We've Left COLD Illinois - Clarksville, TN

We are finally headed to warmer weather.  Woo Hoo!!!   Hopefully, this will be the LAST winter that we spend in Illinois.  Last year we left in January after a sleet and ice storm.  Today the roads were clean, but it was windy and cold and it snowed last night.  Loading the motorcycle in the truck, cleaning ice off one of the slide toppers and hitching up the truck to the motorhome in cold weather is just not any fun. 

We will be in Wauchula, Florida on January 1st.  Plan to stay at Little Charlie Creek RV Park for 2 months.  Then travel a little further south before heading up the east coast to eventually spend some time with Jennifer and Gene just outside of Boston. 

We spent part of October, November and December at our daughter's in Monticello, IL.  Dan was helping get the cattle barn finished.  I spent a lot of time with Erin and her horse, Mercedes; and cheering Erin on at two horse shows.  Will post some pictures in the next few days of Mercedes and Erin's show pictures.  Mercedes is a grey quarter horse, but Erin rides saddlebreds to show. 

It's been a long day and we plan to be on the road early tomorrow, so I better hit the sack.  Now that we are traveling again, I'll keep up with this blog.  I'm thinking of posting about 3 times a week.  I think that should be more manageable.

More later......

Storms, Rain and more Rain; Finally Sunshine!!!!

We stayed in Illinois an extra day because of the terrible thunderstorms. Had quite a scare Tuesday evening while returning to the Beever farm from a shopping trip in Champaign with my daughter and granddaughter. There are two options to get to their farm, both of which involve narrow gravel roads with low spots that flood. We did drive through some minor flooding on the road we took. About a mile from their house, in POURING rain, lightning struck in the field about 500 feet from the road. We saw flames as the lightning hit the ground. Even with all the water on the ground. It was quite a sight.

Needless to say, we sure were glad to get in the house. Dan and our grandsons were standing in the garage as we pulled up. We sure were happy to see them. :)

There was so much rain and standing water that Dan was a little concerned about the roads being soft due to all the rain, but we had no trouble with the motorhome when we left yesterday. Drove through about 6 inches of water in one place before we got on the blacktop road.

We are now parked at Sarah and Chad's out in the country (love the country) at Sugar Grove, OH. Sugar Grove is in the southeast part of Ohio with beautiful rolling hills and lots of timber. Deer walk across the backyard every morning. AND, the sun is shining.

All five of our children are here along with their families. They've come from Seattle, Texas, Illinois and Boston. Our six grandchildren range in ages from 19 down to 1 1/2. Plus there are two dogs and one cat to add to the mix. And Sarah and Chad will be celebrating their wedding on Saturday and adding two step-grandchildren to our family.

We celebrated Jennifer's 40th birthday last night with the usual hoopla from her 4 siblings. This tradition started when Tim turned 40 and has continued to grow with great gusto as each one has reached that milestone.

Lots happening this week. Not sure how much time I'll have to post this week, but will get some pictures up soon.

Thanks to all of you who commented about our blog. Looks like we'll be meeting several of you in Branson.

More later.....

Detained in Thomasville, GA

Thanks to Internet access and satellite TV we awoke to the news of all the tornados in Alabama and Tennessee. So sad about the loss of life and terrible destruction. We debated about whether to stay or go. Since the weather map looked like the storm was moving east, we decided to go ahead and just keep track of the weather via the computer. As we crossed the Georgia state line, I began to check weather.com and saw that there was actually another storm right ahead of us and covering the entire area we would be driving through and included our destination. I began to check my campground book and found a campground in Albany, GA, about 55 miles up the road. Tried to call them, but didn't have good cell phone service, so we pulled off the highway at Thomasville, GA and parked in Lowe's parking lot to have lunch and assess the situation. Checked the Passport America campground book again and found an RV park just around the corner from Lowe's and they had empty spaces. :) AND, the nice thing about the motorhome is having our food and bathroom right along with us. Plus satellite TV. The only thing missing is sunshine, but we didn't drive in rain or meet up with a severe storm.

Soooo, we elected to stay here tonight and head out tomorrow for Americus. Weather is supposed to be great for the next few days.

While driving around on Sunday we came across this church sign. Yes, there is another Central Baptist Church in Cross City, Florida.

The sun was actually shining when we arrived at this campground today in Thomasville, so we decided to take a ride and check out the town. Found a quaint little ice cream shop in the historic downtown and just had to have a cone. Then as we continued our ride around town we came upon this wonderful city park and rose garden. The roses are not in bloom, so didn't take any pictures, but this lake is surrounded by a winding paved walking path which is exactly one mile long. You can see the clouds in the background, but we were able to walk all the way around and get back home before it started raining. The rain was heavy enough to knock out the satellite for awhile, but has settled down to just a steady rain now.

So we are both thinking it's better to revise plans and stop for the night away from the severe weather AND we got our exercise in before the rain. Really are enjoying the flexibility of this lifestyle.

Now if I could just remember which outside storage bay my sandy tennis shoes are in so I can get them in between rain showers. I wore sandals today and put the sandy shoes in the basement storage,but don't want to wear sandals to walk Kasey. Would look a little strange with my REI Seattle rain jacket. Sure am glad Kasey can go about 8-10 hours between trips outside if need be. Speaking of which, he's sitting by the door looking at me. Think that's a clue? And the rain has quit for now. Better go find those shoes; there are some puddles around here.

More later.....