Big time oops!!!!

Still a nice drive up the Trace to the Meriwether Lewis Memorial campground.  Took this picture of the memorial on our way into the campground.

In the background you can see a replica of the Log Inn (or Station as they were called in 1809).

The campground was very nice, primitive with no hookups. We sat up in a quiet level site and settled in for the evening.  We arrived shortly after noon so enjoyed lunch after setting up.  Temperatures had been dropping all day as we moved north and at noon it was around 35 degrees.  Without electricity we will just use our furnace and keep nice and warm all evening.

Mid afternoon I decided that since we have a generator to use for the microwave at supper time why not just run it a bit this afternoon to get our e-books and game computers charged up.  All worked great for awhile with the furnace keeping us nice and warm ---- that is up until the furnace quit working while it was 62 degrees inside and then the generator shut down.  Now what is going on???  A quick check out side let me know that we were out of propane.  We have two 30 lb tanks and I had thought, as we left home, that would be fine for the whole trip, not knowing just how much the generator would use plus the furnace.  Sure didn't expect such low temperatures this late in the month.

With no way to heat the camper and keep warm we had to do something fast.  I searched for the nearest full hookup campground and found a KOA within 30 miles (as the crow flies) so I called them to see if they could fill our LP tanks and provide a site for the night.  They were about to close their office but told us to come ahead and just call when we arrive as they live on the property.  It took us an hour of driving but still arrived before sundown and they were gracious to accommodate our needs after hours.

We are now in a comfortable camper with two full tanks of propane, the furnace set on 69 degrees, a good internet connection, and good cell phone service.  Tomorrow we will continue our travels toward the Manor without driving the last 60 miles of the Trace.

Meriwether Lewis

Tonight's campground is on the grounds of the Meriwether Lewis National Monument.  After he and his pal Clark made their trek up the Missouri River, across the mountains to the Pacific coast, and back President Jefferson then appointed him Governor of the Louisiana Territory where he made his home in the St. Louis area.  Facing near bankruptcy he headed to Washington DC to claim reimbursement of monies that were owed to him for expenses he paid out of pocket. He started down the Mississippi on a steam boat and planned to sail from New Orleans to Washington but instead he got off at Natchez and began to take the overland route up the Natchez Trace to Nashville and then East.  While stopped at an Inn along the way he was robbed and killed near this monument in October of 1809.  You can read more at this Wikipedia page. wiki/Meriwether_Lewis

Not sure we will be able to post tonight because of the remote location.

Day two along the Trace

We entered the South end of the Natchez Trace near Natchez, MS around 2:00 pm yesterday.  Then it was up the trace for about an hour to our first campground on the Trace, Rocky Springs Campground.  It is a part of the National Park and is a free, first come first served, no hookups campsite.  There was a restroom near the entrance from the Trace for use by both the campground and travelers along the Trace.

Our site was fairly level with just a minimum of blocking necessary.  I was surprised at how full the campground was by evening time.  Because it is time for the snowbird migration from the southern clime back north toward home, this Natchez Trace is a preferred avenue for that migration.  We stopped at a picnic area today for lunch and another camper pulled in behind us.  They were from Ontario Canada and have used the Trace for several years.  They had been in the same campground last night as us and are now in the same campground we are for tonight plus they plan to be in the same campground that we will use tomorrow night.

Here are a few pics from last nights campsite.

first picture of some dogwood before I wiped the mist from the lens

 after clearing the lens but sky is cloudy so still not very bright

Our site

 

 Another shot of dogwood near our site

This is tonight's front yard, Davis Lake

Our site for tonight was up hill then leveled off just right for our setup to be good

Last night was without any cell signal for either phone or internet, also no television.  So it was a quiet night of reading and puzzle games with an early bedtime.  Without any electric connection we had to rely on our battery system in the camper and was so glad that we had that taken care of a few days ago.  With that system working correctly we had those few days to get our batteries fully charged and now they functioned properly.  We did fire up the generator to run our microwave at supper time.

Tonight we have both electric and water hookups and can relax while the electric hookup puts our batteries back to full charge.  Tomorrow night we have another no hookup campground and know we will be able to manage.

