Our present location

We are presently about halfway across Texas, 60% of our journey is done. The rest of the trip is easy driving across the vast open expanses of the Southwest. My favorite part of the journey.

We really like these low fuel prices. I filled the truck and the auxiliary tank today....72 gallons (272 liters) of diesel fuel for $122. That will take us 720 miles.

Texas

A major storm system moved in off the Gulf on December 27, tracked NNE through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and headed for the Northeast. As I write this, on December 29, we are in Boerne, TX for five days, and the weather is cold but calm.

Natchez, MS and Vidalia, LA

Natchez and Vidalia are small cities located on opposite sides of the Mississippi River...one in Mississippi, the other in Louisiana. We are presently camped at River View RV Park in Vidalia, LA. As the name implies, there is certainly a good view of the great river; we are within a stone's throw of the west riverbank.

The Natchez Trace and Tupelo

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a two-lane road which runs 444 miles (710 km) SSW from Nashville to Natchez MS. It is a National Park, and no commercial traffic is allowed. RVs are allowed, as long as they are not traveling commercially.

Our phones in the US

We spent Sunday in Nashville, but did not visit Opryland as planned. There was a Christmas show taking place at the convention centre, which along with a light show, attracted what looked like half of Nashville's population to the area. The traffic was gridlocked for a couple of miles around Opryland, so we stayed home in the relative peace of the Nashville KOA.

Day 3, Nashville

We left Raintree Lake at 8:30am, and drove down the road to the Scottsburg Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Access with our rig was easy, with lots of RV parking at the rear. This is the first visit this trip to the Cracker Barrel, and on a cold morning, the atmosphere is welcoming with a nice log fire burning in a stone fireplace.

Day 2, Indiana

We traveled another 320 miles today, and reached Scottsburg, IN, where we are staying overnight at Jellystone Park Raintree Lake. This is a family camping resort, very popular in the summer with weekend campers from the Indianapolis and Louisville areas. The campground is mostly closed in the winter season, but the owners, who live on site, maintain a dozen pullthrough sites for travelers heading south on I-65. There is electricity only, no water hookups are available in the winter, but it is a quiet, peaceful overnight stop for $20.

Into the USA

December 17, and teaching is finished until next May. Time to get on the road, and for the fifth year since we began fulltiming, begin our journey across this great continent. We are looking forward to this journey, which will take about three weeks. Included in our mission statement, which may be seen here, is the phrase "The journey is as important as the destination", and we honestly believe this.
We left Milton Heights Campground, located just west of Toronto, at 9:30am.

We moved to Milton!

The first month parked at the cottage on Georgian Bay was enjoyable. The weather remained unusually warm for the season, and my system of drawing water from the lake worked quite well.
We even had an overnight guest one night....Piper the Dog.