Tennessee and Georgia

We left Paducah, KY on Wednesday morning and drove to Nashville to have lunch with Belinda (which we did!).

After lunch we drove out to the subdivision where she is having a house built.  Expects it to be done in Oct.  We toured the model which is very similar to the house Belinda will have.  Very nice.  We also saw the lot where it is to be built.  Great views both front and back.

From there we drove south to Chattanooga, TN (horrible traffic jams) and then on into Northern Georgia to a campground for the night.  Will never stay there again.  Camp host was nice and helpful but we were parked on an uneven slope and couldn't level it unless we unhooked, which we didn't want to do.  So we just put up with it - it was late anyway.

On Thursday we drove about 20 minutes south on I-75 and met Mike and Anna Doll who used to live in Plano and went to our church.

Played softball with Mike.  Had a great time catching up and hope to meet up with them again in the future.

From there on, traffic was bad - took I-285 around the Western side of Atlanta which wasn't too bad but when we got back on I-75 it was stop and go for many miles.  We vowed never to take this route again!!!!

We are now at a campground just north of Valdosta for the night and will drive into Tampa/Indian Rocks Beach tomorrow.  Looking forward to it after 5 days on the road!!

Illinois/Kentucky

Monday, the 12th, we left Paullina and drove to Orion, IL about 360 miles.  On Tuesday we left Orion and drove down I-74 toward KY.  On the way, we got caught up with "Power Tour 2017" a collection of old cars, etc.  From their website:

 The 23rd annual HOT ROD Power Tour returns in 2017 with exciting new features for auto enthusiasts worldwide, as the highly anticipated seven-day, seven-city journey (Kansas City, Des Moines, Davenport, Champaign, St Louis,Indianapolis, and Bowling Green) is expected to bring together together more than 6,000 vehicles and 100,000-plus spectators, June 10-16, 2017.

We first noticed them after we left the campground and got included with them. People were lining the road in lawn chairs, taking pictures, etc.  We got on the freeway and then they started passing us.

My favorite.  (Also saw a 1957 silver Chevy Belair two-door hardtop but did not get a picture).

Later, a huge cross along the way.

A little scenery.

This bridge crossed the Ohio River.

We ended up in Paducah, KY for the night at a campground we stayed at back in 2014 and hunkered down for the night.

Tomorrow we travel thru Nashville and will have lunch with Belinda.

Paullina IA and Reuion

On Thursday we left Council Bluffs and traveled to Paullina, IA.  Of course, along the way are windmills.  They basically run from SW Minnesota into Iowa.

We went thru LeMars, IA which is where Blue Bunny ice cream is produced.  You will find ice cream cones on the corners in town.

Naturally our phones quit working (Google Maps) before we got to Paullina so we lost our route.  Fortunately, we had the GPS in our new truck and it found the way for us.

Three churches in town.

 We found our campground on the East side of town.  Great park.

Birdhouses:

Lake Paullina.

We found out from our friend, Elvira Diefenbach, from NJ, that she had an uncle who lived in Paullina, and they erected a bench at the lake in his name.  Here it is.

Unfortunately, it was hard to get a picture of his name on the bench.

Our campsite.  Notice the shade which was very welcome because the temps got up around 90.

A look out from the campground.

On Saturday we got a visit from Judy's sister, Pam and husband, Steve, all the way from Minnetonka, MN.

Had a great time catching up on all the gossip!!

Sunday we went to 9:30 service at Zion Lutheran Church.

After the service we drove over to Sutherland, IA (about 10 miles away) for the Appeldorn (on my mother's side) family reunion.  This is the 91st year of the reunion.

 It was held at the local Masonic Hall.  There were about 20 of us.  Picture:

We had a good time meeting everyone and finding out about each Appeldorn family - there were 13 siblings (my mother's Dad was Herman) so I updated everyone about Herman's (and Mamie) family - Nora, Lucille, Marie, Caroline (Mom), Harold, and Hank.

We had a great lunch of ham, fried chicken, salad, fruit, rolls, and, for dessert, cake, ice cream, and brownies.  Yum, yum.

All in all, a great day!!

Eastern Trip 2017

Here is the first part of our itinerary for this summer:

DATE NAME ADDRESS STATE 6/6/17 Camp Mi Casa Carthage MO 6/7/17 Bluffs Run Casino Council Bluffs IA 6/8/17 Mill Creek Park Paullina IA 6/12/17 Hillcrest Event Center Orion IL 6/13/17 Victory RV Park Paducah KY 6/14/17 Leisure Time RV Park Adairsville GA 6/15/17 Cains Creekside RV Park Hahira GA 6/16/17 West Bay Oaks Largo FL 6/17/17 Cameron Cove Timeshare IRB FL 6/26/17 Camp Lake Jasper Hardeeville SC 6/27/17 Flintlock CG Boone NC 6/30/17 RV Vacation Park Selma NC 7/5/17 Trap Pond State Park Laurel DE 7/7/17 Sea Pines CG Cape May NY 7/13/17 Turkey Swamp CG Freehold NJ 7/17/17 Sunset Farms CG Monson MA

As you can see by the dates, we have several travel days, but also several stops along the way.  I'll cover them as we go.

Our first night was in Carthage, MO at a relatively new campground.

Nice park but few trees as they had to cut them down to make the campground about three years ago.

Church in town.

Had dinner with my sister, Judeen and her husband, Jim, last night at Boyd & Charlie's BBQ in Elkhorn, NE (just West of Omaha).  

Excellent BBQ with very reasonable prices.  They had a couple of specials so I actually had hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy, beans, and Ms Terry's Corn Pie.  The roast beef was so tender you could cut it with a fork.   Yum, Yum!!  All for $8.69.  

Tomorrow we travel all of about 125 miles to Paullina, IA.  My mother's family was originally from here and they have a reunion every year.  The Appeldorn family (great grandparents) came from Germany and settled here.  There were 13 kids.  Three brothers decided that they wanted to farm and the land in SW Minnesota was good so they moved there.  My Mother was born on the farm outside of Pipestone, MN as were three of her sisters.  

We have not been able to attend this reunion for at least 50 (yes fifty!!) years. This might be the last year so we decided we should at least get to this one.  We looked for pictures that we could share and have a few, but most are back at our storage unit in Plano.  So my sister brought this one of my Mom and Dad's wedding:

Not sure, but I think it was around 1940.

We also just realized that our Dad's family came from Sutherland, IA which is just a few miles from Paullina.  So we may attempt to find a relative or two that might still be there.

Wish us luck...

Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon

OOPS!!  Here it is June 8th and I forgot to post this one from back in March!!

Wednesday we drove down to Palo Duro Canyon, about 30 miles south of Amarillo.  We checked into the visitor center and got a map of the park.

Downhill grade of 10% for two miles into the canyon!

There are campgrounds at the bottom and they even have electric and water. We did not know that or we might have stayed here.

We took a couple of pictures from the top.

From there on, we took pictures.

Looks like a lighthouse (but isn't - just a rock formation).

One of several cabins that can be rented.

A great place to visit.  Hopefully, some day we will come back and camp in the Canyon!