Driving the Trace is a pleasure.  It is a 50 mph speed limit with no commercial vehicles, no billboards, no stop lights, no Walmart stores, no gas stations, nothing but mother nature's beauty.  With the cruise control set on 50, the truck in 6th gear mostly just idling along, it is relaxing and should produce much better fuel economy.  Tonight we are a little past half way of the 444 mile length of the Trace.  The first half was full of lots of dogwood blooms along the right-of-way plus back in the undergrowth, beautiful.  About the halfway mark we began to see some red buds starting to bloom and as we progressed further north they became more plentiful while the dogwood began to not be quite as open.  We also began seeing wisteria climbing the trees and in some areas a mass of lavender to the tops.  Tomorrow's trip will continue up the Trace and our campground tomorrow will be close to the north end.

beautiful sounds

Sitting here with the windows open and listening to a mocking bird really singing away, beautiful sounds.  We also have had a whip-poor-will  most evenings with a very raspy voice.

This has been a very quiet campground with very little human noises.  We have truly enjoyed our time here on the Gulf but tomorrow we pack up and head North.  From here we plan to head to Natchez, Mississippi where we will get on the southern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway to follow the full 444 miles toward Nashville, TN.  We have three campgrounds along the Trace and will be moving each day.  The Trace is a 50 MPH speed limit and there are sights to see along the way so it will be slower going than if we were on the freeways.  Camping along the trace may be in some areas without cellular service and if so there will not be any postings to this blog.  I will post whenever possible.

From our final campground on the Trace we will be heading back to the Manor around Nashville and then through KY and IL.

Saint Patrick's Day

Hope all are wearing the green and enjoying St Patty's day.

It's nice and warm with overcast skies here in Ocean Springs, MS.  Rain had been forecast but today they say just mostly cloudy.  I had planned to take a hike around this park yesterday but because of the rain I didn't want to slip and fall in to become an alligator's meal.  This morning without the rain I did take a nice long hike from our campsite.

They call this salt marsh "the pond"

 This is looking back toward where picture #2 was taken from along the loop trail

 The loop trail was just a damp walk through some woods, but good exercise

 One very large Magnolia Tree

 First alligator and the biggest seen

 Saw a smaller one but wasn't able to get a picture then saw this one

After my walk I needed to relax and enjoy one of my Irish, St. Patrick's day pleasures.

In between day

Today is in between "the Ides of March" yesterday and "Erin Go Bragh" tomorrow.  Hope all survived the Ides yesterday and are looking forward to St Patty's day tomorrow, I'm ready with a bit of Guinness on hand but will have to enjoy the corned beef and cabbage when we get home.  We do that quite often in the crock pot any time of the year.  It will still be good even though not on the day of the wearing of the green.

We are now in a mild rain shower and the forecast is that may be our weather until Sunday when we depart the Gulf and head toward the Natchez Trace.

If there is a break in the showers I have plans to take a hike on a trail around the Davis Bayou for hopefully some nice nature pictures.  The ranger in the park says there are alligators that like to lay in the sun this time of year so will just have to see if they are around.

On our drives in and out of the campground we have seen this splash of bright white along the roadside and have tried to figure out what is was.  This morning I went to the grocery store for a few items and stopped to get a couple of pictures.  From these we have determined that it is a wild rose, very pretty and showy.

The Shed

After talking about The Shed in this mornings post I got curious and did some searching and the more I found the more I had a taste for BBQ.  I found the location was only 7.5 miles from our campsite and told Jo we were going for lunch.

The building or buildings are a cobbled up mass of salvaged material and the floor is gravel but the Q was GOOD.  I had some pulled pork and Jo had chicken and both along with the sides were very good.  Now back to Gulf seafood.

Yum and Yum again

Our dinner last evening was great.  The restaurant was super popular as we had about a 25 minute wait for a table.  It was worth it for sure.  Here is a picture of my appetizer.

Jo stole one of them just to say she tried it.  She does this each time I have the opportunity to have oysters on the half shell.  Then the Chef must have misunderstood my order for a rack of ribs slathered in BBQ sauce and this is what was sent to the table.

Actually that is precisely what I ordered, lightly blackened grouper on a bed of slaw with steamed broccoli.  Jo ordered the same and we both enjoyed tremendously, de-lish.  We came south for some FRESH seafood.  The restaurant was "The Reef"   Actually there is a well known and popular BBQ & Blues place in this area called The Shed that is nationally known.

