I want to stay here.

Forever.

Shocked to hear that come out of my mouth (er, keyboard)?

Yeah, me too!

In all honesty, I do love it here. And I REALLY don’t want to go home…

but Tim is loading up, so I guess I must…

wonder when we can come back?

Until next time…

Heather

First off, I’m asking for my money back…

I’ll tell you why…

“Newly remodeled” my butt…

Our accomodations….

The “business” center

The common area…and a crappy little 19″ TV…that had the NASCAR race on…

The coffee nook…obviously, you can see where all their money goes…it was probably the highlight of the trip!

Secondly, the brochure said romance. HA! How can there be romance when there is golf and not one, but TWO NASCAR races on??? That channel shouldn’t be allowed on the satellite line up…

Thirdly, I was promised deers, bears and turkeys…We saw one deer, 2 turkeys and no bears. What wasn’t on the brochure was a dead rabbit (that we later found out was a shot cat), a dog eating a turtle and lots of BUGS!

Fourth…I was told there was a pond with LOTS of fish in it, perfect for someone who’s not good at fishing. Yup, I caught no fish! What I did catch were trees and cat tails and lots of slime. I still had the same half of a worm an hour later!

All joking aside, it was a beautiful trip. I had planned on coming up here and being bored out of my skin but I wasn’t. I turned into a total sloth even though I had a lot of writing to do. I did manage to get three articles done but other than that I was out riding with Tim on the Rhino, fishing, eating, or sitting in here playing computer games. I did steal one of Scott’s books too. Luckily it was one that he had already read.

I’ve decided that if Tim wanted to kill me and get rid of my body, he could’ve done it here. No one would’ve ever found me, I’m convinced of that. We found a bone in the creek today and I just said “that’s from the last guy that brought his girlfriend out here.”

I’m still not exactly sure where we are. I know that we’re about 20 miles from Parkersburg, I know that it’s off 77, and I know that the town is called Elizabeth, but it’s not really in the town. If you remember the ex POW Jessica Lynch, she’s from Elizabether. It’s back this road that I’m not sure what happens when two cars have to pass one another. We haven’t run into that problem, and I don’t think it’s a highly travelled road, but it was interesting to drive on it to say the least. I speak as if I’ve driven on it, but I haven’t. I wouldn’t. I’m too scared.

That’s another realization that I’ve come to since arriving at the Outpost. I’m getting girly in my old age. While I realize that getting older is normal, I’m also a little dissappointed in the lack of the thrill seeking that I used to have. For example, I woke up Saturday morning at 8:30…Tim was already up, coffee was made and after my second cup, he asked me if I wanted to go to the pond. We take the Rhino. There are seat belts, I put mine on. Getting to the pond wasn’t so bad, but it was when we left the pond and went exploring through the 135 acres here that we are free to roam. I was scared to death! What’s wrong with me????

But here are some pictures that we took while riding around this morning

Here is where the trail ended. So guess what we did? Well, first we turned around and try to get to the meadow another way but couldn’t find one. So we went back and just went through the creek!

We headed to Parkersburg for the day on Saturday…

We took a ride on the Ohio River to Blennerhasset Island…this family had the worst luck! I was amazed!

And there was a wedding! Had I known, I would’ve dressed nicer. But the bride was on the ferry with us on the trip over and as we ate our lunch, we watched them tie the knot! I think the whole island did! It was quite the spectacle.

There’s the house from atop one of the many hills we were on…

and you really can see forever…it was gorgeous!

I think what I liked the most were the sunsets. We played with the camera alot to get the best pictures and I think we have more pictures of the sunset than we will ever need. It really was breathtaking…

Tim on the Rhino

I even told Tim that we should come here for vacation…I’d come back anytime. It really was a nice escape from reality. There’s no one for miles, and it’s amazing. It just is. Tim even asked me if I was bored and said that we could go home early. Even if I was bored, which I was not, I wouldn’t leave. He loves this nature stuff. But I managed to find my groove here too and I really do love it here.

Now I think I’ll be finding all kinds of weekends for Tim to come up and help Scott so that I can come too. I promise I won’t be underfoot. I’ll just hang out in the business center or on one of the many porches taking it all in.

