We are in Houghton, MI in the Upper Peninsula

The map shows a part of the Keewanau Peninsula in Michigan that sticks out into Lake Superior.  This whole area (see the dark yellow strip on the map) was once a major copper mining area and is where some of Roger's ancestors came when they settled in the US. One family came from mining tin and copper in Cornwall, England (Think Poldark) and another family came from Finland to the mines.  Most of them worked in Calumet but census records also show them in Houghton and Hancock.  Roger's got some folks buried here and I hope we can find them.  It will also be nice to see where they settled and learn some more of the history of the area.  

Note the portage waterway across the land goes from one side to the other on the map.  We are in Houghton on the portage channel.  We are wondering if the waters go from one side to the other than why is it a peninsula and not an island?  Probably at one time there was a land bridge, but to expedite copper shipping a portage channel was dug?   We will find out when we go out and explore the local history in the next few days.

Me and the Maggs enjoying being able to be outside.

Nice decks with a table and bench behind the RV

After last night we were a bit leery of what we were getting into here.  What a wonderful surprise as we came around he corner and saw the park.   I had reserved four nights but as soon as we saw the place and got set up I added a night. We will be here four full days to explore and to rest before starting the trek home.  We are in an RV park run by the City of Houghton. (City of Houghton RV Park) There are 22 sites, full hook ups, WIFI (weak), and stupendous views.  We will have to find a laundromat, but that's ok.  As you can see the sites are situated for optimal views of the water and the town of Hancock on the other side of the channel.  It is really a beautiful setting.  The rest of the city park consists of a water park, beaches, pavilions with tables, and lots of tables along the water.  It looks to be quite busy and we can hear the kids screaming at the water park/beach.  It's Thursday.  I'm thinking we will need to do our exploring of the area on the weekend or we will be driven quite crazy by the screaming kids.  

View to the right.

View straight across from our site.

View to the left of our site.

The view from our dirty back window onto our deck.

It started raining a few minutes after we pulled in - a light rain that only lasted about 20 minutes.  The sun has been in and out and we have a steady breeze off the water.  Temperature today about 70.   It's not supposed to get that high tomorrow, but by Sunday will be in the 80s.  

We left that horrid campground as soon as we could this morning.  It rained a little in the early morning and the place was damp and creepy.  The mosquitoes were swarming and just enveloped Maggie when we went out for her to do her business. She was trying to fight them off.   It was awful.  I was afraid to breathe in for fear of sucking those babies down my lungs.  I noticed that next to the campground on two sides were swampy areas.  No wonder the mosquitos were so numerous.  We ended up bringing some with us and spent some time after we set up hunting those bad boys down and doing them in.  

We saw a bald eagle this morning perched on top of a tree, but that was about the only thing of interest we saw.  The roads up here are basically two lane tunnels through the trees.  In the clearings are very small towns or cottages on lakes, but nothing else.  It would be a beautiful drive in October.  There are some small blue flowers along the road and lots of lilac bushes in full bloom. Otherwise it was trees, trees, and more trees - lots of water, too.   

We were told that we need to drive out to the end of the peninsula as the views of Lake Superior are awesome from a place called Copper Harbor.  That'll be a nice day trip.  

Our camp host is a native Yooper (that's a person who lives in the upper peninsula of Michigan) from Calumet who lives half the year here and the other half in the Florida Keys. He is quite knowledgeable about the area and when I told him why we were here, he immediately started telling me of places and people we needed to see.  He even recognized some of the surnames we will be hunting down.   He's written a book that is a fictionalized account of his summer in Isle Royale National Park. Of course, I bought it.  I told him he must be the Bill Bryson of the UP.  He said his story was funnier than Bill's about hiking the Appalachian Trail.  We shall see.  Nice guy but quite the talker.   His name is Dan Kemp and the title of the book is "A Yooper's Summer on Isle Royal."  It looks to be a fun read.  

Roger had some fix-it stuff to do this afternoon.  One of the sliders made really ugly noises this morning when I pulled it in. He found the problem and managed a quick but not permanent fix for it.  This has been a rough trip on the RV.  Fortunately, he is a Mr. Fix-It.  

