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On February 11th, we traded the crazy traffic and busy tourism of the Orlando area for the laid back (ie: out in the middle of nowhere) of the area around the town of Okeechobee, on the north shore of the lake by the same name. But before we could arrive at our next stop, we had to endure a long day for maintenance, driving, and confusion.

Lola was up for her annual maintenance work (lube, oil, filters for both engine and generator plus overall inspection of chassis to make sure all is good after a year plus of travel). We decided it would be best to take Lola to a certified Freightliner Service Center that specialized in RV work and the closest one to us was in Tampa. We got an early start (but had to spend time to fuel up first and when you are filling a 100 gallon tank, that takes time!). Then we were slowed by multiple wrecks on I-4 heading to Tampa (FYI – Orlando’s traffic almost has Atlanta’s beat and I-4 is just one big disaster between all the road construction and accidents that seem to occur at all times of the day and night). We arrived at the service center late but they said they would do what they could to get it all done by end of day…

Next stop was to drop the dogs off at a local groomer so they too could get freshened up! After that, we found a restaurant on the harbor and enjoyed a nice long meal. Eventually, we got the call to pick up the dogs but Lola was still not finished! We stopped back at the groomers and were able to get them to hold the dogs a bit longer while Dan got a haircut at a barbershop next door. After that, we had no choice but to head back to the service center and wait. They had a waiting room where we sat for a couple of hours (while Brandy found a table to hide under). Finally, at about 5:30 Lola was finished, no issues or repairs needed, and we were ready to leave. But now we were dealing with Tampa area rush hour and still had to drive to Okeechobee.

At this point, we were relying on two different GPS systems. One is RV specific and allows us to put in details on dimensions for Lola (hight, weight, width, etc.). This system should route us in the most efficient manner but avoid taking us down roads where we shouldn’t go (low bridges, skinny bridges or tunnels, etc.). We also run Waze at the same time so we can get real time traffic info in case we need to divert (the RV GPS does not take into account live traffic). Usually, the two systems are somewhat in agreement. This time, they were way off. The RV GPS was taking us a route that would require about 5 hours of driving while Waze was saying it could get us to our destination in 3 1/2 hours??!! Now, you might say, “go ahead and follow Waze”. But what if that takes us on a route we can’t get thru (bridge can’t handle our weight or we get to a bridge we can’t get under)? The idea that we wouldn’t arrive at our campsite until after 10 PM and in the dark was really stressing us. However, after reviewing some maps and what each app was indicating, we went with Waze and arrived at camp around 8:45 that evening. To this day, we still don’t know what the RV GPS was doing??!!

So, now we arrive at the campground and the office is still open! That’s great because we aren’t sure the campsite they have assigned to us is going to work. According to their map, the site looks short and also won’t handle our electrical needs (we require 50 amps while some sites only provide 30 amps). At first, they assured us it would work and provided directions to the site. While unhooking our car from the tow set up, however, one of the staff came out waving their hands. Turns out, our concerns were right. It only had 30 amps and we wouldn’t even fit in the site. Really not sure how the reservation system or review process let this slip but grateful they double checked before we tried to set up. We were assigned to a temporary site while they figured things out and two days later, we moved to our assigned (and long enough) site for our stay.

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Now, there really isn’t much to do in Okeechobee. It does have a Publix and a Walmart and a few restaurants and if you are into fishing, they have a really big lake nearby. But otherwise, pretty quiet. The campground is HUGE – like around 1,000 sites in total. And they are FULL! It appears a lot of snowbirds come down for the winter including a lot of folks from Canada (mainly from around Quebec, Montreal and Toronto). Kind of odd to be in the middle of Florida and hear so much French being spoken.

The campground has a lot of activities planned. They have both a “family” and “adult” pool and let us tell you, the adult pool is packed every afternoon! It doesn’t hurt that they have a bar attached to the pool with very cheap drinks! They also had live entertainment from time to time at the pool and elsewhere in the campground (they have their own convention center). In fact, they made a big deal about a Senior Expo being held one day at the convention center. We figured we’d check it out, see exactly what we might find out. This is when we realized, we might not fit the demographic for this campground. Most venders fell into three categories:

1. Funeral home or death planning or life insurance
2. Hospice care, long term medical care, etc.
3. Dentures and related

Guess it’s good we didn’t really need anything from that expo!

They also celebrated Mardi Gras with a golf cart parade around the park and music at the pool.

