Home Grown (Restaurant), Bodie, And Snow

When Madison (granddaughter) lived with us the first time, she was in 8^th grade and, even though we had two dogs, we decided to get her a dog of her own.  After some looking around we ended up with a cute little Maltese puppy that Madison named Bodie and we all grew to love him so we were disappointed when she moved back home and opted to take Bodie with her – but of course we understood. 

When Madison went off to college, Bodie ended up with Rhett and Beth, which is the current situation but since they both retired in October, they have been traveling extensively and Bodie ends up being boarded a lot.  Since they plan on more traveling, we all thought it would be best for Bodie if he stayed with us for a while, which of course we will also like.

To get him we each made the approximately three-hour drive to Asheville, NC and met for lunch at an interesting little place called HomeGrown  which is a converted old house.  I borrowed some of the pics from the web.

Our Annual Trip To Marco Island, FL

You are likely aware that my girls make a three-week trip to our timeshare in Marco and I rarely go because I don’t like to go where it’s hot after just getting thru a long hot Tennessee summer, but this year I decided to go so Bev wouldn’t have to make that long drive.  So, after saying good-bye to Cindy and the very disappointed pups, we got on the road at a foggy 5am.  We came down US-411 to near Cartersville, GA then I-75 where the traffic was light to Atlanta then pretty heavy until the Florida Turnpike peeled off in Wildwood.  They have been widening I-75 for as long as I can remember but they should have made it four or five lanes rather than just three.  As it turns out, I’m more relaxed behind the wheel than as a passenger (maybe it’s a control issue) so I did the driving and 12½ hours and 800 miles later we pulled into The Charter Club Of Marco Beach.  Listening to a book helped the time pass quicker.  While Bev doesn’t like spending a night in a hotel, I think it’s time to start making this a two-day trip.  

We got in at sunset and had this view from the balcony.

A Little Roundabout Trip To Nebraska, Days 13 & 14, Trip Home

We started our final day in Hartington by going early to the café so Kathy could make us a delicious good-by breakfast then it was a 10½ hour drive to MT Vernon, IL via NE-57 & 59, US-20, I-29, I-70, & I-64.  The roads were all decent to excellent with lots of improvements being made and the traffic wasn’t bad until we managed to hit St. Louis at 5pm. 

The terrain really varied from tabletop flat to pretty rolling along US-20 and we saw plenty of crop harvesting going on as evidenced by the big cloud of dust that the combines generated. 

A Little Roundabout Trip To Nebraska, Day 6 & 7, Sioux Falls

This day started the trip toward home and took us from Rugby, ND to Sioux Falls, SD to spend two nights.  It was a 464 mile day so we got an early start and just ate leftovers and cheese & crackers for a quick lunch on the road.  The drive took us back east on US-2 and south on I-29 which we had driven going to Rugby (I-29 only from Fargo).  US-2 is a good, four-lane road with 70 mph speed limit and few vehicles.  I think you would consider it as heavy traffic if you can look out your windshield and in your rear-view mirror and see more than two other vehicles.

There was a big difference in land from rolling terrain around Rugby to table top flat near Grand Forks and we saw some soybean harvesting happening and the wheat was done but there are lots of crops still standing ready.

Finally, An RV Trip – The Drive & Campground

Covid-19 had significantly waned, the hip replacement surgery is behind me, the coach is hopefully readied, and Cindy is in place to house-sit so we headed out for our first RV trip in 53 weeks.  Our friends and neighbors, Steve and Pat, have put together a great sounding Tennessee Travelers Club Rally to the western North Carolina high country.

Florida Trip – Days 16-18 - The Campground & Trip Home

It was our last day and with nothing scheduled, so my girls and a few others went into old downtown Pensacola to look around and do some shopping while I puttered around and readied the coach for the next days drive.  Since it was supposed to rain overnight and in the morning, we did as much as we could the day before, including attaching the car.

