The first day, 24th of February got us as far as Galveston Island State Park where we stayed overnight. The next morning we took a ferry across Galveston Bay. Sandy was pretty nervous about taking the ferry as wind were 25 mph with plenty of white caps. We made it OK and drove as far as Port Allen, LA where we got a camp site at the Cajun Country Campground.
As we drove the next day we stopped at two plantations between Batin Rouge & New Orleans to tour the Nottoway Plantation & Houmas House. Both were well worth the time.
The Houmas house.
We ended up driving late and did not get to the Indian Point RV Resort in Gautier, MS until after dark. It was a good thing Sandy did not see this sign last night or she would not have stood out back and guided me into the camp site. We spent the next day grocery shopping and washing clothes.
With a long was to go yet, the 27th found us on the road again leaving for Orange Beach, AL where we stayed at Gulf Shores State Park. We knew that Sandy’s cousin Roger and Mona were here so we met up with them and went out to supper.This is a real nice State Park, even with the damage from the hurricanes the previous year. Our camp site was on a lagoon that was easy walking distance to the ocean beach. We spent a short 4 days here, by short I mean we could have spent a month here and not get bored. The temperature was 70 degrees but we did have some rain, mostly at night and there were some tornados to the NW, N, & NE of us. Some within 60 miles, there was lots of damage with 11 people killed.
Saturday 3-3-07 we were ready to hit the road for Ft Myers, FL. We have 4 days to travel 600 miles. We camped at the HO-HUM RV Park in Carrabella, FL. Our site on the beach backed up to the water.
We came across the Yellow Jacket Campground quite by accident. It is located between Old Town and Suwannee, FL on the Suwannee River. While here we rented a boat and went up river to Manatee Springs State Park to observe the Manatee in the area.
We even got in some relaxing.
March 5th and we were on the road again stopping at Travelers Rest in Dade City, FL. where we had the worst sites for the overnighters. They were not even close for leveling. We finally found one that kind of worked, with lots of boards for build ups.
Finally, we are on the last leg, March 6th, to Ft. Myers where we are meeting up with friends Arlie & Mary and Dale & Mary. We stayed in the Orange Grove Home and RV Resort where Arlie and Mary Lou, who full time in their motorhome, were parked for the winter. They invited Dale, Mary and us over for supper. Interesting place to say the least. Even though it is gated the area around it is pretty rough and it was not uncommon to hear gunshots at night. Arlie said one year a bullet had come back down to earth and came through the ceiling of the motor home. He only noticed it later while sitting in a chair and saw light coming through the hole. After some scrounging around they found the bullet laying on a chair.
The next day we went to Dale and Mary’s to get a tour of their site that they own in Cypress Woods RV Resort. Now this is much better, large landscaped sites, but then it cost more also.Dale and Mary invited Arlie, Mary Lou and us over to their place for supper. The high today was 85 degrees.
Dale and Mary in front of their Newmar motorhome.
This is looking towards the back to the lake behind them.
While here Sandy and I drove down to Everglades City, FL & took the 10,000 Islands boat tour where we saw several Dolphins and Osprey in the area. They have a campground here that we are going to have to come back to and stay for a week or so.
A nother day Arlie, Mary Lou, Sandy and I went down to the Shark Valley observation tower in the Everglades. The tour guide informed us that an alligator’s sex is determined by what the egg temperature is at when it is hatched or incubated in the nest. We saw lots of alligators and birds as we toured the area.
One day Sandy and I went to Satellite Beach to visit my cousin Bill and Cathy. It was the last time we saw Bill and Cathy before they both passed away.
March 13th and we heard first hand gun shots outside the resort this evening. 8-12 shots. Guess it’s getting time to leave.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
Ron and Jane stopped over this morning, January 29, to say goodbye as we are headed to Yuma, AZ. Sandy and I are going to be taking driving lessons from Jerry Ray of Dick Read’s Driving School. This is a two day class where Sandy got most of the driving time. Jerry was very thorough and patient with us. We were glad to have taken the class as it gave Sandy the confidence to get behind the wheel and I learned a I some tips.
After the two days of instruction we were off to Ramona, CA where we are staying at the Dos Picos County Campgrounds which is part of the San Diego county park system. We stayed here for a week touring the area.
The first day, 2-2-07, we spent working on the inside putting up napkin, plate and bowl dispensers. Later we went for a hike on a trail, then came back and did some reading & played cards.
The next day we went to the Birch Aquarium which was very interesting. Afterwards we drove down to San Diego, Coronado Island & south on the peninsula. It is starting to warm up as it was 75 degrees which is the highest we have seen so far.
TV reception was poor at the campground so on February 5th we drove over to the Escondino RV Park to stay for the night so we could “24”. After getting settled in we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park where we saw some baby animals.
The next morning found us heading back to Dos Picos County Park for 2 days before leaving for Tucson, AZ. One of the days we spent in Julian, CA, an old mining town about 20 miles east of Ramona. This would be a great bike riding area and will have to get back here again.
It’s time to hit the road and head towards Tucson, AZ. On February 8th we drove from Ramona, CA to Dateland, AZ. Sandy took her first turn at driving since our lessons. She wanted it to be an easy stretch so she drove 50 miles on the freeway. Upon getting to Datleand we found a nice friendly campground called The Oasis RV Park.
February 9th was spent driving from Dateland to Tucson where we stayed at Gilbert Ray Campground on the west side of Tucson.
The next day we spent 5 1/2 hours at the Sonoran Desert Museum. It was a great museum and we will be going back again. The Museum in a natural collection of plants and animals from the Sonoran Desert environment.
