Defeated Creek

Sometimes a question is best answered with a picture. This is my answer to the question, "Mary, what'cha been doing the last couple of weeks?"

We are parked in this beautiful spot in our now favorite campground. Defeated Creek COE Campground is located about 10 miles northeast of the tiny Tennessee town of Carthage. Our site sits on the shore of Cordell Hull Lake, which is the reason I've spent as much time as I can parked in a recliner enjoying the view. (And, oh yeah, maybe I've read a few pages on my Kindle.) This place is simply the best!

This stunning campground is the "home park" for our friends Lisa and Tony, who live just minutes away. I met Lisa online a couple of years ago and have been promising to visit her and her family here in Tennessee since. We almost made it last year, but had to bypass this stop to get our ailing moose to Kansas City. Lisa extended an invitation to her RVing friends to join her family at Defeated during her Fall break. We all made our reservations six months ago (This place is understandably that popular.) and descended on Defeated en masse. Lisa and Tony and their son Tez were the most wonderful hosts. (How did I miss getting a picture of their younger son Rick? That cute little boy moves pretty fast!)

As much as we love the scenery around here, the chance to spend time with Lisa and her family and a bunch of our RVing friends is the real reason we came.

We hadn't seen our friends John and Sandy since June in Sacramento. These brave folks didn't know anyone else heading to Defeated. (And, they came anyway!) Of course, they fit right in and will leave here with many new friends. 



It was a treat to catch up with Jim and Ellie and their adventures since we met them in Jerome in April. Ellie did an outstanding job of leading our impromptu morning line dancing class. And, Jim opened their patio to all the football fans in the group. No matter the outcome, these games were great to watch with friends.

Fellow native Kansans Mac and Netters have been busy since we saw them in Texas last winter (and in frigid Kansas City before that!). These two mixed up some mighty fine fajitas!

We met Leno and Kevin in Texas, too. They are looking good, as always. And, so is their beautiful rig. Kevin set the standard in our group for the most sparkling RV. That's probably why theirs was usually the place we gathered at happy hour. We just followed the light!

More of the clan we connected with in Texas! Chuck and Kathy got lucky and were able to extend their stay beyond a couple of days. We're so glad!

We sure met a lot of nice folks in Texas, including Nolan and Donna. It was great to see them again.

Doug and JoAnn (aka Filmore's Folks) came over from their new favorite town, Asheville. It's one of ours, too! It was great to catch up with them since first meeting them in Rockport.

We hadn't seen Jenny since our stop in Spokane in August 2009. Lots of good things have been happening for her. She calls Tennessee home these days and beamed as she introduced us to her new husband Don. Congratulations, you two!

It was our pleasure to meet Cindy and Ken for the first time. We follow each other's blogs and finally got to meet the people behind the words. Nice to meet you both!

Our not-so-small gathering attracted the attention of other RVing friends who were camped not too far away. It was a special treat to finally meet Darrell and Judy, whom we've known "virtually" for quite awhile. Thanks so much for coming over to visit. We look forward to seeing you again down the road.

Darrell and Judy brought along their friends, Gene and Judi. Turns out we have mutual RVing friends, and actually missed this lovely couple by just a few days when we stopped at Port Orford last year to visit our dear friends Gordon and Juanita.

With all these good folks around there was lots of wonderful conversation and gobs of laughter. And, of course, there was plenty of good food. After dark, Tony treated us to his fine campfire building skills. (We're definitely going to miss those campfires!)



One evening Lisa and Tony's friends, the Hackett boys, stopped by the campfire to play and sing. They're very good! Thanks, guys!!!

It's been a very special couple of weeks. Mother Nature has brought on a brilliant display of fall color during our visit. Some days I swear you could literally see the leaves change!

From the first hints of Fall color...

...to a variety of shades...

...to full brilliance. Stunning!

As the sun sets on our visit to this very special place, we thank our friends for a very special time. We are leaving here rested, refreshed and filled with cherished memories.

We wish everyone safe travels and look forward to seeing you here again next time, if not sooner.