Arrived Home Safe and Sound

Our last few days on the road were fairly uneventful.  We left St. Louis, Missouri on April 13th.  

It was a great drive with very little traffic.

Our destination was the Hunnewell Lake Conservation Area in Missouri.

  I found it online and they had free camping. 

We were thrilled with it.  We had the whole place to ourselves.  

We went for a walk to see the lake.

I stepped on this snake!!  I haven't moved that quickly for awhile.  At least I was brave enough to go back and take a picture.  Dave talked to a guy that works at the fish hatchery on site and asked him about the snake.  He said they are water snakes which grow to the size of an anaconda in the summer.  He said they aren't poisonous but they are very aggressive.  Yuck!  

Cleo enjoyed the view.

They have boats and oars on the shore which you can use for free.  

A lot of people used them to go fishing for a couple of hours.

It was such a great place, we decided to stay for two nights.  We drove to the nearby town of Marion City which is just slightly bigger than the tiny town of Hunnewell.  We were looking for a small 7 or 10 pound propane tank for our barbecue to replace ours which no longer worked.  At one store a young guy referred us to another store that he thought might have one.  As we were about to leave that store, again with no luck, the young guy came driving up in his truck to see if we'd found one.  When we said no, he offered to give us his.  We thanked him but refused.  Missouri was a very friendly place! 

It was so peaceful there, the only sound we heard was the ice clinking in our glasses. 

This bird laid her eggs on the grass and put on quite a show pretending to be lame to distract us from where her eggs were.  

We reluctantly left there the morning of April 15th.

We saw some humour in this sign.

Entering Iowa.

Luckily, all the traffic was going the other way.

We ended the day in Marshalltown, Iowa.  We had intended to stay for two nights but we weren't crazy about it there, so decided to move on the next day.

We drove to a casino in Prior Lake, Minnesota where we intended to stay the night.  They had a very expensive RV park which was full and an RV parking area which cost $15.00 where there wasn't even room to open your slides.  We decided we'd rather camp at Walmart for free so we moved on.  

Right next to Walmart we found a great patio for a beer.

The next morning, April 17th, we left Minnesota in shorts and flip flops.  Every time we stopped the truck for anything we put more clothes on.

It kept getting wetter and colder as we drove.  We intended to stop somewhere between Fargo and Grand Forks but decided to just keep on going.

We got to Walmart in Winnipeg on Sunday night and froze while we were setting up our trailer.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset.  It's great to be home!  We are leaving for Vancouver Island tomorrow, Sunday April 24th for 10 days, then we will be back for the summer.  I may do a couple of blogs throughout the summer, but don't count on it.

On the Move

We have been moving around a lot and have had poor wifi, if any.  I am way behind on my blog.  On April 1st, we left Laredo, Texas.  Cleo and I had a nice walk in the morning and luckily we did not see any rattlesnakes.

We stopped at the travel centre on the way out of town for some maps. 

 While I was inside getting maps, I told Dave that he should take Cleo for a walk on a path that I thought was the dog walk.  When we met back at the truck he excitedly told me he had seen a snake.  I asked him if he'd taken a picture.  He was not impressed.  

Our last couple of days in Laredo, the temperatures were in the 30's so when we arrived in San Antonio to 17 degrees and a cold north wind, we just about froze.  Our campground was not great but we had a nice sunset.

The next day we went to downtown San Antonio.

Dave wanted to see The Alamo and I wanted to see the river walk.  You can be the judge as to which one looked more interesting.

There was a Turkish festival taking place.

The river walk is a great tourist attraction with over 15 miles of trails running along both sides of the river.  There are endless cafes and shops to choose from.  River taxis ferry people up and down the river.  Winnipeg could learn a lot from them.  If they could just keep our walkways from flooding they could also line the banks with restaurants and shops.  There are many walkways crossing the river.

If your dog likes to chase ducks you'll have a much more enjoyable walk if you leave her at home.

Not sure what the building is with the animal heads.

It was a very attractive, clean city.

Our second day at the campground was much warmer than the first.  

It was poodle day in the dog park.

April 3rd we woke up to a nice sunrise.

We left San Antonio and bypassed Houston.

We arrived in Louisiana.

Our stop for the night was Walmart in Sulphur, Louisiana. 

April 4th we drove through a bit of Louisiana.

Cleo found some of it interesting.

We stopped at a really nice welcome stop for maps and a walk.

Fishermen launch their boats between the two highways.

