April 29, 2010 by LadyCC.

Day 8 We get kicked off I-40 in Winslow, AZ

We start our day early again by leaving in the car for the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We get there about 7:30 am on the north side of the park and look around the ranger station. PTCC gets her Jr Ranger book to work on. We commence driving the 28 mile circle tour and see the sights. Some of the vistas are beautiful with the different color rocks. We make it to the Rainbow Museum on the south side of the park and there we get to see up close the huge logs that have been petrified. PTCC is awarded her Jr Ranger Badge and also a patch. You can’t take any wood out of the park and both the shops were closed so we head to a gift shop outside the park so PTCC can get her rock. She’s collected rocks from everywhere she has been so we know she needs to add a petrified one as well. Well we get back to the KOA and pack up, CC has heard there are high wind advisories in effect from Winslow to Flagstaff so he wants to get on the road. Well we start out on I-40 and it is REALLY windy. It feels like the MH is going to fly right off the road. We decide to stop at the Walmart in Winslow to pick up a few things since it is an easy on off I-40. We grab the things we need and checkout and make it back to the MH. We start up the road and find out the entrance ramp is closed. So we need gas anyway so we turn back and stop at the Shell to fuel up. We’ve spent almost $1000 on gas so far at 6 mpg. So after fueling we head back to the Walmart to park and wait it out. We find a noon news station and find out the road might be closed until 7 pm. Right now it is 12 pm. So we will have a long wait in store.

Well all the updates keep saying the road will reopen in a few hours but alas this is not the case. We are keeping company with about 50 trucks and other cars that have been turned away from the interstate. And more keep coming in through the night. We had a scare when the sign meant to keep the trucks out of the parking lot blew out out its frame and the frame became unhooked and was flying into the pole. We weren’t sure if it would fly right into our windshield or hit our RV and do some serious damage. Well we keep busy playing monopoly and reading our books and watching the 1 TV station that we can get. Eventually around 10 pm we decide we are staying when the news says the road will be closed until 3 am. LCC is extremely worried because we are broadside into the wind and it feels like the MH will blow over any minute. The winds are gusting up to 70 mph which is almost the same as a category 1 hurricane. I wouldn’t be caught in a MH during a hurricane but here I have no choice. This is not a 24 hour Walmart so they have closed and won’t reopen until 7 am. So no sanctuary there. We can’t leave and go somewhere else because there is no somewhere else, the trucks and cars are all jammed anywhere they can park. At 5 am LCC gets up after a sleepless night to see the trucks are turning on their lights and starting their engines. By 5:30 am they are starting to move to get back on the interstate. We have been parked at Walmart for about 18 hours since the road closed at 11:30 am yesterday.

Day 9 Happy 12^th Birthday PTCC

Happy birthday to PTCC, except she’s NOT happy. We were supposed to be waking up to a sunrise at the Grand Canyon. Instead we are waking up at Walmart in Winslow, AZ. I remind her that she did have an overnight at Walmart on her bucket list. Now hopefully she can cross that off and we can get back to traveling. CC has got an itch to get on the road so we reset the car and eat a quick breakfast of pop-tarts and hot chocolate while PTCC opens her gifts and we sing Happy Birthday to her. Then CC jumps in the driver’s seat and we are off at 6:40 am. It is organized chaos at the entrance ramp but at least they have someone directing traffic to get everyone back on hopefully safely. We are traveling in a mass convoy of hundreds of trucks. It brings to mind the song “Convoy” from the 70’s. CC has it on his playlist on his MP3. We are having a hard time seeing because the dust is still blowing it’s like fog in FL but with dirt mixed in. We are only traveling at about 40 mph on I-40. We go about 15 miles and come to a dead stop. There must be an accident from everyone trying to get there faster. An ambulance passes us on the breakdown lane. Followed 20 minutes later by 2 wreckers. Finally we can see in the binoculars the trucks are moving again. It takes about 10 minutes more for us to start moving. We have been stopped more than 45 minutes on I-40. Hopefully we can make it to Flagstaff today…we go about about 1 mile and come to another dead stop. When we started back up 2 motorcycles passed us in the breakdown lane LCC can see them ahead still riding the breakdown lane. They will probably be the next accident on the road.