Tomorrow's agenda includes laundry, groceries, a stop at the frozen custard shop, and an oil change for the truck.  Busy day tomorrow!  

It's 9:05 (ET) and the sun has yet to set.  It looks like about another half hour before it drops below the horizon.  Rog is going to try and get some pictures - it looks like it will be a beautiful sunset. 

No WIFI but Hotspot Seems To Be Working OK

Surprisingly, we have a fairly decent cell signal here in the Northwoods.  I'm going to give posting an entry a try - maybe even some photos.  

It has been another lovely day with temps in the mid 70s and no humidity to speak of.  We are loving it after so long in that heatwave we had.  Tonight it supposed to dip to the 50s!  We'll take it, that's for sure.  

We started about 45 minutes earlier than usual today and we arrived at our destination an hour later than our usual stopping time.  We had almost 100 extra miles than a normal day for us due to not being able to find a place to stay.  Rog is one pooped puppy tonight.  Maggie rested, so she's wanting to play ball tonight.

We crossed Wisconsin from the lower south eastern border at Dubuque, got to mid state near Madison and then headed due north as far as Tomahawk.  We are about 10 miles east of there in a little town called Rhinelander and in a campground called Lake George Campground.  

They don't see too many travelers here as it is a destination for city folks to come for the summer weekends. The office is also a tavern and when I went in to pay about 3pm there were customers already.  About half the sites have small travel trailers sitting on them but no people around.  It's mid-week and they will probably be arriving in droves on Friday so they were able to accommodate us tonight.  

The campground has lake front property, although we are at the far back end through the woods away from the water - I think in the only site that we would fit in.  It is a pull through. That's ok, we aren't here for the lake experience, but to rest for the night. Lots of mosquitoes.  We are sitting in the woods and Rog has already decided we probably will get a bear visitor tonight.  The place reminds us of a place we stayed in New York once and a place near Quakertown, PA.  This is far nicer than both of them.

We spotted a Camping World just outside of Madison and stopped so Rog could get spare parts for his sewer hose.  When he did try and use the one he "fixed" with the new gasket it did leak.  He had to stop his dumping, and jerry rig parts from spares to put together a hose long enough and that wouldn't leak.  He now has backup for the next leak.  It was close to lunch so we just sat in the shade of the RV and ate lunch in the parking lot.  Maggie always likes going in Camping World. Everyone stops to talk to her and they have stacks of dog food bags to sniff.  She behaved quite well in the store.

Observations from today's travels:

Wisconsin recycles, uses solar power and wind power and is very clean.  There was hardly any litter at all along the roads.  

The county roads in Wisconsin have letters instead of numbers.  We saw HHH and an YZ and all kinds of other combos, but I don't know how many that the alphabet can make so they can name all their roads.  I'm pretty positive this is the only state that does this.  I did see a sign for two together - PB and L.  I started looking for PB and J but never found it.  It thought that would be a hoot to get a picture of that intersection.  

I only saw one barn quilt and it was close to the border.  It must be an Iowa phenomena.

We were quite disturbed by the number of dead deer on the road.  We must have seen at least a dozen.  Raccoons seem to be the second most popular road kill and coyote running a distant third.  Very distressing.

Rolling hills and big farms in the south turned to flatland, small farms and timber production in the north.  Lots of logging going on.  We saw some pretty distressed looking areas where the trees were all dying.   There's a lot of industry around Madison.  It is a beautiful state. Wonder how deep the snow gets???  I'm thinking a lot as we see Wisconsin plates in Arizona and California in the winter!!  The afternoon was a bit boring as all I could see were trees.  

We crossed the Wisconsin River five times today.  It certainly meanders while the road goes straight north. 

Tomorrow - Houghton, MI for four nights - maybe even five depending on how rested we get for the trip west and home from there.

P.S.  I'm happy that I can post an entry tonight.  The pics were slow coming in, but they did!  

Wahoo!!! We've Done It!

It's taken us since 2005, but we are able to say we have hauled an RV to all 48 contiguous states! We entered our last state - Iowa at 9:45am today.  We've been to Alaska and Hawaii - but by cruise ship. We are very excited to have completed our goal. 

