MARCH 31, 2011

Well today was another travel day. We left Goreville,IL and started up north in Illinois. We knew we were in IL because the road was bumpy & patched. We made it to Weldon Springs & we are at a campsite in a state park. We got here about 4:30, got hooked up & got the grill going for supper.We got settled in for the night & heard a helicopter which sounded low. We looked out a window & saw a huge fire in the park, which looked close! Richard ran outside with a flashlight (it's dark in the park at night) to check it out. By the time he walked to where it seemed to be , the helicopter must have sprayed something to put it out. It was farther away than it looked. Maybe we will find out tomorrow what that was all about.Well tomorrow we unfortunately will be on our last leg home.

MARCH 30, 2011 - WED

We found out that the Loretta Lynn Ranch was open, only the RV park was closed until April 1, so since we were only about 10 miles away we decided to go see it. It was great. We got to tour her mansion, a replica of her childhood home & a replica of a coal mine that was so realistic we felt like we were down in a mine. It was well worth the ride there. Then we got on the road toward home. We took a different route than yesterday, not hilly or winding. We crossed over the TN/KY state line then across part of KY and crossed the Ohio River which divides KY & IL. We are staying tonight in Goreville,IL at a State Park. It is at the southern tip of IL

MARCH 29, 2011 - MON

We started the day by going to the Jack Daniel's distillery. It was an hour tour, and it really was very interesting. They have beautiful grounds & visitor center. We came back to our "dinky little" campsite & hooked up the trailer & got on our way toward Ky. First we turned the wrong way out of the campsite & had to go a way to turn around (just can't turn around an RV pulling a trailer anywhere) the we stopped for gas & the turn to leave the pump was too sharp to make & the RV can't back up with the trailer attached, so I had to back my car off the trailer & Richard had to unhook the trailer so he could back up the RV. When we got back on the road, we decided to take a back road instead of the interstate to avoid Nashville, which was so congested coming down. Well the road had construction with a detour which took us into a neighborhood with a bridge we would not be able to fit under. Luckily we saw a police car & the policeman was very nice & even drew us a map with a short cut to get back on the road. We started down Rt 13 in Tn & oh my goodness it was so hilly & winding ! Richard took it in stride & did great, but I was scared stiff! Also it was already 3:30 & we had no campsite reservation, & we were in the back hills of TN. I looked in all of our books & saw that Loretta Lynn's ranch had an RV park & we were about 1 hour away, so I called & wouldn't you know it - the RV park was closed until April 1! Luckily they told us of another campsite not far from them. So that is where we are now. It's a nice campsite in Camden, TN right by the river. What an adventure today was! (The picture of us is with a statue of Jack Daniels, the one of me is outside the visitor's center & the one of Richard is inside)

MARCH 28, 2011 - MON

Today was a long driving day. We left Dothan, Alabama about 8:00 this morning and made it to Lawrenceburg, TN around 3:30 this afternoon. It was a tiring drive, very hilly and a lot of traffic through Birmingham, AL. We are staying the night at a" little dinky" campsite. There is no TV and the internet only works when it wants to (so I might not be able to finish this post tonight),so we played cards, but it was a hard drive for Richard and this was the only campsite in the area of the Jack Daniel's plant which has tours we heard were really interesting. It's about an hour away from here. The tours start at 9:00, so we plan on getting there early, then we can continue north & find another campsite for tomorrow night. (One night here is enough for us!)

MARCH 27, 2011 - SUN

Today being Sun. was a laid-back rainy day. We went to church, went shopping for some supplies, did laundry. Richard watched a race & I read my Nook. We made hamburgers on the grill in between rain. We plan on leaving early tomorrow, so we got everything ready today. Got the bikes on the car & the car on the tow dolly. Depending on the weather, we are going to try & make Tenn. tomorrow. There are some things we want to see & do there.

MARCH 26, 2011 - SAT

Today we went to a park that had a 4.6mile bike trail which we went on. It was paved but hilly. A good work-out. Then we went to a park called Landmark which had an old time village with the original structures. We also went on the nature trails there. One trail had a raised boardwalk through the park.That was neat. Alabama is known as the peanut capital. There are peanut things all over. There are statues of peanuts as different people. We had our picture taken at the visitors center with an Elvis peanut. In the evening we went to a show.

MARCH 25, 2011 - FRIDAY

Today was a travel day. We are starting our trip back home. We left Florida, crossed the state line into Georgia, then crossed another state line into Alabama. It was about a 6 hour drive. We are staying at Pecan Point, an RV campsite in Dothan, Al. we stayed in on our way down. After we got all hooked up into our campsite, we decided to find where a Catholic Church was, since it was Fri. & lent we thought maybe they would would be serving a fish fry & we were right. The church was only about 10 min. away. They served a delicious dinner. Being the South, instead of serving baked potato or french fries with the meal, they serve grits. (which were very good, I thought - Richard doesn't care for them). Everyone there was very friendly. We will be here the weekend. We haven't decided yet where we will go from here. We are taking our time making our way back North.