Merry Christmas....

Merry Christmas Everyone....

Tom making his grandmother's Christmas Pudding for the first time.  

Steamed for 3 1/2 hours.  Looks pretty good.  Now he has to make the Hard Sauce.  We'll keep you posted on how it came out.  It has Suet in it so I won't be eating much of this.  (Suet is cow fat) 

Tennessee, Going once, going twice.....Sold !!!!

We have moved ourselves West to Sevierville, Tennessee which is next door to Pigeon Forge and Dollywood at the base of the Smokey Mountains.  Our plan while here is to meet up with some roadie friends who have been traveling also and look for some land.  The purpose of the land is to hang out on it when we don't want to be traveling and to eventually live on when we decide we won't be doing the traveling thing anymore.

Our home location is on the bottom and these are a few of the ones we found to look at.

So we're here in Tennessee looking around at property going from one place to another.  We find this one property on Repass Road last Thursday.  We hadn't been looking for more than a couple of days.  It's 47 acres and really nice, mountain and lake views, grass land, lots of timber.  Then we realize it's up for auction in 2 days.  How much research can we squeeze in one day before the auction.  We need to look at more for comparison.  I am personally really scared when Tom wants to bid on it.

Traveling around from sun up to sun down on Friday we are exhausted and our heads are swirling.  So we decide to go for it and bid on the property.

Aerial view of the property.  The trees on the bottom of the cleared meadows and above the meadow  are the property lines.

The story behind the property was the family was selling it because their father passed away 6 months ago in a tractor accident.  On the way to the auction we're both nervous and excited.  Tom a little more excited than me.  I am just scared.  The auction starts and our property is number 3.  The bidding starts high around $150,000 and nobody bites.  Then it drops some, still no bites.  Finally someone puts a bid in at $40,000.  That goes for a bit and it sits at 50,000.  We put in a bid at 60,000.  The next bid hits at 65,000.00 we bid at 67,000.00.  Another bid at 70,000.00.  Our limit is fast approaching....

We bid 71,000.00 another bid for 72,000.00  we throw in a bid at 75,000.00 it stays.  The other bidders are out.  I am thinking Oh my gosh we're going to get this.  It stays there.  My heart is beating in my chest and my ears.  I almost can't hear what's happening.  We are going to own this.  The bid assistants are pushing the other bidder to bid just a little more.  But he declines.  Everything starts to move in slow motion.  It seems quiet except for the auctioneer doing his thing.

Then bang back to reality I hear a bid for $80,000.00.  My head is pulled back to the sounds of the auction.  The bid assistant is trying to get us to bid more.  Tom and I both say no.  That was our limit, no more than that.  They try to push us and push. We say no and I put the card away.  The property is sold to someone else.   The auction continues and we move on.

Reflecting back we both pleased and a little disappointed we didn't get it.  Deciding it all happened too fast to really have done the research needed to buy it.  If it had been a super deal then it would have paid to it and resell it.  But we did what we could and didn't want to risk any more than that.

Now we keep looking and we know the right one will come along.  We'll know when we see it and that place will feel right.

Off to explore more of Tennessee.

Hey Asheville North Carolina ....We're back !!!

Tom caught some final images of Atlantic City New Jersey in the last few days we were there

What's left of part of the Boardwalk

This area is missing it's Boardwalk

I don't think this person got the evacuation order.

Now we move on....

Our travels have brought us back to a place we love, Asheville, NC.  We really loved this area when we were here last time and thought it would be a great place to decompress after almost 3 months of being kind of on the go.

We left New Jersey on November 26th and traveled through Maryland stopping briefly when we found a wildlife refuge with what else  Bald Eagles for Tom to photograph. This place is number 8 on the top ten list for the US to see Eagles.  We didn't see many as their migration is still in the beginning stage but Tom was able to catch a beautiful sunset and a couple of Bald Eagles.

They were sitting on some kind of food.

