Monday, May 6th – On the way home! Said
goodbye to Eddy & Renee Gallaspy and left San Augustine campground early
(around 8:00 AM). Made it back to Hwy 96 in Pineland and then headed north
through the towns of San Augustine and Center to Tehana. There we took Hwy 84 east, crossed into
Louisiana at Logansport, then through Mansfield, LA to I-49 - close to 100
miles of surface roads. Then it was interstate for the rest of the day – I-49
north to Shreveport, then I-20 east through Minden & Monroe, LA and
Vicksburg & Jackson, MS. I-20 is not
bad for the most part, except for the aforementioned cities – there it is pretty
ROUGH! It was a long drive and made for a tiring day – 8:00 hours, 393
miles. We stopped for the night at
Roosevelt State Park in Morton, MS – about 30 miles or so east of Jackson. We stayed here the last time we were coming through. It’s a pretty nice park on a lake, but the
same thing happened as last time. The
site they assigned us was pretty bad and I had to call the office to get
reassigned.
Tuesday – Shorter drive today, so didn’t have to get up
and leave so early. We left around 9:00
AM, stopped right outside the park at McDonald’s for a handheld breakfast, then
hit I-20 headed east. After going
through Meridian, MS and merging with I-59 north (no blowouts this time Ed), we
stopped at Toomsuba for fuel, then crossed into Alabama. One thing we are really impressed with is all
the magnolias planted along the highway – after all, Mississippi is the
Magnolia State (sorry the picture didn’t come out very good).
We made it through Tuscaloosa OK and then about 35 miles
to our exit for Tannehill Ironworks Memorial State Park (short version is
Tannehill State Park), about 30 miles south of Birmingham. We checked in around 1:00 PM after a good
187-mile drive for the day. This place
is where there was a Confederate iron works during the Civil War (war of
Northern aggression). They have a museum,
several other things of historical interest, plus the iron works themselves. Of course, we are only here for an overnight
stop, so we didn’t have time to check it all out.
Wednesday – Another shorter travel day. We left Tannehill State Park around 9:00 CDT
and hit I-20 east. In Birmingham, AL, we took the I-459 loop around the
southside, then back on I-20 east of town.
We had been looking for a Hardee’s for a breakfast biscuit for a long
time – there are no Hardee’s in Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi that we ever
found. We were looking forward today for
Hardee’s and knew of one in Heflin, AL.
Dang – got there and it was permanently closed! Oh well, it had to be McDonald’s one more
time. A few miles past Heflin, we
crossed into Georgia and lost an hour going back to Eastern time.
We made on to Atlanta and took the I-285 loop around the
west side to I-75 north at Marietta.
Then it was I-75 north to our exit for our day’s destination – McKinney
Campground on Lake Alatoona near Acworth, GA.
All in all, the ride around Atlanta and then up I-75 went pretty well –
there were a couple of slow-ups, but not too bad. Total for the day was 4 hours, 201
miles. This campground is an Army Corps
of Engineers facility and one of our favorites.
We’ve camped here many times and it’s a good last night stopover before
the final leg home tomorrow - not to mention that LaVerne’s son Randy and his
family live about 5 minutes away. A
little while after we got set up, both of LaVerne’s sons Randy & Ricky came
for a visit (Ricky lives a little farther away in Atlanta).
Today (Thursday, May 9th) – Short drive today –
85 miles. We left McKinney campground
around 9:15 and had a good ride up I-575.
Made a Hardee’s stop in Jasper, a gas stop at the Murphy station at
Walmart in Blue Ridge, then a Tractor Supply stop for sunflower seeds (our
birds are probably hungry). They also
had some really good-looking tomato plants, so we grabbed a few – maybe get them
planted next week! We got home around
Noon and everything on the home front is great.
We thank God for giving us a great trip, no mechanical problems, keeping
us safe, and those around us safe. We
have truly been blessed. We were gone
for 39 days and traveled 3360 miles! Also,
we are glad to have had all of you along for the ride – hope you enjoyed it!