On the way PTCC’s grandparents maternal and fraternal call to wish her a Happy Birthday. She’s a little bummed her friends haven’t called but I reminded her that some are in school and most of them know my cell phone number which doesn’t seem to work out here in the west. Hopefully when we get near a large city that has ATT service we will get any messages that were left for her.

We make it to Flagstaff and PTCC has said she wants to go to Wupatki National Monument which is southeast of the Grand Canyon. We drive by Sunset Cater NM to go to the next entrance thinking Wupatki is near the road, but it is not to be. It is 15 miles down the road. CC is NOT happy (now there are 2 unhappy people riding in this RV). We persevere though and roll on down the road eventually finding the visitors center. We get out and it is really cold and super windy. PTCC gets her Jr Ranger book and goes to work to complete it. LCC and CC read through the visual displays and check out the bookstore. PTCC finishes her book and takes her Jr ranger pledge and receives her badge. We then head out to look at the ruins and petroglyphs. We don’t stay long though because of the cold. We get back on the road and head up US 89 to go to the east entrance to the Grand Canyon. On our way it starts to snow. That’s right I said SNOW! We can’t believe this is the 29^th of April. When is spring coming to this area???

Finally we arrive at the Grand Canyon entrance and find our way to the campground. Vince, who checks us in, was super nice and told us since we were late because of the weather he wouldn’t charge us for last night. That’s the 1^st good thing in the last couple of days that’s happened to us. We get to our site and find out it’s shaped like a smile. Luckily yesterday we figured out what was wrong with our levelers so we hope they work today. The site’s a little short but we work it out because we are CAMPING IN THE CANYON! Finally. We set up and then hit the road for the Canyon View visitors center to check out what there is to do here. Since this is CC’s first time he kept trying to look out the side windows while driving up and we had to remind him to keep his eyes on the road. Now we let him look all he wants. We get PTCC her Jr Ranger book and true to form she starts in on it right away. LCC reminds her she has a few days to finish it. We take a look around the visitors center and the bookstore where CC adds to his pin collection and then we hit the Rim Trail near Mather Point. It was good weather just cold but really clear. We think we got some nice pics of the canyon and then start to go the the El Tovar to check it out when we decide we probably need more than ¼ tank of gas and we figure out the closest station is in Tusayan so off we go to fill up. We took a funny video of CC cleaning the windows. As fast as he cleared them snow covered them again.

Then back to the Canyon where we’ve changed our minds and decide to have dinner now because PTCC keeps telling us how hungry she is. So we eat at the Bright Angel Restaurant and get enough food to bring home most of our dinners for lunch tomorrow. Then we take a walk to Kolb Studio and look around then follow the Rim Trail back to the Hopi House all while the snow is pouring down. The Canyon is barely visible with all the snow falling. So we finish our walk in the El Tovar lobby then head back to the car. PTCC is excited because the car is completely covered with snow so she has fun getting it all off. Then we head back to the RV and her birthday cake and an early night since the goal tomorrow is to see the sun rise in the canyon.

Day 10 We see the Canyon from East to West

Today our goal is to transverse the entire rim if possible and see the canyon from East to West. None of us wanted to get up to see the sunrise at 5:30 am so we stayed snuggled in bed until 7 am then made pancakes and got dressed to start our journey. When we woke up the temperature was 21 degrees and our water had frozen inside the pipe so we had to use onboard water to start the day. The forecast said the high was 45 degrees for today. I really hope they guessed low.

We jump in the car to head to Desert View because the buses don’t run that far east in the low season. The plan is to look around there then check out Navajo Point and Lipan Point then go to a ranger program at Tusayan Museum and Ruin for PTCC’s last requirement for her Jr Ranger badge. Desert View is a building that resembles a watch tower designed by Mary Colter who designed many of the buildings at the Grand Canyon. The inside is pretty neat with Indian drawings and furniture. It had circular floors inside but from the outside it didn’t look that tall. We took in the views then moved on to Navajo and Lipan Points to take some more pictures and then made it to Tusayan Ruins just as a school group was getting there. The National Park is really good about corralling school kids away from the other visitors so their enjoyment of the Canyon is not diminished. We take a tour of the ruins and learn about how the Hopi Indians lived and how they survived in such a harsh climate. PTCC finishes her Jr Ranger book so she can turn it in today. Then we head for Moran and Grandview Points which both have spectacular vistas and we take a lot of pictures. Yaki Point is for buses only so we skip that one and head for the GC Visitor Center where PTCC gets her book looked at and receives her badge. Then we head for the post office to mail our Netflix’s back and pick up bread for lunch. We go back to the RV have lunch and figure out what we’re doing for the afternoon.

