1. Getting Started - Jan 2015

Note: See all of our trips at: tinyurl.com/anneandjohnblog

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This trip will take us along the Atlantic Coast of Florida starting just south of St. Augustine and traveling as far South as Key Largo. If the weather cooperates, it will be a nice trip to some interesting places we haven't seen before. Here is is a map of our planned route:

We started getting the RV ready to travel a few months ago. Some minor repairs were required, including replacing an exhaust extension …..

new license plate lights......

rebuilt rear mudflap.........

and a new shelf in the water tank compartment. 

And finally, the moped was strapped down to its carrier, where it would hopefully stay put until we get to Florida.

We usually set up a few card tables in the house to stash things we want to carry out to the RV. You can never have too many supplies when you are going to be gone for a few months. In fact its a good idea to take everything you will need, may need, and even somethings you might use only once! And you can't forget to take some winter, spring, and summer clothes too! (we don't fully agree on this, however).

The last, and most important, things we did before leaving was go to our grand daughter Anna's birthday party and our grandson Ryan's orchestra concert

By the time we were ready to leave, everyone was pretty well exhausted.

With the heat lowered, water turned off, perishables discarded, and beds made, we're rarin' to go! 

Looks like Duffy forgot his bone!

We actually left one day after our original plan, but this enabled us to leave early the next day and make our first stop at Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park in Whittington, Il. It was a convenient stop, just a few miles from the highway, and a pretty nice, if lonely, park that will surely be bustling in the summertime.

The frozen shoreline was pretty at dusk.

Our next stop was was south of Nashville, where we stayed an extra day to visit with our friends Rodney and Kay.

We had a great time making a second visit to the Lane Motor Museum. Lane specializes in tiny cars, mostly foreign makes like this '70 Fiat 500 Mare Lusso.  Is this a cute car or what

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Here is a '90 Nissan Figaro sold in the Japanese market.

Need a tiny delivery vehicle?

... or a somewhat bigger landing craft?

We topped off the day with a fine dinner at one of Rodney and Kay's favorite restaurants.

The area south of Nashville is quite hilly and wooded – altogether quite scenic. But it wasn't too much fun finding our way back to Henry Horton State Park in the dark on those winding streets! Hooray for GPS technology. And we must comment on Horton's great wifi - hands down the best we have ever experienced!

We haven't used the RV for several months, and its always fun dumping the holding tanks when we leave a campground. While it sounds like a nasty task, you get used to it. Rubber gloves and hand sanitizer help. But you always have to be really careful not to make any spills.....

And needless to say, hitching up the car is a job you cannot be too careful with.....

So far everything is going well. We just hope it warms up a little.......