Continuing our trek to Florida

Our travel day from Bentonville was forecast to be a very rainy day, with major flooding, following almost constant overnight rain and storms.  We considered delaying our departure by a day, but looking at the radar map in the morning, it looked like we would drive out of the rain as we moved south towards I-40.  We waited for a break in the rain, and quickly got the slides in and the Jeep hooked up.

Driving out of the RV Resort, we could see the evidence of heaving rain and flooding on the golf course!

The creek under this bridge was overflowing and had completely flooded the gold course!  The water was touching the bottom of the bridge, and coming dangerously close to washing over the road.

Further up the road, there were areas where the road was partially covered by water.

Thankful for our high clearance, we went on through.

We only had a couple of miles to get to the interstate, and once there, we could still see evidence of flooding, but there was no more water on the road.

As expected, by the time we reached I-40, about 40 miles south, we were out of the rain and the rest of the drive was clear.  We had a longer then normal driving day (290 miles), but almost all interstate, so it was not too bad.  We stopped for the night at a small RV Park right off the interstate, where we had a nice long pull-thru site for $20.  It was a nice little campground – easy to get in and out of.

While walking Casey, we found these two classics in the back of the campground – straight out of the Long, Long Trailer!

The next morning, we got back on the road and made our way through Memphis as we clipped the corner of Tennessee and turned south into Mississippi.

Our destination for the next couple days was Tombigbee State Park in Tupelo, Mississippi.  We don;t often stay in state parks, but the website said they had FHU big-rig friendly sites, and we called to verify and make our reservation.  Unfortunately, the driving directions to the park are a little vague, but after a hair-raising drive on a twisty-turny, narrow road through the woods, we made it to the park.

We got checked in and set up on our site – a little tight, but it’ll work for a couple days.

Just down the road from the campground is the Park and Memorial on the parcel of land that once belonged to Elvis Presley’s family – his birthplace.

The site consists of a museum, a few historic structures and the memorial.  We stopped in at the museum and watched the short film about Elvis’ early years in Tupelo.  It was interesting . . . I didn’t know he was a twin, did you?  Elvis sang in the choir at their little church, and hung out at the local radio station watching various singers perform.  When he was 13, the family loaded all their belongings into their car and moved from Tupelo to Memphis . . . and that’s where this story ended.

We didn’t buy tickets to the museum, but just walked around the gift shop admiring the memorabilia and multitude of Elvis items available . . . no pictures allowed (even in the Gift Shop!), but I snuck this one so I could show my sister, Sandi . . . she totally needs these pajamas!! LOL

Outside, we followed the pathway around the grounds, past the home he was born in,

and the little church where he began singing, moved to this site in recent years.

To be complete, they brought the outhouse, too!  LOL

There’s a status of Elvis with his first guitar, at 13 years old,

and up at the memorial, a statue of young Elvis becoming the superstar.

It was a very nicely done memorial – beautiful grounds.

The next day, we continued on and made our way into Alabama for a quick overnight stop.

From Alabama, we finally made it to Florida . . . and I missed the sign!!

Oh well, you’ll have to take my word for it that we’re here.  We had a few days before we could arrive at our first winter destination, and a beautiful weekend coming up, so we picked a small park on the Gulf, and were lucky enough to snag a beautiful site overlooking the water.

We spent the next three evenings and three days enjoying the sound of the water and birds, and some amazing sunsets!

We walked to the little town beach and fishing pier at the end of the road,

but otherwise just relaxed and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine – it was a beautiful weekend!

Friday Night

Saturday night

Sunday Night

We had a great stay at the beach, and we’re happy to be back in warm, sunny Florida!!

Staying Flexible with Travel Plans

We had planned to start north on Thursday, taking Route 45 through Tupelo, Mississippi (a new state for us!) and Paducah, KY (a 2-night stay with a visit to the Quilt Museum), and then taking I-69 to Indianapolis, IN before arriving in Decatur, IN for our Tuesday service appointment at Monaco. 

It sounded like a good plan . . . until we started listening to the weathermen on Wednesday!  They were calling for severe storms and possible tornados in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama all day on Thursday and Thursday night.  Not good!

We briefly considered leaving a day early on Wednesday and staying an extra day at our first stop . . . but we had dinner plans, AND it would be like going from the frying pan into the fire.  Tupelo, MS (our planned stop for Thursday had a big red bullseye on it!)  Leaving on Thursday, though, looked like it would have us driving in heavy rain all day . . . which didn’t at all sound fun!

So, we checked to see if we could stay an extra day, and we could, but we had to move sites.  That turned out to be a blessing in disguise . . . our first site was under a huge live oak that had been dropping branches and leaves on our RV all week, and the new site was out in the open, with no trees.  We worked it out that we could move on Wednesday, so Tom got the roof and the tops of the slides cleaned off, and we moved over to the new site.  Now the RV would stay clean even in the rain!