We decided to leave the car parked at the campground because parking is a big chore on the western part of the rim and the buses go everywhere we need to get to. So we catch the bus to the village and change to the red bus that goes to Hermit’s Rest. We get off at the Trail Overlook and start walking the rim. We can see part of the Bright Angel trail that we plan to hike tomorrow. It does look challenging. We take in the views and walk on to Maricopa Point then ride the bus to Powell Point and walk to Hopi Point. Each area has its formations and colors that are different from the last. Since it’s about 2 miles to the end from here we catch the bus again and end up at Hermit’s Rest. This is another Mary Colter designed building on the rim. It has the most massive fireplace we’ve ever seen. It’s as big as ½ our house it seems. After looking around and taking the requisite pictures we jump back on the bus to go back to the village. I think it’s the luck of the draw on the bus drivers you get. Some are very talkative and will tell you everything and anything about the canyon and some only announce the stops coming up. Ours this time wanted people to know about the Canyon which was fine with us. He was also great about letting us know when he saw wildlife on the sides of the road. On our trip back we saw 2 elk and some deer. No condors yet though.

We got back to the village and since we didn’t have room for dessert last night we stop back in to the Bright Angel restaurant for some chocolate cake and cheesecake. Yeah! Dessert before dinner. Now I know I’m on vacation. Then on back to the campsite to unload our backpack, download our pictures, write this blog and eat a real dinner. CC wants us to shower early because he wants to fill the tank so we have enough onboard water if the pipe freezes again and he will disconnect from the park water so we don’t crack our hose in the cold.

Day 11 We hike the Bright Angel Trail

We set the alarm for 6 am so we can get up and go hiking. After a quick breakfast we don our cold weather clothes and set out in the car for Bright Angel Lodge where the trail starts. It’s a brisk 34 degrees outside so the day starts cold for us. We pull into the parking lot and get our backpacks on which are filled with water bottles, granola bars and camera equipment. We also bring our walking sticks and for the first couple of hundred yards I wished I’d left mine back in the car. It’s hard holding the walking stick, holding onto the camera strap and keeping the backpack centered on my shoulders as we walk down the trail. The beginning is not too bad until we get to where the CCC put in logs for steps to stop erosion from happening. My left knee hates downhill stairs. I never have a problem climbing, only going downhill. And today I did not wear my knee brace.

Our goal is the 1.5 mile rest house. I’m wearing my pedometer so I can see if it is more than that with the steps we have to take to get there. We wanted to start early to avoid the congestion and the mules if possible. Also it’s a cooler time of day because as you go down the air becomes warmer and you are getting heated as well. All is going fine; we are sticking together, PTCC is in the lead but she’s not stopping to take pictures like CC and LCC are. We see no one else for awhile and then some small groups are passing us. There were 2 runners going as fast as they could down the trail. I don’t know how they kept from tripping over the rocks or logs. There’s a large youth group that is behind us and we are trying to keep ahead of them as much as possible. We are also watching our step as there is lots of mule manure all over the trail and it smells real bad. We come to the first tunnel and take pictures there and continue on around a dozen curves it seems until we get to the second tunnel and take more pictures there as well. We continue on until 3 women are stopped on the trail looking at a deer that is feeding. Just as I get there it bounds off down the mountain. We mosey on downhill stopping every now and then for pictures. The way down is not too strenuous for any of us but we have heard the way up is a different story. We look over the edge and see a rest house and we think that is the one we are aiming for but before you know it we are actually at the 1.5 mile rest house; it seems to pop up out of nowhere. There are composting toilets and a small shelter with water here. We go to use the restrooms and a ranger is there cleaning them. He barks at us that we can only use the last one. He’s the first unfriendly ranger we’ve encountered on our trip. He must of pulled the short straw to clean the restrooms today. The large group of kids has caught up with us as well now. We made it down in 45 minutes, but we know it will take longer to get back up. I look at my pedometer and see it says 2.49 miles. So it must be off or I took a lot of extra steps. I’m glad to have my walking stick for the climb back up. It will be easier to steady ourselves with them.