Thanks Scott for giving us your place for the weekend…we had a wonderful time…

Until next time…

Heather

PS. If you’re REALLY bored…we took LOTS of pictures (there was nothing else to do but take pictures of every tree known to man…) you can see all of them in the gallery.

On Saturday, I called Jackie and Sondra to see if they wanted to hit Rancho Viejo and they did so we went. Sondra brought my birthday presents with her and I guess this spawned the whole “let’s get the restaurant to sing to her. Now, that wouldn’t be so bad, except here they actually put whip cream all over your face.

I was paranoid, but Sondra assured me that they weren’t going to come and sing to me.

Well, before you know it, this is what I looked like!

Yup! That would be me!

And then Sunday we took some pictures of Becki with the Pooches…

I’m surprised she didn’t try and take my dogs home with her…

Until next time…

Heather

For the second holiday weekend, we found ourselves kidless…so we took off for the weekend…not really having any plans. We stayed at the Woodberry Inn Friday and Saturday night and just threw the tent in the car convinced we would find a place to camp Sunday night…

No computer, no business stuff…just relaxation. (And if you know me, you know how much I struggle with this!!!)

All in all it was a GORGEOUS weekend.  Of course there were mishaps, I was travelling…but nothing major that we cuoldn’t work around or just sit back and laugh at it…

Here are some pictures of the weekend…

Tim was fishing with in 30 minutes of arriving…

The lake and the rooms at the Woodberry…

The lake…

Tim’s first fish…he wasn’t sure exactly what it was…

so I took a picture so he could look it up when he got home…

more fishing…

This is where they have Floyd Fest every year…we were nosey, so we drove down to get a closer look…

The stage that they build for Floyd Fest…it’s used one weekend a year…

A close up of the stage…

The view from one of the overlooks on the parkway…

It’s absolutely amazing…

Gorgeous, no?

I couldn’t stop taking pictures…lol

Another view…

This tree had branches that were on the ground, and I found it interesting…

More mountains…

Rocky Knob Visitors Center…this is where we ended up staying Sunday night…

The Parkway…

We drove into Hillsville for their annual Flea Market…we couldn’t believe the sights…they have State Troopers directing traffic…

There’s the CVS where we stopped to get antihistimine when my hands swelled up…and just look at all those people…

A view of the main stretch of town…it was madness…needless to say, we didn’t stay long…

There were people just walking in the street with guns that they had purchased. I tried and tried to get a picture and couldn’t, so when Tim took the camera, this lady walked right out in front of him…

The State Troopers again…

I have no idea what he’s looking at…

Another fish…

This one is pregnant…

Another one…

The blue sky…

I shouldn’t take pictures laying down…but the fish weren’t biting for me…

See? I just sat there…

Another one for Tim…

Another View…

Me…too much sun…but that’s me…

and me again…

Our campsite Sunday night…

I take all the time to blow up the mattress and Tim inspects to make sure it’s okay…

Mabry Mill…

The Blacksmith shop…

Tim looking at the creek…

The snake he found…

Tim moving the snake into the water…

A great weekend despite my hand swelling up, forgetting the basket for the coffee maker, and falling over in my chair spilling soda all over my only pair of pants and long sleeved shirt…but Tim knows me well enough…he always packs an extra sweatshirt for me…and this time was no different…

Until next time..

Heather

Last week, the kids were at Nana’s and Papaw’s and we were dog sitting for Tim’s Mom. Jack’s never a problem, however, we had strict instructions not to let Jack on the furniture or in the bed because he’d come home expecting to be able to. Try as we might, Jack was adament about being right next to us wherever we went! Poor Tim couldn’t even read alone!

And of course the dogs became our kids for the week and I snapped pictures. I actually have proof that Jack gives kissies…he doesn’t normally!

Until next time…

Hear that? Nope…there’s nothing to hear…except maybe the dog snoring and the radio in the back ground.

That’s right…I’m home alone!

