Sunday, May 13, 2012. The Preacher's treehouse

We had such an interesting day today, that I had to do an "extra" edition of the blog.  We are staying at Spring Lake RV resort in Crossville Tennessee for an American Coach Association rally.  Today was a quiet day for official activities and it was suggested that we take a tour of the Preacher's tree house.  This was perhaps, the most interesting and most weird tours I have ever taken and suggest you take the opportunity to tour this amazing structure if you ever have the chance.  If you click on the link above, you will read some of the history of this structure which is a 7 or 8 or 9 story tree house.  I'm not sure how many stories there really are, but by all accounts, the house is over 100 feet tall.  As you can see from the pictures, the actual structure is difficult to describe, even if you have been in it, walked up and down in it, toured it, and walked away from it, shaking your head in wonder.  One word kept coming to my mind and that is, "WHY??".  Why did this preacher invest the time and money into building this structure which, while unique and different, is almost totally useless.  What I have heard is that several couples said their vows in the chapel, and at one point some homeless people lived there.  Other than that, there seems to be no purpose, no use, no reason for the tremendous effort put into erecting this house.  It did, however, provide an interesting afternoon for us, along with a lot of exercise exploring the twisting random rooms, stairways, and hall ways.

While this photo doesn't really do the structure justice, you do get an idea of the magnitude of the project.

Randomly located throughout the house are lifesize carved wooden figures of various biblical characters.

This is a view of the "chapel" from the "balcony".  I use the quotes because at any moment, you are never really certain what room you are looking at or located in as the structure is very non-descript.

This is a photo of the tower that extends up from the roof of the house.  If you climb up to the top of the tower you are at least 100 ft. above the ground.  There is a warning that if you jump or fall, you will die!

This is your view of the front lawn from the top of the tower.

Our "tree hugger"  This is one of seven trees that the house is built on/into.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Today is Sunday, and in addition, today is also Mother's day so consider this a great big hug to all the mothers out there who work hard to raise kids, and keep their family together.  Obviously being a mother is a full time job and one of the hardest jobs on earth.  I thank God every day for my family, for my kids, and give credit to my wife for her contribution to the way my kids turned out.

Along a similar line, I was having a discussion the other day, here in the motorhome, about one aspect of RVing that hasn't been discussed before, that is the subject of towels, and in particular, those smaller "hand" towels that are sooooooooo useful in daily life.  In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here are a couple of examples:

I will readily admit that when I am in desperate need of a hand towel for (as an example) wiping up spilled water, or cleaning off some greasy engine part, I reach out for the closest one in reach.  My first glance is to the counter top where all hand towels should be stored!  Where I do not look is on the towel rack shown in the first picture.  Who in their right mind will go to the trouble of taking a hand towel, folding it neatly, and then threading it through the rack?  Why go to all that trouble when you know you will need that same towel in just a few minutes anyway?  Seems like a waste of effort to me.

The green towel laying on the counter is just fine for me, but apparently not for the other occupant in our rolling home, or as our son calls it, "the box".  "She who must be obeyed" is of the school which says you have to hang the towel back up on the rack, or even worse, if you find the towel neatly and precisely folded when you arrive, you must neatly and precisely fold it back into the same shape after you are finished using it.  I suspect there is some mysterious precise location on the counter top where the previously mentioned precisely folded towel must also be positioned or some awful fate awaits the errant towel positioner.  Just one more thing to worry about in an already troubled world!

Men know instinctively that those pretty towels typically found in places like the bathroom of the home of special friends you are visiting, those towels are not there to be used!  After all, if you use them, you have to refold them, again, precisely and neatly, and then reposition them as you found them.  All men have found this to be totally impossible, at least for the male of the specie and therefore chose not to even attempt it as the results are a very poor imitation of the original.  Besides removing those greasy spots after drying ones hands just takes too much time.  It is soooo much easier to just take the path of least resistance and wipe one's hands on one's jeans and then walk out of the bathroom with a smile on your face, acting as though nothing special has happened.  If you watch carefully in this situation, I have actually seen our hostess slyly get up, go into the aforementioned bathroom and surreptitiously check to see if her towels had been disturbed.  Don't deny it ladies, you all do it!  Men know that and that is why we use our garments as towels.  Keeps us out of trouble and that is the goal of every married man.

Getting caught up----maybe

I was reminded recently that according to my blog, I am stuck in Wyoming, when actually we made it home to Ohio mid April.  After remaining in Ohio for about a week, we then left for a gathering of friends in Gettysburg Pa., staying at Gettysburg Campground.  We had a great time getting caught up with everyone, and I was busy fixing various motorhome problems including installation of a new battery charger, and fixing an icemaker.  We traveled to Gettysburg with our friends Orlando and Sally, and spent about 3 hours on Saturday touring the civil war battlefield.  The magnitude of that battle still amazes me when you start to realize the number of combatants, the amount of ammunition expended, the casualties, etc. it is overwhelming.  This doesn't even begin to take into account the human interest stories that abound. 

On Thursday, we all traveled to Lancaster Pa. to see the presentation of Jonah and the Whale at the Sight and Sound Theatre.  This was an amazing performance.  The special effects and the costumes were tremendous and the story was a joy to watch.  The theater holds 2200 and every seat was full. If you are planning to be in the Lancaster area any time before Dec. 29, you should look into attending a performance.

Following the trip to Gettysburg, we returned back home for a week to relax and clean up the RV.  Then, on Wednesday of this week, we headed out again, this time for the Volunteer state.  We will be in Tennessee for a week and a half to attend a rally in Crossville Tn. with the Great Lakes Chapter of the American Coach Association, and then on to Sevierville Tn. to attend the national rally for the American Coach Association.

Today is Thursday, and we just arrived at Spring Lake RV resort in Crossville.  Thus far, it appears we are going to have a comfortable stay here with full hookups, a large grassy site, with a very nice view of the lake located right behind our site.

As the week goes on, I will try to discuss some of the attractions here just in case you decide you might want to visit the area.