Park #5 Old Town Campground

Wow - kind of a busy day for us. We've moved about 180 miles further south and it's SO NICE! It was almost 70 degrees when we pulled in to our new campground, Old Town Campground. Unlike most of our parks, this is a small private campground, located about 40 miles straight west of Gainesville. We are only about 10 miles away from our next state park, Manatee Springs, which we'll be going to next Wednesday. Our intent, when we cancelled our reservation at East Bank - on the south side of Lake Seminole - was to just get to some warmer weather, and we're very pleased with our decision.
We got up early this morning - I had to SET THE ALARM! - and drove down to the Camping World in Tallahassee. We had a 9:30 appointment and were out of there about noon, about $250 dollars poorer. But that's OK, because supposedly we will now have local TV channels. They put a new "head" on our antenna - that's the part with the blades or whatever you would call them. That was only about $60, but these places charge over $100 per hour for labor. Actually, at this point I don't know if the "operation" was successful because this campground, Old Town, actually has CABLE! OMG! As I type this, we have ESPN on - Dave is thrilled!
We had a bit of a fright on the drive from Tallahassee to here (which was about 2 hours). I was glancing at the little dashboard screen that shows the picture from the camera on the rear side of the rig. I thought the kayaks looked a little "weird" and asked Dave what he thought. First he didn't think anything was wrong, but the more he looked the more he kind of noticed it too. We ended up pulling over to the shoulder of the road - thank goodness we were on a 4 lane divided highway (our old friend US 27) so cars could easily get around us. Sure enough, the stupid kayak cradles had somehow gotten all kitty-wampus and the back brackets had slid way over the the side - this means the kayaks were beginning to sort of slide off the back of the car - VERY SCARY! We had to completely take the kayaks off the car, lay them on the grass on the shoulder of the road, and fix the whole kayak cradle thing. Of course, when we got started again we were both totally paranoid and we ended up pulling over about 5 miles later to check on them again (...they were fine). Fortunately we were only about 15 miles from our campground so everything's fine. We will be driving around tomorrow with the kayaks on the car, but we'll just keep a really close eye on them.
We're looking forward to our time here - one week in this campground and one week at Manatee Springs. It looks like there's lots of stuff to do, plus I went online and gotten tickets for a women's basketball game next Thursday and a men's game the following Tuesday at Gainesville - the home of the University of Florida "Gators". This will be the "biggest" game we've been to - quite a bit bigger than the LaGrange College team! - so it should be a LOT of fun. It's supposed to be in the mid 70's tomorrow (YAY!!) so we're planning on heading out to Cedar Key for the day. More later...

Park #4 Seminole State Park

Well, today is our last day here - we've decided to leave one day early and move further south. We were supposed to move from this beautiful park (which it is!) to the other side of the lake, which is about 50 miles driving but only 10 miles or so as the crow flies. But we NEED to get to a nicer climate - yesterday was drizzling all day, today is beautiful full sunshine but COLD and very windy. So last night I went onto the internet and found a private campground close to the Manatee Springs area and cancelled our reservation at the Eastbanks campground. That will take us about 180 miles further south. According to the internet, it's still under the same colder weather pattern, but about 5 to 10 degrees warmer. I stopped in at the office today and told the person in the office that we were leaving a day early and she told us that this weather is apparently due to "El Nino" and that the whole winter will probably have periods that will be quite a bit cooler than usual. No big deal - every now and then we're just going to have a cooler winter - but it still beats the heck out of being in Michigan (...right?).

When we leave here tomorrow we have an appointment at the Camping World in Tallahassee - we're finally going to get our TV fixed. I'm amazed at how well we've done without any TV at all, but I admit that it's getting a little "old" to just watch movies and TV episodes. Thank God for th internet - that's how we get our news and weather updates. Dave's been great about no TV for a month, but it would actually be nice for him to be able to watch an occasional sporting event, especially on those days when the weather isn't great. I have a suspicion we're going to find out we need a new antenna - when I made the appointment at Camping World, the gal asked me if we have a digital antenna. I admitted that I don't know, but that when we put in the digital converter box I DID pull in a couple channels. She said that not all channels have converted to digital and now I remember that all I got was a few channels from GVSU, so I bet they were NOT digital. So - we may be looking at having our antenna replaced. Three weeks ago we would have been reluctant to spend the money, but now we're going "just DO it!" Funny how everything is relative, huh?