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There actually is one or two interesting things to do around Okeechobee (OK, so we weren’t totally truthful earlier). Just a few miles north of town is the Arnold’s Wildlife Rehab Center. This rather small operation lives off of donations and rescues wildlife, sometimes releasing them back to the wild and at other times keeping them if they are unable to return (became too accustomed to humans, have injuries that won’t allow them to survive, etc.). They have at least 50 animals from monkeys to camels, from Florida panthers, to birds of all kinds. We enjoyed the visit and particularly the opportunity to meet the newest member of the center, a young otter that was found abandoned.

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While walking around camp, we noticed several people who had nice outside shelters, sort of like outside living rooms. They were screened in and had a roof which helped block the sun while also keeping out the bugs. Staying in central Florida, we realized that dealing with biting insects as well as the warmer sun down here was becoming a challenge so we decided to dive in and get our own outside “living room”!

We made a couple of trips over to the east coast of the state (about 50 minute drive). One day we visited Stuart, Fl which which had a pleasant old downtown area of shops. Another day, we drove over to Ft Pierce to visit some Botanical Gardens which were mainly focused on bonsai trees.

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We saved our biggest adventure for our last week in the area. We joined an airboat tour of the marshes around the north end of the lake and it was really unique. In addition to flying over grass and other marshland, we found ourselves wandering thru paths cut in groves of cattails looking for alligators and seeing a wide variety of birds. We learned a lot about the lake and those that inhabit the area around it.

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As we write this, we have packed up most of our equipment with plans to depart on March 11th, and start our journey north. A short stop in St. Augustine and then a week in Hilton Head Island. Time to say goodbye to Florida until next winter!

On January 11th, we arrived at Sherwood Forest RV Resort (not sure we would call it a “resort”) where we would stay for 31 days. We had plans to catch up with many friends as well as explore various Disney parks while in the area.

However, our first adventure was to drive over to Tampa for the huge RV Show being held the weekend after we arrived. When we say huge, we mean really, really big! We had no plans to look at RV’s which was good because the place had tons of them. All we wanted to do was explore the vendors and accessories to see what we might need for Lola and our camping experiences. We spent nearly 4 hours!!! walking thru just the vendor sections!!!! No pics from our time at the show, we were too busy exploring and just trying to fight thru the crowds (and this was on the first day of the show, a Wednesday!). We picked up some new camping/rocking chairs and a few other minor things.

Next experience was to catch back up with friends from our cruising time. Charlie and Kim Brumback stopped by to get a tour of Lola and then we spent time visiting and also had a great lunch nearby. We hadn’t seen the Brumbacks since we cruised with them on SeaDream in the Med many years ago. It was great to catch up with friends and also hear about their past and future travel plans! And, at one point, we thought we might have them convinced to try out the RV life too!

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As official Florida “residents”, one great benefit is to receive Florida resident discounts on Orlando area attractions. This includes big discounts on Disney tickets so we signed up for 4 days (spread out over our time in the area) so we could hit all four parks.

First up was a day at the Magic Kingdom. Dan first visited back in 1972 and still enjoys going back for new memories there. One of his favorite stories revolves around this first visit, when no other parks existed. After a long day at the park, they completed the Country Bear Jamboree and exited into the Mile Long Bar (since closed). His father, Sid, was happy to finally have a place where he could get a cold one. He stepped up to the bar and ordered a cold beer. Unfortunately, he was informed that “alcohol is not sold inside the Magic Kingdom”. That was it for Sid, who informed the family he was taking the monorail back to the Contemporary Hotel to a “real” bar. Fast forward 48 years later and they now serve alcohol at the other three parks and just started serving alcohol inside the Magic Kingdom at a few outlets, including the Crystal Palace. Dan was sure to have a cold one for Dad!

We were also lucky enough to spend the day at the Magic Kingdom with Jill’s BFF, Donna Moss along with her daughter Shelley, her husband Kiley and their two girls. It was fun seeing Disney thru the eyes of kids and Lolli was taking notes regarding what rides would be best and when for our own little grand girls in the coming years.

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A few days later, we spent a good portion of a day at Hollywood Studios. Dan got to get his geek on while visiting the new area focused on Star Wars, Galaxy’s Edge.

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But have no fear, we did explore other areas of the park. We enjoyed several shows including a live shortened showing of Beauty & The Beast, another show with Lightning McQueen, and lunch at the Brown Derby.

