First Version North to Alaska 2010

Cathie and I left Naples, Florida on May 13 for Sanford staying with son James and Jen. The Infinity RV was ready at the service center for pick up in the next morning. After a lazy morning loading up the "extras" we set off in early afternoon driving to the Ocala National Forest to our favorite road out of Florida, I-75. We were singing along to "On the Road Again!". For some reason we are very happy to drive off to nowhere in particular and figure it out when we get there.

We will be "Camping by the Roadside" most of the way, so spent first night next to some trucker friends near Tallahassee, our capital city. We could tell the economy was perking there, government spending influence for sure. Talked with a lady by the gas pumps who seemed very proud of her city and liked her job as a case mgr for Social Security as the state contracts workers to the Feds. Clever.

Saturday was a great day of travel taking in the pretty farmland of the Florida Panhandle. Pensacola brought many memories as we talked about Jim's Navy flight training there in 1961-1963. Cathie chimed in with some of her war stories as a Navy RN! We stayed in the IP Casino & Spa lot with many other RV's and some trucks and boats. We made a small donation in the casino for our dinner and walked to the Infinity in the light rain falling. Then boom! The rain came down in sheets as we hunkered down for the night. Lightning all around.

Sunday was a neat drive north to Vicksburg Mississippi where we found a beautiful spot right next to Old Man River, still flowing. We enjoyed a few hours in a casino there and paid for a day or two of fuel and a small meal. The security guy called us out to move the Infinity, but we convinced them that we were high rollers and had paid dearly for that spot with the great view!
He gave up when we asked to speak with his supervisor.

Monday we drove up to Fayetteville, Arkansas and found a Wal Mart Super Center with cheap petro. Just as we got settled in, here comes the Wal Mart truckers to sleep for awhile too. Most of them travel with dogs, who enjoyed trading sniffs with our Maltese, Gabriel. One old boy said he noticed us on the road and thanked us for signaling him over after he passed us safely. "Not many folks are kind to us truckers anymore." Nice complement. Our drive that day was fantastic, going through thousands and thousands of acres of farms with rice crops, soybeans, cotton, corn all growing well already. Oh, America, the Beautiful! We are so blessed. We need to encourage our young people to learn our history and keep our Country strong, free, and safe.

Tuesday the 18th we drove to Branson, Missouri listening to election day predictions on the radio. It is interesting how the bias of the reporters changes as you go from one area to another. Much of the day we were in Arkansas, so we heard how great Blanche Lincoln was and could see she had strong support in some areas by the signs in the yards. The primary system is good. It really gives voters a chance to sort things out. Little Rock is a big city now, with the obvious problems of a big city. Roads are rough. Not very clean. Tough looking areas.
But very friendly people.

Branson, MO is nice for family fun. We went to the "Twelve Irish Tenors" show which was wonderful. Found a Mexican meal later way out in the countryside. Imagine that! Had a nice stay at the Oak Grove RV park to restore the Infinity to proper order with some tanks full, and others empty. We used our Saturn "dinghy" to go about the town. Fun driving on mountain roads with the small car. Not the RV.