Diane's Blog

Day 14 (The Last Day)

Sunday, January 9th:

Well today was the end of our two week journey. It only confirmed to us how much we are looking forward to taking the next two years to explore the nation. It taught us things we like and things we don’t. We like keeping our traveling days around 250 miles or less. We don’t like moving ever day and would prefer to stay a few days in each spot and explore the surround area. We found which Gas stations can be a pain and we learned to spot the ones that are easier to get in and out of. We figured out things we need to add to the rv such as a soap and shampoo dispenser in the shower instead of bring bottles in and out. A wagon or cart to haul our hamper to the campground laundry mat. And also some sort of good RV GPS that keeps us off those impossible roads. We decided we need to tow our car as there were places we had to pass-up seeing since there was no RV parking.

On our last day we headed out of our campsite around 9 am. We found a gas station just a few miles day the road and it was really the only site we saw that day. As we checked out a few of the sites we thought we could visit on the way home we found most were closed or opened after 1 pm because it was Sunday. We were able to listen to our church service on our phone while driving.

We pulled into a WalMart in Lufkin, Texas for lunch and spotted a Cane’s chicken right across the road so we walked across and had our second meal out of the whole trip. Then it was homeward bound.

We got home about 3 pm and with our bins in the fridge and cupboards that we store stuff in we had the motor home unloaded in about an hour. It is easy to just carry the bins in and unload them.

Tomorrow we will clean the RV, have the oil changed and get it ready to put back in storage until next time. This evening was relaxing at home and spending time with the grandkids.

Day 13

Saturday, January 8th:

It was so cold last night, we woke to 28 degree temperature outside. Thankfully our RV has a great heater and we were nice and warm inside. But when you are out on the road and don’t like the weather you can just pack up and leave it so that’s what we did. We headed out bright and early at 8:30 am and headed toward warmer weather.

We had a long drive today as we head toward home. We have kept most days to 250 miles or less but today we drove 333 miles. We drove across Mississippi crossed the Mississippi River and the drove across Louisiana.

We stopped in Meridian, Mississippi to fill up with gas. We have a 80 gallon tank so if it is really low filing up can take quite a while. Once we got done we headed on to Vicksburg National Military Park.

Vicksburg was a turning point in the Civil War. Here after a 47 day siege from May 18 to Jul 4 1863 General Grant accepted the surrender of the Confederates and took the city. Soldiers from Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania and black soldiers from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi fought for the Union. Soldiers from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Maryland, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas fought for the Confederacy. 100,000 troops in total of which 20,000 men would fall as casualties. The battle grounds cover over 1,700 acres. It is impossible to tour and see everything in one day. We spent an hour and a half just touring the Union side of the battle before we had to leave.

As we approached Shreveport, Louisiana we had been battling winds for hours so we pulled over in a rest area near Choudrant, Louisiana for a half hour break. Then back on the road where we hit heavy rains and lots of lightening. Due to accidents and weather we finally got into our campground at 4:30pm, an eight hour day which is much longer than we prefer. We had a small break in the weather so we were able to get the RV hooked up before it started raining again and see the Motercycle gnome at the campground. I made cheese quesadillas for dinner and we both read and relaxed until bedtime.

Day 12

Friday, January 7th:

Headed out at about 9:30 am. Once again we are on a backroad, Highway 82. We pass the most interesting things and I am always googling to see what we passed. As we went through Cuthburt, Georgia we saw a huge building, unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of it, but had to look up what that huge building was in this small town. It was a 4 year woman’s college, Andrew College, established in 1854. The big building was built in 1893 after another building had burned down and was the entire college from dorms to classrooms.

We crossed the Chattahoochee River as we passed out of Georgia into Eufaula, Alabama. We were surprised to see the name of the river we were crossing as we lived just a mile from the Chattahoochee in Roswell, Georgia and had no idea where it went after Atlanta.

We are traveling the road of the Civil Rights March today we started in Montgomery and headed into Selma. The Civil Rights March started in Selma and headed into Montgomery in March 1965. I remember watching this as an 8 year old child on TV with my parents and wondering how one person could treat another so badly. We drove through downtown Montgomery before arriving in White Hall, Alabama where on Freedom Road we visited the Lowndes Interpretative Center, which was a powerful experience as we walked through the memories of that time, then on to Selma, Alabama.

