I first must apologize to everyone
for the catchup posts. I’m sure all you need to read is the last one to know where and how we are. On Wednesday,
Mar. 27th it was 6:30 when I opened my peepers for the first
time. Bill was just getting up so when I noticed it was light out, I got up
too. I declined a tea, instead headed out the door for my walk. It was only 38F
but we seem to have left the winds back in Texas so it felt wonderful. The sky
was clear blue.
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It was easy to see a beautiful day was headed our way
this was on my morning walk |
I took my big Canon with the zoom
lens in case I got lucky again and spotted any deer but it was not to be. I
turned back after a mile and caught the sun rising off in the east, through the
forest. This is a beautiful place. Any place is beautiful where we can leave
our back blind open in the Suite after the sun has set and all we see is woodsy
parkland. Oh, and then in the morning, we have another great view of the sun
peeking at us.
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| And this was the view from our back window while here |
We finished our coffee and tea and
Bill had his toast. I reheated my leftover omelette and cleaned that up. It
would be a few nights without power so not feasible to keep it in the fridge
any longer than that. It was delicious, almost as much as it was the first
time! We cleaned up dishes, washed and then closed things up. The last thing I
did was to leave one of my painted rocks on the picnic table before I left. Not
hidden but still left behind.
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Sweet Home Alabama
(wouldn't you think they'd have a prettier eye catching sign?) |
We were all pulling out at a few
minutes before 8. Rob began in the leader position but because our gps’s were
different than our printed instructions, he asked us to take over. It was a bit
of a gamble on how was the best way to leave Tupelo but they all took us to
US-78E and soon enough we were on track. The drive was uneventful and then at 9
we crossed the state line into Sweet Home Alabama. I do believe I could come up with a more appropriate sign.
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| It was a beautiful driving day and very little early traffic |
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I noticed these bird houses up on the hill
How cute! |
Around 9:30 we took Exit 30 and
stopped at a travel station for a piddle break and to make a coffee for Rob and
us. It is easy for us to do with the Keurig and only have to open one slide.
Rob and Pat can offer the use of their bathroom as they don’t have to open a
slide to get to it. Bonus on both accounts. We share equally what we can. Once
we approached Birmingham, we began watching for the turn off to I-20E but
missed the earlier Detour sign.
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| Hamilton already? Oh, no, this is Hamilton, Alabama not Ontario |
The traffic was heavy enough around
that time and with such short notice and being in a middle lane, it just wasn’t
going to happen. We needed to rely on our gps to get us around all the One-Way
streets and construction going on. This meant following it downtown, zigging
and zagging onto I-65N and then finally I-20E. That was not fun but our truck
gps got us through very easily. Phew! Once through/around the city we stopped
at a Race Way for fuel top ups.
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| Downtown Birmingham, like it or not, here we come |
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turn left, turn right, turn left
We were very watchful along with our gps |
These are so much nicer than Love’s
or Flying J’s, the price is usually .20¢ cheaper per gallon. We gave Black
Beauty her drink at $2.79/gal and pulled down the street to the Walmart parking
lot where we could stop and eat our sandwiches. We were back on I-20E at 11:45.
The temperature has risen to 64F and the sky is still a gorgeous blue with
white fluffy accents here and there. Bill said the word “Spring” at one point
and looking all around us, it is easy to see the season’s GREEN.
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| Spring |
We drove through Lincoln and
Talladega which had a huge sign indicating that Talladega was the home of the
Motocross Raceway as well as their Museum. I know someone back home who’s son
may enjoy that if he hasn’t already competed there. Rhonda, that blurb was for you. We left Alabama after a
couple of ‘nice rv!’ and ‘welcome to Al-a-b-ama’ s around 2 pm and crossed into
the sunny state of Georgia.
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See, now that is an appropriate welcome sign
Just Peachy! |
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| These 4 pictures are for you roller coaster buffs |
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| this park was huge! |
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| I don't like the things but I was fascinated |
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| So much 'terror' to me |
A few miles in was their Information
Centre so we pulled in for a pit stop before reaching Atlanta. I picked up a
couple of maps. The boys decided to skip the 285 Bypass around the big city,
instead saving some 40 miles and driving straight through. It is the middle of
the afternoon, mid-week and for the most part of the drive on I-20E we whizzed
through Atlanta quite easily. There was a slow down with traffic congestion for
the last 20 miles but going west it was even more of a mess.
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| We were glad to be heading east rather than west |
We plugged through and even though we
lost sight of Rob and Pat a few times, eventually they would catch up. At least
we had contact either by CB radio or text. When we got to our destination of a
Walmart, the assistant manager denied our request to stay for the night. All it
said when we searched was “Notify Manager” and that usually means just tell
them we’re in the lot. Well, this put a bit of a kerfluffle in the trip.
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I do believe these are Wisteria trees
So pretty! |
We lost our hour when we crossed into
the state, now on EST same as at home, so that put us later in the day than
normal. At 4, we were driving to Norcross to find a Cracker Barrel. This time,
I phoned and the Manager gave us approval to stay.
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Searching for the Cracker Barrel, this was a later arrival
so we kind of got caught in the rush hour congestion |
Getting there was another
issue as we had to go back the way we’d come for 4 miles, catch the 285 bypass,
get on I-85N to find it. It makes you shake your head when things go awry and
you have to double back. No matter, we arrived just before 5 and after feeding
Clemson, we went inside for a well-deserved meal.
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| There it is!! |
Cracker Barrel never lets us down.
Our meal was delicious and I asked to see the Manager after we’d finished. We
just wanted to extend our thanks for their hospitality in allowing us to stay
in their small lot. We aren’t just small trailers and he welcomed us. After our
meal, no dishes (yay!) Bill and Rob had to re-examine our route for tomorrow.
We want to be up and out of here early so we don’t get blocked in.
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As you can see the Manager's "lots of room for you"
was a different interpretation than ours
However, to his credit, this was on the phone and he had no idea how big we were |
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| Rob and Pat were across the back of the lot |
This was a long driving day again but
a nice drive on the interstate. The road was good without any serious bumps.
The sun is still out and it is 7 pm. What a great night!
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this was such a delicious meal - much better than it looks
That was 2 nights ago - Good night |
Thank you for popping in. Sooner or
later, these posts will get published.
