4th of July 2014

We are finally moving west.  We are on highway 90 in Minnesota and it turns west in Wisconsin.  We had been moving north since we left Charleston.

I must tell you that I really, really do not like holidays.  Memorial Day wasn’t too bad but 4^th of July this year was the worst.  Everyone everywhere gets their camper out of mothballs or goes to Walmart and buys a tent and they head out for a long weekend at the campground with all the family.  First it makes it hard for me to find a campground to stay because I have to know where we will be staying and that is NOT easy.  The good ones fill up weeks and weeks in advance.  THEY know where they will be staying – they have been planning it for months.  It seems that these northern people do this more than southerners or westerners.  Maybe because of their long winters.

By the time we knew when we would be leaving Kentucky all the government campgrounds were filled up.  Our route was to take us right by the Wisconsin Dells and I sure didn’t want to go there!  It is all about kids and waterslides.  You should see that place – amazing!  Huge indoor water parks!

We ended up at a place in Wisconsin that even Jake didn’t like.  He got all worked up the first day and had an upset stomach for the next two days.  Poor Jake.  I don’t know what it was that set him off but something did.  Kirby had found this place because I was getting so frustrated trying to find something that I liked.  Well, we didn’t realize until we got there that we would have no sewer.  Now there is nothing wrong with not having a sewer.  We do it all the time, but not when we are paying $44/night!

Sky High Camping Resort has over 350 camping sites, not lots, but sites.  Sites which are really close together.  Each site was full for the holiday.  Each site had an average of five to six people on it, most children.  Do the math.  That is TOO many people and dogs in a small space.

Children running and screaming. Dogs barking. Golf carts going by all the time and radios blaring.  This place made me crazy!  It made ME crazy.  It didn’t seem to bother the folks that just do this once or twice a year.  They took tracker rides, played basketball and volleyball, swam in the pool, played miniature golf and drove the golf carts which were for rent, all over the campground.  It was pretty scary to me to be walking Jake and see a golf cart racing towards me with an eight year old driving it!

Actually it gave me a feeling of what a refugee camp would feel like.  Just way too crowded.  And we PAID to get to be there!  Are we dumb or what?  Next year we will plan our whole trip around where we will be for 4^th of July!

The only picture I took the whole time we were there is of our rig on our site.  It was a nice site and we enjoyed the day playing cards at the picnic table and we had dinner outdoors….watching all the people!

Here is the link to our holiday last year.  It was much better.

Welcome to Tennessee!

Norris Dam State Park Campground
Lake City, Tennessee

After almost two weeks at Lake Powhatan in North Carolina it was time to hitch-up and go.  We took our time because we weren’t going far.  Kirby got up on the roof with the brush and the hose and cleaned off a thousand leaves that were trying to sneak out of the campground with us.  We headed out on Interstate 40 and were in Tennessee in no time at all.  I love changing states which really is kind of silly as it really looks the same on both sides of the state line.

 The drive was hilly and curvy and very beautiful.  Sometimes I get frustrated with all of the trucks on the road but then I remember that they are the ones who keep this country going.  How would we be able to buy anything we want at any time we want if it weren’t for the truckers and the people who drive them.  And we can ship anywhere we want and not worry about how it gets there in a day or two.  It is like magic isn’t?

We did not like our access to the beautiful campground we are in and I don’t look forward to leaving but Kirby is the driver and he is fantastic at getting this big rig around.  Norris Dam State Park just north of Knoxville is a lovely forest of tall trees.  But just like Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, it is very poorly maintained.   There is something about the look of our site that makes me think that we are the first to sit here this season and it almost looks like the snow has just recently melted.  (But how could that be?)

We are just here for two nights so tomorrow we will again travel that steep and curvy narrow road and find our way back out to the highway.

Paul B. Johnson State Park, Mississippi

Beautiful!  This place is just beautiful!  Just look at the mist that covered the lake this morning.  Is this not gorgeous?  I could wake up to this for a long time and not get bored!