You may remember that I classify the places we stay as campgrounds, RV Parks, and RV resorts and I would call this a low end RV park as the roads and sites were all gravel but they did have paver brick patios at each site.  Check in was friendly and efficient and we were guided to our site even though it was raining.

Florida Trip Days 10 & 11 On To Pensacola & Cookout

Saturday was moving day and we left East Point a little after 10am and headed west for Pensacola to attend our RV Club Rally.  Our route was US-98 to Port St Joe, FL-71 north to I-10 west to Pensacola.  The roads were all good except for a few rough spots on FL-71 and the drive was four hours plus a stop for fuel just before the campground.  Other than driving in the rain on all of I-10 including a thunderstorm it was a nice, uneventful trip.

Our destination was the Pensacola RV Park located in the northwest part of the city.

Florida Trip Day 3&4, East Point, FL

We got on the road from Pine Mountain, GA a little before 10am and drove the following route to East Point, FL – GA-18, I-185, US-27, FL-263, US-319, and US-98.  While US-27 is two-lane north of Columbus, GA, it was a nice four lane to the south.  While all of the road surfaces were drivable, like everywhere, they all needed, or soon will need, work.  US- 98 was the worst or them.  We left in the rain and drove in the rain, heavy at times, all day taking six hours to make the 260 mile trip.

On The Road For A Three Stop RV Club Rally – Days 1-2

After just a five week down period, during which we had to get a seal replaced on the coach engine, we are back on the road and headed for our first of three stops in Savannah, GA – followed by Charleston, SC and Asheville, NC.  Pat, Cindy, Bev, three dogs, and I departed about 11:30 am for the 260 mile drive to the Forsythe, GA. KOA – the 450 mile trip all the way to Savannah is more than I want to drive in one day. 

About two hours into the trip the low engine coolant alarm came on so I stopped at a truck stop and made sure everything was full but it shortly came on again when I got up to 63 mph followed by the stop engine light.  So I pulled over to the side of the road, stopped the engine for a few minutes then started it back up and ran the remainder of the days trip at 58 mph without incident – but not sure why the speed made a difference but very happy that it did.  I spoke with my diesel mechanic at home and he suggested it was likely a failing sensor since the engine temperature was running fine.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 63-64, The Final Two Days

We got back on I-40 in North Little Rock Tuesday morning and the road thru the rest of Ark was pretty good but we noticed lots of flood waters on both sides of the road and when we got to the Mississippi River, it was way out of its banks.  By the time we got into Tennessee the winds had picked up and I fought the gusty conditions the rest of the way to Parker's Crossroads.  Usually I’ve reported how the road got better when we got into TN but not so today as it was just okay most of the day and bad for the first 35 miles thru and east of Memphis.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 60-62, Still Heading Home

After a day to rest, we got back on the road on Sunday (an hour late as we were unaware of the DST change - ain't retirement great?) and drove thru Oklahoma City to Seminole, OK to stay at the Bar H Bar Travel Center which contained a fuel stop, a convenience store, a restaurant, and a campground.  Overhead from the web.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 42-45, Moving Up To Camp Verde

On Wednesday we secured the coach and made our one-day-early departure from Lazy Days KOA in Tucson.  While we didn’t use the amenities or participate in the activities I still really enjoyed the campground and would definitely stay there again.  It is on the SE side of town making it somewhat away from the majority of town with restaurants, etc.  Our trip north to Camp Verde took us up I-10, then I-17 around Phoenix and on to our destination.  At around noon, we breezed right through Phoenix and other than a few rough patches, found the roads to be in pretty good condition.

We pulled into Distant Drums RV Resort mid afternoon, got parked and I went comatose as I now had a head cold to go along with my other ailments.  I’ll talk more about the campground later but when we got up Thursday morning, this is what we found.

Closely followed by this.