We drove through 3 states today. Started off in Georgia, crossed Alabama and are spending the night in Mississippi. We are at a KOA in Toomsuba, Mississipppi. We got in at about 4:30 pm and immediately headed to the laundry room to do our wash for the second time on the trip. I was hoping to wait until home but the weather had turned cold and all my warm clothes were dirty. By the time we finished our wash the temperature here had dropped to 38 degrees. We were glad to get back in our nice warm RV. We had leftovers for dinner. I really need to learn to cook smaller portions because three nights of stir-fry was a little much but I really hate wasting food. No game tonight and turning in early as we are exhausted.

Day 11

Thursday, January 6th:

Packed up and left our campsite about 9 am. We like taking back roads instead of the freeway if possible, to see more of the country. So we headed up Highway 19 toward Georgia. As we were driving Frank happened to mention that when we lived in Roswell, Georgia we used to drive on Highway 19 all the time and wondered if this was the same road. Looked it up on the atlas and sure enough Highway 19 comes from Florida all the way up to the top of Georgia passing through Atlanta and of course Roswell, Georgia.

We had decided to stop to explore in Monticello, Florida and have lunch there but we couldn’t find a place to park where we felt safe staying long enough for lunch. So we walked around a little bit and checked out some of the old buildings before getting back in the RV and heading up the road a few miles and stopped at a WalMart in Thomasville, Georgia to eat lunch.

After lunch we headed up the road another hour to Albany, Georgia. We toured the Flint Riverquarium. We saw a wide variety of fish from different ecosystems, turtles and even an Albino alligator who was sleeping in the sun. Then we walked down the street to check out the park that was dedicated to Ray Charles. He was born in Albany, Georgia. The statute of him at a piano played his music and the park surrounding the stature is musically themed so I had to take pictures for my musical friends.

Then it was just a short drive to the campground where we are spending the night. We arrive at 3 pm and once we got In the park were glad we arrived early enough to enjoy the beauty before nightfall. The Parks at Chehaw Campground is beautiful. It has 700 acres of conservation land and a wild animal park. It has both a BMX and RC race car tracks. This weekend they are having a Pioneer festival and the group that will be participating were setting up their tents when we arrived. We walked around and checked everything out and then watched the sunset. At night we could hear the wolves howl and other animal noises from the nearby wild animal park.

We had leftovers for dinner. I took the vegetables from last nights stir fry and made veggie tacos with cheese and sour cream. It was really good. Then we played a game of UNO before reading a bit and heading off to bed. We now will be turning West toward home and are sad this trip will soon be coming to a close.

Day 10

Wednesday, January 5th:

We picked a nice campground to spend an extra day at. It was great to get up this morning knowing we weren’t going to be on the road today but just hanging out and relaxing. We are staying at the Devil’s Den Spring campground.

Devil’s Den is a pre-historic underground spring. Early settlers saw steam rising from the rocks surrounding it and thought it was a portal to the underworld. Only scuba divers and snorkelers can swim in it and check out the fossils and stalactites. We preferred to watch from above as the outside temperatures were in the 60’s and according to the divers we talked to the water was a chilly 68-70 degrees. We enjoyed walking around and exploring the grounds. I meet the campground cat which made me miss my cat.

After lunch, showers and dumping the tanks we headed next door to the Cedar Lakes Woods and Gardens. It has gardens, waterfalls and is a sanctuary to wild life. There are hundreds of different plant including a bonsai tree that is 142 years old. We spent over an hour roaming the grounds. At one point we got a bit lost and worried we would be lost there forever. But we eventually found our way back to the path out. It was a nice relaxing day and we really got a lot of steps in.

Then it was back to the campsite to relax a bit more before preparing dinner and dessert. I made a stir fry with the vegetables we had bought yesterday at the Farmer’s market. It had green beans, red peppers, zucchini, squash and onions served on rice. It was delicious. Then for dessert we had strawberry shortcake.

We played a game of Yahtzee this evening and Frank beat me by over a hundred points. Watched a bit of TV for the first time since we left on the trip. Did dishes and headed off to bed just before 9 pm. All this fresh air and exercise has us exhausted every night.

Day 9

Tuesday, January 4th:

Got up late once again. Being on the road has been great for our sleeping habits. Early to bed and sleeping in late. We headed out of the campground around 10 am and near the exit they had a farmer’s market so we stopped and picked up ingredients for stir fry and some amazing looking strawberries.

