantro, dill, and 2 dwarf tomatoes. They are really taking off. Expect an updated photo of their progress in the next post.

I was surprised to see sprouts within 3 days of planting the seeds!

Next up, the desk cabinet project. This is Shane’s territory and he did such a great job! Very impressive Shane! The left side is to store his various items and the right is my wine storage area. Excited to fill it up with homemade wine.

The handles on our bathroom faucet finally gave way and broke. For the past few months we dealt with it. Added to the project list, we now have a new waterfall faucet. It’s a bit large for the sink but it works great and not made of cheap material. I suppose we cannot complain, the rig is 16 years old and they are original.

And my big project, “The Great Clean Out” commenced and has been completed. I went through each and every storage cabinet and space, getting rid of what we no longer needed. Along the way I spent some time reorganizing and everything fits and works so much better now. It’s always nice to give everything a fresh reorganize. Now to re-learn where everything goes.

In case you are wondering, it’s not all work and no play. After an extended weekend of projects, we took our boat out on Memorial Day on Lake Monroe and had a great time. We found party cove and the water level was way up. It was nice to be back to our old stomping grounds.

Last but certainly not least, our grand puppies and our dog fix. These two are such a joy to have in the rig, despite the insane amount of fur. They have been spending quality time every day with us along with sleepovers.

Although our time in the wild is on hold for a bit we truly enjoy the time we have to spend with the kids, Ryker, and our sweet grand puppies.

As I write this it’s hard to believe our time here is quickly drawing to a close but that also means the UP awaits. I am excited to return to my happy place!

Happy summer everyone!!