FORSYTH, GA - LAKE PARK, GA - OCALA, FL

August 20, 2015

We continued to head south and found ourselves in Forsyth, GA, population 3776 as of the latest census (2000). We were within 30 miles of Griffin where our friends Jon and Terry Senical now live after moving from Vero Beach, Florida about 3 years ago. It was wonderful to see them in their new country home and to reminisce about the good old TCOA days and now the FMCA days. Jon, who used to be a baseball and football official with Thom, has tossed his final yellow flag and called his last strike out with no regrets! He and Terry are enjoying their new positions in the work force and don't look back! Good for them! We plan to visit them again, as we are just a few days' drive away, and they love to camp as well!

While in Forsyth, Thom and I did a bit of investigation to find the First Baptist Church of Forsyth where our dear friend, Jim Thompson, has roots. His parents were married in that church, who were married by his grandfather who was the first pastor of the church in 1922! It was great fun meeting the local church historians who guided us through the archives. The church is beautiful and has had a lot of upgrades, obviously, but retains its rich history.

August 21, 2015

After two nights in Forsyth, we headed further south to another small town just 5 miles north of the Florida border, Lake Park, population 549 as per the census of 2000, where we met up with our friends Ed and Shirley Parks, also from Florida (Clermont). It was decided a few days prior to meet here and to make that final drive home together on the scenic I-75! The Parks have been on the road since June 3, so between us we were ready to get home!

August 22, 2015

After 7,123 miles, we pulled into SummerGlen and we were so happy to be home! Our fabulous neighbors placed flags along our driveway and brought a "Welcome Home" balloon! After lots of smiles, hugs, and welcome home wishes, we went to work unloading the RV and putting it in storage until we hit the road again in November, which will be for just a few days. It's nice to be home even if the humidity and the heat are unbearable!

Tennessee I-24 east on the bridge, over the mountain, in backed up traffic.

The lake I love to cross when we come over the mountain into Chattanooga, TN!

Not a true black & white photo - this is what the weather was like!

Thom, Jon, and Terry

The First Baptist Church, Forsyth, GA

A very peaceful sanctuary.

Mr. Jim Thompson's grandfather, Pastor Robert Lee Bivens.

The history center at the church and the lovely historians who took time from their busy day to help us!

We drove past the RV park just to see what was down the road. This is what we found!

The old sawmill on the plantation grounds.

Now that's a big fungus growing on the tree!

Driving home! 

 

Lot 1, Eagles Roost, Lake Park, GA

Shirley & Ed Parks with their map! We told them we're going to help them fill it in. They are joining us next fall for the WIT New England Rally!

SummerGlen! It is so good to be home!

Our neighbor, Jane, across the street, put flags up on our driveway to welcome us home!

 

Fritz - home sweet home for him as well. Jake was exploring the house and we had to keep calling him to make sure he wasn't hiding. By the end of the day, he was happy to be home, too!

Until next journey ...

CLARKSVILLE, TN TO ADAIRSVILLE, GA

AUGUST 17, 2015

 

Welcome to the Peach State! We made it to Adairsville, Georgia but much later than we expected. Unfortunately, on I-24 east there was a horrific accident involving an 18-wheeler and a motorcyclist that backed up traffic for miles as far as the eye could see. We only know of the nature of the accident because of the very informative truckers via channel 19 on the CB radio! I have to say, there isn’t as much chatter as there was back in my early teens but when you need to know something they are there. They are also quite entertaining. While we were sitting in traffic, making headway foot by foot, the conversations was hilarious between them. At one point, while the eastbound side was backed up on a bridge, the truckers started a conversation about the bridge falling, crumbling, because of all the weight. Well, this started the truckers discussing what they would do if their rig fell into the lake! It was too funny and made us forget we were sitting there now for over an hour at least! I will, however, never forget where the accident happened because it was just west of my favorite area on I-24 just west of Chattanooga as you descend the 7% grade. I must say, this provided me an opportunity to get some photos of the area I so enjoy seeing. For some reason, when we get to this point in our trip, I know we’re heading home via I-75 south! 

