Spring 2021 Travels from Florida to Indiana

Tim and I left Florida on Saturday, April 17, a few days earlier than initially planned. The weather forecast for Monday, April 19, was showing stormy weather and all day rain with more wind than we wanted to drive through. Even though it would be rainy in Alabama where we were heading, the weather maps indicated less rain and winds a little north of Florida. It started to rain just a little after we got into Alabama but not enough to impact our driving so we lucked out. The first day was a little longer for us than normal but overall an easy travel day.

I had a reservation at Hidden Hollow RV park for Monday, April 19 at half price using our Passport America membership. They were easily able to accommodate our change in plans so we could stay Saturday and Sunday night instead, although we couldn’t get the Passport America rate for those nights. Luckily they were also a Good Sam Park so we got that discount for the weekend. It wasn’t quite as much off but still a better rate than full price, which we love.

Hidden Hollow was a very clean park with all pull through sites and easy access off of US Highway 231 in Cottonwood, AL. It matched everything that we look for on a travel day - long pull through sites that we can stay hooked up to the truck and have full hook up. It appears that many of their sites are not level, probably built more for water drainage than easy RV leveling. We explained our needs so they gave us a site closer to the back end of the park where the sites were more level. Tim had to pull onto one leveling block for back side of the fifth wheel and the truck tires which did the trick getting us level and allowing us to stay connected to the truck.

We didn’t tour the area much during our short stay but did try out a couple local restaurants. Definitely easier to eat out on a travel day and we like to get recommendations for local places rather than chains. On recommendations from an employee at the RV Park, we ordered take out from Hunt’s Seafood Restaurant and Oyster Bar in Dothan, AL. The steak and shrimp were fantastic and it was a huge serving so we had leftovers that worked well for steak and eggs for breakfast the next day. Since it was a little rainy, we didn’t go anywhere and just spent our full day in the area doing laundry and some cleaning. We relaxed a bit so we were prepared for more travel days. After finishing our chores, we rewarded ourselves with takeout from another local place, Dobbs Famous Bar-B-Que. Another great choice; delicious barbeque and huge servings.

The next night, we headed to Montgomery, AL and stopped for two nights at The Woods RV Park. This is another park, right off of I-65, with all pull through sites. Neither of these parks were very scenic, but the easy access and long, level, full hook up, pull through sites make them very worthwhile for us. The Woods is also a Good Sam park so the discount saves us a little money. Since this was our third time in Montgomery, we didn’t tour anything. It was a sunny day so we just relaxed outside in the sun, reading our books and playing games. Definitely a convenient stop for a short stay and easy hop back on the interstate to head further north when we left.

Even though the sites are mostly gravel, these small strips of roses were beautiful.

After Montgomery, we headed north to Arley, AL for a 10 night stay at Hidden Cove RV Park with our Thousand Trails membership. For the most part, we had good weather while we were at Hidden Cove but we did have a few days where they were expecting severe storms and possible tornados in the area. That had us a little concerned so we watched the weather forecast closely. One thing that we are nervous about with living in an RV is a tornado. There isn’t much that you can do to protect yourself and stay safe when in a home on wheels that moves quite easily in the wind. We met the manager at Hidden Cove and discovered that they have an underground storm shelter. That was really good news for us. It was not far from where we were parked so I was more comfortable. We have a weather radio for alerts in addition to the alerts we get on our cellphones. We hoped we would get alerts in enough time to run to the shelter if necessary. Luckily, the storms went south and north of us but none any where close.

When the weather was good, I did quite a bit of walking around the park property. It is quite beautiful, especially the sites on the lake. Unfortunately, we were in the center of the new section so didn’t have the best view. I could see the lake if there wasn’t a tall RV parked next to us and looked up in between a few other RVs. A site on the hill with a lake view came available while we were there that our neighbors saw so they moved over there. It was much nicer with a great view. We just took advantage of their site and joined them for a few campfires while they were there. Definitely nice to make friends.

This bench on the hill above the lake was a great spot to stop during our walks.

A view of the lake during a walk around the campground.

Enjoying a campfire at Bubba and Shelley’s site.

Since we were at Hidden Cove last Fall, we had seen most of the tourist sites in the area. This time, we pretty much stayed at the park. Tim wanted to get some work done on the RV while we were there. The front and back end caps are a darker tan color instead of the off white on the rest of the RV. The color was faded in those darker areas and not looking very good. Tim had purchased a buffer with a three step process that he wanted to try to buff that out and bring the color back. He started the work and it definitely looked like it would work but it was a challenge for either of us to do it well. So we made a start but there were spots that we missed. We decided to wait until we could get some help getting this done the right way. More on that in a future blog post.