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Not all of our time was focused on Disney. Just a few miles from our campground and the crazy tourist shops of Hwy 192 is the town of Celebration. This is a large development which appears semi self-contained, even having it’s own “town square.” One Sunday we drove over to check out the town, the shops and a Farmers’ Market that is held every Sunday. It was a beautiful way to spend part of a day, lots of interesting vendors, gorgeous fresh vegetables, cute shops and even a few restaurants so we wouldn’t go hungry (or thirsty) with all the exploring.

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During the month, we’ve experienced pretty big weather swings (but no snow!). We’ve had lows in the 30’s and highs have gone up to the upper 80’s. We’ve been pretty lucky in that we’ve not had a lot of rain but have had one storm come thru that brought high winds (gust up to 40 mph) and tornado watches. There are 24 hour periods where we have the heat on at night and will be running the AC the next afternoon. Guess things could be way worse given we are in the middle of winter!

We’ve not gotten involved with campground activities while here, just been too busy with friends, activities and relaxing. We have had a few interesting observations while at this stop. Shuffleboard is very big here. They have an ongoing tournament that seems to have games being played every day. You can tell when the games are on because cars are packed all around the clubhouse – you’d think they were giving something away!

There are a LOT of folks here who stay at least half the year or longer. And many of them are Disney fans. One of the biggest decorations we see all over the campground are Mickey Light Posts. Some are white, some are colored and some are animated! And if this was not enough of a reminder of where we are, every evening just after 8 PM, we can hear the fireworks show coming from one of the parks.

The most interesting thing we have seen took us a couple of days to figure out. As with most campgrounds, you will see just about every type of camping set up here. There are big Class A rigs such as ours, large 5th wheel trailers, smaller trailers, RV vans, and even pop up campers (many of the campgrounds we are in do not allow tents though). Most rigs have bathrooms of some sort and and hook up their systems to the campground sewer system. Those that don’t have bathrooms will usually use the bathhouses that are also common in almost all parks. But, the other day we saw a small pop up trailer and outside was a very small tent. Well, it was small but tall. At first, we thought it must be some type of tent used for changing, figuring maybe it’s easier to change in the tent where you can stand completely upright versus in the pop up trailer. But, after seeing one person come out of the tent pulling up their pants, we realize we had found a toilet tent! And no, we don’t know how they empty the toilet when they leave.

Back to the attractions outside the campground. Next up was a safari trip to Animal Kingdom. Here you get to take a ride thru various environments and see real animals (versus the animatronic versions Disney is famous for). We were pretty lucky to get on the ride quickly and see a lot of wildlife up close.

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Although not anything close to a real African Safari, it was still enjoyable and a great way to start the day. Maybe we’ll get the real safari for an upcoming anniversary?

After spending time in the real world of animals, we crossed over to the land of Pandora to explore the world of Avatar. If you haven’t seen the James Cameron movie, much of this won’t make any sense. The land that Disney has created, much like Galaxy’s Edge, is very realistic and makes you feel like you have stepped into the movie set.

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We experienced one of our longest waits in line for the Flight of Passage ride but it was worth it. Totally immersive experience felt like you were really flying, dropping, feeling spray from waterfalls, smelling the plants and flowers as you zipped past. Disney also gave everyone in line an extra fast pass due to the long delay which helped us get right on the next ride, Na’vi River Journey with no wait at all!

A few days later, we made our last visit to Disney, this time to Epcot. They were having an art festival in the park but we have to say we were not impressed. There were a few artists working in the park (mostly sidewalk art) but mostly this just meant there were some extra tents and booths set up selling arts and crafts, most related to Disney in some way. It was nice to look at but much of it was pricey and we really had no interest. In addition, much of Future World is under construction, building new rides and attractions that will open in the new few years. Thus, much less to see in the front area. We did ride The Sea exhibit and enjoyed some time in what Disney has created in the way of a small aquarium.

We enjoyed walking around the World Showcase with no real itinerary planned other than a delightful dinner at Chefs de France. Disney did not miss a step in operating this restaurant, even bringing in employees from France in all roles that are guest facing. We had a lovely talk with several of the “cast members” about their experiences in the US and their plans after their contracts were up. Our meal was wonderful and both of us had fantastic desserts to cap the evening off.

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With just a few more days left in the Orlando area, we said goodbye to Disney with our first evening in the park. We’ll be back again, it was really a fun visit!