Last night we didn't have a strong enough cell signal for the hotspot to work - it kept shutting down on us.  So, no blog for me and no woodworking videos for Roger.  I had enough of a signal I could play Word with my friends, but that was about it. Even the news apps wouldn't load.  Tonight, we have a nice strong wifi signal and so I should be able to load lots of pictures taken yesterday and today.

Yesterday we crossed the Mississippi River and drove south about 20 miles to Hannibal, MO.  My book group is reading a Mark Twain book for our July classic so I had to go as we were so close.  Roger was kind enough to haul me over there and then walk around with me while I played tourist.  We had lunch in a coffee and juice place - old unmatched furniture making little conversation areas as well as a few tables for eating.  We stopped for an ice cream cone on the way back to the truck. Main Street in Hannibal is for the tourist and there were a few of us but not as many as I expected.  We walked the three blocks of shops and then went down to the river landing.  
We went early morning as it was predicted to be a 90+ degree day - and it was!  It was 94 and humid.  We didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing.  Just enough to get the flavor of the place. 

Main Street, Hannibal, MO

How can Becky have a house?  She was fictional.

The levee next to the river.
They must slide in a cement wall

A Purple Martin House with some
Purple Martins.  I'd never seen them before.

I don't remember Aunt Polly owning a store. 

Peace Post on the river with a different
language on each side.   

This morning we crossed the Mississippi River with the RV and officially got Missouri on the map.  We headed north along The Mississippi for a short while before we crossed the Des Moines River into Iowa. We went from flat farmland to rolling hills farmland.  The southeastern part of Iowa is just beautiful with large farms dotting the landscape.  What I noticed was that the farm houses were either white, beige or made of brick and all the outbuildings were red.  There were a few exceptions - some white barns and one dude who painted his house a bright yellow.  Wonder what his neighbors thought of that.  It did look quite out of place.  We exited Iowa at Dubuque, having traveled through Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.  Once again we crossed the Mississippi River!  It's becoming a habit.  

In Pennsylvania the Pennsylvania Dutch put "hex" signs on their barns.  They are round and folk arty with symbols that mean prosperity, or luck, or good things. I believe that the symbolism dates way back to the old country.   I noticed in Illinois and even more so in Iowa that some barns had huge squares on them and they looked like a quilt square from an Amish quilt. Not all barns, but a lot of them especially on older looking buildings. Well, curiosity drove me to Google.  They are called Barn Quilts and they have only been around a few decades, but they are only put on barns that are at least 50 years old.  They are quite striking geometric designed quilt blocks.  

We were on a road that we kept seeing signs saying that we were on the "Highway of the Saints."  Now, these signs had a fleur-de-lis on them, like the football team logo.  That didn't make sense to me, what do the New Orleans Saints have to do with this road?  Then I thought, it could be that this is the route the Mormons (Latter Day SAINTS) followed out of Illinois when they were driven west. Again, curiosity got the best of me and I had to do another Google search.  The road is called the Saints Highway because some businessmen got together in the 1980s and lobbied the states involved for a four lane, interstate-like road between St. Louis and St. Paul so they could transport goods more easily.  Hence, the Saints Highway.  Not as historical as I was proposing. 

We are staying in the Rustic Barn RV Resort in Kieler, WI.  Note it is not a campground it is a resort.  Thus the $50/night charge. It is a beautiful campground, though, set in the rolling hills with farms on one side and what used to be a farm but is now a subdivision on the other side.  The place is well maintained, the setting is lovely, the owners are nice, so what could be wrong? Flying insects - fly-like things that are small and just encircle you in clouds when you go outside.  Must be from the farm with the cows?  We couldn't sit outside or even take a walk tonight. I noticed that some campers had their screened enclosures set up around a picnic table and some chairs.   Another thing of note - when was the last time you saw a campground with it's own chapel?  It's got one!  Cute little thing.  They apparently do weddings here as it is a lovely location with a great view.  

 

We woke this morning to very cool temps and dry air.  It was 64 in the RV when Rog got up at 6:15 and he turned on the space heater to get warm.  What a difference from the day before when we woke to 76 degrees.  Today the temps never got above 77 and there was a northwesterly breeze.  Tonight the forecast is for 52 degrees at 6am.  Things have changed.  We have four nights reserved in Houghton, MI in a park on the water and not one day we will be there will reach 70.  It's quite a change from hot and humid.  Long pants and long sleeved shirts and shoes will be the uniform of the day.

