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Travel day today as I went west a little over 300 miles.  Traveling to Arkabutla Lake in Mississippi (or Mizsippy if you will), just 40 miles south of Memphis.  300 miles is a nice number as it covers a little bit of ground, yet lets me enjoy the scenery and maybe even stop and do a little site seeing.

And so it is with the Natchez Trace.  I get off the interstate in Tupelo MS, and directly onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Natchez Trace is a National Scenic Trail, like the Florida Trail and the Appalachian Trail.  The park headquarters is located just north of Tupelo and I head there for a picnic lunch in the shade.  I was joined there by two large families traveling north from Baton Rouge to Nashville and taking the parkway for it’s entire length.  I counted two sets of mom and dad, one grandma, and about a dozen kids.  Very nice folks and offered to share their lunch, but I had already eaten most of mine.

After lunch I went hiking for a bit on the Trace itself.  The Natchez Trace was most likely an old Indian trail, that eventually became the super highway of the time through use by war parties, pioneers, settlers and eventually traders on the Mississippi River.  This from the NPS website.  “The most celebrated travelers of the Natchez Trace were farmers and boatmen from the Ohio River regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky floating supplies down to ports in Natchez and New Orleans at the beginning of the 1800s.”

Eventually the trail became a path, then the path became a road, then the road became a thoroughfare.

Stopped along my walk to visit the grave-sites of thirteen unknown confederate soldiers.  Speculation are that they may have survived Shilo, but died here, or may have been located locally and died of disease or malnutrition.  Nobody knows for sure.  Now they are in the care of the National Park Service.  Also visited a Chicksaw Village which was nothing more than the outline of the foundations of a few buildings.  Somewhat interesting to see their approach to housing including an entry way design that prevented cold winds and an enemy attack.

Finally got into Cheaha yesterday afternoon.  What a mess.  Anyway, I am using this opportunity, the two new batteries and solar trickle charger to practice dry camping while I have power and water at my disposal.  For those of you who don’t know the term, dry camping, or boon-doggling means living off of the systems in your camper and not relying on shore hook-ups such as power, water, sewer and in some campgrounds, cable TV and wireless Internet access.

I now know that I have enough reserve power to stay at least two or three days without power.  Maybe more.  I also know that from past experience I can go four to five days with the water I have on board (40 gals).  I went the whole week in Gainesville on just 40 gals just by taking advantage of the campground bathhouse which is not always an option when dry-camping.

So I spent the better part of the day putting things back together, walking a bit and took a bike ride around the park for a couple of hours, including about a 750 foot climb to the top of Cheaha Mountain. Lots of wildlife here.  Some of them a little too friendly.  Several different flowering trees and bushes make parts of this park very colorful.  A couple of spots have gorgeous overlooks that were obscured during my visit due to overcast skies and some thunderheads rolling through the area.

There is also a hotel, cabins, chalets and a restaurant here.  Did not get a close look inside, but it all looked nice.  The restaurant looks over an open valley and across miles and miles of mountains.  This is not a huge mountain (2407 feet) but it is the highest point in Alabama and you can see quite a long way.

Had wanted to hike the Pinhotti Trail a bit, but my delay in getting here kind of put that on the back burner for another day.  Guess I will just have to come back.  What a shame.

This will be my twelfth night in the camper, which is officially the longest amount of time I have spent to date in my little rig.  I do not expect another night elsewhere for the next couple of months, with the exception of a night or two of tent camping while backpacking or biking.  At least, that’s the plan for now.

Twenty miles from my destination at Cheaha Resort SP in Alabama yesterday, I had a blowout.  Here is the short version of the 24 hours that followed.

Contacted AAA who took 45 minutes to get my information right.

Waited a half hour for a call back that was supposed to come in “5 minutes”.

Called AAA, they had my phone number wrong.

Decided to fire up the refrigerator to keep the food cold, as I was sitting in the hot Alabama sun.

Reefer wouldn’t fire.  Messed with it for 20 minutes and determined that the battery was dead.

Got a call from the wrecker, said he would be there in 10 minutes.

Waited an hour for him to show up.

