Westbound and Down

Our quest is taking us back west to visit family during the holiday season and for the Gladiator’s 2nd birthday. One of our few “one nighters” took us to Fairview-Riverside State Park in Lew-zee-anna, north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. This was a nice, scenic small little park on the river. And it is here that we finally took notice of our lovely government scams when it comes to fees for park usage.  Here, they advertised $18 nightly fees, but even though we did not reserve anything on line (we just popped in) they still charged us an additional $6 for “administration fees”. 

Home sweet home in Fairview-Riverside St Pk.

Swamp trees growing out of the river at Fairview.

One of the neighboring "hovels" at Fairview. Somebody mentioned it may belong to a Country Western music husband and wife team.

The next morning we headed into Natchez State Park in Mississippi for a few nights. The sites here were OK, the park had its own fishing lake, and we were only about 10 miles from Natchez. We tried to drive about a 60 mile stretch of the Natchez Trace (over 440-some miles of historical scenery from Natchez to Tennessee), but thanks to our pals Barrack, Harry, and John some of the sites on the Trace were closed/barracaded due to our elected officials not performing their required duties in Washington. We did make it into Natchez and took in the sights at some of the magnificent antebellum homes still standing. We took the tour of the Stanton Hall (www.stantonhall.com) and ate at the Carriage House restaurant there. Good southern fried chicken with an awesome side of lima beans.

The Stanton House in Natchez.

On the lake at Natchez State Park. Look, no oars in these hands...(Lazy bum)

But, look at the oars in these hands...

The "Sunken Trace" feature at Natchez Trace, formed by heavy foot traffic in the wild wild west days.

Livingston, TX was our next stop for a stay at the Rainbow’s End SKP HQ. To get there from Natchez was interesting. We rely (good or bad) heavily on Agnes (the lady who is not my wife but yells at me inside my truck - GPS voice from navigation system) to get us on the right roads. For this trip out of Natchez she had us ultimately on LA Hwy. 8 near the Texas border. With the truck on auto-pilot we barreled down the 2 lane highway and luckily I was paying attention. I caught a caution sign as we passed it warning of a 12 foot-something clearance bridge one mile ahead. My estimated clearance for the 5er is a little over 13’, so my quick, calculus trained mind did the math and guestimated that my clearance was not small enough to match the bridge’s clearance. And yet again, luckily I was paying attention in calculus class way back when...The only problem was it was a VERY rural 2 lane highway with nothing but driveways to houses off of it. Thankfully we found a dirt driveway that I could pull in far enough to be able to back out of again onto the road and head in the opposite direction. I really did not want to be the only owner of a convertible fifth wheel trailer in the annals of RV history. We made it into Livingston with only about a half hour detour delay. The SKP headquarters contains the Care facility for RV-ers needing assisted care (they park their RV on sites designated for the Care Center) and the very large mail processing center for Escapee members. They are so large that this center has its own zip code. As far as Escapee/Rainbow parks go, I was not wowed by this one, but the Care facility and mail centers are impressive. 

We wanted to check out some more state parks, especially here in Texas, so we started with Tyler State Park in, you guessed it, Tyler Texas. The problem with Texas state parks is you have to deal with more of those government scams. Texas charges their normal camping fees for sites, but all parks also impose a DAILY entrance fee, even on campers, and no matter if you leave the park daily or not at all during your stay. These fees they charge are per person and looks to range from about $2/day/person to at least $5/day/person. So, we stayed 4 days at Tyler State Park. They charged about $23 for the site, plus $5/person/day for a total of $10 for Jeanne and I. Total fee was $33/day. Now Texas also pushes to sell their State Parks yearly passes. For $70 it allows a years entry into all parks as many times as you wish, and also includes 4 “coupons” that for 2+ nights you would get 1/2 off of the last nights fees. Additionally, the pass grants you 10% off purchases in the store and equipment rentals.  Seeing that we planned to hit a few parks, we bought the pass. These government scams, they just gripe my patooty! (That just means they fluster me to no end...).One GOOD thing about Texas parks is you can fish without a license on the waterways, as long as you are standing on State Park land. Some water is “public”, so if you change to boat, you still need Texas fishing license. We tried that one out at Tyler State Park and of course, Jeanne had to be the only one to catch a fish, a small bass.  She also managed to catch a turtle, the lake was full of them. All, caught and released...The lovely weather patterns continued to follow us, our last night here we got hit with a NASTY thunder/lightning/wind storm that killed the power to the park all night and into the morning. We are about sick of the rain...

A master fisherman...

Our home at Tyler State Park.

A shot of the lake at Tyler State Park.