Tim left for his golf weekend about 5:30 and the kids headed out about 6:15…

Just ordered pizza (with the toppings that I wanted) and am enjoying some time to myself! (That and packing to get ready to go see Kenny tomorrow!!! =))

I better not get used to this!

Until next time…

Heather

Murphy’s Law — “If anything can go wrong, it will”

So what happens when two direct descendants of Murphy try to get away for the weekend?

Now, let me preface this post by stating we had a GREAT time!! We just had to improvise a little, and laugh ALOT so as to not get frustrated…

The car was packed and how we got it all in there, I’m not sure. I do know that Rhoda had a very tight ride down (as did Tim and I) however, we got there.

This was the back seat of the car…as you can see…VERY LITTLE room for poor Rhoda

It was about an hour drive and the scenery was beautiful. Of course, all I wanted to do was get there, set up and roast hotdogs…

We get there about seven thirty or so and set up the tent and the screen porch. Before doing so, we each see if we have cell service and are tickled that we don’t! A true escape from reality!! We have a very nice campsite. Since this was the first time using both the tent and the screen porch, we were surprised at how easily they went up. I actually put the tent up by myself…everything but staking it down, but there’s a reason I didn’t do that and I’ll explain later.

This is our site, number 35 looking up…

Behind us were a group of what we originally thought were all German Baptists. As the weekend went on, we were trying to figure out their story. The woman and the girl definitely were, however, it didn’t appear that the men were. They didn’t have on the traditional garb, and by the time they left, Tim had come to the conclusion that the men kidnapped the woman and the girl to cook and clean for them on their trip, or that they bet with someone on the race last week and the winner got to take the women with them.

Up and to the right of us were Tyler and his family. We don’t know any of their names, other than Tyler’s and didn’t talk to them the whole weekend. We were there all of 20 minutes when I hear Tim say, “I already don’t like Tyler.” Tyler pretty much stayed in trouble the whole weekend. The only reason we knew his name is because he kept getting yelled at.

Our new 2 room tent

Our new screen porch…

Tim gets out the air mattress, a Blue Light special from last year and plugs the pump into the outlet I have in the car. Well, the pump doesn’t work. Then he tells me that even if he could blow it up, there is no cap to hold the air in. We just kinda look at one another. I say, well, I’ll go to Wal-Mart and I’ll get another bed and a higher power outlet for the car. He says, “No need to go to all that trouble with the outlet, just get a hand pump. I guess the closest Wal-Mart is in Martinsville, it seems like an awfully long way to go.” Seeings how we have no bed, no sleeping bags and there are ROCKS under the tent, I see that a trip to Wal-Mart is the best thing that we can do.

By this time, it’s 8:30, and I’m starving. But, I know that I need to go to Wal-Mart, so I tell him to finish setting up camp, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. As I’m pulling out, he tells me that I need to get gas as soon as I can. Oh joy…

I stop at the guard’s station on the way out to get directions to the closest Wal-Mart. They just look at me like I have two heads. It’s an older married couple that run the front and she tells the husband to step out of the booth and tell me how to get to the Wal-Mart in Rocky Mount. He comes out and whispers to me, “I’d go to the one in Martinsville if I were you,” as if her hearing him tell me this would cause an argument. He tells me how to get there and asks me when I’ll be back. I ask how long will it take to get to Martinsville and he tells me about 20-25 minutes and then tells me that they lock the gate at 11. I tell him that if I’m not back by 11, there’s a major problem. So he leans in again and says, “If you get back after 11, just come knock on that first trailer and I’ll come up and let you in.”

So off I go…in search of a gas station and a Wal-Mart. I say a little prayer that I find the gas station soon, but I know I won’t find one until I hit the main road, and I know that the main road is at least 11 miles away. (When I say we were in the middle of nowhere, I mean it.)

Of course I get lost getting out to the main road. I wasn’t paying attention while Tim was driving in, and now it’s dark, so nothing even looks familiar. I see a group of trucks sitting on the side of the road and ask how to get back to 220. I wasn’t that far off. I didn’t really want to stop and ask for directions as I’m out after dark, by myself, and in foreign territory, however, I know that I’m on borrowed time. Sometimes I think I watch too much Law & Order.

