Long Trip back to Minnesota

4/1/2013 Left Winter Ranch on 4/1/2013 spent first night at a walmart south of Houston, TX at Wharton TX  Didn't get that far that day as before we left Alamo we had the oil changed on the Motorhome.  Filled our tank up at the Alamo Walmart.  Also topped the motorhome tank at the Wharton Walmart.   '

April 2-5  From there we went to Sulphur/Lake Charles, La and stayed  at Hidden Ponds Rv for 3 nights.  $25.00 per night for full hookups.   Rained one whole day there.  The reason we stopped here was to go on the Creole Nature Trail  Finally last day there did go on the  trail  Somewhat interesting and  we did see 3 wild alligators along a walking trail. 


Alligator at Creole Nature Center

April 5-7  Stayed at the Lamar/Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, LA for three nights.  This is a very large expo center with lots of buildings similar to a fairgrounds  Has hundreds of rv sites.  $35.00 per night for full hookups.  Many of the sights were filled by workers in the area.  They put us in the back where it was much more private.  Only a few rvs were back there.  While we were there a horse show was going on for all the days we were there.  Sat in and watch the show periodically.  Very beautiful Arabian horses.  Also a quilt show was going on.  Was great place to ride my bike around.  Weather was very nice.

Arabian Horse Show

Row of 300 year old live oaks at Oak Alley

 Last day there we went to the Oak Alley Plantation about twenty miles away.  Nice day, pretty mansion and grounds. 

Oak Alley Plantation

Filled up gas tank at Lafayette Murphy Usa on April 5.


April 8-12  Stayed at River Boat Travel Park on Chef Menteur Hwy, New Orleans.  Nothing special rv park but for New Orleans was inexpensive.  Cost $30.00 for night.  Was quite far aways from the French Quarter.  Took the city bus down to the French Quarter twice. Last day there it stormed and rained most of the day so didn't do much that day.  First day we took a city tour of New Orleans and had supper at Huck Finns.  Had a $10.00 Hurricane.  ouch.  Tour was interesting.  Saw downtown, 9 th ward where there was still evidence of the hurricane french quarter, grave yards

Cemetary Tour

 etc. 

gg

Catheral in Jackson Square French Quarter

Next day had Benyas(sp) at Cafe Lamond,

 

Ferrel pigs that came up to boat

Finally saw an allegator

walked around the french quarter and had a swamp tour

Iris on swamp tour

Enjoyed time in New Orleans but do not have a need to return anytime soon.  If I did, would stay in hotel down in French quarter so could do some of the nightlife.  Filled up tank at Meridian, MS

April 12-15 Stayed at DeerLick COE park in Tuscaloosa AL Beautiful park very wooded but Lud was able to get satellite on site 16.  He was a  happy camper  Cost $11.00 per night.
Not very crowded.  Only a few campers there.  Went into Tuscaloosa one day and toured the Bear Bryant Museum on the ASU campus.   Filled up gas tank at Conersville, TN on 4/16

April 16-20  Stayed at Cedar Creek COE in Nashville.  This was an okay campground quite crowded especially on the weekend  While in Nashville took city tour the first day,  Saw, downtown, honkytonk area, ryman theater


Statue in lobby of Ryman

Ryman Theature Stage from Balcony

(very cool) Centennial Park,

Centennial Park

Parthenon,

Parthenon in Nashville

etc.  , second day toured the Grand Ole Opry backstage  Attended the Grand Ole Opry on Friday night saw, Charlie Pride, Darius Rutger, Vince Gill.  Fun Time. 

Picture Minnie Pearl GOO

On Saturday toured the Hermitage home of Andrew Jackson.

