When we joined Thousand Trails, included was a 2 year membership to RPI (Resort Parks International). We can stay at their parks for $10 a night. I found one not too far off of our route so booked it for 5 nights. Well that didn’t work out so well for us. Our drive was mostly interstate except the last 40 minutes or so. It was the longest 40 minutes along country roads covered with low hanging trees. I drove in front to guide Tim and block the road as needed for him to drive in the center or even the wrong side of the road to avoid hitting the trees. Low hanging tree branches can seriously damage the rubber roof on our fifth wheel. Then we pull into a campground filled with trees. If you have a smaller camper or even one that doesn’t sit too high, this campground could work for you. For us it would have been a challenge.

While our RV was at Amish Family RV Service, we had to find a place to stay for a few days. I did some research and discovered that far west corner of Indiana is on Lake Michigan and there is a National Park there. Since we want to eventually visit all of the National Parks, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I found a small inn, Bridge Inn, in Michigan City that sits on an inlet from the lake and was really close to Indiana Dunes National Park. Seemed like the perfect place to spend a few days.

Tim and I left Florida a few days earlier than planned on Saturday, April 17. The weather forecast was showing stormy weather heading our way 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. The first day was a little longer for us but overall an easy travel day.

We are back in Florida for the winter and again staying in one place for almost 5 months. One thing that we learned in our first year of full time living is to compromise. I love traveling and visiting new places continuously but Tim prefers longer stays in one place. So traveling part of the year and staying put part of the year is the best of both worlds. This year we decided to try a different place for the winter. We are in Wildwood, FL at Three Flags RV Park which is a Thousand Trails campground.

Our route south this year brought us back through Montgomery, AL so we decided to spend two weeks in the area this time. Montgomery was one of my favorite stops last year because of its historical significance, especially for the Civil Rights Movement in 1965. Both Tim and I are history buffs so we like touring historical sites and museums. Since we are avoiding indoor activities this year, I knew we would not want to visit the museums again but felt we could still find enough to do outside.

Alabama is home to Tim and my favorite stops during our first year on the road. Tim’s favorite was Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL and mine was Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL. Since we enjoyed Alabama so much last year, we decided to spend 4 weeks here this year. I picked two different spots so we could visit different parts of the state to see if we liked them as much.

For the past two weeks, we have been staying at our second Thousand Trails campground, Cherokee Landing, located in West Tennessee. From the Thousand Trails website, I thought the campground was a bit closer to Memphis than it actually is but that has worked out fine for us. When I initially booked, I was planning a visit to Graceland and a few other Memphis landmarks. Since Covid 19 is still happening and case numbers were up a little in Tennessee, we weren’t sure about visiting a popular tourist site.