Since we were leaving a day later, we changed our route too . . . we wouldn’t be able to do any sightseeing, so we decided to just take I-65 all the way to Indianapolis.  It would mean 3 straight days of driving, but should avoid the worst of the weather.

With those plans worked out, it was time to drive to Destin for dinner with our friends, Nancy and Andy.  Nancy was our daycare provider back when the boys were little, and her husband was a fellow Ford engineer, so even after the boys moved on to school, we’ve remained friends and try to get together whenever we can.  They were in Panama City Beach for spring break, so we made plans to meet at McGuire’s Irish Pub in Destin.  None of us had been there before, except Bryce who had gone there last summer with our friend, Tim.  Their 3/4 lb. burgers are supposed to be excellent.

McGuire’s is a very popular place, but it’s HUGE inside, so we didn’t have to wait at all for a table.

 

Over the door it says “Feasting, Imbibery, and Debauchery”  I guess that’s Irish for “Eat, Drink and Be Merry!”

When you walk inside, the first thing you notice is the $1 bills – they’re everywhere!

The walls and the ceiling are covered with bills.  According to legend, there is over $1 Billion dollars in singles stapled to the walls and ceiling at McGuire’s!

We enjoyed our dinner – yes, the burgers are quite good, although I took half of mine home!, and afterwards we walked it off a little across the street at Harborwalk Village.

 

There are numerous restaurants, bars and shops, as well as a couple of the large resorts and activities for the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along the jetty, there are multiple fishing charter companies, sightseeing tours, dolphin-watching tours, and party boat rentals . . . as we walked along the dock, they were all coming into the jetty.

There’s a sand dune between the jetty and the gulf, and in the summer people will beach their boats along there and swim in the crystal-clear green water that Destin is famous for.  There was just a lone Great Blue Heron hanging out there tonight.

Destin is a popular vacation destination . . . I think even more so in the summer than it is at spring break . . . although there was no shortage of people around!  Lot’s of interesting places in Destin!

 

It’s a crazy, crowded place, but we had a nice visit with Nancy and Andy!

Back in Pensacola . . . the rain was supposed to arrive overnight on Wednesday, but it didn’t . . . then it was going to storm all day on Thursday . . . but it didn’t!  Why do we listen to the weathermen!!??!!

To be totally fair, though, north of us in Alabama and Mississippi, they were getting hammered with rain and storms . . . and even a few tornadoes . . . so it’s still probably good that we waited the extra day to move.

We got up early on Friday so we could get packed up while we were still dry (because once again, they were calling for rainstorms), and we were on the road by 8:15am. 

About a half hour into the drive, the rain hit us!

It was heavy at times, and there was a fair amount of lightening, but we continued on, knowing that all we had to do was get through Montgomery, and we would be out of it.

Whew – we made it, and the drive improved!

Even going through Birmingham was no big deal!

 

Who knew northern Alabama was so pretty . . . we’ll have to come back and stay a while!

 

Finally, after 312 miles, we pulled into KV’s RV & Storage for the night – not a bad overnight stop, especially at the Passport America rate of $15.

We’ll rest up for the night, and continue our northern trek tomorrow!

A beautiful day at the beach

After the weekend of rain, we were ready for a great beach day, and Monday promised to be beautiful!  It was a holiday for me, so we made plans to meet up with our friends camping on the beach at Perdido Key.

We had met Rick and Karen last winter in Ft. Myers Beach, and have kept in touch via email and Facebook as they travelled the west coast this winter.  When they decided to meet up with their daughter and son-in-law at the beach for Spring Break, they contacted us to see if we’d be in the area.  It sounded like a good idea to us, so we worked a stop in Pensacola into our plans. 

We arrived at their motorhome, and after getting caught up on their winter travels, we packed up the chairs, towels and umbrella and walked across the street to the beach.

We picked our spot on the sand and settled in.

It was the perfect day on the beach – not a cloud in sight, nice breeze off the water, and upper 70s.

There were parasailers out on the Gulf,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fishing boats, kids playing in the water and the sand, and at one point  a formation of helicopters flew over the beach.

 

It was really cool!

 

Eventually, Tom and Rick decided that they needed some shade so they put up the umbrella,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and Bryce got warm enough to brave the chilly water!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a perfect day – we were enjoying it so much, we stayed for about 5 hours!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our day on the beach, although a few of us got a little too much sun (not me!), and are paying for it today!

Karen and Rick have some friends from their hometown that live in Orange Beach, and they had made plans to meet up with them at a local Tiki Bar in the evening.  Jen & Ernie were going with them, and they invited us to join them, as well.

We did, and met a great group of people, including a few Spartans who were excited to hear about Bryce’s future plans!

What a great day – it doesn’t get much better than this!