After a 7 minute rest we start back up. The way IS much harder than going down. It is easier in the sections that don’t have log stairs because you are not climbing over the logs. PTCC needs to rest- she’s the only one who has not taken off her coat and mittens. We are stopping more frequently for water and eating our granola bars. About ½ way up from the rest house PTCC is finally warm enough and takes off her coat. She’s starting to whine about how much farther now. My knees feel fine but my breathing is getting labored. We drink more water because our mouths are dry. We see a small mule train of about 6 mules on their way down. They get the right of way so we stand off the trail. We meet many more people that are going down. Lots of them have no water with them. I don’t think I would want to climb any trail without hydration with me. Many don’t know trail etiquette either. The uphill climbers get the right of way except for mule trains. Many of the hikers don’t move aside, so it makes it harder to climb up. Finally we see the second tunnel and then we see the first tunnel and finally come to Kolb Studio where the trail started. Yeah! We finished the uphill in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Not bad for not hiking for months. My pedometer read 4.5 miles so there are a lot of steps in this trail. We had taken pictures of the Abert squirrel, some chipmunks, the mule train and some birds. I didn’t get a shot of the deer as it ran away.

We get back to Trailer Village and I go in to check out. We decided last night we would try to make it to Needles, CA today so we could have 2 shorter days of driving. We will pass through Kingman, Az where my aunt and uncle live but we don’t have enough time to stop and my phone still isn’t getting any reception so I can’t call them. Maybe on a future trip we will connect.

Well we made it to Needles at 3:45 pm and found a very nice RV park called Desert View. Best of all they have wi-fi so I can post again. PTCC jumped in the pool which was kind of cold and LCC did some loads of laundry, since our clothes all smelled after mules and hiking. This seems to be a great stop and we will rest up for the night and the push to Visalia or Fresno, CA tomorrow.

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April 27, 2010 by steve.

Well, no entry for a day or two from me, too much driving. It turned out the trains near the campground in Vicksburg did not bother me, so I awoke refreshed and we headed out of Vicksburg on Monday morning with a goal of making it to the Grand Canyon by Wednesday. That’s over 1400 miles and we seem to have been averaging about 50 mph on the road, so that’s 28 hours of driving. Yay!

In breaking this up, I decided that I wanted to try and get to Amarillo, Tx on Monday night, that would get about 700 miles out of the way. So we headed across I-20 through Louisiana and into Texas. Lady CurbCrusher was adamant about wanting to skip the stacked freeways in Dallas, so we headed up US-69 around Tyler to Greenville, then across US-380 to Decatur where we caught US-287 and headed up to Amarillo. The worst part of this drive was from Greenville to Decatur. It was a lot of stop lights, and some of the worst drivers I’ve had to drive amongst in a long time. I wish we weren’t on such a tight schedule though. There was a jet-way graveyard along US-69 that I would have liked to stop and photograph, and along US-380 there was a WWII POW Camp sign that I would have liked to follow. Once we turned onto US-287 the ride was nice. There is little traffic and it is a four lane road. There are also a number of picnic areas, some are just that but two or three are really nice rest stops that rival any state welcome station. The only thing is that there are signs “Beware of rattlesnakes.”

We arrived at the Amarillo West RV Park around 11 pm. This is mostly an overnight kind of place. The roads are dirt and the sites are gravel with water, electric and sewer. There appeared to be cable, but we didn’t hook it up. If you show up after closing you look for an empty spot and park, which is what we did.

We woke up and visited the Cadillac Ranch, which is only a mile down the road. Came back, hooked up and went on our way.

Day two of the push was to try and get to Holbrook, Az. This puts us in a spot to go visit the Petrified Forest National Park in the morning before heading over to the Grand Canyon. We made it in about 9 hours and covered approximately 500 miles from Amarillo. The drive across New Mexico is fairly desolate, but it the hills and mountains are beautiful to look at while driving.

