WanderingFoxFarm

New park, this one is near Gadsden Al and our spot is not so great. Very close to other campers and no grass. If we came back, I would only choose the ones highlighted in the map below. Good cell signal but the poorest internet so far.

On Friday, I finished work at 2 and we cycled to Noccalula falls. It was about 6.5 miles away, the last 2 miles were on a gravel trail and mostly uphill. I was very hot and sweaty by the time we got to the top. It was well worth it. The falls are impressive.

We went on a mini hike to the bottom of the gorge, sort of a short cut on the way down, you had to wedge yourself using hands and feet to get down between two rocks. There were people swimming in the river and it was nice and cool with plenty of shade from the rock face. We decided to get back up a less dangerous way and walked a bit further on to find a gentler climb.

The cycle home was a little easier although riding downhill on the gravel was a little scary for a non mountain bike rider. We were both pretty exhausted and dinner followed by rest was the order of the day.

This morning we looped the park twice, it is a very pleasant walk with Heron, turtles, some flowers and lots of boats in the river

This afternoon we walked into town. Rob was hoping for a tour of the local micro brewery, Back Forty Beer co. But due to covid, they are not doing tours. As we walked back through the main street, I spotted a yarn store, woo hoo. Not only was it a lovely store but the owner used to belong to my spinning guild. Such a small world sometimes. Walked back stopping to look in at a bike store and books a million.

Also passed this fellow stopping for a rest at the side of the river

Tonight we were treated to a very nice sunset when we took the dogs out for their final walk of the day

We moved on to Grant AL and I can heartily recommend this campsite. Again we had a nice spot by the lake but all of the spots had a nice distance between them and plenty of grass and shade. We were a bit further out of town than was practical without Ebikes and I was working during the day so apart from walks around the camp, we did little else.

There were plenty of birds coming to visit, Loosey Goosey came most days, as did an American Robin and some ducks.

As you can see, the back end of the camper is really close to the water and it was lovely at night to just see and hear the lapping of the water against the edge of the lake.

There were some pretty nice sunsets and sunrises that added some additional color to the lake. This is a location I would happily visit again. There’s a state park about 8 miles away that would have been nice to visit if we already had the EBikes.

We left home on Saturday, this time for a longer trip, we want to see how easy it is to manage without a sperate vehicle, just our bicycles. Ebikes are coming later in the month but these are just normal hybrid road bikes. We left on Robbie time so our 12.30 departure was just after 1.30. First camp is in Cave Springs Georgia, not too far from home probably about 70 miles. The campsite is about 2.5 miles outside of the town and we have a lovely spot right by the river.

I learned yesterday that asking the question 3 times, “have you got your swimming trunks” does not guarantee that they will actually make it into the RV. So the first order of the day was to try out our cycling skills and go to town to buy some. Will have to think of something else to ensure a yes really means yes.

This morning we thought we would give Kayaking a go, so after signing up at the camp office they drove us to the launch site 5 miles up the river. First time for both of us and it was a lot of fun. We were both exhausted after the 2 1/4 hours it took us to row back. Mr Rob managed to get sunburnt on his legs but it was a lovely peaceful outing. We saw lots of turtles, ducks, a lovely heron and plenty of other birds. Not a sound to be heard other than the sounds of the birds and the water rushing in places in the river. I managed to get caught on rocks a few times but was able to get off them without leaving the boat.

This afternoon we cycled back into town for a more leisurely look around and to sample some of the local ice creams. The town is located on the historic trail of tears route and there was a building in town with a plaque saying that is was the Vann Cherokee house but a google search for more details sounds like it disproved that https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/core-samples-at-cave-spring-cabin-indicate-it-may-not-have-been-built-by-cherokee/article_ac51a85a-23f2-11e7-b339-3b5a4057e1fd.html

Back at the campsite – should sleep well again tonight and tomorrow we leave for our next site.

2 weeks ago we decided there was no time like the present and we bought the Motor-home that we have been wanting for the past year. We spent some time learning all the bells and whistles that it has and fitting it out with the essentials so that last Saturday we felt ready to try it out.

We have friends that live down in South Georgia near Oglethorpe on a beautiful property but more importantly, they are already set up for additional RV with full hook up. For those not into this strange new world, that means electricity, water, and sewer. We decided to drive down avoiding the I 75 so not exactly back roads but definitely not the main highway. It took a little longer but was so much nicer and we were not in any rush. Here is Mr. Rob driving, Travel Foxy looking forward to the adventure and the dogs deciding to share one dog bed rather than have more room, although the whole insides are much larger once the slides outs are done.

She drives very well and is really comfortable although at 35ft long 13.6 high and 25000lbs she is a bit of a gas guzzler. We maybe get about 10 miles to the gallon. Here she is in all her glory, parked up next to their 5th wheel.

