Florida To Illinois

Champaign, IL

68 deg. Overcast, no wind.

Forecast tonight = Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.


By the time Jim and Linda got all of the remaining things packed into Lily, most of the electric in the house shut off, and the water turned off, we pulled out of the car port at home about 10:45 AM on Sunday, 7-31-17. We really weren't in much of a hurry as the Motel that Jim had called, had a 3:00 Check-in time and Jim figured out that it would be about a 4 hour drive up to Monticello, FL. where it was located.

The route we took was US 17 up to Barberville, Rt. 40 over to near Ocala, Rt. 326 around the north side of Ocala and over to US 27A which took us to Chiefland and then US 19 up to  Monticello.

We hit some heavy rain on the  way, but by the time, (3:45, and 221 miles), we arrived at the Econo Lodge, it had cleared up nicely.

The Motel was very nice. It had a medium sized room with a bath, a king bed and a small refrigerator to put food, out of our cooler, into.

Jim seemed to do pretty well driving up there, but by the time he and Linda brought all the necessary items into the room, he was pretty tired.

But, after a good night's sleep, Jim was ready to go again in the morning, and after loading up the car, we left the motel at about 10;35 and headed further North, on US 19 first up into Georgia and to Albainy, Then, US 82 up to Columbus, and then I-185 and US 80 around Columbus and into Alabama. and then US 280 over to Opelike, AL.

After stopping for gas in Georgia, and a Cracker Barrel for lunch, near Columbus, it was right at 2:10, central time, when we pulled up in front of another Econo Lodge. So it had taken us about 4 hours and 35 minutes to travel the 208 miles over there.

This Econo lodge wasn't so nice. Jim had trouble with the door lock up arrival and the inside of the room wasn't very well maintained. It was clean though and it had a small fridge like the first one, so we stayed overnight, being sure to deadbolt the door.

Tuesday, Jim and Linda decided to do a short day, so we left about 9:35 and only drove up to Albertville on US 431, stopping again for gas, which brought us to the King's Inn after 148 miles and at about 12:45 in the afternoon.

A nice short 3 hour and 10 minuted drive. ;-)

The King's Inn was very nice. A nice big clean room with a King bed and a nice big bathroom. After we were settled in, and Jim took a nap, he and Linda headed over to a Shoney's Restaurant for a nice  dinner.

Wednesday morning, we left Albertville right at 10:00 and continued Northwest on 431, taking it up to Huntsville where we turned North on US 231. 231 took us up into Tennessee and to Murfreesboro, where we turned NW on I-24 and then North on I-840 and I-40 East back to 231 to miss city traffic and small roads. Once back on 231, we followed it up into Kentucky and to Scottsville where we pulled into a Executive Inn just outside of town.

It was 3:10 when we pulled up in front of the office, so it took us 5 hours and 10 minutes to travel the 198 miles up there and that included a very severe rain storm near Murfreesboro, where we were driving as slow as 30mph on I-24!!!

The Executive Inn was very nice. a large room, spotlessly clean and very friendly people in the office.

Thursday morning we left Scottsville about 10:25 and followed US 231 up to near Bowling Green, where we turned off on the William H. Natcher Parkway which took us up to Owensboro and across the Ohio River on Rt 161 into Indiana. When we came to the little town of Reo, we turned West on Indiana Rt. 66 and took it over to the I-164 belt route that goes around the East side of Evansville, IN. 164 took us up to I- 64 which took us West over to US 41.

Just south of 64 on 41 we went to a and Amish Restaurant where Jim and Linda had great Buffet. Then we crossed 41 and checked into the Super 8 Motel. It was 3:10 by the time we arrived, so it took us about 3 hours and 45 minutes to travel 145 miles and have dinner.

The Super 8 was very nice but at that Motel, you have to go in through the front entrance and then down the hall to your room. Luckily the room wasn't very far down the long hall so that Jim and Linda didn't have to carry their luggage too far.

As far as the room goes, it was also very nice with a king bed and a large room.

Friday morning, just before 11:00 we left the Super 8 and headed North on US 41. Following 41 up to Vincennes where we turned West on US 50. 50 took us to IL Rt 1 that we took North for a ways and then took some side roads over to Rt. 49. 49 took us up to I-74 where we turned West again and followed it to the Urbana Gardens Restaurant, where Jim and Linda had coffee and pie.

