Rain, Rain, Go Away So We Can Play - End of Sept 2015

The last 2 weeks of September this year were freebies from SOWERing so that we can play and travel to the next project.  Little did we know that there would be a hurricane lingering off the East Coast that would hamper our "play" activities but every dry day we scampered outside like squirrels just to see the sunshine and check on the leaves that are beginning to change rapidly here in Tennessee and West Virginia.

Before we left Doe River Gorge, Tennessee, Philip and Wayne were able to celebrate their October birthdays by attending the Father/Son Retreat held at the Conference Center.  The guys played on "toys" that only they have dreamed about growing up but now they can say they have checked that off their bucket lists!  Steam locomotives, rope bridges connecting the gorge along with rappelling down the tree line, riding in the Unimog including IN THE RIVER, skeet shooting, along with many activities with the men/boys that grew their faith.  All of this while Lilly and Grannie enjoyed the grounds/lake/train/river and of course just being in the "big bus".

Wayne & Philip had to make a shield as one of their

assignments for the father/son retreat.

The last week at Doe River Wayne and I hiked the same trail that the men/boys did during their retreat.  Here are some pics of us crossing the river on rope bridges - too fun!

Color gets prettier every day.

Walking the tight ropes across the
Doe River!

Hiking into the woods was along the river........

Hiking back was along the rails.

Then the last week of September Wayne and I moved the "big bus" to a campground in Alderson, WV so that we could be close to the Greenbrier River Bike Trail.

The first weekend Wayne stayed with the RV while I drove the car back to Cherryville, NC for my niece's wedding.  Poor Katie - she wanted an outdoor fall wedding but to no avail the hurricane lingered and it was in the chapel beside the barn and the reception was in a tent.  That's ok, always heard that rain on your wedding day means many years of happiness!  Time will tell!

Katie & Josh's wedding was very casual.  Inside the chapel along side the barn was a picturesque setting for a gorgeous fall wedding.  Here we have the Fielers - Amanda, Philip & Lilly.

Taking their vows...............

To "the KISS"!

Mr. & Mrs. Graham

One day we rode from Caldwell to Anthony (only the lower 1/4) totaling 22.69 miles right along side of the Greenbrier River.  There were only 2 days of sunshine and this is what we did on Day #1.  What a gorgeous trail, hard packed crushed stone and only encountered about 10 other people the entire 4 hours we biked.  Saw 4 deer and 1 eagle - I am sure there were bears but we tried not to look for them!

 Greenbrier River Bike Trail starting at Caldwell, WV.

Fall just gets prettier every day.

We really do have bikes and yes, we really do ride them!

Day #2 of sunshine we traveled up to Cass, WV to check out the steam locomotives that were used in the logging industry from 1920-1935.  These trains have a different piston configuration, instead of side to side they are up and down.  Also because the trains have to go up the mountains to the logging sites, they maneuver by what they call switchbacks with a push-pull engine.  It pushes you to a place where it needs to start going up, switches backwards and pulls you to another point where it needs to go higher and then switches forward to push you to the next plateau.  Extremely interesting even to this gal.  We went thru the museum and did a walking town tour.  Truly the whole town was owned by the company and you "owed your soul to the company store".

The white building in the background is the
company store where they say you could buy
anything that Wal-Mart now sells!

The brown building on the right was used to store hay for the many horses that were used up on the mountain for pulling the logs to the train for transport.

The rear brake man jumps out to switch the tracks so that the train can now be pulled up the mountain instead of pushed.

The switching tracks.

That's a lot of black smoke coming out of the top of that tinder.
Takes a lot of power to get those cars up the mountain.

 

Here you can see the up and down pistons instead of side to side.

Takes a lot of steam to run that hunk of metal!

Our last switchback.

Coming back down.

We have now moved the RV to our next project which was only 1 1/2 hrs. to Beckley, WV at Appalachian Bible College.  Painting and construction we have been told.  Events to include a Shakespeare Play (Hamlet) and Bridge Day 2015.  Never a dull moment and more things to be checked off of our bucket list.  The leaves are changing rapidly and we will include pics of the progression.  Burrrrrrr, it's getting chilly too.  Already pulled out jackets and sweat clothes.

Heard today only 85 days till Christmas - our 2nd since retiring.  This journey is going waaaaaay too fast!  RV crazy or what?!