Happy Pi day to all

The mathematical value of Pi is 3.14............. and many decimal places.  Which is, the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference.  So today's date of 3-14 is known as Pi day.

Now that our science lesson is over so is our electrical problem.  What we needed was some water in our batteries.  Well it was not quite that simple but it didn't cost us $300 dollars for a new converter.  The mobile tech was very good and checked out our system.  It seems that when I tried to replace the fuses in the converter I didn't unplug the converter first so when one fuse was inserted the converter would start up and try to push 45 amps through that 30 amp fuse, pop goes the weasel. If I had unplugged before inserting the fuse and then added the second fuse the converter would then have had 60 amps of fuse to push its 45 amp charge and all would have been well.  While the tech was here he ask to check our batteries as that might have caused our problem in the first place instead of the converter.  All cells of both batteries were low so we topped them all and put the system back together.  Our cost was his service charge.

Now after all that this morning, I have ask Jo to take me out to dinner tonight to see if we can find a good BBQ joint.  Ill post some pictures of that big ol' slab of ribs tomorrow.

Always something, long story

This morning we were watching television and having breakfast when our CO alarm started it's beep warning that tells us the house batteries are low or down to about 50%.  This happened last year and we found that our 112 to 12 volt converter was on a GFI outlet that had sprung so it wasn't charging the batteries as it should.  Our television is on an inverter getting its power from the batteries so definitely a drain.

My first thought was to check the fuses on the converter which requires the basement storage to be emptied so I can crawl in.  There are two 30 amp fuses so I pulled both and couldn't see a break in the connector but they still could have been bad.  I went to town to find an auto parts store for some new fuses to insert and while there also stopped at a nice super market for a few grocery items.

On my return I found all windows and door of the camper open and Jo inside trying to cook up a batch of soup for lunch.  The smoke alarm had gone off while the stove was lit so she had opened the door and windows and turned on both ceiling fans.

I had already turned off the TV so that wasn't a drain but the ceiling fans are on the battery so now the CO alarm was going off again causing a lot of frustration in the house.  I pulled the battery from the smoke alarm and turned off the fans and eventually the alarms were silent and Jo was able to finish her soup.

I put the new fuses in the converter and they blew immediately both of them.  This isn't good, I thought.  My internet hotspot was also plugged into the TV outlet so I had no internet to do any googling for any information.  Then it was take out the ol' smart phone and use browser app to search for an RV repair shop nearby.  Rather than call them I decided to go and talk in person.  Ms Navi in the truck didn't know where this business was so I used Google Navigation App on the cell and it guided me right to the front door.

They will order a new converter for us and bring it out in the morning to install.  They  said it was an easy install that anyone could do, but I decided to pay them for the house call so they can check out the remainder of that system to perhaps find out why the converter went bad.

Long story but it has seemed like a long day.  And it's only 3:00 pm.

PS: Oh, Jo's soup was very good for lunch.  And I was able by using an extension cord to plug the TV into a different circuit along with my internet hotspot so we are back in business a little inconvenienced.

Yum

We got out yesterday into Biloxi for lunch.  We had two reasons for coming down to this part of the Gulf and they were warmer temperatures and fresh seafood.  The warmer temperatures we have already established that those were found and now I can tell you that we have a start on reason number two.  I say a start because I'm sure there will be other meals out.  This area is loaded with seafood restaurants and several we have already tried in previous visits.  Shaggy's has two locations along this beach and we have previously been to both so that is where we headed yesterday based on our previous experiences.

We both had fried oyster po-boys and then I had half of Jo's for supper last night, Yum.

One attraction in this area that we have already visited might be a little bit non-politically correct in today's climate of unrest over civil war monuments.  That is Beauvoir House which was the home of Jefferson Davis after the Civil War.  In our travels throughout the south we have toured several plantation homes and they are all interesting.  This was another interesting plantation style home tour and history lesson.

Davis Bayou

Here are a few pictures of our campsite.  This is a national park campground in the Gulf Islands National Seashore

We can see water between the trees behind us

 

Davis Bayou

The Gulf is abut a half mile south of here

 Palmetto bush near the bayou

Eureka we have found it

In our search for SPRING we have been successful.  Got word today that it was snowing back home, so glad we moved out.  Our trip today was in the 60s and shirt sleeve weather.