We do feel bad that we weren't able to get the most out of this park. At least we both got out in the kayaks a few times. It's really pretty how this little "lake" opens into the channel, which then would go down to the main part of Lake Seminole. Upriver from our park is something we haven't seen before - there's a gate all the way across the river that is apparently electrified and is intended to keep the invasive fish species (like those awful Asian carp) from moving further upriver. We paddled up to it and there's a sign that says that boaters should approach the yellow piling and wait for the light to turn green and then advance, without touching anything. WAY too scary for us with our little kayaks, so we both decided that this was probably far enought for us to go!

One of the other things we liked about this park is there were actually TWO (yes, two!) nice little bar/restaurants close by. Both are at landings so they have a marina and a nasty little campground, but the second one, called Pops, also has a VERY upscale houseboat community behind a gated entry - wow! That was a nice little bar/grill - we only got a beer there - but probably a little too stiff for our tastes - they need to make it a little funkier. The other place, Big Jim's, has FUNKY written all over it. It's got it all - the dollar bills stuck up on the walls and ceilings, the stuffed fish on the walls, pictures of fishermen with their catches, old antique crap everywhere... but, BOY, do they put out a good meal. We went there Saturday night and Dave had a pound of steamed shrimp - very good! - and I did the whole fried thing - fried grouper, French fries, hushpuppies (which I absolutely LOVE) and a nice healthy (?) coleslaw - it was all WONDERFUL. And for added local "flavor" the place was packed with duck hunters in their hunting outfits.

So tomorrow morning we pack up, head to Tallahassee and then down to (hopefully) slightly warmer weather. We have really enjoyed our weeks in Georgia - the parks and the water have been beautiful. We would definitely like to come through this way again and get a chance to spend more time enjoying the area. Coming down US 27 was a good idea for us, in spite of the disappointing weather. Now - on to Florida...

Merry Christmas from Park #4

Well, Christmas is over - and a belated Merry Christmas to any of you who I didn't contact. I have to admit, I am always happy after Christmas Day is over. It's the hardest day for me of our whole trip, because I feel bad about not being home with family and friends. I remind myself that we get a full month of traveling in exchange for that one day, but I still do hate being gone. It was great, though, to talk to my mom and my kids and grand-kids and tell each other Merry Christmas.

So, now, we continue on for the rest of our trip. We are now at Seminole State Park, which is on the northern side of Lake Seminole, a 37,500 acre reservoir right on the Georgia/Florida border. We're probably less than 50 miles north of Tallahassee. The State Park is on the north side and then next week we'll be moving to the Army Corp of Engineer Campground on the south side of the reservoir. The State Park is really pretty. We have a beautiful site right on the side of a little lake-like inlet off the reservoir. It's just a short paddle out of the little "lake" to get into a bigger channel that then leads into the main body of the reservoir. Dave did some kayaking yesterday and got two nice bass right off the bat, so he's a happy camper. He actually threw them back after I took a picture - I guess he's optimistic that he's going to get more and we only have so much room in our little freezer. The park actually encircles the little "lake" with the office and day-use area on one side and the campground on the other side. There's a nice 2.2 mile nature trail that I took on Thursday, with a boardwalk over the wetlands portions of the trail. There's also a "treehouse" camping site, which is something I havent' seen before - it's just kind of a square shelter built up on some pilings with a bunch of benches inside, but what a fun place it would be for camping with a group of kids, like Scouts or something. I even want to sleep up there!