Tried changing the tire, but one of the studs was cross threaded.

Got the tires changed, then stripped another stud by using the bad lug nut on a good stud.

Called Camping World in Oxford AL, 45 miles away to see if they could provide service if I got there late afternoon.  They said yes, if they had the tire in stock.

Went straight to Camping World.  Asked the receptionist for the service department and was directed accordingly.

Service manager said he could not help me as the techs were all leaving for the night.

Service manager gave me a spot along the fence and an adapter for umbilical to stay the night in the parking lot.

Parked the rig and got everything running on electric.
Discovered while disconnecting the trailer, that I had also sheared off one of the pins on the sway bar.

Went shopping in Camping World and discovered that there are TWO service departments.  One for CW and one for the adjacent Dealer.

Asked CW service rep for help.  She remembered that I had called.  They had the tire, but their techs had left for the night as well.

Investigated my battery issue, and it was easier to change than a car battery.

Bought two (2) new batteries so  I can run them parallel, but CW did not have the jumpers . . . .

New tire at CW was going to cost well over $200, so decided to wait until morning to get an estimate from the RV dealer.

Walked in the store at 8a.  Waited fifteen minutes for them to check in another customer who was ‘already in the computer’

Started working on an estimate, and the service manager (the one that had made me accommodations for the night), tells me he really doesn’t do tires.  WHATHEHECK?!?

He sends me over to CW or a local tire dealer.

I call the tire dealer, he doesn’t have a tire, but suggests a different dealer.

I call that dealer, they have the tire, so off I go.

Dealer has me pull the trailer around back, and tech goes immediately to work.  Takes less than 15 minutes to replace the tire.

We wait 3 hours for CarQuest, located a little over one mile away, to bring over two replacement studs for the wheel. THREE HOURS!!!

I pull out of the tire dealer at noon and head for lunch.

Stopped into Wal-mart and picked up the cables I needed.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful two days . . .

The good news is that I have a new tire, two new studs on the wheel, TWO batteries running parallel, a solar trickle charger and two new pins for the sway bar,

The bad news is that it took me a full 24 hours longer to get to Cheaha Resort SP.  But hey, I’m in no hurry.

The Plan

Not really a plan, but an idea. More of a suggestion really. I have only two firm dates where I have to be somewhere on a specific day and time. So, here goes ‘The Plan’.

Phase One was complete nearly a week ago, and that was getting Liz settled in at school for summer session. Phase B will be wrapped up tomorrow as I volunteered for one more day at the FTA office in Gainesville.

Phase III starts Tuesday as I head out on the road in earnest. I have a firm commitment to be in Jackson WY on Friday, June 13 and really need to arrive a day or two early. So, I have 24 days to travel 2200 miles, camp, hike, bike AND site seeing. I have not yet decided which route to take as I hoped to make that decision based on the weather, hoping to avoid both storms and heat.

Once in Jackson, I have a couple of weeks to cram all of the fun and excitement I can. The plan is to start in the Grand Tetons and work my way up to Yellowstone. Again, camping, hiking, site seeing and some overnight backpacking too. Given enough time, SW Montana and Eastern Idaho are also on the agenda.

The fifth segment of my trip will begin near the end of June and I will be heading north into Montana. I have Glacier National on my short list and might spend a few days there.

At some point I need to work my way up to the US/Canada border around the first of July for a planned 1100 mile, 30 day bike ride through Canada starting in lower Saskatchewan, into Alberta, turning north on the Continental Divide Bike Trail through the northern terminus, then continuing to the NW towards Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

Sounds like fun so far, eh?!?

Phase Seven will find me in BC Canada sometime in early to mid-August and a very long way (3350 miles) to return home. I may swing back through Colorado to see family on the return trip home, but otherwise have yet to even consider what might be on the agenda. I could certainly see how additional phases might be added on to the great USAmble. I am open for suggestions!

Here is hoping for soft comfortable saddles. . . .

Tonight will be my seventh night on the road.  I have spent most of my spare time this week, unpacking, reorganizing and stowing my gear and provisions.  Finished cleaning up the outside of the trailer today and continuing to make progress inside.  I did manage to make myself sick one night this week with one of my standby backpacking recipes for Mexican rice.  Might be time to give that one up for a while.

