Trip report continued...

08 Feb 2010

Had a fairly nasty day yesterday but managed it.  The Louisanna roads had some awful stretches; they have blocks of concrete that aren't leveled up to the next block so you hit these joints for miles at a time - bang bang bang.  Then we were out in the middle of nowhere and they closed 2 of the three lanes of I-10 - wasted at least half an hour getting through that; there were people who must have lost over 2 hours but we were lucky.  The bridges were bad too; one was so rough that I slowed to 50 mph and it was still rough.  It was a long day; didn't arrive until almost 17:00.  THEN, we found that the park we hoped to stay at was full.  Boo, hiss!  Started looking at the books and found another park about 15 miles away.  Called them & said we'd be right over.  Found this nice little place; it's on a major road but nothing compared to an Interstate!  LOL  Spent a quiet night watching the Superbowl (American football championship).

I don't think we saw a cop crossing all 900 miles of Texas, saw a bunch in Louisanna.

This a.m. we need to hit the road; it's likely to rain later. 



09 Feb 2010

Drove across Mississippi and into Alabama.  Saw 13 cops in the first 13 miles of Alabama; then another five before we stopped for the night at the Escapees park.  Glad we were just poking along with the trailer.


10 Feb 2010
Spent a quiet day at the Rainbow Plantation (another Escapees park) - I did laundry for the high point.  Rained like the devil last night but there are low drains to carry off the water.  Went into town and had dinner at Lambert's Cafe - the ThrowedRolls place - had chicken & dumplings - little chicken and a kind of home made noodle - no dumpling at all - no vegie in the dish either.  My wife had ham and beans - ok but for $27 plus tip it was crap.  Oh and $2.19 cokes for drinks!

Off tomorrow for Florida.  Plan on staying somewhere up near I-10 so it will be a short day.  I'll dump the tanks and we'll be good to stay with our relatives for a few days.  We will also have a short day to get to their house on Thursday; don't want to arrive and have to back into their space in the dark!


11 Feb 2010
Drove down to the relatives house near Crystal River.  Got in quite early, maybe 14:00, so we could enjoy some time with the family after getting set up.  They had lots of stone crab for everyone else & a very nice t-bone for me(shellfish allergy).  Came back to the rig fairly early and let the wife have some family time.



12 Feb 2010
Spent the day with the family; a couple of friends showed up before noon then a couple more (from South Carolina) just before dinner.  Had KFC and some pulled pork from SC for dinner.  That pulled pork was a nice surprise.  We both came to the rig & let the relatives have the evening with their friends.


13 Feb 2010
This is the day of the party; actual birthday is tomorrow but this is better for people to attend the party.  My wife's uncle must be the most popular guy in town; there were are least twenty people at the party.  Eight had come from out of state!  Lots of food and talk.  It started at 14:00 and we came back to the rig about 18:00; read a bit then early to bed.


14 Feb 2010
Another relative day.  Started with the friends leaving then about 14:00 some more relatives showed up.  My wife hasn't seen her cousin in 30 years; her great-aunt was present when her mom died 4 years ago.  Now they are talking politics at the top of their lungs; I don't get paid enough to stick around.  Heading to Palm Harbor tomorrow to see our ex-neighbors.  Should be fun; also a good place to buy booze!




18 Feb 2010
Back with the relatives.  Had fun seeing our friends.  They seem pretty much the same.  We never spent mornings with them; turns out they are as addicted to "Imus In the Morning" and Fox news as our relatives.  Looking forward to moving on just to avoid that shit!

One of our friends has diabetes and is having trouble with it.  He's lost like 30 lb that he couldn't really afford.  Hope he manages to get it under control.

Went shopping at some of the Florida stores we knew.  Bought new tennis shoes AND crocs at our favorite shoe store.  Don't suppose we'll keep on traveling 2,500 miles to go shopping but it worked for us this trip.  Bought booze for the return trip; it's cheaper in Florida than Nevada by 12-15 percent.

Taking everyone out to dinner tonight at their favorite resturant; we think it's awful but they like it so away we go.  Can't rain on their parade ALL the time.  Tomorrow morning we'll hit the road back to Nevada.  We plan on stopping at a few places along the way.  Hopefully we'll find some wifi so I can update this thing too!

Have a good one.

"Happiness is not a state to arrive at, rather, a manner of traveling." - Samuel Johnson