After leaving we went South on the 13 and took the RV over and under the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel(CBBT) is a 23-mile (37 km) long fixed linkcrossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bayand connecting the Delmarva Peninsula'sEastern Shore of Virginia with Virginia Beachand the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia. It replaced vehicle ferry services which operated from South Hampton Roads and from the Virginia Peninsula from the 1930s until completion of the bridge-tunnel in 1964.

This is why they need a tunnel.

Let's just say driving 20 miles in the RV over water and in tunnels is a bit unnerving.  The tunnel was quite small or it felt that way.  The lights and railing flying past my side of the coach at 55 miles per hour mad for a bit a tense ride in the tunnel.  Tom kept it very steady.  

After making it through we made our way to North Carolina and to Rutledge Lake RV Park.  

http://www.campingnorthcarolina.com/

Coffee and Sam have a great place here in the woods to fun around off lease.  They chase squirrels and can sniff their little hearts out.  

Since we like this area so much we decided to look around for some property to buy.  Not sure if we will make that plunge but if we do, we plan on having it be someplace where we can go to be away from the busy world.  There will be a place for our RV friends to come and hook up also.  Those of you who don't have an RV we'll figure out a way for you to come visit too.  Right now we've decided on Eastern Tennessee.  We'll keep you posted.  This will not mean we'll stop traveling though.

Thanks for coming along on our journey.  Happy Holidays.

Check out The Biltmore at Christmas...

http://www.biltmore.com/media/photo-gallery.asp?cat_id=14

Good Bye New Jersey and Stay Strong....

Today we leave New Jersey as I stated we were released from deployment.  I am happy and bitter now.  We helped some and dangled a carrot of help to others, no thanks to our government.  These people will be rebuilding for years.  A disaster like this brings out the good and the bad in many.  Communities and neighborhoods have come together which is so wonderful to see.  Tempers are beginning to flare in some places as patience is running thin.  No power or heat in some of the hardest hit homes.  People living in hotels for the foreseeable future. Some looting over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Not much more Tom and I can do here so we head south to little warmer weather.  Here a my last images of Superstorm Sandy....

This is the area I worked.  The storm broke through here and that is what caused the catastrophic flooding in the area.  We could not go out this far.  My area we just before the bridge on the way out to the Island.  I found this on the internet to show where the storm broke through.

At the end of the road in Manoloking. 

The roller coaster....

Bye New Jersey...you offered us quite and adventure.  We are tired and ready to move on.  Next photos will hopefully be of some Eagles and our travels through Maryland and Virginia while we head to North Carolina...

Living through a Nor'easter.....

As part of our adventure we can now say we have experienced a Nor'easter.  It was cold, snowy and rainy.  Our roads were closed and it slowed our production down while we were here.  But all in all the Nor'easter wasn't so bad. 

The campground we were in the morning after the Nor'easter. 

The tree branch which came down and blocked the door.  I had to maneuver around it to get out.  The blue car is a rental.  Just missed the RV and that car.  I tried to pull it out but it was way too heavy.

The Hummer was not so lucky. This giant branch came down and took off the passenger mirror.  If you look on top of the Hummer another branch came down on the roof leaving us a nice little dent.  

Another view of the branch which came down.

After this by weeks end we were in the upper 60's.  Mother Nature is very mad at us.  This weather is crazy !!!  

Sorry for the delay in posting.  We'll try to get out now and get some pictures posted of the area.  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  

The Jersey Shore Update

Depending on who you talk to was it a Hurricane or a Super Storm.  Doesn't really matter to this person because they lost everything.  

The mass devastation in this area leaves my head spinning.  I can't seem to get my brain to comprehend what these people have lost and the immense suffering that will continue to go on long after Tom and I are gone.  Through it all they have kept their heads up high and been very kind to us as we did our jobs to get them the assistance they needed so much from FEMA.  In the first week the money was coming fast and furious. People were getting help within days of their inspections reaching FEMA.  Maybe it's coincidence, I think not, but after the election the money has dwindled and all but stopped.  Applicants have contacted me and told me they were denied and wanted to know why.  I have no answer as we are simply the collectors of information on their damages and then we submit that to FEMA.  