Thursday as we entered into Arkansas we began to see daffodils, an early sign of spring.  As we passed through Memphis there were ornamental pear trees blooming and south of Memphis we saw red bud trees beginning to bloom.  Now today as we got further south in Mississippi the red buds were in full bloom along with beautiful wisteria hanging in some trees.  Then a few azaleas in bloom and occasionally a dog wood.  Now here in Ocean Springs, MS right on the Gulf, the azaleas are in full bloom and plentiful.

We have found SPRING! 😎

We are going to enjoy this for the next week and then take 5 days to return home so hopefully Mother Nature will have caused spring to happen back at the Manor by then.

day of rest

Because of this being a popular State Park and usually busy on weekends they require any stay that includes either Friday or Saturday must reserve for two nights.  Since we arrived on Friday, I paid for the two nights, so we have had a nice day of rest today.  We will resume out trek to the Gulf tomorrow morning.

We have had a few brief light showers today with thunderstorms predicted for tonight.  According to the forecast they are supposed to end before we depart in the morning so I hope that is correct and I don't have to use my rain attire to get things all put away for traveling.  That rain suit is in the truck so I probably should bring it into the camper just in case their timing is off.  And, also hope that they are forecasting for the worst but the storms end earlier.  😕

Our pet pelican as we departed

Day 2, bad news --- good news

Twas a nice drive today except for traffic into and through Memphis.  After we cleared the metro area things smoothed out and it was a nice drive.  Yesterday in Arkansas we began to see daffodils, a sure sign of spring.  Today through and south of Memphis we saw lots of decorative pear trees in full bloom and as we got a bit further into Mississippi we began to see red bud trees staring to bloom, Jo is happy to see these signs of spring weather.

Now the bad news before we get to the good news.  I use google earth to search campgrounds for specific sites to reserve.  Sometimes the tree cover is so dense that I can't see any specific sight.  For tonight's site it was totally in the open and looked good.  There wasn't an attendant at the gate house so we just drove to our site and began to set up.  The site had more of a slope than was good for us and made it hard to get into and out of our entrance door but we were going to make it work.  Then I began to connect our power cord only to find the provided power box was a distance away between our site and close to the next site over.  I do carry a 30' extension cord along with our 30'  camper cord.  They wouldn't reach by 5' - 10'.  We paid for a water and electric site so didn't want to go the next two days here without.

We drove to the closest visitors center and ask about moving our reservation to another site that would work.  We were given permission to move to any site that didn't have a reservation marked on the site post.  We find out later that he was talking about a different campground than the one we were in.  Based on his recommendation we returned to our campground and moved to a good sight that we could fit in and our power cord would reach.

Now the good news.  As I was completing our setup connections a campground representative was driving by and stopped to check on who was occupying an unreserved site.  I walked out and visited with her and told our story.  She told me that the ranger at the visitors center where I had previously contacted was not connected with this campground in any way and had no authority to reassign any campsite.  She was nice enough to call her office and verify that this campsite was in fact available and authorized us to make the move so that was good news.  We are settled for the next two nights in a nice campsite, legally.

Here are a couple of campsite pictures.

 Our back yard, with our pet pelican

Last night's campsite

A couple of pictures of our setup.  We did have a couple of other campers in this loop last night but some distance from us.  They have already pulled out but we aren't leaving until about 10:00.  Since we aren't in any hurry, we plan 4 - 5 hour drives between campsites.

With the lake behind us

The overnight low this morning was right at 32 degrees, right now at 42.  Tomorrow night's low near Grenada, MS is forecast to be in the 50s.  Yea! no more below freezing temperatures for us on this trip and hopefully in two weeks when we get back home there will be no more there also.

On the road again

It feels good to be on the move again.  After what seems like a long winter of thumb twiddling now we are active.  We are tonight in Lake Charles State Park near Powhatan, AR.  This is a fairly large campground and from where we are located we can't see any other campers.  At least we won't have noisy neighbors.

Enjoyed greatly a nice long lunch with sister Neva in West Plains.  It was good to get a couple of hugs from her and to get caught up on her kids and grands.

