Feb. 22 - 24 - Sat. - Sun.

Haven't written For a few days because we had no wi-fi for my laptop and ran out of air time on my IPad. Well we made it to S. Carolina with no problems and the weather was sunny & not very much wind.We did run into an hour &half traffic jam along the expressway, but we were in no hurry,but going so slow barley moving uses a lot of gas. Our campsite was at Hamilton Branch St. Park. Along the Strom Thurmond Lake, a fishing/boating reservoir. Being this early in the season, there weren't many campers. One thing about St. Parks is that they are pitch black at night! There was a nice couple our age in the site next to us, so at least we weren't all alone. It was really out in the wilderness. The nearest little town was about  25 miles away. We noticed a lot of downed trees along the way and in the park, we thought maybe a bad thunder Strom went through recently. When we were checking out a park ranger said it was because of the bad ice Strom about a week ago. It completely snapped the trees. Our next site is at Huntington Beach S. Carolina which we heard is real nice. Well we shall see!

(I am going to try to go back and add pictures )

FEB. 21 -- FRIDAY

After the severe weather we had yesterday, we woke to a bright sunny day although it still was very windy on the road to our next stop in GA. It was strange how the highway went. We went from KY south down through TENN toward GA.See a sign saying "Welcome to Georgia" and the time changes on our cell phones.We follow the highway west go several miles, then we see a sign saying "Welcome to TENN" Huh ??? How can we be back in TENN when we stayed on the same highway. We kept going and see another sign "Welcome to Georgia" we felt like we were going in a circle when we were still going on the same road! We stopped at the welcome center in GA and the lady at the desk laughed and said that confused a lot of people. She said the road touches right at a corner of GA & TENN for about 13 miles. I still don't understand it. But we arrived at our destination in Adairsville, Ga. It is just a small "hole in the wall" campsite which is run by a nice older man (probably 80).  We said we had a reservation which was paid for. He said he doesn't make reservations only drive-ins. Richard said he talked to a lady & paid by credit card. He said there is no lady working there only him., & he never takes credit cards. He was very nice,but this has never happened in the 3 previous years of RVing. Richard makes all the reservations by phone,with a credit card &usually we have a conf.number.Wouldn't you know this time we didn't have one, and of course I didn't have the credit card statement showing the charge, so we had no proof. The man said he would give us a night for $17.50 cash only. It was only for one night so we agreed. Later Richard was walking around the campsite & talked to a man walking his dog & he said he thinks the man is getting  a little forgetful. Oh well, it can happen to us one day! Well tomorrow we head for South Carolina.
P.S. As soon as I can figure how to put pictures on the blog, I will. (I forgot how from last year -- age does affect memory!)

L2014

Feb. 20 - Thurs

Well after our long, harsh, snowy winter and a 3 day delay because of the weather, Paupers Pride is finally on the road again on our way to sunny Florida!!! You are welcome to "come along with us" via our blog journal. When we left home this morning, it was raining and we pretty much had rain off and on the whole day. On top of the rain, it was extremely windy. I was nervous, but Richard keeps his cool & handled it just fine.This was to be a long driving day. Our first campsite is in Cave City, Ky a little over 400 miles. Because of the rain & wind we had to keep a slower pace. When we got to the Indiana/Kentucky state line, we ran into a detour. There was construction over the Ohio river so the detour cost us almost an hour travel time on top of the fact that because of the time change, we also were already going to lose an hour. We finally made it to our first stop"Singing Hills Campground" and it was just starting to get dusk. In fact Richard had to hook up the electricity and water using a flashlight & lantern.We left home at 8:45 a.m. & arrived at 6:35 p.m. Then we got the TV going & the first thing on it was a severe weather warning for storms & high winds with possible tornados!! (Great, we leave all the snow in Illinois & come to Ky & get severe weather). We were told that if conditions got bad, we were to go to the bath house on the campground. We decided to have some supper (campbells chicken noodle soup).It looked like the real severe storms were to the north of us, but it really poured. Thank goodness our RV doesn't have any leaks and believe me we checked all over. As I am sitting here writing this it is pouring with lightning & thunder. Of course Richard is sound asleep, it is 8:10. He was really tired after all that driving. I will not be able to go to sleep until these storms are over, I am keeping watch. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better driving day. It is only about a 5 hr drive to our next stop in Adairsville, Georgia.

