Mayberry Surprise!

Crossing over the North Carolina state line turned out to be full of nice surprises for us.  We started with uncertainty if our Kentucky Derby get together with pals Michelle and Jim would happen.  The rocket launch project they were working on suddenly entered a schedule critical period right around the year long planned get together in North Carolina.  And it was this uncertainty that led us to all of the nice surprises.

We ended up changing the place we were going to stay, and that's where the fun started.  Instead of pulling Penelope back westward and up into the mountains, we decided to stop at a point along the route we will be continuing on to the east.  Thinking if our friends come out to NC we will drive just the truck back west, because we are close enough to do that; if they can't come out we will just continue pulling Penelope east at the end of our planned stay and save an unnecessary trailer pull up narrow mountain back roads.

We found Mayberry Campground in a perfect location to agree with our planning, and everybody wants to go to Mayberry, right?!  It turned out to be a really nice campground in Mt. Airy, NC owned by very nice folks.  We noticed right away in the park, Andy Taylor Street, which we are parked on.  That made sense in Mayberry Campground.  We also noticed some signs saying things about Eng and Chang.... wasn't that the famous Siamese Twins???  It turns out it sure was!  They lived the last part of their lives right here in Mt. Airy, just like Andy Griffith!  And this RV park was part of the 110 acre farm that Eng and Change Bunker bought way back in 1839.  We had no idea.

Below are a few shots from around the Mayberry Campground.
We had a few pretty good rain showers during our stay, one had about 30 minutes of hail and was followed by a nice rainbow gift.

There is Steve on Andy Taylor Street.

The park has about 100 sites and two fishing ponds.  The family started with 10 sites and have built the park on their own site by site.  They have done a really nice job and keep it maintained beautifully.

That's us on Eng & Chang Way.  It turns out this park is part of the 110 acres that Eng and Chang bought here back in 1839!

This is a house right behind the Eng & Change Way sign in the park that was built by one of Eng's sons.  Eng had ten children and Chang had eleven!

This is a picture of Steve with Kila, Great Great Great Granddaughter of Eng Bunker.  That's her sweet Husky Quila.

There they are, Eng and Chang Bunker, right here in Mayberry!  They were born in Thailand and traveled the world as a curiosity before they ended up in Mt Airy, NC.  They didn't have a last name when they came to the US, so they borrowed the Bunker name from a family local to this area.  They are the reason the name Siamese Twins was coined for conjoined twins.

This is the small lake behind Eng's house.  We fished a little bit in both ponds.

Another very nice surprise was that we got to visit with our Cousins in Winston-Salem, NC.  We drove over to Ella's barn and watched her horseback riding lesson, and then followed Tiffany back to her home where Joel and Tiffany treated us to a wonderful Steak & Chicken Shish-Kabob Skewer dinner, yum!

 

Ella jumping with no hands!

Wells hangin' with Cousin Spur.

No hands, easy peasy for Ella! 

We met our neighbors in the Mayberry Campground, and the husband Bobby told me he was a preacher man.  OK I thought, we have nice neighbors... but then he gives me his fancy business card/pamphlet and it says he is the Smallest Preacher in the World!

OK now that makes Bobby famous, so  I had to ask for pictures!

 Bobby, Cathy and Gari

A few fishing pictures to round out this post...
Steve caught a few nice Bluegill

 Gari has a Largemouth Bass on!

Gari won't touch that fish so Steve holds it up for documentation.  We released all the fish unharmed in the making of this Blog.

Gari casts her 1/8 oz. spoon bait.

There's Spur trying his best to catch a bigger fish than Gari, unfortunately this is futile.

We have a couple more stops in this area and we will save those for a follow on post.  That will be a tour of Mayberry and a hike to the top of Hanging Rock Mountain.

Watts Bar Lake, Spring City, Tennessee

We are enjoying Cedar Point RV Park here in Spring City, TN.  The campground is waterfront on Watts Bar Lake.  The owners are super nice folks who I don't think their family has moved more than two miles in as many generations.  The patriarch Ken was born the same year the lake was flooded into existence.  The lake actually took his parents house and the campground land was part of what they bought with the TVA money they received for their flooded homestead property.  We have been out paddling our kayaks two days in a row now.  Seems like we are set up just fine.  We haven't been as lucky with the fishing here, just a few small Bluegill so far....

Watts Bar Lake at the back of the RV park.

Gari documenting the entrance sign.

Close up/

The RV park was originally set up for construction workers who were living in the area while working on the Watts Bar Nuclear Reactors.  It was a four year project and has just finished up a few months ago, and with it the park now has some vacant lots for the first time in over four years.  Now the family is transitioning over to a vacation type RV park and spreading the word.  Consider this a word on that transition, come on down!

