We had a more leisurely start to the day knowing we had less than 2 hours drive to the great smoky mountains.

As we crossed into North Carolina we put on James Taylor’s Carolina in my mind to put us in the mood.

We stopped at the visitor centre at Bryson City, a quaint town on the edge of the Smokies. The lady there recommended a campground nearby and a hike with 3 waterfalls on it.

As it was Sunday afternoon it was very busy and we were lucky to get the last spot in the campground. It’s only $15 for the night with our discount card. It’s a nice spot only slightly ruined by our neighbours noisy generator.

We went for our walk, following the river, then up a steep hill to the Juney Whank waterfall. An Amish family we’re there all dressed in their Sunday best. They had travelled 700kms as their mother was having surgery in Atlanta. So they were doing a bit of sightseeing beforehand.

Lots of people were tubing down the river. I would loved to have given it a go, but the thought of carrying the tube up a steep incline didn’t really appeal. Plus it looked a bit scary. One guy was walking back down with his tube and an ice pack on his head.

We visited the two other waterfalls then I had a swim. The water was freezing having come straight off the blue ridge mountain, but I braved it and was glad I did. It was nice to cool off from the heat and humidity.

Back at camp we sat and listened to the noisy generator for a bit. After about an hour they came back to their camp and turned it off and it was such a relief.

Tomorrow we shall explore the smokies some more before picking up the blue ridge parkway and following it to Virginia. I feel like I’m in a John Denver song.

There are about 1500 bears in the great smoky mountains. That’s 2 bears per square mile. So we might get up early in the morning with the hope of seeing one.

We set the alarm for 5.30am to get an early start for our hike. We drove 30 mins down a gravel road and parked at a small parking spot at the trail head. But there was no sign to say we were in the right place, or even if there was a trail here. And we were the only ones there.

I felt a bit nervous in the middle of nowhere but Mike said they don’t put signposts in national forests.

The path was well formed, but at the first sign of getting lost or seeing a bear this early in the morning, I was heading back to the car!

But, thankfully it was a good track all the way and a wonderful walk alongside the river. Mike only walked into one spider web.

After about an hours walking we came to a neat waterfall that you could walk around behind it. I was tempted to have a swim but didn’t.

We hadn’t seen anyone on our walk which we thought was strange on a sat morning, but when we were almost back at the car, streams of people started walking in, looked like a hiking group with their poles.

It was 9.30 by the the time we got back to the car. It had been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours and it was already hot and humid.

When we’d arrived we were the only ones, now there were cars parked along the narrow road. Mike tried to reverse out and went over a steep bit and the bike rack wedged in the gravel. It was just as well otherwise he would have hit a parked car as he’d misjudged it. I’d offered to get out and guide him but he said I didn’t need me to.

He managed to drive back up to the parking space. I decided guide him and told him he would have to reverse out the same way he went in and turn around up the road somewhere. I asked a couple who had just arrived if there was somewhere to turn around and they said about half a mile up the road.

I went back to tell Mike only to see him trying to turn the van around in the tiny carpark. He was about the crash the bikes into a wall so I shouted for him to stop. Thankfully he heard me. I don’t think he has gotten used to the extra length with the bikes on.

I guided him out the way we went in, found a place to turn around and finally we were on our way.

There were a few other waterfalls and walks we wanted to do, but it absolutely bucketed down with rain, so we kept on driving.

It was another long day driving today, and we lost an hour going east. There seemed to be nowhere to stop and camp without heading way off our route. Then about 6pm we saw a sign to the national forest and found a full, but very nice campground by a lake where I had a swim.

We are now about 2 hours drive from the great smoky mountains, where we plan to stay a few days and drive the blue ridge parkway to Virginia.

Today we woke to a beautiful calm morning on the lake. I’m feeling so much happier now the weather is cooler.

We’d planned another long driving day of about 6 hours. We stopped about 2pm and did a little bush walk to a natural bridge and some caves. We also found the ranger station and Mike was able to get an America the beautiful pass which gives us access to all the national parks and forests and also discounts on campgrounds.

It usually costs $80 per year but because mike is a senior he got it as a one off fee forever. And it covers 6 people in the car. So already on our first night camping we saved $18.

We are loving being back in the road again and loving the modifications we’ve made to our van. Having a swivel table in the centre of our lounge is the best thing followed closely by the table covering our toilet. Also we now have solar on the roof to enable us to go off grid for longer. You’ll see all our changes in an upcoming video.

Tomorrow we’re going for a hike in the Bankhead forest to the Sougahoagdee falls.

