March 27, 28th, 2010 Sat - Sun

Greg's birthday - happy birthday hon. Woke to another beautiful day of sun with a forecast of rain tomorrow so we decided to stay in the area and hit the beach for some more relaxation. As there were no available lots at the park we were in, we drove 3 miles down the road to another RV park , Sunset Isle and Yacht club. The guy had just opened with 20 lots or so. The roads were all bricked, a pool not in operation as yet, a screened in cook pavilion and the option to buy an RV lot with a deep water boat berth for $179,000. The other RV park was selling theirs for $70,000. Can't imagine doing it but some people do. We spent the afternoon on the beach and then joined the owners and a few campers for a seafood feast in the pavilion - fresh oysters, oyster chowder, fresh shrimp, and munchies. Delicious food, a wide variety of characters and stories. The only bad thing is Bernie was eaten alive by no-see-ums. His legs look like he has the measles.

Sunday was cloudy but warm as we hit the trail towards Cedar Key. We stopped at Wakulla Springs State Park and had a boat tour down the river. It was so calm, and everywhere you could hear the birds singing. All the wild life was so accustomed to the State boats that we could get very close to them - 3 feet. We saw alligators, turtles and many kinds of birds. It was very, very interesting. As we continued on it finally felt like spring - so many of the trees are out in leaf. After we arrived in Cedar Key late afternoon and booked into the Cedar Key Sunset Isle campground, we walked around the quaint little town and ended up at Frog's Landing for supper - crab filled mushrooms, salad and crab cakes. Delicious ! Had fun with the girl bartender and another couple having supper at the bar. RV talk mostly. Cedar Key is said to be a little Key West and we believed it after meeting some of the characters at the camp ground. Did meet a nice couple from Miami and had some great conversation about health care, economy, politics, etc. Ended the night on a lighter note by hanging out at the rec center with a bunch having a musical jam. The even sang an Anne Murray song for us. It poured all night.

March 23, 24 , 25, 26th, Tues-Fri

Still on the road and will do a condensed version. Stayed in a couple of Florida State Parks which are wireless free so a little behind in the travel diary.
Tuesday we left late, tooted along the #98 along the coast and just took our time. We actually backtracked a few miles as we wanted to visit the Florida Tourist Info center. There is always once in our trips we have to go backwards. It was a beautiful sunny day and we ended up in Navarre at the Emerald Beach RV Park which was right by the gulf. Met a couple from Ontario who own a lodge near the Georgian Bay. They were quite delightful and funny. Barbecue was delicious.

Wednesday we headed across the bridge to Santa Rosa Island and headed 28 miles west to Fort Pickens. There were some condos and houses but most of those miles were roads half covered in sand and they had pay loaders and bulldozers clearing away the sand from the beach parking lots and roads. As we approached the Fort, the trees were dead and the landscape was very eerie. Two hurricanes hit in 05 and 06 and there was so much salt it killed everything. We had a tour of the Fort (a lot of it still standing) and it was very interesting. The guide was so enthusiastic and you could tell he loved his job. Bernie finally found a condensed version of the Civil War in the Fort bookstore. We drove back the 28 miles (backwards again) thru the sand, across the bridge and headed down the road thru Destin, and onto Watercolour, Seaside and Seagrove Beach. Aren't they such great names and the buildings, streets, stores, etc match the names. I could come back to these places. We spent the night (back down the road 2 miles) at Grayton Beach State Park. Went for walk to the beach which is beautiful white sand for miles but the water is freezing cold even for we Maritimers.