Tomorrow's trip will take us through Memphis into Mississippi and a MS State Park.

about ready

We now have the camper almost stocked except for last minute food items.  We need to do some grocery shopping for fresh veggies, fruit, and lunch time snacks.

We will need to turn the furnace on tomorrow night and Wednesday night to keep the pipes that are now full of fresh water from freezing.  Those two nights are predicted to be in the mid 20s.  I will set the thermostat to a low temp just to keep things above 32 degrees.  After that we should be well above freezing for the rest of the trip and our small electric heater should keep us comfortable.

Today I refreshed the guide marks on our truck bed.  I put white duct tape on this location last year to help guide my backing under the camper.  This is the exact location for the base of the camper to align correctly but last years tape had become soiled and shifted therefore the need to refresh.

These marks along with the backup camera that is located just above the center of the back cab window helps align the camper when loading.

Running in circles

Started getting ready for a Thursday departure on our (seems to be annual first) outing southward to the Gulf.of Mexico.  First thing is to flush out the pink antifreeze in the plumbing so we can load the fresh water tank.  I usually put all our hoses together connected to our water filter that I remove the filter and fill the canister with bleach.  That way I fill the fresh water tank with high chlorine concentration in order to sanitize the tank while the chlorine solution also sanitizes the hoses.  Then came the oops!

Seems the only item I failed to winterize was the filter which always stays with some water from last usage.  Yes it froze and burst some time during the winter so I was off to town for a replacement.  First stop Lowe's, sure to find it there, but while they had some similar filters they were more designed for whole house plumbing and I didn't think I could make them work.  Passed right on by Walmart, keeping that as a last resort, my next stop was Ace Hardware.  Took one home that I thought would work but found that the pipe size for the connection was too small for my fittings.  That caused another trip to town for a reducer fitting to make it work and that wasn't available so okay off to Walmart.

Found one that I thought would work but when I tried to match it with my connections that one needed a larger connection than I had.  In all my confusion I had forgotten what I had found at Lowe's so went back there to look and realized that they didn't have anything I could use.  Returned to Walmart to return that unit and went back to Ace Hardware and bought a different one from before.  That one still didn't work so I give up for this trip.

Most of our campgrounds for this next trip are electric only connections so we will be using our own water which is a tank full of Holts Summit, Callaway County water district number 1, water that we are used to so this trip will just not be using filtered water.

Now to get the freezable items back in and normal closet and pantry items loaded.

Still excited to get back on the road again.

In hibernation

Took advantage of today's nice temperatures and made the camper ready for winter.  That included clearing everything out that might freeze, draining all waterlines and fresh water tank by opening the low point drains, and emptying the water heater.  Then had to go to town to buy some RV antifreeze some times just called "the pink stuff" which is pumped through all of the plumbing and it will remain there until spring when we get ready to travel again.  The pink stuff will not expand down to a -50 degrees.  It firms up but doesn't expand and burst the piping.  Then it was just close up all slide outs and lock the door.  Here it is all ready for winter.

 

I had already set it on my support system when it was unloaded from the truck yesterday.  Last winter it sat all winter just on the camper jacks and that worked except that this spring when I jacked it back up for loading the jacks acted like they were bound up somehow.  I figured that  one or more of the camper jacks had crept a little due to the extended time under load putting the system in a bit of a bind.  This time I constructed a support system under both the front and back with a couple of jack stands and a 4x4 across the top.  This system is capable of carrying the full camper load and then I lowered the camper jacks to just when they begun to carry a bit of weight.  The camper jacks will make it more stable under any winds.

beautiful sunlit day

Made the trip back to the Manor after lunch.  As posted earlier the skies were blue with much sunshine so where the trees were showing their fall colors it was great.  Most of Mother Natures planted trees are past brilliant coloration and mostly brown but when near landscaped lawns there is still some bright reds, golds, and purples.

The drive north from Alley Spring was along highway 19 which is a very scenic drive through some of the best Missouri Ozarks country vistas.  In my last years at MoDOT I tried to have this route designated as a National Scenic Byway but that required local public approval which didn't happen. It is still in my opinion one of the most scenic drives in Missouri.  Along the way we saw turkey, deer, and a red tailed hawk with very light traffic.