I met an interesting couple yesterday - the woman's name is Linda and she's about my age - 61 but going to be 62 in a month. She is with her ex-husband, who is 15 years younger. They are divorced but only live two blocks away from each other, someplace in Indiana. She is traveling in a little camper, basically a conversion van, and he followed her down in his car for the week. He's headed back home tomorrow and she's headed south to parts unknown. She has no reservations and no idea how long she'll stay gone - probably a few months. The three of us chatted for a half hour or so and we talked a lot about just traveling in an RV, especially alone. She asked my opinion about staying at Walmart parking lots on the road (I told her she absolutely should do that!) and we talked about how you make the choice to give up certain little things at home in order to be able to pursue your dream of being on the road. She said her kids don't really want her to do this - they'd rather she stayed with them (she has one son who lives in Nashville), but I can tell she has an independent spirit and she is VERY excited about her adventure. She is, of course, an avid reader - you almost have to be if you are going to travel alone for weeks on end. I was surprised to find out she doesn't have a laptop, but she said she just goes to libraries and uses their computers for paying bills and staying in touch with people. We agreed that we might bump into each other again over the next few months (although we undoubedly won't), but she's just an example of the many types of people we cross paths with at the campgrounds - always fun to talk to other "campers" on the road!!

It's fairly mild here today - low 50's - and I'm going to throw the kayak into the water and do some exploring and then we're splurging tonight and going out to dinner AGAIN! More to follow....

Park #3 Cotton Hill

Our last couple days at Cotton Hill have been great - low 60's and absolutely no wind at all - not even a breeze. That gave us a great chance to use the kayaks on both Monday and Tuesday. I went out into the reservoir on Monday and paddled around this group of islands that are just offshore from the campground - you can see them in the sunset pictures I posted a couple days ago. It was really pretty out on the water, and there was literally not a single ripple - we very seldom see water this smooth, especially on such a large body of water. On Tuesday Dave put his fishing poles aside and joined me for a nice 3 hour paddle out to the same area, but this time we went all the way around the group of islands. We like to paddle really close to shore so we can see any wildlife - we heard some "scrabbling" on shore and saw two armadillos scratching around. They are SO bizarre looking! Plus we found THREE really nice fishing lures along the water's edge, so the afternoon was profitable from Dave's point of view. We pretty much stayed in the park both days and did stuff right there. Dave had caught three nice fish so we did a fishfry on Monday night - delicious! We bring our little FryDaddy from home and every few weeks give in and use it - but we put peanut oil into it, which is MAYBE a little big healthier (...we really don't care, to tell you the truth!). And then on Tuesday we had our second big campfire and sat out until really late (...maybe 9:00 or so!). It was really beautiful sitting out by the fire - the sky was totally clear and we could see a little quarter moon and all the stars.

Today is Wednesday, which for us means moving day. We really enjoyed our time at Cotton Hill and would definitely come back around here again. Very pretty park, beautiful sites, nice biking around the park, TONS of deer everywhere. We feel like this week we finally "hit our stride" as far as our trip goes - the first two weeks were not so much fun because of the weather, but this week was great. Today we moved further south, to Lake Seminole which is right on the Florida/Georgia border. We are spending this coming week at Seminole State Park, and we're already very excited about it - I'll put some pictures in my next post, but I can tell you right now that is another gorgeous park, with our site right on the edge of the water again. SO hard to realize that tomorrow is Christmas Eve day...

Christmas Brunch in Fort Gaines

Oh, am I stuffed! Dave and I had our Christmas dinner today. We are still at Cotton Hill Campground, but about two miles away is the George Bagby State Park and Resort. It's a nice state park, although it doesn't have a campground. But it does have a nice lodge, with hotel accommodations and a restaurant. We had noticed a sign announcing a Christmas brunch for today (Sunday) for $13.95 (price is right!) so we decided to have that be our Christmas dinner. Excellent menu - we had roast beef, pork loin with blueberry stuffing, salmon wrapped in bacon, tons of vegetables including a delicious squash dish, a crab bisque, and a bunch of desserts including a "figgy pudding" (????). The brunch was from 11:00 to 3:00, so those of you who know Dave probably realize that he always wants to be last in line (...don't ask me why!). So we went about 2:00 and sure enough we were very close to being the last ones there. They actually did a pretty good job of keeping the food warm although I thought a couple things were maybe a little dried out. But we had a great meal and came home and I laid on the couch the rest of the afternoon while Dave summoned up the ambition to go out and fish for a few hours. I was SO proud of him!

