Love Bugs

Love Bugs!  Yep....2 bugs flying together & I mean together, splatting all over our windshield and front of our fifth wheel.  What a mess!  Poor love bugs, too!  All this and they only live for about 4 days.  These bugs are most active in May and September.  Lucky us.  It's September.

Everyone is telling us that it is extremely important to remove these little buggers immediately or they can destroy the finish on your paint.  So, Dave made it his mission to remove these nasty little critters as soon as we made it to Wilderness Park.  Disney must keep Wilderness park sprayed, as we were not bothered by them during our stay here.

Florida Welcome Center!

Strawberry Cream

It doesn't get any better than just finishing up your supper and wishing you had something sweet.  Just about then, a neighbor stops by to invite you to have some home-made strawberry ice cream that they just made at their RV site.  OK....I LOVE ice cream!  Thank you so much!  I love it so much that I do not keep it in our home.  

What made it even more special was eating it in a campground with people that we only met hours before.  That's why I love RVing so much.  Everyone is so friendly. 

Sherry's Home-Made Ice cream!

3 Eggs
1 Small Can Evaporated Milk
1 Small Can Eagle Brand Milk
2 Quarts Milk (Sherry used 2%) Only 1 Quart if adding fruit
1 Pint Whipping Cream
2 Cups Sugar
4 Tablespoons Vanilla

Mix ingredients together in large bowl, adding fruit last.  Put in ice cream freezer and prepare according to your machine.  Makes 1 gallon    

Enjoy! 

Wine & Cheese

Nothing like a little wine and cheese after a day at Simonton's Cheese & Gourmet House and Stonehaus Winery!

Keepin' it light by adding a little sparkling water & orange slices to our wine! 


Simonton's Cheese & Gourmet House -  We were excited to visit this store as they are known to have the best cheese world wide.  That is quite a claim.  The store is great with lots of gourmet items and samples galore.  In fact, when you walk in the door, they are offering you a sample of cheese immediately.  We enjoyed our samples and eventually purchased  a 2# slab of their medium yellow cheddar.  It was smooth and excellent!  

We were a little confused though that they no longer make the cheese there.  They have been in business since 1947 but now have their cheese made in the North.  Is it made in Wisconsin?  Is there other cheeses like it under a different name?  It really doesn't matter to  me as this is the some of the best cheese that I have ever tasted.  

Muddy Pond

Muddy Pond is a Mennonite community located about 20 miles from Crossville, TN.  Take I40 to exit 317 onto Hwy 127.  Follow 127 & turn left onto Hwy 62 & right onto Campground Road. (Map below)  Just follow the loop  and enjoy visiting fresh produce stands, sorghum mills, local crafts & eateries and more.    We enjoyed shopping at the Muddy Pond Variety Store, purchased fresh produce on the side of the road, fresh cinnamon rolls at a bakery, home-made ice cream at a sandwich shop & stopped at the Muddy Pond General Store.

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Thank you Pat from Spring Lake RV Resort for telling us about this great country store in Clarkrange, TN - Cumberland Mountain General Store.  We stopped on our way to Muddy Pond and did a little nostalgic shopping which included a bag of marbles for our grandchildren or maybe, for us.  :-)  It's about 1/2 mile further on Hwy 127, past where you turn left on hwy 62 to go to the Muddy Pond.  It was a great place to stop, shop and eat before beginning our road tour through this beautiful Mennonite community.

The best part of the Cumberland Mountain General Store was this soda fountain at the back of the store.  The hamburgs were delicious & included fries & drink for only $5.95.  We substituted one of our fries for onion rings.  They were the best onion rings I have had in a very long time.  Dave finished off his meal with a double chocolate shake.  He didn't ask for double chocolate.  It just tasted like double chocolate.  Very, very good!