After a stop at a local campground to empty our waste holding tanks we parked the camper in the Martin Manor RV spot for it's winter hibernation.  Now I need to get it winterized to prevent any freezing problems until our next outing which at this time is planned for March of 2018.

See you then 😎

Blue Skies

At least partially blue skies as opposed to what we have had for several days as totally dense overcast skies.  The past two mornings have been coolish with the high today forecast to be in the mid 50s.  Looking at the forecast over the next several days has caused us to make a slight change in our trip plans.  We now plan to load up after lunch today and head toward the Martin Manor instead of waiting until tomorrow.

The forecast for Friday morning is to be in the low 20s and then below freezing again on Saturday morning.  If we wait to leave until tomorrow that doesn't give me much time to get the camper prepared for those hard freezing temperatures.  By heading toward the house today we will have all day tomorrow to get the camper prepared for it's winter hibernation.

correction

I just made a correction to this mornings post.  I found a map showing the location of Not, Missouri instead of my posting of Knot, Missouri.  Same story as told but just a different spelling.  Here is a clipping of the map showing the town site's location.  In the picture you can also see the location of Thomasville, Missouri where Jo went to school.  She lived just north of Thomasville near where Rte T and Rte 99 meet.

Alley Spring

This is a very large campground of I believe around 160+ campsites and I also believe that we are the only folks here at this time.  We are in the only loop with electric hookups but can see into other loops.  As we were checking in (in the rain) there was a ranger driving around but that is the only other vehicle or person that we have seen.

This park along the Jacks Fork River is quite popular in the summer season with people splashing into the shallow waters from the gravel bars and from tubeing, canoeing, and kayaking activities.  In that season a reservation would have been necessary for a spot in the campground.  The campground is about a half mile from the spring and mill which wouldn't be a bad hike in better weather.  We have visited the mill and spring on several other occasions so probably not make the jaunt this time.  Instead of me taking pictures to post here I will give you a connection to some great views of this area.  The spring rises from a large round sink just behind the mill.

Alley Spring Pictures

There are several similar to the first image taken from downstream below the mill with the red mill as the focus.  I have taken that same picture and it is on the wall of our dining room at home.  That picture is framed in a hand made frame that one of Jo's uncles made from "barn wood siding" taken from the Not, Missouri post office that used to be located near the Shannon - Oregon county line near where she grew up.  Story is that there originally was a large Oak tree with a big knot hole where mail was left for locals to pick up.

Also in the above group of pictures is a map of this campground and we are located in the 600s loop.

bad GWF

Our GWF (Good Weather Fairy) failed us this afternoon.  Today's drive was totally under heavy overcast skies and then about an hour before we arrived at our campground they opened up and rained enough that it was necessary to get out the yellow rain suit. 😞

Most of the day was good with some great fall tree colors that would have been better lit up by the sun but still quite a few oohs and aahs.

Jo tells me that last night was full of heavy thunderstorms.  I went to bed early just because I felt like it and once I get to sleep it's all over until morning.  She said there was much thunder, lightning, and wind most of the night but this morning it was mild temperatures and no rain.  I went to the campground office a little after 9:00 to pay for our stay and they weren't open.  There was a man that I spoke to that took me around to the back door so that I could take care of business.  They said that they didn't open until 10:00 am and that is hard to understand as they are also a marina office for boat rentals.

We are tonight in Jo's early years territory.  This park is at Alley Spring where there is a working mill (for demonstration) that has been fun to visit many times in the past.  This is now a National park, part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.  We are only a few miles from where she was born and raised on a farm just south of the Shannon - Oregon county line.

heading West

Last night's show was Super Good, we both truly enjoyed it all.  Rhonda is a very good entertainer and all of her band members are great musicians.  She had a daughter as back up singer to harmonize with her.  Two of the band members are son-in-laws but they each contributed to the show.  Rhonda has a tremendous voice and obviously enjoys what she does as she is on the road for 11 months out of every year staying home in Kirksville, MO for December.

Today's drive was Beautiful with a capital "B".  occasionally the sun would break through the cloud cover and the tree colors would just brighten up for many OOHs and AAHs.  With it's mountains, rivers, and variety of trees, Kentucky is a beautiful State.

