Trip to Florida 5/6/2006 to 5/21/2006
 

5/6/06
odometer in motor home to start 89762
We're on our way-Paul Mary Mel lady.  Stopped at the Effigy Mounds for a rest stop.  Continued on to Gode State Park at Danville IA
Is a nice park but Ia had a free weekend for Iowa residents only and we had to pay  $18 with no electricity, but we were able to have  a shower in
the morning.

5/7/2006
Cool but sunny.  50 degree  DROVE ALL  DAY!   Had trouble with the back door and worked on it for a while.  We finally got it fixed when we
stopped for the night.  Stayed at KOA in Parryville, MO. $ 28 it was a typical KOA, nice facility.  Not too crowded.  Aafter all  it is the middle of
May. Ate supper in the motor home.  Ate breakfast, too.

5/8/2006
Partly cloudy  66 degrees
Had breakfast at McDonadls. on our way to Vicksburg MS.   another driving day . pickup State information at miss welcome center
Stayed at  a Hugh white State Park at Lake Granada  $12 nice Park but old. ate supper in the motor home. lady and I went for a long walk.
 Mel walked for a mile with us.

5/9/2006
72 degrees
at breakfast in motor home. visited the Corp of engineers visitor center in Granada center. arrived at vicksburg and drove the guided tour 16mi
Paul bought a tape which we played as we drove the tour. was hot day the temperature was up to 94
Stayed at Riverton Campgrounds s of Vicksburg $19  needed air conditioning all night

5/10/2006
79 degrees. a fu drops of rain. ate breakfast at mcdonalds and Mary shopped at wal-mart. gassed up and headed for Jackson on I20
lost half of the tread on the left rear outside dual. called AAA and had the tire changed. $80  the refrigerator is not working properly
it is on Gas and the gas generator will run but will not make electricity. found a wire was broken in the generator.
 stayed at kampground just inside Alabama line on I10 $20. one tire had only 40 psi and pumped it up temperature 90's
we had  ac all night had a terrific thunderstorm at midnight.

5/11/2006r
Sunny  temp in low 70's  nice morning.  bought a new tire  $125 and to fix the gas generator before leaving for the battleship Alabama
the Alabama is in the South Dakota Class, the one before the Iowa Class (Missouri)  got in a traffic jamb.  some of the tank like vehicles
were blown off there foundations.  night lodging at Cedar pines Campground, Milton AL $24.50. included wireless and cable tv.

5/12/2006
Sunny  70 degrees. had cereal for breakfast. didn't leave until 11:00  had to catch up on our e-mail. headed south for the gulf of Mexico.
the beach (gulf)is beautiful- white sand, clear, blue water.  we took the beach road which was slow with traffic but interesting.
 Reminded me of Myrtle beach.   Mel bought parts to fix the gas generator at Wal-mart and Paul bought popcorn chicken at KFC
and I went for a walk. we Stopped for the night at -HO-HUM Campground at Carrabelle FL $25.27 the moon was full and was just above the
horizon.
we hooked on to the Internet with wireless and I finally was able to us my e-mail.

5/13/2006
Sunny 74 Degrees
Pancakes for breakfast. On our way East again hy 98 stayed at Indian Forest Campground St.. Augustine $24.49  nice park.
Paul gave it a+ because of the showers.

5/14/2006
Happy Mother's Day.  Sunny mid 70's Breakfast at McDonalds. Did our shopping in St. Augustine  then continued north on A1A.
Drove along the coast but it was so built up or lined with trees we could not see the ocean.
Campground  Ho-Hum Camp Ground Townsend GA  $25.27site 21 Typical RV park with full hookups on  a lake and wooded so it had more of the feeling of a campground than an RV park.  Showers were nice-they were pay, but we were given tokens for them.  I think is is a relatively new park the way it looked.

5/15/2006
Rain Mid 60's
We ate at McDonalds and then toured Old  Fort Jackson at Savanna GA in the rain.Continued North.  Tried some boiled peanuts.  They were OK, but I probably wouldn't buy them again.
Replenished our larder and stayed at a KOA in Forsyth, GA.  Site 74 $27.00

5/16/2006
Sunny  58 degrees
Will go thru Atlanta today. Paul drove right thru the city and not around. I was told it was better
 to go thru than to take the by-pass and it was.  Trucks has to take the by-passso we only had cars and small trucks to contend with.  Took a driving tour of Chickamauga Battlefield. Stayed at KOA in Manchester site19 $39.82 really pricy.

5/17/2006
Cloudy and 55 degrees
Ate at McDonalds and shopped at Wal-mart. Mary found two books she wanted and Mel purchased tv cables and a plugextension.  Few drops of rain.Fought another Civil War battle
Battle of Stone River at Murfresboro TN.  It was one of the bloodiest battles of the war.  Started Dec. 31 and ended Jan. 2.Took the driving tour. Paul used the laptop computer to hook up to  the car radio cassette player to play a cd to tell us the route as we drove. Continued North through Nashville.  This time we should have taken the by-pass, but Paul did a good job.  Had our second tire problem.   Lost the tread on the inside right dual and had to call the police then a wrecker, and the a tire changer. Cost $115.  Proceeded to buy another 8x16.5l tire. They are obsolete and hard to find. We did find one, though.  We camped at Hurricane Creek, a  Corp of Engineer park near  the Land Between the Lakes.  Nice park.  The parking pads were well defined and either black topped or pea graveled.  On a lake and the Tn river.  Saw a barge go by.  Showers weren't as private as they could have been.

5/18/2006
Clear and cool 66 degrees and windy
Sitting on a beautiful lake. Ate in the motorhome. We must go home without a spare or find one.
On the way we found one only it is a bias ply. Heading to Springfield, IL to camp for the night.    Stayed at Springfield KOA.$27.50   Nice park Ate supper in the motor home. $27.50

5/19/2006
Sunny to partly cloudy 70 degrees
Ate breakfast in the motor home.Drove all day today. We drove thru Gays mill and saw only 2 trailers there.Arrived home at 9:05 PM
Final odometer 93206 miles. Temp 58 degrees. Paul drove the entire trip.
 

Notes about trip

1: I've never seen so many bridges (and long ones) in one area as  on the Gulf Coast.

2: Have extra tires. We need 8 x 16.5 and this size rim is obsolete and is not used anymore. so       tires are hard to find.      I plan to carry extra tires without rims and have them available to be       put on by a tire shop. We lost tread on tires 2 times and it was hard to find another tire
3: Add Rv coverage to AAA
4: Add water filters to motor home.
5: We lost the door latches on the motor home door but we fixed it.
6: The gas generator quit