I have spent the last four days at the FTA office helping out with building the new website due to be available later this summer.  The staff there has been nice and even dragged me to lunch with them yesterday at Burrito Brothers.  My first meal out since Monday.  I had the beef enchilada and it was delicious.  If you are ever on campus I would highly recommend it.

I actually got to spend a little time enjoying the Paynes Prairie today.  Did a 1/2 mile walk through the campground, and about 5 or 6 miles on the bike through the park before it opened.  Lots of wildlife opportunities here including Fox Squirrels, Wild Turkeys, White-tailed Deer and numerous other birds including some very bright red Cardinals.

Also, Judy at the FTA office invited me to the Florida Crackers picnic today which just so happened to be right down the road a two minute bike ride through the park.  Nice folks and the food was great.  Thank you Florida Crackers!

Pulling out of camp early Tuesday morning.  Be sure to check in the next couple of days as I will be posting an update with my so called ‘plans’ . . . .

Moving day.  The first time my trailer has been on the road in about a year.  Got her cleaned up last night and she is looking pretty shiny.  Going to spend the next week in Gainesville doing some volunteer work at the Florida Trail Association (FTA) office and camping in Paynes Prairie Preserve SP.  Everything is now unpacked, however, I am in desperate need of some organization.  Probably have too much stuff for too little space but I need to work hard to rectify that issue.  Going to be more work than play this week I suspect.

Godspeed Joe Wright.

Nothing exciting to report on Day1, other than the fact I am now living on the road.  In fact, the next several days there will be little to report.  Today was spent by finishing up the packing, loading the Durango, cleaning up a last few details at home and driving to Perry.  The rest of the evening was spent cleaning up the trailer, unpacking and stowing much of what I have been packing over the last two weeks.

Tomorrow I am off to Tallahassee to see Liz for my DaddyDo list (groceries and lunch).  I hope to do some more unpacking and the outside of the trailer is in desperate need of a good cleaning as it is an unusally slimy shade of green.

‘Nuf sed!

Colorado is as beautiful as everyone says it is.  Grand vistas, majestic mountains and clear mountain streams.  Keep in mind that I have not even expanded beyond 100 miles from Colorado City.  I can only imagine what the rest of the state is like.  Perhaps I may return sometime soon and find out for myself.

On the downside, it is very dry here.  So much so that I can barely maintain my water intake.  The sinuses dry out and make it hard to breath.  My skin dried out as soon as I got here and got very flaky.  It has taken most of the week for that condition to subside. And it seems like the wind never stops.  That’s not entirely true, but it is very windy here and the it does blow a lot of the time.

My hosts, cousin Joe, lovely wife Amanda and the three chipmunks have been an absolute joy to stay with.  They have been very accommodating and have gone out of their way to show me around the area and make sure that I have a great time.  We have been on hikes, picnics and tours.  They have gone out of their way to make my stay most enjoyable, and for that I am very appreciative.  Thank you, Joe and Amanda!

Despite the occasional melt-down, the kids crack me up.  Sometimes all three go south at the same time and the whole room fills with high pitched whining with, ‘It’s not fair . . .’ and ‘I want . . .’.  They are just being kids though, and I would not have it any other way.  Papa MikeMike is very happy to have gotten to know all three of them just a little bit better.

Off to Florida today to do some laundry, take care of some business and prepare for the next big adventure.  Get ready folks, because the next one should be a whopper!

Today we decided on easy hikes and a picnic.  Headed up to Rampart Range to hike down to the lake, however the temperature up on the mountain was about 40 degrees and there was a wicked breeze blowing that was concentrated by the terrain in some area that made it feel very cold.  As we were not prepared for that kind of cold weather, we just hiked about a mile in and then back out again.

Went from there back down to Garden of the Gods for our picnic lunch.  It wasn’t quite as cold, but the breeze made it tough to stay warm and eat lunch.  We managed well enough.  Just as we were getting there a pair of F-16’s made a fly by and were formed up in formation as they headed towards the Academy.