We’ve ended up at the Holbrook KOA. A large gravel parking lot with campsites marked out. Some trees, and full hookup, so no complaints there. Wireless is a bonus. There is a pool and playground although it is a bit cold for the pool right now. Little CurbCrusher had a good half hour or so on the playground, which was probably a relief for her after being cooped up in the RV the past two days.

That sums up the trip to date. We’ve done about 2000 of the 6600 miles we plan for the trip.

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April 27, 2010 by LadyCC.

April 27, 2010 Day 7

We start our day from Amarillo. First thing breakfast in the RV. Boy is it cold. We woke up and CC said the thermometer read 56 degrees. No one wanted to get up. We turned on our heaters to warm up. Then got dressed to go visit the Cadillac Ranch. The roadside stop is kind of surreal, just these 10 Cadillacs stuck in the ground all covered with graffiti in the middle of a farmers field. We sprayed painted our names and Peacock GART 2010 (Great American Road Trip). PTCC thought it was cool defacing cars. But did I mention it was cold out? So we didn’t stay long. We get back to the RV and pay for our site in the office then go to unhook and set the toad up. Problem #1 the power cord from the RV has melted into our surge protector and CC has to cut it off and splice it onto a new one he brought with him. This takes about an hour to fix. Problem #2-our onboard wi-fi is not working. It stopped yesterday so we call to find out why. They told us we had already exceeded our bandwidth. We try to figure out how since LCC and CC uploaded pics using an RV park wi-fi a couple of days ago. We think it comes down to PTCC’s new I-touch that was a gift from her grandparent’s for her birthday coming up. CC thinks he might have uploaded the I-tunes player 2x without realizing he was using our mi-fi. So now we are out of space and have to pay for more. It was supposed to have lasted a month. We finally dump and disconnect and still have to fill up with gas since our light was blinking empty as we pulled in last night. So we are finally on our way at 11 am. An hour and a half later than we thought. I guess that’s why we pushed so hard yesterday. You never know what you will encounter along the way.

We finally see the last of Texas after noon so now it’s on to New Mexico. We aren’t stopping here except for gas so we have to sightsee out the windows. It looks real dry. And real monotonous. LCC decides to watch a movie with PTCC to pass the time. She feels sorry for CC who has to drive and not look at anything interesting. We pass through Albuquerque before the scenery changes. Now we are seeing volcanic rock along the road. This goes on until the state line. It takes us over 6 hours to go through New Mexico.

Now we are entering Arizona but we are confused about what time it is. Arizona doesn’t do daylight savings so we finally figure out that they are on Pacific Time in the Spring and Summer and Mountain Time in the Fall and Winter. This makes us happy as we think we should get to Holbrook before dark which would be nice since it was pitch black last night in Amarillo when we arrived. LCC picked the KOA to stay at even though they are the most expensive since they will definitely have Wi-Fi. We luck out when we get there and they give us 3 codes-one for everyone since PTCC still needs to work on her Spanish online. We might need her to translate for us. We settle in and PTCC runs to the playground to let off some energy while LCC starts on dinner and CC finishes setting up camp. It will be an early night on the clock but not in body for all of us tonight. The wind is blowing very hard and CC checked the weather and the gusts will be up to 27 mph here tonight. Hopefully we will all get sleep. Tomorrow early is the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, then on to the Grand Canyon.

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April 27, 2010 by LadyCC.

April 26, 2010 Day 6

Today we get up and use the free breakfast coupons that Ameristar has given us on check-in. Children aren’t allowed in the casinos unless they are going to the restaurant so they radio ahead to the next security guard ahead to let them know PTCC is on her way. If an adult even gambles while they have children with them they can be fined. After breakfast we go back and get ready to leave then we are on our way. LCC took pictures of the Mississippi River bridge as we crossed it. The state lines change to Louisiana as we cross in the middle. It seems most of the rest stops except the welcome centers are closed on I-40 so if you come this way take note. The wildflowers were very pretty but the road is much like I-10 just different trees on the sides.