We had a short drive to Sarasota but stopped along the way to fill the RV with gas. That is always almost a half hour process as the pump will only allow so much gas before it shuts off and you have to restart it. Finding a gas station that we can easily get into and out of is always a challenge but today we found a great one.

When we got to Sarasota we headed to the The Ringling Museum and Mansion. The mansion is right on the waterfront of Sarasota and is amazing. It was built in 1924 and cost $1.5 million. It is five stories tall with 41 rooms and 15 bathrooms but only the ground floor was open for touring. The museum is full of circus memorabilia including a giant miniature display of circus life, and the train car that John and Mable Ringling traveled in.

After spending a couple hours enjoying the site we headed to the RV and had lunch before going on to our next stop at Apollo Beach. The Big Bend Power Station with a Manatee Viewing Center. The Power Station uses water from the bay to cool their operations. The water is discharge back into the bay at 68 degrees and the manatees love the warm water. Manatees can stay underwater for up to 20 minutes without taking a breath then they raise their heads just slightly and blow out the old air and intake new, because of that we mainly saw a lot of manatees backs as the floated in the water.

Then it was time to head to our campground at Devil’s Den Spring in Williston, Florida. We stopped off at Winn Dixie grocery store on the way to pick up some soy sauce for our stir fry and a few other items.

By the time we got to the campsite it was 6:30 pm and dark. Trying to find our campsite in the dark was a challenge. I ended up getting out with a flashlight and walking ahead of the motor home until I found our spot. By the time we got set up it was to late to start our stir fry for tonight so I grabbed the leftover enchilada casserole out of the freezer and heated it. After dinner we played a game of Rack-o and then it was time to unwind for bed.

Day 8

Monday, January 3rd:

Slept in the morning until 8 am. Then got up and got going. Left our campsite at 10 am and headed across the bottom of Florida. Drove through tribal lands and the Everglades. At times it almost had a ghostly feel to it.

We headed down to Everglades City and went on Captain Jack’s Airboat tour. We flew through swamp on the airboat. I am not one who likes boats much but I had a blast.

The mangrove trees we flew past were called walking trees by the Indian because of how their root system looks. The seeds from these trees were believed to have been blown over from Africa thousand of years ago. They grow in the salt water but each tree has a few yellow leaves which are the sacrificial leaves. They soak up the salt from the water allowing the rest of the tree to flourish. The water has a dark muddy look due the chemical the trees release. We did see one alligator on our airboat tour.

After our tour we ate lunch in the RV before heading out. We had planned to boondocks either at WalMart or one of the rest stops because we could not find an affordable RV park as we started up the West side of Florida. As we were driving I keep looking up stuff and found an RV park off the beaten track. I called and they were reasonable priced and had one spot left with water and electricity only. We took it and what a delight this campground is.

We didn’t arrive until 5:30 pm so the office was closed but they have a place where they keep your reservation information. I jumped out of the RV to get it. While I sorted through to find our reservation Frank decided to follow me out. He left the keys in the ignition and shut the door behind him. Apparently one of us had hit the door lock and so the door locked behind him. When locked this way we can’t use our keyless pad to enter the RV. So we were stuck outside, it was cool and windy and no one was around. So we had to get creative. The campground had rockers sitting in front of the building and Frank had left the driver’s window open. So we dragged the rocker over to the window, due to my short arms I held the rocker steady while Frank climb up on the arm of the chair stretched through the window and was able to get one finger through the ring of the keys and pull them out of the ignition. We both agreed no more leaving the RV without the keys in hand.

Got to our campsite and there were all sorts of animals across from our RV. We had to go out for a walk immediately and see them before it got dark. There were deer, zebras, buffalos, ostriches and more. We took a stroll around the campground. This one is on a working farm and truly a gem. We finally got dinner about 7 pm and just zapped some frozen dinners.

Day 7

Sunday, January 2nd:

Today was the day we were supposed to get on the Carnival Mardi Gras for our 6 day cruise. Since we had to cancel due to illness I thought I would feel sad but we have been having so much fun on this RV trip and have so much more planned I really don’t feel that way.

We thought about going to Cape Canaveral and seeing the ship but decided against it. We headed out of our campgrounds about 10 am for our next adventure.

We stopped in Fort Pierce with plans to go to the Manatee Observation and Education Center. The directions Waze gave had us turning on a 2 lane road with a 8 foot 6 inch railroad bridge. Our RV is 12 foot 6 inches so that didn’t work. We have been talking about buying a Garmin RV GPS and after struggling to turn around on that narrow street that is a must add to the RV.

