[DutchmenSport]

Well, here's a "final" follow up on this thread, and when continuing our journeys I'll start a new thread.

We departed Oakley Plantation (Audubon State Historic Site in Louisiana) right on time. Everything went smooth as silk. No issues at all. It was sad leaving, but it was a necessary evil. My heart is truly at that place. But .... time and events push us all onward and memories are forever locked in our hearts and minds.

We traveled to Hugh White State Park in Mississippi, which was only a 4 hour drive, but it took us 8. OK, we horsed around a LOT on our way there.

Once at Hugh White State Park we were really, really disappointed. This park itself is nice. But what was disappointing is, the campsites are designed to share one power pole. The poles have 20, 30, and 50 amp plugs. So, if your neighboring camper gets there first and takes the 50 amp plug, well.... you are just screwed! They DON'T say ANYTHING about that on the state park campground reservation site (Reserve America). It just say, 20-30-50 amp available).

And, our site was a good 100 feet from the closest power pole. I quit carrying THAT much cord. We called the park office and they let us switch across the road. We had another shared power box, but there was no one else on the site beside us.

Then, being Saturday, the night before Easter, they had some kind of shing-dig going on just about 300 yards from us in a parking lot/shelter house where, probably .... a couple hundred people were having a party that lasted till after 10:00 pm. I think it might have been a church group that might have had some kind of Easter Egg hunt "thing" / carry-in dinner / and entertainment with people singing and such. (I think). It was hard to tell, but they sure were hooping-it-up.

Well, we left Sunday morning even though we had 2 nights reserved and drove to Henderson Kentucky. I really wanted to stay at the Audubon State Park there, at least for one night! Um.... never again.

The state park is located right in the middle of town and the campground is right along the main highway running through town. Traffic and noise and lights all night long!

Plus the campsites, although are very nice, are very tricky to back into. Maybe a tear-drop trailer or a pop-up would have no issues, but anything over 24 foot is a challenge. I'm 41 foot and ACTUALL got into the site! The guy camped across the road came running over once I actually got backed into the site and congratulated me on getting in. He said, he's seen some pretty impressive campsite "backing", but mine blew the cake off. I guess I really impressed the guy. I was just glad I did not hit anything or run off into the gully ditch on each side of the pad.

We left Monday morning and crossed over into Indiana at Henderson, Kentucky. We hit I-69 and OH MY! What a mistake. That road is horrible! WELCOME BACK TO INDIANA AND THE MOST HORRIBLE INTERSTATE ROADS IN THE NATION! We got off I-69 and ended up take secondary roads all the way home. We ended up driving 150 miles farther than planned so we could miss all of Indianapolis. All that construction going on, on the South side of Indianapolis, I-65 exit, I-69 exit, Indiana 37 exit, that entire section is a horrid nightmare. Yanking a 41 foot trailer through all of that .... no, no, no.

We FINALLY got home... Safe, sound, and no issues with the camper or truck at all. It was a great drive, all the way.

We stepped out of the truck in our drive way, it was just nearing dusk, and OMG! I was immediately ready to turn around a head for Louisiana. COLD, COLD, COLD, and wind blowing horrible.

It started raining. I got our sub-pumps out (in a nick of time), and over night our chicken run habitat collapsed under all the rain. Our poor girls were traumatized in the morning when they came out of their hutch.

So, yesterday, (April 2) I took my truck into my Chevy dealer who is going to give it that 100,000 mile inspection and overhaul! I had him look at my rear tires, I'm needed new rubber also. I'm expecting a $4000 bill after the tires, oil change, transmission flush, rear end flush and all of that stuff they do at 100,000 miles. They are inspecting the truck first and will give me a report on what really needs to be done before doing the work.

Meanwhile, I just returned from Lowe's with $179 worth of 2x4's to rebuild that chicken run .... if it ever stops raining and the wind stops blowing. Poor chicken ...

We're returning back to Oakley Plantation leaving April 27. Meanwhile, got our taxes to get done (H&R block appointment this Friday), my wife has 3 different doctor visits, I have a doctor visit for med-check-up ... (by the way I feel absolutely great!) Vet visit this Friday for the dogs,

Somewhere in there..... wash the camper, build a new shelf for inside the camper, run some caulking along one of the rubber seals on one of the slide outs, re-stock the camper for the next 4 months away from home, switch over the John Deer from winter snow-blower to summer lawn mower, get on oil change on my other truck. (and build a new chicken run!) Sheesh! Get me out of here! I'm ready to go now!

Who says retirement means sitting down and doing NOTHING! Sheesh. I'm busier now than I ever was when I was employeed!

Oh well.... happy camping everyone! See you in Louisiana or North Carolina!