My, My How Plans Change!!

We got on the road today and started driving south on I65 . We connected to I40 to catch the Natchez Trace near Nashville, but since the weather was still on the cool side (43 degrees), we decided to keep driving and put in some miles. We wound up west of Memphis Tennessee at Forrest City, Arkansas. Natchez Trace can wait until we return in the spring. Camping in the Midwest will be warmer then.
It was a lot of driving, but got us closer to Texas and into another Hampton Inn for the night. We decided it was a bit cool to camp, and a better day to drive since it was sunny and not too much traffic. Tomorrow we are headed for Texas and will set up a camp for a couple of nights. The temperature is supposed to be in the fifties and we should be able to enjoy biking and hiking for a couple of days. I will post some pictures next time I write a blog.
Sunday brings an end to everyone's holiday break, and I hope you all transition back into work and school mode smoothly. As for us we will keep on truckin'.

2016, A New Winter Journey

Happy New Year everyone!!

We are on the road again for a fabulous winter. We have a new unit for our adventures and are getting used to it as we go. I am managing to get into and out of gas stations and parking lots and am starting to get a little more comfortable pulling our condo on wheels.
We spent New Years Eve in Ann Arbor at Becky and Dave's new home and saw all the (Michigan), kids and grandkids one last time. It was a fabulous evening with prime rib, crab legs, shrimp and lots of great trimmings to go with them!
We left on New Years Day and drove through Ohio and into Kentucky. Our first camp was a Hampton Inn near Carrollton. The temperature stayed at a steady 25 degrees until we got near Dayton, Ohio. Then it warmed to a balmy 34 and turned sunny. Today started sunny and we are headed southwest to catch the Natchez Trace Parkway to go southwest towards Natchez Mississippi.

Traffic has been light and the roads dry, and we are hoping that it stays that way through the weekend. This was the best start we have had, weather-wise, since we started getting away for the winter.

Peace and love to all

We are back in Michigan!

The past week has gone by so fast because we have been moving a lot and covering a lot of ground. I haven't posted in about seven days but since then we have been in Georgia, then on Edisto Island near Charleston South Carolina where we took a carriage tour of the historic city. On Saturday we moved to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We were running from the rainy skies and high humidity in the south. It followed us to the north. We had rainy weather in the Smokies over night and into the morning so we decided to keep moving. We were disappointed because the Smokies are so beautiful at this time of year and we were looking forward to visiting the area for a couple of days. We drove to northern Kentucky on Sunday and were in and out of rain all the way. We spent the night at Big Bone Lick State Park just south of Cincinnati, Ohio. When we got up on Monday it was dry, but the rains were not far off. We continued on to Indiana on Monday and spent the night near Goshen, south of the Michigan border. On Tuesday we drove into Goshen and toured the Montana Fifth Wheel factory to see how the campers were built. Our travels on Monday and Tuesday were made difficult because of the big winds that were howling both days. We were being blown all over the road and were glad when we settled into Irish Hills in Michigan on Tuesday night.
Today (Wednesday), we visited with Jan Bolling and had lunch with her. Afterwards we packed up again and moved to Brighton Recreation Area and set up camp there. We are now visiting with Laura and Sean and plan on seeing the rest of the kids through the week. We will be back at home on Sunday night if all goes well. This has been a rude welcome home to Michigan with the temperatures in the low forties and today in the thirties with snow showers off and on. It's a far cry from the heat and humidity we were having before we left the south, but it is April and bound to warm up some time.
Like all good things, our winter travels are coming to an end, but we had a marvelous time in Florida and had wonderful weather for three and a half months. We are ready to come home and start back into our summer routines. We are hoping to have a lot of company this summer while we are in our beautiful little corner of Michigan.

Here are a few more pictures from the end of our trip...

Container ship heading out to sea at the port in Savanna.

A classic river boat chasing the cargo ship out of town.

The old port side town in Savanna.

It turned out to be our last beach day of the trip on Tybee Island in Coastal Georgia.

The shimmering coast of Tybee.

This is Charleston, South Carolina. This was another town with a lot of history, but a lot of bombing took out many of the old buildings here during the civil war.

We took a carriage tour through part of the city and learned a lot of history of Charleston.

One of the mansions in town.

Several old churches stood through the war.

Nancy posing with Elwood our one horse power carriage engine.

One of the neighborhoods in Charleston. This was a very picturesque city.

Our camp in the Smoky Mountains. The dogwoods were in bloom all over the mountains.