I get to the main road and about 2 miles later I see a very run down gas station. Well, to be honest, I saw many of them in those 2 miles, however, most were missing the pumps. I see the little sign that says “Pay before pumping” and go inside. She states to me that they close at 9. It’s 9:04. I beg, “please, I’m not from around here and I’m just about out.” She replies, “Oh you’re fine, I was stating it to that guy back there so he’ll hurry up and get out of here.”

I get my gas, and I’m on my way. The sign states 12 miles to Martinsville. I’ve heard many things about Martinsville, although I’ve never been there really. Just drove through once on the way back from sales calls. I find the Martinsville exit that Pop told me to take and went through the main strip of Collinsville. It’s hopping on this particular Friday night and as Tim later tells me, it’s called “Dark Alley” and that’s pretty much all there is to do in Collinsville.

I finally reach Wal-Mart and I’m impressed from the outside. It’s big and well lit and upon entering, I’m even more surprised to find it clean. Knowing that this Wal-Mart will be laid out differently, I attempt to make my plan of attack. I have to be back by 11 and I know there’s no time for looking at the clearance racks. Tim sent me for additional items as well…charcoal, a jug of water, and batteries for the radio, as well as a hand pump. I pick out a new bed, one that comes with the pump and gather the other items on my list as well as some chips and soda for the road. As I’m perusing through Wal-Mart, I begin to see people walking through the store with no shoes on. Then I see other odd people, genetic mysteries included and shutter. I’ve NEVER in my life seen people walk through a store with no shoes on!

I quickly pay for my purchases, use the restroom (which was VERY clean) and be on my way. I was anxious to leave Martinsville and never return.

I head back, worried that I’ll miss the little road I need to turn on to get back to the campground, and suddenly, the “service engine soon light” appears. CRAP! Now, it does this from time to time, but really only when it rains heavily. And it hadn’t rained. I panic a little…only because if I were to break down here, although I have cell phone service, I know that Tim does not. I ask God to remove my fear and just get me back to the campground, which he does. I didn’t get lost getting back.

I roll up…STARVING…and Tim says, “I was wondering where you were.” I was gone almost 2 hours…but when I got back, there was a fire going and the tent was staked down and everything was finished. I roasted a hot dog while he pumped up the bed and by the time I was finished, it was almost 11 and I was ready for bed.

And of course, as soon as he pumped up the bed….Rhoda makes herself comfortable…

Of course, I’ve forgotten my pajamas…so I did have a pair of shorts and Tim gave me a sweatshirt to wear and it was cold…

That was Friday…

Saturday morning, I wake up with a shooting pain in my hip. I don’t know what time it is. I know that it’s early. I then realize that there is very little air in the mattress, and the reason that my hip hurts is because I’m pretty much sleeping on the ground. Great, I think. I decide to just get up and make some coffee. I have a little 4 cup coffee pot that we bring camping and plug into the car. I go and plug it in and NOTHING. Great. The closest store is miles away, and I have no coffee for Tim. I decide that I’ll go take a shower and I took the coffee pot with me.

The showers were nice, and since it was so early (7am) I was alone. There was one outlet in the shower side and a little bench there. I started the first pot of coffee, got in the shower and washed my hair. By the time I had done that, the coffee was done and I filled up Tim’s cup and started another pot for my own. I finished my shower, dried off, and lugged everything back to the car.

I roll up and Tim says, “Where’d you get coffee?” I told the truth…”the bathroom.” I was tickled with myself that I had come up with such a great plan B.

After breakfast, we ventured out a little bit. Mom and Pop at the guard station said there was a little store not far from the campground that sold fishing licenses. So we headed there, but stopped at a little hole in the wall, Philpott Bait and Tackle. We there found a coffee pot that you could put on the camp stove. It was $8. He didn’t take credit cards. We scrounged around and had $11 between us. We paid for our coffee pot (used of course) and headed to the next little store where we would obtain 2005 fishing licenses, ice, and bait.

Yes, I now am licensed to fish for the rest of this year in the state of Virginia. I’ve never had a fishing license, but I do now.

