Vacation

OK, don't start!  I know most of you, and by most I mean all, think we are on a full time vacation.  I can't argue with that but we are taking a vacation from the RV.  Saturday the 23rd we will drop the RV off at an RV dealer and Camping World in Hammond, LA.  We have a list of warranty work, maintenance work and a few upgrades they will work on while we are gone.  We 'll be back on December 30th to pick up the RV.

First we go to Amelia Island, FL where Di's brother Dale and his wife Christy are staying at a condo.  Two days there then south to visit Di's sister Marge and her husband David for a few days then Dale and Christy will join us for Thanksgiving.  Friday Marge, David, Diana and I leave for a 10 day cruise in the Caribbean.  When we get back from that Diana and I will drive to Midlothian and visit with friends and spend Christmas with my brother and his family.  Then drive back to Hammond, LA to get the RV and resume that life style.

The inside of the RV looks like a storm came through since we have piles of clothes for each stop along the way.  We are pretty sure it will all fit in the Jeep...maybe!

Great River Road Complete!!!

On November 16, 2013 we completed our journey down the Great River Road.  This took roughly 3 months, but we took a side trip to Wisconsin for 2+ weeks and spent 3 weeks near the Twin Cities.  Several places along the GRR we saw signs indicating that one drop of water entering the the river at the beginning would take about 90 days to make it to the Gulf of Mexico.  We were not too far off of that timing.  Our approach was to follow the official GRR as much as possible unless we found roads closer to the river, then we followed as closely as we could.  Below is a summary in pictures and words of the trip.  Many places along the GRR we could not see the river at all, other places we were within a few feet.

It all starts at Lake Itasca in Minnesota.

We think Wisconsin has the most scenic drive on the river. 

 Tennessee was the only state with brown signs.

We did about half the road in the RV and the other half we parked the RV in a campground and drove the Jeep.  We drove in all 10 states that touch the river.

The river does not have an official end!  This is because south of New Orleans it begins to branch off and split around dozens of islands.  Technically it does not end until it is out in the Gulf a way.  We followed the road as far as you can by car.   This is as close to the end as we could get.

It was a fun adventure with some beautiful scenery and some just plain ugly industry.  What a blessing to have been able to do this.  Now we celebrate!!

The back up

When we left Baton Rouge our holding tanks were about 1/2 full.  We knew we were staying at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego near New Orleans and that we would not have a sewer hook up for a week.  So when we pulled into the camping area of the park our first stop was the dump station.  We hooked up and pulled the black water valve and all seemed well.  Once the tank was empty we filled it with fresh water to rinse it clean.  We pulled the valve again and water started coming up out of the hole that the soil line was in.  We closed the valve but still had 15 feet of liquid in the pipe so it continued to over flow the line for awhile.

We called the Park office and they sent 2 guys to help.  The help turned out to be them opening the large receiving tank about 15 yards away and telling me to finish the dump into it directly.  So Diana drove the RV to the tank while I walked along side holding the drain line up in the air.  It took about 10 minutes but we finally got both black and gray tanks drained.  Then we went and set up for the week.

Supposedly the park has had a plumber out twice to fix the problem.  They said they would get him back.  I hope so because we will need to drain again before we leave.

10K

Some where on the Natchez Trace between Vicksburg, MS and Baton Rouge, LA we passed the 10,000 mile mark in the RV.

Windshields and rocks

We had a great visit with Diana's cousin Holly and her husband Roger.  It was Halloween so we put on costumes!

But sadly it was time leave and continue on down the Great River Road. We were driving down hwy 1 from Memphis toward Vicksburg when an on coming truck somehow managed to throw a stone at us.  We never saw it but boy did we hear it.  BAM!  Diana was driving and did a great job of staying cool and calm.  We could not see any damage to the windshield but there was some broken glass on the dash board of the RV.  Of course there is no way to clean it up while we are moving so it will just have to wait.  When we pulled into the campground we looked at the damage.  The rock hit just below the top gasket between the RV body and the glass. The ding was about the size of a golf ball and while it did not go through the glass we knew the glass had been compromised all the way through.

So we call a glass repair company and they came out the next day to tell us that because of the location of the ding, they can not patch it and they do not replace RV windshields.  The RV is safe to drive and looks kind of cute with the tape patching the windshield.

When we get to Hammond, LA later this month we have an appointment at an RV service center.  We'll determine what to do then.

