10-22-14 More Mississippi

10-22-14

MORE DAVIS-BAYOU IN OCEAN SPRINGS MISSISSIPPI

Have ya ever played musical chairs ?? This Davis-Bayou National Park has always been a first come first served park but not anymore ! As of about a month ago it went to a reserveable system via Recreation.gov. Of course this has created some very unhappy campers. We've seen folks, that have been coming here for years, pulling in here and get totally confused to discover the melee in the park ! Many have pulled into an empty site only to discover, in the morning, that they have to move and sometimes only for a few days. Then they move again. I suppose it'll all straighten out in time.

We've been on our site for 10 days and have to move on Friday to another site because ours is reserved for 3 days this weekend. It all seems kinda silly to us but “ oh well “ !! I did go on the net site and “reserve” the new site yesterday for 10 days. Whewwwww !! We're staying here til Nov 3^rd.

I was doing some research regarding SW Florida CG's and noticed some have reduced their rates from last year and many are becoming Encore Parks. That's another reservable system that is weird. A few years ago we pulled into an Encore Park and the office told us we had to have a reservation. I went out to the rig, made a reservation via the net and went back into the office and all was well. Pretty stupid in my opinion.

We've noticed a lot more snowbirds are on the roll. I guess the frost and colder weather is getting the migration into gear. There's a lot of Northern license plates showing up.

Managed to have a small bonfire last night. Got a nice Honda ride in to pick up some scripts. Cheated on dinner tonight and had pizza with our friends. Dropped a chunk of change at Wally World on groceries. I found an Ace hardware and had some extra keys made for the Honda for $5, sure beats $40 at the dealer !!

In the evening I like to sit outside at the picnic table at dusk. Been seeing bats and rabbits. Last night I left a bag of dinner trash on the table and some critter tore it up overnight. ( things do go bump in the night !! )

I've been getting a few motorcycle rides in almost every day. My coordination and confidence are coming together. We received Heather's new helmet in the mail yesterday. I found that on the net at ½ price of anything at any dealers in the area! It's even got a built in sunvisor that flips out of sight. I may order one for myself ! I'm gonna guess after I get another 100 miles of riding in we'll try riding together. Looking forward to that !

REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather.

10-12 thru 10-18 2014 Davis Bayou Camp 128 Ocean Springs, Ms.

10-12-14 SUNDAY CAMP 128 DAVIS-BAYOU
On the road at 0930 Sunday morning from Evergreen, Al.. 140 miles today. Usually Sunday traffic is light but the last half of this drive had a lot of traffic. We made really good time and arrived at Davis Bayou National Park in Ocean Springs, Ms at 1330.
Setup was a breeze, we had a nice level site and in the shade. It was 88F so the shade was welcome. The drive into the park was real woodsy, hard to believe it's right in town. It'll be easy to do our shopping as most of the stores are less than a mile to the campsite.
Monday was a good visit day. Our friends from Mich. Are hosting here. Jerry & Kathy started “ workamping “ a little over a year ago and love it. This is their 3^rd or 4^th gig. . We all managed to chit chat for hours getting caught up on our adventures.
This Davis-Bayou National Park is on the smallish side compared to other National Parks. There's only a limited number of campsites with water & electric, there's a dump available. As is true with most National Parks everything is clean. The best part is I get my geezer discount, 50% off !! Last week the area had the “Cruisin' The Coast Festival” and every RV Park in the area was full up. We saw that festival a few years ago and I heard this year was it's biggest. We saw a lot of antique cars heading North on Sunday when we were Southbound.
Monday night a serious storm pounded the area. We monitored the weather closely as there were tornado watches issued. About 2130 the warnings were cancelled but the rain and lightning continued for about 6 more hours. We left our shades open and enjoyed the show. This morning the news reported there were 1000 lightning strikes per hour at the height of the storm and some areas had 3” of rain. When we got up at 0800 the roads were dry in the park and by 0830 the sun was shining again. Gonna be 88F today.
TUESDAY THRU SUNDAY
Took the motorcycle out of the trailer and rode around the area. This was the 1^st time for me to unload the bike from the trailer and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Now I'm hoping I can get it back in ! The 5MPH speed limit in the park makes driving the bike a little slow. It's much easier to ride a little faster.
The area around the park is very woodsy and beautiful. The area outside the park is busy. I remember coming thru this area 5 years ago and a lot of cleanup was still in progress from hurricane damage. You'd be amazed how much has been rebuilt. Hard to believe it's the same area !
Our mail has finally caught up with us. I think it's been 2 months since I had it forwarded. As usual 90% was junk. Recieved a few packages of stuff that was ordered a few weeks ago. ( motorcycle accessories ). We use Passport America mail service and as always, they do a good job.
We went to a flea market today ( Sunday ) with our friends Jerry & Kathy. A lot of junk but no treasures. Stopped on the way back to camp for some ice cream, found out it was homemade. Yummy !! Also found a fresh shrimp supplier. Gonna get some this week.
There's all kinds of good weather this week and forcasted for all next week. It's about time.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie& Heather

10-10-14 Camp #127 Evergreen, Al.
I was surprised to wake up at 0630 (central time) but shouldn't have been, as that's 0730 Eastern Time. That's my normal wake up hour. These time zones really throw my timing off. Coffee right away and a nice leisurely morning as usual. The sun doesn't pay any attention to our stupid timekeeping and it was shining thru our windows very soon after I got up. A lot of campers at Cherokee CG are in the area to work so the traffic in the park was rolling at that hour.
We decided to start the get ready to travel routine about 0900 and were ready about 0920. Tough routine, ehhh ?? Pulled out of the park about 1000 for our long 140 mile trip.
Traffic down I-65 in Alabama was zipping along at the speed limit except around Montgomery, as usual for any large city the idiots that wanted to be “ up there yesterday “ did their usual tailgating and hitting their brakes. I just dogged along and did my thing. The sign on the rear of our rig says it all.