While we were there, we reached a point that we were 2 weeks past our second vaccine shot so we wanted to actually go out for a meal instead of take out. There isn’t too much in Arley so we decided to drive to Cullman, AL for a day. It was about a 45 - 50 minute drive away. We had some shopping to do at Lowes and Walmart, so thought we would stop at a local brewery for beer and a late lunch in between the two stores. We ended up visiting Goat Island Brewery and tried out a flight of their beers. They didn’t serve food but a local pizzeria delivered there. We highly enjoyed both the beer and the pizza. Unfortunately, after partaking in the fine food and drink, we didn’t feel up to going to Walmart so we just headed back to the campground. We had to drive to the Walmart in Jasper, AL the next day to finish our shopping. It was just slightly closer. All in all, it was a good stay in Alabama.

Look at that smile! Tim enjoyed being out and drinking some beer.

I loved these cans and the beer was pretty good so we had to buy a six pack.

From there we headed further North to Tennessee. We found another Good Sam Park off of the interstate in southern Tennessee, Texas T Campground to stay for 2 nights. It was a small campground, literally right off of the exit. We could sit at our site and watch the traffic on I-65. Definitely fine for a night or two, but not where we would want to spend a lot of time. It was close to a cute little town where we grabbed some food at Soda Pop Junction. Definitely a quaint town, but not the reason to stop here. I had been wanting to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery since we toured the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in October 2019. We have stayed at quite a few places in Tennessee during our travels but none were close to Lynchburg. The drive from Texas T was about 50 minutes so finally less than an hour away and I was able to schedule tours for us. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country and a very interesting tour. We had an enjoyable visit touring the distillery, tasting their whiskey, walking through their beautiful property and walking through the little town of Lynchburg. We found another good barbeque place to enjoy a late lunch before heading back to the campground.

Texas T was a pretty little campground but Tim didn’t like how close to the top of the RV these trees were. He ended up backing out of the site so the branches wouldn’t scratch the roof.

Linville was a very quaint town near Texas T campground. We had dinner at Soda Pop Junction; felt like we went back in time.

I didn’t tour the railroad museum so I don’t know the story about this turkey!

Statue of Jack Daniels at the spring that is the source of water for their great whiskey.

Our tour guide describing the whiskey’s that we got to taste.

I loved these horse statues at the Kentucky Welcome Center

After 2 nights in Tennessee, we traveled further up I-65 to Louisville, KY. We stayed for 2 nights at Grandma’s RV Park which is a little south of Louisville. When we got there, the forecast wasn’t looking good again. It appeared severe storms were expected again in the Mississippi Valley and we could be right in the path of the storm. We already had tickets to tour the Louisville Slugger Museum while we were there and weren’t sure if we should just cancel and travel further North. After watching the weather closely, we decided the risk was low and the more severe weather would hit south of us and probably heavier rains north of us. So we stayed and are glad that we did. The Slugger Museum was really interesting and the while the day was cloudy, we didn’t have any rain while we were touring in Louisville. We ended up touring the Slugger Museum, the Frazier Museum, having lunch at a local pizzeria, then finding the Galt Hotel to have drinks before heading back to the campground. Rain was anticipated that night so we closed up the slides and disconnected everything except the electricity so we wouldn’t have to do that in the rain in the morning. That worked out well; it was pouring first thing in the AM. We found a local coffee shop for breakfast and waited out the rain. It slowed enough for us to finish the work to disconnect the electricity, check that the fifth wheel was still connected well into the hitch and get on the road.

I loved the huge bat at the entrance to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.

Watching the bats being carved was pretty cool!

The Frazier History Museum had quite a few exhibits on the history of Kentucky, including bourbon making. There were a couple of rooms like this featuring the many bourbons made in the area.

I tried a bourbon flight at the Galt hotel. Look how nice the bar surface is in this shot. Before I finished the first sample, I accidentally bumped the last one as I was talking with my hands. I couldn’t catch it in time and it spilled. The bartender was very nice and poured me another sample.

By the time I finished the first 2 samples, the bar surfaced had turned white. It looked like the spilled bourbon completely removed the finish from the bar. Both the bartender and Tim asked if I was sure I wanted to drink the last one - just image what it does to your stomach. Of course, I drank it. It was good but at 115 proof, a bit strong for me.

After our travels north, we arrived on Tuesday, May 4, at Indian Lakes, another Thousand Trails campground in Batesville, IN. We will be here for 3 weeks and visiting our daughter Kim and her finance Greg in Cincinnati. More about our visit and other exciting news in the next blog. Until next time……..

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Spring 2021 Travels from Florida to Indiana

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