We had one more catch up with an old friend of Jill’s from back when she worked for Bayer Pharmaceuticals (Dan always told people her job was “selling drugs” but she really worked in the Diabetes Care area). Karen Bolderman used to live in Baltimore but her and her husband Tom moved to the Orlando area several years ago and we met them for lunch one day so Jill and Karen could catch up on about 15 year of news. Their only regret was that their former boss, Willard Hale, couldn’t be there to join in! So we took a picture of them where they made room for Willard to photo-shop himself in the middle.

On February 11th, we packed up Lola and set out for Okeechobee, FL via Tampa (a long story and a long day, more on this in the next post) where we’ll spend 29 days. This will also be Lola’s southern most point of travel. After that, we’ll turn and head north in mid March. Stay tuned for more updates from Florida!

And just remember…

As we moved into 2020, we started getting reminders from Facebook about what had happened a year ago. And there, in front of us, flashed the comments and pictures of our first days without “sticks and bricks”, figuring out how to live and love life in 400 feet of rolling house (with two dogs!). Needless to say a lot has happened since we embarked on our new life. Everyone we see and talk to (new and old friends) always ask us how we are doing and if we are still happy with the decision. And our answer is a resounding “YES, WE LOVE IT!” We’ve become quite a team (not that we weren’t before) and have both picked up skills we never thought we’d have. Jill is a master in Lola’s small kitchen, making meals out of whatever happens to be in the fridge, using a small microwave/convection oven as well as an Instant Pot to make more and better meals than we ever had in our last “house”. Dan has been able to tackle more and more technical issues that Lola throws at us, saving tons of money in mobile RV tech fees along the way.

Life in the winter is definitely slower paced as we are staying places longer and stretching things out, trying to blend in with the “snowbirds” who have come down to Florida for up to 6 months. On January 1, we departed Navarre to return to Carrabelle, further east on the Florida panhandle near Apalachicola. We traveled thru Mexico Beach and Panama City where damage is still very evident from Hurricane Michael, more than a year and a half later. We stopped for just three nights in Carrabelle but were lucky enough to meet up with Jill’s cousin Howard and his friend Karen who were over on St. George Island. We had two great days of visiting and eating!

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Next stop was Cedar Key, an out-of-the-way area north of Tampa on the west coast. Cedar Key is a throw back to old Florida, just a small village where most folks seem to be in the fishing and related businesses. Likewise, our selected campground was a bit of a shout out to the 60’s with 9 campsites, 5 motel rooms and their own Tiki Bar out back! Cedar Key is known for its clams (who knew??!!) and we had some of the BEST clam chowder ever! We also had a chance to catch up with a childhood friend of Jill’s, Cheryl Siler and her husband Bob. We had some great visits including a fun evening at the Tiki Bar.

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Our one major excursion was a trip south to Crystal River to see if we could find some manatees. Large, peaceful creatures, manatees need warm water to survive so when winter arrives they move to places where the water remains warm. And that means that a large contingent congregate around the warm springs that bubble up around the Crystal River area.

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The springs are very special and protected by roping off the areas where the manatees congregate and also ensuring that any boaters are specially approved to go thru the areas to ensure the safety of the manatees. This means the land and water areas are protected too. Of course, some people just can’t follow the rules, no matter who clear they are…

As mentioned earlier, this stay was pretty quiet, visiting and just enjoying some down time. We enjoyed many beautiful sunsets during our week in Cedar Key and would love to go back soon!

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It was finally time to head inland and say goodbye to the Florida gulf coast on January 11th and head south to the world of Disney! Up next, a month in Kissimmee, Florida.

As we returned to Atlanta, we also prepared to be grandparents, having reunited with our son Chris and his new bride, Sarah as they were expecting identical twin girls. It was a busy November in Atlanta catching up with them as well as friends.

Mid-November Lola headed south towards Florida for the winter. Having spent time in Atlanta when the temps dropped to 22 degrees, we were eager to get her south where we wouldn’t have to worry about freezing pipes. We settled back into our space at Emerald Beach RV Park in Navarre, the same place we spent over three months back in the beginning of the year while Jill recovered from her broken femur.

While in Navarre we chilled out, got some annual maintenance and cleaning done for Lola (including replacing all 4 house batteries!), and visited with friends (Anita & Blair Powell, Lori & Mike Gaytan, and Cathy & Gary Mott).

We did minor decorating including a special RV related decoration that Adele seemed to appreciate.

In the middle of our stay, we left Lola at the campground and returned to Atlanta for the Christmas holiday and to visit our new grand babies, Savannah and Skylar, who were born on December 18th!