Thursday we managed to get up earlier and hit the beach for a nice long walk. Beautiful sunny morning but clouds on the horizon. We did the big trip today and made it 90km down the road to Panama City Beach. Bernie had spotted a German Beer Garden advertisement in a pamphlet so we sniffed it out and had lunch. Delicious meal of sausage, schnitzel, potatoes and of course German Beer. As we were enjoying our lunch, the skies opened up and we had one heck of a thunderstorm. So we shopped or mostly window shopped. Still raining so Bernie made the mad dash for the RV and being the noble guy he is, he drove and picked me up. After pulling into the camp ground at St, Andrew's State Park we curled up and spent a couple of hours reading and listening to the rain on the roof. It brought back pleasant memories of camp and family camping. Nothing nicer than hearing rain on a tent or camper roof (as long as we are dry :-) ). Still wet at supper time so Bernie treated me to supper at Hooters - had never been and it was quite interesting with all the Spring Breakers around. The joys of being young !
Capped the day off with a sunset on the beach

Friday we left Panama City Beach and headed up the road to Carrabelle Beach (did 160kms today), Along the way we saw another poor soul dressed in a green costume advertising for a company that does income taxes. We have seen them for the last 3 or 4 days and they are getting funnier and funnier. Parts of the #98 have beautiful scenery along the shore and the homes are every shape and colour. We took a couple of side roads, had a picnic lunch in the marina at Apalachicola (the man who invented refrigeration is from here) and pulled into the Carrabelle Beach RV Park at 1:30 - landed the last available site. Beautiful sunny, hot day so we hit the beach right across the road and went for a nice walk and then vegged on the sand. So great hearing those waves and feeling the suns rays. But the water is still too cold to swim. Called Katja to wish her happy birthday but she was not home from work. Had a great little chat with Derek. Steve Lockhart asked us to look up his friends Skip and Kathy Frisk in Carrabelle so we did. Met them and a few of their friends at a small cafe and we had a great time. It was just like a blind date - describing to each other over the phone what we looked like.

March 22nd, 2010, Monday

Getting later and later to arise in the morning. Early to bed, late to rise. Must be in vacation mode. After breakfast and packing up the RV, we took a guided city tour. The tour covered the F.Q., the Lower 9th Ward ( where Hurricane Katrina did the most damage), a New Orleans Historic cemetery, St Charles Ave (beautiful huge homes), the Garden District, Henry Connick Jr"s Musicians Village, Brad Pitt's Make it Right Homes. It was a very interesting tour - so much damage even after 5 years. On the road by 1:30 and heading onto the #90 along the coast (I only got us lost once). What a beautiful drive along the coast with miles and miles of white sand beaches and boardwalk. On the other side of the road were the reminders of Katrina - empty lots with just foundations, a lot of new construction and new trees planted and new road work. The hurricane took out about the first 3 blocks closest to the water. We found the Cajun RV Park in Biloxi which is just across the street from the beach. Should be quiet as far as no street traffic but the trains seem to go by pretty often. Tried out our new barbecue which we picked up yesterday. Works just great and the steaks were perfectly cooked by Master Chef Bernie

March 21st, 2010, Sunday

It poured all night and the winds were high. We went to bed in 20 degree weather and woke up to 4 degrees - cold, cold. Went for the buffet breakfast at the casino and hit the road by 9pm. A few miles down the road and we had snow flurries. Can you believe it. Had a great trip into New Orleans - a pile of churches along the roads in the south. It seems we see one every 5 miles and the population is mainly black. On our way into New Orleans we crossed over miles and miles of swamp - it must have been quite a job to build all the roads over the swamp land. The French Quarter RV Park is only a couple blocks north of the F.Q. and is quite classy. People even buy the "lot" as a condominium for $149,000 and park their RV on a cobblestone lot with a screened pavilion. There is a pool, hot tub, laundry room. A city condo on wheels ! After doing our first wash (running out of warm clothes !) we walked to the F.Q. and roamed the streets taking in the sights and then went to dinner at Dickie Brennan's Steak House. Wow, what a meal. One of the best steaks we have ever had, baked casserole potatoes, salad. Enjoyed it so much. We did catch some jazz music at a few bars before heading back to the RV by taxi.

