How do I pick my way up?

THURSDAY, November 25: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned out to be the worst weather day of the trip. It was an all-day rain day. What to do?

Around noon, we drove into Hohenwald to get gas. Hohenwald is a small town of less than 4,000. We stopped at the Tri-Stop gas station. Their gas was 10¢ cheaper than everyone else. There was a deli inside and it appeared to be open.

We went in and were heartily greeted by an entire family of downhome graciously-mannered restauranteurs with a doubly-thick southern accent. Today's deli-delight was taco soup with a dessert choice of banana pudding or pecan squares. How could we refuse such a delightful invitation? We sat down and learned the family history as we ate.

They had owned the town grocery store but sold out a few years back. That was their biggest mistake. Grandma loved the store, so they set out to find another business venture to replace the grocery store, with mixed results. The last business was selling boats. The brother, who is still selling boats as a side hustle, complained that his boat customers could be over-demanding.

Four weeks ago, they bought out the gas station, convenience store, and restaurant. They called it Tri-Stop. The previous owner had tried to make the restaurant into a BBQ shack. The family gutted it out and put in a deli. So let’s see. There was grandma, her son and daughter, the daughter’s husband, and the daughter’s two daughters, as I remember it.

I swear with all the, “Thank you so very much” and the, “We so appreciate you coming in”, that we left feeling special as if we were their very first customer. I hope they make it.

Oh, and the cheaper gas? They are selling their gas at the price that reflected the wholesale gas price when they bought the station, not the current price. They called it the “in ground” price. The next load of gas will be priced to reflect whatever the new wholesale price will be. Apparently, the neighboring gas stations put up a bit of a fuss about that. I liked them even more after that story.

The Tri-Stop family.

A niece did the artwork.

The rest of the day we drove south on the Natchez Trace Parkway to the Tennessee bridge crossing in Mississippi. The rain never let up. The sky was extra dark and drab. We did not stop to hike all the great trail opportunities or overlooks along the way. The Parkway was so beautiful and peaceful to drive, even the dullest of days couldn’t take anything away from it. Sorry, no photos.

Back at V-Jer it was time for our Thanksgiving feast. We were boondocking. It was raining so we didn’t haul out the generator. The microwave was out of the question. All we had was a two-burner gas stove, two cooking pots, and two mixing bowls. (The pots and bowls are those special collapsing RV types.)

We started with a rotisserie chicken that we bought yesterday. I had already stripped all the meat off the carcass. We had frozen corn that we steamed. We fixed up a box of stovetop stuffing by first sauteeing onions, mushrooms, and celery. We heated up a jar of chicken gravy. We whipped up a batch of dehydrated mashed red potatoes. Finally, we cracked open our Apple Pie Moonshine.

It was an RV feast. The kitchen was a mess, but it was as traditional a Thanksgiving meal as we could muster with the limited means we had on hand. It was scrumptious.

FRIDAY, November 26: The Trace

It was time to go back up the Trace and hike some of the trails. First, we had a couple of errands.

The LP gas ran out in the middle of the night. It is uncanny that it always runs out at 2 or 3 am. When boondocking, which we were, that means the refridgerator and furnace shuts off. So, at 3 am, in the freezing cold, I went out to change tanks. When that happens, I like to exchange the empty tank for a full one as soon as possible. That meant, Walmart, the black hole.

Hohenwald has a Walmart. The LP exchange is $17.99 at Walmart. So, where did the other $60 go? Who knows, but we did get away with less than $100 this time. I call that a moral victory.

It was still pretty chilly, so we decided to do a load of wash. We had gotten spoiled from our last two ultra-modern laundromats. This one was more “normal”.

By noon, it was bright and had warmed up. Time to hike. Fall Hollow was our first stop. The trail was a treacherous climb down into a steep hollow. The falls was a mere trickle but it was still worth the effort. I am a sucker for moving and falling water.

Two creeks meet in the hollow. Basically, both creeks fall into the hollow. This is the larger of the two creek.

The falls formed by the smaller creek.

The falls formed by the larger creek.

Jackson Falls was a bit larger. It was more of a steep cascade than a falls. The trail was interesting. Unlike the trail at Fall Hollow, this one was a cement sidewalk all the way down the side of a cliffside. It’s as if they tried to make it handcapped accessible. It would have been a helluva ride down in a wheelchair.

The cement sidewalk descending into the hollow.

Jackson Falls.

Barker Bluff overlook. These stops along the Parkway are not of the spectacular variety, but they are pleasant little gems along a pleasant lazy road.

Tomorrow we head to our final campground, and visit the Shiloh Civil War Battlefield.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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