As the days rolled by and inspections came in we continued our working thinking we were helping.  All the while actually giving people hope of some help only to have it snatched away by big brother.  (I am a bit bitter).  

Based on the applications we were told were coming in we thought we'd be here for at least a couple of months.  The total applications are some where around 300,000.  

This boat was at a dock behind this house on the street.  I have seen many of these. 

We decided to move south to be closer to Tom's area because he was commuting almost an hour each way every day.  So we left the campground this past Monday 11-19-12, where we had paid for a full month without a refund and booked a month about 35 miles south in a place called Bayville, NJ.  We left to do our inspections and upon our return that evening Tom got the call he was released.  Anger, disappointment and sadness does not even describe the full depth of my feelings.   So many more people needed our help.  That's when things began to unravel.  We came to realize that inspections were being held by FEMA until insurance companies made up their minds what they were going to pay.    The sad part about that is that insurance companies are either not paying, not paying much (depending on the policy), taking months to even inspect properties or not calling these poor people back.  So everything is grinding to a halt.  

I pumped out as many inspections as I could yesterday hoping I would get more only to get a call last evening that I was released and I needed to send in any inspections which I had not scheduled.   

Tom went to the office and talked to the owners who were understanding and are now only charging us for a week and we will be leaving here Sunday.  

We have cried with people hearing their stories of riding out the storm, waking up in the night to find 2 feet of more of water on the first floor of their homes, and coming back after the storm to find their lives drowned in contaminated muddy sea water.  The smell in some homes was unreal.  Talking with people who found their photos floating, heirloom furniture completely destroyed, and new remodels just finished all turned to trash.  

One lady found out she had breast cancer the Friday before the storm, was told she had to surgery quickly for it and then lost her entire home all in 3 days.  The tears were plentiful that day.  

Many have terrific attitudes and don't want to take more than they need to get back on their feet.  They just need a little push and that's what we thought we were doing.  I am disappointed and I don't think I can do this again unless it's on a level of simply helping out on a volunteer capacity.

We worked hard and helped some I know.  I wish we could have helped more. These communities are coming together and working together to rebuild.  My heart goes out to New Jersey and the Jersey Shore.  

Don't mess with this neighborhood.

3 1/2 Days and 2100 miles for Deployment to New Jersey

Our trip East started in Rathdrum Idaho on Tuesday afternoon.  We handled our business and appointments quickly and visited my brother and his family.  The first leg of our journey took us through  the pan handle of Idaho and across much of Montana before we turned south and stopped for the night in Wyoming.  Tom did a marathon run that night driving the whole way.

The next day was a long trip across South Dakota and Iowa.  While we were driving we found a generator repair facility in Illinois to have our generator serviced.  With no power in the east we knew our generator was going to need to be used and lately we have had some issues with it turning of and sounding a little labored.  While we went to have lunch the repair facility got us in.  

Upon our return we found out a mouse had set up resort living in the air filter of the generator.  This little pest had gotten into some paper towels and dog food from the under compartments.  The repair guy said it was packed pretty tight around the air filter so the generator couldn't breath.  We'd had 2 mice underneath from Maine but had caught them while up there and all was clear now.  We'll be keeping traps out on a regular basis now.  

We traded driving and had pit stops to walk the dogs and cat box the cats.  We arrived 30 miles inside the Pennsylvania border at 2:30 am Friday morning.  Now with 3 hours sleep we do the final leg.  Everyone will be happy when this bus is parked and set up again ready for living.  

Our final destination will be just Claymont, Delaware to find out where in New Jersey we will be deployed for assistance.  

We'll keep you updated as more details come available.