The Grand Adventure was “an adventure”

We’re back in SC (a little earlier than we planned), but thankful we’re back.


Mr. Charley & I have traveled over 16,000 miles on this “Grand Adventure” from SC to Alaska and back.


We used over 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel, averaging 10.6 mpg.


We crossed the U.S./Canada border numerous times.


We had numerous trials with the RV, battled bugs, road construction, chipped/broken windshields, smaller than average RV sites, strange fuel stations, and Lord knows what else.


We also saw so many new and wonderful sights, met some awesome people, made wonderful new friends and realized how truly blessed we are.


We both agree it wasn’t quite the trip we thought, the sights were great, but sometimes disappointing. But the adventure itself was something that we were blessed to be able to have.


It was a great ride, not sure if we’d do it again, but…….so thankful we got to go.
(I guess that's where the saying “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” comes from).


Now it's time to go our separate ways & spend quality time with our babies.
 Next adventure is "wintering in Florida" for some fun, sun, and much needed relaxation.


Have a good one everybody, we're sure trying to.




RV Riding is picking out a place to go and finding out it may not be what you thought in the end, but so thankful you were able to go. 

Looks like we dodged the worse of it

Heritage Acres RV Park Tuscumbia, AL

We landed here Monday, in hopes of getting a little closer to home,  but also,  tomorrow we take a factory tour of the Tiffin Vanleigh Vilano 5th Wheel located in Burnsville, MS, not far up the road.
The tour was good, we learned a lot and saw the quality of work that Tiffin has built it’s high reputation on. I think Mr.Charley was impressed and has his sights set on a new rig in the coming months.
We also had a tour setup for today at the new Tiffin Wayfarer Class C factory located in Winfield, AL. The tour here was very good! Our guide was very knowledgeable, took his time explaining details and answered any and all questions. Again, you can see the high quality Tiffin standards built into this rig. It’s very nice and impressive, and maybe in a couple of years they will have a little bigger rig that I could feel comfortable full-timing in, since the storage on this 24 foot rig is considerably less than my Four Winds.
All in all, it’s been a good couple of days here.
Now for a few tidbits of info about the MS-AL area.

• Did you know that Tuscumbia, AL is the birthplace of Helen Keller and Ivy Green is the name of her childhood home? The house was built in 1820, and the actual well pump where Helen Keller first communicated with Anne Sullivan is still there. This place is a US National Historic Landmark, and is listed in the US National Register of Historic Places.

 

• Did you know that Cherokee, AL is home to the Coon Dog Cemetery (made famous in the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”. Established in 1937, Mr. Key Underwood buried his faithful coondog, Troop. On that dreary Labor Day of 1937, Underwood said goodbye to his legendary coonhound. More than 185 hounds from all across the US are buried there. To qualify for burial,certain requirements must be met. “We have stipulations on this thing",” said the late O’Neal Bolton, former caretaker of the Graveyard. “A dog can’t run no deer, possum – nothing like that. He’s got to be a straight coon dog, and he’s got to be full hound. Couldn’t be a mixed up breed dog, a house dog.” Each Labor Day, Friends of the Coondog Cemetery host a celebration there.

              
                 (Gotta love the South)

• Did you know The Natchez Trace is right down the road from here. Established in 1938, this historic forest trail extends 440 miles from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN.

       (I know someone that wanted to ride his Harley on this)
             

• Did you know there is a town called Bear Creek, AL was once called Allen’s Factory, named for the first settlers who built a cotton factory which was burned during the War. The town is still there (barely), but there is sign marking “Factory Cemetery” Circa 1850 and a large rebel flag flies in the middle of this unfenced area.

             

• Did you know there is a town called Phil Campbell,AL named after a railroad work crew leader and engineer named Phillip Campbell? It’s a pretty cool story,  but this is the only town in AL given both first and last name of an individual.

               

• Did you know Muscle Shoals, AL is the largest city in Colbert County? Look up the history of this place.

               
As my baby girl, Melanie would say “a plethora of information.” I hope these little tidbits entice you to lookup and learn about this awesome country we are blessed to live in.
I leave you with this sign posted at the Wayfarer break room wall:
        

Please continue to keep our country in your thoughts and prayers from the Wildfires out West, to the floods and recovery from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Tomorrow we head to Covington, GA (sending hugs and love to my cousins)  then home to SC on Friday (Lord willing)

Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.