Back to the campsite and Tim takes Rhoda down to the lake. She’s never been in sand before and is funny for the first few minutes. I clean up around the site and I notice this little packet with 2 straws and a tube of something. At first, I think it’s those bubbles that you can blow on the straws but then I see that there is a cap of some sort in there. When Tim gets back, I ask him what it is…he just grins…”that’s the cap to the first air mattress. I guess I just saw the patching kit and not the cap and threw it in the box.” I look at him…I glare at him…”I had to go to the depths of Martinsville last night where people wear no shoes and we had the cap here the whole time?????”

“Well, we needed a pump anyway…” he says…to which I say, “I could’ve figured out another way to blow up the bed. I could’ve taken it to the bathroom, just like I did the coffee.” Now, I wasn’t mad…just ironic, that’s all…and another humorous story to add to our trip.

We ate some lunch, where I realized in preparing it, that we have no knives or forks…just spoons. I remember looking in the camping box while packing it and seeing a box of utensils, just didn’t realize they were only spoons. I start making a store list. T-bones would be a little difficult to eat with spoons.

We head down to the lake to fish. I haven’t been fishing in YEARS and Tim loves it. He gets me all set up and I find the little spot where they are biting. It’s right here where my bobber is…

Tim takes my rod and catches the first fish of the weekend…

There he is with his catch…

And there’s a close up…

So since he’s found my spot, I decide to find a new one. I found a log that I could get up on and be closer to the water and not the shallow part…

Yes, I fell in. I’ll admit it now. Luckily, I had rolled my jeans up before I slipped so really only my shoes got wet. But Tim had a good laugh over it.

But I finally caught a fish…I know I was getting on Tim’s nerves. The fish kept taking my worm and he kept having to rebait my hook, and I believe at one point in time I whined. “This just isn’t fun and relaxing. I keep throwing it out and reeling it in with nothing…it much like playing the slot machines.”

Please note…my fish is slightly bigger than Tim’s…

Rhoda, of course, is bored with all of this…

But she was a very good dog all weekend. We let her off her leash most of the time, and she never ran off…just growled at every other dog walking by.

We get back and read for a little bit and then go in to take a nap. By this time, Tim’s inflated the original mattress with the new mattress on top. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve taken a nap. It was so nice. We got up about 6 and I headed to the store and when I got back, Tim had the steaks on the grill and a nice fire going. He made garlic toast and the best steaks, but then again, his meals on the grill are always wonderful.

After dinner, we picked up our books again, and didn’t put them down until 11 when we took the lantern in the tent and read some more. The bed was interesting again, as it had lost some more air and it was much like a cross between a waterbed and a moonwalk. If one of us moved, the other one had to hold on. We just laughed. At that point in time, it was all we could do.

Up Sunday morning by 8, and we’ve got the new coffee pot in the stove.

While we’re waiting for it to perk, and while shoveling poptarts in our mouths, we’ve got our nose in our books. We were both so close to being done. We finished our books and commented on how geeky we were. Now, I’ve been known to read a book in a day, however, I think Tim set a new record for himself.

We decided to head to Ferrum College to fish in their lake, so I made a picnic lunch and we loaded up the car. Tim’s new job is working at Ferrum so I had the pleasure to see what he’s working on…and I took pictures of course.

Here is where they are building a new residence hall…

This is his job trailer…

This is what the new student center will look like…

These are what the new residence halls will look like…

This is just the sign that says President Bush is paying for the work…

The site of the 2 new residence halls…well just one for now. They don’t have the funding for the second one yet.

And this building they are renovating. It used to be a residence hall, but will soon be offices.

After the job tour, we headed over to the lake to fish.

The lake…

My second of 4 fish of the weekend. Tim caught one here as well, but it was so little and he had it thrown back in the water before I could get the camera.

The ducks…Rhoda liked chasing them, as if they were some threat to her.

After calling it a day for fishing, we went in search of Fairy Stone park to have lunch. An hour later, we found it, however, since it’s a state park, you have to pay $4 to park and since we used all our cash on the new coffee pot, we drove back a bit and found some picnic tables and had our lunch.