Cedar Hill State Park was next in line, outside of Dallas. Even though it rained mostly, we took time to visit the 6th Floor Museum (www.jfk.org). This was interesting, they have an audio tour you can take of the old Dallas School Book Depository. The only distraction in this is that during the audio tour, there are frequent references to watch a nearby monitor for various points/events/period pieces. It got old putting the headphones on for the audio tour, then taking them off now and then for the monitors. But the tour was well worth it historically. I was struck by the short distance between Oswald and the motorcade at the time of the assassination, I was under the impression it occurred from a longer distance. We really wanted to check out the Bush 43 Presidential Library here at the campus of SMU, but again we were thwarted by our good friends Barrack, Harry, and John, all of whom worked tirelessly to force our government shut down. We are in desperate need of ALL NEW representatives in our federal government, President to Congress to Senate. We have way too many career politicians. Lets have term limits of 4 years for ALL of them, serve 4 and out, ne’er to return. Yeah, that’s the ticket...

The old Dallas School Book Depository, today. The 6th floor window, far right side, as it looks today.

The JFK memorial.

Looking at the Depository from the point of the fatal shot.

OK, what visit to Dallas would be complete without a stop off at the Southfork Ranch, location for the TV soap "Dallas".

Since we were downtown Dallas, we just HAD to check out the Galleria shopping mall. It was very large (4 stories) but sorry, for me they all look alike any more.

Inside the Galleria in Dallas, TX.

My father was born and/or raised in Sherman Texas, so I wanted to go see the town, possibly see the old family digs. Eisenhower State Park was our next stop, between Denison and Sherman. A run into Sherman and we found the town kind of half modern and half “Back-to-the Future”-esque. We found the visitor’s center inside the old Antique store. I did not have any information about my family history or residences, and one of the gents there gave us a copy of the 1947 city directory which listed my paternal grandparents address, as well as my grandfather’s employer. Unfortunately we found the family home replaced by a city recreational park with sports fields. The bright spot was the building that my grandfather worked in was still standing. 

One of my dad's neighbors off Ross Rd. in Sherman, TX.

Dear ol' Grandad's place of business in the 1940's, as it looks today.

Beautiful, bustling, downtown Sherman TX!?!?

My dad's old high school building still stands today.

On we went, to Lake Arrowhead State Park in Witchita Falls, TX. This area is having a rough go as far as drought conditions, the lake is terrible low, boat ramp docks piled up in the parking area, fishing pier good for fishing for dirt clods (no water under it). We ducked into Witchita Falls to check it out, the big attraction being the Falls at Lucy Park. We were unimpressed, hard to believe this big ol’ city is namesaked after these small waterfalls that aren’t even in their natural state (they were originally about 4 feet tall, but got a facelift with the help of a lot of concrete to be what they are today. I’ll tell you now, so far as what we have seen Tennessee has the absolute BEST waterfalls. 

Prairie Dog Town at Lake Arrowhead St. Pk.

We had a whole flock of walking sticks covering the trailer at Lake Arrowhead. They really liked the rubber tires.

Witchita Falls.

While in town, Jeanne has been on a quest to find a GOOD Mexican restaurant in Texas, she was told by someone that she JUST HAD to try one. We were aimed to Alfredo’s Mexican Cafe by the visitor center clerk. We went. We ate. I am now convinced. The absolute only good, authentic, Mexican food is served within the boundaries of the state of California, unless of course you travel south of the border. Any attempt to seek out a good Mexican restaurant anywhere but California is a wasted effort.

Caprock Canyons State Park is located in scenic Quitaque, TX, (facetiousness intended). The park is a very nice park for equestrian endeavors, mountain biking, and hiking, it sort of reminded us of a mini Grand Canyon. Don’t expect a lot from the town though, lots of places abandoned/closed down. One litty bitty grocery store too...There were no lack of critters here. The park is home to the official Texas state herd of buffalo. We hiked several of the lengthy trails here (take plenty of water with you) but did not cross paths with critters until we would walk on the asphalt roadways. We also found a Natural Bridge off one of the trails, very cool...

Panorama of Caprock Canyons St. Pk.

Scenery along one of the hiking trails.

Jeanne the Spelunking Queen under the Natural Bridge.

There is a large herd of these critters inside the park.

This guy would look good on my BBQ.

This has got to be the worlds only 6 legged tarantula, some critter higher up the food chain must have snacked on the missing limbs...

Yikes! Centipede! He was about 8" long and FAST!

And as the sun sets on Caprock Canyons State Park, we all sing, "Happy Trails to You!"

Well, it came time to head out of Texas, the weather cooling off quickly, so “Westward Ho!”