From there, it was just a short drive over here to the Woodsprings Suites Hotel, where we'll spend about a month.

 It was 3:10 when we pulled up to the main entrance, so it took us about 3 hours and 10 minutes to travel 176 miles and stop for coffee and pie.

So,  ,  ,  ,  we traveled 1097 miles to get here in 6 days.

All in all, it was a very good trip. Jim is real happy with Lily and really likes the way she drives. She gets great gas mileage, (over 30mpg on each tank of gas), and hasn't given even the least bit of trouble.

This Blog post is way too long already, so I'll tell you more about Woodsprings in my next post.

Did you know that there is an old law in Indiana that states that "Hotel sheets must be exactly 99 inches long and 81 inches wide"?


Woof!!!

Catching Up, IL to IN, IN to OH, "Campground Is Full" and OH to WV

Point Pleasant, WV

38 Deg. clear, no wind

Forecast = Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. Scattered frost possible. High 56F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.


We did leave Prairie Pines on Tuesday as planned in change "C" of our trip plan. After hugs and good-bye's at Paul and Louise's it was right at 10:05 when we pulled out of the Prairie Pines CG and headed South on some local roads, joining I-74 in St. Joseph, IL. Once on 74 it was just a matter of following it East over to Indy where we turned South on I-465. 465 took us around to the South side of the city and to the Lake Haven Retreat which is just a little South of the Interstate on Rt.37.

It was 12:25 when we arrived, so it took us right at 2 1/2 hours to drive the 135 miles over there.

After arriving and getting Nora set up, Jim and Linda took Big RED and headed over to Linda's cousin, Mike's house where they had a great visit and a nice meal of Popeye's chicken. Mike and his wife Sandy, seem to be doing pretty well right now. It was about 8:00 or so by the time Jim and Linda returned to the park and both of them said that they had a good time visiting.

Wednesday morning, after hooking Nora to the back of Big RED, we left the Indianapolis area, at about 10:10, (Eastern Time), and headed SE on US 74. When we got over to Cincinnati, we took I-275 around the South side of the city and picked up Rt 32 on the East side. Following 32 SE to the Batavia, OH area, brought us to the East Fork State Park. Upon pulling into the park and at the CG entrance, there was a sign with big red letters stating that the "Campground Is Full"!!!!

Now, this is a huge State Park with many, many sites, but being that they are having a Halloween Campout for the next 2 weekends, all the sites were reserved or full. After talking to the lady at the office, she suggested Jim try the Stonelick State Park which was about 15 miles North of East Fork. She gave Jim the phone number so he called over there and they had a few sites available for a couple nights.  So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  after programming the address into our GPS, we took off, following "Tillie;s" directions up there.

Now, don't ask me exactly which roads we took up there. There were 4 or 5 different Ohio routes and I have now idea what they were, but Tillie got us there and by the time we arrived we had traveled 178 miles and it was about 2:10 when pulled up to the registration office at the Stonelick State Park, near Pleasant Plains, OH. :-)

They're having a Halloween Campout at Stonelick this weekend too, but we were able to stay for 2 nights in site #42.

As you can see by the photos below, it's kind of a nice park and the fall colors are just starting to show.

I can't even begin to tell you how helpful both of the ladies at the 2 State Parks were at helping us get a site. They went out of their way to accommodate us. I doubt if they'll be reading this, but I'd like to thank them for helping us. "Thank You"!!!!

After staying at Stonelick for 2 nights, (without any Internet Signal), we left there yesterday morning at around 10:15. Again, Tillie came through and got us back on Rt. 32 heading SE. We finally came to US 35 where we turned South and followed 35 down to the Ohio River where we crossed into West Virginia. Just across the river is the town of Point Pleasant. They have a city CG called Krodel Park. It was 1:00 when we pulled into the park and we had traveled 142 miles in about 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Krodel park is OK for an overnight stay. The folks here seem very friendly and except for some kids playing over at the public playground and a train now and then, it's quiet. Most of the sites are quite close together, but the pull-through that we're in is on the end of the row, so we have quite a bit of room.

Here a few photos of the park.

In this last photo, you can see the lake in the distance.

We'll be leaving here this morning to continue our journey to Virginia Beach. We'll probably stop 2 more times before arriving there on Monday.

A Quote To Ponder:  “One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.”
Jack Penn

Woof!!!