A fountain in Charleston in a waterfront park.

Skidaway Island S.P. and Savanna

We spent the day sightseeing in Savanna yesterday and jumped on and off of the City Tours tour bus all day. A lot of history here since Savanna is Georgia's oldest city. James Oglethorpe lived here and made Georgia one of the original colonies in 1733!
The city has one of the busiest ports in the United States and about three thousand ships a year come here carrying cargos from around the world. This city was spared during the Civil War and there are many beautiful historic homes and buildings from the 17 and 1800's. St John the Baptist catholic cathedral is one of the most beautiful churches in the country.
Today we are going to visit Tybee Island and bike around to see the sights there. This is our first stay on the Georgia coast and we are enjoying exploring all of the new sights. This is not what one would think of as a coastal area since there is so much coastal salt marsh and so many islands. It is very similar to the Mississippi delta area flowing out into the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Here the rivers are draining the Okefenokee  swamp into the Atlantic Ocean.
Here are some pictures to catch up from the past two weeks.

The Rubans at Siesta Key. We had a great meal the night before we left them and even Sean's dad was able to join us!

A tall ship at St Mary's in southern Georgia

This is an original Tiffany desk set at a museum in St Mary's. It was donated by the

Vanderbilt family who owned a summer resort on Cumberland Island.

This is driftwood beach on Jekyll Island.

The Jekyll Island Resort. A playground for the rich and famous from the northeast part of the

United States in the eighteen hundreds. Notice the lawn golf game going on in front of the resort. 

One of the historic mansions on Jekyll Island.

Another summer cottage on Jekyll

The mother of all bulk candy displays in a shop in Savannah

Some fun signs in the candy store

City Market in one of the squares in Savannah

An historic home in town once used by the generals in the Civil War

Signpost for the march to the sea with historic homes in the background.

St John the Baptist Cathedral

Inside the church the décor was magnificent!

Crooked River State Park in Georgia

We are at Crooked River State Park just north of the Florida border. The park is on the Crooked River not far from the historic town of St. Mary's. We toured St. Mary's yesterday and today went to Jekyll Island which is about twenty five miles north of us.
 St Mary's is the point of departure for Cumberland Island National Seashore, which is only accessible by ferry. the Vanderbilt's owned the Island for a number of years and had an elaborate mansion and resort on the Island.
Jekyll Island is also very historic and has a country club area that was the winter haven for J.P. Morgan and his family as well as the Firestones' Rockefellers and a number of other prominent businessmen from the eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds.
We will be moving north a short way tomorrow to another campground near Savanah Georgia and will be there for four nights.
The weather continues to be in the eighties here but we had some rain yesterday evening and again for a short time this afternoon. All is well as we wind down this winter's vacation. we are slowly moving north and will be back in Michigan at the end of two weeks.
Hope everyone is well.

Downtown St Mary's on Friday

Siesta Key

We had Easter at Siesta Key and camped the next two days at Myakka River State Park. We took the girls for Sunday night in the camper and then the boys for Monday night. Today we moved the camper to be with Becky, Dave, Laura, Sean and the kids on the Island. The beach is a short walk from the house here and we had a good beach day today. We are spending two nights with them before heading towards Savanna Georgia on Thursday.
I am taking the opportunity to post a few pictures from the last week or so.
Hope all is well in the north country.

Our last meal with Bob and Donna was topped off with this desert. Plant City Strawberry Cheesecake.

The locks at W.P. Franklin Campground on the Caloosahatchee River

We had a lot of wildlife on the shore in front of the camper. It was a great waterfront lot.

                                                         Another bird on our shoreline.

 

A sunset from the kayak while fishing one evening

Nolan in a tree at Myakka Rive State Park

Kara and Nolan at moonrise

Sean and I were kayaking with the alligators on the Myakka River

Easter morning at the Siesta Key beach house

Trevor found an egg on the Easter egg hunt

The girls were in on it too.

The gang after the drum circle on Siesta Key beach

Myakka River State Park

We made it to Myakka River and Laura and Sean joined us with the kids on Friday afternoon. We set up the tent for them and they are staying with us for a couple of nights.
Becky and Dave and their kids made it into Siesta Key on Saturday and we came over and had dinner with them and watched MSU basketball get beat by Duke in the final four of the NCAA basketball finals.
Everyone is happy to be on vacation in Florida and we are looking forward to a few days visiting before we head for Savannah on Thursday.