Nashville TN to Tishimingo MS

A cool morning in Nashville Jellystone Park

Away from Nashville about 9:15, to give the commuters time to clear off the roads. At the Nashville Walmart we each bought a T-Mobile cell phone for use in the US. Just $40, it came with the phone and 300 minutes of air time. Just 10 cents a minute to anywhere in the US, anytime. Much cheaper than the $3.50/minute our Canadian phones cost to use! You can buy cards to replenish the air time, but we didn’t need to for this trip. 

We did manage a stop at the Loveless café for lunch. Cath tried the fried green tomatoes, didn’t care for them. Gord bought some bacon and some ham slices for later (and they were both really good!). After lunch we got on to the Natchez Trace at a nearby interchange.

Temp up to 24C for a lovely drive along the Natchez Trace. Lots of daffodils out. 

AAAHH, Spring!

The old Natchez trace trail

 
We got to the state park at Tishimingo Mississippi at 5pm, and it was still 19C at 9pm. Windows open until after midnight, when we had some very heavy rains, and a bit of a leak around the large roof bubble in the Aliner. The dogs enjoyed the off-leash time and swimming in the evening.

Touring Opreyland Hotel and area

We stayed camped at Jellystone Park a second night and toured the area a bit. In the morning we went into Opryland Hotel and did the usual tour. What an amazing lobby area they have there!

Water fountain show in hotel lobby

Waterfall nymphs

Later we walked over to the nearby mall. Nobody was too interested in the mall in general but we did spend some time at Bass Pro.

This might be a nifty RV!

Dux knows how to relax

Millersville TN to Nashville TN

We had intended to stay in the Millersville park for 2 nights, and do a bit of Nashville touring from there. There was too much road noise from the nearby highway though, so a short drive took us to the Jellystone Park in Nashville. 

More expensive than last year, they charged $36 this year, but then gave the Good Sam discount (seniors discount for Curt). So “only” $35 including tax, the most expensive of the trip. It was a good place to camp though, as usual.

A beautiful day at last, up to 15C. Curt and I had a good tour of the nearby Camping World, where I eventually bought a 1-speed folding bicycle.

Auburn IN to MillersvilleTN

There was an ice storm overnight, coating the cars and roads with a good layer, so we delayed our start today. The temp had warmed up to 3C by the time we left about 9, and driving was no problem then. We saw a number of vehicles in ditches from the night before though. 

Our Lab was very good in the room overnight. They gave us ground floor rooms, with easy access to outside. C&J had to change rooms about 9:30 though, due to a noisy party just down the hall from them.

Temp got up to 10C for a while today, and was still 9C when we stopped at Nashville Country RV park at Millersville about 7:30. It was pretty dark by then. The park was ok, but almost under a highway (I65?). Passport America kept the cost down to $17 though.

Indianapolis was the snow cutoff. It’s where we fell below freezing on the trip home last year, so it seems to be a climatic line of some sort. Cathie was quite ill all day, probably food poisoning as it came on so fast today.

New Dundee ON to Auburn IN

We got away from New Dundee about 8:20, temp minus 12 C. We discovered that one of Curt’s trailer lights wasn’t working, but after some basic troubleshooting we decided to leave anyway and get it fixed along the way. 

We stopped in London at a Flying J for a breakfast buffet, as Curt was to meet his son Randy there. Randy didn’t show though, and Curt decided he should call Can-Am RV in London to see if they would look at his signal problem. They would, and it’s pretty much on the way. Randy caught up to us there, in his new-to-him motorhome. CanAm replaced the car side of the trailer wire plug, as it was corroded. No more problems.

At the border they asked about alcohol, dog food (must be US-made) and beef (best to have none). Toll was $5.50 Cdn for us, but only $2.75 for the huge motorhome, and about $8 for Curt. This hardly seems fair to us trailer-towers (!), but the charge varies by the total number of axles, not by vehicle size or weight. 

Continuing on I69, we got to Imlay City about 2:30 and stopped for gas. None of us needed lunch thanks to the morning stop at the Flying J breakfast buffet. After a stop at a rest area to give the dogs a good stretch and their supper, we pulled in to the La Quinta Inn about 6:15. Good time, considering the stops at Flying J for breakfast and at Can Am for repairs.

The hotel is much more expensive than camping of course, but our trailers are still winterized and it's still below freezing.

LaQuinta, Auburn IN

Still some snow around

*START* of Southwest trip, Feb/Mar 2007

Another different trip for us, travelling with friends Curt & Jo-Anne, them with their 25 ft Airstream trailer and us with our little Aliner, towed by almost identical-looking Chevy Tahoes. They took their Black Labs Dux and Jocur, and we had our Yellow Lab with us. 

We drove about 10,365 km in all, heading over to New Mexico this time, instead of further down in Texas, although we did spend several enjoyable days in Fredericksburg on the way to NM.

The 2 weeks leading up to the trip were busy, with dental appointments (because I lost part of a tooth and needed repair), rabies shots etc for our Lab, new eyeglass lenses for me, one new oxygen sensor for the car, windshield replacement. All worthwhile, and it turned out to be a good idea we didn’t try to leave in mid-Feb as we initially planned, as some of these problems would have happened on the trip instead of before, and been harder to get fixed.

Today (Feb 23) we drove to Waterloo, will stay at C&J’s tonight. No pre-dawn snow patrol like last year! Getting to Waterloo about 2:30, we picked up the newest replacement lenses for my glasses (the first set were made wrong), and had a visit with Heather. Then we dined out at a Vietnamese restaurant in Waterloo, as C&J were busy until evening.