The natural beauty of Paul B. Johnson is awesome but the park is not that great.  As much as we are enjoying ourselves here, the park is run down and neglected and that is so sad.  I guess Mississippi is struggling like so many other states and doesn't have the money needed to properly staff this little piece of heaven.  It is also seems to be a very old park.  The roads are really skinny and they are TWO WAY!  Heaven forbid two big rigs going in opposite directions meet!  I don't want to think about it!  The sites are nicely situated but very narrow pads and quite short.  As evidenced by the above picture - the views are wonderful. (We are in site #74)  The bathrooms and showers are a bit neglected but are OK.  We were pleasantly surprised to find laundry facilities which are a great plus for me!  Be forewarned that the road coming in goes through standing water all the time.  The office told me it is not more than 2 - 3 inches.  We made a mistake and came in the back way so avoided the water - we will go back out the same way.  The mistake worked!

And here are some photos that I took today while waiting for the laundry.  (Check out my Laundromat Blog here)

Lots of Muscovy ducks that were a little too friendly for me!  They rather intimidated me!

A squirrel for Jake to chase!

Lots and lots of turtles.

And this was the view from the laundry facility.  Not too shabby!

West Texas to Louisiana

After two days in the Walmart parking lot in Big Spring, Texas and the west Texas wind we headed east on Interstate 20 and watched the scenery turn green.  We spent the night in a little suburb of Fort Worth at Oak Creek RV Park.  What a nice RV park and a treat for us.  We had plenty of everything – water, electric, sewer and I got to do laundry.  We haven’t been on the road but 9 days but I feel we have been gone from Yuma for weeks.  Our life has changed so dramatically and, I have to quote Kirby here, “We are back where you can wear the air.”  It is somewhat humid but coming from Arizona, it feels VERY humid.  And it is green.  The trees are just beginning to leaf out and look like fine lace.  We are very happy.

Here we are in Weatherford, TX at Oak Creek RV Park. 

Oak Creek RV Park in Weatherford was big and beautiful.  The oak trees were just beginning to bud out and I can imagine how lovely it will be when they are in full leaf.  There are many pull-through sites and everything is cement.  Cement streets, cement pads and small cement patios at each site.  Plus of course the big oak trees.  (If you decide to visit, please call first and get instructions on entering the park.)  I was pleased to see a nice clean laundry facility and was tired but since I knew we were heading to a federal campground for a few days, that I should do a couple of loads.

This is NOT a picture of the traffic in Dallas/Fort Worth!  It is much further west of there and we were getting excited about all of the green trees and the grass.

Our route took us through the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.  Hopefully that will be the largest city for some time.  Poor Kirby…..it is not easy watching all the traffic, traffic signs and listening to me and the GPS at the same time.  But once we were through it, all he really had to look out for were the pot holes in the road.  Actually I-20 in Texas was pretty good but once we hit Louisiana it fell apart – almost literally!  Part of the reason we took this route instead of I-10 south of here is that we KNEW that road was terrible.  We were hoping I-20 would be better.  We are not far into Louisiana so maybe it will improve.

This is Beaver Dam Campground where we have a big camping space and total quiet!

It was a long day but we finally made it to Beaver Dam Campground in Kisatchie National Forest.  We turned off the freeway at a small town called Minden and headed north on a small winding road into the backcountry.  After only one time of having to negotiate a U-turn we finally found this hidden gem!  It is very small with excellent campsites and wonderful views.  We are in site #20 with a very large yard, a level asphalt pad, a picnic table, fire ring and a wonderful view of the water.  We have no neighbors and Jake is in heaven.  Last night Kirby grilled steaks and we had dinner outdoors with a bottle of red wine.  I don’t think it gets any better! 

Our view from our site at Beaver Dam Campground.  It is cloudy so it doesn't do it justice but we think it is beauiful!

The forecast here is for rain so we decided to run our errands in town today and then hunker down with our books the next few days.  Hopefully it won’t rain too much.  Minden is a nice southern town with beautiful old homes.  I wish I had taken my camera….shame on me.  We checked out Save A Lot and Brookshire for some groceries, picked up some DEF for the truck and then fueled up so we will be ready to go when the time comes.  This is one of the things I love most about our lifestyle – visiting new communities and talking to the locals.  The young woman at the store couldn’t believe we had never heard of Brookshire stores and didn’t have a scan card.  And have you ever heard of Bubba Cola?  We never had!