Yep - we're back... we got home on Sunday afternoon (April 4). Today is Tuesday, so we've settled back into "normal life" and our trip is already beginning to feel like a memory. We're always amazed at how quickly that happens. Of course, our first two days home have been difficult because we miss Foster so much - it was very painful to come home to his dog dish and all his little "babies" (i.e. his tennis balls!) and just not having him running around on the deck and everything. But we've agreed - we have a "dog-sized" hole in our life, which we'll be filling shortly. And by the time we start NEXT year's blog, we'll have trained the new dog on how to ride in a motor home and be a good dog at campgrounds! 
So - we left Hunting Island on Tuesday, March 30 and drove across Georgia on US16 (what an awful road!) and stopped at High Falls State Park, about halfway between Macon and Atlanta. What a nice park! We'll definitely remember this for future trips home - it's only about a mile off I-75 and is perfect for a couple of nights (which is what we stayed). It's a smaller park, but it is next to this beautiful little cascading water falls (h
ence it's name). I've attached a couple pictures - very pretty place. Our campsite was right on the side of the river, below the falls, so Dave had a nice place to camp and he caught a nice BIG bass (which we're actually having for supper tonight!). And there were very nice hiking trails along both sides of the river and a nice 2 mile loop back into the woods and hills. The park is actually the site of an old "ghost town" and there are still remains of the old grist mill and power plant. Kind of neat. 
So - we left Hunting Island on Tuesday, March 30 and drove across Georgia on US16 (what an awful road!) and stopped at High Falls State Park, about halfway between Macon and Atlanta. What a nice park! We'll definitely remember this for future trips home - it's only about a mile off I-75 and is perfect for a couple of nights (which is what we stayed). It's a smaller park, but it is next to this beautiful little cascading water falls (h
ence it's name). I've attached a couple pictures - very pretty place. Our campsite was right on the side of the river, below the falls, so Dave had a nice place to camp and he caught a nice BIG bass (which we're actually having for supper tonight!). And there were very nice hiking trails along both sides of the river and a nice 2 mile loop back into the woods and hills. The park is actually the site of an old "ghost town" and there are still remains of the old grist mill and power plant. Kind of neat. 
Anyway, we stayed there for two nights - that left us one full day for just spending time in the park, which was perfect. We got up Friday (April 2) early and headed out - we got through Atlanta around 9:30, which was a perfect time. For Atlanta, the traffic was "relatively" light (we HATE driving around Atlanta!), and we drove throught Chattanooga and to just south of Nashville. The traffic was getting pretty heavy by mid-afternoon so we pulled in earlier than we normally would have. When we found a decent spot in the Walmart parking lot, we 
went to slide out our living room slide so we could move around more easily and discovered that our house batteries were almost completely dead. We tried to start the generator, but there wasn't enough power to even do that, SO... we ended up sitting in the parking lot in the dark, with no power at all. Kind of weird! We ended up putting our lawn chairs outside the RV and just sitting there watching the Walmart traffic! OK - that was kind of weird way to spend the evening! But it got kind of interesting - some young couple with four tiny kids in tow came over and chatted with us about camping and traveling and stuff - they were actually very nice. And then about 10:00 I walked across the parking lot and got an ice cream at Baskin Robbins, and while I was gone Dave saw an old blue van pull in fairly close to the RV's (by now there were a couple more overnighters) and he watched them sit in the front seat and pass "something" back and forth between them. About an hour later, one of the guys stumbled out of the front seat and fumbled around in the back of the van for about 15 minutes and he finally opened up a sleeping bag, crawled into the back of the van and (we assume) passed out! The other guy was sitting in the driver's seat, completely passed out. When we got up the next morning they were still there and the guy in the driver's seat was still sitting up, but with his head completely hanging down. OH BOY! You never know who your fellow residents will be at the good old Walmart!
went to slide out our living room slide so we could move around more easily and discovered that our house batteries were almost completely dead. We tried to start the generator, but there wasn't enough power to even do that, SO... we ended up sitting in the parking lot in the dark, with no power at all. Kind of weird! We ended up putting our lawn chairs outside the RV and just sitting there watching the Walmart traffic! OK - that was kind of weird way to spend the evening! But it got kind of interesting - some young couple with four tiny kids in tow came over and chatted with us about camping and traveling and stuff - they were actually very nice. And then about 10:00 I walked across the parking lot and got an ice cream at Baskin Robbins, and while I was gone Dave saw an old blue van pull in fairly close to the RV's (by now there were a couple more overnighters) and he watched them sit in the front seat and pass "something" back and forth between them. About an hour later, one of the guys stumbled out of the front seat and fumbled around in the back of the van for about 15 minutes and he finally opened up a sleeping bag, crawled into the back of the van and (we assume) passed out! The other guy was sitting in the driver's seat, completely passed out. When we got up the next morning they were still there and the guy in the driver's seat was still sitting up, but with his head completely hanging down. OH BOY! You never know who your fellow residents will be at the good old Walmart!Anyway, when we left there we got through Nashville and then Louisville, but the traffic was absolutely HORRIBLE - solid bumper-to-bumper. We realized we had made a big mistake. It was April 3, the snow birds were flocking north, it was Easter weekend, so everyone wanted to get home and it was the end of a spring-break week. AWFUL! Plus, to add insult to injury, it was terribly windy. Since we knew we had to battery power, we decided to actually pull into a campground overnight (no Walmart this time!) so we stopped at the Indiana visitor's center and located a nice campground just south of Indy - outside of Columbus, a town that we know we like. It was a very nice little campground and, again, one we'll remember for future trips home. It was nice to have electricity! Toward evening, we drove into Columbus and went to the Buffalo Wild Wings (where we've been before) and watched the first of the two Final Four games for the NCAA playoffs. Really interesting, because it was Michigan State vs Butler (which is actually located in Indianapolis) - so guess who EVERYONE was routing for except us! We kept our Michigan cheers and claps VERY lowkey! But Butler won, so everyone (except us) was happy. Then we went "home" and watched the second game.
The next morning was Easter Sunday and (what a relief!) there was hardly any traffic at all, and the wind had died down. We zipped home really quickly and when we got home our neighbors and some friends spotted us and came over for a little "welcome home" party on our deck. It was nice to be welcomed back, and nice to see our friends again. So now we return to our normal life, which is a good life!, and I'll be starting back at Kerkstra's and at teaching so things are great. Other than losing Foster, and the fact that the weather was the worst we've seen in our five years of traveling, overall we had a wonderful, wonderful trip! And I'm already planning next year's trip!
Thanks to everyone who read our blog and sent e-mails to keep in touch. It was great to hear from everyone. Love you all!
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