Friday March 29- Well it's the day, it is time to head north. It took us a bit longer to get going. Jeff was checking the tire pressures on the truck and they were all off. He took them in to be rotated and they didn't check the pressure....go figure. We had good weather to travel. We only encountered a couple stupid drivers so we call that a win win. We left Jonathan Dickinson around 9:15. Our first stop was Blueberry Hill RV Park in Bushnell Florida. We have used this park a number of times. It is right off the interstate and they accept Passport America, so it is a half price stay. We love those. The sites are all pull through. We had B-2. After setting up I got Ruby out for a walk. She traveled really good in her kennel. It has been awhile since she has traveled and we hoped she would do ok. After setting up we watched the clouds roll in and the rain fall. It didn't last all that long. Then I walked over to Walmart which is right across the street. How convenient.
We stayed around here the rest of the day. It was a big day for Maddyn our grand daughter, she got to meet the Easter Bunny...It looks like she liked him.
Saturday March 30- I had big plans to spend my day hanging out at the pool, but mother nature had other plans. It cooled off a bit and was super cloudy. It looked like it was going to rain most of the day. It didn't really rain, but it sprinkled a little. I did get to take Miss Ruby to the dog park to play. There was a lot of dogs there. She has never had any fear of other dogs, big or small. She was wiggling to get down so I let her down. Well she took off running like a crazy dog and all the dogs ran after her. Oh by the way most of the dogs were really large. The chased her in to a corner and she looked like she needed me to rescue her. I did and then she acted a little nervous. I hope that didn't give her some complex...we'll see.
Since we are leaving tomorrow Jeff went and filled up the truck and got us some meat from Sonny's BBQ. We got a picture of Maddyn after she helped dye Easter eggs. Looks she did a good job.
Sunday April 1- Happy Easter!! We are leaving today. It started out gray and foggy. We were on the road about 8:00. We had planned to stop in Quincy Florida, a RV park right off the road. We got there around noon. The information we had was check in and pay at the Marathon gas station. Jeff parked and thought he would go look at the place. That's when a lady came out of the gas station and yelled you have to check in here. Jeff went over to give her the information she wanted and then pay. Well when he said he had Passport America she said oh....you can't check in with that until 2 o'clock. Well we weren't going to sit in a parked truck for 2 hours waiting so we decided to go on up the road. We thought we should fill up with fuel because we weren't sure how much farther we would drive. The diesel at Marathon was bio diesel. So right across the road was a Shell station I wanted to see if it was bio diesel as well. Jeff was waiting in the truck when she came back out and yelled at him....You can't park there. Let me tell you she was really having a great day...We found another park, called them to make sure they had a spot and we could check in when we arrived. They told us to come in and they would be waiting for us...super friendly. We drove to Cottondale Florida where The Hitchin Post Coral & Campground was. It is a family owned place and they were super helpful and friendly. We checked and paid. Then she jumped in her car and escorted us to our spot. They even left us a mat to put outside our door. We had 50 amp service,water and sewer. we stayed in site #15.
We are only here for 1 night. I took Ruby for a walk and we found the doggy park. They have one for big dogs and one for little dogs. She went in and she was the only dog in there so I think she felt safe. They had a swing and a ball hanging from the trees. They didn't have a shower house but had lots of games for you to enjoy.
Monday April 2- We got up early and was planning on getting an early start but the fog was crazy thick. It looked like it cleared a bit. We were on the road at 8:15. Well we ran in to more fog as we traveled. I think by about 10:30 it pretty much had cleared up. We were driving to Montgomery Alabama. We are staying at Woods RV Park, again we have stayed here many times. Another easy one right off the interstate. This time our site was 204, a pull through. We set up and called Nashville to see if they had spots for tomorrow night. They only had 1 night available at Two Rivers, so we had to call Yogi Bear. They had 2 nights there so we made our very expensive reservations. It's crazy to go to Nashville for only 1 night. What's the fun in that. Tomorrow on to Nashville.