We pulled into Owassa Lakeside CG about 1330hrs and were all setup by 1400 in Evergreen, Al.. No one answered the phone here and a note on the office said to just setup and they'd catch us later. The roads in the CG were a little rough but the sites were nice. Very few rigs in here, again ! We picked a spot with some shade and declared “ Happy Hour “ right away !
We'll be heading for Davis Bayou National Park area on Sunday morning. Then we can settle down for awhile.
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY.

Charlie & Heather.

10-3-14 Camp # 125 Ten Mile Tennessee Hornsby Hollow CG

10-3-14 Friday , Ten Mile, Tn.
Woke up at 0730 in Hornsby Hollow CG to a downpour. It rained a good portion of the night. I love the sound of rain on the rig's roof. Got the coffee on and by the time it was done the rain stopped. Big puddles but the sun is coming up.
By 1200 the sun was shining and I got ambitous. Picked up a new battery for the chassis at Wally World enroute yesterday. The deep cycle marine batteries were on sale, I'm guessing because it's the end of season. I found a large marine deep cycle battery for $64. Too bad the state sales tax in Tennessee is 9.25%, kinda jacked up the price. Got out the tools and spent about an hour installing it. Of course I had to clean & polish & wash & no-oxide all the connections and the battery area. The chassis battery has about 12 wires connected to it and they were all corroded a bit. I do try to make a yearly effort to keep that area cleaned so it wasn't too bad. My before and after voltage readings went from 11.1volts to 12.9 volts. The old battery was using a lot of water and just wasn't maintaining a good voltage for the last 2 months ( 11.1v in the morning). I can't complain about the old battery, it gave us over 2 years of good service. ( Amazing that the warrenties are for 2 years!! Isn't it !!) Being an older rig, we use a lot of DC voltage. Another thing I've noticed is the charger has gotten a lot quieter.
10-4-14 Saturday--
Wow, got an excellent night's sleep. Didn't get up til 0830. It got Rather cool out last night and woke up this morning to 46F.. Extended our stay here 1 day due to forecasted wind gusts of 35MPH. You've heard me say before that I don't like driving our Class A in the wind. Sunday is supposed to be a good weather driving day and traffic is usually light. Next move will be to Ft Payne, Al, about 200mls.
We checked our to do list, nothing major but still needed doing. After an extended coffee hour we puttered around and vacuuming, window cleaning and fixing our screen door and other small chores ate up most of the day til Happy Hour.
The park has been really quiet. You can sure tell school is in session as we've only seen a few kids. The park is mostly empty.
I'm personally enjoying the solitude. Last night, about dusk, we could see the bass jumping in the lake.
I see a few of our friends in Michigan's U.P. and in South Dakota are expecting S N O W tonight !! YUK !!
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather

10-1-14 Wednesday, Camp #124,
On the road at 1000hrs. Goodbye Mt Vernon, Ky, enjoyed the 3 day stop over.
We crossed into Tennessee in about an hour. I really dislike driving thru the mountains here. It seems like a roller coaster all the way thru on I-75. We only had about 1 hr to our exit at Caryville, Tn., staying 1 night at Cove Lake State Park. This is one of a few states to offer all seniors a discount, an electric/water RV site is only $16.39 per night.
We drove around the Park a few times and settled on a site. All we had to do was call the office and do all the registration business via phone. So easy ! I wonder why other states don't do this instead of having to drive back to the office to do 2 minutes worth of business. The layout here is nice. There's 3 loops and lots of choices of the many roomy sites. About ½ of them are level and long enough for a 50 footer rig. It's close to I-75 and nestled in the mountains and close to town for shopping, even has a Super Wally World. We're only staying for 1 night.
10-2-14 Thursday, Camp # 125
We left the above State Park at 1000hrs and jumped on I-75 N by accident. Heather, the co-pilot noticed the mile markers were increasing---oopps--U turn required—now we were on track. It's nice to have a good co-pilot!!
The first thing we encountered was a rather lengthy and busy construction zone. I think the road crew assumed model T's would use these lanes. VERY NARROW !!!! A lot of the lane barrels had been hit and of course everyone wanted to be up front. NOT a good way to start the day.
We only had about 83 some miles to drive so it didn't take long. We got off I-75 S and went to 40 W and then S 58. Very pretty area & much more relaxed driving.
Pulled into Hornsby Hollow CG in Ten Mile, TN about 1300hrs. Wow, is this a nice CG !! A bit off the beaten path but well worth the $26 per night. Nice young couple with excellent host skills. I'll put this place on my okay to back to list. We pulled into lot # 31 with a lake view and plenty of privacy.

Heather went down to the Lake and was soaking her feet and the minnows were cleaning her feet.. Tickles !!

Planning on 2 nights but that may become 3 due to weather reports. ( windy on Saturday predicted).
We're aiming at SE Mississippi sometime next week. No rush and No schedule, all plans are in jello !! LOL
REMEMBER, LIVE YOUR DREAMS AS TIME GOES BY QUICKLY !!

Charlie & Heather