Heading towards Texas

We have not posted to our blog in a while so this is a quick wrap up of the last month.

We moved south from Knoxville to Chattanooga Tennessee on October 20th. We had made reservations at the Raccoon Mountain RV Park. This campground is located next to the Raccoon Mountain Cavern which we did not visit during our stay. While we were there we visited Lookout Mountain where a battle was fought during the Civil War. The mountain overlooks the city of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River that flows through the city. We also took a driving tour of the Chickamauga Battle Field located a few miles away from Chattanooga in Georgia. This is the site of the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War (the bloodiest being at Gettysburg). The battle was “won” by the Confederate forces but they did not press their advantage and allowed the Union forces to escape. A short time later the Union forces were able to win a series of battles that gave them the “Path to the Sea” through Atlanta. There are several hundred monuments located at various sites on the battlefield. We visited the downtown area of Chattanooga and walked along the river walk. Another day we rode our bikes along the river path that runs about 9 miles from the downtown area to a dam located on the Tennessee River. We also hiked one day at a TVA park located on Raccoon Mountain.

Pictures above from Lookout Mountain

Monuments @ Chickamauga Battlefield

After spending a week in Chattanooga we travelled south to spend a few days with Cindy and Jessie Mayes in Milton Florida. We were able to “mochdock” on their property for 6 days. A previous owner of the property had owned a 5th wheel and had put in a 30 amp plug and sewer drain in the large garage they had built to house their RV. We park outside the garage and had just enough sewer hoses to make the connection. While we visiting with Cindy & Jessie we went to dinner several nights to eat seafood at some local restaurants. Connie & Cindy went to the Pensacola beach twice and took advantage of the warm temperatures. Jessie had hip surgery earlier this year and is getting around much better than when we visited with them in the spring. Connie, Cindy and I did a couple of bike rides along the Black Water Trail which is a “rails to trails” path that runs from Milton to the local Naval Air Station. Cindy and Jessie skunked us in a game of horseshoes we played one afternoon.

From Milton we made the short trip to Mobile Alabama to stay a few nights at the Shady Acres RV Campground. We had stayed here in the spring and knew it was a nice campground near a great place for seafood. We picked up several pounds of fresh shrimp and Connie cooked them using a couple of different recipes while we were there. We were able to ride our bicycles in the neighborhoods around the campground. We also put our inflatable kayak in the Dog River that runs along the back edge of the campground a couple of days: once paddling downstream and once paddling upstream. We also visited the Gulf States Fair on Saturday afternoon where we people watched and enjoyed some good live music.

We left Mobile and travelled across Alabama and Mississippi to a campground in Vidalia Louisiana called the River View RV Park. This campground is located on the Mississippi River although you can’t see the river from the campground due to a levy. There is a nice 1.5 paved walking path that runs along the river from the campground into town. The campground also had large washers and dryers so we were able to wash/dry our bedspread and some rugs.

Leaving Vidalia we travelled about 90 miles to the Paragon Casino RV Park located in Marksville Louisiana. This a very nice campground with concrete roads and a large number of concrete pull through sites. There is not much to do here except visit the casino or play a round at the casino’s golf course. I have spend most of the time here trying to get over a cold and have been limited in my activities. We did see an alligator show in the casino on Saturday and Connie spent some time gambling on Friday (did not come home a winner).

We will be leaving on Monday to drive to a COE campground on Toledo Bend in Texas.