The property was even more beautiful than we thought it would be -100 wooded and landscaped acres with a stunning 5-acre fishing lake. Not a sound to be heard other than the birds. We were spoilt and had some great meals topped off with venison sausage on Sunday morning that has been produced from deer caught and shot on the property.

The lake was teeming with catfish, bream, and bass, we also saw a giant turtle and OMG a snake swimming across to the bank on Sunday morning. Our hosts assured us that if the snake puts its head below the water it is not poisonous and if it stays on top it is. Sorry not buying it, as far as I am concerned if it puts its head below water it’s still poisonous but also super smart. It came onshore and this time they were right, it was a king snake and they eat the young of poisonous snakes so they are good to have around. Well, that’s what people tell me. I have been in Georgia for 7 years and I still believe that every spider is a brown recluse and every snake is a cottonmouth and treats them accordingly. The dogs were oblivious to everything but loved it there, happy dogs that love to camp.

Sunday afternoon we drove back through some really lovely scenery its mostly farmland so we drove through acres of corn, peanuts, pecan groves, and peach trees. We stopped at a farmers market and had some delicious peach ice cream. Great weekend, Betsy did well, the dogs were fine with it all, so what’s not to love about it!

I will leave you with a final look at the property and promises of more adventures to come.

So as most people who know me are already aware, I love to knit lace. I think one of the main reasons is because what you have in your hands as you are knitting, looks very different when it’s been washed and blocked.  So you get the pleasure at multiple points.

I thought I would show both Knitters and those aspiring to knit, the process that I go through, the tools that I use and what the finished result looks like. Above is an example of a shawl as it looks when it comes off my  Needles. I will now soak this in hand-hot water, with a little wool safe soap and just let it rest for about 20 minutes. Then I will gently wring out most of the water and wrap it in a towel to get out the excess moisture. The next step is quite time-consuming. First, you need to decide what the intended final shape is. For this one it was a plain rectangle but some are curved, some have points etc. Over time I have collected a number of things to get this done. 

I use spongy floor tiles from somewhere like Home Depot. In the above image here are some of the things I have collected. On the right there are straight wires, great for long straight edges, I thread them through the edge them hold them in place with the U shaped pins in the middle of the circle. The circle is a covered flexible wire, perfect for curved edges. You do the same thing, thread it through the edge the use the U pins to hold the shape. The U pins and the T pins are used to pin out small points etc. Top left is some smaller straight edge pins (got those from knit picks). For this shawl I threaded wires through the top and bottom edges and then used the straight blocking pins for pegging out the sides. 

Just leave it to dry and when fully dry, take the pins out and voila! it looks so different😀

Hey it’s fiber foxy here, first I need to start with an apology it’s being pointed out to me that I live in the south and therefore I should refer to my people as Miss Lynne and Mr. Rob. So I will correct that going forward.

We are very lucky that we are all able to access a 2 1/2 mile walking trail, straight from the house. We can spend an hour or in the fresh air with no people, no cars and no houses in sight. Every day this week Miss Lynne and Mr. Rob have gone out for a walk and they tell me that it makes them feel much better and happier with life. Today I went with them and at the beginning of the walk we passed Mr. Rob’s bike trail. The picture below is me sitting on Mr. Rob’s large ramp that he uses for trail practice.

We are also lucky that we have enough room in the house that they can spend time apart. Mr. Rob likes to watch 10 hours of news a day and Miss Lynne thinks that’s really depressing. Miss Lynne likes to watch murder mystery’s like Midsummer Murders and Mr. Rob thinks that’s mindless froth that has no bearing on reality. Miss Lynne says yes and that is exactly why she likes it. Anyway they can both go to separate rooms and spend time apart and then come together in the evenings and watch programs that they that they can agree on like number nine on the BBC and DCI Banks plus they watched a really good documentary last week about a guy called Jason Able they said it was really interesting. OK that’s all for now, as my first name is fiber, I guess I should stay with Miss Lynne while she knits, spins and watches her mindless froth.

A Day trip to the City

Hey, it’s Fiber Foxy, here again, I did not get to go to the Botanical Gardens with Lynne and Rob yesterday, they were muttering something about “the abundance of caution”. But they came back and regaled me with stories of their day.

Arrived pretty early at the gardens and paid to get in, Lynne took some great photos that are posted below and was saying that they reminded her of home. Seems the daffodil is the national flower for Wales, news to me! They were a little disappointed to find that they were not informed at check-in that the greenhouse with the Orchid exhibition was shut, as was the food concessions. But that disappointment grew when at 11.30 the gardens decided to close and ask everyone to leave (no refunds offered)

To make the best of the day, they decided to go for a walk in the nearby Piedmont Park and were pleased to see how busy it all was. There was a crazy juxtaposition in Atlanta, a distinct lack of cars but lots of people out walking and enjoying the day. There are at least a few positives with the current situation!

They assure me I can go on any future trips and I am also looking forward to Lynne getting some of her many crafting projects at least started.