Mileage: 72,910

We arrived at my brother’s house in Fort Worth before lunchtime. John was working and Dana was volunteering so we spent several hours getting groceries, cleaning the RV, and accomplishing other tasks. When Dana arrived in the afternoon we had a great visit while we prepared dinner and then took the dog for a walk. When John got home, Dana grilled fresh tuna and asparagus. We had it with papaya and a delicious quinoa salad. Of course, there was wine! My brother and Dana are such gracious hosts and we enjoyed our visit.

Their driveway is the perfect spot to park the RV.

This…

Mileage: 72,758

Tyler State Park Tyler, Texas

We continued on 20W, traversing the rest of Mississippi, across the Mississippi River, into Louisiana, and then to Texas. As we grew tired, we looked for a place to camp. Tim spotted Tyler State Park not far from the interstate. We exited and found ourselves in front of Bodacious BBQ. We actually got BBQ here last August on our way through and we stayed at Tyler Sate Park! We remembered then that the BBQ was very good. We stopped and got some pulled pork and pinto beans. We settled into the campground and enjoyed a delicious meal by a campfire. It felt really nice to be in the woods and really camping.

Mileage: 72,404

Walmart Forest, Mississippi

We left our sweet family early this morning and went to get our RV from Camping World. By 10 am we were on our way west to a new adventure. We traveled on 20 West through Georgia, Alabama, and into Mississippi. We settled for the night in a Walmart parking lot. I shopped for a few supplies to get us through the next couple of days. There was a Mexican restaurant within walking distance. We were exhausted and in bed by 8 pm.

In 2020:

We left Baltimore on the day after Christmas. Gigi was with us. We were on our way to Atlanta to celebrate Christmas and then to watch Oliver and Austin for the week after Christmas. It was a lovely, noisy, chaotic visit with lots of laughter ans shenanigans!!

It is both wonderful and weird to be home. We arrived on December 16th and we leave again on December 26th. This time has been packed full of errands, appointments, parties, lunches, dinners, family, fun, food, and Christmas!

A highlight of the past 2 Christmas seasons has been tortellini night. We had so much fun making pasta and visiting with the D’Amato family. They are wonderful people and gracious hosts. We are thankful to be included.

I wish we had taken more pictures…we were too busy having fun!!

We were so happy to be able to attend my niece, Megan’s pinning and graduation from Northern Kentucky School of Nursing. My heart was full as her mother, Dana, and I, both nurses, pinned her on Thursday evening.

Congratulations Megan!! We are so very proud. You will be an amazing nurse!!

It has been a really long time since we posted. We spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta with David and his family. We were so fortunate because Kyle was able to fly down and join us. I cooked a feast and our family was joined by Dre’s family. We had a blast laughing, playing, and celebrating together!

We left Atlanta in August with a combination of sadness…because it is always hard to drive away from family…and excitement. This trip was a whirlwind of beautiful sights, challenging Jeep trails and lots of time spent together! Here are the very best memories of our western adventure.

Mileage:  71,887

R Shaeffer Heard Campground at West Point Lake West Point, Georgia

We took 10E across the rest of Mississippi and into Alabama.  We got onto 65N in Mobile and then in Montgomery we got onto 85N.  The entire time, it rained. 

It was foggy and grey.  The little drops turned into bigger drops.  I was hypnotized by the rhythm of the windshield wipers.  I was getting a little slap happy.  This was our third long driving day in a row…300 miles or more each day.  So, I started making lists and then I started writing Christmas cards and, I got a lot accomplished!

We arrived at R Shaeffer Heard Campground and the rain had stopped…as we were setting up, the sun came out!

Tim started a fire and I did some cleaning and organizing.

We had a simple dinner. 

November Days of Thanksgiving Day #23:  We are grateful for blue skies after the rain.

Mileage:  71,585

Shepard State Park Gautier, Mississippi

We took 10E across the rest of Texas and into Louisiana.  We crossed this bridge onto an elevated highway that spans the Atchafalaya Basin. 

This is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States.  It consists of river delta where the river and the Gulf of Mexico meet.  The leaves are changing here but not with brilliant color like the changing leaves at home.

There have got to be fish in that water.

We crossed this bridge at Baton Rouge, over the Mississippi River.  

Barges on the Mississippi.

We arrived at Shepard State Park and set up.  We got on our bikes and rode around the park.

This park has disc golf and an archery course.

The boat ramp is the only place that we could actually see the water.

We saw this grasshopper on the sidewalk…he was 3 inches long!  He might have an injured leg…he didn’t move even when I took his picture.

We made a salad and grilled veggie burgers.  It was nice enough to have a small fire and eat outside.

November Days of Thanksgiving Day #22:  We are grateful for bike rides after long driving days.