We had a great nights sleep in the Davy Crockett nation forest. It was our first night in the van leaving the air conditioning going all night.

We’d planned to get away early to get a few cool hours of driving, but by the time we got lost finding our way out, and going to the dump station, it was 7.45am.

I’ve bought a fancy fan that I can put ice cubes in and if you hold it close to your body it works really well. But only lasts about 15 mins before you have to replace the ice.

We drove through 3 states today. Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

It was a long days drive, too hot to stop for long. We had a severe downfall of rain when we arrived in Arkansas. It was a bit scary driving in it with thunder cracking overhead, but it lasted about 10 minutes before we were out the other side of the storm.

We are in a lovely spot in the Lake Chicot State park in Arkansas, camped overlooking the lake. It’s much cooler too after the rain and a nice breeze blowing off the lake. Mike got a $10 discount for being a senior so it’s costing us $29 for full hookup ( including sewer) and a fantastic view.

And we had a nice nights sleep without the air conditioning running.

Today we are heading for Bankhead national forest which is about 6 hours drive.

We said goodbye to our little fur family and left our housesit at 8am.

It was thankfully cooler today but still about 35 degrees with 93 percent humidity. But it was overcast and that stopped it getting too hot. It was still really hot, just not too hot.

We stopped at Buccees, a famous service station chain in Texas. We’d already filled up, but we’d heard about their brisket sandwiches so thought we’d give them a try.

This Buccees was jam packed, so we grabbed our pre made sandwiches wrapped in foil and got out of there. On the way I also grabbed some Beaver nuggets which was also a thing to try.

Back in our van we tried our service station sandwiches, not expecting much. It’s not your typical cold sandwich on bread though. It’s actually a broiche burger bun and it’s warm.

Mike had the pulled pork and it was really nice, smoky and moist. I had the brisket and it also was surprisingly yummy. You’ll have to wait for our video to hear about the beaver nuggets.

We only drove 3 hours today and stopped at Davy Crockett national forest. It was a lovely spot to camp, but it was so hot and humid, we plugged our rear air conditioner in and slept for the afternoon.

Around 6pm we ventured out again, this time on our bikes. We rode through the forest and found a lovely swimming spot. A large family group were there, swimming and kayaking, not worried by the water snakes and alligators.

I decided I’d go for a swim in my clothes, but it was like stepping into a warm bath. They told me the water temperature was 33 degrees. I think it was warmer.

I decided it wasn’t worth it for a warm bath as I’d no doubt be left feeling stickier. So we cycled back to our van and had a salad wrap for dinner.

I’ve made a mistake with how long we have to get to Connecticut. I though we had 6 weeks but forgot they’d extended our housesit and we only actually have 4 weeks. And it’s about 4000 kms away! So we’re going to cut some of the places I’d planned to go, and do a few long driving days. Think next time we’ll give housesitting a miss as it’s quite restrictive.

Today, Mike decided he was going to bake bread. He mixed up the dough, got the yeast ready. Meanwhile I noticed it was getting hotter and hotter inside. The dog sat beside me, panting hot air onto my leg. After about an hour, I decided I should check if the air conditioner was still working.

I wandered outside and saw one of my Texas nightmares. The air conditioner had stopped. I ran inside to tell Mike. He checked the fuses and all were okay. We considered this an emergency as the dog is old and relies on the cooling. So we rang Jane in France.

“We’ve got a slight problem,’ Mike said. “The air conditioning has stopped.”

“That’s not a slight problem,” Jane replied. “It’s a catastrophe!”

She gave us the number of the air-conditioning guy and he said he was booked solid, but he could come first thing in the morning.

Thankfully the house is all double glazed and it was still reasonably cool inside. We closed all the blinds just in case, and limited our time opening and closing the front door.

You may think we’re being paranoid, but the temperatures have been a consistent 40 plus and because of the humidity they say it feels like 48 degrees. And I believe that. I mean, we were cycling in 40 degree heat last year, and it was nowhere near as hot as it is here.

Meanwhile the dog continued to pant hot air into the room, and Mike’s bread dough sat on the side, untouched. I refused to let him put the oven on to bake it.

I tried to have a cold shower before bed to lower my body temperature, but the water was tepid, and didn’t feel the least bit cold. We had fans blasting in the bedrooms overnight, and it wasn’t too bad, no worse than a hot night in Hamilton.

This morning the house temperature was 30 degrees, comfortable enough for us, but the dog was a bit sluggish. We waited for the air conditioning man to arrive. I would have thought first thing for tradesmen in this heat would have been 7am. When he still hadn’t arrived at 9.30am, we rang him.

