March 30th, 31st & April 1st: Bookin' It West

Wednesday, March 30th: Tannehill Ironworks & Historic State Park, McCalla, Alabama

The trailer repair to the water pump was completed in a very timely fashion and we are now on our way west! Since Meridian, Mississippi can't be reached today as planned, I needed to research and find a new destination and campground.

For Christmas, Donny gave his dad a Virgin Mi-Fi, a portable internet hot-spot, which can be used while on the road and can handle up to five devices. Like all new technology, there is a learning curve and getting it set up to work correctly was a challenge. At Connie's, Don spent an hour or two on the phone with Virgin trying to set up the account. The last tech support person said, "Let's hit the reset button." Naturally that worked!

So here we are on the road and I can check the MapQuest, weather and campground reviews for our next stop while Don tends to the driving. I also can check email, but no beefy downloads. Yes, this does sound perfect except when there is no signal (satellite connection) or Virgin wants more money. The cost we finally discovered is about $50 per month. We rationalized this expense as we put our home cable and internet on hold status while we are gone, which only requires a minimum monthly fee to keep active.

Our first stop will only be a one nighter, as in the trip planning stages we decided to get out west as soon as possible. Living in the northeast, we can easily return to the south, but getting out west will not happen often, if ever again. With this is mind, it means at least three straight days of traveling. We also recalled from last fall's trip that six hour days are ideal and longer than that, the "grouchies" set in.

Since we have empty black & gray water tanks and will stay hooked up (truck connected to trailer), we can stay anywhere. I found fabulous reviews for Tannehill State Park in McCalla, Alabama, on a river in a forest setting. Oh, what joy to pull in on our first night to this absolutely delightful campground and pay only $17.88 night (senior pricing).

This is how to create a great state park: Take something historical and put a park around it and add a campground. There is the Tannehill Histroical Ironworks Museum in the park, as this area made most of the iron used by the Confederacy during the Civil War. The museum was closed by the time we got here, but we walked around the park and explored the machines outside the museum. There are OLD log cabins (really old) that you can rent and stay in for vacation near the museum. Other OLD cabins are used to showcase different artisans and hold craft classes, such as pottery making. On site is a restaurant, open on weekends, and a homemade candy shoppe. The camp store looks like an old-time general store/gas station. The weekend before we arrived was a big trading weekend and the camp was packed. I guess this takes place once a month and is quite a "happening."

Log Cabin for Rent

Our campsite was on the river, but we were too tired for a campfire and it was rather chilly. Don met our nearest neighbors and the guy is a musician who plays the banjo, Dobro and guitar in three bands. He wanted to do some pickin' with Don, but believe it or not, Don begged off.  Just getting on the road took a lot of effort, plus the drive and our walk around the camp had us dragging. Had the weather reports for the next day been better, we might have stayed one more day for Don to get a music-fix, but coldy rain pushed us along.

Thursday, March 31st: Shreveport, Louisiana

Since we were off to a delayed start yesterday, we tried to make up some time today by adding an additional hour. The morning exit was at 8:30 AM and we arrived at Tall Pines RV Park at 5:30 PM, covering 441 miles today! Phew.

Fortunately, Tall Pines was beautiful campground, but night fell before we really had time to enjoy the neat site with its own swing. We did meet the owner, who is mighty proud of his clean campground. Somehow Don and the owner started talking about planes and flying (maybe Don's retired Navy hat started the conversation). The man flew private company planes and was in the air on 9/11. He said it was really something when he was told by air traffic control that there was a national emergency and he had to land immediately. He asked to have this command repeated, as it was so bizarre for the tower to tell him to get out of the sky NOW!

Leaving the next morning, we realized the owner also had a good sense of humor with this exit warning sign.

 

Friday, April 1st: Texas Here We Come!

Without unhooking the camper last night, we actually got on the road at 7:30 and drove to Abilene, Texas, 381 miles. It was 88 degrees when we arrived at Abilene State Park Campgrounds around 2:30. We had a nice, cozy site with full hookups.

We took a walk-about the camp before going out for a fried catfish dinner at a local joint - The Deutschlander. Guess the Germans settled in this part of Texas???? It is so dry here that all campfires have been banned in the park. The campground even had a few yurts for rent. This is a cool twist from the typical the cabins for rent.

Yucca in bloom.