Another Night in Bay St. Louis

We drove over to a unit of the Gulf Islands National Seashore today. I had been talking to them when we were in Georgia about a possible RV volunteer opportunity after we left Florida, so we went over to meet them and look it over. I do't think that it would be a good fit for us. We are staying here in Bay St. Louis again tonight. Tomorow we hope to make it close to Tallahassee, FL. We will probably stay there for two nights also to make it easier to get to Mass on Sunday. That will only leave us about 130 miles on Monday to make it to Ordway-Swisher and get set up.  I took a few pictures on the beach here in front of the motorhome this afternoon.

This is a picture of the Casino here, they were working on the hotel on the left when we were here in January.  Looks like slow progress to me.

Bay St. Louis Mississippi

We had a great visit this morning with some internet friends that we caught up with in Grenada, MS before we left the campground.  As usual, Peter tells the story better than I.  Peter's Blog  Wonderful people with great taste in motorhomes! We are glad we stopped in to see them and share storage and travel ideas. I hope we cross paths again. We got into the campground here after dark, so I will try to get pictures tomorrow or you can see the ones from January Here  We stayed here last winter for a few days and we are going to spend two nights here this time.

Grenada Mississippi

I took a few pictures this morning of our campground in Hardy, Arkansas that we were in last night.

The view across the river.

Our site.

Who's that in the window?

Tonight we are in the North Abutment Campground near Granada, Mississippi.  We stopped here because an internet friend is staying here and we finally got to have a face to face visit.  Hope to visit a little more in the morning.  Will try to get some pictures of the campground too.

Hardy Arkansas

We are in a city park campground in Hardy, Arkansas tonight.  Very quiet little town and park except for the trains going by.  Right on the bank of a river.  We arrived here about sundown and took a little walk before it got really dark. I will try to get some pictures in the morning when the light is better.  There is only one other couple here.  Nice traveling today, good weather and we stopped at our favorite cheese store, the Osceola Cheese Store.  200 kinds of cheese and free samples of all of them.  When we got done we decided that we didn't need lunch!  We stopped at Camping World at Springfield, MO and picked up some new carpeted covers for our outside steps.  Probably will not get them put on until we get to Florida.  I got out the Coleman stove and fried up some bacon for sandwiches for supper. Yum.  Nothing like the smell of bacon in the outdoors.

This is Peculiar

We finally got our errands done, the house closed up and the motorhome fueled up and out of town about 1:00 today.  With a tail wind it was a peaceful drive. We are overnighting at the Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar, MO just south of Kansas City.  Everything going great so far.  Sorry Becca, no pictures yet.

An Interesting Turn of Events

Recently one of our big concerns has been what to do with our house.  When we first hit the road, we were thinking that we would downsize into the motorhome and eventually sell the house.  Recently we have been rethinking the part about downsizing into the motorhome completely.  We seem to like having a permanent base to return to when we are in Sioux City. We would need to have a storage unit to hold some things that we are just not ready to get rid of, and someday we may be tired of the road and just want to stop for awhile.  That being said, the old house in not the one for us at this stage in our life.  All of the stairs involved with having the laundry in the basement, bedrooms and the only bathroom on the second floor would not make it a very good home if one of us began to have trouble with stairs.  We have also been looking at having to do some major repairs in the next few years...new sidewalks, tree removal, paint or siding at least.  Becca and Mark and the kids do a great job of taking care of it while we are gone, but we almost dread coming home and thinking about what work needs to be done. This brings us to last Thursday when we were riding along with Becca's family as they looked at some acreages with a realtor.  One of the homes that we looked at wasn't what they were looking for, but as I stood in the middle of the house, it hit me that it was just what we needed. It is built with concrete exterior walls, has a brand new metal roof, and they are going to drill a new well, so no major upkeep for a long time. It sits on 1 1/2 acres of land just north of Stone Park, has an attached double garage, 4 bedrooms, and a driveway big enough for the motorhome and all on one level without a step anywhere.  It is out in Plymouth County so the taxes are about half of what we are paying now, and nobody will care if the lawn is mowed or the snow is scooped when we are gone on trips. No more sewer and water bills. The backyard abuts Stone Park so no one will build behind us and it will be handy for hiking.  The price is about the same as ours will be so it should come out pretty even. We went back the next day and looked again. We both seem to be feeling that this is right for us. The only bad part is the timing as we need to leave on Monday to make our way to Florida and our commitment there so it will be long distance dealing.  This has been quite a surprise to us both but it seems to be the direction that the Lord is leading us right now.  Wish us luck on this new adventure!

Saturday in Sioux City

Time is really flying here in Sioux City.  We have visited with a few friends, been to some Dr. appointments and spent some time with Rebecca's family.  Wednesday I spent most of the day replacing a roller under one of the slides on the motorhome.  I thought it was going to be relatively easy, but I hit a snag.  To get it out after unbolting it, I had to cut out a section of the framing under the motorhome.  After getting the new one in and adjusted the piece had to be patched back in.  A lot of work, but it is operating well now.
When we came back to Iowa with the van, it had a lot of "stuff" in it.  When we traded back to our Jeep in Des Moines, we had to leave some of it in the van.  Andrea and her girls met us in Missouri Valley yesterday evening so we could get the rest of it.  We had supper there and a good visit.  Mary even taught me some ballet steps in the parking lot of the truck stop and had me practice them there.
Today we were watching Rebecca's kids for her and Mark and the boys went to the park with me. R. took some pictures there.

This one has no people in it, but I really liked the shapes and shadows.  If only my photos would come out so well!

Back in Sioux City

Thursday we had a late start because Janice wasn't feeling well, but we made it to Troy, MO. We stopped and toured the Wickliffe Mounds and museum right before leaving Kentucky.  It was very interesting and time well spent.

  We had driven by a restaurant called Lambert's before. As a matter of fact we had driven past all three of their locations before, two in Missouri and one in Alabama.  Their signs say, "Home of the Throwed Rolls".  We stopped there for lunch and we enjoyed it.  The interior of the building is covered with old license plates and other old items. After you order your meal, they have people wandering around with what they call "pass arounds".  Hot rolls (which they do throw to you, sometimes from a distance), fried okra, fried potatoes and onions (delicious!) , macaroni and tomatoes, and black eye peas.  You can have all you can eat!  It was a fun place to eat and we will probably will do it again.

Friday we had another late start and we drove into Hannibal, MO and looked around a little.  We stopped in Mount Pleasant, IA and ate lunch at a baking bistro on the square downtown.  Then we drove to Pella, IA and spent the night there after a little shopping trip to the Jaarsma Bakery there.  Love those Dutch pastries!
Saturday, we drove to Des Moines, IA and went to Sarah's house first to see her and her family and after a too short visit we headed over to Andrea's to see her and her family for another too short visit.  They all headed to the kid's soccer games and we transferred everything over to the Jeep that it would hold, grabbed lunch at a Perkin's restaurant and headed home.  We are finally home again!  It looks like fall here.  A few short weeks here to catch up with friends and family, do a little work on the house and motorhome and hit the road to our next volunteer opportunity in Florida.

On the Way Back to Iowa

We traveled as far as Paducah, KY yesterday.  We passed some ripening cotton fields in Georgia and Alabama.  We had a short delay in some stopped traffic where a truck had overturned but we took some back roads and got around it.  We had a quick lunch in Fort Payne, AL. and got on the interstate there.  We took a break at Cadiz, KY and looked through a flea market.  We had supper at a Bob Evans last night and wandered through a book store.  We will be hitting the road soon this morning.