Cruisin' the South

So we wanted to tour the Tiffin Motorhome factory in Red Bay, Alabama. Upon going “off duty” for the last time at Rock Island, we punched south into Alabama and over to Red Bay which is on the Alabama-Mississippi border. We had heard about the Tiffin service center with the full hook-up sites (120 give or take) but when we got there, they were full up.  There was one space remaining at a nearby self-service “overflow” campsite so we jumped all over it.  The tour was interesting to see how RV motorcoaches are made, at least by the Tiffin family. We are still interested in the 40’ Phaetons but will still take our time on making that final “leap” into the motorcoach world.

Trim boards waiting for install

A chassis waiting to be loaded up.

Next stop was another short stop-over at Gunter Hill Campground, a COE campground. Holy cow, this was one of THE most towing friendly RV campgrounds we have been in. The relatively new Catoma loop had fully paved, wide interior roads, all sites were concrete slabs, some of which you could park 5 buses end to end on, and there were many waterfront sites, the campground sitting on what is called the Alabama River Lakes. Very nice campground site-wise, but no store, pool, clubhouse, or other similar amenities. It did have a boat ramp and it definitely had spiders! If I take another mouthful/lungful of spider web, I’m gonna scream! The banana spiders here are HUGE and spin a web seemingly out of steel covering large distances from tree to tree and tree to ground.  We did a couple of days here to burn time until our reservation at our Florida stop.

Home at Gunter Hill COE campground.

Here's one of our new friends hanging around between the trees.

We moved on to Topsail Preserve State Park near Destin, FL. This was the only State park in the area we could find with spaces available for our stay of 4 days. Reservations are a MUST here at the Florida panhandle at this time of year, since the snowbirders are inbound for their winter stake-outs. The campground is a little tight as far as maneuverability, but the sites are OK.  The beach was about seven tenths of a mile walk or bike ride to, or the campground ran a tram/shuttle every hour on the hour from camp to beach, until 1800 hrs. daily. The beach area was fantastic, not crowded, white sand, but the only drawbacks were the amount of jellyfish the first couple of days, as well as the amount of the small clumps of seaweed floating in the water.  The last couple of days the jellyfish disappeared and the seaweed cleared up.  The water was hotter than bathwater, and the last couple of days got a bit rough for being Gulf of Mexico, due to the hurricanes/storms pounding Mexico. While here we cruised into Destin and checked out the Destin Commons outdoor mall. It is a large shopping mall laid out like a city so you can drive through and around it. We also ate dinner at a restaurant called the Marina Cafe.  Very fancy/swanky restaurant with indoor or outdoor dining overlooking the Gulf and excellent staff and service. For those with a taste for an occasional cocktail, their Bloody Mary’s are very tasty. The food was awesome and plentiful! We also found the Henderson State Park here in Destin. We would recommend Henderson State Park for anyone heading this way, if nothing else the rates were cheaper ($30 night vs. $42 night at Topsail). And Henderson was right on the beach as well.

The white sand beach at Topsail.

C'mon, let's go swimming!

The sun sets on Destin, FL...

From Topsail, we decided to try a stay at Ft. Pickens State Park on Santa Rosa Island outside of Pensacola, FL. We were having rain/thunder/lightning off and on because of the Mexico storms and it continued as we set up at the Fort, planning to stay for 7 days.  Between storms we went into Pensacola and toured the Pensacola Lighthouse, then the National Aviation Museum.  Very cool sights to see. The beach at Ft. Pickens again was not crowded, but the water was rough, there were tons of large jellyfish and parts and pieces, and it looked like a huge drop-off just off the beach.  We did walk looking for shells and stuff, saw a large turtle, a very large stingray, and many crabs scooting along the ocean floor. The fort had a self-guided tour and was interesting to see.

A couple of the Blue Angels from the top of the light tower.

The Pensacola Lighthouse.

Inside the Nat'l Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL.

One of the cannons at Ft. Pickens.

Ft. Pickens architects used the arch for added support in the sand.

The beach at Pensacola.

We cut our stay at Ft. Pickens short due to nasty incoming weather and the fort tends to get cut off from the mainland in bad weather, Gulf of Mexico waters coming over the road from one side, Pensacola Bay coming over the other. So we packed up and headed west to the SKP Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, Alabama. That is a very nice park with huge sites on grass. The Gulf Shores  was a short drive away with nice beaches and warm water. We got to check out Fair Hope, Foley, and some of the other small town areas. And when in the area, a must stop for breakfast is the Biscuit King. They have the “Ugly Biscuit” which is breakfast all rolled into a large biscuit, mmmm tasty! And for dining on the Fish River, Big Daddy’s is the place to go. The locals here don’t drive well either, cell phones glued to drivers’ ears or up in the texting position, weaving ALL over the place.

Well, time to move, onward and upward...

Lots of water in Tennessee...

The out-of-the-normal weather patterns are still following us. There has been above normal rainfall here in middle Tennessee and the seasonal temps have been cooler than the normal triple digits that locals say we are supposed to be seeing right now. For us, the weather has been pleasant...

