Still Fall 2017 and Trying to Catch Up ! Part 3

New Mexico - Fall 2017

I'm going to TRY to get these fall posts wrapped up with this one!  It's been over SIX months (yikes, bad blogger here) since these travels took place, so please forgive my memory lapses. 

 Fast forward to  our trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico for the wedding of Dennis' nephew.  We were pleased to meet up with some of our Indiana family who had traveled to here as well.  A one day road trip to White Sands National Monument was a fun diversion for everyone! 

Congratulations to Matt and Morgan!  It was a wonderful wedding at a beautiful western themed venue. 

From there we had a short drive to Las Cruces, NM.  Unfortunately, we both caught some type of virus and spent several days recovering and resting during our stop here.  But, if you know us, you know we love our Mexican food and our illnesses didn't keep us from enjoying the flavors of the area! Our campground was near the historic town of Mesilla where we found terrific food.

Finally we recovered enough to do a hike in the nearby Dripping Springs National Recreation area.  We wish we had felt like doing more of this, but we will have to save that for a return trip!

 From Las Cruces, we made a swing through the El Paso TX area and back over to Carlsbad NM.  On the way, we made an overnight stop at the Guadalupe Mountains

Probably the only reason for us to visit Carlsbad, is of course,  Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  I was here in 1968, so there had been a few changes since then :)

We took the self guided tour and walked down the entrance to the caves then rode the elevator back up. Needless to say, our calves talked to us for the next couple of days, but we felt this was a great way to visit the park.

 

Texas - November 2017

With no idea where we wanted to spend the next few weeks in Texas, we lucked out with a reservation at Johnson Creek RV Resort and Pecans near Ingram in the Texas Hill Country.

An added perk here were the all the pecans we could harvest! And the miniature horses that loved the added attention of the campground residents.  We spent Thanksgiving here and enjoyed their potluck dinner with turkey provided by the owners.  There were lots of winter Texans here and we could see why they liked it here. 

This was a great location to explore more of the area.  We made a day trip to San Antonio and saw the Alamo, some other old missions and of course, had some delicious Mexican food on the River Walk! Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Luckenbach, Boerne and Bandera were also within a short drive from the campground.  Lots to see and do near here!

 As we left Ingram, we made a stop at the LBJ Ranch near Johnson City.  We weren't sure what to expect here, but found it very interesting.

Our next destination was Waco.  Our campground here was Airport Park Campground, an COE park, on Lake Waco.  This was the sunset view from one of the sites as we arrived.

 Of course we visited The Silos!  We shopped one day, then went back the next evening to see the Christmas lights.

 This is about as much of Dallas as we really wanted to see.  D did great driving through heavy truck traffic in construction zones with the motorhome, but not his favorite day of travel!

Pilot Knoll Park and Campground near Highland Village TX was our next destination where I celebrated my birthday with cake and a visit from the Oklahoma relatives!  Also a visit with Dennis' former co-worker who lives on the other side of the lake.  

With this, I will say I am finished blogging about our Fall 2017 travels!  From Texas we made our way back to Indiana for Christmas with the family and some much colder weather.

Campgrounds:

Circle B Campground, Ruidoso Downs, NM 😐Easy access FHU with cabin nearby for extra family to stay, decent sites but mostly empty at this time of year. Probably would look at other places if we came through here again. $$$

Hacienda RV Resort, Las Cruces, NM 😀Easy access FHU pull through sites.  Lots of RV's overnighting as they head West for the winter but good choice for exploring the area.  Nice office staff.  Close to interesting town of Mesilla. $$$$

Pine Springs Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX 😀NO Services.  Basically a parking lot with lines drawn as a guideline.  Scenic area. Great for an over night but can be very windy here. $

Brantley Lake State Park Campground,  12 miles N of Carlsbad, NM  😀A little out of the way for visiting the Caverns but FHU and nicely spaced sites.  Can be very windy here too.  $$

Schreiner City Park, Junction, TX 😀NO Services but FREE for up to 3 days.  Great overnight stop for travel to Texas Hill Country.  Nice sites along the river but we arrived after dark and a little difficult to find but would be fine during daylight. FREE

Johnson Creek RV Resort, Ingram, TX 😀FHU Easy access but a little ways from some of the main attractions in Hill Country.  Not an issue for us.  Nice campground with pull through sites.  We were able to get monthly rate for our 3  1/2 week stay.  Would be a great place for a rally.  Pecans (and deer) everywhere. $$