As I said earlier we didn't have reservations for any of this trip which has worked well up to tonight.  Our planned campground was a COE Recreation Area on the banks of Lake Barkley in Western KY.  When we arrived at the campground there was a gate across the road.  I knew that it was past their posted season but assumed that it would be self pay and probably no water connection.  Within a couple of miles there is a KOA on the banks of the same lake so we headed there.  Their season is listed as mid Nov. closing so all should be good, Not!  When we arrived the office which also was the marina office was closed with a couple of telephone numbers to call.  I called the one that said it was for Sunday operations and the call went to voice mail.  So we just found an empty site, parked and setup for the night, and will try to find someone in the morning before we head back toward Missouri.  Here are a couple of pictures of our site tonight.

Half Time

It's half time in the MU - FLA football game so I went out to take a couple of pictures of our campsite near the music venue.  I'm happy because the Tigers have been doing good at least for this first half and we just hope that momentum continues.  A win in this game will go a long way to boost the teams confidence in their winning abilities.

Now here are those two pictures our site is nice and level so that is good

 Looking back the other direction we see the music barn just across the parking lot.

Rockcastle County, KY

We are now located in the Renfro Valley  creekside campground.  Our camp site is just a short walk across their parking lot to the new music hall.

They have two music halls and the old one has their Friday night local talent hoedown while the new hall has traveling talent shows programed throughout the year.  We have been here for a couple of other shows and are looking forward to tomorrow nights show with Rhonda Vincent.  She grew up in north-central Missouri near the Iowa border.  She grew up in a family of musicians that had a show they called the Sally Mountain Show playing country and bluegrass music.  I don't know where that name came from as northern Missouri is like Iowa and you would have to hunt for something to call a mountain.  Rhonda plays a super fine mandolin and has a bluegrass festival every year near her home town as well as travels throughout the country with her band "The Rage."

This trip so far has been full of fall tree coloration.  It would just be so much better if the sun would only shine.  Both days have been overcast and this afternoon we drove through several light showers.  With a full sun there would have been many  more oohs and aahs.

Lynnville, Indiana

Tonight we are in the Lynnville Park, a city owned campground and fishing lake park.  We found this park in Sept. 2007 and it has been a regular stop on our eastbound trips.  This is the 18th time we have stopped here since then.  The site we are in tonight is in the water/electric section and that is where we have been most of our stops @ $18 now and was $15 when we first came here. The other full hookup section we have used a few times is $22.  It is an easy off and on from I-64 but is over a slight hill so absolutely no highway noise.  Tonight the full hookup section has several units but we are alone in the W/E section.

This whole trip is without any reservations.  Most of our trips are fully reserved before we leave home.  We just like to know there will be a spot when we arrive.  This trip is late in the year so I didn't expect any problems especially since school is now in session and except for weekends there shouldn't be any problem.  This weekend, Friday and Saturday, we will be in the campground for the Renfro Valley music venue and it is very large.  We stayed there once before for another show and the campground wasn't near full.

Back at the Martin Manor RV park

Lunch was a little bit late at around 1:00 but it was nice to dine in the cafe at the Manor.  No tree color sighting on the way so the shortest route was the best.

Now our next travel plans are for leaving Nov 2, heading for Renfro Valley, KY as another week long outing.  Jackets are already on the don't forget list and also on that list is to make sure the LP tanks are full.  The electric heater worked well this trip but if temps drop below freezing the furnace will be required to keep the pipes in the basement from freezing.  There are a lot of TC campers that use their rigs for winter ski trips in all kinds of winter weather.

Sunrise on Truman Lake

It was a very nice sunrise view out our back window this morning.  It's been a very enjoyable few days and now we pack up and head for the  house.

Friday the 13th

Another beautiful day in west-central Missouri.  Afternoon temps reached mid 80s but still very pleasant to just sit outside in the shade watching birds fly around.

We had hoped that this trip would be during a nice fall tree color event but that just didn't happen, I guess still too early.  It has been a nice relaxing time even without the color.  We have been mostly alone in this campground until today when the weekenders started moving in.  Now it is mostly full with families and fisher-persons.  One tent unit across the road from us is just now in the process of cleaning a very nice large stringer of fish.  They have a boat so don't know just where they were successful however all foot traffic passing our site on the way to fish the banks have all come back empty handed.