It was pretty cool today, probably didn't even hit 50, but it's supposed to be in the upper 50's tomorrow and in the 60's the next day. Plus it's still been sunny, so that's enough to keep us pretty happy! Yesterday we hung out at the park most of the day and just did "park things." In the late afternoon we went into the somewhat scary little town of Fort Gaines and stopped in at the only bar in town. It was actually kind of a cute place, called the Big Bad Wolf Saloon. Counting us, there were four customers in the place so it wasn't exactly jumping! But we got a beer and chatted with the owner and the bartender for an hour or so but probably won't make a point to go back there before we leave on Wednesday (... to tell you the truth, I'm not sure they're even OPEN during the week!). We love traveling down these side roads and visiting these small towns - we certainly see a part of America that probably a lot of other RVers don't ever see (which may or may not be a good thing!).

I called home today and talked to my mother - she had her Christmas luncheon today for the family so I wanted to talk to her for a few minutes to see how it went. These are basically the only times that I feel bad about us being on our trip before the holidays - but when she told me they still haven't seen bare ground since right after we left, I find myself feeling quite relieved to be down here where the sun is shining and there's no snow.

Two more days here and then we move on to the next park. We always enjoy that anticipation - what's the next park going to be like??

Cotton Hill - part 2

Finally! We had a WHOLE day to just play. Yesterday (Thursday) was really nice - mid 60's and mostly sunny. I took Foster for a nice long walk - about an hour and a half - and scared up quite a few deer. They're pretty much everywhere around here. Dave fished off his kayak for most of the afternoon (after taking his bike ride) and caught himself a big old catfish. ...Fish fry either Saturday or Monday! (Some people don't like catfish, but we are perfectly happy to eat them every now and then.) They were predicting a 100% chance of rain during the night, so we decided to start our campfire early to be SURE we got to have one! We haven't had a fire in almost two weeks, so we had a LOT of pent-up demand built up! It turned out to be a beautiful night for a great big campfire - cool, very little wind, very thin clouds - very pretty! We ended up sitting out there from 4:00 until almost 9:00 (...a glass or two of wine helps pass the time!). And, then, BOY did it rain - it poured all night long and almost all day today, plus cooled down to the mid-40's. But we were ok - we had two nice days in a row and after the weather pattern we've been going through, those two days were terrific! We took a ride into Eufala Alabama during the day - about 20 miles north of our campground. What a pretty little town. Like most towns down here, there seem to be an awful lot of closed-up stores and businesses, but they have a really beautiful historic area with huge, old mansions - lots of "gingerbread" trim, towers, huge front porches, etc. Really lovely. We picked up a few groceries and then wanted to stop somewhere for an appetizer and a drink. Boy, it can be really hard to find a nice little local bar in some of these "Bible belt" towns down here in the south. We finally got directions to the River City Grill, where we got a bite to eat and a beer and got to watch some ESPN-without-sound. We had to chuckle when we got back here - we are now one of only five sites being occupied in this campground of over 100 sites. But that's OK with us - when we get to the Florida state parks we will be packed in like sardines. So we're loving the privacy and quiet here.

Park #3 Cotton Hill Campground

Well, we FINALLY are getting a break on the weather. We loved R. Schaefer Heard Campground at West Point Lake, but it basically rained off and on ALL week (I know - it could be snow!). We did our best to find activities, but by Sunday night even my normal optimism was wearing a bit thin! We would definitely return to this park again, since we never really got a chance to do all of the "park stuff" that is available here - and it really is a beautiful park.

