Llamas, Lots and a President

Yesterday we drove from Sweetwater to Greeneville. It was raining when we woke up, so we took it kind of slow getting the last minute stuff done. When it quit raining we finished up, but it took about 10 minutes too long to get hooked up- and we got wet! No worries- we’ll dry! It stopped raining while we were driving- or should I say while we were stuck in traffic:

Road construction slowed us down by a half hour, but we had plenty of time because we were only going 110 miles- so we stopped at a Blue Beacon truck wash and now the truck and trailer are all clean and sparkly!

We made it to the Lazy Llama campground in Greeneville and could see the llamas on a hill next to the campsite, but we had to get set up and then cleaned up so we could go to our good friends, Bob and Alice, for dinner. WOW- it was so good to see them and get caught up! We met almost 24 years ago in a mom group for new moms (well, Alice and I met there) and have been friends ever since! We had such a great evening and had great BBQ for dinner- yumm!

This morning we went to see the llamas, but they were being shy and not coming down the hill, so we went looking for property. Amazingly, there is a lot more level property in this area, and the views of the mountains are amazing! Here is a lot we really liked:

this area had beautiful views of the Appalachian Mountains!

We looked at several others but they were either WAAAAAYYYYY out in the sticks or right across the street from a cemetery- not for me!

After lunch we went to the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. He was VP under Abraham Lincoln, and of course became President when Lincoln was assassinated. He oversaw reconstruction after the Civil War, and was the first President to be impeached. He was from Greeneville, TN, and we saw his birthplace, his early home, his tailor shop, and his homestead. This was very interesting, and our tour guide, Susan, was terrific!

When we were going to our car after visiting this site, someone was yelling at us “yoohoo– we’re neighbors! We are from New Jersey!” Our rental car has New York plates, so we had to explain it’s a rental.. and then we visited with them for 20 minutes, hearing about their travels, telling about our journey… discussion of property taxes (NJ property taxes are insane!), trying to find a place to live, etc. You meet the most interesting people if you are open to the experience!

When we got back to the campground the llamas were out- they spent 99.9% of the time eating the grass, so it took a while to get good pics:

There are also a couple goats- they are way friendlier than the llamas!

We must have been standing where they are fed, because they suddenly all came towards us– and then kept going…

They have cute faces, don’t you think?

We met the campground host who helped wrangle the llamas for their haircuts about a month ago- apparently there are different cuts that are more fashionable than others, so most of these had the popular “saddle cut”, which means they were sheared around the middle, with furry necks and heads and back ends- who knew there was llama style?

We went out a little after dinner, and the fireflies were out- they are so fun to see, but the mosquitoes come out at the same time, so I didn’t spend too much time looking!