When the traffic was detoured off I-24 to a road parallel to the interstate, we could see miles and miles of backed up traffic that wasn’t afforded the opportunity to exit due to the accident ahead of them. We have no idea how long they were backed up or how long before they could move but Thom was able to see folks out of their vehicles. 

Also, while we were in traffic, an Allegro motor home came next to us and we saw the stairs were still down. I did a breaker 1-9 on the CB radio to the Allegro motor home and informed them of their stairs being down. We received a response, sort of, and then Thom saw the stairs being brought in! Again, the CB comes in handy when you need it. 

The campground we are in, Harvest Moon RV Park, is a lovely campground with big rig sites, pull-thru with full hook-up and 50 amp and free Internet; however, the Internet may be free but it is non-existent! This has been the case in many of the campgrounds we have resided in this summer. Harvest Moon also offers free laundry service, both wash and dry, which is unusual. Although we have our own washer and dryer, we needed to use a commercial machine to wash Thom’s clothes after being blasted with diesel fuel at the Pilot. It literally exploded on him and thank goodness the fuel didn’t get in his eyes. And, after washing the clothes twice in the commercial machine and twice in our machine, his clothes still smell of fuel. We are waiting to see how they smell after drying them. They might be tossed. By the way, this park has a sister park in Troy, Alabama, Deer Run, which we stayed in a few years ago! 

Tomorrow we head to Forsyth, Georgia for two nights. We are going to travel the country roads to get there. We have time to spare to get there. While there we will visit with Jon and Terry Senical. Jon and Thom officiated a lot of baseball and football games while with the TCOA. It will be nice to see he and his lovely wife again. We will also be investigating the area and hopefully have some meaningful photos to post in a few days! 

We will be meeting up with our friends, Shirley and Ed Parks, when we make it to Lake Park, GA, our final stop before we enter Florida and that final stretch to Ocala! Ed and Shirley have been traveling this great country of ours for the past few months as well and it will be great to celebrate our journeys since the GNR in Forest City, Iowa where we last saw them!   

Until next blog …

 

 

CATCH UP TIME!

August 16, 2015

First, Happy Birthday to my brother Bill!

We are now parked in Clarksville, TN for just tonight. We had an easy day's drive today with a nice break in the action in Paducah, Kentucky to visit our friends Lou and Nancy Wade who live part-time there and part-time in Crystal River, Florida. Tomorrow we head further south to Adairsville, Georgia for two nights. We have an approximate 235 mile day, which just brings us closer to home! We are ready to get there but will continue to enjoy this last week on the road.

In the meantime, I am updating this blog with photos .from our adventure in Davenport, Iowa. We took a drive on the Iowa Great River Road Tour that we detoured into Illinois for a few miles. It was a lovely drive with perfect weather! Unfortunately, Tug Fest was just getting started on both sides of the Mississippi River. This is the only tug-of-war across the mighty Mississippi River where a 2400 foot, 680 pound rope stretches between LeClair, IA and Port Byron, IL. Eleven teams from each side are formed and the side with the most winning teams takes the Alabaster Eagle trophy for that year.  We had no idea this was scheduled or we would have made plans to stay. The festivities, however, prevented us from visiting the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum, which was blocked by tents and carnival rides! Perhaps another time!

But, we did get to visit Antique Archeology, which is the store where the "American Pickers" sell and show-off their pickings around the country and at times around the world! American Pickers is a show on the History Channel that we watch. It was really cool to see a lot of the things they have found on their show! The hosts, Mike and Frank, were just getting back from Sturgis and were not at the store but were in the area but we didn't see them. Again, perhaps next time!

AUGUST 12, 2015

DECORAH, IA TO DAVENPORT, IA

 

Acres and acres of farm land with crops! Amazing!

Iowa small town mural. I so enjoy the art work put in to making these murals all across this great country of ours.

Garnaville, IA, population 745 in 2010! 

 

A very nice small town café!

