Happy Halloween

Spent the day packing everything into the camper.  Believe it or not but there is still lots of room for stuff!!  But we will not pack to capacity.  I think everything is in that needs to be packed.  I suspect that I will forget where I put everything but after 4 months on the road it will be found...   we are hoping to leave out at about 9:00 am tomorrow. the weather is suppose to be sunny, no wind with a high of 50 degrees.  should be a good day to begin our adventure.

our first stop is Blue Mound State Park near Madison Wi. we will stay there 2 nights before heading down to lake Shelbyville area in Illinois. We have been working on the details since last Dec. so we are anxious to get moving.

3 days to take off!

We have been packing and unpacking.  Probably taking too much stuff but....  since this is our first journey for this length of time, we won't second guess what we need.  I assume next year we will take half of what we have this year.  Since we have been have freezing temperatures at night we have not loaded perishable foods in the camper yet.

We will be spending time cleaning the house and getting last minute projects done for the next 3 days. Monday will come pretty fast.  Our list of things to do is getting very small, but we had to add cutting up trees to the list as we lost about 15 in the wind storm last week. 

One more week before we head out.

It seems that everything is in order.  All that is left to do is to pack the camper.  The refrigerator and freezer are almost empty.  The food cabinets too! The house is ready for the winter and all the fruit is canned.  That gives us a week for any Last minute things.  We might have snow by the end of the week, but it should be gone by Nov 1.

With the forcaste of high winds this week we would not be able to leave.  Hopefully the weather will be good next week for our venture out. We have been checking for things to do in St Louis and Memphis.  Obviously some places are closed this time of year.  But there seems to be enough open for us to do some sightseeing.

2 weeks to go!

Two weeks before we leave.  still packing, well actually laying things out in the spare bedroom.  not sure if everything will fit until we actually begin packing the RV.  We have been lucky with the weather.  Very nice, sunny and no rain or snow.  We are hoping it holds off until after we leave.  We did contact family to visit on our way to Charleston.  Everyone will be around, we look forward to visiting with them.  Been cleaning the house and throwing "stuff" away.  good time to declutter.

Smoked a rack of ribs today, had to clean out the freezer!  It will be the last "good" ribs we get until we get to Memphis.  My mouth is already watering thinking of those wonderful ribs from Rendevous!  Although mine are just as good!

We went to registered to vote and cast our absentee vote at the village hall today.  Also went to the post office today to get the mail held and then forwarded to the ranger station.

We are just about ready to head out.. it is getting very exciting and we are anxious to get moving. 

RV Test Run #2

We went to Copper State Park for 2 nights to test the RV again. 

Everything seemed to work fine.  The oven, microwave, furnace and even the shower worked fine.  No problems, so we are ready to pack and hit the road.  The leaves are about 95% gone, so hiking was really pretty.  We could actually see the landscape but no wildlife. 

We hiked about 6 miles on day two to see Morgan Falls,

 and St Peters Dome;

And Red Granite Falls,

They were all pleasant hikes, with the Dome being the most challenging.  Footing and steepness were the issues but not too bad. 1565 feet to the top of the Dome.

We will be busy getting things wrapped up and packed for the next two weeks.  Do not want the time to fly but am anxious to get on the road.

Street Legal!

We finally received the plates for the RV!   it took almost 2 months to get them. 



Starting to pack...  or at least lay everything out before packing into the camper.  Eric made wood steps to bring along while we are in SC.   the RV steps seem to be pretty weak and after 3 months of use they could get out of whack.  we have seen other Seasonal Campers use wood steps, so we think it is a good idea. 

getting the house ready for winter. harvested the carrots today, will take care of the apples later this week or next week.  took the pontoon out of the water and having it winterized.  Dock is out too!  most of the leaves are off of the trees.  hope we are not waiting too long to leave here.. 

route for the first half of trip

We have been working on the route from NW Wis to Charleston SC.  so far we have from home to Memphis TN. 

We are hoping to travel about 4 hours a day, although some days will be shorter and one is a bit over 5 hours. First stop in Madison Wi to have dinner with our niece who is attending college there.  We will probably get a hotel as most if not all of the campgrounds will be closed by Nov 1!  Next onto Central Il Wolf Creek State Park in Windsor for a few days of hiking etc. The next stop will be Pere Marquette State Park near St Louis Mo. for a few days of touring the city and surrounding area.  From there we plan on visiting family in Western Ky and Western Tn for a few days before heading to Memphis for great BBQ!  .

We will wait until after we leave Memphis to figure out the route to Charleston.