We saw on the map there was a Navy Seal Museum just a little further down the road so we changed our plans and decided to go there instead. We pulled into the parking lot and once again had to make our own parking spot which meant we took up 3 1/2 parking places by pulling across them horizontal. This parking lot was also right next to public access to the beach and had over 200+ parking places with close to 50 empty and people coming and going all the time so spots where filling and opening constantly.

We decided to eat lunch first before heading out to see the ocean and the Navy Seal Museum. After lunch I headed out of the RV first and Frank had a couple things to do before coming out. While I was standing in front of the RV and older gentleman pulled up in his sports car, rolled down his window and went off on me. He yelled that we were rude to take up 3 1/2 spots and we could move so we were only taking up 3 spots. I started to explain that if we did that someone would pull in to tight and we wouldn’t be able to get out. He didn’t care he yelled that buses were not allowed to park there and he was calling the police on us. We did not see any signs saying we could not park but I told him we were just going to walk down to the ocean for 10 minutes and would come back and leave. He then parked his car in one of the many open parking places and followed us to the beach with his phone pressed against his ear. We spent a brief time checking out the ocean and then headed out. Since this is the only negative situation we have faced so far on the trip we decided to put it behind us and go on and enjoy the rest of the trip.

We got to our campground about 3 pm at Davie, Florida. We have now completed the whole East side of Florida and are ready to head across to the West side. It is so warm and since we had not got our walking in today we went down to the campground pool and swam laps before dinner. We came back to the RV and had Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. We had planned to have soup with them but with the temperature being in the 80’s soup didn’t sound appealing.

Sunday is our day to talk to our kids in Virginia, Utah and Austin, Texas so we made our regular phone calls and had to add two more for our girls in Potter, Texas. It was fun visiting with them all and sharing what we have done on our trip so far.

Day 6

Saturday, January 1st:

Since we knew we had another night in this campground and didn’t have to go far for our activity today we laid around the campground and took it easy this morning. We didn’t head out until 10:30 am.

Today was a day we had been looking forward to for a while. A day at Kennedy Space Center. Arriving there we could see rockets and the excitement built. We were pointed to the RV lot which put us close to the entry gates.

Years ago my family and I went to San Francisco to see a King Tut exhibit. Every time they looked up I would be in the front of the exhibit while they were still trying to work their way close enough to see. My secret was while everyone was trying to press forward to see the exhibit I was going to the side or back and working my way around to the front. Today Frank said I used my King Tut skills to make our experience better. When we arrived at the Space Center the front buildings were packed so I suggested we go to the back of the Center and leave the first few buildings for last. It worked perfectly.

We headed for the buses that take you through the guarded gates and to the Saturn display. We saw the stands where the launches are viewed and the launch pads and towers.

As kids who grew up in the space age and watched the early rockets launches and man walk on the moon, for us going to the Kennedy Space Center was incredible. The feelings we had when we first experienced it came back to us as we visited the exhibits and watched the movies shown.

Seeing the Apollo 1 in which three astronauts died on January 1967 and the memorial to them brought back the memories of horror and shock our parents felt. Then viewing a piece of the Challenger and the hall honoring the astronauts who died on January 1986 touched us once again and reminded us of the horror we felt that day.

As we worked our way through the exhibits we both were so grateful we have this opportunity to travel and see so many things.

By the time we reached the front of the Space Center the earlier crowds were gone and we were able to enjoy the exhibits there. Four hours flew by and we could have still spent more time there if our feet weren’t throbbing.

We headed back to our campground and I made an enchilada casserole for dinner. We relaxed and played a game of Farkle before getting ready for bed.

Day 5

Friday, December 31st:

The plan was to get up at 7 am, pack-up, hit Wal-Mart and be back in time to catch the 8:45 am trolly. Yeah that didn’t happen. We did get up at 7 am but by the time we unhooked and got to Wal-Mart it was 7:45 am. Then of course there was wandering around Wal-Mart to find all the things on our list. $200 later we exited Wal-Mart at 8:45 am. Had to load everything into the RV and put the items we bought away. Then we headed back toward the campground to catch the trolly.

Our check out time at the campground was 11 am so we knew if we were going to spend the day in Saint Augustine we couldn’t stay there. The guy at the campground last night had told us that we could park at the Dollar Store across the street from the campground while we were exploring on the trolley. So we got parked and headed over to the the bench at the campground to wait for the 9:45 am trolly bus.

