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Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Arrived in Hot Springs, AR
We made it to Hot Springs, AR this evening. We met Joe and Jan here. The trip from Louisiana to here was not bad, but it was very windy and I was fighting the wheel the entire day, to make sure we stayed on the road. We did lose the top of our Turtle shell topper on the top of the motorhome from the wind blowing from the side. It must have caught a stiff wind from the side and blew right off the top of the turtle shell. I only lost one golf shoe, a small cooler and Holly's life jacket. My golf clubs, battery charger, hammock and water hose didn't blow out. I am surprised that I didn't see it blow off though. At least my golf clubs didn't blow out! We drove into Hot Springs tonight and it is a picture from the past. The buildings have never been updated since the 60's. It's cool looking though. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them. It's kinda like an old time Gatlinburg. We are going to sit in some baths tomorrow (supposedly good for you) and then watch the Oaklawn Derby, horse race. It is the last day of the season and there is a pretty good purse to be had. (No, not Chanel or Dolce Gabbana...a money purse!) I have $2 that I'll put on Flicka. Ha! We're going to go explore the town tomorrow and see if we want to stay here another night. It's about 45 degrees here now but it's supposed to get up to 78 tomorrow, and sunny. Perfect! I need to get some sleep after the sleepless night we had last night. Update you soon!
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| Engraved in the sidewalk in Natchitoches |
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| Who's that in the window? |
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| Arkansas. It looked like this for 3 hours. |
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| Where we are camping tonight. Nice view! |
Note to Self
Never park the RV in front of a stage where a Stomp team is going to be practicing their routine at 2:30am. Natchitoches....the city that never sleeps...at least not 14 guys stomping all night.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Alaska Bound!
Bonjour! I get tired of saying hi in English so I am going to say it another one from now on. We are out on the road and headed West, Alaska bound. We left on Tuesday night after a quick fix of the headlights before we left home and we stayed with Brad up in Brooksville that night. We got moving around 9:30 and made it to Mobile, AL last night. Our trip from Brooksville to Mobile was pretty much uneventful. I can tell you that I installed a new (used, but new to the rv) radio with an input for my ipod and it makes a HUGE difference in driving. Plus I fixed my left speaker so I don't have to blast Laurie's ears out in order to hear the music anymore. The weather was beautiful and it took about 11 hrs to get to Mobile. We met up with my dad there and stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn Parking lot. We had a great dinner at O'Charley's (maybe it was because we were so hungry). Dad and I had breakfast this morning and Laurie and I left at about 9:30 again.
As soon as we got on the interstate this morning, I missed the exit that we were supposed to get off. I saw the sign, I just drove right past it. Not sure what I was thinking, but I plugged the GPS in at that point and started paying attention. We drove through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana today. Mississippi was very pretty. The grass was so green and everything was clean. We drove through Brookhaven, MS and stopped at a gas station there and everyone was so nice. I had 3 people come up to me and ask me where we were headed. Not sure if they were looking for a ride, but they actually seemed interested in where we were going. They took the time to ask questions. I was surprised! The weather today was sunny and breezy. It got a little hot when we got in LA, of course, but it cooled down when the sun started sinking.
We made it to Natchitoches, LA and walked around the block to stretch out our legs. We are parked right down by the river (Chris Farley said it best...we are living in a van down by the river!) and plugged into the city electric. They are having a jazz fest this weekend and we found out that they just turned the electric on so we got lucky and were able to plug in for some nice A/C tonight. It's the little victories that make a difference. :)
I pulled the fishing rod off the top of the motorhome that had been up there for 2 years and never used since then. I took my tacklebox out and tied a spinner bait. I casted a few times but didn't catch anything so I tied a rattletrap on. Still nothing, but you can't imagine how good it felt to be casting a line into the water again. It's been a while since I've fished...other than the 2 weekends ago at Ken & Hope's house when we had a catfish tourney, and I caught 5 and Ken caught 3 or 4. But who's counting anyways. That's beside the point. I haven't freshwater fished in forever. Laurie and I threw the ball for Laurie since she was couped up with us for 2 days now. We made some dinner in the RV (turkey breast, broccoli, biscuit and sweet potato fries) and took a walk down the street. Holly is out right now and my eyes are fading pretty quickly.
