Actually, it has been more than a year since our last post. It was a busy, busy year. We left Huntsville due to a family emergency and kept busy for the rest of the year. Now I believe I hear Willie Nelson in the background....is that our theme song...."On the Road Again?" Why I believe it is! Yes, Bob and I are on the road.
We took a quick trip to St. Augustine to make sure the rv had no surprises for us. While camped at Anastasia State Park, our neighbors came to spend the day.
Castillo de San Marcos was our destination. The volunteers shot the cannon as we watched from a safe distance.
After touring the fort we wanted a bite to eat. As we left the parking lot to find a place, the bottom fell out of the sky. Bob drove toward the campground, but we were able to find a place to eat near the park. All but Bob got completely soaked as we hunted the entrance to Panama Hatties. Jim finally knocked on a locked door and someone let us enter. Bob parked and followed us a moment later.
The weather at St. Augustine helped us find a leak in the slide-out. When we returned home, Bob used eternabond to cover every suspicious nook and cranny on the top of the slide. I sure hope that fixed the leak. I guess we will find out during our next rainstorm.
Saturday, September 1, we set out for our adventure. There are not many ways to travel from Florida to Arkansas that we have not already explored. So once again we set out driving north on US 17, turned west on FL 40 to FL 326 and then onto I-75 north to our first stop--Suwanee River State Park near Live Oak, Fl.
The plan was to spend two nights at this park (holiday weekend and all) before continuing our journey. One of the things we were looking forward to was hiking the trails. After setting up camp, we did just that, hiked the Standing Rock Trail. Along the trail I spotted this paper wasp nest.
Then of course there was the namesake of the trail, Standing Rock. We have been to the park in years with normal rainfall, and the rock appears to rise out of the water. Due to a drought for most of this year, you can see the base of the rock and how it connects to the bank.
Since we were at the park for two days we decided to find some geocaches. It has been too hot this summer to do any near home (and it was still too hot). On a previous trip we visited Falmouth Springs. The water was so low you couldn't tell it was a spring! This time there was a little more water.
We found the geocache and continued on our way. It was so hot we decided to drive for some others, no hiking!
As usual when we return to our camp site, Bob and I both say "We're home!"
Monday morning we packed our belongings and headed to one of my favorite campgrounds. It is located west of Coffeeville, Alabama. It is Service Corps of Engineer Campground. The location is far from any town and we know it is time to turn in to the entrance when we see the War-Bama Club. The sites we like are pull-throughs next to the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway.
Besides being a very peaceful place to relax after a long day of driving, it is also a place to observe tub boats pushing barges along the waterway. This tug is pushing empty barges north along the waterway. On foggy nights, tugs with their barges pull over across from the campground to wait for the fog to lift as there is a sharp turn about a half mile from the campground.
As most of you know, we don't like to travel more than 150-200 miles a day. But, since we have traveled this route many times before, we have picked up the pace to 350 miles a day. We stayed at Service for 2 nights before continuing on our way. Gas prices aren't helping our budget so we need to get to our destination in Arkansas where we can lay low for a week to get our average daily expenditures below $75.
From Service we went west to Waynesboro, Mississippi where we headed north to Grenada Lake, Mississippi. Bob researched more Corps of Engineers campgrounds and found that North Abutment Park at Grenada Lake got great reviews. The drive was long, but well worth it. We set up camp and drove the scenic loop to explore the area. As we were leaving a primitive campground loop Bob spotted this fawn. It tried to jump the log you see just behind it and couldn't clear it so it stopped to watch us--and we stopped to watch it to see what would happen. The fawn continued to watch until after we snapped the photo and started to drive away. We never saw the mother deer, but knew she had to be some where near by.
Our campsite at Grenada Lake was on a small fishing lake just off the big lake. Once again, the heat prevented us from doing much hiking. I have to say we are tired of 100+ degree weather!
Now as Bob and I were driving this trip we noticed several things. The first and most obvious was a nuisance. Yes, a nuisance. Not only does Florida have love bugs in September, but southern Georgia and Alabama also have those nasty little creatures. At our campsites in Florida and Alabama we had to wash the front of the motorhome to make sure it was still white. Another thing we noticed were the names of places that make us go, "Hmmmmm?" Each time we travel US 84 through south Georgia we drive through Climax. We have traveled US 84 many times and this is the first time we noticed a creek in Alabama--Murder Creek. There was also Burnt Corn, Alabama, Issa Bena, Mississippi and Hot Coffee, Mississippi. Just some names to ponder until my next post.
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