March 1 -2 - Countermine’s Campground

Last night’s stay at Loves Truckstop Campground wasn’t as noisy as we anticipated. It’s newly constructed with 8 camping spots with full hookup. We would stay here again since Draper Mercantile isn’t an option anymore. 

On the road early. As we were close to Bristol Tennessee, an eagle flew very close to our RV. Thank heaven it changed direction quickly so we didn’t hit it!

Arrived at Terry and Sandy Countermine’s place around noon and parked in their driveway. 

It’s been great catching up. Lunch was at Main Street Cafe. Delicious food and fun staff. Then Terry and Sandy took us to their newly renovated Theater for a tour. Beautiful venue for movies and music. 

This is our view from the RV. 

Visited Terry and Sandy’s church to hear Terry’s Praise band and listen to Pastor Mike’s message about listening to hear God. 

Sandy is a quilter as well as a knitter so we had a lot to catch up our projects. I love the Tree of Live one she did. 

 A hike at Persimmon Ridge was relaxing. Lenny and Banjo had good smells with Abby and Sadie. 

A couple games of Left Right Center where Sandy won 3, Peg 2 and Terry and Bill won ZIP. Lots of laughter. 

Tomorrow we leave to drive farther south to Oat Mountain State Park. We stayed here on our way to Gulf Shores and enjoyed hiking there. Temps are supposed to be in the 60s. 

October 23-28 - Jonesborough, TN

With the leaves almost past prime in State College, we decided to drive south to visit with Terry and Sandy Countermine. Trees were in full vivid color as we drove farther south. 

Here’s a sunrise from where Ida sits in the driveway. 

Porch time. 

We parked in their driveway for the week and had a wonderful visit. It seems there is always something happening in their town. This time it was Haunted Happenings. 

They closed off Main Street and had Trick or Treating up and down the street. Lots and lots of people with their kids and dogs. 

The Jonesborough Novelty Band played  as people milled around. 

Chip and Mary came to town just for the event. 

Carved pumpkins lined the streets. Some talented and creative artists, as you’ll see. 

here is just a fraction of the costumes that walked the streets. 

A fitting moon for Haunted Happenings 

On the way home, we stopped at a new Harvest Host, Lambert Vintage Winery. Enjoyed tasting their wines and having a Izzy. 

We had a foggy and rainy ride home. 

International Storytelling Festival

October 5-10

We are almost at the end of a 2-month journey from Pennsylvania to California to Oregon to Washington and back across the US to visit good friends, Sandy and Terry Countermine, and listen to wonderful stories. 

This is the 50th year for the International Storytelling Festival. The town is all ready with decorations and tents. 

Sandy, Nancy and I took an origami storytelling workshop by Motoko. 

We laughed a lot as we made these origami objects. 

This is the Storytelling Center that brings lots of people together from all over the US and some even from other countries, some to listen and some to tell stories. It is such a happy place. Southern hospitality is alive and well here. 

A large attraction at the festival is The Jonesborough Novelty Band. They started us off with music at the Center at the beer and wine garden. 

And they continued with more music on Friday night with their famous or infamous sing along. People were singing and laughing. This is why we love coming to the Festival. 

At the sing along, the audience was treated with a special instrument called the gitfiddle, played by Bill Shuffstall. If you’ve never heard of the gitfiddle, have a listen:

https://youtu.be/yKBzTzU3EMw

The band travels in a golf cart to their different venues because Jonesborough is up and down hills. 

Lots of storytelling happened in these tents. There are 5 of them and some hold at least 1,000 people. 

Saturday night was the Yarn Spinner’s party with food, beverages and you guessed it, music. This year several different musicians joined the band for their special songs. Lots of dancing happened, too!

It’s always hard to say goodbye to our old friends and new friends but hopefully we’ll be back next year. Thanks Sandy, Terry and Jonesbourgh for a laughing good last 4 days. 

Last Moochdocking for this Trip

We sure did pick a great weekend to spend with the Countermines. We rolled in late Thursday afternoon because we had an got delayed over an hour in construction traffic and then an issue with the car’s battery. Luckily, Bill has jumper cables and could use the RV to jump the car. 

As soon as we arrived, I felt at home and part of the family. Barbara Smith McBride joined us for dinner and we had so much fun catching up with everyone and everything happening in Jonesborough. AND there was a lot happening while we were here. 

Thursday night started off with a fundraiser for the Storytelling Center where we were entertained by storyteller, Bill Lepp. We’ve heard him at each of the Storytelling festivals but his stories never grow old. He even had a new one he tried out on us. 

On Friday we took a stroll around Jonesborough and then watched Nathan wrest at the USMC tournament in Las Vegas. 

Friday night was a fundraiser for the Art Center, held in the historic Black school. With our tickets, there was a silent auction and an opportunity to have a piece of artwork that we could trade among anyone there. It was so much more than a fundraiser. It brought us together with people we didn’t know and conversations were started. 

We even got two hikes in at Persimmon Ridge with the dogs and some knitting time for me so Sandy could help me finish my hat. 

Here’s where we park at Countermine’s. We just fit in their driveway. 

When Chip and Mary Ward join us for storytelling in October, Terry will open the gate and one of us will park inside. Perfect location to everything Jonesborough. 

Sunday we are starting home and hopefully will arrive Monday afternoon. It’s always fun to watch the dogs reaction when they realize we are going up their driveway.