GMC Motor Home, Travel with Teri and Dan: October 2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Natchez Trace # 2

Ok, a few more fotos. The first album is below this one. Double Click the fotos. Dan

The Natchez Trace

Don't forget to double click the pictures so you can see them. We got some nice shots Monday. Just took me a while to get them uploaded due to laptop crash. We hope that you enjoy them. We took a side trip to Canton Ms. It is a beautiful place. The downtown is

very well kept. Also ran through the hometown of Opra Winfrey, Kosciusko. These fotos are uploaded in reverse. We hope to take a very scenic trip back to Hamilton and should have more good shots. Weather is great and makes for good photos. I will quit for now and start another Album. I see the last photo did not take. Thanks for coming by. Dan

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Laptop

Well, Matt is getting this thing going. I am on my old laptop now. It is not recognizing the sd card so I can not put up photos yet. I will get him to work on that when he gets back from picking up the 4 twins from school. Keep checking in. Dan

Testing The Point and Shoot

Well, I got this little point and shoot camera. Pretty much a wasted 28 bux. A good gift for one of the grandkids. Just washed the car and sprayed the mail man, hole in my brother's hose, he was not too happy, ha. Wanted to see what kind of photo it would take. Ok in a pinch I guess. I know you don't care if our car is clean but was the only thing I had to snap real handy. Also wanted to see if I could get my sister in law's laptop to upload pics. So, I may have the "Trace" on here tonight after all. Come on back when you get time. Teri and I have been busy helping my brother around the house while his wiffe is at work and the 4 twins are in school. THe grass looks real good. That was my part, ha. Teri is working in the kitchen. Her and Matt are heading to the store for something. Sam is napping so I may run around a bit myself. See what I can find. Have a good day. Matt is still hopeful for our laptop.

Dan In sunny Monroe, La.

Major Malfunction

Monday morning, I turned on the laptop, dead. So, we are pretty much stuck out of the water. We had a nice trip down the Natchez Trace and have some photos to put up if we get the laptop going. My brother is working on it but I think I lost everything I had in it, which was way too much. Oh well, will get to start over I guess. Hope eveyone is doing well. We arrived here in Monroe, La. about 4 pm yesterday, 350 mile trip. Will stay til later in the week and head back to Al. to get the GMC. Dan

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Sunday Afternoon in Alabama

No good pictures for today. I took some but they are not good, worse than this one. I don't know what happened. We should get some Monday though as we travel down the Natchez Trace and over to Monroe, La. The Ouatcita River town.

We had good visting after church this morning. Lots of the older folks asking me about family that had migrated north in the 30's. I told them all the "scoop" back in May when we were here but was glad to do it again. Older folks love to talk and listen about old times. I am just the guy to sit and listen. Been doing it ever since I can remember. Maybe someday I will get old and younger folks will want to hear about my stuff,,,naaa. Oh well, I sure learn a lot from Senior folks. And, they never charge me for the information.

The photo of the coach is in front of my cousin's new home, here in Hamilton, Alabama. I am kinda fond of driveways, ha. We had to fire the furnace last night. It got rather nippy out here. We were certainly welcomed to sleep in the house but we are kinda used to having our own bed and living room.

Already had my nap while watching the race but I am about ready for another one. Sam is at my feet just sawing logs.

Most of our motor home friends are traveling back home today. Teri and I left a day early. I just called Jim and Marlys and they were approaching Nashville on their way home, Bowling Green area. Lots of folks heading south to Florida. We hope everyone has an enjoyable, but uneventful trip.

Teri is washing clothes. We will head back to church services in a little while. We are leaving the motor home here and driving the car to La. Will come back later in the week to get it and travel on back to Missouri.

Thanks for checking in. There may be nothing on the Trace but trees but I will have pics up in a couple days, no matter what we find. Hope everyone enjoys the upcoming week. Dan

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Hamilton, Alabama

We left our friends in Chatanooga about 10 am. We had the best time. It is always hard to leave but it gives us something to look forward to, seeing them again before long.

We made a pit stop in Decatur, Al. Had three tires balanced at 25 bux each. I can tell you where not to stop now, ha. I rotated tires before we left and had a problem with one that I put on the front. We are better now but still not just like it should be. Oh well, nothing we cant fix by throwing a little more money around.

Got a picture of the Space Center in Huntsville. Was a nice day for a 220 mile drive down 72 highway. We arrived here about 3 pm. Will stay here a night or two and then head down the Natchez Trace. We are at my cousin's here, near Hamilton, Al.