          RV Riding is learning about all kinds of stuff as you ride by (thanks to Google)

     
     

Southaven, MS

Heritage Acres RV Southaven, MS

Today we landed in Southaven, MS which is right over the Memphis, TN border. This is a pretty nice place and there’s a Columbia store in the Tanger Outlets right across the street, so Mr. Charley is happy. We go in pretty early and had time for a nap! Win-Win!
Since we’re only here 1 night, we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing, we’re both pretty anxious about Hurricane Irma and how she will affect our loved ones.
I did take a few pics along the way:
            
I think it’s funny that Arkansas has “Daisy Queen” and Mississippi has “Dixie Queen” (LOL!)
So, today we hit 4 states (MO, AR, TN & MS). God Bless America!
Continue to pray for FL and now GA & SC. Tomorrow we head to Tuscumbia, AL, which is the middle ground between the Vilano factory in Burnsville, MS and the Wayfarer factory in Winfield, AL. Vilano is the new 5th Wheel made by Tiffin that Mr. Charley is interested in; Wayfarer is the new Class C made by Tiffin.
Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.
RV Riding is taking the time to see hot air balloons flying in the distance

Branson MO

Branson Landing RV Park Branson, MO

After the stressful ride leaving Alaska/Canada to get back over the border and into the Good Ol’ USA, we thought it would be an easy ride back home. Boy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned “living on the road” is NOTHING is easy! Sometimes plans change out of necessity as much as desire. Sometimes you’re thankful the plans you made before you changed again. And on it goes.After skirting the wildfires, now we’re monitoring the hurricanes. Hurricane Harvey really did a number in Texas and now they’re predicting Hurricane Irma will be even bigger heading into FL. I’m originally from Miami and have family and friends from Key West all the way up both east coast and west coast; including my baby girl and her family. No matter how old your children and grandchildren get, their still your babies and you’re going to worry about them. All you can do is pray and trust that things will be OK, because that’s all you can do. We made it to Branson safely, feeling almost guilty that the sun is shining and the weather was beautiful. I did take some pictures which I will share, but in all reality, we didn’t do much “sightseeing” and stayed put most of the time. Of course, it’s football season and God forbid Mr.Charley misses a Clemson game, so that’s about the extent of our time in Branson. We leave Sunday morning heading to Southaven, MS right over the TN border near Memphis. Still praying and monitoring the storms, which may affect GA & SC as well. Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to. Stay Safe!RV Riding is trying to stay safe and praying your loved ones are too

Cassville MO

Roaring River State Park  Cassville, MO

We had a nice drive to Cassville, MO. I really didn’t take that many pictures for this adventure, so I’ll just have to bore you with my writings.

With the wildfires in Montana, Hurricane Harvey in Texas and now Hurricane Irma in Florida and the Earthquake in Mexico, I honestly haven’t felt like writing and sharing our adventures. My heart is heavy, so this trip over to Cassville was especially uplifting, since we had a wonderful visit with our dear sweet friends Anne & Briggs. We had an opportunity to just sit, relax, breath fresh clean air and enjoy some wonderful fellowship. Mr. Charley and Briggs went to play golf and Ms. Anne & I took the day to take in the sights and shops of Eureka Springs, AR. This quaint little town had some of the most unique shops housed in some very old buildings that have been beautifully restored. Rather than the boring “touristy” shops down one side of the street and up the other; these shops are “layered” up to three levels within one street, and then down some more. It was a wonderful relaxing day just to take our time, look around and enjoy the beautiful weather. Fall hasn’t hit yet, but you can feel it in the morning air and see it in the shop windows. We had a light lunch and then heading back, stopped to tour the Thorncrown Chapel . This beautiful Chapel is nestled in a woodland setting and rises forty-eight feet into the Ozark sky. It’s a magnificent wooden structure with 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass. I can only imagine how magnificent and peaceful it is when Fall is in full color.

A stop at Martin Greer’s Candies (third generation candy makers using recipes passed down since 1896) topped off our wonderful day. I won’t say how much candy I bought, but……let’s just say I better share or I’ll never fit into my clothes!