This is a Mexican Wolf.
On the way back from the Museum, Sandy met this friendly cactus.
After spending 4 days in the Tucson area we left on February 13 and continued east with our next stop on El Paso, TX at the Road Runner RV Resort. The place was a dump but I had picked it because there was a service facility next door where we had the oil changed.
This was an old Honda Civic that has been parked in one spot too long.
It took us another day and a half to reach Blazing Star RV Resort in San Antonio, TX. Texas sure is a big state.
This was our camp site, #905.
Since we are in San Antonio we had to go to the Alamo as it is purported that Davy Crockett is a great, great, great grand father of mine. So on Saturday the 17th went to the Alamo and River Walk. Then we spent an unbelievable 2 hours 31 minutes getting out of the parking garage.
It was between 65-75 degrees while we were here so we just spent some time relaxing and went to visit the Missions in San Antonio including Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan and Espada. The condition of the missions range from mostly ruins to fully restored and still in use today.
The 20th of February had us driving to Mission, TX to visit our friends Rick and Karen. The temperature was a little warmer down here as it was in the 80’s while we were there. Rick and Karen and some friends of theirs took us sightseeing and the took us into Mexico via a hand drawn ferry across the Rio Grand. We were surprised to see how narrow the Rio Grand is in this area. Afterwards we all went to eat at the Riverside that overlooks the Rio Grand River. Sandy and I shared a real good & huge breaded pork tenderloin sandwich because we had been warned to get just the one. Later we took in an amateur contest where people just turn up to play whatever instrument they have and some even sing, not so good.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
Now that I am retired as of 1-1-2007 we can start making plans for heading south for the winter. So 1-20-07 is the beginning of our 10 week trip that will take us to Arizona, California, Texas, Florida and back home. After spending a couple days loading up the motorhome we started the trip started on the wrong foot. First, when we left the garage about 8:00AM the GPS did not work and second the temperature was -5 degrees. By the time we got to Owatonna I figured out why the GPS did not work, it has something to do with the GPS repeater, so I disconnected it and the GPS is working fine. Well at least I have a future project to look forward to. That takes care it one problem and the only cure for the second is to keep driving south, so on we go. Things went fine until around Lincoln, NE where it started snowing. We finally stopped at Wood River, NE about 3 hours and 80 miles later. After finding a motel that had 11 RV sites, we settled in for the night with about 4 inches of snow on the ground. It was good to have electricity.
Figuring it was going to be a slow day of travel, we were up by 6:00AM with a temperature of 24 degrees outside and about 6-7 inches of snow.
After breakfast and lots of coffee we hit the ice & snow packed roads. The roads were not quite as bad as I predicted and we were able to travel 50-60 MPH. When we stopped for lunch where 83 crosses I-70 just north of Oakely we got out and saw we must have had 2000 pounds of frozen slush on the vehicles.
Most of the rest of the day was the same except from Liberal, KS to Dalhart, TX It got worse. The last few miles in to Dalhart was on bad ice, 15-30 MPH. We called it a day and pulled into the Corral RV Park.
When we crawled out of bed it was 51 degrees inside and 9 degrees outside. The vehicles are a mess. Taking off after breakfast and again lots of coffee we encountered bad roads for the first 30 miles. After that all the roads were clear. The roads were good the rest of the day. By the time we got to Holbrook, AZ it was time to find a RV park with cable so we could watch “24”. Good old KOA would do us for the night. It’s bad when you get hooked on a TV series like this.
Next morning we were on the road at 6:45AM with 6 degrees outside. When we into Cave Creek County Campgrounds at 11:00AM there was only one campsite left in the campgrounds. After getting checked we went and found a place to wash the vehicles, what a job. The Denali took a little beating from the pea gravel they used on the roads in Nebraska. After washing the vehicles we spent the afternoon & evening at Ron & Jane’s where we had supper and washed some clothes. Even after washimg the vehicles, ice continued to drop off the vehicles for the rest of the day.
January 24th was the start of the SW Lazy Daze get together so we met up with the Ron and Jane to go to the White Tank Mountain Campground just west of Phoenix. It’s getting warmer as it was 40 degrees when we got up this morning. There were 24 rigs on this initial gathering of the SW Lazy Daze.
January 27th was the last day with group so we took a group picture and said our goodbyes, what a great group of people. By 10:00AM we were on our way back to Cave Creek County Campground and later went out to supper with the Ron, Jane and their granddaughter.
The next day we took Ron and Jane’s LD to their storage area and then it was off to Camping World. Seems there is still more stuff to buy. I cleaned up the rig with “Ace It” polish then later we went to Ron and Jane’s to eat supper and do some laundry before we leave tomorrow.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
2006
A friend of ours had mentioned that Whitewater was a place that he used to go to for local camping so we thought we should give it a try. I had to drop a boat off in Rochester on September 7th and we decided to give Whitewater State Park a try for a couple of days and then we were planning to head to NE Iowa for a couple of days. After looking over the site map we chose site #49. It did not have hookups, but the weather was mild so we took a chance. It turned out to be a great site.
This is our view from the campsite.
We also had this nice bench close by to sit and reflect.
It was so nice and relaxing here that we came back on September 30 and spent another three days relaxing. This time we went to a program at the park headquarters on the snakes in the park. They have 16 of the 17 species found in Minnesota, including the timber rattlesnake.
I’m just siting here thinking that in another three months I will be retired and can do this whenever I want.
Until next time,
Dave and Sandy