Tomorrow we are headed up to Hot Springs, AR to meet up with Joe and Jan, before we go diamond mining. Laurie has been researching all of the massage places and hot spring areas to go check out tomorrow. I told her that because there is a rain coming, we better get over to the diamond mine to pick up the diamonds that will be laying on top of the dirt soon. But, she's more interested in massages right now, especially since Holly took her for a tumble when she was holding the leash and pulled a little too far and snatched the leash out of Laurie's hands tonight. Laurie has also been putting a plan of action into place on the AAA website. We are going to discuss more in the next few days, about where we are going. I guess that is probably a good idea. We definitely know we are going to Seattle and Alaska. But, between here and there, we need to put a route in place.
I will update when we are in Arkansas in the next few days. We hope everyone is doing great and I hope this makes you smile! Good night and sleep well!
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| Looking at a battleship on Mobile Bay |
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| Something about Mobile that makes me put Buffett on the radio. Actually...Buffett's always on the radio. :) |
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| Plan of attack! We took it with us but don't have room to open in the motorhome. ha! Thinking about putting it on the ceiling...and taking the mirror down. ha! Just kidding...moms! |
As soon as we got on the interstate this morning, I missed the exit that we were supposed to get off. I saw the sign, I just drove right past it. Not sure what I was thinking, but I plugged the GPS in at that point and started paying attention. We drove through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana today. Mississippi was very pretty. The grass was so green and everything was clean. We drove through Brookhaven, MS and stopped at a gas station there and everyone was so nice. I had 3 people come up to me and ask me where we were headed. Not sure if they were looking for a ride, but they actually seemed interested in where we were going. They took the time to ask questions. I was surprised! The weather today was sunny and breezy. It got a little hot when we got in LA, of course, but it cooled down when the sun started sinking.
We made it to Natchitoches, LA and walked around the block to stretch out our legs. We are parked right down by the river (Chris Farley said it best...we are living in a van down by the river!) and plugged into the city electric. They are having a jazz fest this weekend and we found out that they just turned the electric on so we got lucky and were able to plug in for some nice A/C tonight. It's the little victories that make a difference. :)
I pulled the fishing rod off the top of the motorhome that had been up there for 2 years and never used since then. I took my tacklebox out and tied a spinner bait. I casted a few times but didn't catch anything so I tied a rattletrap on. Still nothing, but you can't imagine how good it felt to be casting a line into the water again. It's been a while since I've fished...other than the 2 weekends ago at Ken & Hope's house when we had a catfish tourney, and I caught 5 and Ken caught 3 or 4. But who's counting anyways. That's beside the point. I haven't freshwater fished in forever. Laurie and I threw the ball for Laurie since she was couped up with us for 2 days now. We made some dinner in the RV (turkey breast, broccoli, biscuit and sweet potato fries) and took a walk down the street. Holly is out right now and my eyes are fading pretty quickly.
Tomorrow we are headed up to Hot Springs, AR to meet up with Joe and Jan, before we go diamond mining. Laurie has been researching all of the massage places and hot spring areas to go check out tomorrow. I told her that because there is a rain coming, we better get over to the diamond mine to pick up the diamonds that will be laying on top of the dirt soon. But, she's more interested in massages right now, especially since Holly took her for a tumble when she was holding the leash and pulled a little too far and snatched the leash out of Laurie's hands tonight. Laurie has also been putting a plan of action into place on the AAA website. We are going to discuss more in the next few days, about where we are going. I guess that is probably a good idea. We definitely know we are going to Seattle and Alaska. But, between here and there, we need to put a route in place.
I will update when we are in Arkansas in the next few days. We hope everyone is doing great and I hope this makes you smile! Good night and sleep well!
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| Cool sign. I think I'll go there for coffee in the morning |
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| Smelly foot in windshield. It's not comfortable when my foot fell asleep. |
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| Pretty babe! |
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| You talkin' to me? |
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| Mighty Mississippi crossing |
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| Natchitoches Street. (Not sure how she got in my picture) |
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Here we go!
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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Hello Everyone! Time to catch you up.
Hey again! I have had many requests from our fan base, to update our blog before we leave to head out West.
To catch you up...we left Nashville a few weeks ago and stopped down in Port St. Joe, FL for a few days. We met Joe & Jan there for their maiden voyage in their new fifth wheel. We stayed at St. Joseph's State Park on a peninsula by the beach. It was beautiful. The weather was nice and it was good to see a little sunshine since the winter up in Nashville was mostly cloudy. My legs were blinding others when the sun hit them. They hadn't seen the light of day in months! We did some bike riding, dog walking, played on the beach, buried Holly in the sand again and pulled Brad (Laurie's brother) out of the sand because he got his truck stuck. Dang 2 wheel drive trucks! No offense! We had a great time and it was nice to hang out for a few days. Here are some pics...