So - finally Wednesday arrived - moving day! And of course for the first time it was actually sunny and quite pleasant. We debated - very briefly - whether we should stay another day but ended up deciding to move to the next park since it was 120 miles further south and would probably be a few degrees warmer. We continued moving down US 27 - we have been enjoying traveling this route - what a great alternative to taking I-75 down through the length of Georgia. We got to our new park about 3:00. It's called Cotton Hill and is one of the Army Corps of Engineer parks on the Walter F. George Lake. We're about 2/3 of the way down the western edge of Georgia, about 15 miles south of Eufala, AL - which is where we'll probably get our groceries and stuff. When we got here the sun was shining and it was in the low 60's - very, very nice! We both jumped out and immediately did some outdoor stuff. Dave threw a line in the lake - picture of him attached, looking very pleased with himself. I jumped in the kayak for about an hour then went for a walk around the park. There are probably 5 campsites being used at the moment, so it's very private and quiet and serene. At sunset I rode my bike over to the portion of the campground that faces to the west - we're facing more toward the south - and snapped some pictures of the sunset - first one we've seen in a week! This is a beautiful park and the weather report is looking pretty good - only one day of rain projected through the next ten days. So we're all settled in for a week and really looking forward to finally getting in some of our favorite activities. More to follow...

Happy Anniversary to US!

So - today is our 4th anniversary - who would have ever thought!!! And, amazingly enough, we still actually LIKE each other (in spite of spending months living together in a 300 square foot box). It continues to be cold and rainy down here - we really ARE getting kind of tired of it. (I know, Mom - boo hoo, right?)

Yesterday we visited this cool place called Bellevue - it's a beautiful old mansion here in LaGrange, built in 1853. The mansion was very nice and we enjoyed our visit and tour, but I think we got even more enjoyment out of our guide. I think his name was Christ. We calculated that he must be in his late 70's - he is the "resident manager" which means he actually lives in the house. The downstairs is completely open for tours and half of the upstairs is - he has an apartment in the other half of the upstairs and that is his home! He was SO sweet and so interesting to talk to. He is a former teacher - he taught English at a military academy in Alabama for a number of years, and he also taught in England for a while. He lost his wife about nine years ago and came here to close up their summer cottage. While he was here he was offered the job of resident manager and decided to take it. He was very knowledgeable about the house and about the area and also about Southern history in general. We talked to him for quite a while about what it's like to actually live in the house and give tours all day and he was just very happy to chat with us - probably for as long as we would have wanted to stay! We love meeting these interesting people in our travels!

Today we splurged and took some money out of our "mad money" envelope and ate out - at HOG HEAVEN! Ya-hoo!!! Actually, first we went into town - to Walmart, of course - and then stopped for a drink at Ruby Tuesday's where we had another interesting bartender. We forgot to get her name but decided to call her Nicki (Betty, you know what Nicki's are all about!). Anyway - she was very friendly and nice and VERY chatty - hyper, you might even say - but we enjoyed talking to her. Then we went to the LaGrange College basketball game! It was at the "Mariotti Gymn" - which really was a gym! There were about 100 people in attendance - we counted them! Unfortunately the LaGrange Panthers LOST to the Berry College Vikings by 55 to 58. Sad. THEN, after all that excitement, we went out to Hog Heaven for dinner. OK - it sounds awful, I know, but it actually had the BEST pork barbecue. We both got the pulled pork platter - I had the half pound plate and Dave had the "all you can eat" plate. We are now back home, stuffed, and pretty much ready to call it a day. For us, this was a really great way to spend our anniversary!Tomorrow is supposed to be about 10 degrees warmer, so hopefully the next post will contain some OUTDOOR activities!

