Monkeys, Mouse, & Lions

MONKEYS
We arrived at Silver River State Park November 28th, are stay was only 4 nights here.  The park was wonderful, the sites were huge and it was a very quiet place. The weather even cooperated.   We did get one day to kayak up the river.  We had heard about how nice this river was  and as a bonus there are monkeys that live along the river. We hoped that we could see them. we started our voyage up the river enjoying the weather, wildlife and the sunshine. A boat came around a bend and told us that the monkeys were around the corner. We kicked up our pace and was very excited when we spotted them. It was really fun to watch them play in the wild. A lot different then seeing them in a zoo. This is a place we would definitely come back and visit. It close to town with shopping, restaurants, and entertainment but you wouldn't know it by the looks and sounds at the campground.

MOUSE
We moved on down the road and landed at Fort Wilderness Campground located in Walt Disney World. It was nothing like the place we just left. The campground was nice, clean but it was a tight fit for us.  The first spot we went to was to small for us to get into so we called and the changed it right away.  We had never visited the campground before and was overwhelmed by all the Christmas decorating.  It offered lots to do and was very clean. It was a busy campground with lots of stuff going on all the time.  The good part about this week was we were gonna meet up with our son, his wife and the grandkids. That was the best part of the  trip. We took the kids to Animal Kingdom just Jeff and I. It was fun for sure. Then we all went to Walt Disney World and Hailey got to meet the princess's.....priceless. Ashton had a great time riding the rides. It was a good time. By staying at the campground we got to get in 1 hour early so that really helped. We took a break came back had lunch and rested then went back to finish up our day.  The kids took a day and went to Seaworld and Jeff and I went to Epcot. We had been there before but there was new stuff to do.  We spent a day together at the campground swimming and hanging out.  Then we went to The Hollywood Studios we had never been there before again we got in an hour early and that was so helpful.  We were able to hit all the big attractions before it got to busy.  It was a fun week but we need to rest up after that for sure.




















LIONS

We need to rest up....We had reservations at the KOA at the Lion Country Safari. It was only a short stay 3 nights. When we woke up we heard this moaning, roaring and we found out it was the lions next door.  The park was right next to us. You drive your car through this park. I couldn't believe it.  It was really awesome. you have to keep your windows rolled up and they give you a cd to listen to as you drive through.  Its  good  to go first thing in the morning cause the animal are more active. Its really nice to see these animals in the wild (well Kinda) instead of cages. It was a 4 mile safari and it took about 11/2 hours to drive through. Then they also have some walk through stuff you can do.  I loved the part were I got to feed the giraffes.  We had so much fun the first time driving through we did it again the next day. Definitely worth the time and it wasn't very expensive either.

HEADING SOUTH

After leaving St. Louis, we made a quick stop in Nashville, TN. We stayed at Two Rivers RV park, it was really easy to get to. It is located by the Opryland Hotel. We had a couple people living in this area we wanted to visit. First we met up with KT Roseen,Sutherland at Boscos were her brother Guy just happened to be working and our waiter...we had excellent service and food. The company was great too. The restaurant was located downtown Nashville...the draw back there was a home college football game going on and nobody knew about it. That made parking a nightmare but we found a spot and the evening was so nice. On Sunday morning we went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, they had there decorations up and they were everywhere. That place is massive and so neat to see. Parking is available there for $20.00 or you can chose to park at a local shopping center and walk across the street to see it.  Then Sunday afternoon we made a trip to visit Dick & Thelma Spees, friends from home. It was nice to see them and their place in Tennessee.

The next day we headed a little further south and landed in Huntsville, AL. We stayed at Monte Sano State Park. It was really hilly to get to it but we double checked the route we wanted to take and we just had to go slow and be careful. It was very quiet there. We did some hiking and geocaching but wasn't there that long to really take advantage of all the hiking that they offer.

We left fairly early cause we had to drive thru Atlanta. We did our homework, we were up for the challenge. It was the day before Thanksgiving and all. No problems really getting thru Atlanta but after we had made it thru we were high fiving and then it happened.... a bottle neck, the traffic had come to a stand still. Not in Atlanta but in the suburbs. So it was slow going for about an hour. When the traffic started moving it was a good thing.

Next stop High Falls State Park in Jackson Georgia. FYI you need to go to the visitors center to check in before heading to the campground. There are 2 different campgrounds the lake, and the river. If you have a big rig you need to go to the river campground. Again kinda hilly and narrow roads but he campground is really nice. Lots of trees and it to was really quiet.We spent our first Thanksgiving on the road here. It was really good and the weather was great, the food we prepared was yummy. The only thing missing was our kids and grand kids. We did some walking, bike riding and geocaching here as well. Kinda excited about our next stop we will finally make it to Florida.

