The Beautiful Mountains

We left Crystal River on Wednesday, April 11 for our summer RV site in Dillard, Georgia. We bid goodbye to our friends Judy and Roger, our neighbors in Rock Crusher Canyon, on Monday, who headed out before we did. They were a joy to be around during the winter/spring snowbird season. We will miss them but know they will be back next season to enjoy again. We said goodbye to Jim and Russ, our other neighbors. Jim brought over some Jack Daniels blond brownies that were absolutely delicious for us to enjoy on our trip. We wish them well on their travels back to Michigan and especially their cruise to Alaska in the summer.

We didn’t travel far the first day. We just went two and a half hours north to Jennings Outdoor Resort Campground, which is located in Jennings, Florida, a little bit south of the Florida/Georgia line.

 

We had stayed here a few years ago and enjoyed it. They gave us a pull-thru site near the clubhouse and pool area. The place has a pond with mallard ducks floating around. You can rent paddle boats if you wanted to. Kozmo didn’t pay much attention to the ducks, but she was into squirrel hunting.

The only thing they could change is to update their sites so they are more level. The concrete and asphalt is broken in a lot of places and the streets are very narrow but we managed it all right after moving a picnic table. I opted to do a load of laundry in the laundry area that was very big. It had six washers and six dryers. The dryers were the bargain at $1.00 for 45 minutes. There is also a large cat cage that houses a huge 33 pound cat named Fudge. They used to have three cats in there but the one lives with its owners in the campground and the other one passed on.

After the laundromat closes at 10 pm, they open the cage and Fudge roams around the building until the next morning. He was a very affectionate cat when I talked to him and petted him.

The second day of travel was even shorter being only two hours and five minutes. We stayed at our favorite campground heading north on I-75 in central Georgia, called Twin Oaks, in Elko, just south of Perry. They are a Passport America campground so we got to stay there for $19 a night. The weather was a bit chilly with us waking up to 41 degrees but it felt nice for a change. Twin Oaks has changed owners and they have done a great job in their landscaping and cleanliness of the park.

The third day was a long one travelling four hours and fifteen minutes to Dillard. We stopped at Eatonton, Georgia, at the Eagle Truck stop which is probably the halfway point between Perry and Dillard. We love this truck stop because they are so friendly and clean. We actually stayed here about an hour and not only topped off the tank with diesel, but also got some lunch at their restaurant called Chesters. Jeff got chicken strips with two sides, fries and black eyed peas, and cornbread for $6.75 and I got their shrimp with two sides, fries and collard greens for the same amount. The collard greens were VERY GOOD! The only downfall was the price of diesel gas at $4.19 a gallon. We had seen gas at $4.09 at other places but since we didn’t need that much and like this place, we were willing to pay the extra cash. Before leaving I took Kozmo on a walk to stretch her legs and do her business. After leaving there we arrived at our site in Dillard at 2:45. I am happy that Jeff saw the flashing sign on HWY 441 in Rabun Gap just before Dillard telling us there was a detour that we needed to take. They are replacing the bridge at HWY 246 and they started it on April 2. So people who want to head to our campground at River Vista or go to Sky Valley or on up to Highlands, North Carolina must detour 1.6 miles on a two lane paved road in order to get there. The Dillard House in Dillard has already felt the impact by saying they are down 20% in the people who are eating there. We usually got the paper down at the gas station on a daily basis and now we won’t be doing that. They say it should be done by June 25, so time will tell.

After setting up our site, we ventured out on Saturday to Mishima Express, which is a Japanese hibachi cuisine place that is located in Clayton, Georgia. It is attached to a gas station and is one of our favorite places to eat. We usually get the hibachi chicken which comes with brown rice with mushrooms and delicious sweet carrots. We can walk out of there very filled up for less than $20.00, which includes the tip.

Sunday, Jeff put up our stereo system on the deck and hung two speakers in the corners of our coach house. We listened to smooth jazz and had some vegetable dip and crackers while enjoying the beautiful weather which included a high of 70 degrees with a cool breeze. We had a great dinner of meat loaf with two sides, garlic mashed potatoes and black eyed peas. Earlier in the morning DirecTV came by to install a Slimline SWM satellite dish on our shed and give us a new high def dvr receiver. This will enable us to get high definition on the tv here, record one program while watching another AND with only one cable coming in our fiver. Last year we had Radio Shack come out and put a satellite dish on the shed but it wasn’t high def because we brought our standard def dvr that had been in the bedroom of our Valrico house. We had to pay for that last year. DirecTV gave us the new dish and new hi def dvr receiver free with no increase on our bill. They say it is because we are longtime DirecTV customers. The picture really looks great now.

We ate breakfast at Annette’s Restaurant in Dillard Monday morning. We joined one of our neighbors who was eating by himself. This place is in its third year and is a great find! Their breakfast was even better than our regular breakfast spot, Kim’s Cafe, in Homosassa. The prices are quite nice also. Jeff had two eggs, two sausage patties, fried taters and wheat toast. I had scrambled eggs with cheese, taters, very crispy bacon and wheat toast. We both had coffee and we got our little Kozmo a biscuit with bacon for waiting patiently in the truck enjoying the nice breeze. We left the place by paying only $14.48, not including the tip. Their lunches are to die for also according to our neighbor. We met the owner who also waited on us and gave us our food. The coffee and water came freely and the waitresses were very friendly. We can’t wait to go back again for breakfast or lunch. They are closed on Tuesdays and we are already feeling withdrawal symptoms. :-)

Tuesday, we went to Clayton to my favorite grocery store called Ingles. Jeff and Kozmo stayed in the truck in the 74 degree weather. Jeff played on the tablet and Kozmo napped he said. But before I shopped I brought back a mocha frappucchino for Jeff to enjoy from the Starbucks that is located right inside the store as you enter. I brought my chai tea frappucchino on my shopping spree and loved every sip of it. I love Ingles. I could spend a half of a day in there and eat lunch and still yearn to be there. Maybe I should get a job there someday??? After Ingles we headed to Zaxby’s for a delicious salad. We then proceeded to Home Depot to pick up an outside storage unit to put at the back of the deck, against the shed, to house our stereo and odds and ends. By the time we got back to the rig, the rain was about to begin falling, so we managed to get everything inside and put away. We may need to visit to WalMart soon to buy a new compact refrigerator for the shed. The old one must have died within the last day or so. We have had it for three years. It comes in handy for soft drinks and things that don’t fit into the refrig in the rig.

We plan on just enjoying the mountains and relaxing the next day or so.

‘Til next time…….