Sept. 12, 2015 - Sat.

Well Paupers Pride is on the road again! This is the first time we are on the road twice in a year. We decided to see if the weather in Florida would be better this time of year than in the spring when we usually go, and since yesterday was our " 50th " wedding anniversary, this would be a nice way to celebrate. The weather was nice , in the 60's but we were not even out of our subdivision when we heard a loud bang! The sliding door to the bedroom (which I forgot to latch) fell off the track! So we had to pull to the side of the road so Richard could put it back on, which was not an easy task. So after about 15 - 20 min. We started out again. After about 1/2 hr later, I remembered that I forgot to return to the library an audio book I was listening to in my car. Since we are going to be gone around 6weeks, I would have a hefty fine. It was a new audio book & there are holds on it, so It could not be renewed. Richard said just have Nancy (our daughter ) return it. I said that would be fine except that it is in my car which we are towing behind us! So when we get to Florida I am going to have to mail it to Nancy to return. ( Leave it to me). When we got to our first rest area, Richard checked the straps holding our car on the tow dolly &saw that the wheels were a little turned. He decided to readjust the car on the dolly, but ..... The car would not even turn over to start!  The battery was dead. He had to get the spare battery he has in the motor home and jump the car. So after he got the car back on the tow dolly, we were back on our way! We made it to our first campsite in Whittington, Il ..about 277 miles which with the delays took us about 6hrs. We stayed here last time. It is right on Rend Lake and is right next to a golf course, which unfortunately  we did not have time to play. Richard said we should get a new battery for my car so it would not give us problems. After we got the motorhome hooked up, we got the car started & went to an Auto Zone nearby. We discovered that there is no way to remove the battery unless by a Ford dealer. The fellow that worked there said several of the newer cars are like that. So we will have to go to a Ford dealer when we get to Florida. It was a long day. We had a light supper, played a game of dominos & called it a night.

May 5 - Tuesday

Well vacation 2015 has ended :( ...we had a great time, saw and did a lot even tho the weather wasn't exactly ideal "sunny Florida " weather. But Mother Nature is unpredictable. We started the last leg of our journey home on a clear, sunny day.....Funny, since we left Florida we haven't seen any rain!! After being gone 51 days, we arrived home safe & sound, thank God! Getting away on vacation is great,but there is a warm feeling when we turn onto our street and see our house again. It is true there is no place like home and family. So we will close up our vacation motorhome for awhile. Until Paupers Pride is back on the road again,we hope you enjoyed our pictures and following our journal. Rich & Audrey

May 4 - Monday

We got an early start to our last campsite on the last leg of our journey home. We wanted to get through Nashville not during rush hour, which can be very hectic. There was construction on the road which slowed traffic down a bit, but not that bad. We went through parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and finally crossed the Illinois state line  early afternoon. The campsite is called Gun Creek in Whittington, Illinois, very southern part of Illinois. It is a Core of Engineers park, which are very well maintained. It was  about a 5 hr drive, around 280 miles.  The weather was great, but a little windy. Our site is right by Rend Lake, the park was full. It was good we had reservations, because they had a "campsite full" sign posted. There is a golf course there also. Being that it was still early, after we got settled, we went to the course and Richard golfed 9 holes. I decided not to play because my ankle was a little sore. So I drove the cart. We had a good time, there were only a few other golfers that time of day, so were able to take our time. We ate supper outside on the picnic table and watched the sunset on the lake.  

May 3 - Sunday

CAnother warm,sunny day, We are having a lot of those days now that we have left Florida and the beach :(  Anyway, we got back on the Natchez Trace. Being Sunday, the trace was busy. Besides vehicles, there were a lot of bicycles. Since there is no bike path along the road, the bikes ride on the road and have the right of way. They slow up traffic and since there are a lot of hills and turns, especially in Tennessee, it is hard to get around them. There was no other way to get to Dickson,Tennessee where our next camp is without going quite a distance out of our way. We finally got to Tambark RV Park around 4:00. We unhooked our car and went into town and saw a Cracker Barrel Restaurant and had a good meal. We saw that gas was $2.29 so we filled up our car and will top off the motorhome in the morning.

May 2 Saturday

It was a really long travel day, about 7 hrs, 320 miles. At least the weather was nice. Actually it didn't seem like 7 hours. It is a comfortable ride in the motorhome. Of course it would be good if I could give Richard a break from driving, but even if I would drive, He wouldn't be able to rest, he would be a nervous wreck., (considering my driving record) ha-ha. We entered the Natchez Trace Parkway, which does not allow any commercial vehicles, has a speed limit of 50 and is 444 miles through Alabama, Mississippi & Tennessee. Our next site is in Tupelo,Mississippi at Tombigee State Park a short distance off the Trace. Luckily we had reservations because the campgrond was filled. There was a car show in town and being the weekend there were a lot of kids, a real family atmosphere. We made supper out on the grill and enjoyed a game of dominos Mexican Train out on the picnic table. 

May 1 Friday

Our next campsite is  Natchez St Prk in Natchez, Ms. About 218 miles &  4 hrs. Nice travel day. After we got the RV all settled, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice sit down restaurant. Easier said than done... We went into the town, which is small and did not see a decent restaurant. Finally saw a Ruby Tuesday. We had a good meal, in fact Richard had the thickest pork chop we ever saw. It was very good. Tomorrow will be a long travel day. There were quite a few people camping in tents at the park

April 29 & 30 Wednesday & Thursday

Well I accidentally deleted Wednesday & Thursday posts. Soooo I'm going to rewrite them so we have them for further reference. After  a month of being at St Rosa RV park and Navarre Beach we started our journey home. Although it will be great to see our  family, I sure will miss the beach :( . But with all the rain down here this month, we didn't get as much beach time as I would have liked. Our first campsite on our journey home was in Hattiesburg, MS about 200 miles, around 4 hours, at Paul B Johnson State Park. And of course it was a warm, sunny day (perfect for the beach!) our site was right by Geiger Lake. We had a welcome group.....a family of ducks! They were of course looking for food we also had a pesty squirrel who kept climbing on our door. Richard hooked up the TV and much to our surprise we got CBS, so he was able to watch his favorite show, survivor, and being that we are here for two nights, at least we got a god channel.

Thursday morning we started the day with a good breakfast of bacon & eggs Richard made outside on the griddle. We found a golf course nearby so we golfed 9 holes. I thought the course was hard, very hilly, but Richard liked it. We spent the evening relaxing by the lake.