We are Home!

After 4 1/2 months on the road we made it back home! We put over 11,000 miles on the truck!  seen lots of wonderful historical sites,  we met lots of wonderful people.  Had the opporutnity to meet up with family and friends and made more friends.  Now it is back to Home stuff, ice fishing (before the ice melts), tapping trees and making maple syrup, cleaning and more cleaning, yard work etc..  but we always try to have plenty of time to play.. and looking forward to some brats, walleye and beer.  we will miss the fresh oysters, shrimp and sweet tea!  hope to see most of you this spring/summer Up North!

thanks for sharing our Fall 2010 adventure..  hope to do it again this Fall.

Kathy and Eric

Amost Home!

Wed March 9, we left Peru Il, after making use of the hotel facilities, fitness room and breakfast.  It was about 45 deg when we left the hotel, by the time we got to Rockford Il, it was 36, misting, low clouds, ice on ponds, snow on the side of the roads...

The further north we went the colder it became and the snow pack increased...  driving was not too bad and most of the roads were clean, although a few parts had water on them.  had to use the windshield washer solution!  first time in months...  There was a billboard advertising a Cheese House with 126 varieties of Cheese!!  Know we are home now..  got to love it.. We stopped in Tohma for the night.  

after checking in we went to the local casino...  walked out with a few bucks extra...  went to a supper club hoping for Walleye..  well it was not recommended!!!  so we went with the NY strip steak.  very good choice!  we will get our Walleye this weekend.  lots of places near Birchwood that serve it..

our last night on the road..  from our hotel room window...

its been a great adventure and we hope to go somewhere else this fall.. 

final blog tomorrow...

Missouri to Illinois

Tuesday March 8: this was our earliest start. 42 deg and cloudy. we got the RV winterized and was rolling out of the site by 7:00 am..  but we left too early..

Its always something!!  A ranger came by about 10 minutes later and let us out!  

Seen Snow on the side of the road just outside of Bloomington Il.  it was cloudy most of the way to Peru, Il where we stayed at a Hampton Inn....  went to a wonderful Italian place for dinner in Peru.  there was snow in the parking lot across the street!

tomorrow we head to Wisconsin.  hope to make it to Tomah where we will spend the night.  should be home on Thursday unless there is too much snow or ice.  keeping our fingers crossed.

Mississippi-Tennessee-Arkansas-Missouri

Sunday March 6, Left Alabama at about 7:30 for Tennessee, it was about 42 and no rain.  It was cloudy and felt cold..   We traveled through Mississippi before getting to Meeman-Shelby State Park, we stayed here on the way down to SC in November.  It is just outside of Memphis.  after getting settled we headed out for a BBQ sandwich..  it was a local joint, pretty good.   there were two other campers in the park...

Monday we left Tenn, traveled through Arkansas into Missouri..  following 55...   when we left the temp was 36 deg f!  getting colder..  we arrived at St Francois State Park about 70 miles south of St Louis.   No one else in the park.  over 100 sites and not one other camper... almost like being at home, no neighbors..

we had to take a hike!  we hiked for about 2 hours around the park.  heard dogs barking, think it was a kennel across the Big River.  we could smell skunk very strongly..  not sure if something startled it but we never seen it.

part of the trail was rocky and steep

seen lots of deer prints and a woodpecker..

  met "tree man"..  he did not say too much..

final night camping...

no internet service, no TV!

CORN for dinner (Clean Out Refrigerator Night!). 





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great final night camping.  quiet and beautiful...



Georgia and Alabama

We headed out of Buck Hall at about 7:30 on Friday morning.  it was cloudy and about 45 deg F.

It was misting and about 44 deg when we arrived at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge Ga.

Eric made dinner on the open grill, hot dogs and beans... 

Eric found a very large Tulip Poplar..

On Saturday morning we headed out of Hard Labor Creek SP at about 7:30, it was 48 deg and rainy.  it pretty much rained all the way to Deerlick Creek Park at Holt Lake neaer Tuscaloosa AL.  it is a US Army Corps of Engineers park.  this is our first.  it is actually pretty nice...  and cheap... $16 vs $33 last night!



took a quick walk before the rains came back...

Not the best two days for traveling but we drove slow and easy.  lets see how the next 3 days look.  we are hoping to be home by Wed night.  depends on the weather and if we need to take a day off of driving.

final night at Buck Hall!

it took us about 6 hours to get back here from Hilton Head.  we made a few stops along the way.  Our first was just over the bridge from Hilton Head Island at

beautiful park, with a few salt marshes..

and great interpetive hiking trails.

we also stopped at Edisto State Park and Edisto Beach.  it was a bit windy and cool but the area was beautiful.  the state park has camping on the beach or in a Live Oak forest. 

we will be heading out early tomorrow, hopefully to avoid the winds.

our time here is done, we met some wonderful people, lots of stories, a few friends, fantastic food, breathtaking sites, and unforgetable memories..  we are looking forward to heading home to see what adventures await us there.

our last entry will be when we arrive back in our driveway,  not sure when that will be... but some time in the next 7-10 days.

Day two in Paradise

The sun rises in the east...

After a beautiful breakfast we went to the Audubon Newhall Preserve Trail for a quiet walk in the woods.  it was just the four of us out there.  we did see some "wildlife" 

a sleeping raccoon...

a nervous lizzard...

a few alligators and some alligator food...

along with some beautiful trees, wetlands, ferns etc.  we could see and hear the cardinal.  beautilful walk in the woods.

back at the hotel we headed to the pool area for some relaxing and talking time.

Eric took his bike out on the sand for ride, he spotted an alligator and some more turtles...

dinner at the Chart House..  beef and trout were the choices made for dinner.  aspergus, mushrooms, yukon potatoes were the sides..  all of it was soooo good. beautiful dinner with beautiful friends.

great way to wind down our fall of 2010 adventure.  heading back to pick up the RV.  will leave for home on Friday. 

A day in Paradise

We left the RV at the campground and headed south to Hilton Head Island.

don't need words to describe the beauty.

we met up with Roberta and John G. and headed for lunch.  as usual we had flounder, oysters but not shrimp but scallops!  all was delightful!  this is a great place to relax and visit.  I think our room is larger than the RV!  and it doesn't creak!