We have changed our plans...again...We are leaving around the 3rd week of April to start our trek out West and then eventually to Alaska...if we don't run out of money because of gas prices. We have been getting the motorhome ready (waxing, fluid changes, stocking it with canned goods, etc) for the past few weeks, plus working on our Tampa house still. The Tampa house is...dare I say...almost finished. We have some trim pieces to finish, but things are wrapping up nicely. We have a plan of travel on our map on the wall. Laurie put post it notes on the map of things that she wants to do and ideas from others that have traveled out West and to Alaska before.
First stop is Natchitoches, LA, where they filmed Steel Magnolias. We have been there before but weren't able to stay more than a few hours. It's a cool little town along a river. We'll probably stop there for one or two nights on our way out to the Diamond mines in Arkansas. Laurie wants to dig for diamonds...literally, you can. They have a state park with a natural diamond mine. It's a big field of dirt and after it rains, it washes the dirt down so you can hunt for diamonds easier. I'm not expecting a "blood diamond" ordeal, but it should be fun. We want to try and teach Mindy (Joe & Jan's dog) to sniff out the diamonds over 2ct. because she has a great nose. The trick is how do you teach her to sniff diamonds? Telluride, CO, The Grand Canyon, Redwood Forest and more than 20 other places are on our list of to-do's. We are looking forward to the trip. I want to try and pick up some singing "gigs" along the way if we stop and stay in a town for a few days. I am setting up a new blog with my music on it, so you all will have to follow that one too, so I'll look popular...even if you don't like the music. haha! I can send the blog to the places that I want to play and say, "see I am popular back in Florida, I've got 11 followers..." we just won't tell them that they are all family members in one way or another. I'll take some pics before we leave, of the motorhome and update along the way.
We hope everyone is doing good!
To catch you up...we left Nashville a few weeks ago and stopped down in Port St. Joe, FL for a few days. We met Joe & Jan there for their maiden voyage in their new fifth wheel. We stayed at St. Joseph's State Park on a peninsula by the beach. It was beautiful. The weather was nice and it was good to see a little sunshine since the winter up in Nashville was mostly cloudy. My legs were blinding others when the sun hit them. They hadn't seen the light of day in months! We did some bike riding, dog walking, played on the beach, buried Holly in the sand again and pulled Brad (Laurie's brother) out of the sand because he got his truck stuck. Dang 2 wheel drive trucks! No offense! We had a great time and it was nice to hang out for a few days. Here are some pics...
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| View down the beach from near our campsite |
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| She just loves looking like other animals! |
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| Superdog! |
We have changed our plans...again...We are leaving around the 3rd week of April to start our trek out West and then eventually to Alaska...if we don't run out of money because of gas prices. We have been getting the motorhome ready (waxing, fluid changes, stocking it with canned goods, etc) for the past few weeks, plus working on our Tampa house still. The Tampa house is...dare I say...almost finished. We have some trim pieces to finish, but things are wrapping up nicely. We have a plan of travel on our map on the wall. Laurie put post it notes on the map of things that she wants to do and ideas from others that have traveled out West and to Alaska before.
First stop is Natchitoches, LA, where they filmed Steel Magnolias. We have been there before but weren't able to stay more than a few hours. It's a cool little town along a river. We'll probably stop there for one or two nights on our way out to the Diamond mines in Arkansas. Laurie wants to dig for diamonds...literally, you can. They have a state park with a natural diamond mine. It's a big field of dirt and after it rains, it washes the dirt down so you can hunt for diamonds easier. I'm not expecting a "blood diamond" ordeal, but it should be fun. We want to try and teach Mindy (Joe & Jan's dog) to sniff out the diamonds over 2ct. because she has a great nose. The trick is how do you teach her to sniff diamonds? Telluride, CO, The Grand Canyon, Redwood Forest and more than 20 other places are on our list of to-do's. We are looking forward to the trip. I want to try and pick up some singing "gigs" along the way if we stop and stay in a town for a few days. I am setting up a new blog with my music on it, so you all will have to follow that one too, so I'll look popular...even if you don't like the music. haha! I can send the blog to the places that I want to play and say, "see I am popular back in Florida, I've got 11 followers..." we just won't tell them that they are all family members in one way or another. I'll take some pics before we leave, of the motorhome and update along the way.
We hope everyone is doing good!
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