Tuesday April 3- On the road around 8:00. We took our time and made plenty of stops. Check in time is 2 o'clock. We arrived right around 1:45 in Nashville at Yogi Bear RV Park. Jeff went to check in. We made our way to site #205, a pull through. After setting up and walking the dogs we went to get fuel and some early supper.
We went to the Opryland Mall, which was just down the road. We decided to give Chuey's another chance. We ate at this place 2 years ago and was so impressed. Last year we went and it was not good. Our food was cold. Well this year it was really good. There chips and salsa are really good.
After eating we went in the mall and tried to walk off some of our supper, before going back to the rig.
When we got back from supper we watched the weather because we have some coming right at us. It started raining about 9 o'clock and we really got some rain.
Wednesday April 4- Well yesterday it was in the 80's. With the rain came a cold front. It started out in the upper 30's. That is quite the difference. We had to go to Camping World first to get the propane filled. They run a special on Tuesday, Wednesday. They fill them up for a 25% discount. We came back and called a shuttle to take us to Nashville. We called Music City Shuttle. Sara our driver came and picked us up and she was just as friendly as could be. It cost $10.00 per person round trip. They come to get you and then on the ride home they pick up on the hour. Really quite the deal. They picked us up at 10:30. They dropped us off at the A T & T building which was a block away from the Ryman Theater.
We made our way down to Broadway where all the Honky Tonks are. We had planned to just go in and listen to some music. Some of the places we went were, Tootsie's, Whiskey Bent Saloon, Honky Tonk Central and Nudies. The music was awesome. We spent some time in these places. We walked in for a quick listen to a few others. We stopped for lunch at Jacks BBQ. We each had a beef brisket sandwich which was really good. The weather was a bit chilly but at least the sun was out.
Bye Bye Nashville...til next time.
When we got home we took care of the dogs and decided to go to Cracker Barrel for supper. When we got home we were both tired from all our walking. Sat down in the recliners and I looked out the window by Jeff's chair. It looked weird. I lifted up the blind and saw that the outer pane of the window was shattered. They were mowing today...and they got our window. I called the office but they were already gone for the day. I left a message. Oh boy, not the way you want to end your day.
Thursday April 5- We were up early because we had broken window on our mind. The office opened at 8 a.m. I wasn't waiting for a call back from my message. I was there when they opened. I went in and talked to the manager. Both of us were ready to battle because of prior experience. She seemed really nice, didn't say it wasn't them. She took information and we were to call our insurance. I showed Jeff the paper and after looking more closely we didn't like the way it was worded. I sounded like well, maybe we did it. Jeff went back up to talk to them and came back with our money back for the 2 nights we stayed. Did I say it's almost $80 to camp per night here. Well we taped up our window to keep it from falling out as we traveled north. We got on the road around 10:15.
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| ouch! |
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| Our View |
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| site #85 at Gun Creek Campground |
Saturday April 7- Well it was 30 degrees when we got up, but we had some sunshine. If you sstayed inside it at least looked warm. Jeff had to go back to get fuel. The rest of the day we stayed around here and kept warm...moving again tomorrow.
Sunday April 8-It was another chilly morning. We packed up, went to dump and headed on. Next stop Ed Babler in Chesterfield Mo. It was a fairly easy driving day, the St. Louis area was a bit tricky. We really only had one little section of backed up traffic because of road work and lanes blocked off. After getting through that it was easy. We use this park a lot too. We like the park and love the hosts. We pulled in to site 7. There are no water hook ups or sewer. They have one water spigot one but it was going to be a hassle to get to it. We used what we still had. They said the water would be on tomorrow. We parked close to one we can fill then. Didn't really do much today because it was really cold.