While here at Rock Island, we just HAD to check out some of the other nearby State Parks. Burgess Falls State “Nature” area was just outside Sparta. I say “Nature” area because when we tried to find “Burgess Falls State Park” with Agnes (my Ford GPS system), it was not listed in the Parks section.  And even though the few street signs leading to the park names it as a State Park, our friend Ranger David here at Rock Island says Burgess Falls is specifically NOT a State Park, but a State Natural area. There were some pretty spectacular waterfalls here, and it is a popular place to swim for the locals. The trails are not overly strenuous unless you are accompanying a Princess who gets out of breath and “plops” in the shade when her physical burden becomes too great (AKA: Madison, our Cocker Spaniel).

Burgess Falls 

Dodgin' bugs and critters at Burgess Falls State "Park"

We took the kids (read: dogs) out to Fall Creek Falls State Park. It was a pretty good hike to the falls overlook, but very scenic and the falls again were spectacular. This was also another popular place to swim at the base of the falls.

The Cascades at Fall Creek Falls State Park. "Hi Kids!"

"You want ME to walk across THAT suspension bridge, are you INSANE?"

Fall Creek Falls

An orange creek at Fall Creek Falls State Park? Too much iron?

Fall Creek Falls

While here at Rock Island, we still had issues with a tiny leak in our bedroom slide during rain.  The mobile unit from Buddy Gregg RV in Knoxville came out to us and tried to seal the leak for good, but we later found the leak continuing.  Our friend Ranger David from the park recommended Southern RV out of Manchester to install some slide toppers we ordered through Camping World.  Southern RV showed up and did the install at our campsite and, voila!, leaks stopped.  A bit later in our stay we developed a leak in the plumbing behind the water heater.  With a couple other minor repairs needed, we thought we could go to our “friends” at Southern RV again.  I called them and made an appointment to bring in the trailer. At the appointed time, we dropped off the trailer for the repairs, Southern RV fully aware we were full timers.  We drove into town and putzed around, returning near closing time to find the trailer HAD NOT BEEN TOUCHED! I got the “we are still waiting to hear from the insurance co. to approve the work, we can’t do anything until then,” when I got to seeing stars. It gave all the veins in my neck a good work out too. I calmly (as best I could) splained that the repairs had to be done whether the insurance covered it or not, and there was now a waisted day behind us. Then, the veins got their super setted workout when the kid there told me, “Well, you are not our only customer, there are others ahead of you.”  OK, bye-bye Southern RV in Manchester, Tennessee and I hooked back up and rode off into the sunset...I would never recommend anyone to use Southern RV as a repair place or anything else... We found Newbies RV in McMinnville and they took care of our issues swiftly and successfully. Go to Newbies...

Jeanne ordered an inflatable kayak made by Sea Eagle while we were in Rock Island. We took it out a couple of times, once on Great Falls Lake (aka: the Caney Fork river), and once on the Collins River. It handled like a champ, my old partner Greg Quacchia would have been proud. Another of my old partners, Chuck Herzog, would have said, “Hey dummy, why not get a sail boat instead?”  We had fun paddling all over, I made Jeanne do most of the work (ha ha!). 

"C'mon, Jeanne, can't ya paddle faster?"

Notice, no paddle in my hands?

Speaking of Chuck Herzog, he and his wife Cindy just happened to be in Nashville during our stint at Rock Island and we hooked up for some BBQ and a visit here at the park. Chuck and Cindy had also done the Stone River Battlefield self guided tour, and he passed along the CD for the tour, which we made use of at a later date. Thanks, Chuck and Cindy, it was a cool tour.

Towards the end of our stay in Rock Island our friend Ranger Dava took us rock hopping down to the Great Falls/Gorge swimming hole. It was a cool hike, and the water was nice and in some places DEEP!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Cool shoes, eh?

And, of course, what stay in the Rock Island area would be complete without making a visit to tour the one and only Jack Daniel's Distillery in historic Lynchburg, TN? It was interesting to see the process and to discover this is the only location worldwide that makes JD whiskey.

Us and our new buddy, Jack.

This cave contains the spring which produces all the water used in the JD distilling process.

Nice ride...

Well, time to hit the road again, well rested and ready for some more splorin'. We had a great time as the Rock Island State Park Camp Hosts, we met some very nice folks and worked with some really really nice staff folks. If you ever get a chance, RISP is a nice place to visit, and be sure to stop in and say hi to Ranger David, Ranger Dava, Ranger Allen, Park Manager Damon, and Naturist Shannon. In the office  Donna, Vicky, and Eva will get you all settled in. Great times and great folks...(Yeah, all you maintenance guys and gals were great too...)

Now, on toward Florida...