Finally we make it to Texas and the welcome station where we stop for a quick break. CC gets some info on Amarillo where we plan to stop for the night. Then we continue on our way. We have decided to avoid Dallas as much as possible so we are going around it by the Northwest passage. Except for the towns directly north of Dallas we did ok. Texas drivers are all about getting there. We had several cut right in front of us as well as swerve between lanes. I thought it was funny when I loaded my pics and saw on the welcome sign “Drive Friendly-The Texas Way.” There wasn’t much to see on this portion except bluebonnets, oil rigs and pumps and lots of freight trains. There was a cute rest stop area that had the picnic pavilions that looked like oil rigs but we were going to fast for LCC to get a pic in time. A nice touch was Texas has several places to rest on the sides of the secondary roads. I guess since it is such a big state it helps the truckers to be able to stop easily and rest. We decided today we would push it to get to Amarillo which is about 15 hours with stops from Vicksburg. So about 3 pm LCC starts calling RV parks in Amarillo to find out if they have room and the rates. We decide to go for the cheap one at $19.99 night because we only need the hookups not the amenities. PTCC took a shower when we stopped at a rest area for dinner so she was set for the night. LCC plugged in a movie for her and she was happy. Later she crawled in bed and promptly fell asleep. She still hasn’t gotten used to Central Time-she won’t change her clock and stays on Eastern Time. We finally reach Amarillo around 10:15 pm and look for the RV park. Boy is it dark off the interstate-and cold! The temperature was probably in the low 60’s. I thought spring was here. We find the RV park drive in and locate a place to park. The manager told me to pay in the morning so we will. After hooking up CC takes his shower and we go to bed. Tomorrow we will see the Cadillac Ranch.

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April 25, 2010 by LadyCC.

April 25, 2010-Day 5

We pulled out of PNS about 7:30 am on our way to Vicksburg, MS for our night stop. CC decided to take Hwy 98 out of Mobile since he had spoken to his cousin Royce at the reunion who drives Mobile to Jackson, MS 5 days a week as a pro truck driver. The road had been widened since LCC went to school in MS and was perfectly fine until we got right outside of Jackson. We took a trip down memory lane since LCC went to Millsaps College back in the 80”s so we stopped to check out what the campus looked like nowadays. The campus is beautiful and has many more brick buildings than when LCC attended. She gave PTCC a walking tour since CC has shown his school to PTCC many times so this was her chance to show off a little. After touring Millsaps we moved on west to Vicksburg and our stop for the night, Ameristar RV resort. After setting up it was about 2:30 pm so we decided to go visit the Vicksburg Civil War Battlefield and Monument. We had originally thought we wouldn’t have time today and would go on Monday but we found out it was open until 7 pm so we decided to go for it. So off we head, first stop the Visitor Center for our National Park stamp and watch a movie about the battle. Then we took the driving tour around the park. These are 15 stops on the tour and our favorite was the iron clad Gunboat Cairo. We stopped at the visitor center there as well to watch how they raised it from the bed of the Mississippi River in the 1960’s. They have put it back together and it is on display in the park. After finishing with the park we headed home to relax and get ready for a LONG day of driving tomorrow.

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April 25, 2010 by LadyCC.

April 24, 2010-Day 4

Today we get to sleep in for a little bit but no one does. That’s what happens when you are an east coast person and you visit different time zones. You get up early but your body thinks it is the normal time. So we all got ready and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast which is something we never do. We eat lunch out, we eat dinner out, but never breakfast. So after breakfast we window shop around the CB store but don’t find anything we can’t live without, and with space at a premium in the RV we really can’t add too much anyway. So back to the RV we go to catch up on various things. PTCC had an email from her FLVS Spanish teacher that she needed to do an assignment so she worked on a couple of those and turned them in. CC played on his computer and LCC started to write her review of the campground.

At 10 am we left for the Naval Base here in PNS where the family reunion was being held. The facility at Ski Beach on Bayou Grande was very nice. The family had rented the large pavilion so we had plenty of room. The only downside was the weather as there were tornado warnings last night and today for the area. It was drizzling and windy too. We were doing great until after one hard shower when the no-see-ums invaded the pavilion and made everyone miserable with their biting. But the food was good and it was great to see people I had not seen since we were married 18 years ago. We don’t get together with CC’s mom’s side all that often when we are in town.

