We’ve now used our recent Thousand Trails membership purchase, and we’re parked at their Lake Conroe facility in Willis, TX (about an hour north of Houston).  The drive from Louisiana was filled with LONG flat bridges over the bayou’s and such.  Lot’s of signs for Boudin and Cracklin, but we didn’t stop.  The GPS and other sources for directions suggested taking the non-Interstate route, which provided for some adventure and scenery, and did get us there in a timely manner.  Probably saved $20 or more in gas due to it being shorter.

This place has an interesting procedure for check in.  You start at the gate, and give them your member card.  For that, you get a map, and instructions to go pick out a site.  Not good after a long drive, with the sun about to set.  We found a spot, and then had to deal with the CRV having a dead battery.  Need to solve that one, as the towing setup was supposed to feed DC power back to the car so it wouldn’t drain the CRV battery.

Anyway, got a spot, got setup, got all the paperwork sorted, and found where the Laundry facilities are located.  Today is work, and investigation into the possible Texas drivers license and such.  Fridge needs some restocking too.  Oh, and there’s a place nearby that has BINGO… We might have to check it out.

Diane is still trying to recover from her cold.  Molly reports that she is much better, and enjoying her time with friends and grand-parents in California.  I’m just pushing on.  Hope to get the dash shelf, WiFi link, XM Radio, and CB Radio setup while we’re here, or at least as much as possible.

We had a great time staying in Georgia.  Even though there was a bit of rain, and cold, and illness, it was a good stay.  Diane was able to re-meet her cousin and his family, and I got to meet and have dinner with them as well.  The RV Park we stayed at, Twin Lakes RV Park in Cumming, GA, was just a basic spot with hook ups and a flat space, but a good value.  I’m sure it’s even better in spring/summer when the tree’s a full of green leaves.  Molly and I enjoyed walking around the lakes while she was with us there.  The location worked well for us to in that it was close to most things we needed, and close to my companies office in Alpharetta.

So, we’ll be leaving here tomorrow, and off to Texas eventually.  Not sure where our mid-way overnight stop will be.

We left Sunday morning for the trip from Heiskell, TN to Cumming, GA.  I was being lazy and slow this morning, which led to a wet environment for me to deal with while hooking up the car, and disconnecting shore power.  Also made for a SLOW drive down.  It finally started to calm down about 30 miles into the Georgia border.  The GPS kept trying to take me down some “shorter” 2+ lane highways across Tennessee and Georgia, but I wasn’t falling for it.  Stayed on 75 to the loop, then 400 up.  Worked out great, and still came in only 10 minutes after the predicted GPS time from before my detour.

We pulled into the Twin Lakes RV Park with no issues, and found our name on a map and a spot set aside for us.  It is quite full here right now compared to the other times I came by to check it out.  Should be just fine.  We’ll hang out here this week for me to work in Alpharetta, and for the girls to explore and learn new stuff.

We headed out Saturday morning from Chellie’s, and started making the trek to Georgia.  It’s a 9 hour drive, which would need 2 gas stops, and likely take 10-11 hours in reality, and rain is forecast, so, we decided to take two days and stop in Heiskell, TN for the overnight.  There is an Escapee’s RV Park there.  Since we joined Escapee’s to use their mail forwarding service, we decided to try out one of their parks too.  It was definitely OK for the money.  Only $17 for the night, with full hook ups and cable.  I didn’t check out the restroom’s or showers due to the pouring rain Sunday morning, but I’m sure they were fine.  Very friendly staff for sure.

Well, we arrived at Chellie’s in Morgantown near sundown on Veteran’s Day.  A fairly nice state/county highway drive up from Evansville.  We’ve got a level spot here with electricity.  The facilities are really nice, with clean bathrooms and shower, and even a kitchen to use!  Best RV park ever! And so Exclusive!

We’ll have Thanksgiving at the clubhouse near Mom and Dad over in Terre Haute.  We saw them a couple days ago, and left Molly there for some Granny and Poppi alone time.

It’s nice and relaxing here, except for the lack of nearby dump site.

Not much more posting till we get going down to GA.  We bought a Thousand Trails membership, and are just waiting for the paperwork.  We expect to hang at many of their sites once we get back to CA/AZ area.

We left Nashville around 7am, and headed up to Evansville, IN, to check out the LST museum there.  My first ship in the Navy was the USS Sphinx, ARL-24.  The Sphinx was originally designated to be LST 963, but was converted after the keel was laid, as World War II was wrapping up at that time, and other types of ship were needed.

LST 325 has a pretty interesting history, and the most recent 10 years are pretty cool.  A group of old Navy guys went to Greece to get it going and bring it back.  You can read all about it here… http://www.lstmemorial.org/ It’s a working ship, and they take it out for a few weeks/months each year, up and down the rivers.

We arrived in time to be able to take part in the Veteran’s breakfast they had going on which was nice, and unexpected.  I’d kept out my USS Sphinx ball cap, so I fit in with many of the other vet’s.  After breakfast, we waited for the cleanup, then joined in for a tour.  It was fun for me, as I hadn’t been on the Sphinx since sometime in 1988 or 89, and it was bringing back some memories.  It is a bit different, but the engineering, birthing, and mess hall space are similar.  The big open area that houses tanks was filled with machinery for us, and some other storage or work areas.  All in all, everyone had a good time, and the girls enjoyed seeing something that was like the Sphinx.