Finding a place for the night is becoming a problem as we get further north in Wisconsin.  We tried for an hour this afternoon to find a place half way between here and Houghton, MI.  There are some campgrounds but not anything for the traveler.  I finally called a place that looked like it might be ok and they did have a pull through available and the woman who I talked to said she could accommodate us (our length).  No sewer, no 50amp electric, no wifi.  It's definitely going to be a campground.  Fortunately, we can make do with the 30 amp because we won't be needing our AC!!  I'm not sure we will even have cell service back in the woods, so I'm sure there will be no blog entry.

The further north combined with summertime the later the sunset.  It's now 8:30ish and it looks like it will still be light when we go to bed at 9ish :-)  

Water Woes, Farm Lands, and Campgrounds

We both woke up this morning pretty fuzzy headed and discombobulated.  (Can you be combobulated?) Things kinda went weird after that.  We were forgetting things during take-off procedures this morning, but with the two of us combining our feeble brains we managed not make any major errors that the other didn't catch. 

We were up twice with Maggie during the night - she did wake us up to take her out, which was good.   She seems better today but still lethargic.  If she does the same thing tonight we will be looking for a vet tomorrow, but I think she's on the road to recovery.  We've been feeding her rice with her dog food and no people food at all.  Stay tuned.

As I do every night, I woke up around 3am and use the bathroom.  Apparently I wasn't fully awake because when Rog got up at 7 and went in there the water was on in the sink.  I washed but forgot to turn the water off.  He had not planned to drain the gray water this morning, but since we now had a very full tank he had to.  

He went outside to hook up the drainage hoses and discovered that the dude who pulled in next to us late last night (in the dark) hadn't properly hooked up his water hose.  Now, the way the sites were set up - side to side - we shared a spigot.  It was set deep in a terra cotta cistern-like thing.  It was full and overflowing into our site and down the road.  His site was dry, of course.  What a mess. Water everywhere.  Rog had to wade through it to get to our hookups.  Then as he pulled the lever to let out the water, he discovered that our sewer hose was leaking. Fortunately he was only dumping gray water.  But that meant he needs to repair or replace the one we have.   What a way to start the morning. We got out of there fast before the owners came to work and saw the mess and then blamed us for it.  

All interstates in Illinois lead to or out of St. Louis or Chicago at very weird angles.  Neither place is on our list of places to go or even drive through. We couldn't use them to get where we were going - Quincy, IL.  We set out on US and state routes on a northwestern angle and wandered through beautiful farmlands, small towns, across rivers and lakes and we enjoyed it so much. SAL was of no use whatsoever so we navigated the old fashioned way with my three year old maps and we only made one wrong turn which we corrected right away.  There was very little traffic - Sunday morning we passed many church parking lots full to the brim - they weren't on the road but in church! Middle/Central Illinois is strictly farmland and it is a powerful reminder of how many people do farm.  We saw beautiful, large homes on acres of mown grass with outbuildings that Roger drooled over.  He kept pointing and saying, "That would work for my shop."  It really was a beautiful drive. 

We did go through a town called Potaka that is the home to a Marathon petroleum storage facility.  There are acres and acres of fuel tanks and pipelines out in the middle of the farmland.  In a town called Coffeen there is a large prison facility, so that provides a lot of jobs in the area.  Mostly, though, agriculture and related facilities (silos, processing plants, etc.) were the sights for the day.  Oh, yes, we did see one (Yes, only one) wind turbine.  It stuck out like a sore thumb.  

Which reminds me - we have yet to find a place that recycles. Pensacola recycled plastic and aluminum but that was all.  We are having such guilt feelings every time we toss something in the trash that we should be recycling. We haven't room to bring it all home, unfortunately. 

We stopped at a Walmart and bought gaskets for the the sewer hose connector and we hope that does the trick.  Rog hooked it up tonight and we seem to be dry.  