While waiting for the trolly we got on-line and booked our tickets for the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow. Someone told us they sell out quickly and we didn’t want to miss touring that.

The trolly bus hits all the hotels before heading into town to the trolly terminal. But our driver was very entertaining and pointed out the sights along the trip. Including a local lighthouse and told us about the drawbridge we had to drive over to get to town.

The trolly was open air and you could stay on for the whole 22 stops or hop off, explore, and catch the next trolly. The circle of the town and sites take an hour and a half. The trolly drivers keep you informed and entertained at the same time. We spent 3 hours exploring the town and enjoying the sights from the trolly.

We learned a bit about the history of Saint Augustine and Florida. Being a big history buff I love to learn history. Just a few facts so I don’t bore the non-history buffs. Saint Augustine was settled in the 1500’s by the Spanish. In 1763 the British claimed Florida in exchange for Havana. During the Revolutionary War Florida remained loyal to the British. In 1784 it was returned to the Spanish and didn’t become a state of the United States until 1845. In 1888 Henry Flagler who started Standard Oil with John Rockefeller arrived in Saint Augustine and fell in love with the area. He decided to turn it into a winter playground for the rich. He developed a railroad and built hotels

After our trolly tour we took the trolly bus back to the campground, walked across the street and picked up our RV and headed down the coast toward our next campgrounds. The KOA in Titusville is nice and just a short distance from the Kennedy Space Center. It was only a 90 minute drive from Saint Augustine and we checked in at 3:30 pm.

We were glad to be here early as we needed showers and wanted to do our laundry. We found out that we need to get a little wagon to make it easier to transport a very full laundry hamper across a campground to the laundry room. With 2 washers and dryers running and $7.50 we were able to get all our clothes clean in an hour. We brought our IPads and read our books as the laundry ran.

We had leftover baked potatoes for dinner and then listened to people shooting off fireworks until it was time for bed. No game night tonight we were both just to tired.

Day 4

Thursday, December 30th:

It rained during the night so we had to unhook this morning with water dripping on us from the trees. We are still forgetting stuff and really need to make a check list. I forgot to lock the bedroom and bathroom doors open and Frank forgot to turn off the propane again. We’ll get it together. One of the things we were going to do this morning was refill our fresh water tank but another forgotten chore. We paid for it later in the day when I went to wash my hands, got them all soapy and there was no water to rinse them off with. Frank grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and I got my hands rinsed. At least we can laugh at ourselves as we go.

Frank took the garbage to the dumpster before we left and ran into the owner of the campground. They had a good time visiting about the cool old gas pump he has and how long their family had owned the park. We could of camped there when our kids were little and meet him then.

We had a short drive today and we were glad of it. We have determined that when we become full-time RVers we are not going to travel everyday. You get road weary after a while. I think we will travel a few days, find an interesting place and stay a few days and explore and relax, before hitting the road again. But because we have so much planned for this trip there is lots of driving.

We left the campground at 10 am and were at the Olustee Battlefield before noon. There was no RV parking so we made our own. There was only one other family there when we arrived. This battle site was where Florida’s largest Civil War battle was held. 10,000 men fought a 5 hour battle on February 20, 1864. This included troops from New York State and the Massachusetts 54th a famous colored troop. Every year on February 20th they hold a huge Civil War reenactment there.

We decided to walk the trail that lead around the battle field. There were lots of signs along the way to explain what went on there. We just kept following the signs and arrows. As we were the only ones on the trail there was a peacefulness and you could almost imagine the men who fought and died there and what the battle would have been like. The trail was a bit longer than we expected but we keep going for the entire 50 minutes it took us to walk around the battlefield. It was an experience that we were glad we had. We got in the RV still touched by the experience and forgetting we had planned to eat lunch there. It wasn’t until a bit down the road that we both realized we were hungry. So I grabbed us some snacks to hold us over until we stopped.

When we got to Saint Augustine panic set in as Frank realized he had not been checking the gas gauge and we had less than 60 miles of gas left. We were planning to stop at WalMart and pick up a few things but instead we spent time hunting down a gas station we could easily pull in before we ran out of gas.