March 20th, 2010, Saturday

Another day on the road. Pulled out of Memphis around 8:30, disappointed we didn't see Elvis. Oh well, we bought a CD. Got off the main highway and onto a secondary road heading south. Miles and miles and miles of agricultural land ( a lot of it was being worked with those ugly green tractors) being used for cash crops and cotton. A lot of irrigation and huge fields. The traffic was light, weather up to 20 degrees. We crossed the Mississippi at Greenville, Miss and travelled into Arkansas - more fields of crops. We were only in Arkansas for about 20 miles and then we crossed the border into Louisiana - at least we can say we were to Arkansas. After an hour in Louisiana we crossed back over the mighty Mississippi and into Vickersburg, Miss. There are a lot of huge barges going up and down the river. We have finally hit spring as there are blossoms on most of the trees, it is warm and the grass is green. The magnolia trees are in full bloom and they are gorgeous. We are staying in the Ameristar Casino RV camp ground for $20 a night and that includes a buffet breakfast. We took a RV tour of the Historic part of Vicksburg and there are some beautiful homes and shops and cobblestone streets. Walked over to the Casino for dinner, music and dancing but only succeeded with the first one - dinner. The music wasn't starting until 9 and that was longer then we wanted to spend at the Casino listening to the bells and whistles. Supposed to be a big rain and thunderstorm tonight.

March 19th, 2010, Friday

Woke up to sunshine but still a bit chilly. Hauled on the old jeans again but we think it will heat up a bit. On the road heading to Memphis to check on Elvis. Stopped along the way in search of a new barbecue as ours "died" last night but didn't find the right one yet. Arrived at the Graceland RV park in time to have a quick lunch, change into short pants (up to 20) and head for Graceland. Really enjoyed the tour of Elvis's mansion (decor right out of the 60"s and 70"s), his car museum, his plane and his costume museum. A lot of songs and info for such a short life. We took a bus to downtown Beale Street for "barbecue" food and some music. A bit disappointed with the area, not very clean or up scale. Stayed for a couple hours to eat and listen to an Elvis double before catching the bus back to our RV

March 17 - 18, Wed and Thurs

Finally made it to a grocery store today and stocked up on some good food and munchy food. Bernie's first trip to the grocery store in 2010. It is still cool, rainy and gray in the city of Nashville so we headed down town to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame. It is very near Nashville's city skyline landmark "the Batman" building (AT&T building with two giant antennas that make it look like Batman) and the "District" which refers to the night life area around Broadway and 2nd.We were back at Camper's world for a 3:30 appt to get the furnace fixed - turned out to be dirt in the connections so it was not a big bill and we have heat ! Had a little e-mail from Karen Carmichael relaying a message that Billy would "loan" us his RV for the next trip since ours was having problems.Ha, ha ! Took a bus right from the camp ground downtown for the evening and roamed the District listening to country music, eating, more music, sipping, more music. There were lots of sights to see - people dressed for St. Paddy's day, some girls barely dressed at all passing out vouchers for the Coyote Ugly, police everywhere, musical street performers, cowboys and lots of lights and noise. And then took the bus back to the RV, Great way to travel in Nashville.

On the road Thursday morning by 9:30 and headed to the Belle Meade Plantation just south of Nashville. It was an interesting mansion restored to the mid 1800's with 2 floors open for viewing. It included the 1890's stable, smoke house, log cabin, slave cabin. It was the top Thoroughbreed farm in the US with most Derby winners (Seabiscuit, Secretariat ) tracing their bloodlines back to Belle Meade. After a picnic lunch we headed further south to Franklin where I found a quilt shop ! and Bernie found a Kubota dealer almost side by side. What luck ! After doing a bit of shopping, we took off to head south and found this wonderful road lined with huge, beautiful homes and horse farms. Miles and miles of fences and fields filled with horses. The next stop was Loretta Lynn's mansion, RV campground, mine, village but it was not open for the season so we had to settle for a walk across the bridge and around the grounds. It was back in the woods off the #40. It would be fun to come back when they are open. O well, we just cranked up Loretta singing "Coal Miner's Daughter" and drove to the KOA in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Parked the Rv and Bernie started to set up and came to find out the man in the next lot was from Perth Andover, NB and he grew up in Holmesville, NB - Bud Dougherty. Small world.

