NOTE: This post has eight (8) photographs with captions and some narrative. Photos by me (Bruce) taken with SONY alpha 6400 (A) and Google Pixel 6 Pro (B). Photos by Linda taken with a Google Pixel 6 (L).
WEDNESDAY 04 October to TUESDAY 17 October, 2023 — At home between trips (again), and a birthday
Upon our return home from our outing to Frankenmuth Jellystone Family RV Resort, we spent the first half of October 2023 finalizing our plans for driving the Natchez Trace National Parkway with our Airstream Flying Cloud 27 FBT travel trailer. This included decisions about where to make overnight reservations, find fuel, and what we might see and do while traveling the full length of the Trace from North to South. We ended up booking a combination of commercial RV parks, US Army Corps of Engineers and National Forest Service campgrounds, Harvest Host sites, and a Boondockers Welcome site.
In the two (2) weeks available to us before departure, we had to prepare the trailer, F-150 tow vehicle, house, barn, property, and ourselves to be away for about six (6) weeks. Grand-daughter Sadie’s 5th birthday/party was the highlight of this period. When possible, we delay leaving for the winter until after her birthday. Following are a few photos covering these two weeks. The auto-feeder for the cat was working well, and we arranged again for our neighbor, Mike, to keep an eye on the house and check on the feeder while we were away.
Cabela resting on her “princess pillow” on the sofa in the living room. She might not be our cat, but we have clearly become her caretakers, and we enjoy having her in our lives. We are trying to figure out how best to make this work long term. Even if we could get her to be an inside only cat, we doubt that we would be able to acclimate her to RV travel, and we would still be left with how to provide for her care while we are away on a cruise.
Cabela is not the only outside cat in our neighborhood, but she is the only one we are prepared to care for. This beautiful cat showed up one day. I was only a few feet away when I took this photo, so clearly not a feral cat.
Sadie opens one of her gifts at a family gathering on her birthday. (A friends’ party was held on a more convenient time on the weekend.)
Sadie shows off her Love Pop birthday card from Nancy and Paul.
It wouldn’t be a birthday party with a birthday cake. Sadie seems pleased at the sight of this flaming treat.
If you can see her face clearly enough, this is the look of a young lady determined to blow out all of the candles on the cake.
One of the small improvements I made to our camping situation was to purchase and install a Mopeka tank level sensor system for the two propane tanks on our Airstream travel trailer. Shown here is the remote indicator that I mounted in the bedroom at the front of the trailer. (The propane tanks are just on the other side of this front wall.)
The day before our departure for our trip down the Natchez Trace National Parkway we finished loading the F-150. I always photograph the bed of the truck so I can make sure everything fits back in. And yes, it is actually in the garage!
…