We are officially grandparents and you can call us Lolli and Pop!

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After a busy holiday week with the kids, it was back to Florida where we pretty much relaxed and chilled, welcoming 2020 with minimal fanfare.

We’ll spend all of January and February as well as part of March in Florida, attempting to escape the cold weather that most of the country experiences. After leaving Navarre on January 1, we visited Carrabelle and then Cedar Key before heading south to Orlando and Okeechobee. We’ve actually just arrived in Orlando/Kissimmee so expect another update soon from our southern travels.

All the best for 2020!

Much as we arrived in New Orleans with some storms, we also had to break camp and drive to Biloxi in some weather. We had heavy rain as we hooked up the car and then a down pour just as we arrived in Biloxi. For a nice change, we were in a park that had paved sites and roads.

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We had a short stay planned of only 3 days/4 nights but still managed to do some exploring. We were happy to discover that Biloxi has a completely smoke-free casino so we spent some time doing a bit of gambling (no successes) without the worry of runny eyes or noses! We also discovered a very nice little Seafood & Maritime Museum that had a special exhibit on Hurricane Katrina as well as some well preserved boats from the area.

We also had a chance to enjoy some local seafood and even have a spa day!

After finishing up in Biloxi, it was time to start heading back to Atlanta. We had an 8-day stay planned for a few appointments as well as a baby shower for Chris and Sarah. We also had to get some work done for our tow package so our plan was to camp for a couple of nights near Montgomery, AL. Then we’d move to Pine Mountain, GA for a couple of nights so we could then get up early from there, run to Riverdale (south of Atlanta) for the work to be done, then finish the day setting up camp back in Acworth.

Our stop south of Montgomery was uneventful, no activities planned. We had a nice pull-thru site and it was a very quiet place.

On the road to Pine Mountain, the dogs took more time to get accustomed to riding in the RV. Brandy was much more relaxed and seemed to enjoy sitting behind Dan’s seat while he was driving. Adele would spend time under the dining table and also on the couch but eventually seemed to be envious of Brandy’s spot and even tried to get her to share her spot at one point.

We moved on to Pine Mountain and took time to visit Roosevelt’s Little White house. It’s amazing how small and basic this house is considering it was the vacation home of the President of the United States. This place has remained unchanged from the day he died there in 1945. You can see the chair he sat in when he collapsed and the bed where he was moved and subsequently passed away. The portrait being painted at the time of his death is also on display, still unfinished.

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On November 7th, we again arrived back into the Atlanta area after a nice trip of 47 nights over 1,522 miles. We stayed in 9 campgrounds over the course of this trip. We started with temps over 100 degrees and by the time we were done, we were looking at temps close to freezing.

Below is a visual of the trip.

After our 8 day stay in Atlanta, it will be off to Florida for the winter!

After a busy week in Vicksburg, it was time to head south again, following the Mighty Mississippi down to New Orleans. We decided to splurge a bit for this campground and upgraded to have a site directly on the water, facing a major canal that connects Lake Pontchartrain with the river.

Although near the end of hurricane season, a storm by the name of Olga decided to head our direction soon after we arrived. After dealing with almost 5 inches of rain while in Memphis, we really weren’t in the mood to be in another storm but here we were. Although rainfall was reasonable, wind speeds picked up much higher than we had expected, peaking our around 50 mph. This is the first time that we felt the wind really pushing Lola around and we decided to pull in our slides. Each of our four slides that go out and increase the interior space, are covered with a slide awning that helps keep water and debris from accumulating on top of the slides. The problem is that these can flap around a lot and in the case of high winds, could tear or get damaged, making slide operations a challenge (and potentially leaking). Thus, early in the AM we pulled the slides in and hunkered down in our bed until day break. Luckily, no damage or problems occurred and we can now say we’ve weather two tropical storms (having endured the remnants of Florence last year while camping in Boone, NC).

The next day we drove into New Orleans, checking out the French Quarter and all the regular sites. We also stopped by the very first officially licensed pharmacy in the US, which just happens to be in New Orleans. It’s now a museum and the time that we stopped by they were giving a tour/demonstration. Sticking to the medical theme, we also stopped by the Voodoo museum for a look see.

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The next day Dan wandered off on his own to visit the WW II Museum (formerly the D-Day Museum). He had been warned that it could take multiple days to get thru this 5-building complex and it was a fair warning. He was able to get thru it all in about 8 hours but could have taken way longer. Below are some pics but one thing people may wonder is why there is a WW II museum in New Orleans, of all places. Well, see the plaque below for an explanation.