Airport Park Campground, Waco, TX 😀A COE park. Some FHU sites.  All with great lake views.  A little ways off the main roads but pretty easy to find.  Not as much airport noise as one would expect.  Could not level at our first site but were able to get FHU site which was much better. Great spot to stay while visiting the Silos, etc.  $

Pilot Knoll Campground, Highland Village, TX 😀City park but a little hard to find. W/E sites only.  Good campground for exploring the Dallas area.  Nice lake views.  Popular with locals.  There is a COE park nearby that would be worth checking out  $$$

Fair City RV Park, Hope, AR 😐City Park at the Fairgrounds.  Electric only. Easy access but could be muddy.  Good for an overnight when passing through on I-30. $

Grand Ole RV Resort, Goodlettsville, TN 😐FHU and easy access. One of the less expensive options when visiting Nashville. Quite a bit of train noise.  Otherwise a nice campground.  $$$

Florence Alabama and The Trace May 2 - 12

Sadly, I am failing at trying to get caught up with blog posts for May.  So I will try to re-cap a few highlights on the remainder of our trip up the Natchez Trace and back to Indiana.  

We made a detour of a few days off of the Trace and over to the east to Florence, Alabama.  The city operates a nice campground at McFarland Park on the shores of the Tennessee River on land owned by the TVA. Evidently they close it down when there is a threat of flooding and it had just re-opened the day we arrived.  

It rained for a most of the time we were there but we enjoyed our stay in this area.  We especially liked our visit to the Rosenbaum House, a home designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright.  There are many things to do in the area and you can check out the city's website to read all about them here.

 A view from the campground one evening after the rain had moved out.

The Rosenbaum House.  A must see for anyone interested in FLW homes and buildings.

After four nights in Florence we moved  back to the Trace and our final stay on the Parkway at Meriwether Lewis Campground.  Of the three RV friendly campgrounds on the Trace, we felt this was the nicest.   The gravesite for Meriwether Lewis is near here and there are also some nice trails. 

There are a few pull though sites, but we chose this wooded, back in site which was quite adequate.  I know  tent campers have as much right to use the same campsites, but sometimes the nicest, long, level pull through sites would be inhabited by one lone tent camper when there is an abundance of beautiful tent sites available.  Sorry, personal rant.  

A nice little hike from the campground will take you to the Meriwether Lewis grave site.

Our travels on the Natchez Trace were complete and a few more miles up the parkway we ended up in Nashville, TN.  We were able to get two nights at the popular Seven Points COE Campground on the east edge of the city.  This was our first time at this campground and will definitely return.  Our past camping stays in the city were much more expensive and not near as pleasant.  We spent an afternoon downtown and checked out the Antique Archeology store and surrounding shoppes.  A very interesting building but the store was a little disappointing in that there were few of the items from the "American Pickers" show.  But they do have a nice selection of souvenir t-shirts, caps, etc. 

We then ventured downtown to Broadway and nice supper at the Acme Feed Store.  We did a little city style hike across the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge to enjoy the sunset before headed back home.

A final view of J Percy Priest Lake from the Seven Points Campground and the sun sets on our first adventure on the road in the new  motor home.  We continued back to Indiana the next morning and a few days with family and friends before heading out on our summer travels.

Traveling the Trace May 1-May 2

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444 mile long recreational road, similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, that is restricted to non-commercial vehicles and part of the National Park Service. It travels through three states and follows a historic travel route used for hundreds of years by American Indians, settlers, and soldiers.  Today it is popular with bicyclists, motorcyclists, and anyone wanting a scenic route through some very pretty areas of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. There are multiple hiking opportunities along the way also. If you travel the entire route you will find areas that are remote with no cell coverage and also  larger cities with all the modern conveniences. There are three NPS campgrounds on the route that will accommodate any size camper.  We camped at all three! 

    

We were glad we waited to begin this part of our journey until the storms had passed as we saw many areas where tornadoes or strong winds had downed trees and power lines.  The first visitor center was closed probably for that reason.  There are many pullouts along the road where you can actually see what is left of the original road and the cuts through the earth and trees.  Some pullouts were not big rig rv friendly however.  Our advice  is to watch closely and don't pull in unless you are sure you can pull out!

