On the Road Again

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Our route on the trip from Keystone Heights, FL to Pierre, South Dakota.

Before we could actually get underway we had to go to the dealer where we bought our RV in Ocala, FL to have our furnace fixed. Luckily, it was able to be fixed that afternoon. We were then able to get underway, but because it was now about 2:30 p.m. we drove only to Lake City, FL and spent the night at Oaks N' Pines RV park.

On our second day, April 3, 2008, we traveled to Quincy, FL. which is 138 miles from Lake City and stayed at Beaver Lake Campground. We will usually stop in Quincy when traveling as Dee likes to take a high school friend of his, Bernadine Scott (maiden name), to breakfast and talk over old times. In their senior year in high school they were both voted Best Sense of Humor. However, we will usually stay at an Army Corp of Engineer's park, but this time we were not able to get in as it was still full with the RVers who come to Florida during the winter months. It is located on Lake Seminole which is a 3500 acre lake and provides a serene, very pretty place to relax for a few days. We left Quincy on the morning of April 6, 2008.

April 6 - We drove 258 miles and camped in Coffeeville, Alabama at Black Warrior RV Park which is located on the Tom Bigbee River.

April 7 - We drove 192 miles and camped at Oktibbeha Lake Campground near Starkville, Mississippi. We stayed an extra day here because I wanted to put new flowers on my mother's grave (she is buried in Bruce, MS at a small cemetery located at Rocky Mountain Baptist Church). It is still quite painful to be there, but at the same time I want to be there because I feel closer to her. Whenever I have the opportunity to visit her grave site I always put on the ABBA CD and play the song "I Believe in Angels" which she loved. She truly believed that everyone has a guardian angel so when I first heard this song, I bought the CD for her, and as I thought, she really loved the song.

April 9 - Today was a long travel day as we drove 339 miles. We were very tired and wound up staying at Four States Fairgrounds & RV Park in Texarkana, Arkansas. There are not many RV parks in this park of Arkansas so we did not have much to choose from. It was one of those places that is good only for having a place to pull over and stay the night and get on your way the next day. However, we decided to stay another day as the weather was quite bad when we woke up. It was raining and extremely high winds, so we decided it was more prudent to stay put another day and let the bad weather clear out.

April 11 - Today we drove 280 miles and stayed at Witchita River Bend RV Park in Witchita Falls, Texas. It was a very nice small city park with 28 sites. There was a hiking trail along the river (which we hiked), a butterfly house close by, and was very clean. The biggest draw back was the fact the park was close to a major highway and there was a lot of highway noise. We decided to stay a couple of days and just relax and do some grocery shopping.

April 14 - Today we drove 274 miles and spent the night at another city park in Perryton, Texas - Perryton City Park. This small city provides free camping for two nights and it was a nice park.

April 15 - Today we drove 305 miles and spent the night at Red Willow State Park, north of McCook, Nebraska. It was a very nice park with quite a few sites and we were the only people there. It was great, lots of privacy. It was another very windy day, although it was warm, up into the low 80s.

April 16 - We drove 196 miles and spent the night at Fishberry Campground in Valentine, Nebraska, which was a nice, clean, small park.

April 17 - Today we drove 133 miles and arrived at Oahe Downriver State Park in the afternoon around 2:30 p.m. Very pretty park situated on the Missouri River with many huge trees, although most of them are still bare. However, this is definitely not the camping season. The park was almost empty. There were three RVers here when we arrived, which as it turned out was more than would be here most other days. After driving almost 1800 miles to get here it was nice to arrive, although I was still concerned about having to go through some cold weather before summer finally arrived.

April - 18 - Today, Friday, we finished setting up camp, did some grocery shopping, and in the afternoon, Pat, the Ranger who will be our boss came by and took us out to the archery range to show us what he would like for us to do. There are 14 targets spread out over a mile and a half trail. We are to cut back any growth of trees, branches, or shrubs which might cause people to trip or catch their bows in and which would block the view of people shooting at the targets. We are also to spread wood chips along the path wherever they are needed. However, he told us to settle in for the weekend and start Monday.

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