There is no way to capture in pictures all the information, exhibits, stories, and experiences presented at this museum. There are complete sections dedicated to the Pacific War, the War in Europe, the Africa Campaign, the Homefront, and the Merchant Marine. One building houses aircraft from the war and allows you to view them from various levels and perspectives. It is truly an immersive and stirring experience.

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Even though we were in New Orleans in October, we still wanted to explore the world of Mardi Gras. So, that’s what we did – we visited Mardi Gras World! Here is where most of the floats are designed and constructed for the various parades each year during Mardi Gras. We were able to see how they are constructed and several of last year’s floats. An interesting fact is that they save most of what is made and then repurpose the figures and forms the next year.

Much like the area around Natchez, the New Orleans area has its fair share of plantations. We had heard a lot about a different view of the world of plantations at the Whitney Plantation. This plantation/museum is focused on providing a view of those where were enslave and endured a horrible world at the hands of plantation owners in order to allow these places to thrive.

Since those who were enslaved were considered property, the state of Louisiana fully documented selling and trades as well as births. This created a very large amount of documentation regarding the enslaved population within the state which included birth dates, dates of changes in ownership, deaths, names, etc. Due to a considerable amount of research, the Whitney Plantation has been focused on sharing this information and pull back the veil of romanticism that surrounds the plantation life. Thru artwork, memorials and displays, we were able to learn much more about the lives and deaths of thousands upon thousands of individuals. Below are some of the pictures we captured during out tour.

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We enjoyed our time in the area and learned a lot. We also took time to enjoy ourselves by just chilling, taking things in and enjoying the moment.

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After a week in New Orleans, it was time to turn east along the Gulf Coast – next stop, Biloxi!

After a few days in Little Rock, it was time to head back over to the Mississippi River as we followed it south towards the gulf. Our destination was Vicksburg where we’d stay for a week while we explored the area along the Natchez Trace. We camped at the Ameristar Casino campground (because it was cheap) but never actually even made it over to the casino.

Our first day, we explored around Vicksburg itself. Our first stop was the Lower Mississippi River Museum (it’s free!) where we learned about how the river has changed and shaped the landscape over the years. For instance, at the time of the Civil War, the entire city of Vicksburg sat on a bluff overlooking the river. However, in the 1870’s flooding caused the river to change it’s course and much of the city is no longer on the shore of the river.

We also took a tour of a river tug that used to work the river.

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Next, we moved up the street and visited the Beidenharn Candy Company. This is now a museum dedicated to the history of bottling Coca Cola. You might wonder why this museum is in Vicksburg when everyone knows that Atlanta is the home of Coca Cola? Well come to find out that Mr. Beidenharn was actually the first person to actually bottle the beverage. Before then, the syrup was sold by Coke and then it was mixed at soda shops with soda water and served by soda jerks. Mr. Beidenharn figured out a way to put the syrup and then the carbonated soda water into glass bottles and then sold them in the surrounding area. Thus, he became the first official Coca Cola bottler.

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This operation was done by hand and since the mixture was under pressure, the operator had to deal with exploding bottles as part of their job. Thus you will note in the picture above, the use of a mask to protect the worker’s face.

There are many planation homes in this area of Mississippi and we decided to visit a more unique home. We took a drive south to Natchez to visit Longwood. The timing for this home was very inopportune in that it was begun in 1858, just three years before the Civil War. It was planned to be the largest brick octagonal home ever built, having 3 main floors, each about 10,000 square feet. Artisans were brought in to help build the huge brick home which included making all the needed bricks on site. Unfortunately for the owner, the exterior was just being completed as war broke out. The family rushed to complete the ground floor which was actually below the main floor and was initially planned to be the gentleman’s “man cave” of the time. Instead, the entire family moved into this bottom floor. The spoils of war meant that the family business never recovered after the war and the home was never completed beyond the ground floor. As stipulation when the home was handed over to a non-profit, it was agreed that the home would remain as it was during the war, leaving the unfinished floors as testament to the waste, lost dreams and destruction that was left by the war.

In the pictures above, the living quarters were actually below the front porch and had to be reached by a side entrance. The brick and wood seen inside is original from the 1860’s and is how the home was left. No pictures were allowed in the ground floor living area but it was dark with low ceilings, nothing like the grand open rooms of the upper, unfinished rooms seen here.