March 15-16th, 2010, Monday and Tuesday

Bernie's optimism was short lived. Started out at 14 degrees but quickly dropped down to 6 degrees. Another "ugly"day of gray skies and a bit of rain. We slept in a bit and then up and on the road after breakfast. First checked out the nearby Campers World store and then a Kubota dealer about 10 miles outside of Roanoke. Small dealer, not a fancy place and they sell Kubota and Cub Cadet. The weather was so miserable that we threw out our plans to visit Gaitlinbury and Dollywood and headed to Knoxville in Tennessee. A bit past Knoxville we stopped at The Soaring Eagle Campground, had a delicious dinner of hot dogs and chile (have not made it to a grocery store yet), a long walk and then discovered there was a problem with the furnace. It would come on but no heat ! Bundled up for the night and got some long over due reading done.

On Tuesday we did not linger after we arose as it was a little chilly (6 degrees). Headed for Nashville and some good old country music. Booked into The Two Rivers campground, hopped a small bus and did the Tour of the Stars Homes. Saw a few "small homes" of Martina McBride (who at the moment is playing in the Maritimes). Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Dolly Parton, little Jimmy Dickens (his wife did stop by the tour bus and talked to us). Their homes are in the Brentwood and Belle Meade areas south of Nashville. Got back in time to hop another bus and head to the Grand Ole Opry where we saw Little Jimmy Dickens, Terri Clark (Canadian), George Hamilton the IV and V, Bill Anderson, Lee Greenwood, Justin Moore, and others. A lot of fun. Furnace came on once when we came home but that was the only time. Have to get it fixed tomorrow. Getting too old to "rough it".

March 12-14, 2010 Fri - Sun

We did it. Packed and on the road by 9am friday morning. Great day for travel - sunny and 1 degree . Had a short but great visit with Grammie Jeanne and then we crossed the border into the States around 4:30pm. After buying a cell phone to use in the States, dinner and finding a hotel with an empty room (PEI and NS school break) we settled in for a good night sleep. Of course we remembered to turn our clocks back one hour but will we remember to "spring" them ahead tomorrow night ? Gained an hour for a whole day.
Saturday on the road by 7:30am and we headed to Midland Park, NJ to visit Steve and Mary Lockhart. About 3 hrs out of NJ we ran into the front end of the Nor west storm coming up the coast. High winds and rain. We arrived in time to get settled in before the storm really hit. Rain and more rain, high winds, power outages, sirens everywhere. A lot of trees down and some people lost their lives due to fallen trees. We are all OK and no damage to the Lockhart's property. We had a great visit with Steve, Mary and Erica. So good to see them
Sunday - the wind has died down and the rain slowed down but still an "ugly" day - gray and dreary and wet at 9 degrees. Left the state of NJ and headed south to the #81 and stopped for the day at Roanoke in Virginia . It rained on and off all day, the temp slowly climbed to 14 degrees, the traffic was not too heavy and the grass is starting to turn green. Saw hundreds of Canada geese flying north today. We went for a walk before supper and then talked to Jeff and Jack on the phone (they are in Florida) and Jack caught his first fish off Popi Chris's dock. He was sooooooo excited ! Bernie is optimistic and has pulled out the short sleeve shirt and sandals for tommorow morning. I think I'll wait another day

March 5, 2010

Thinking about leaving Amherst on the 12th and heading south for a few weeks. This weekend will be spent preparing the motor home, packing and organizing the house. Do we think the house will be in the same state when we arrive home in April ???