Hermitage, Andrew Jackson Home

Just like  New Orleans, now that I have been to Nashville don't need to see again.
April 21-25  Staying at Canal COE park at Grand Rivers, KT  We are in sight 95 which is a full hookup site and has water on two sides of the motor home.  What a beautiful site.  Saw the sundown out side window of motor home while eating supper  It will be nice to just relax and enjoy nature instead of going to tourist traps every day.  Will check out Grand Rivers tomorrow.  Looks like it might be a quaint little town

View out MH Window

Eau Galle Corp of Engineer Park, Baldwin WI

On the weekend of October 22 took the grandchildren camping at Eau Galle Corp of Engineer park near Baldwin Wi. Had fun with lots of leaves for the kids to play with and then Lud's son Kevin joined us for a tour of Crystal Caves located in Spring Valley WI

Orr, Minnesota

From the Hinckley campout Lud and I continued on to Orr. He drove the motorhome and hauled the boat and I drove up Tinkerbell (Our new to us Chevy Tracker) It was a wonderful time up in Orr. This is a special place for us as the kids and us have been going there for many years. The weather was not great as it was very windy and we were unable to go out on Pelican lake a couple of days. The fishing was also not great but we caught a few. To bad we could only stay for 8 days as Lud had to get home for a doctor appointment. Hopefully next year we can stay longer.

Hinckley August Northwoods Campout

Arrived at August, Northwoods campout which was held at Hinckley Grand Casino campground. Had a fun time, 27 campers attended, this was the most camper at a Northwoods campout ever. There must be a lot of gamblers in the club.

Itasca State Park

Left today for Park Rapids area for June Northwoods campout. What a beautiful area. Haven't been there for years. Stayed at the campground Camp Itasca which is right across from the North entrance to the state park. Had lunch at Camp Douglas Lodge in the park. Very Pretty. On Thursday had bad weather. That is the day that Wadena was damaged by three tornados. Thank goodness they didn't come where we were as there wasn't really a very good storm shelter at the park. Also toured a log house builder and got to tour the owners 1.5 million dollar log home. Wow.
Had supper at a logging themed restaurant. Very nice time in Park Rapids. Had not been in the area since I was pregnant with my 24 year old daughter.

On Sunday June 20th along with Charlie and Barb (friends from the Northwoods), left for Father Hennepin State Park where are friends the McKenzies were park hosts for the month of June. Stayed there thru the 24. Had a very nice visit with our friends. Lots of food, bonfires, and good conversation.

Chicago, Illinois for Adams Graduation

Well the good news is that I am now a mother of a doctor. Wow!!
We left Minnesota on June 1 to attend Adams graduation ceremonies on the 3rd. Everything was going along fine until just south of Madison, a semi trailer blew a tire right in front of us and threw a six foot piece of rubber back at our Motorhome. It caused some damage which we will have to take care of when we get home. After Lud did a little pounding and a two hour delay, we were able to continue our trip.

We stayed at a very nice campground in Sycamore, Il. It is about an hour and a half from Chicago. This was the closest campground I could find. After lounging around for a day and touring Sycamore we attended a reception on the navy pier on the 3rd of June. Since my son got the time wrong and it took much longer than expected to get to Chicago we did not spend much time at the reception but it was nice to meet some of Adams fellow doctors. Got home that night at 11:30 and had to be back on the road at 6:30 the next day.

On the 4th we took a better route into Chicago and got there in under two hours. The graduation ceremony was really fun and it really sends a chill down your spine when you hear your kid introduced as Doctor Adam Sunderland. Mom got a little teary eyed. After the ceremony we all went to a Greek Restaurant and had a family style meal. Yum. Adam was impressed with the pen I gave him that I had made at the woodshop at Winter Ranch. I bet he didn't get anything like that from anyone else but he still probably liked the check better.

The ride home from the graduation ceremony was unbelievable it took us almost three hours. I don't know how the people living in Chicago can stand that commute. Thank god Adam is moving to Detroit where the traffic is suppose to be much better because everyone has move out.

Our return trip on June 6th to Minnesota was uneventful.

Home

Arrived back in Hastings in late afternoon. Took a quick tour of the house everything seems to be in order but needs a good cleaning. Have mixed emotions about being back home. Will miss the interaction with fellow campers and all the activities we participated in. I still would love to sell the house and go fulltime. Houses are so much work and this one is way to big for just Lud and I. Lud still isn't convinced about selling house though.

Can't wait until the first campout at Mooselake on May 21. Hope our leaving for the campout isn't screwed up since Lud is on Jury duty for the next two weeks. Who would want that crabby man on their Jury lol.