After the reunion we went back to CC’s parents RV where they were staying on the base. PTCC’s birthday is next week so they wanted to give her gifts to her as well as for my birthday too since we will be away when it happens as well. After spending some time with them we go back to our RV where we check the weather again-tornado warning s until 8 pm with high winds. The last place I want to be in a tornado is in an RV so we will check a watch on that and pay close attention to the weather radio tonight. We pull out early in the morning for Jackson, MS and Vicksburg.

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April 25, 2010 by steve.

Well after a day of family, fun and rain in Pensacola, we headed out on the second leg of the trip: Pensacola to Vicksburg. We went to sleep Saturday night to rain, thunder and thinking Sunday might be a bad day to travel. Woke up early (being in the Central Time Zone helps) and got on the road under clear skies.

We drove from Pensacola to Jackson, Miss via Mobile and US-98. I once again passed by the USS Alabama in Mobile. One day I want to stop. I’ve wanted to visit the USS Alabama since I was about five years old and we used to go to Loxley, AL to visit my aunt. At that time I-10 was plastered with “See the USS Alabama” signs. I never could convince my Mom to go, and I’ve never gotten off my lazy butt as an adult to go. One day.

We stopped in Jackson to visit Millisaps College. This is the place that Lady CurbCrusher headed after high school and spent some time. Since I’ve made Little CurbCrusher visit the University of West Florida on more than one occasion, Lady CurbCrusher only thought it was proper to make a stop at her favorite college. There was really no place to park the motorhome, but the nice folks at the Cabot Lodge which is located adjacent to the campus were kind enough to let us park out back for a couple of hours.

After that stop, it was short trip over to Vicksburg. We put in to the Ameristar RV Park, which is associated with the Ameristar Casino right across the street. The park seems nice enough, all the sites are pull thrus and have water, electric and sewer. You get a picnic table and there is a small pool by the office. The only drawback seems to be the railroad tracks that run behind the park. It’s only eight-thirty and I hear the third big train of the night coming through. This might be a long night.

We got here early enough to head over to the Vicksburg National Military Park this afternoon. We had planned this for tomorrow morning, but our early start this morning let us go ahead on over today. We visited both the main Visitor’s Center and the USS Cairo, along with driving the road tour. While I’d heard of the Battle of Vicksburg, and was familiar with the park being here, I was unaware of the USS Cairo. This is an ironclad river boat that was sunk during the Battle of Vicksburg. It was recovered in the 60’s and restored. The exhibit of the boat itself is impressive, but even better is the collection of artifacts that were recovered from the boat.

Tomorrow starts the third leg of our trip, which will take the next three days: Vicksburg to the Grand Canyon.

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April 23, 2010 by steve.

Ok, big trip for the CurbCrusher gang. It is our Great American Road Trip (GART), and we got started today. Actually Lady and Little CurbCrusher started on Wednesday by taking the Saturn (our toad) and heading to Tallahassee for 4-H day at the Capitol. I brought the motor home up and met them at a rest area on I-10, and we continued on over to Pensacola. Since this is the parts from which I originate, we’ve got a family reunion to attend. We’re staying at the Pensacola RV Park which is located just off I-10 until Sunday morning when we head further west.

The folks here at the Pensacola RV Park seem friendly. We are in a good sized pull-thru site with plenty of room for the car and the motorhome, and we are in one of the smaller ones. It appears that there are 51 sites here that are full hook up with water, electric (30 and 50 amp) and sewer. Twenty of the sites are back ins with the rest being full hook up.

So about 450 miles of the trip down, and about 6150 to go.

Steve

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April 23, 2010 by LadyCC.