After, we headed on up to Morgantown.

We made it to the KOA in Nashville, TN.  It was a tense drive getting through Nashville with all the road changes and wind, but we made it in one piece.  The CRV had spent too much time in “towed” mode, and so the battery was dead.  The workers at the KOA were kind enough to get our Propane tank filled, and to give me a jump for the CRV.

This KOA Kampground is pretty nice.  You can search YouTube for “KOA Nashville” and you’ll find some video of when the place was flooded out a couple years ago.  No sign of any problem at the campground, but the local mall is still closed.  The Grande Ole Opry stuff is all back up and running though, and the Gaylord Opryland is where the Invensys event was being held.

Overall the campground was nice for us.  Not crowded at all due to the time of year.  The only “issue” we really had was with the showers.  For whatever reason, they use one of the outdoor beach type shower heads.  These are the kind that just spray a big stream at you, and you cannot move them at all.  And, they were pointed right out of the shower into the changing area.  I had soaked shoes the first day before figuring this out.

As a post visit update… We got to eat at some new restaurants, although they are chains.  We’ve now experienced a Waffle House, as well as Bob Evans.  Thanks to Naomi B. for the great dinner at Bob Evans.  We’ll be back there for some breakfast goodies soon… Hold the Avocado.

Very soon, I’ll get Diane on here to share about the visits she and Molly made to the state capital and an Elephant sanctuary.

Another early rise and hitting the road.  This routine is working, and no one getting cranky from being woken up too early.  This is good.  The goal for this day had originally been to get to Russellville, AR, but we’ve got a 1.5 hour jump by staying in Shamrock instead of Amarillo.  It’s a tad more windy today, and once we got to late afternoon, I used the apps to check on sunset, and RV stops on the route.  Memphis had plenty of parks too offer, but we weren’t going to get there till it was pretty dark.  Given all the bambi carcasses on the road, I didn’t want to do much night time driving.  Based on all of that, it looked like a place called Heritage Inn and RV park in Brinkley, AR was going to fit the bill.  I called, and they had plenty of spaces.  This is where technology went wrong.

First, the All Stays app “pin” for the location was north of 40, but the directions they gave on the site indicated it was south.  Ok, no biggie.  I punched in the address on the GPS, and off we went.  It took us off the right exit (I think) but then sent us even further south.  Once we got to our “destination” we were out among some fields, where all the roads were dirt and uncertain for the RV.  We saw another major highway 2 more miles down the road, and fortunately, it was a wide enough intersection with no traffic so we could get turned around.

Next, I used the GPS and searched for the POI for the “Inn”, and that got us there correctly.  It was south of the highway, and at the next exit.  Ok, so GPS/Operator fail, and now it’s dark.

Second “trouble”.  This place was rough.  The “RV Park” had about 30 spots.  All empty but one small trailer in a dark corner.  It was $20, but I could just park wherever I wanted, according to the clerk.  Several of the “guests” (more like residents) were out and about, cooking out on the walkway of the second floor of the Inn.  I had some concerns about the security of our stuff, but it was an hour after dark, and the next place that had spots was at least another hour down the road.  So, we found a spot, and hoped for the best.  The next bit of trouble was the shock I got from the electrical hook up.  Fortunately, since no one else there, i used another one that my cord could reach, and everything worked.

I went to bed early, and Diane and Molly stayed up late.  They were still on CA time.  All is secure and ready, and its time to hit the road…

Another easy day.  Up early for me, prepped and pulled out while the girls kept sleeping.  Diane gets woken up a bit, and helps with some odds and ends, finding things like headphones, etc., and then back to bed.

We seem to be ahead of the bad weather getting to CA now, and the winds aren’t too bad.  Driving still pretty easy.  Todays target had been Amarillo, but we made it all the way to Shamrock, TX.  Cool Gas Station here, used as the model for a gas station in Cars.

Another perfect stop, as we pulled in right at sunset, and got all hooked up.  The iPhone apps are still coming through just fine.

Well, it’s been pretty easy actually.  I got up, disconnected everything outside, got the cat secured, fired up the engine and pulled in the sides, lifted the levelers, pulled out, hooked up the CRV, and headed on down the road.  Diane and Molly still resting comfortably in their beds.  Made it to Barstow for gas and breakfast, then hit 40 and kept on going.

I’m not sure where we were when Diane and Molly got up, but so far so good.  We stopped for some lunch on the way.  Using my iPhone, The Weather Channel app (for sunrise/sunset times), and the GPS (which was set to “Winslow, AZ”), I could see early on that we would be able to get past Winslow.  I then used the “All Stays – Camp & RV” app to see what was available up the road.  Found a KOA that was in Holbrook, AZ.  Called them and found they had spots, so we decided to stop there for the night.  I worked out well as we pulled in there just after the sun went down.  Molly and I headed over to the Pizza Hut to grab some dinner, and it ended as a nice comfortable day for all.  Here’s hoping for similar outcomes in the days ahead.