Our delicious breakfast that we enjoyed the next day as well! 

 

St. Boniface Catholic Church

 

Lovely, just lovely; across from St. Boniface

64 East - We opted for the country road versus the interstate!

 

AUGUST 13, 2015

ANTIQUE ARCHEOLOGY

"AMERICAN PICKERS"

LECLAIR, IOWA

 

A "Nash" that is parked outside the Antique Archeology store in LeClair, IA. 

 

Host Mike Wolfe calls this Von Dutch XAVW motorcycle one of his "holy grails"!

This motorcycle was dug up in England on one of their shows. This is the one item I wanted to see in person and am very grateful it is in the IA store and not their TN store!

These guys find more strange stuff and this is just one of the many they have found.

 

BUFFALO BILL CODY HOMESTEAD

PRINCETON, IOWA

 

The boyhood home of Buffalo Bill Cody. The 1847 farmhouse was built by Isaac Cody, Buffalo Bill's father. It is constructed of native limestone and contains walnut floors and trim. The Homestead has been restored and furnished with items typical of the mid-19th century.

 

 

 

 

Walnut wooded stairs.

A very old Bible with almost dust-like paper!

 

DAN NAGLE WALNUT GROVE PIONEER VILLAGE

LONG GROVE, IOWA

 

Along the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byways, is the Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village requiring just a donation of $2.00 each. There are 19 open-air museum buildings and on our visit an actual blacksmith demonstration (below). It was a really cool museum and well worth the $4.00 total!

 

St. Ann's Church, dubbed the Crowning Jewel of the Village; construction from 1853 to 1870.

Stained glass within St. Ann's Church.

Beautiful!

 

The Tobin House, circa 1837

A very old highchair!

 

Dental office equipment

This blacksmith teaches at a local college. It was refreshing to learn that there are folks who want to be blacksmiths. We watched his demonstration for quite a while. We now know why wrought iron costs so much! It is very tedious work hammering the hot metal, forming it, and then brushing it!

 The finished product the blacksmith made - beautiful!

 

We were looking for a post office so we could buy one stamp and mail our postcards. We were surprised to learn the post office closes here at noon M-F and 10:00 a.m. on Saturday! Perhaps the population of 291 is the reason why! 

 

DUTCH WINDMILL AND RIVER ROAD

FULTON, ILLINOIS TO DAVENPORT, IOWA

 

De Immigrant, Authentic Dutch Windmill, built in the Netherlands specifically for Fulton. It is a working windmill producing wheat flour, corn meal, and flaxseed.

 

 

On our way home, I looked up at the sky and saw this! I looked again and it wasn't my imagination.

 

AUGUST 15, 2015

DAVENPORT, IOWA TO EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS

 

We could not stop at the Welcome Center, as our length with our tow is more than 40 feet!

We were legal the next rest area. This sign is posted there. I hope the truckers pay attention to this. Some of these trucks sway all over the road. Today (Aug. 16) we saw an 18-wheeler hauling cars and it was all over the highway!

 

South - we are going home!

  

AUGUST 14, 2015

DAVENPORT, IOWA TO EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS

 

 Camp Lakewood Campground, Effingham, Illinois - our view from our front window.

 

Cross at Crossroads, I-57 and I-70

We didn't do much exploring in Effingham. We did learn the world's largest cross was here so we did unhook the Jeep and found it! This cross is 198 feet tall and 113' wide consisting of 180 tons of steel anchored in "untold fathoms of cement". "It can withstand winds by the evilest of forces to 145 mph."

 

AUGUST 16, 2015

EFFINGHAM, ILLINOIS

 TO CLARKSVILLE, TENNESSEE

 

Nancy and Lou Wade - friends since before we had children!

From a distance, it looked like an Airstream towing a truck, no big deal, then we got closer! The camper and the truck were actually being towed via a transport company from Washington State!

Jeep Wannabe - Mercedes style!

We are only here one night but stayed at the Clarksville RV Park three years ago.

 

Until next blog ...