North Carolina, Marion - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - RV Dreams Rally

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO GRANDSON KYLE

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DAUGHTER DESIRA AND SON-IN-LAW DAN

This is where we will be until next Sunday – The RV Dreams Rally at the Tom Johnson Camping Center in Marion, NC.  This is a reunion rally for people who have attended previous RV Dreams Rallies.  We’ve already had people from Minnesota and Alabama stop by for some lengthy discussions on living fulltime in an RV – good times.

I got the itch for a marathon cooking session on Thursday before we left Asheville.  I made ranch crackers, seasoned ground beef filling for some sandwiches we will take to a pot luck tomorrow night, cheesecake filling for some potential dessert, dried bread crumbs for future meat loaf, chocolate mayonnaise cake with a new recipe for brown sugar icing (yum) and a couple of crocks with Hawaiian ham and cheese spread.  It occurred to me as I'm writing this that if I am going to publish food pictures I should get better at food styling to make it look pretty.

When we left on Friday the weather was great and the scenery was beautiful.

 

 

Right before we got into Marion we came to some 6%-7% grades for several miles.  I won’t lie, these steep downgrades scare me.  Truck emergency ramps one after the other just don't give me confidence.   Greg and the coach both handle them well, we never have any trouble but I still hold my breath most of the way down.  I do that even in a car.

Lots of people are starting to gather for the rally.

This is the view from our front window.

Beyond the trees is a quiet river.

This morning everyone is getting registered and there will be a catered dinner this evening followed by a campfire.  The rest of the day is going to be spent just hanging out.  We didn’t sign up for any of the day trips some people will be taking.  We decided we would rather just get together to cuss and discuss the lifestyle we have chosen with other people who have done the same.

North Carolina, Asheville - Wednesday, May 20, 2015 - Asheville Outlet Mall

We’ve been really laid back this week.  After our Sunday outing with Les and Amy we’ve done some pretty mundane things – grocery shopping, prescription refills, laundry.  This was my view yesterday afternoon, kicked back in a chair on the patio.

 

 

Today we thought about going to Biltmore, but instead we did something we rarely do – we went shopping for things other than groceries.  Right now we have everything we need and everything has a place so, shopping doesn’t happen unless we really, really need it.  Greg needed a new pair of tennis shoes so we went to the Asheville Outlet Mall that is just down the road from where we are staying.  I’ve been a fan of Skechers shoes for some time now – love the memory foam soles.  We noticed they started advertising them for men just recently so he thought he would try a pair.  Rack Room Shoes had “buy one, get one half off” and I still had one empty cubbie in the shoe rack, so guess who else got a new pair of shoes J.  I was trying on a pair of my usual white choice and Greg pointed out I came in wearing a white pair, I had a new white pair at home - I needed to get a little daring.

Daughter Desira would have loved this store, they had aisles of the Nike shoes she likes in all colors of the rainbow – the flashier the better for her.

This evening I’m making a list of some new recipes I want to try next week while we are at the rally.  I’m thinking I might be able to find some taste testers besides Greg and I.  I’ll post if I come up with anything really good.

North Carolina, Asheville - Monday, May 18, 2015 - Asheville Farmer's Market

We had to go into Asheville to get our prescriptions refilled this morning.  After that we headed to the Asheville Farmer’s Market.

 

 

Building A has a lot to offer. 

Then there is Building B.  Honey and jams were overly abundant.

We found some wonderful semi-sweet wines at the Wood Mill Winery booth.  Our wine cooler was empty so we had to purchase some J.

For lunch we decided to go to the Moose Café, a farm to table restaurant at the Farmer’s Market.

This is Moose.

The biscuits were big and very tasty.

I chose Virginia ham with sides of pinto beans and spinach salad.  Yes, the ham slice is the size of the plate.

Greg chose chicken and dumplings with mashed potatoes and spinach salad.  He said the mashed potatoes were “real” they had some lumps in them.

The food was good, the service and the presentation were a little haphazard.

This is our stash from the Farmer’s Market – good day.  Rain came in not too long after we got home.