We arrived at the KOA here in Saint Augustine around 4 pm and it is beautiful. We found out there is a trolly tour so we bought tickets for tomorrow morning. Took a walk around the campground and visited with our neighbors. Walking by the lake we saw what looked like a snake swimming, then it climbed on a tree branch and it was a bird with a long black neck. The people in the RV near by told us that it was called a snake bird. Glad it wasn’t a snake because I was ready to stare up into the trees when I walked under them to make sure a snake would jump on me.

The gentleman who checked us in at the campsite was very informative about the area. He told us about a food truck court close by so after getting settled into our campground we went for a walk. The food court was a bit further than we thought but the food was wonderful. I had a shrimp taco with honey chipotle sauce and Frank had a giant carnitas burrito and we enjoyed Sangria soda.

Then it was game night and we enjoyed Phase 10. I beat, first time ever I phased on every hand so the game was exactly 10 hands long. Frank is a great sport and we both enjoy our game time. Then it was time to relax. Frank is still trying to learn the in and outs of our GoPro. So far all our pictures have come from our cell phones. Hopefully we will get it figured out soon.

Day 3

Wednesday, December 29th:

Lazy morning! Although we went to bed early we both slept in. For me that was 6:30 am and for Frank 8 am. Hopefully as we camp more I will stop waking up so early. Then we got up and had our first shower in the motor home. We were both pleasantly surprised. The RV we had when our kids were young had a 6 gallon hot water tank which meant you got wet, turned off the water, soaped up, turned on the water, rinsed and wet hair, turned off the water, shampoo in the hair, turned on the water and rinsed. You could barely turn around and the shower head was horrible and if you were lucky maybe two people could get a quick shower without running out of hot water. This RV has a 10 gallon water heater, the shower is much bigger and has an incredible shower head. Both of us were able to take a normal 5 minute shower each and still had hot water left.

Then it was time to dump the tanks for the first time on the trip and to make sure we have extra water in case we have to dry camp tonight, for you non-rv people that means finding a place at a rest stop, store or restaurant to sleep with no hook-ups.

With sleeping late and taking time for showers and dumping the RV we didn’t leave the campground until 10 am. Once we hit the road I looked up a list of campgrounds in the Tallahassee area. Luckily the first one I called had a spot for us so no dry camping today.

Today we visited Torreya State Park for our lunch break. It was off the beaten route by about 15 miles and we had to travel up some two lane roads with very little shoulder. When you have a wide motorhome that is a bit nerve wracking, but it was worth the drive.

Torreya State park overlooks the Apalachicola River and from it you can view the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. Amazing views of the river, mountains and trees.

It rained today but was only sprinkling off and on while we were there. We wanted to go on a hike down to see the Confederate Civil War batteries they had set up to guard the river from the approaching Yankees to try to keep them out of Florida. We started down but with the rain the ground was a bit slick. Found a walking stick at the visitors center and shared it as we returned to finish our hiking adventure. Frank has one at home and we will make sure both come with us for future trips.

We forgot while we were hiking down the half mile we would have to hike back up a half mile. But we made it and after our hike we sat and enjoyed the view a bit before heading back to the RV and driving a short way down the road to a picnic area. Enjoyed lunch there before heading back to I10 and our campground for the night.

We only had a short 90 minute drive to our campground just East of Tallahassee. With the time change to Eastern Time we checked in about 4:30 pm so a pretty short day. Another campground on the freeway but with lots of trees so we didn’t notice the freeway noise like we had at our previous campground.

Tonight we were exhausted after our long hike so just zapped some frozen food and relaxed with a game of Triominos (a more complicated versus of Dominoes). Then we were ready for bed by 8:30 pm.

Day 2

Tuesday, December 28, 2021:

Woke up this morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Then we took a half hour stroll around the campground. The Baton Rouge Koa is really nice place to stay.

We worked together to get the RV ready to hit the road and still forgot things. Headed out at about 9:30 am. We got about a mile down the road when we realized we hadn’t locked the bedroom door in place and it was opening and closing around every curve. Pulled over extended the slide a bit and got the doors locked. Another 5 miles down the road Frank remember he forgot to turn the propane off for the water heater. So another short stop to take care of that. We will get this together and things will become more automatic and go smoother as we travel.

We traveled North of Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans so we saw area we haven’t seen before and avoiding the crazy New Orleans traffic. Still faced the cross winds again today so that made the drive more tiring.

The first leg of the trip today was the longest at 3 1/2 hours. We did take a short break at a Flying J gas station to stretch and have a quick snack before getting back on the road. Nearly got clipped by a van who decided he could jump out ahead of us as we were turning but managed to avoid him. I don’t understand other drivers who see an RV and decide they have to cut them off to get ahead.