We got back to the site and played cards for a bit and munched. I think all we did on Sunday was eat! We then took Rhoda back down to the lake. It was all about her and we attempted to tell her that as a Labrodor Retriever that she should retrieve things, but she just didn’t get it. We’d throw the stick and most times she didn’t even go after it, but when she did, she wouldn’t pick it up and bring it back.

We’re such rebels…notice the sign…

Back to the campsite…the German Baptists were gone, and Tyler was gone…it was just us. I started to read the book that Tim had just finished. We listened to the race. We started a fire and at about 8 decided that we were hungry. We skipped the chicken that I had brought and decided to roast hot dogs and make s’mores. I finished the book about 10.

We talked alot about how we didn’t want to come home and that despite all the mishaps, we had a good weekend. We figured out that it would cost us $105 a week to stay there, and that we could make bulk trips to Wal-Mart (in Rocky Mount…there would be no more trips to Martinsville…) It was a nice dream…but…

Reality came Monday morning. We slept the latest that we had all weekend, getting up at 9:30. Tim put the coffee on (we had to leave anyway, we used the last of the creamer) and we started getting packed up. Deflating the air mattress wasn’t difficult…ha ha…

We were all packed up by about 11:30…

This is Tim trying to figure out how the stuff we brought seemed to multiply over the weekend.

We were home by 12:30. We had a great weekend, and one that we really needed. I came home to laundry and 153 emails. But I can’t wait to do it again!

Here are some other pictures from our trip…

Thanks for sticking this one out…

Until next time…

Today, I secured two tickets to see Kenny Chesney in Charlotte on July 9th, almost a year from when we saw him here in Roanoke.

It worked out perfect. A Saturday that I don’t have kids, and far enough in advance that Sondra can ask off from work. We’re very excited!

Of course, we won’t be as close as we were to Trace Adkins and Montgomery Gentry, but we are closer than when we saw him last year.

For those of you who didn’t see the pics from Montgomery Gentry, this is the fun that we have when we’re together…

Of course this is the first pic that Troy Gentry took of us with my camera…and didn’t like it, so took this next one…

Sondra’s definately the youngest 40 year old that I know, but she keeps me young and reminds me that I need to have a little fun…

So Senoritas and Margiritas we will be…at least for 24 hours…and then we’ll be back to the normal life…I can’t wait!

Until next time…

He’s away for the weekend…he left this morning, so it’s just the kids and I. It’s been a long time since it’s just been us…

Matthew has a friend over to spend the night. His name is Matthew, so it’s been interesting. They’ve been out with the bug vacuum and having fun sucking up bugs and examining them with the microscope and now, all three of them (they’ve decided to allow Samara to join them) are watching a movie. I doubt they make it past 9:30 as they are all so tired.

Matthew and Matthew are twins almost. Built the same, they talk the same and have the same little grin. They were both very excited to learn that the other still slept with a stuffed animal. I don’t remember eight being such a tough age, but apparently it is…it’s the beginning of the cross over. Or at least, that’s how it seems with the two Matthew’s.

My Matthew was invited to the Strawberry Festival with Matthew’s family. (This is getting confusing already!) They are going to the Festival, and then to Burger in the Square for lunch and then to Matthew’s base ball game…his friend, not my Matthew. So, I guess it will just be Samara and I, and we’re thinking of heading down to the Strawberry Festival as well. It’s supposed to be beautiful tomorrow, and I will enjoy spending time with just she and I. We don’t get to do that often.

This is the first time that Matthew has had anyone over but the neighborhood kids, and they rarely come in the house. It’s also the first time that Matthew has been invited anywhere, and I think he’s tickled. Samara gets invited to so many birthday parties, and Matthew hasn’t. For once, he’s getting some interaction and I think he and Matthew will maintain a good friendship. He’s a wonderful kid, well-mannered and quiet. I told him he was welcome here anytime.

I’m off to attempt to hook up the scanner. With all the remodeling and moving around, the scanner has no home, but the kids’ spring pictures came in yesterday and I’m anxious to show them off. When I get them, I will put them up and I’ll be sure to snap a few pictures at the Strawberry Festival if we make it there…

Until next time…