Memphis

We knew we wanted to get to Mud Island in Memphis before going to visit Diana's cousin Holly and her husband Roger.  We also knew we were not taking the RV down town.  So several miles out of Memphis we stopped at a Walmart and unhooked the Jeep. We drove the Jeep to Mud Island.  Mud Island is very cool but first some back ground.  We were in Memphis about a year ago and had a great time.  There was not enough time to visit Mud Island until our return flight was cancelled due to super storm Sandy.  So we had that extra day to go.  It was a Monday and we took the trolly to a visitors center near the island.  Turns out Mud is closed on Mondays.  Really, well shoot!

This time we were pushing to get there because of weather and because they close for the season after the big Halloween party on 10/31.

Mud Island has a to scale working model of the Mississippi River.

This picture is a very small section of the model.

We spent about 2 hours just walking the river model.  It shows all the significant tributaries, varies in width and depth and has markers throughout giving details and history.  Since we have been following the river from the source, this model was really great.

Well, that was fun!!??

We have had success following the GRR with the RV pulling the Jeep.  This new approach has save us time and money while allowing us a more relaxed trip.  So we left Cairo, IL and headed down the GRR toward Memphis, TN.  But as we drove the road became more narrow and in poor driving condition.  So we were driving about 25 - 30 mph rather than the 55 posted limit.  No worries because there is no other traffic on this road.  But it continues to narrow and deteriorate.  Soon we are on a road that is about 1.3 lanes wide.  But still no traffic so we are OK.  It is a concern that we have not seen a Great River Road sign in some time but there was no place to turn so we figured we must be on the right path.

We came to a sharp left turn in the road or we could go straight. We chose to go straight and that took us up a small hill.  Once over that knoll we knew we were wrong!  Turns out it is an entrance to a Cargill  grain receiving station.  In order to turn around and go back out we have to disconnect the Jeep,  maneuver the RV then reconnect. OR we could ask at the receiving office if we could go through the truck unloading area which was just a big circle.  Since Diana was driving I went in and explained our situation and they had no problem with me driving through. So we switched drivers and I began to make the loop.

I chose door # 2!

We made it through with no problem so we switched drivers again and Diana took the wheel.  We pulled out of Cargill and realized that there was no way we could make the now right hand turn on to the "road" we supposed to be on.  So we had to disconnect the Jeep, drive about 100 yards back up the road where we could turn the RV around, then reconnect the Jeep.  The entire process took about 30 minutes.  The beauty was that neither of us got upset and we just went with the flow.  I was very impressed with us!

This road did not get any better and finally we turned on the GPS and plugged in our destination.  It told us to stay on the road for 5 more miles.  So we did and about 1/2 mile before the intersection where we were to turn on to a real road we finally see a Great River Road sign.  We laughed, made the turn and continued on to Memphis.

By the way, Tennessee is the only state with brown GRR signs.  So far all other states have been green signs but use brown ones to indicate roads to parks or boat ramps.  Odd.

Cairo, IL

Cairo, Illinois is where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi.  When I first Goggled Cairo I was greeted with a post that Cairo was the most depressed town in the United States.  As we drove through Cairo I realized the post was right.  Not just empty store fronts but vacated buildings that were as run down as many slum areas.  I estimate that at least 40% of the buildings were vacant.  Somewhat of a ghost town.  We drove through town to cross the Ohio River into Kentucky to get to our campground and set up.


We set up camp at Columbus-Belmont State Park.  This was one of the nicest Campgrounds we have been in.  It had big level sites with a fire pit, picnic table and lots of grass.  The real beauty was that it was on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi.  So we not only had a great view, but part of the view was being able to watch boats pushing long lines of barges up or down the river.  The only down side to this location was that we had no internet and no phone service.

The next morning we headed back into Cairo to find the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi.

After seeing the confluence we drove into town to a diner where we could use our phones and get internet.  After taking care of that it was back home.

GRR St. Louis

We parked in a campground in West Chain of Rocks, IL.  We took the jeep and drove up the Mississippi to a tower overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers.

An interesting place but we wanted to get to the junction itself.  So we drove across the Mississippi into Missouri and went to a state park where we could walk right down to the point where these two great rivers become one.

We then drove south following the river as closely as we could.  We stopped for lunch in St. Louis then headed back to the campground.