After the tour of the home and a stop for lunch in Natchez, we hopped onto a portion of the Natchez Trace Parkway. This road traces the route people took in the early 1800’s and runs from Nashville to Natchez. In those days, boats only traveled downstream on the river and thus when cargo was delivered at Natchez, workers would have to walk back to Nashville for their next run. This created a sort of walking “highway” complete with rest stops, stores, etc. along the way.

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Of course, you can’t visit Vicksburg without visiting the neighboring National Military Park. Vicksburg was the site of a key siege during the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln himself noted that Vicksburg was the key to controlling the Mississippi and the North needed to hold that key. After several attempts to take Vicksburg by force, the North determined it would be better to put a siege around the city instead and wait them out. The South, in the mean time, had also realized the need to hold Vicksburg at all costs and invested months of work in building up fortifications along an 8 mile line around the city. The siege lasted 47 days with the South surrendering on July 4, 1863, the same day the battle of Gettysburg ended with retreat for the South.

Since the battlefield was made up of siege lines with little movement, the battlefield remains have been retained well in some areas. In addition, due to the help of veterans from both sides, the lines have been clearly marked so it is easy to travel along both sides of the siege and get the visual perspectives of the combatants.

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Continuing the Civil War theme, we also visited the ironside ship, the USS Cairo. This ship was built in 1862 and attempted to run a blockade of the river at Vicksburg. Even though the ship was well armored above the waterline, there was little in the way of protection for it’s hull and it was sunk when it hit mines laid in the river by the South. The ship remained hidden in the river muck for 100 years before it was located and it was eventually salvaged and a museum was established with its remains set up for viewing. They have done a wonderful job of placing the planks, machinery and other parts as they would have been before the ship was sunk. Included is much of it’s boiler system, the paddle wheel mechanisms, much of the armor including railroad rails added by the crew for extra protection, and part of the hull including the rudders.

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Our final tourist activity was to visit the McRaven house. This house was built over three eras with the first portion constructed in 1797, the 2nd in the 1820’s and the final section in the 1840’s. All three sections can be seen and it is interesting to see how they built onto each preceding home. This is also known as the most haunted house in Mississippi but we can’t say that we saw or felt anything while visiting.

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Obviously there was a lot to do in the Vicksburg area! We really enjoyed our time in the area but after a week it was time to follow the Mississippi farther south to New Orleans.

We were excited to extend our westward journey over to Little Rock, Arkansas, if for no other reason than to be able to claim one more state where we have camped! We traded in our site on the Mississippi River out in the country for a campsite on the Arkansas River right across from downtown Little Rock. It’s a small city campground that is mostly paved and gravel but suited us just fine for a short 4-night stay. The dogs seemed to like the location based on the expressions on their faces.

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We had three things to see during our short stay:

• The Clinton Presidential Library
• Little Rock Central High School, scene of the Little Rock 9 and the struggle for school integration
• The Purse Museum. Yep, that’s right, Little Rock has one of only two Purse Museums in the whole world!

We chose to visit the Clinton Library first as it was a rainy day and this would be a good activity to stay out of the rain. Regardless of your political views, we think these libraries are very interesting, lots of artifacts from the time he served and detailed history lessons of what happened during the time. They have created an exact duplicate of the Oval Office as it looked during Clinton’s time, unfortunately they do not allow photos since they want to sell pictures instead. But we did get pics of the duplicate of the Cabinet Room and several other interesting areas, as shown below.

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There was also a special exhibit at the Library regarding trash that is filling our oceans. An artist has taken some of that trash and turned it into art while also spreading awareness of the damage done to wildlife and the environment from various materials.

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On a clear day, we drove over to the National Park Service Visitor Center near the Little Rock Central High School. We were lucky enough to be able to join a tour that took us around the campus (still being used today) as well as go inside the school. We heard about the struggle to allow equal access for African Americans to the same level of education and how local, state and federal governments were involved in both fighting and supporting that integration.

After a good dose of history, it was time to visit the Purse Museum. This includes a collection from one person of purses that represent every decade of the 1900’s. From beautiful, to useful, to outlandish, it was an interesting walk thru time.

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Our last night, the pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River lit up in pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness. A beautiful send off from Little Rock.