Sure made our decision to come here a day early look brilliant.  The coach has been in the snow before but never with us camped inside.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 18 & 19 – Las Cruces. NM (Hatch) and On To Tucson

On Sunday with nothing else on the agenda, we decided to drive up to Hatch, NM so Pat could say she had been to the Chile Capital Of The World, however, after driving up one side of the river on a state road then back on I-25, it may be more accurate to call it the Pecan Capital Of The World as giant orchards lined the valley floor on both sides of the io Grande river – I read an article that said they now grow about half of the chiles that they did about 13 years ago.  The Rio Grande, a pecan orchard, and fields ready for chiles.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 13,14, &15 – San Antonio to Las Cruces, NM

Kathy and Keith left town on Tuesday morning so we had our last day in SA to ourselves and had planned to go to the Riverwalk but the girls were tired and shopped-out so we decided to pass - Bev and I had been before.  

Here are a few comments about the San Antonio KOA.  The campground was about what I expected of a older downtown KOA with tight paved roads, lots of trees, and gravel sites, but I was disappointed in the uneven dirt (mud) left at our site where they had been installing some new utilities.  The check-in process was friendly and efficient and we were guided to our site, which I always like.  They had good water pressure, cable TV with a very good selection of channel, and the WiFi was strong and pretty fast plus I liked the on-site breakfast service.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 8&9 – Galveston to San Antonio

We stopped in Galveston just to eat at the Gypsy Joynt and in San Antonio because daughter, Kathy, and her three kids live there.  So on Thursday morning we readied the coach for departure to SA and when I tried to start the car for its pre-tow run, it did absolutely nothing – no lights, no bells, no clicking, nothing.  

But it’s a brand new battery, I say to myself, and when I connected the charger, it wouldn’t show charging.  After starting with jumpers, my neighbor suggested checking the battery with a volt meter and we discovered the negative connection was not even connected to the battery post - it had apparently vibrated off, since we’d been driving it for two days.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the positive terminal had also not been tightened by the girl at Auto Zone – now that everything is tight, I hope our battery problems are a thing of the past.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 4&5 - Beaumont & Galveston

After our down day in Natchez, we headed further south to Beaumont, TX by driving US-84, LA-28, I-49, US-165, and I-10.  The roads were all good except US-84 which was concrete or paved-over concrete with bumpy joints.

After the 230 mile drive we got to Gulf Coast RV Resort about 3pm but I would call it a nice RV Park rather than a resort.  The park is very convenient to I-10 and a few miles south of downtown.  Check-in went fine and we easily made our way to our long pull-thru site #79. 

We used none of the amenities except the continental breakfast that was included in the price.  I never could get signed on to the WiFi so don’t know how well it worked.

Heading To The Southwest – Days 1-2

Now that the holidays are over, we have hit the road for a long planned RV trip to the desert Southwest, spending most of our time in Arizona.  We departed Almost Heaven South at 10am on 1/10/19 and pointed the coach toward Tuscaloosa, Al – an area still in shock due to the recent blowout football loss to Clemson in the NCAA football championship game.   Our route took us down I-75, I-24, I-59, and I-459 and the road surfaces were mostly very good except for a few rough stretches and the traffic between Chattanooga and Birmingham was very light – I really like that road.

We pulled into Sunset RV ($32/nite) about 3:30 and secured a long pull through requiring no unhooking of the car, however when I went to start it for its required 5 minute post-tow running, the battery was pretty dead.  Not sure why, but this is why I travel with a battery charger and jumper cables – charger did the trick this time and now I need to figure out why.

On Friday, we left Tuscaloosa at 9:30 am and drove I-59 to Laurel, MS and the road was very good except form the MS border to the split of I-59 and I-20.  Since I had heard that both I-20 thru MS and I-10 thru La were pretty rough, I found an alternate that took us thru Natchez, MS, a place I had been wanting to go.  So we exited I-59 at Laurel, MS and traveled west on US-84 but I would not consider it as a smooth alternative to the interstates as only about a third of it was really good road and it had a lot of coach rattling sections.