Florida at last! We are staying at Stephen Foster State Park in White Springs, FL. Pretty easy to drive to and this place is NICE! Its very clean and very quiet. Lots of trees and there is Spanish moss in them....love those trees!They are decorating the place up for Christmas. They also have a bell tower here that plays songs. Since its Christmas time its Christmas songs. They are really friendly.

Our last full day her we took the bike trail through the forest and along the river. VERY NICE. Put about eight miles on the bikes on our back country adventure. Tomorrow is travel day to Silver River State Park.

PAUL McCARTNEY CONCERT

 

Well Sunday evening was enjoyed with a retirement gift to ourselves with a trip to Downtown St Louis and the Paul McCartney show at the Scott Trade Center

Wow, what a great night and truly incredible performance by a musical legend. This man can still perform and play with the best of them even though he is 70 years old! The show opened with Paul and the band playing Magical Mystery Tour and concluded with THE END. There was no opening act because Paul does a three hour show!
Here is the set list:

1) “Magical Mystery Tour”
2) “Junior's Farm”
3) “All My Loving”
4) “Jet”
5) “Drive My Car”
6) “Sing the Changes”
7) “The Night Before”
8) “Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady”
9) “Paperback Writer”
10) “The Long and Winding Road”
11) “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five”
12) “Maybe I'm Amazed”
13) “I've Just Seen a Face”
14) “And I Love Her”
15) “My Valentine” (was before “Maybe I'm Amazed”)
16) “Blackbird”
17) “Here Today”
18) “Dance Tonight”
19) “Mrs. Vandebilt”
20) “Eleanor Rigby”
21) “Something”
22) “Band on the Run”
23) “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da”
24) “Back in the USSR”
25) “I've Got a Feeling”
26) “A Day in the Life”/“Give Peace a Chance”
27) “Let It Be”
28) “Live and Let Die”
29) “Hey Jude”
30) Encore: “Lady Madonna”
31) "Birthday"
32) “Day Tripper”
33) “Get Back”
34) Encore 2: “Yesterday”
35) “Helter Skelter”
36) “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight”/”The End.”

Did I mention that this was one of my all time favorite shows. What a fun evening with my wife.

SALE OF HOUSE COMPLETE

After much delay and disappointment I am happy to report the completion of the sale of our home. I could go on and on about the incompetence of some financial institutions but I don't want to turn this into a negative rant.

Now on to the good stuff. We are leaving Waconda State Park tomorrow after a week long stay to finish up our local business. We are headed south for Babler State Park located in Wildwood, MO a suburb of St Louis. We have tickets to the Paul McCartney concert on November 11th and are ready for a well deserved night of fun and music. Pictures and review to follow.

I hope as we continue are travels south we can get into the habit of updating our blog on a more frequent basis.

Posted by Jeff

South Dakota Trip

Well we made a trip to South Dakota to establish our home base (Domicile)...which was a nightmare we had everything ready we thought,but to our surprise they had made some changes.  Heads up to those going....make sure you have a marriage certificate from the state if you are married and don't have a passport. Also found out you need a weight ticket for your camper.  Anyhoo we think we have it figured out after jumping through a few hoops. Now on to better news, we are gonna have our first visitor today. Judy my best est friend is coming up to visit.  The weather is suppose to be really nice so that's good.  The last two days its been raining and blowing so we are looking forward to drying things up. So bring on the sun I'm ready to have some fun.....

Our first site as fulltimers.....

We rolled out of our driveway in Keokuk Ia around 11am on Wed. Oct. 10th heading north which sounds like the wrong thing to do with the temps dropping.  We have very important reasons for that  decision 2 sons and grand kids.  So we are in Cedar Rapids, Ia getting our fill of hugs and kisses to last us for the winter. Its very nice at Morgan Creek Campground. We got the spot we were hoping for and had no problems getting set up.  We will stay here til they kick us out. We have to make a trip to South Dakota before our trip south for the winter. We are very excited about whats ahead, but still have a few details to work out.  We are hoping the weather holds while we get everything wrapped up.

Countdown to fulltime!

Well its countdown time. We are to close on our house on or before Oct.15th. Most of our stuff has been sold at garage sales and on the internet.We have done some small modifications to the Cameo and its pretty well ready to go. We will try to update the blog on a weekly basis once we cast off. We will start off with a trip to Cedar Rapids for a couple of weeks. We plan on wrapping up a few loose ends and then its time to head south for the winter. Wish us luck as we start this adventure of a lifetime!