He told us he was booked solid for the day, but he’d try and make it tonight.

F**K THAT, we both said, knowing that by this afternoon it would be very hot.

So Mike started troubleshooting. We’d noticed there was no power to the thermostat, so we double checked the fuses. Mike flicked the AC fuse off, then on again. Nope, still not working.

Mike did some more research into the thermostat. It turns out it runs on AAA batteries and they might have gone flat. But surely that wouldn’t affect the functioning of the air-conditioner? Would it?

We scrambled around looking for AAA batteries, but couldn’t find any.

“The head torches!” I announced. “Maybe they have AAA batteries”

I knew exactly where my head torch was as we’d used it yesterday when Mike was doing some electrics in the van. I raced outside to the van, grabbed the head torch, flung it open and breathed a sigh of relief. They were AAA.

Now to see if they work. Mike removed the old batteries and put the new ones in, and voila! Air-conditioning working again! 

The dog is no long panting all over my leg.

How something so complex can rely on two AAA batteries is beyond us.

Thunder cracked outside the window, jolting me out of my seat. We both raced outside to watch the storm, hoping to get some good footage on my phone. Flashes filled the night sky as we watched in wonder. Then an explosive crack made me jump, swear, and run back inside. I’d never heard thunder so loud.

Then the rain came. We tried to venture outside again, to watch and film. I opened the front door and stepped back as a raging waterfall had sprouted over the eaves. “I’m not going out in that,” Mike said.

We scurried back inside, but we weren’t the only ones. A spider ran across the lounge floor, heading to the bedroom. I almost stomped on it, but decided instead to capture it in a glass, not wanting to deal with spider gunk all over the floor.

I pleaded for Mike to kill it, but he did the humane thing and took It outside and set it free. “It better not come back in here!” I said.

Later on that evening, as we were watching TV, something by the front door caught Mike’s eye. 

“What?” I said, my spider and scorpion radar on full alert.

“I’m hoping it’s just a spot on the mat,” he replied.

My radar peaked. There was no spot there earlier. I jumped up to have a look. 

“It’s a giant beetle,” Mike said. He headed over with his glass to trap it, and I followed close behind.

“That’s not a beetle,” I said.

The giant cockroach sat silently on the mat, like a stone or a small rock. But don’t let looks deceive you, this thing was a nightmare.

Mike tried to cover it with the glass, but the thing ran at his feet. Mike danced on his tippy-toes trying to dodge the critter and I’m sure I heard a little squeal.

He chased after it, backwards and forwards, but this thing was fast.

I grabbed the glass from Mike, thinking I could do better. It scuttled under a towel I’d placed by the door and hid. I picked up the towel, and it darted out, giving me a fright. I screamed and plonked the glass down, but missed. Dammit.

Then it ran into the cupboard. I tried capturing it as it scurried back and forth, but this thing moved at lightning speed. It would give Usain Bolt a good run for his money. 

It fled the cupboard, and I screamed again as it brushed my foot and made a bee-line for Mike’s shoe. I flicked his shoe out of the way, then it started running for my shoe. This time I panicked. There was no way I was going to capture this supersonic creature, and nor was I letting it in my shoe, so I did the only option left to me.

The sickening crunch below my jandal told me I had won. It had its chance, but now it was no longer. I looked down at the flattened mess, feeling no remorse.

I placed the glass over him and said, “Gotcha.”

One advantage of getting up at 6am to walk the dog, we can get out before it gets too hot. Although it already is too hot.

Today we visited some small towns in Texas. First stop, was the Paige Farmhouse and Diner for breakfast at 7.30am. It’s actually a wedding venue but they are also open for meals. I had my usual biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon, and Mike had bacon, eggs, and some hash. No, not that sort of hash, Marijuana is still illegal in Texas. It was a potato hash, and was delicious.

After our breakfast we visited the town of Paige, but it was very small with a population of about 500. But… we were glad we did as a family of Armadillos crossed the road in front of us. They are a weird dinasour looking creature with their beady little eyes, long pointed snout, and that freaky shell of overlapping scales. Amongst my excitement I got tangled up in all my cameras trying to take a photo, but thankfully they hung around long enough for me to capture them on film.

After Paige, we visited La Grange, famous for its Koloches and Klobasneks. More about them in a minute. La Grange was also famous for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas which the movie was based on. There’s that shack outside La Grange, that the famous ZZ-top song was based on. 

La Grange was inhabited by the Czechs who settled in the mid 1800s. This is why there are foods we have never heard of, like Koloches and Klobasneks.

