Monday,
April 20, 2015 3:00PM: We can’t believe
it. All that stuff we had been staging
in the house for the last 2 months actually fit in the trailer with a few cubic
inches left over. We are ready to
travel.
Tuesday is departure day and we find ourselves in Falling Waters State Park in northwest Florida – claim to fame – the tallest water fall in Florida. It was more than we expected, but less than astounding.
Day 2 we made the drive to Clarkco State Park in Mississippi – claim to fame – it’s on Lake Ivy and is a really pretty park. Few patrons this time of year, so it was a nice relaxing place to stay.
On Day 3 we took time to drive through the Vicksburg Civil War Memorial Park, where we saw the "Cairo", the only Union ironclad to be raised and restored. We were impressed by the whole park and wished we had more time to look around. We arrived later that night at the lake house of our “dear friends” Robert and Cathy on Lake D’Arbonne in northwest Louisiana. Day 4 was a rainout, but gave us plenty of time to catch up.
The next day we were treated to a kayak tour on Corney Creek, a feeder of the lake. Cypress trees along the creek really showed off “Old Louisiana”, just like we brag on the look of “Old Florida”.
Today, we are 1,011 miles into our trip and are staying at Caddo Lake State Park in northeast Texas. This is another piney woods park that surrounds a mill pond full of moss covered cypress and borders the Big Cypress Creek that feeds Caddo Lake.
Built in the 1930’s by the CCC, there are still many of the original buildings in use in the park.
Next leg of the trip finds us in Texas to visit with family. Then we head west. I’ll be back in touch sometime after that.
This is my first attempt at a blog, so please cut me some slack if it's a little less than professional.
I'll try to make occasional posts here as we wend our way to Alaska and back this summer. However, much of our trip will take us to places with no internet coverage, so posts may be few and far between. I'll do my best to send out an email to everyone who has expressed interest in our adventure to let you know when a new blog post is put up.
Here's our Home for the next 5 months. 200 square feet of pure pullable paradise. Should be "cozy". (And can you believe it? I actually figured out how to put a picture where I wanted it. Maybe this blog thing isn't so hard after all.)
We leave on April 21 and plan to return home around the first of October.
The basic trip plan is to visit friends and family in Louisiana and Texas as the first leg of the trip. Bettie's brother Billy hopes to join us for the next few weeks as we make our way through some of the western National Parks. We'll say goodbye to him in Salt Lake City, then continue on our way.
We expect to cross the border into Canada around June 1. Then make it to Alaska a month or so later. We'll drive the Al-Can highway to Fairbanks, then make the long sojourn to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay so I can dip my toes in the Arctic Ocean (why that seems to be a "thing" I really don't know, but it is, so I'm gonna do it). After that, it's on to Denali, Kenai, the fjords, and various other stops as we head back south. We're not so sure about the return route yet. Figuring that out will just be part of the adventure, but we will make it to Texas in time for another family visit before heading home.
Comments and suggestions are welcome. I hope you enjoy.