West Point Lake

We have now settled into a beautiful site at R. Shaefer Heard Campground at West Point Lake. The attached pictures were taken literally out of the front door of the RV. Gorgeous. It was nice and warm yesterday (Wednesday) - in the mid-60's. We finally got to do some "outdoor" things - Dave got in a nice bike ride and we both got into the kayaks for a while. We scrounged a BUNCH of firewood that had been left at other sites - one of our VERY favorite activities!

Today was a little cooler - in fact, the next three days are supposed to be below average temps - we're catching the very southern tip of that monstrous blizzard that's moving through home as we speak. We did some chores - I did laundry for the first time on the trip. Then we took a ride over to the dam - West Point Lake, like most of the Corps of Engineers areas, is a reservoir behind one of the Corps' dams. They always have such a nice layout - lots of campgrounds, day use areas, boat ramps, trails and everything else you could ask for outside. Plus a nice visitors' center with a FILM! After a drive around the whole area, we went into LaGrange, which is a really pretty little city here in Western Georgia. It's about 30 thousand in population and has a pretty, brick college in town that reminds us of Hope. We did a little shopping and stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for drink and spent about an hour with our new friend Christopher, the bartender - a nice 26 year old kid with "a minor in Georgia history". So he was happy to tell us everything to see over the next few days. When we got home I called my mother and got the update on the Michigan weather - WHEW - according to her, this is already being compared to the blizzard of 1978. She says 800 schools and businesses were closed yesterday. Unreal. Once again, we feel SO very fortunate to be able to be down here, enjoying the outdoors and the mild temps. As I told her - stay WARM and stay SAFE!

Sloppy Floyd S.P. Part 3

Monday was another cool day so we decided to make another trip up toward Chattanooga - this time to the Chickamauga Battlefield. And we were glad we did - VERY interesting place. There's a very nice visitors' center, with a 25 minutes film (anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the little films at these places - right, Brenda?) and some interesting exhibits and displays. After our stop there, we went on the self-guided auto tour, which takes about an hour - if the weather was nice enough to walk around it would certainly take longer than that. At the visitor's center they gave us a slip of paper with a phone number - you call the number on your cell phone and punch is which stop you are at (#1 through #9 on the map) and you get a three minute recording that gives you more of the history of that specific part of the battlefield. Kind of snazzy! (I have to admit, we didn't listen to any of them except for #1!) Anyway, what makes this place kind of unique are all the markers and monuments - there are over 1,400 of them throughout the park! Every state that took part in the battle has erected one or more monuments. I only found one from Michigan (pic attached) but we noticed probably dozens from Ohio. They are scattered throughout the battlefield, so it almost looks like a huge cemetery with monuments spread far apart (in a way, that is exactly what this IS). There were over 34,000 casualties from this battle - which last only TWO days. It's very sobering - and makes you realize again how incredibly awful the Civil War was for this area. But it's good to be reminded.

Anyway - on Tuesday morning we decided that enough is enough! It's time to MOVE ON! We were supposed to stay here until Wednesday but heard that it was going to be extremely windy that day - and we do NOT like driving the RV in high winds. So we took off a little after noon and headed out for the next park, which is the R. Schaefer Heard campground at West Point Lake. We got here about 3:30 - no problems - and got settled in to a beautiful campsite right on the edge of the water. It sprinkled off and on all day so I couldn't get a good picture yet, but one will be attached to the next post. We really love these Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds - they are always located right on the edge of reservoirs and the campsites are large and clean and very, very nice. It seems that the Corps tries to put all the campsites right on the waterfront whenever they can and it sure seems to us that there is not a BAD campsite anywhere in this park. NOW all we need is some decent weather (....yeah, I know - you guys back home are about to have a BLIZZARD so you don't feel sorry for us at all, do you?)