We finally reached our first stop at about 1 pm. Mobile’s Battleship Memorial Park. From the Battleship USS Alabama to the Submarine USS Drum and multiple air crafts and military transportation you could feel the pride for our serviceman. They had displays from the Civil War (a Confederate Submarine) to Iraqi Freedom.

We went into and through a sub. Talk about tight quarters. I felt claustrophobic and couldn’t imagine how I would feel if I know I was also under the ocean while in the sub. We also walked the decks of a battleship. I was surprised to find the decks were all made of wood but Frank pointed out they were probably metal shortages during WWII and they probably saved the metal for the important things like guns.

The display that touched me the most was the one honoring Vietnam vets. My brother David fought in that war and I could imagine him seeing the patrol boats. Seeing a display of what a prisoner of war camp looked like made me glad that he never had to experience that.

We spent two hours there. Frank was thrilled when a Huey helicopter flew over while we were on the Alabama. The two of us took lots of pictures so it was hard to narrow down to which ones to post.

After that we had a short hour and a half drive to our campground in Milton, Florida. We drove through three new states today, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida so we got to add those to our map.

Found a Buccee’s in Alabama and stopped there to fill up before heading to our campground. Another driver tried to cut us off at the pumps and we narrowly avoided another accident. We decided we both need to be alert in crowded areas to ensure we see people on every side of the RV.

We got to our campground about 4:30 pm and got set up. We now have our assigned jobs and it goes smoothly. I hook up the electricity while Frank hooks up the water and if needed we dump. With just the two of us we are only dumping ever two or three days. I open the slides and get the air conditioner going.

We have found that while driving we haven’t needed to run the generator and the air conditioner. We just run the vent or a/c in the cab and when we stop to explore we crack open a couple windows and leave the fan vents open and running and the RV had stayed comfortable.

The Milton Florida KOA is nice but right next to I10 so we had lots of freeway noises. We needed to be more aware of where our campground is located before booking.

I baked potatoes for dinner which we enjoyed with butter, sour cream and cheese. Played some Skipbo after that. That was always my mother’s favorite game. We are enjoying having a game night each night. Since we had walked so much at the Battleship Memorial we skipped our nightly walk around the campground. And by 10 pm we were both ready for bed.

Tomorrow is our first day without a campground booked ahead. Hopefully we will find one open around Tallahassee Florida or we may be sleeping at a Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel tomorrow night.

Day 2

Tuesday, December 28, 2021:

Woke up this morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Then we took a half hour stroll around the campground. The Baton Rouge Koa is really nice place to stay.

We worked together to get the RV ready to hit the road and still forgot things. Headed out at about 9:30 am. We got about a mile down the road when we realized we hadn’t locked the bedroom door in place and it was opening and closing around every curve. Pulled over extended the slide a bit and got the doors locked. Another 5 miles down the road Frank remember he forgot to turn the propane off for the water heater. So another short stop to take care of that. We will get this together and things will become more automatic and go smoother as we travel.

We traveled North of Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans so we saw area we haven’t seen before and avoiding the crazy New Orleans traffic. Still faced the cross winds again today so that made the drive more tiring.

The first leg of the trip today was the longest at 3 1/2 hours. We did take a short break at a Flying J gas station to stretch and have a quick snack before getting back on the road. Nearly got clipped by a van who decided he could jump out ahead of us as we were turning but managed to avoid him. I don’t understand other drivers who see an RV and decide they have to cut them off to get ahead.

We finally reached our first stop at about 1 pm. Mobile’s Battleship Memorial Park. From the Battleship USS Alabama to the Submarine USS Drum and multiple air crafts and military transportation you could feel the pride for our serviceman. They had displays from the Civil War (a Confederate Submarine) to Iraqi Freedom.

We went into and through a sub. Talk about tight quarters. I felt claustrophobic and couldn’t imagine how I would feel if I know I was also under the ocean while in the sub. We also walked the decks of a battleship. I was surprised to find the decks were all made of wood but Frank pointed out they were probably metal shortages during WWII and they probably saved the metal for the important things like guns.

The display that touched me the most was the one honoring Vietnam vets. My brother David fought in that war and I could imagine him seeing the patrol boats. Seeing a display of what a prisoner of war camp looked like made me glad that he never had to experience that.

