July 13th – July 31st
Well this month sure went by fast. I haven’t written in awhile because there really isn’t much going on with traveling and visiting places. Ed has been busy cleaning out his mom’s old house. Ed’s mom, Mary, lived to be 102 years old and had collected many things over the years. She grew up during the depression era and as many of you know those generations did not like to throw anything away. She had old ragged purses, colored pencils, yarns, books, glasses, dishes, silverware, tin cans, jugs, mason jars, and outdated clothes, broken jewelry and kitchen appliances. She did have a habit of keeping old tea bags, juices, and out dated food and medicine in the refrigerator over the years. Oh I bet that wasn’t fun cleaning out her refrigerator. lol
It is going to take a couple of months for Ed and his sisters, June and Cricket, to sort through all of Mary’s stuff and decide what to keep, sell, give away to family and friends or just throw away items that are no longer useful. Ed and I decided it would be best to not travel and stay in Tullahoma area for a couple months to finish up settling the estate. Hopefully it all will be done by September.
We stayed at Fairview Devil Step campground Friday the 15th. We drove about 30 miles to Barton Springs Campground in Normandy. It is the same campground we stayed in after we sold our house. We will be staying at this campground until September. We are at site #54 right across from where we were the last time we stayed here in April. We paid a monthly rate of $395 plus tax for water and electric.
Site #54
Our view from the back of the rig (Normandy Lake)
We parked our rig to face the lake instead of facing toward the picnic table.
Back of the rig facing the picnic table
The reason we parked it backward was our non-door side of the rig only has one window that would be exposed to the southwest afternoon sun. We only have one tree that provides late afternoon shade on the back of the rig but we still have to keep our blinds down all day on the non-door side. Parking it this way our air conditioner won’t run continuously.
On the door side of the rig where we have the most windows we get exposed to the morning sun. Due to the extreme heat in the morning we keep the blinds down until around noontime. I like having our blinds up to watch for wildlife and people boating or swimming in the lake.
Our view of the lake
In the meantime, what am I doing while Ed is busy with his mom’s house? I have been getting massages, acupuncture, and adjustments for about a month. I was overdue taking care of my body. It feels good to be taken care of for a change. lol I did go out to lunch with some of my girlfriends in Tullahoma area and that was fun.
I have been shopping and reorganizing inside the RV. There are a couple of creative things I have done in the RV that I would like to share.
First thing we did was to take care of the summer heat that shines through our windows.
When we were in Florida, we had morning and afternoon sun shining on our windows and our air conditioner was running constantly. We had to do something to reduce the amount of radiate heat that was coming through our blinds. Then I remember my brother’s girlfriend Michelle King, told me what she did with her windows in their RV. She had bought a couple of sun shades that was used for cars. So we bought a couple of sun shades at Wal-Mart and tried them out.
They work beautifully. It keeps the radiate heat from the sun coming through our blinds. Thank you Michell King for your suggestions! The funny thing is that apparently this is not a new idea. As I walk around the RV park I see many people have put sun shades in their RV windows. Geez, I guess I am a little behind the time. Anyway, it works great and I highly recommend it just in case it is a new idea for you. lol
The next thing I tackled was the wine rack. The wine rack came with the refrigerator and we were not using it. It was using up space that I could use for something else.
Ed took the wine rack out and put it in the closet. One day I was thinking how can I prevent our glasses from tipping over during the move. It needed a box or some kind of holder to keep them in place. Bang! What about the wine rack? Now, that is probably a new idea! lol
With the rubber mat and wine rack it holds the glasses in place. We didn’t have to nail down the rack either. Yay!
Next thing I tackled was the issue I was having with the tall pedestal toilet in our RV. When I sit on the toilet I am on my tippy toes and not able to relax the pelvic muscles. One day I saw a commercial about the Squatty Potty you put around the pedestal of the toilet and it raises your legs up. Well, I can’t use that because we flush our toilets with the foot pedal. So I had another great idea! I put a yoga block under my feet and wal-aah, it works.
I can put the yoga block on the side of the toilet when not in use. Who knew that a yoga block can be use for multiple things. lol
Here are some pictures of other things I did in the RV.
I put napkins, coasters, and phone and laptop chargers in the baskets. That way it is less clutter on our dinning room shelf.
I laid down all of the herbs and spices face up so I could read them when I open the draw.
I put the dishes on the rubber mat so they don’t move during transit.
I used plastic tubs to prevent the cleaning supplies tipping over during transit.
Well, that is all the trouble I have done so far. lol If you or someone you know has done some modifications to their rig please let me know. I would love to hear what they have done.
It will be rather quiet for the month of August and I will not be writing every week. In the meantime, you all stay cool this summer and stay in touch.
See ya’ll later!
The Adventures of Tracey and Ed 