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| A familiar site |
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| Ed Babler site #7 |
Monday April 9- Today was a big day for us...we are going to pick up our brand new Chevy Spark, At Weber Chevrolet in Creve Couer Missouri. We are hoping it will be a good experience, we are remembering our first try in Miami. We found it no problem. Everyone there was super nice. They filled up the car and showed Jeff how everything worked. This place has been in business for over 100 years. The lounge has a lady that works there most of the day. She keeps everything clean and makes homemade cookies. They had doughnuts and a great coffee machine. They seem to care about there customers. After taking care of all the paperwork we left the truck there and drove our new car around. Jeff had purchased a watch from Best Buy that was really close. So we made our way there picked that up. I even got me a brand new vivo fit 3. Next stop Guitar Center, Jeff needed something from there. Then we went back to the truck. Jeff got in there and I jumped in the new one. We made our way back to the campground. We did make a couple more stops before getting back. We both really like our cute little white car...I think we will call her White Lightning.
Tuesday April 10- We have another busy day planned. First we both can't wait for breakfast. We are going to the Waffle House. We both love them and this one was great. So was our breakfast.
After eating we had our stops all planned out. We have 3 RV places we are going to try and get an estimate for our broken window. I know it is probably not going to be easy. Out of the 3 we had 1 give us what we needed. It just took us a whole morning to that. The good news is we have enough time to go to the zoo. We love The St. Louis Zoo. It is a great zoo with no admission. We go quite often so usually we just pick a few things to see. We don't try to see it all. We already have and manage to see everything we want each time. Here are a few of the critters we saw.....
After the zoo we headed towards home, stopping for a late lunch/early supper. Jeff wanted to try a new place that he saw. It is called Rock & Brew. Since we are eating at a weird time it wasn't busy. They had a special today...$5.00 burgers. That's what we had and they were good. We got home and tended to our dogs. We are traveling tomorrow so we did some picking up.
Wednesday April 11-Keokuk here we come. This is our home town. I will be following Jeff on this trip. This is the first time we have had a chase car. I took Ruby with me and away we went. It was really different for me. It was fine and I don't think this will be an issue.
We made one stop in Hannibal Missouri before pulling in to Keokuk. We stayed at Hickory Haven Campground site #13. It's a pull through with 50 amp service, water and sewer.
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| Our stop in Hannibal Missouri at the Welcome Center |
When we get to Keokuk we usually have plenty to do. This time wasn't any different. We got set up and I ran to go see my sister, and stopped by to surprise my best friend at her work. I got home to get Jeff and then we took off again. We are to meet friends down at The Southside Boat Club. It is a good place to go and see lots of people. On Wednesday night it's taco night, and they are awesome!!
Thursday April 12- Today we went in and got our taxes done. We just happen to know the perfect place to do that at....My last place of employment. We visited with my good friend and tax preparer Teri. One to our next stop, my sister to put a quilt together so she can get to quilting. The weather today really improved, it is sunny and warm. Jeff washed our new car. Then I went to the nursing home to visit a very special lady...Thelma, she is always so happy for company. We had a nice visit. I hurried home because my bestest friend is coming out after work. We had a lot of things to get caught up on. It was a nice evening.
Friday April 13- More running in store for today. We had some doctor appointments today. It just happens to be in the city were some volunteers we worked with live. So after our appointment we met them for lunch. It was good to see them and hear about there winter. We had a great lunch too.
We headed back to the campground. We have been watching the weather because it is not looking good. We want to get to Cedar Rapids where the kids are. It is calling for lots of rain on Saturday and snow on Sunday. We both really want to get there but with the cold weather, we have found out that the parks do not have the water on. That makes camping a bit tough for us. We are keeping our eyes on the radar. Now to finish out our Friday.....We met my sister and her husband down at a local restaurant for catfish. We like to call it the trough...it's a buffet. When we arrived at home I made a few phone calls letting people know we were home. We had quite the party..Judy, my best friend came out. So did Jeff's brother Fritz with his wife Shawn. Teri and Matt from my work, and our neighbors. It was quite a gathering. It was nice to see everyone that's for sure. It is always a whirlwind when we land in town. Hopefully tomorrow we will be arriving in Cedar Rapids and seeing the kids....fingers are crossed.