Tomorrow we pack up and head back to the ol' Martin Manor.  A couple of doctors appointments next week and then early November we head to Kentucky.

left behind, found, confiscated, and used

That is what happened to the pile of firewood that was left by our near neighbors.  It was nice to just sit outside in the mild temperatures and enjoy this campfire.  We don't have any marshmallows or hot dogs but still nice to just watch and be hypnotized by the flame.

The weather forecast was spot on for today.  It was cool and overcast this morning but weather.com said it would clear up by noon time and at 11:45 there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Dumb thinking or lack thereof

In less than two weeks I will have lived in Missouri for 80 years and still not smart enough to leave the house prepared with a jacket in mid October.  That is exactly what we did because last Sunday when we left home it was so nice and sunny it never crossed our minds that it would change this quick.  As reported, yesterday was a gloomy day with dropping temperatures so we stayed inside all day.  Today will probably be more of the same.  The forecast is for mid 60s this afternoon, mid 70s tomorrow and mid 80s for Friday and Saturday so I guess our GWF is taking care of us this trip.

Our next trip with the camper is scheduled for the first week of November so guess what will be the first things loaded for that trip.  As we drive away from the house every trip we always say to each other, "wonder what we forget" and then we say, "oh well there is always WalMart."  There is a nice big WalMart only  about 6 miles away from here in Clinton but we don't need to add to our jacket closet when we can get by with just waiting out the temperature climb.

Our electric space heater is working like a charm except with only a 30 amp shore power connection we do have to watch our use of other electric items when it is running, such as the microwave or electric teapot.  The water heater is switched to LP gas instead of electric because of the space heater use.

Gloomy day

Just the opposite of yesterday.  It rained during the night and early this morning.  We had about 15 seconds of sunshine this morning before the cloud cover sealed it off.  The high temperature for today occurred at 12:01 am and gradually falling all day heading toward a predicted low of 44° tomorrow morning.

This camper has a smaller interior volume than our previous 5th wheel trailers so it is easier to heat.  I had purchased a small electric heater so that will save on LP use by the built in furnace.  It has three settings 600 Watt, 900 Watt, and 1500 Watt and so far we have managed very well on the 900 Watt setting.

Looks like a good day to stay in.

Beautiful relaxing day

After that sunrise, today has been simply beautiful, not a single cloud in the sky and mild temperatures.  The forecast is for rain tonight and in the morning so I moved our borrowed firewood to under the camper to keep it as dry as possible.  Jo and I sat outside most of the day in the fresh air and watched all the birds flying around.  Here are a few pictures from today.

after a brief hike to the main channel

 

 and the view back to our campsite

 this afternoon there have been a flock of white pelicans around

these last photos were taken from our campsite with a lot of zoom

 

  

This is a zoomed in picture as I thought there were two birds here one white and the other gray 😁

 I have to keep telling Jo to move around a little as these folks keep circling above us.

Sunrise out our back window

left and found

When we checked in we had neighbors in the next site.  This was a family with a tent and pop-up trailer,  Apparently they were just here for the weekend and the kiddies needed to get back home for the school week.  When they left they left a large stack of firewood at their campsite so I picked it up and now it is at our fire ring.  Some time this next week we will try to have a nice campfire or two.

Truman Lake

We decided that between doctors appointments this month we would get a quickie get-away.  It was a little more than a 2 hour drive to Sparrowfoot campground on an arm of the lake near Clinton, MO.  We don't have any tourist plans in the area except for just a relaxing time.  We are here until next Saturday afternoon when we will again head for the Martin Manor.

This is our back yard

 our campsite

When I select our campsites from the internet it is difficult to determine the quality of the site I choose.  This time the site I had chosen was totally in the trees with no view of the lake.  Fortunately at this time of year the campground isn't full so we were able to go back to the check-in station and change our reservation to this site.  We have shade from the big locust tree and a nice view of the water.

There isn't any good television signals over-the-air except for Warrensburg which is our local PBS station.  Fortunately we do have a very good AT&T signal so our internet connection is good.  We will be able to watch any special programs (Jo's soaps) on our computers.  I have my laptop that I am using for this posting and Jo has my Surface-Pro tablet which she can use for TV as well as her games.