On the road again

The wind rustled fallen leaves through the vacant sites.  It was very quite that last night we were at our summer camp.  We were the last to leave (again) the following morning.  Bittersweet.  The good times with friends and family but  now most all have left and we've said our goodbyes to family. Yes bittersweet.

We got around in the morning, hooked up the car and said farewell to Mary the camp owner, and headed south.

First stop was an old stop.  Been there before and found it works best for us.  Woods-n-Water Rv park near Columbus Indiana is close to the highway and roomy enough for our rig.  We met up with Sharon's sister Linda and husband John at Mark Pi's China Gate restaurant in Columbus for dinner.  Maybe not as good as previous meals there but not bad either.  Before dinner we took a little tour of downtown Columbus and finally could see what a wonderful array of architecture it has.  Bold, elegant, and whimsical ... all styles are embraced here.  A truly neat little city.  I also noticed a big Cummins engine plant there.  If I could have spent a weekday there I understand they have guided tours of the plants.  It would be neat to see how that big M11 400hp coach engine that pushes around us was built.  Maybe later.

Kind of slept in today and got a late start.  I know ... no surprise to some of our friends but once underway I quickly discovered that I had made a slight error in where our next stop would be.  Originally I had planned to bypass Louisville as the I64 bridge was closed routing all traffic to the I65 bridge.  Two to three hour backups were the norm so I cleverly thought I'd head further west and cross the Ohio river further downstream.  Well what I thought and what I plugged into my trip planning software were two different things.  When I left camp I turned on the laptop, brought up the trip plan and away we went.  Enjoying the scenery and motoring along the little female voice in the laptop kept belching out that famous word "recalculating" "recalculating".  After a half dozen "recalclating" I looked a little closer at the screen and discovered that I had called up the wrong trip map and we were headed directly for the 2-3 hours traffic jam in Lousiville.  We found a rest stop about 30 miles down the road and we pulled in to figure out what we could do.  It wasn't long before we realized we'd gone too far and were going to have to stick with the drive through Louisville.  Trip planning is not my strong suit.

Bracing for the sea of red brake lights, we approached the outskirts of town only to be pleasantly surprised that two of the four lanes were moving over the bridge at about 30mph ... so it all worked out. Except for the crummy roads we got through in good order.  It pays to traverse big cities on Sundays, I guess.  I don't care how long I've driven a motor home I still don't like heavy truck traffic around me.  They drive faster than I usually do and my knuckles return to their normal color only after my fingers have been pried from the death grip on the steering wheel.  Winds buffeting from both mother nature and my fellow road warriors always make for tense driving.  Maybe age has something to do with it. I'll be happy to get to Florida.

Anyway we made it to our next stop in Manchester Tennessee.  We stayed at this KOA last spring and if I can find my fishing rod those big catfish in the pond are in real trouble in the morning.

Tomorrow we're off to Adairsville Georgia.  We may stay there a couple of days to do a little shopping for a chair for the coach.  The old 'J" couch has served it purpose and now I need something a little more comfortable.  If we have the room, Sharon may get one as well.

Once we get settled in Florida by next week, and I get my Mac up and running, I can catch up some of the things we did at our last camp.  Pictures and everything. Stay tuned.

Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for me to get my writing mojo started again.

On the road again and still livin' the dream.

Phil