Final Post - On the Road Home

Monday, May 6^th – 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 9^th) – 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!