After a round-about crazy way to get to our RV park tonight, past several grain processing plants on the river where barges were lined up to move it to another destination, we pulled in. It's not an RV park.  It's a campground.  Not exactly rustic as we have water, electric and sewer, but folks here are camping. We are at Driftwood Campground and RV Park in Quincy, IL (I should have realized what we were getting into when Campground came before RV Park in the name.)  We are across the road from a city park, I think, that reviewers of the campground said was on the Mississippi River.  That was one of the draws when I picked this place because I thought we could sit and watch barge traffic, but it isn't actually on the river.  It's on a large bay of the river with a large peninsula separating it from the main part of the Missisippi. Bummer.   The place is an old campground that is slowly being brought up to speed to accommodate larger rigs.  No amenities to speak of.  When I checked in I was given the wifi code but was told that it was very weak and where we were it was probably non-existent. Yep.  He was right.  I know campers don't care, so it really isn't a priority for them.  This is not a place that travelers stay very often - just locals coming to camp.  It will be quiet and I see few lights, so Maggie willing, we will get a good night's sleep.  

We spent some time looking at the maps and checking for RV parks to see where we might go next.  We think we will be heading towards Dubuque, IA as we are still planning on going to Calumet on the Keewanaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. We'd like to spend a few days on Lake Superior in the hopes that it will be cooler before we head west.  Besides, we do want to see the area where Roger's Scandinavian fore-bearers lived and mined copper.  Neither of us have ever been up there so it will be new territory.

We are planning a day of playing tourist tomorrow across the river in Hannibal, which is about 15 miles south of us.  I hope it's cooler than today for walking around.  Today was another sticky hot day.  We turned the A/C on when we got here about 2:30 and it hasn't shut off yet and it's now 7pm.  It just takes forever to catch up after it's been off and the place gets so hot. Glad we aren't paying the power bill.

The sun is getting ready to set behind the trees.  I'll watch for fireflies tonight - through the window.  Too many flying insects and still too warm to be sitting outside.  

Fireflies, Country Western Music and Detours

We found some bugs we like!  I can't remember the last time I saw fireflies, but last night when I took Maggie out around 9pm, they were everywhere.  So beautiful!  Little lanterns in the air. I'll look again tonight for them.  We are in Southern Illinois and it brought back super memories of chasing them in my grandmother's yard  - which was about 50 miles south of here!   
About 7pm last night I started hearing - over the sound of the traffic on the interstate and the air conditioner - loud music.  I was starting to get upset and ready to call the camp host, but couldn't find a number.  When I went outside with Maggie, Roger came with me to look for the noise pollution.  It turned out that there was a country bar about a quarter mile down the road. They were having an outdoor concert and the noise was carrying over the open fields.  I can't imagine how loud it would have been if we had been at the bar!  Rog was talking to one of the guys who lives in the park and he said that they do these concerts once a month.  Lucky us - we were there on the right day!  

Our drive today was a pretty straight shot north across the toe of Kentucky into Indiana. Then about ten miles north of Evansville we turned west  We had a bit of a craziness, though.  I was using a 2014 road atlas map and Sal (GPS) was navigating from her update just before we left home.  You would think that between the two of them it would be a piece of cake and we would know where we were going.    

My map said we were on some parkway from north of Clarksville to Hopkinsville at the Ohio River.  Once we were in Indiana it said we were to take I-164 on a ring road around Evansville and connect with I-64 going west.  OK.  Looks good on paper.

About halfway between Clarksville and Evansville there was a sign that said the parkway was ending in one mile and then roadsigns popped up proclaiming we were on I-69.   OK, our paper map is old and they've renamed the road.  No prob. Carry on.

Ohio River at Evansville, IN/Hopkinsville, KY

Would you say this bridge needs some work?

We crossed the Ohio River on the most scary looking bridge (we definitely need some infrastructure funds for bridges) where we were to join the ring road.  The road that we thought would be I-164 has been named I-69 and is closed for construction. We had to  take a detour through Evansville on US41. It was a long 16 miles with the detoured highway traffic, traffic signals, and filling-rattling train crossings.  Our I-69 detour signs disappeared at some point, so we just kept heading north on US41 until we found I-64.  SAL never did figure out where we were until we got to the intersection of 41 and 64.   When we got there we stopped for lunch.  We haven't had much luck with roadside rests since we left Pensacola, so decided to just pull into a truck stop and park in the back by the grassy area.  We put out the awning for shade, got our chairs and a table and our lunch and then the entertainment started.  A young man was learning to drive a big semi.  His instructor would show him how to make turns, how to back into a spot, how to pull out, etc. Then he got out and the young man tried it - lots of times.  It was interesting and fun to watch.  He waved to us every time he passed and we kept giving him thumbs up.  He was trying so hard but just couldn't back the rig into a parking spot.  They were still at it when we left and waved goodbye. 