We spent two hours there. Frank was thrilled when a Huey helicopter flew over while we were on the Alabama. The two of us took lots of pictures so it was hard to narrow down to which ones to post.

After that we had a short hour and a half drive to our campground in Milton, Florida. We drove through three new states today, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida so we got to add those to our map.

Found a Buc-ee’s in Alabama and stopped there to fill up before heading to our campground. Another driver tried to cut us off at the pumps and we narrowly avoided another accident. We decided we both need to be alert in crowded areas to ensure we see people on every side of the RV.

We got to our campground about 4:30 pm and got set up. We now have our assigned jobs and it goes smoothly. I hook up the electricity while Frank hooks up the water and if needed we dump. With just the two of us we are only dumping ever two or three days. I open the slides and get the air conditioner going.

We have found that while driving we haven’t needed to run the generator and the air conditioner. We just run the vent or a/c in the cab and when we stop to explore we crack open a couple windows and leave the fan vents open and running and the RV had stayed comfortable.

The Milton Florida KOA is nice but right next to I10 so we had lots of freeway noises. We needed to be more aware of where our campground is located before booking.

I baked potatoes for dinner which we enjoyed with butter, sour cream and cheese. Played some Skipbo after that. That was always my mother’s favorite game. We are enjoying having a game night each night. Since we had walked so much at the Battleship Memorial we skipped our nightly walk around the campground. And by 10 pm we were both ready for bed.

Tomorrow is our first day without a campground booked ahead. Hopefully we will find one open around Tallahassee Florida or we may be sleeping at a Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel tomorrow night.

Day 1

12/27/2021

The adventure begins

I plan to blog and video tape our RV adventures on our family page for our kids and grandkids but until then the blog begins here.

On December 26th Frank went to Costco and filled the RV with gas and purchased a GoPro camera so we would be ready to head out and record our adventures on December 27th.

We have spent the last month getting the RV ready so that it would be comfortable for us to eventually live in full-time. Living in an RV is all about organization. We discovered bins are great for keeping stuff together and like every family we have to have our “junk drawer” or cubby where we can throw keys and odds and ends. Bins are also a quick and easy way to move things out to the RV and put them away in one step. Everything has to have it’s place. For now we are sticking with paper plates and plastic utensils but once we pack up our home we will switch to silverware and dishes.

New adventures in our RV calls for a map of the states we will visit along the road. We started the map blank even though we have already been to most of the states over the years so we can chart where we go in this RV.

Monday, December 27th:

We have been sick almost a week but are on the road to recovery so we decided it was time to head out. We had made a few reservations for campgrounds heading toward Florida and had Baton Rouge booked for tonight. Our plan is to keep our drives short with breaks about every two hours to explore.

We left home at 10:30 am and pulled into our campsite around 5 pm. We hit some winds today while driving that wore Frank out a bit more than planned so we were glad our trip was so short. My role for now is Navigator as Frank prefers to drive.

We took our first break around 12:30 pm in Sulphur, Louisiana. We had planned to visit the Creole Nature Trail and have lunch and enjoy a nice walk. But with the holidays the gates were locked so instead we found a cement pad near a grassy area and pulled the RV in there. We got out and walked around for a bit and the next thing you know we had RV’s on either side of us also stopping for a break. We had set a trend. One of the RV’s had a horse trailer and during our lunch they took the horse out to exercise them and we got to watch them run in circle on their harnesses while we ate.

Then it was on to Baton Rouge. We hit our first bad traffic about 20 miles from our campground while crossing over the Mississippi. That added an extra half hour to the drive. So we were glad to see the Baton Rouge KOA and meet the camp hosts there. They told us they have been full time RVing for 20 years and have spent the last 18 years moving around working at different campgrounds. Their favorite was in upstate New York in the finger lakes region and just like that we have another spot to add to our places to visit.

Got our RV set up and made spaghetti for dinner then we enjoyed a nice long walk around the campgrounds and watched the stars come out. Then back to the RV to relearn how to play Canasta. It was a game we use to play with my mom when we were first married. Then we spent some time this evening trying to learn how to use the GoPro.

iPads and TV seem to take a back road to the scenery and the adventure. We have enjoyed more time talking together. Got a call from our sons Franklyn and Bill were able to share the day with them. Bedtime comes early after a long day so off to sleep and it is not even 10 pm. Tomorrow is another adventure.

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Diane Lyn Thompson Mueller