October 20,2016- Thursday

 Forgot to finish this trip  blog. Our last travel day home started with rain, including lightening and thunder. Thank goodness it eased up while Richard was getting the car hooked up on the tow dolly. It was pretty much overcast most of the way, but only a little rain. We have been gone for 39 days. We had a great vacation, but as I have said before, there is no place like home!! I started this blog a few years ago on our first RV trip as a journal for us to look back on. I had no idea so many of our friends & family would follow us on it. So again we thank you all for "being along" with us. We thank God for another safe, healthy trip.Until Pauper's Pride is on the road with another adventure, so long. Rich & Audrey

October 19,2016- Wednesday

Today we went into the town of West Frankfort nearby. Richard found a golf course with reasonable rates. On the way there (which was about 1/2 hr away) it started to rain. Not a hard rain, so we did a little supply shopping. When we were done, it stopped raining, so we went back to the golf course. It was a perfect golf day, a little overcast with a slight breeze. It was a really nice course. They had a person on a huge leaf blower, blowing the leaves off the course. There weren't many golfers out so we pretty much had the course to ourself. We only lost 2 balls and Richard did great. He golfed a 103 for 18 holes, had a birdy & 2 par's and 3 bogies. That's pretty good for a beginner golfer! Well this is our last night of our vacation, we will be home tomorrow. Storms are predicted for tonight. I hope they won't be strong and that they will be gone by morning. 

October 18,2016- Tuesday

After 155 miles, 4 hours...we crossed over the Mississippi River and over the state line of our home state....Illinois!! We arrived at our last campsite, Gun Creek Recreation Area in Whittington, Illinois. A COE site which was our first stop on our way down to Florida. It is at the southern tip of Illinois . We arrived early afternoon and checked in. When we got to our assigned site, we realized the site which was right along the shore of Rend Lake, was on a very steep incline. It was, we guessed, intended for a much smaller RV than our 30 foot one. We had to go back to the ranger station & get assigned a different site. After we got all hooked up, it was early afternoon, so we went to the golf course which is right at the entrance to the park. But, they were very expensive. It would have cost $35 for Richard to golf and another $15 for me to ride along in the cart. Needless to say, $50 is a little out of our price range! So Richard looked on line and found another course nearby which we found and  was only a total of $16 for him to golf and me to ride along. It was not a very good course.....bumpy with a lot of leaves on the ground. We lost about a dozen balls we couldn't find because of all the leaves. So Richard was discouraged and didn't do very well. Afterward we went to a little cafe for a good meal.

PS  The green bridge picture was a bridge on the golf course we had to drive over, not very wide with swampy water on either side. 

October 17,2016- Monday

Today we went from Florida, through parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tenn, & Arkansas and into Missouri, to our next campsite on our way north which was in Greensville, Missouri by Lake Wappapello. It was a long travel day, about 7 hrs, 187 + miles, very windy which adds travel time. As we were traveling in Missouri, we were amazed at how many cotton fields we saw. We had no idea cotton was grown in Missouri. At the campsite,which we didn't realize was so far from the expressway, about 11/2 hrs, We also found out there was no TV reception, not even one station! Looks like we won't be staying here in the future! We made the best of it & played cards outside until the mosquitos came out and joined us.

P.S. The one picture of a bridge shows markings of how high the water has risen in past years..a few marks were almost to the bridge!

October 16,2016- Sunday

Had a long travel day, about 7hrs. Good weather. Our next stop was in Hernando, MS. We are traveling the length of Mississippi, it sure is a long state. Our campsite was right by Lake Okatibbee. Surprisingly we were able to pick up 41 TV stations just from our antenna. The picture of the rocks shows how far the water has receded over the years.

October 15,2016- Saturday

RWell vacation is over :( , today we start our journey north... Home!! Goodby Navarre, FL!! Thank goodness it was a cool morning. Richard got everything all hooked up. I "battened down" the inside of the RV for travel. Having been in one place for a month, there was a lot to stow away. We got an early start 8:30. We had good travel weather. Blue skies & sun.....a perfect beach day..oh well... Our first stop for the night was 218 miles, about 6 driving hours to Twitley Ranch COE Campgeround in Collingville, MISS. We stopped several times to check the straps on the tow dolly, since this was the first time towing the KIA. Luckily everything was fine.

October 14,2016- Friday

Well our time here is winding down. We will be leaving here on Saturday. We spent most of the day getting things ready for travel. After living here for a month, there is a lot to store away, beach things, ect. And Richard had a lot of checks to do on the RV to make sure everything will be running okay.  In the afternoon we went to the pool to relax for the last time this trip. In the evening we went out to dinner with our next door neighbors here, who we got to be friends with. They too arrived the same time we did and also will be leaving Saturday. They are from Georgia. We went to the Italian Restaurant we went to a week ago and really liked. They (Raymond & Sheryl ) had not been there and wanted to try it. We had a delicious meal and good conversation.