After a leisurely drive on Monday we made an early stop for the night at Rocky Springs Campground at milepost 54.  Of the three campgrounds, we found this to be in the worst condition.  There were several pull through sites and a few that would fit a rig as big as ours.  The sites are paved but the pavement is in bad condition. However there looks to be some attempt at repairs.  Of course there are no services here (electricity, water or sewers) but the price ($0 !!) is right. The restroom was clean and in good shape but there are no showers and the second restroom was closed and in need of demolition. Of course we are all self contained and capable of a several nights of "boondocking". 

 

There is a short trail that begins near the campground that follows the original trace somewhat.  It takes you to the site of the town of Rocky Springs.  There isn't much there but some interpretive signs describing where some of the buildings once stood. However there is an old Methodist Church and an interesting cemetery.  They still hold church services once a month and we signed he guest book we found inside the open doors.  After a quiet night we headed out the next morning for a short side trip to Vicksburg National Military Park.

The park features a road that winds through the hills where civil war battles took place and the monuments and memorials dedicated to those who fought here.  The lady at the front gate thought we could maneuver safely through the park with the RV, but we had briefly driven through here a few years ago on the motorcycle and weren't really sure if that was true.  We probably should have disconnected the Jeep and taken it on the drive, but decided to just go to the Visitor Center and watch the informative movie and get our NPS passport book stamped. 

We headed back onto the Natchez Trace and a calmer, scenic route.  A nice stop along the way is at MM 122 and the Cypress Swamp where there is a self-guided tour among the cypress and tupelo trees on the boardwalk.  We finished the day as we pulled into our next campground, the Jeff Busby Campground at Milepost 193.  This campground was in much better condition than the last having freshly paved roads.  However, we found it very confusing as the sites aren't clearly marked and are just pull offs that don't necessarily feel like they were properly placed.  But, like the others, the price is right and we managed to find a fairly level site amongst the tall trees.  It's a pretty park and we had an evening hike up another nice trail to an overlook.

Our travel continued the next morning as we headed off the Trace again toward Florence, Alabama where we spent several days.  More about that area and the rest of our trip in my next post.  Thanks for following along!

Moving on up the Mississippi April 27-May 1

Next stop - Natchez, Mississippi.  We drove through the corner of Louisiana on our way to the Natchez MS area where we crossed the Mississippi over to Vidalia, Louisiana again to our campground on the banks of the river.  Appropriately called River View RV Park and Resort.

There were a few casualties along the way.  The "love bugs" were thick as we drove up from the Gulf.  First chore when we got to the campground was to wash their remains from the front of the coach before they became permanent decorations.

It was nice to have full hookups for our stay here.  The park/resort is quite large and most of the sites are pull throughs.  It was only about one third full at the most while we were here. There is a nice path along the levee which we walked every day.

We enjoyed checking out one of the local restaurants.  At Roux 61 we split a Seafood Muffaletta and sweet potato fries, then had plenty for another meal.  It was good, but I think either a regular muffaletta or a regular fish sandwich might have been better.  Our taste buds were a little confused !

Natchez is the oldest settlement on the Mississippi and home to so much history.  We enjoyed a visit to Melrose, a Greek Revival Style home that is owned by the National Park Service.  

The front of the home with faux marble painted columns.

The back porch over-looking the back kitchen, dairy and slave quarters.
 

This is one of the few homes in the area open to the public with many of the original furnishings. Notice the "punkah", a mahogany fan that was operated by a slave as the guests enjoyed their meal free of flies!

The home was built by the McMurran family in the 1840's and they furnished their home with the finest available at that time.  There are other homes to tour in the area and we also stopped by the William Johnson House.  Johnson, an emancipated black man, was a successful businessman in Natchez in the 1840's.  The park service has  used his diaries to make a nice informative display here. I can't believe we didn't take any photos. 

We ended up extending our stay at River View RV Park because of the forecast of bad weather in the area.  Having planned to begin our drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway on Sunday, we waited until Monday to leave the area.  It's a good thing we did because we later saw evidence of tornadoes along the Parkway.  This was the screen-shot of the  storm that came through our campground early Sunday when our phones were shreeking tornado warnings.  This is one of my biggest fears.  I guess my husband doesn't really have that fear since all he said was to "just go back to sleep" ! Ha! Like that would happen.  Of course, we were fine. 

It was almost exactly seven years ago when we in Natchez before.  It was a completely different mode of travel though and if you are new here, you can read about our motorcycle trip through the same areas HERE.