Out first stop was Lukas bakery to see what their Klobasneks looked like. We walked into the bakery but we couldn’t see any on display. We were about to walk out, when a customer stops us.

“You can’t leave without tryin’ the Pigs,” she said.

“We couldn’t see any on display”, we said.

“That’s cos they need to be heated up.” She turns to the lady behind the counter. “Get these people two pigs, on me.”

We both said that was unnecessary, but she insisted, and handed us a bag of ‘two pigs.’

We thanked her very much, and took our treasure to the park to see what was in the bag.

Mike pulls out his ‘pig’ and shows it to me. It was similar to a sausage roll, but in a crispy bread rather than pastry. The Czech name for them is Klobasneks or ‘pigs in blankets.’ Certainly different to our version.

They were quite nice, but I wouldn’t write home about it. Although I am currently writing home about it, so… But I’d prefer a sausage roll any day.

Our next stop was to a settlement of a Czech family to the area which was really interesting. I’ll mention more of this on my vlogs, but we took a stroll in the heat, taking in the stunning views over Texas.

Our next stop was Weikels bakery, famous for its Koloches. These are a sweet treat, kind of like a cake with fruit. It looked similar to a Danish, but instead of pastry, it was soft and fluffy cake moulded around some fruit, or cream cheese. The taste was similar to a donut. Mike chose the lemon curd, and I chose the apricot.

For seconds I chose the cream cheese and Mike chose the peach

My favourite was the cream cheese, Mike’s was the lemon curd. They were so delicious and I’m glad it’s a 30 minute drive to get these otherwise I’d be eating them all day!

A Bard Joke:

Why did the armadillo cross the road? 

To get to the shell station.

The alarm chimes in my ear, jolting me awake. It’s 6am, time to get up and walk the dog.

In my comatose state I put on my clothes, remembering to shake them out first. In the lounge the cat is saying hello. It’s not a meow, he is actually talking, a clear and precise hello.

The air conditioning has been running all night and the house is cool, verging on cold. But as I step outside the heat hits, wrapping itself around me, seeping into every pore, and it’s not even daylight yet!

The angry dogs at the end of our driveway await. My chest tightens as I wonder if this will be the day the brown dog breaks through the fence and comes for us. It’s happened before, it’s only a matter of time before it happens again. And sometimes the owners get sloppy and leave the gate open.

But this time, we’re ready. Armed with pepper spray, air spray, a hooter and an umbrella we walk towards them, quietly so as not to alert them to our presence. 

But it’s no use. The brown dog is already barking angrily at us. Mike has Tootsie on a lead, and walks her quickly past. Once we’re past their section, we know the dog won’t try to escape, so we feel safe… for now. We still have to walk back past them.

It’s random which dogs decide to join us for our morning walk. The last few mornings, the husky has been joining us. I don’t like him to come near me because he’s always itching and scratching. Apart from his evil eyes and annoying habits, he seems like a pleasant chap. But he didn’t join us today, but the little terrier did. 

We have contacted another auto shop about Rodger’s air conditioning and he has managed to source a part for us. Assuming it fits okay, he will install it for us next week. I’ve always thought Americans were lazy for driving everywhere, but I’ve figured out it’s just too hot to walk anywhere. It has been 40 degrees and humid during the day, and not dropping below 30 degrees at night, so crazy weather. And this is why we’ve decided to get our air conditioning fixed.

We went into Austin on Sunday, and it’s a nice city, modern, but not too big. We drove past the sleek skyline and into the centre, thankful there was no traffic on a Sunday morning. We parked right opposite the Capitol building (free to park on Sundays) and had a look inside.

The large domed building loomed in front of us and I snapped a few photos. It was free to visit, but they scanned all our stuff on the way in, and it was like going through security in an airport. We had a browse around, impressed as I’d never been in a Capitol building before. But you’ll see it when the video comes out.

Austin looks like a very livable city, reminding me of Melbourne. We headed to the shops and restaurants in SOCO, short for South Congress. We had tacos for brunch, but neither of us were impressed, which is a shame as Texas is known for their Mexican food. We must have chosen the wrong place. But the place had a cool vibe so that was something.

We’ve had a steady stream of stuff arriving from Amazon. Mike has ordered solar panels and is in the process of wiring them up ready to mount on the roof. But it’s so frikking hot, he really can’t work for too long out there. I’m still trawling through footage and putting videos together.

At 9pm, we take Tootsie out for her final wee of the day and the fireflies are always out at this time. They’re like little sparks of light, flittering about the garden. They are really neat.