This was our first stop on the Mennonite Community Muddy Pond "Trail".  Since they do not have a website for this area, here are a few Yelp reviews on this town Muddy Pond Review by Yelp.  Our first stop on the Muddy Pond trail was at The Muddy Pond Variety Store owned by the Guenther family.  The elderly Mrs. Guenther was sitting behind the counter when we arrived.  She was very friendly and helped us with our selections.  We left her store with a loaf of her home-made whole wheat bread, some blueberry jam and some spices.  

Last of all was our favorite stop - The Muddy Pond General Store.  Oh my goodness!  I wish we had a store like this by us.  It has everything you needed in bulk - spices, mixes, bread, snacks, cheese & more.  I was on cloud nine and stocked up on essentials.  I am now armed and ready to make my own home-made bread & other items from scratch!  :-)  Ha Ha!  I know....at least, I am gonna try!

$100 for all of this!  Look closely, and you will understand what a great deal this is.  I plan on visiting this store anytime we are in this area and staying at our new "go to" place - Spring Lake RV Resort.

Spring Lake RV Resort

Beautiful pond with fountain!  I think it was 3 days before I realized that the swan was in the same place and wasn't real.  I felt a little foolish but laughed it off and really do think it is a nice thoughtful touch.

 I love this little beach with the retro beach chairs.  You can't swim in this small spring-fed lake, but the "catch & release" fishing is popular, especially on this cute little dock.

Meticulous landscaping and beautiful lake with fountain really makes this a peaceful and tranquil place to stay.  I especially enjoyed the swan! :-)

This is the first park that we have ever stayed at that offered FREE wood for our evening campfire.  It is donated by a local shop that makes axe handles.

Beautiful view out our side window!

View out our back window including bug guts on window!  :-)

After reading the reviews for Spring Lake RV Resort, we decided to check it out and stay a couple of days after picking up our rig in Knoxville.  We  were happily greeted by the owners - Leroy & Pat.  They are the nicest folks and really take a lot of pride in their campground.  It is considered to be an adult park because there are really no amenities for children.  

We enjoyed the peace and quiet here.  It was so nice that we extended our stay a couple of extra days.  This is now going to be our "go to" park when we want to get away for a  getaway to simply relax and take a breather from our hectic lives.  It's so nice that it is only a couple of hours from home, too!

  

RV's for Less!

During our close to two year research for our RV, we came across RVs for Less in the Knoxville, TN area.  We heard about them through their ads in Trailer Life Magazines and stopped to their dealership on our way to Charlotte, NC.

By the time we visited them, we had already been to a few RV Shows and  most  all the RV dealerships in the Middle TN, Birimingham & Northern Alabama area.   Upon visiting them and meeting the owners Butch & Karen Burson, we knew that this was a dealership we could trust.  We were impressed with their outstanding products and the owners' dedication to personal service and their honest Christian approach to RV sales.

We continuously watched their website “Inventory” page and finally scored our perfect Fifth Wheel – a 2012 Heartland Landmark Mesa!  We never thought we could actually afford to buy a Landmark but with their prices we could.  We called right away and purchased it sight unseen with a $1,000 deposit.  When we were finally able to pick it up, it was exactly as they described and perfect for us.  They encouraged us to spend a night in it on their lot.  This way, we could go over a check list while we were actually using it.  The next day, we told them the minor things we found.  Well…this was January.  And, even in Tennessee it gets cold!  So, needless to say, we did not run either of the air conditioners

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It wasn’t until we were in Charleston, NC in May that we noticed our main unit was not running at all.  We were suspicious during our Carrabelle trip, but it wasn’t warm enough there to really be sure.  Thankfully, RVs for Less replaced the unit at no charge to us.  I think that if we had purchased this at another dealership, they may have charged us since it was not new when we purchased it. RV's for Less  told us that it was covered under a manufacturer's warranty.  

Their philosophy is to treat their customer right and they depend on word of mouth referrals from happy buyers.  We are very happy that we purchased our Fifth Wheel from them  and highly recommend that you check them out, too!  It doesn’t matter where you live, check out their website and you’ll be glad you did.

 

Thank you Butch and Karen Burson and team at RVs for Less!  J