"Sloppy" Floyd State Park - part 2

Boy has it been COLD down here! We'd be feeling REALLY sorry for ourselves if I hadn't gotten an email from my mom telling me it snowed 12 inches up in G.R. - so I guess we're not doing that bad down here! We've been trying to entertain ourselves as well as possible in the park, in spite of the colder weather. Today is slightly warmer and, according to the weather report, it's going to be progressively warmer each day now. So that's good. I've still been going for a nice hike each day, and I came across this beautiful little "cave" with a little waterfall trickling over the lip - very pretty. Dave's been dropping a line in each day, but so far has gotten "skunked". Yesterday (Sat) was a nice day for us - we drove back north into Chattanooga - about 50 miles. We went downtown and stopped at a restaurant/bar that we like a lot - the Big River Brewery. We had a couple drinks and played 4 games of pool - Dave won all of them, of course, but I had a couple nice shots. Then we drove over to the McKenzie Arena, where the University of Tennessee of Chattanooga basketball games are played. We watched the women beat Furman, about 65 to 55. Good game - we DO enjoy watching games in other cities! Because we had a nice easy route in and out of town, I didn't even bring the atlas or anything - why WOULD I? SO - we get out of the game about 7:00 or so and start back downtown to get onto the expressway, and ALL of the through streets are blocked off - they're having their SANTA CLAUS PARADE! We basically just followed traffic through town, assuming eventually we'd find the expressway. And, just for extra fun, the gas light came on. But - don't be scared - everything came out fine. We found the X-way, we got gas, and we made it home OK - WHEW!

Park #1-James H. "Sloppy" Floyd State Park

What a name, huh? Apparently the park is named for one of Georgia's state representatives who got his nickname in high school - we hesitate to ask how he got it! Anyway - the park is about 50 miles south of Chattanooga right off highway 27. We had an uneventful drive to the park, and had a nice surprise when we pulled in. The park is smaller, about 500 acres, with two small lakes on the property. There are only 25 campsites but they are really nice. One of the lakes has a little bridge going right across it, and both of them have walking trails around them. We got set up Wednesday and explored a bit and Dave got in a nice bike ride. It was pleasant out - probably mid-50's, overcast in the morning, but the sun came out for a while toward late afteroon. On Thursday we both spent time outside, even though it was cooler (probably didn't even reach 50) - Dave went to the far side of the lake and fished most of the afternoon, while Foster and I went for a nice long walk around both lakes. We put the kayaks down by the boat ramp so they're ready to go if the weather warms up a little. I was able to go online Wednesday night and get Dave a Georgia fishing license and just print it off! You've got to love the internet when you're on the road. Unfortunately the weather forecast is pretty cold for the next few days, but we have a nice "day trip" planned for Saturday - we're going to drive up to Chattanooga and go to the University of Tennessee Chattanooga women's basketball game - that should be fun! Here's a couple pix of the park - nice place!

Leaving Home

After a very nice Thanksgiving dinner with our family, we left for our winter trip on Saturday morning. We stopped in Kokomo for lunch with our friends Mick and Carol, and then headed down to Louisville where we stayed overnight at one of our favorite places (the Walmart parking lot). We both slept really well, considering we were in the middle of all kinds of traffic noise, and then headed out Sunday morning for a nice "easy" run down to Jasper TN (just north of Chattanooga). Well - it was supposed to be easy; but we made a mistake - we totally didn't count on how heavy the Thanksgiving traffic would be on Sunday! (Note to self - NEVER travel on the holiday weekend again!) Poor Dave - he had solid traffic in all lanes the entire day on Sunday - pretty stressful. But we had no road problems, not even any delays, so we pulled into Marion County Park about mid-afternoon. We love this little park - it's in the middle of Nickajack Lake, right off Expressway 24, about 15 miles north of downtown Chattanooga. It's located on a little peninsula sticking out into the lake, with the mountains all around it. It's pretty basic - the bathroom is PRETTY bad! - but it's great for a couple days. We each did some of our favorite outdoor things over the next couple days - Dave biked, I walked, he fished, we both kayaked and we had a GREAT campfire one night. We had fairly mild weather Sunday through Tuesday, except for a really heavy rainfall Tuesday night. But Wednesday we were up and ready to head out for our first "official" park of the trip...