That is about it for today. I am tired and am enjoying just sitting and doing nothing. A nap might feel good. Thanks for stopping by. I will get more photos as we head down the Trace Mon or Tues. Dan

Friday, October 26, 2007

What a Day

Teri and I had the biggest time today. Everytime I have traveled I-24 I look at that river, coming into Chatanooga, and wondered what it would be like to ride in a boat on it. Well, I will wonder no more. Take a look.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Oh, Happy Day

We could not get tickets for the paddle boat as they were sold out last month when I registered for the rally. We were in Omaha when I got registered for this gathering and the tickets for the boat ride down the river were already sold out. I put the word out that I would really like to get tickets if someone cancelled. Well, that happened tonight. Teri is happy, so, that means Sam and me are happy too. We should have some good photos Friday so check in and see how it went, if you can. We really appreciate everyone riding along with us. For years, all I could do was ride with folks on the internet and dream. Now, we just want to share our trips with others. We have been very fortunate and are very appreciative. See you Fri nite after we all ride down the Tn. River. Dan

Up The Mountain

I have some photos to share with you but the blogger won't let me upload them. Maybe I can get them up later this evening. Teri and I rode the train up Lookout Mountain, a first for us. I have driven up before but never rode this cable train. I am sure most of yall have already been up it but wow, this thing has been climbing the mountain since 1895. Hard to believe. It passes right up through folks' yards, between houses. I apologize for a couple of "doubles" from the photos that I put on the other site. I know a few of you do look at the entire group of shots that I put up on the motor home site.

It's time for supper so I will try to upload them again a little later. Weather was perfect today.

Dan

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Chatanooga on Wednesday

The weather was nice today, pretty much perfect. I think rain may fall again tonight or tomorrow but will be scattered. These folks are way behind on they anual rainfall.

We pretty much hung around the campground today. Took lots of pictures of coaches and old friends that we had not seen in several months. Teri worked on crafts and cards while I took a trip to the Harbor Freight store with some friends. We may get out and about Thursday to see what is around here. We have a handout but have not looked at it yet.

Tonight we had a catered fried chicken meal. It was ok but the desserts made by the ladies were much better. Fried chicken is not on the top of my list as an adult. When I was a kid we had it every Sunday. I knew then that if I ever became an adult that I would only eat it when I wanted and that is not too often.

You can see that we are tucked in a nice spot here in the campground. I have outfitted this coach to be pretty much self sufficient so we do not need campgrounds. At todays prices I can use that money for fuel. Campgrounds are very popular and all of the ones here are full. I mean it is nearly November and you can not find a campground that is not full. Tells me folks are spending way too much money just for hookups to run the coach. Why not just stay home? I do not like to rough it, but we never do, even without hookups. We have plenty of electricity, water, and a sewer tank. Why am I paying campground fees? Well, because we enjoy visiting our friends who hold motor home rallies in campgrounds. So, occassionally I will pay up so we can visit. When we leave here Saturday we won't see any campgrounds again before getting home the following week.

Well, I guess I will run up to the main building and see what is shaking. Thanks for dropping by. We will take the camera if we tour the area tomorrow. dan

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Whew!!!

Wow, what a ride this am. We got blasted most of the 130 miles down I-24. Rain was the worst when we arrived in Chatanooga and the trucks were stacked deep on the interstate. It was hang on hope for the best. The traffic was so bottled up down here I just stayed in the left lane and was passing most vehicles. I was ready to get to where we were going. We traveled with Fred and his wife who also are in a GMC. Was nice to have another coach running with us and having radio communication with them. We crusied about 65 and had some big diesel coaches passing us. Then, when we hit the BIG climb, just before Chatanooga, guess what? They were all in the right lane plugging up the hill at 50mph. We blasted right on by them at 60 mph or better. Same with the semi trucks. Bet they wondered what we had under the seat for an engine, ha. Anyway, we are here in the park in Chatanooga. Still raining but slowing down. Very warm here but seems to be cooling down a bit now. Could not get any photos on our ride due to the rain. We should have some pretty soon though as we travel around here in the car. Plan to be here until Early Sat morning when we will head south and west into Alabama for a couple days. Thanks for riding with us today. We needed all the eyes we could get. Dan

Monday, October 22, 2007

Shots around Nashville

Nashville

Well, we had a very nice tour, Sunday afternoon, of Nashville, Tn. The club paid for a large tour bus for all club members that wanted to see Nashville. It was a nice tour with a nice guide. He knew all of the history of the town. Teri has lots of pictures but for some reason the blog won't upload them this morning. I will try again this afternoon. We attended worship services across the street from the Ryman Auditorium, old home of the Grand Old Opry. The congregation has been there for a long time, very long time. They have a nice, large, older building right in the "thick" of things in downtown Nashville. On the tour we were right downtown again. Did all the places that one sees on tv when folks come here trying to make a name for themselves. This is some city. Lots of money has poured into this place and I guess it mostly came from the old opry. Recording studios and music related is what all of downtown seems to be. I am talking mega bucks from music for this place. A visitor must either take a tour bus or park and walk several miles to enjoy what we experienced yesterday. We really appreciate the club setting us up on the tour.