APRIL 18 - Thurs.

Well our Florida vacation adventure for 2013 is over! :( The last leg of our journey we woke to a dark, rainy morning. We only had about a 4 hr drive home, but the first two hrs it was heavy rain and windy, but after all the miles behind the wheel of our RV,(4,200 plus)Richard again handled it like a pro. I on the other hand was a nervous wreak! The last two hours it was just light rain. I had mixed emotions as we pulled into our driveway, a little sad that our trip was over, but at the same time glad to be home and so thankful to God for a safe trip. I hope you enjoyed "being along with us" via our blog. So until Pauper's Pride is on the road again, so long. :)

April. 16 & 17 - Tues & Wed

Well today we started on our way home, vacation is over :( ! We had a super great time and saw & did so much! But as the saying goes "there is no place like home". We left Jack & Jan's in Orlando about 9:00 a.m. It was a pretty blue sky day, so we drove till 6:00 p.m. We stopped for the night in Millbrook,AL, near Montgomery at a small campsite K&K campground. We got back on the road at 8:00a.m. Wed morning. Another clear day, so we drove through the rest of AL, through Tenn, through KY and crossed over the state line into IL!! The two towns we thought would be busy with traffic, Burmingham,AL & Nashville, Tenn were not that bad. We knew we were in IL because the roads got rough, ha-ha. It was about 7:00 p.m., another 10 hr driving day, 546 miles, but the traffic was light and weather good, so Richard kept going. He said the I trac bar he made and installed on the RV made a difference on the driving, no swaying when the semis went by. We stopped for the night in Effingham,Il at a nice little campsite, Camp Lakewood right by Lake Pauline.

April 14 & 15 - Sun & Mon

Sun we left our campsite for Orlando back to Jack & Jan's (J&J Resort), about a 3 1/2 hr drive.That will be our last stop before we start for home. We spent a relaxing afternoon and they took us for a boat ride around the lake their house is on. We enjoyed a delicious meal Jan had prepared. Later it started to rain, really hard. You could hardly see the lake from their screened in porch. They said it was the first measurable rain they had in a few mts. It rained most of the night. In the morning their canoe was filled with water and their boat had several inches of water in it also. By late morning it turned very hot & humid. Jan & I decided to go play golf. It was a neat golf course not far from their house. because of my foot surgery, I haven't played for about a year and I really did not do well! But it was fun, but after 9 holes, I was beat, so for the remaining 9 holes I just drove the cart well Jan golfed (she has more energy than me!) when we got back to the house, Richard had been helping Jack with a storage shed he is building and it really got hot. So we went to a park swimming pool near their house. The water was relaxing & it cooled us off. We decided to go out for dinner at a restaurant their neighbor told them about, called Black Hammock Gator Grill. They have live alligators in pens by the water & we also saw some swimming in the water around the restaurant. The food was very good. The specialty was "gator meat", Jack was the only one of us brave enough to try it (which he said was good) Richard & I had ribs and Jan had fish & chips. We ended the day with a game of spades and key lime pie for dessert.Yummy,yummy!!!

April 11,12,13 - Thurs,Fri,Sat

Thurs & Fri were typical "Florida Sunshine" days. So of course we spent them at the beach. The waves were strong, but the water was comfortable because it was really hot out. Richard's metal detecting treasurers amounted to about $2.00 in change! We thought he found something by the chair I was sitting in, but then realized it was the metal plate I now have in my foot !!I Ha-ha. It is so relaxing to sit by the shore & watch the waves roll in. There were also a few dolphins playing in the water close to shore.
Rain was predicted for Sat. So we decided to check out a few more flea markets. One was a "dud",but the other one which we saw on the way to the beach Fri. was huge and very neat. It didn't rain after all, but it was very hot & humid. It was too late to go to the beach since we were planning on going to church for 5:00 mass, so we did laundry instead. This is our last night here. Tomorrow we head for Orlando to Jack & Jan's (which we call J &J Resort) for a few days before we start our journey home.