We were so tempted to go to New Orleans.

Arriving in Mississippi.

Some animals for the grandkids.

We passed this and I have no idea what it was all about.

We are at the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway which is 444 miles long and goes through three states.  There are many historical sites as well as hiking trails and campgrounds.  

"The natural travel corridor that became the Natchez Trace dates back many centuries.  As the U.S. expanded westward in the late 1700's and early 1800's, growing numbers of travelers tramped the rough trail into a clearly marked path.  Where the ground was relatively soft, walkers, riders, and wagons wore down the sunken sections you see today."

It is a beautiful drive.

There are no trucks allowed and the speed limit is 50 mph/80 kph.  

We got set up at our free campsite which we were thrilled with and went for a hike.

We were walking on the original Trace.

It was a great hike.  We loved it.

We went back to our fabulous campsite and had a fire.

The next day we continued with our amazing drive.

We stopped at another gorgeous free campsite.

We were off on another hike.

It was another great day.

April 6th we got ready to leave.  I don't think Cleo was too happy with our decision.

We were back on the parkway for awhile.

We took a side trip off the Natchez Trace to go to Memphis.

I'll bet you guessed where we were going.

Yes, I was happy just being at the RV park.

That evening we walked over to the Heartbreak Hotel to take a shuttle to Beale Street.

The hotel lobby.

We saw a nice sunset from the shuttle bus.

We started the evening at B.B. King's blues bar.

We walked Beale Street which is very cool, live music everywhere.

We went to another bar, watched another band and took the shuttle back to the RV park.

Guess what we did the next day?

We took so many pictures at Graceland, but I will try to post a minimum of them.

The living room.

Elvis parent's bedroom.

Poodle wallpaper in the ensuite.

Dining room which apparently Lisa still uses when she visits.

Kitchen.

The jungle room.  It was surprising how small all of the rooms were.

Carpeted ceiling.

The TV room.

The pool room.  Wow! 

Another view of the jungle room.

The back of the house.

The gold records went forever.

Racquetball viewing room.

Meditation garden.

We moved on to the automobile museum.

There were a lot of cars.  I'll just share a few.

This was used by the guards at Graceland.

Elvis and his parents.

The next morning, April 8th, we headed back to the Natchez Trace and continued where we'd left off.  

We started in Mississippi.

We crossed the corner of Alabama.

Shortly after this bridge we entered Tennessee.

Who's driving?

Lots of pretty white blooms.

We arrived at another great free campsite.  

It was a little cool out.

Sunset out our back window.  It went down to 2 overnight.  Brrrrr....

The next morning we put on some layers and went for a hike.

We did lots of climbing.

It wasn't long before we had one layer off.

Dave is looking for more wood to add to our fire since we're running out.

The next morning, April 10th, we completed the Natchez Trace Parkway in the rain.

You can just see a small waterfall.

Mile 404.

We are done and it was fabulous!  I highly recommend it!

We're on our way into Nashville.

Almost at our campground.

Willie Nelson was there to welcome us.

After getting set up, we went downtown.

We saw some pretty good music.

We thought these Pedal Taverns were pretty cool.  Downtown Nashville was really hopping for a Sunday night.  Those country music people really like to party.

Dave was pretty excited to have a crab feast.

The downtown area that we were in was really nice.

Yesterday morning we left our campsite in Nashville and started our drive to St. Louis, Missouri.

On the way, we passed through Kentucky & Illinois.  

Apparently they've had a lot of rain in Missouri and we sure saw a lot of water.

The skies cleared up nicely for us.  

Not our favourite type of campsite, but we're sure close to downtown.

Today, April 12th, we walked downtown.

It was very impressive with lots of old restored buildings.

The entrance of the National Blues Museum.

This is one of two places you are allowed to take a picture.

I snuck (is that a word?) a couple more.

It was interesting, but it could be better.  We're glad we went though.

This was the ceiling in the centre of the courthouse where we went to buy tickets to go up in the Arch.

We didn't end up with tickets because the next tour was not for a long time and we didn't want to wait.

We settled for a picture instead.

This bar has an electric train running around up near the ceiling.  

We are leaving here tomorrow and we're not exactly sure where we're going.  I have a free campsite picked out but you can't always believe everything you read on the Internet, so we'll see how that goes.  Camping in big cities like Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis is very expensive.  We will stay away from the big cities now unless we do casinos or Walmarts.  We have no other plans so will make our way slowly home.  We don't want to get there too soon.