We had lots of social interaction with other club members yesterday and topped it off with a catered meal and a video tour of Alaska. Some of the members took their GMCs to Alaska this summer and they shared their experiences with us. At 8 am we are getting a slow rain. We have another full day here at Nashville KOA and then we move to Chatanooga for another rally.

Sam is enjoying the rally also. She is taking it all in. She gets lots of attention when we let her outside. Our friend, Blaine, likes to include Sam when he eats a meal, so, everytime I take her out she tries to head straight over to his coach.

More later. When

Friday, October 19, 2007

On The Road Again

And, here we go again. Left Dexter about 450 pm headed east. As we crossed the Mississippi I could see these thunderheads building behind us. Maybe we will beat'em. Drove across southern Il, over to Metropolis, before they caught us. Heading south on 24 it got worse. Just after we crossed the Lakes, we were out of the mess and everything was dry. We arrived in Clarksville, Tn. just a tad before 8 pm. Set up at Walmart and had supper. WOW, about 845 the rain came and the wind got way out of hand. Teri and I were in Walmart parking lot catching carts running 40 mph and heading them away from our coach and car. What a nite. This lasted about 10 minutes, and the carts were all past us and in the grass. We came in and tried to dry off. Had to go back out and move a bunch of the carts because they had blocked the drive and folks were nearly hitting us as they drove through. One of the cart holders had broken loose from the pavement and blocked the road. Another motor homer helped me move the thing. What a nite. We stayed glued to Bowling Green's tv station watching the storm pass. I sure wished we had waited til Fri to leave home but all is well now. We sit comfortably

in the trees at a KOA campground here in Nashville. Take a look at what we do at these gatherings. I included a picture here somewhere of a bunch of "thinking" going on. Thanks for coming along. We hope this ride will be a nice one. We have plans for the Natchez Trace in a week or so. Hurry back, dan

Oh yea, look what I got. Nice Scooter. I like Buses too.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Back Again

Teri arrived back home Saturday. We rested up a couple days and then took this little guy with us, in the coach to a local lake, about 30 miles away. He really thought he was roughing it, ha. He enjoyed sitting in the Captain's Chair and trying on his grandpa's shoes, among other things. Teri and I had fun too. I knew the kids would not forget us just because we were gone for 4 months.

We will stay parked, here at home, for another week. We will head over into Tennessee and Alabama next weekend, for a couple weeks. That should be a lot of fun. We have grown accustomed to the "gypsy life", so much, that I am in the coach now as I write this.

We do want to thank everyone along our 4 month journey. We have so many family and friends that we really paid for full hookups only 2 nights during the trip. Some have even invited us to come back. I think it will be more fun the second go around, this winter and spring. We certainly had a trip of a life time but we planed it to be our first of many. Maybe we can do the east coast one of these days. I will check out the cheap campgrounds out that way and see if I can make some new friends out there too, ha. Just kidding.

The good thing about a motor home is that they can be made pretty self sufficient. Just a little work here and there and we were able to hang out just about anywhere for over a week with no need for water or dumping the tank. I am working on improving that too. The solar system is where folks need to be investing their money if they want to "hang out" without hookups, and stay where the sun shines at least half the day. The only real problem we had there was when we were at Bert and Fay's in the Redwoods. The sun shined alright but only for an hour, on us at noon. Those trees are big. I have that covered for our next trip too.

So, just because we are home for a few days, don't think I am done with the blog. If you have any questions about our trip, or about anything we did to prepare our coach, just hollar. I don't know much but I do know where to look for information.

As always, thanks for stopping by and come back. There will be more. You guys made it worth all the time I spent rambling on here. Dan

Oh, I almost forgot. Teri got her 50th birthday card today. How appropriate.

And, another thing I forgot to mention, Mileage on the rigs.

Scooter--200

Car-----5,000

Coach---6,300

After 3 years of working on a 1974 GMC, 26 foot coach, Dan and Teri Gregg, along with Sam, travel from the midwest to the Pacific Coast and back. Come on along on our 4 month journey. As you can see, our journey has now lasted for 4 years and, we are still going. We seem to also still be working on the coach as we travel. You know if you have followed along. Also, Sam is a pleasant memory now. She was with me for 14 years. What a dog.

Name: Dan & Teri Gregg

Location: Dexter, Mo., United States

We love the Lord first and each other second. Enjoy travels in our GMC Coach. Members of GMCMI and Dixielanders along with FMCA. We love our children and 13 grandchildren. We enjoy our GMC friends. These posts are of our 4 month journey, beginning May 25th and ending sometime in October, 2007. Well, we had so much fun that we left home Dec. 14, 2007 for another 4 month journey. Come ride along with us. If you have followed us for very long, you know our two 4 month journies have now lasted 2 years. We continue to travel so please ride with us. About to begin our 5th year on the road, 03-11. Wonder just how long our money will hold out?

View my complete profile

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]

GMC Motor Home, Travel with Teri and Dan