Mr. Charley and Briggs had a good game as well. Got home in time for Happy Hour, dinner and chillax before bed. All in all, it was a wonderful relaxing time with great folks.

I’ll leave you with this awesome pic I took on the drive in. I hope it leaves you with the same awe it left me, God’s reminder He’s still in control, even when everything around seems to be falling apart.

Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.

RV Riding is sometimes taking time to just see the sights without snapping pics

3 States in 1 Day

Campus RV Park Independence, MO

We left Nebraska City, NE, crossed into Iowa and then Missouri, all in less than an hour!

I can honestly say these last few days have been very uneventful, but relaxing. Absolutely nothing major to see, snap a picture or write about, so I’ll leave you with one of my favorites from Nebraska.

Yeah, that’s the Sinclair dinosaur with a saddle on! Gotta love it!

Tomorrow we are going to Cassville, MO to spend a few days visiting with our newfound friends, Anne & Briggs. Two of the dearest people we met along the Alaska Highway. 

Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.

RV Riding is going somewhere just to chill and get somewhere else

Still in Nebraska, going to Nebraska City

Victorian Acres RV Park Nebraska City, NE

If you read my previous blog, you learned a few things about Nebraska.
Here’s one more tidbit of Nebraska trivia…..In Kearny, Nebraska, there is”The Archway” crossing the Interstate where you can get off, take a break and tour a museum that presents 170 years of history in under an hour. Starting in the 1840’s at Fort Kearny where over 400,000 Americans & immigrants converged on the Oregon, Mormon & California trails before heading west to the frontier. The Transcontinental Railroad, Pony Express & first transcontinental telegraph line also followed the Great Platte River as well as the Lincoln Highway, the first pieces of the Interstate Highway system and the first transcontinental fiber optic superhighway.
I kid you not, and here’s pics to prove it:

 

Did you know that Sorghum is used in the production of ethanol? And I thought it was just made with corn! So, all those sorry looking “corn fields” were “sorghum fields” instead. Who knew Nebraska was so informative?
Whew! Thank God we’re heading to Missouri tomorrow!
Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.


RV Riding is learning about all kinds of stuff (too bad I can’t remember it all)

Onward to North Platte, Nebraska

Holiday RV Park North Platte, NE

I think I mentioned in previous post we were going to see the Golden Spike Tower to view the Union Pacific Railroad Bailey Yard. The massive yard cover 2,850 acres (total length 8 miles), handling 14,000 rail cars every 24 hours. Over 3,000 cars are sorted daily in the yard’s eastward & westward yards, nicknamed “hump” yards. Using a mound cresting 34 feet for eastbound trains and 20 feet for westbound trains, the hump allows 4 cars a minute to roll gently into any of 114 “bowl” tracks. Here they become part of trains headed for destinations in the East, West and Gulf States, as well as Canadian and Mexican borders. An average of 139 trains per day are largely comprised of raw and finished goods such as autos, coal, grain, corn, sugar, chemicals and steel among other things. To keep things moving, the train operations and repair shops at Bailey Yard are open 24/7. The fueling & service center processes more than 8,500 locomotives a month; and the car repair facility annually replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels. Bailey Yard employs over 2600 people making a long term career opportunity for thousands here.
The ride itself was relatively easy, although the roads in Nebraska are not as well maintained as Wyoming, so it was a bit more bumpy and not much to see, so I’ll leave you with the pics Mr.Charley took while we were there:
The Tower observation deck is 8 stories high, so these are the panorama view: 

Google the reason why the US Standard Railroad Gauge is 56 1/2 inches wide

And, did you know there is a Sydney, NE? And, did you know that is headquarters for Cabela’s? And, did you know Cabela’s has an RV Campground there? (Another little tidbit of Nebraska trivia)

Did you know there is a museum in York, Nebraska called “Lee’s Legendary Marbles & Collectibles”? The only museum in the region dedicated to our favorite pastime, playing with marbles. The museum houses THOUSANDS of marbles of EVERY IMAGINABLE kind.


That’s it for now. Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.

RV Riding is going for miles and seeing nothing, then BAM! something cool pops up