We found a wonderful campground on the shores of the Mississippi River, just across from Memphis. It’s name is Tom Sawyer’s RV Park and yes, we even found Tom:

This park is so close that it floods whenever the river goes over its banks. And given the high rainfall earlier in the year, this campground wasn’t opened until mid-July. This will impact our stay later on…

Although not on a site right on the river, we could see across a wide open field and watch the tugs and barges travel up and down the river.

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Lola had been experiencing a bit of a fluid leak over the last few weeks and it appeared to be getting worse, spraying fluid all over our tow vehicle (Lolita). We had identified a good diesel repair facility in Memphis so we had planned to take Lola in on Monday morning after our weekend arrival to have it check. Unfortunately, the night before we experienced nearly 4 inches of rain at our campsite. This is a campsite that, until a few months ago, had been covered in river water and…river mud. This meant that we had to break down our campsite on Monday morning in rain and lots of mud!!! And that mud had a certain smell – let’s just call it “river funk”. We dropped off Lola, dropped the dogs at a groomer, and went to get some breakfast (which was really great!). By noon, Lola’s leak was diagnosed (a new part would have to be ordered so we’d have to take her back the following Monday as we left town) so we picked her up and headed back to camp, where Lola sunk into the river mud (but didn’t get stuck) and we spent the rest of the day trying to dry out and clean out the mud from our site.

The next few days were filled with exploring Memphis. Our first stop was Sun Studios, where folks such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jimmy Lee Lewis got their start. Much like our tour in Nashville, we found this an amazing insight into the early music industry. We were able to explore the actual recording studio and hear music and recordings taped in this famous facility.

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The next day we toured the National Civil Rights Museum which includes the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. We both agreed that this the best and most impactful experience we have had on our journeys so far. The way the slave and African American history was told was amazing and very stirring. There are artifacts from various freedom marches, interactive displays, short films, and so many other ways to learn of the struggles that went on throughout our nation’s history. This tour would help influence other places we would want to explore along the rest of our journey. If you are in or near Memphis, you need to go there!

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The next day we headed over to the famous Peabody Hotel to see their ducks. Yes, they have ducks that live at the hotel and every day they ride the elevator down to the lobby and then parade across the lobby to the fountain where they spend the day. We missed the parade but did visit them in the fountain and enjoy a drink in the lobby bar.

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We also visited the famous Beale Street although given it was a weekday afternoon, things were pretty quiet.

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Another fun part of traveling the country is catching up with friends we may not have seen for a few years. On a rainy Friday, Barbara Lindke came out to the campground to visit and join us for lunch. We met Barbara on our first trip on Seadream during our Trans Atlantic cruise. We failed to take a pic of us so will have to pull one from the cruise back in 2008….

We also had the opportunity to catch up with JJ Sinclair and her husband Phillip. JJ and Dan worked together for many years at IHG. We had THE BEST BBQ and visit with them on a sunny Saturday in Memphis.

We honestly could have spent a lot more time in Memphis and may have to go back again for another visit. As we headed out of town, we dropped off Lola for her final repairs and spent about an hour at a local dog park where Adele and Brandy got time to explore before we were back on the road for Little Rock!

In early October we departed Atlanta, still looking for fall weather! Unfortunately, we didn’t find it in northern Alabama with temps hitting 100 several days during our trip west.

First stop was Huntsville to visit the Rocket Center. It was way more than we expected! Lots of things to see from the early space race up to Apollo including….lots of rockets!

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There were lots of other interesting artifacts too:

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We also learned that there is a huge german influence around the Huntsville area since Werner Von Braun and many other scientists were brought over to the US after the end of WW II from Germany to help with our rocket development. One result is some of the best German food you can get! We enjoyed schnitzel and bratwurst that was the best!

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Soon, it was time to leave Huntsville and head further west.

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Our next stop was just to break up our journey between Huntsville and Memphis which meant stopping in Tuscumbia, Alabama. But we discovered that a very famous lady was from this town and we were able to tour her home, called Ivy Green. Specifically, Helen Keller was born and raised in Tuscumbia. For those not aware of her story, Helen was stricken soon after being born with an illness that caused her to go completely blind and deaf. Thus, she had no way to communicate with her parents or anyone else. Luckily, her family brought in Anne Sullivan as her teacher. Ann was able to break thru the darkness and silence and very quickly Helen was able to learn to communicate and later went on the be a global advocate for helping the blind and deaf. It was really amazing to think of how much she had to overcome to become such an influential woman.

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Time to get back on the road and turn west towards Memphis. We’d have a week of exploring, connecting with friends, and hopefully finally finding some fall weather.