April 23, 2010 Day 3

Today we get to sleep in and relax. As soon as we have breakfast we call CC and find out where he is. He left home at 7 am so he’s near Ocala by the time we call. So we hurry up and finish cleaning up and packing so we can check out and get the stuff in the car. As soon as we do that we get on the road to go to Alfred B Maclay Gardens State Park for LCC’s last stamp for in the passport and to enjoy the gardens too. Once again Nuvi leads me wrong. It makes me go in a circle when I could see the park to the left. If Nuvi survives this trip it will be a miracle if I don’t throw it out the window. So PTCC and LCC finally arrive at Maclay Gardens and we take a stroll through the park. We are about 1.5 weeks too late for the best flower show but there is still some color left on a few trees. Mostly there are camellias, azealas, rhododenrons, and daylilies with a few irises thrown in. We walk the brick path all the way to the Maclay house at the end of the path. We go in and take a tour of the place. It was only used by the family from January thru April of each year from 1934 to about 1956, when it was deeded over to the state of FL. The rangers told us they host several weddings each season there when all the flowers are in bloom. After watching a video in the ranger’s house we move on to the day use area where people can rent kayaks, swim, BBQ, and play. They also had several shells from local rowing teams stored there. We walked out on the floating docks and took a few pics and then left. We called CC again to determine where he was and found out that he was pretty close by. So we got on I-10 and went to the rest stop he had picked to hook up at. We got there first and waited a few minutes for him to catch up then hooked up the car and had lunch before finishing our boring trip on I-10 to Pensacola.(Photos here)

Next stop is Pensacola RV Park where we will stay 2 nights while attending a few family reunions. Tonight’s will be to see CC’s dad’s side of the family and his grandmother. PTCC liked it because pizza was ordered and who doesn’t like that? Followed by cookies and ice cream all you could eat. The gathering started winding down when a thunderstorm rolled through town so people wanted to get back home again. It was good to see everyone again. Tomorrow we have a reunion on CC’s mom’s side. More on that tomorrow.

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April 22, 2010 by LadyCC.

Our 4H day at the capitol starts early at 6:30 am with the alarm clock waking PTCC up. LCC has been up since 5 am typing her blog. We have a quick breakfast in the room, take a shower, brush teeth and we are on our way. I set the Nuvi to find the art museum because that is right next to the parking garage we want. Nuvi fails me again by telling me to turn on Pensacola St but the street’s name is Jefferson until it jigs so I missed it. I hate Nuvi! We finally get parked and a real nice lady helps us to orient ourselves to find the capitol. We meet up with CC’s cousin and her son who is a reigning member of the 4H State Council. We take pics and send them by text to CC so he can see them too. We finally find some more Orange Co. people so we hang with them all day. Our extension agent did not show up though he said he was going.

1^st stop is to listen to the opening ceremonies on the Old Capitol’s steps. Then our group was off to the Florida history museum. We did an Amazing Race type of whirlwind scavenger hunt that we only got 25 minutes to complete. Then it was off to the Black Archives at the Union Bank building. This part was actually pretty boring for me. We had to sit in chairs and listen to somebody talk. I like a little more movement. Also you could tell the woman really wanted to read us a story about the great inventions of black people and played coy with the audience until she got them to agree to listen to her story. I could have done without that. Then it was off to the FL Vietnam Vet memorial where we found CC’s uncle’s name engraved on it. We also found 2 people with our last name but do not think they are relations that we know of. Then it was back to the Plaza for lunch.(Photos here)

After lunch we got to listen to a press conference that was all about 4H and the next year’s budget. I think 4H survived without too many hits. Then it was off to our tour of the Old Capitol. We looked at everything and were done in about 20 minutes then found out that DEP canceled their portion of the day so we had more time in the Old Capitol. After that we went across the square to the New Capitol to hopefully see the legislature in session. First we went to the 5^th floor and were denied entry because there wasn’t enough room for our group. Then we went up to the 22^nd floor to look out at the view. 30 minutes later we try the 5^th floor again. The House didn’t have room for us but we were able to view the Senate in action for only 10 minutes. Just as it was getting interesting and we were understanding what was going on we had to go. Our guide lead us back to the Plaza and told us they would take a group photo at 4:30 pm. Most of our group left then. I found CC’s cousin and spoke to her for awhile then PTCC and I left as well. Nuvi got us home with only one mishap. We changed into swim suits and hit the pool. PTCC went in but it was too cold for LCC. She enjoyed soaking up the sun on the patio instead. Tonight we are staying in and hopefully sleeping in tomorrow.

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