We are set up on a lot that has southern exposure on the driver's side.  We liked that because the window we like to put the Sirius antenna in is also facing south on this lot.  There are still several vacancies here.

There are the two kayaks; one Perception (yellow & blue sit on top) and one Old Town (red sit inside).

You can just catch a glimpse of the lake over Pepe's hood.

The park also has several very nice cabins.  They are about 300 sq ft each.

Gari got a picture of a shorebird milling about the park.  We think it may be a Plover variety.  What do you think?

Dr. Doolittle feeds the domestic ducks, big mistake. We think they are Saxony Ducks.

Can't get rid of them now.  They come running as soon as we step outside.

One of the sons built this nice stone restroom and laundry facility.

We love that view!

We can just see a little bit of the lake from our dining table window.

First pictures from the kayaks; Gari fishing from her Old Town sit inside kayak.

Smashville, Tennessee!

We stayed at the Grand Ole RV Resort north of Nashville in the little town of Goodletsville.  We were immediately and continuously greeted by super friendly folks.  Nashville really has a great vibe.... literally!  This place is all about the music.  There is an unbelievable amount of talent around here; it seems everyone we met can sing and play at least one instrument.  We also took time out of our tourist activities to pick up a second kayak.  This time we went with an old friend and got an Old Town sit inside kayak.  We think that will feel much more stable and dry as compared to the sit on top model.  We will put Gari in the Old Town when she elects to paddle along.

You can see Penelope on lot #1 they called the Pole Position.  It was a good spot for us.  Away from the train tracks in the back, and away from the road noise in the front.  Being close to the main camp building was also nice.

Tommy the owner found these old lamp posts from Nashville and re-purposed them as his street signs in the park.

A beautiful flower by the front porch, and the vine next to Gari is nice too.

Mostly loaded and packed and ready to ride to Spring City, TN the next morning.  Now there are two kayaks on the roof of Pepé.  It was a good week in Nashville.

We toured Manskers Park and on the way saw an old stone arch bridge that the old was part of the stagecoach line between Nashville and Louisville.  The railroad replaced the stagecoach in 1859.

This is a replica fort that local folks built. Very interesting.

Gari stands in front of the house that belonged to some early Nashville settlers circa 1740s, the Bowen family.  The husband was a Captain in the Virginia Militia in 1777.  This place reminded us very much of Pemberton Hall in Salisbury

One day we wandered around town riding the free bus here and there.  Below is the Sirius/XM satellite radio studios in that tower building.

Gari found a giant tomato at the Farmer's Market.

Steve stopped to pick some corn.

A contrast of old and new, down on Music Row.

 What the???  Here comes the Rocket Party Bike!

These folks are drinking on that thing, there's a bar tender in the middle!  We can't see any risk with this business concept.

Steve checks out the stage in the amphitheater in the Bicentennial Park.

Flag and fountain court in the Bicentennial Park.

Steve checks out a Tennessee geography exhibit in the park.

This is a display of the Tennessee land contour.  See the Smoky Mountains at the far end?

One night our Camphosts Randy and Rita took a bunch of us out to the Nashville Palace for some music and night life. It was fantastic.  Everyone was so friendly and the musical and dancing talent was highly professional.  So many famous singers have come through here or even gotten their start here.  It was an amazing place and a fantastic experience.

This particular group is Larry Hamilton and the Nashville Palace Band.  We think that Larry may be the owner of the Palace.  Really good and talented guy, and they all were!

Out front were dozens of cement castings.  Below is that of Loretta Lynn and Randy Travis.  Randy got his start at the Nashville Palace washing dishes!

Rita also suggested we may like a walk around the Opryland Hotel & Convention Center, so later we tried just that.  Thank you Rita!  What an amazing place.  It's as big as 3 Superdomes with shops, gardens, restaurants and water features galore.   They had a boat you could ride around the canals just like in Las Vegas.

 A restaurant in the courtyard.

Beautiful flowers everywhere.

Beautiful Gari by another waterfall.

Around another corner we found a row of shops.

 We rode out to Old Hickory Dam one day just to see.

The welcoming committee came out to greet us.  Got any bread crumbs?  Let me see your hands and pockets.

What an amazing city Nashville is, and what a big time we had there!  Next week we will be waaaay off the grid near Spring City, in eastern Tennessee.  Where?  Right.  We may not have cellular coverage there.  We don't expect any broadcast television for sure.  We will have Sirius satellite radio and we will be parked right on the bank of Watts Bar Lake.  If the weather will cooperate again this week we should have some excellent kayaking ahead there.