PET Scan and Company Coming Sunday

DeBary, FL.

63 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = Clear. High of 86F. Winds from the NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Just a couple things to keep you up to date.

Linda had the PET scan yesterday morning. She said that it really wasn't too bad, but took a long time, (about an hour and a half), because they had to inject some sort of dye/tracer into her blood stream and then wait for it to circulate throughout her body before they did the scan.

While she was having the test, Jim went to the Bob Evans Restaurant and had some biscuits and gravy. While he was there, Mike called from N. Carolina to find out if it was still OK for he and his family to stop by on Sunday.

Jim gave him directions on how to best get here to the house and Mike said that it would be sometime Sunday afternoon when they got here. He said that they would only be able to stay an hour or two because they have reservations down in Orlando for Sunday night and they want to get settled in before it got too late and the kids got too tired.

I['m sure glad that they'll be stopping by. It's been way too long since I've seen them. ;-)

After Linda was finished with the PET scan, Jim took her to the Perkins Restaurant so that she could get something to eat. She wasn't allowed to eat anything except a few crackers before the test so she was really hungry. While she was eating breakfast, Jim had a piece of apple pie.

No big plans for today. The house needs some TLC before Mike, Gina and the kids get here on Sunday. The weather has turned really nice here. The humidity has dropped way down and the temperatures are in the 80's instead of the 90's, so Jim may cook something on the grill for dinner.

If you'd like to learn more about the PET scan you can click on this link.  PET Scan It and the links off of that site should give you all the info you ever wanted to know about the procedure. (It's all way over my head!!!)  :-O

Did you know that there are about 2 billion $1 bills in circulation?

Woof!!!

Beautiful Weather and "The Sidetracks Bar And Restaurant"

Thompson, MI.

56 deg. Clear, NW wind @ 6 mph.
Forecast = Partly cloudy. High of 66F. Breezy. Winds from the NNW at 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

Even though they were forecasting a 50% chance of rain yesterday, it turned out to be a beautiful day here in Thompson and I think that Linda had a very nice Birthday. It was a little breezy, but the temperatures got up to around 76 deg. and it was quite comfortable for Jim and Linda to sit outside and enjoy the view of the lake and listen to the birds singing. ;-)

After lunch, they took CLT (Cute Little Truck), and headed over to Manistique and picked up their mail that they had sent to them, via General Delivery. It had been a couple weeks since they had received any mail, so there was quite a lot this time.

After returning here and checking out the mail, both of them took a little nap. :-)

When Jim was taking the garbage to the dumpster yesterday morning, he met Bill and Diane, (the owners of this park), and asked them for a suggestion of a good place to eat in this area. Without hesitation, Bill suggested the Sidetracks Bar and Restaurant in Cooks, MI, which is about 10 miles West of here on US 2. He gave Jim directions like, "Take 2 to Cooks, which is around 8 or 10 miles west of here. When you get to the U. P. Tire Store, make a right and go about a mile and you'll see it next to the railroad tracks. You can't miss it"!!!

When people say, "You can't miss it", Jim gets a little nervous. Too many times, he's found out that you definitely can miss the place they're telling you about!!!  But, after leaving here a little before 5:00, Jim and Linda found out that Bill gave them very good instructions and they didn't miss it!  :-)

Now, I understand that the Sidetracks is "packed" on Friday nights when they have their "fish fry" special, but being that it was Monday night, there were only a few people there eating, and a few others at the bar. The Sidetracks is noted for their fish dinners, so Jim ordered the Perch and Linda ordered the Fantail Shrimp.

First the friendly waitress brought Jim and Linda huge very fresh salads with lots of homemade dressing. Then, when they were just about finished with that, she brought out the heaping plates full of food!!!! Linda had very large baked potato to go with her 7 very large shrimp and Jim had a very large quantity of excellent french fries to go with a very large amount of very tasty fish!!!

Both Jim and Linda thought their meals were very good and highly recommend the "Sidetracks Bar and Restaurant". They have steaks and many other items on their menu, and by all reports, those meals are very good also.

Oh, and don't try to look up the directions to get to the Sidetracks on the Internet. Those directions will take you way out in the country someplace. Just ask one of the local people, they'll be glad to tell you how to find it.

You can't miss it!!!! ;-)

Did you know that Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams?

Woof!!!