As we were pulling out of the truck stop I noticed this sign.   Note the overhanging power wires going every which way. Lots of them.  We are so used to underground wires that these make you want to go get a cord organizer!  Rog wants to know if they are still serving the same food as they did in 1825 at the Log Inn.  

In Hopkinsville, KY there is a huge John James Audubon Preserve and Museum.  We couldn't stop with the RV, unfortunately.  It looked like a lovely place to spend an afternoon.  

In Kentucky our view was still hampered by trees along the road.  Just couldn't see much of what was behind them.  We did see a huge Tyson chicken processing plant - they are looking for workers - $12/hr!  


Once we got into Indiana there was more opportunity to see what the countryside looked like.  Beautiful farms and lots of corn fields.  In Illinois, the same, but the fields didn't look as good as they looked very dry.

Right behind that line of trees is the interstate!
Otherwise it's a lovely site.

I've had a request from a faithful reader to include the names of the RV parks we stay in so she can look them up and see what they look like, so from now on we will do that. (She's an RVer) Wednesday was Birmingham South RV Park, and the last two nights was the Clarksville RV Park and Campground.  I didn't take photos at the first one.  

Clarksville Campground

Tonight we are staying in Mount Vernon, IL in the Archway RV Park.   Tonight's place is the least appealing of the three, as it isn't very well maintained and over half of it filled with residents.  It'll do for an overnight.  It was easy in and will be an easy out tomorrow. When we pulled in the owner told us to pull through one of the sites, turn left and pick a site.  So, Roger picks the site next to the one we pulled through.  It's a straight shot out to the road and nice and long.  About the time we dropped the RV and Rog had hooked up the power and water she came out and told us she didn't mean that site.  She meant the ones further down.  She was saving this one for last minute folks with 45 foot rigs.  She didn't make us move, but let us know she wasn't happy with the spot we picked.  Rog said that she should have assigned us a site and that would have solved the issue.  Oh, well.   Fuel stations are close by so it'll work.  We have some shade and the place is quiet which is a plus.  There's a pond at one end and I saw some creatures scurrying around the bottom in the mud but have no idea what they were.   

We stopped for lunch in Indiana and we are parked in Illinois tonight.  That rates two states on the map!  It'll be a few more days before we get the last two!






We've got pretty decent WIFI tonight.  Had to laugh, though, because someone in the park has a hotspot called "JesusIsLord2.6gh  It's password protected so couldn't log on to it :-/   People have some strange names for their hotspots, but this is a first for us.  

Today was the hottest so far - 90 degrees and about 65% humidity.  Cooler temps are forecast for the weekend.

It's a bit of a long post tonight, but lots happened today and I had photos to share. It was a fun day!   Thank you for sticking with me to the end!  

P.S.  Maggie was still a bit under the weather this morning but is still improving.  She wanted to play ball with Roger tonight, so you know she's feeling better.    

Restful Day

Our Maggie was a bit under the weather this morning.  Some intestinal distress and general malaise.  She got to feeling better after lunch and seemed pretty much back to her normal self by dinner time.  She spent the afternoon outside watching squirrels and birds. We have no idea what she hoovered in while we were walking yesterday that would have upset her tummy. She sees something and it is gone before we even are aware there's something there.  I suspect she'll be fine tomorrow.

We found a real grocery store - as in not a Walmart - today and picked up a few things.  We drove around a bit and the area seems very nice.  Huge lots with nice homes.  Several strip malls along our route with the usual food/haircut/stores in them.  Of course there were lots of fast food places as well.  We did see three Mexican restaurants which surprised me for some reason.  Maybe because we are near an Army post that there are so many?  It looks as if this is a big corn producing area because all the fields we saw had corn which needs to step up its growing or it won't be knee high by the fourth of July.  