We rolled into Riverview RV Park in Vidalia, LA about 3pm – it’s just across the river from Natchez with another dead car battery so my first solution did not work.

2018 Summer RV Trip – Days 44-46 – Last Day In Sycamore & Trip Home

Our original plan was to go from Illinois to Ohio Amish Country (Holmes County) then on to West Virginia for an 11 day, two stop rally of our RV club, but when the rally dropped down to just three coaches, we decided to cancel it.  My girls had already been saying they were ready to be home, so we cancelled out Holmes County as well and made plans to head south.

We were due to leave IL on Sunday of Labor Day weekend and not surprisingly, a suitable campground site was not to be found in the area we needed to spend the night so we stayed another day in Sycamore and had no problem getting into the Monday night place we wanted.

So Sunday, we made preparations for departure and watched a Shania Twain concert on TV and all I can say is that she is spectacular and then she starts singing and becomes even more so. J

2018 Summer RV Trip – Days 41-42 – Moving To and Visiting the Sycamore, IL Area

Our son Eric and his family live it Naperville, IL so we planned to stop for a visit on our way south and the nearest decent campground I could find was in Sycamore, IL which is in farm country about 40 miles from Naperville.

The trip south from Egg Harbor was uneventful (just the way I like them) and our route was WI-57S, I-43N, I-41S, WI-26S, I-39S, and WI-64E.  Most of the roads were concrete or paved over concrete so we experienced joint cracks most of the way but none of the surfaces were really bad.  WI-26 was a nice drive out thru the county side and much of it was 4-lane. The two interstates around Green Bay were uncrowded and made for a good by-pass.  I would use this same route again.

We pulled into Sycamore RV Resort around 4pm and had no issues with any roads until making the turn onto E North Ave leading to the campground.  The road was narrow and I crossed over the curb with both the rear coach tires and the car.  Here are shots of our site and our view out the front.  We were in site 86.

On Friday we drove through Sycamore and down to DeKalb and noticed the area seemed to be doing well economically in both the downtown's and the road between the towns was lined with the normal strip malls and big box stores.  I asked the campground owner if there was something beside Northern Illinois Univ. and farming bringing in money and he said it was mostly farming plus Sycamore is the county seat.  Here is an NIU shot from the web then two buildings I was impressed with.

Since Saturday was Pat’s BD and I thought we might be busy that night, we pan fried some steaks for her celebration supper on Friday.  I used the induction cooker and had not used it like this before, but it worked fine once I figured out which heat level to use.  The girls each had a filet and I had a strip and after tasting mine and theirs, I will never again order a filet.  Yes, it was more tender but the strip had way more of a beef flavor – I knew this but it was never before made so clear to me.

For more on the campground, here are some shots of the part that is in the shade and along the lakes beginning with a web shot of their map - we were in the blue sites in the upper right.

Everything worked well at the campground and it had one of the best WiFi's I've found but the big negative was no cable and our antenna would not get local channels so I couldn't watch WVU whup-up on TN on CBS without going to a sports bar, which I originally considered then decided against.  I hated to pull against UT but I just have to root for my home state school and alma mater, but I hope the Vols have a great year from here on.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/30-8/31/18 Event Dates

2018 Summer RV Trip – Days 30 & 31 –Maple Syrup, Lambeau & Moving North

We knew the maple syrup we had purchased in New Hampshire several years ago was about gone and when we saw it advertised here, we looked up a local supplier and went to their place to check it out.  InTheWoods Sugar Bush Maple Syrup is literally in the woods among the 1400 maple trees that they tap from - not visible from the road and no sign.  

Their house and sugar operation share the same building and when you drive back their gravel lane in the woods, the first thing you notice is the blue plastic tubing running among the trees for collecting the sap.  I failed to get a pic but someone else did.