After we had lunch Rog checked out the systems on the truck to make sure all is in working order.  I spent a couple hours on google maps and rvparkreviews finding places for our next two stops.  Right now the plan is tomorrow we will overnight in Mount Vernon, IL, which is midway across the state.  We will be leaving here and going north across Kentucky into Evansville, IN before turning west into Illinois.  That allows us to add two more states tomorrow!!  Two down, two to go.  On Saturday we will stay in Quincy, IL - across the Mississippi River from Hannibal, MO.  We plan on two nights there and a day of hanging out looking for Becky Thatcher's house or Tom Sawyer's whitewashed fence or both! It should be fun.   

I finished a book this afternoon that I'm not sure I totally understood when I finished it.  It was an Australian mystery by an award winning author that I was introduced to in the OLLI book group, but I did have trouble following it.   I will start a new one tonight.  "The Last Painting of Sara De Vos" by Dominic Smith.  Saw good reviews ("...suspenseful story of one painting's rippling impact on three people over multiple centuries and locations...")  and bought it before we left.  I'm looking forward to getting into it and hope I'm not confused when I finish as I was with the last one. 

We are discussing the possibility of a new RV when we get home - one that will work better for wintering.  Something with more insulation.  Just talking about it for now.  Got lots of time to discuss and research and figure out if that is what we want to do.  It's a big decision as we also will be doing improvements on our Arizona lot this year.  But, this will give Rog lots to think about and lots of You Tube videos to watch before we decide yay or nay.  

Traffic noise didn't bother us too much last night.  RV was all closed up with the A/C on.  Rog slept with his deaf ear up, so that helped him block out the sound.  I had a small fan running in the bedroom that made some white noise and that helped. Hopefully the next stop will be quieter.  It's too bad, too, because otherwise this is a very nice campground - one of the nicest we've been in.  

We Are Revising Our Itinerary Already

We are having a difficult time with muggy and buggy. (We are covered in insect bites.)  It doesn't seem to get any better as we move north.  We thought getting away from the coast would improve the situation, but it hasn't.  We are going to get as far north as possible as soon as possible, giving up stops for geneology in Illinois.  This may or may not put us home sooner, but it will put us further north sooner and hopefully some relief from the humidity and the insects.  We know that the midwest has both, but hopefully not as bad as the south.  We do still intend to get our four missing states somehow - we just have to figure out a revised route.  

I talked with a woman that I saw in the RV park this morning and then again at the rest area as we walked our dogs.  I inquired as to where she was going, etc., as that is always the ice-breaker for conversation for RV folks. She was on the way from Florida as well, going to Nashville for a show, and then heading home to Taos, NM as soon as possible to get back to the dry air.  

Last night's campground was OK.  It is an older park and once was a KOA and now a Good Sam Park.  The only real issue we had with it was train noise.  Now, tonight we are staying in a very nice park.  We have a long space on the end of the row with grass and trees - one of the nicer sites in the park.  The park is well maintained and, again, is a converted KOA that has been taken over by Good Sam Parks. Tonight's issue (and tomorrow's as we will be here for two nights) is that our site, lovely as it is, is about 50 yards from the interstate.  We have a row of trees between us but they do nothing to dampen the sound of big rigs and motorcycles.  We also have huge helicopters flying overhead from Fort Campbell Army Base. Train noise would be preferable! 

Oh, yes, our neighbor is another Toothless Texan.  Don't they make dentures in Texas?  

We are one mile south of the Kentucky border in Tennessee near Clarksville.  It's a fairly nice area from what we can tell. Tomorrow we will go out and do some exploring of the area.

Tennessee has a beautiful welcome center just over the Alabama/Tennessee border.  Pets aren't welcome in the picnic area, though.  We had to eat lunch in the RV.  Alabama and Tennessee both have the same rules.  I hope we don't continue to find this situation or we will have to always stop in parking lots of some kind instead of a nice rest area.  

Nashville traffic was horrendous.  Several major interstate routes converge there and it's totally crazy.  No other problems today on the road.  No rain but overcast skies most of the day.

Pizza delivery for dinner tonight - it was pretty good, too.