Van-Tramp adventures 2017

[Van-Tramp]

Kayaking Palmetto Island State Park
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/kayaking-palmetto-island-state-park/

Prior to our yak-packing trip in Grand Teton back in Sept of last year, we had gone almost one full year since putting the kayaks in the water. Since that time, the kayaks have been used no less than four times, two of which took place in the last few weeks. And then comes this Palmetto Island State Park where we have stayed this past week to get some more peace and quiet (and free laundry!!!).

One of our morning we set out to tackle the 2 kilometer canoe trail links three small lakes together via a twisting bayou through a jungle and swamp land. The weather was playing nice for the first time in the week, with temperatures in the mid 50’s and the humidity at a non-deadly rating. Even the bugs let us have some alone-time thanks to the cooler weather.

The canoe trail is intended for families renting a canoe – almost like a Disney ride – while staying at the park, but we still hoped to see some gators along our paddle… with no such luck. A few Great Egrets joined us, and once again the iPhone camera failed in every way to capture an image of anything further away than 30 feet.
The entire trip didn’t take a lot of time out of our morning, but the simple act of Kerri getting up and moving this early makes for a great day.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Surviving the nation’s most dangerous city
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New Orleans is one of America’s most dangerous city (when ranked by per-capita murders). And this past week we have been camped smack in the middle of it, just a few blocks off the French Quarter and all it’s Bourbon Street glory, at a $100 per night RV Resort… under a huge billboard and right beside a major highway. I imagine most people come here, to New Orleans, and simply play the odds that everything will be okay but I do not live that way. Instead, I take responsibility for the well being of myself and my loved ones – not relying on the fiction of police coming to our rescue in a split second –  and carry a gun for protection.


This normally doesn’t pose a problem as most states I regular I can legally carry in just about any place I care to go. The same applies to Louisiana with one major exception; bars. Again, normally this would not be all that big of an issue, except that it seems the only form of entertainment in this city is to drink and bars are off limits for law abiding gun carriers (criminals will still carry in bars of course). Restaurants that serve the exact same drinks and serve them to your table are okay for guns. Restaurants with bars are okay as well, as long as I don’t sit at the bar. Heck, even drinking a cocktail on the street in a plastic cup is legal to do while carrying, just not at or in a bar because some moronic politicians think I will snap and start peppering the crowd if I sat in the bar with a gun on my belt (funny how I’ve never snapped before).

So when company fly out to spend a week with Kerri and I in the most dangerous city in America (where I refuse to leave the ‘gat’ at home) it’s not all that easy to get the point across to those uneducated in the realities of a modern day gun carrier that I simply can’t go in there.  That statement is normally met with, “well then, don’t bring it… everything will be fine” as if they can see the future or make any such promise. When you are many times more likely of a car accident (NOLA has nearly 10X the national murder rate), do you unbuckle your seat belt and start texting-while-driving just because your passengers say it will be okay? Riiiiiight!


This week started with a whole lot of that, and after a few raised voices and lines drawn in the sand, the point was made that “leaving it at home” wasn’t going to happen. Eventually some plans were altered ever so slightly – to visit more restaurants instead of bars – where they can still drink and I can have my iced-tea and keep on “wearing my seat belt”. I gave up a single night to go gun-free so we can all have a drink in a bar together. That night has not yet come, so whether or not I come out alive has not yet been determined.

I know, that without Kerri wanting to come to this city, I’d have driven right around it and never thought twice about it as I do with most major metro areas. Sure, I would have missed Bourbon Street (smells like piss and vomit with thousands of drunk frat boys and homeless laying around) or the cool music scene (as if the dozen druggy street performers per block qualify as a music scene) or the great food (which has so far been extremely mediocre for the most part) but I would have had a much more peaceful and safe week then what is currently transpiring.

With all that said, New Orleans is not like any other city I’ve been too. It does have something to it. I’ve liked it mostly, and I have not yet pin pointed why. It as if Walt Disney took some meth and PMS pills, chased by a few shots of cheap whiskey while hanging upside-down, and then designed this wild ride we know as New Orleans – all below sea level. Will I come here again? Without a doubt or a moment’s hesitation –  oh hell no – but I’m happy I got to spend time with love ones in a place that they love so much, and make it out alive. It has been an experience, but I am looking forward to getting out as soon as possible.

 

[Van-Tramp]

And then there was Thursday
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The first 37 years of my life was “Tim 1.0” (angry, persecuted, argumentative, etc). When I started traveling, a whole new Tim began to emerge (more relaxed, social, all-around nice guy, etc) and by the time I began full-time life on the road “Tim 2.0” had fully taken over. This past week is a reality I knew but did not know the severity of my reaction. Kerri was completely unprepared for the change. I am not a city-person, and when I am surround by city – especially one as large and criminally notorious as New Orleans – I reverted to Tim 1.0… to everyone’s dismay.

Late in the week, as promised, I let my guard down, leaving my ‘gat’ at home, and enjoyed a night out with friends and my love, who have all put up with me as best they could this week. We enjoyed a great evening out on the town, had a few drinks, listened to some music. I even took my first few Lyft rides, and got to meet a few locals (BTW, the people of Louisiana are some of the most hospitable folks in all of this country). It was an extremely enjoyable experience that went on until after midnight. Not only do I admit it here in this post, I admitted it to all three of them in person, “I may have been doing this all wrong, New Orleans is best experienced this way.” Meaning not worrying about my well being so much. Yep, just let it go and have a blast and let the chips fall where they may… for one night. Yes, that is a single-night thing, not a full mindset shift. No way I could live that way every day, especially here.




Through out the the week, many other fun things took place. I set eyes on the Mississippi River (my first time), I ate my first Beignet (super yum!), ate at way too many restaurants (I’ve definitely gained a few pounds), and even went out to an Escape Room where we found all the clues and made it out with only a few minutes to spare in our 1 hour window. Most important of all though, was to hang out with Leigh & Brian of Aluminarium and Campendium for a few days. We haven’t seen them in over a year, and it is these two that are responsible for introducing Kerri and me back in 2015. I owe these two people a lot, and it was great to see them both again, I just wish I was a better man while they were here. I will be next time, in the South West away from the big-city life.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I've been in your shoes a few times where those with me couldn't understand why on earth I carried a gun, was actually during a cross country trip with 4 others from Boston Ma to Yosemite with multiple stops at parks along the way planned. Well long story short, we ended up in the sketchiest town I'd ever been in, in the middle of nowhere Nevada. And sure enough, everyone wanted to stay in the motel room with the gun (my room) that night. One of the girls on that trip now carries and shoots regularly. The most anti gun in the group, as i've found to usually be the trend, the most anti like it the most once they have a better understanding of them.

However, growing up 10 minutes outside Boston, cities have never raised my blood pressure and I often go with out a gun if needed. Figure if it's my time it's my time. (Although, It would be nice to "delay" my time if at all possible)

 

[Van-Tramp]

Healing by swamp
www.van-tramp.com/wp/healing-by-swamp/

Before our Thursday night on the town, Kerri and I ventured off into the Barataria Preserve to the south of the NOLA area. Barataria Preserve is a part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park (my #81st National Park) and is primarily a large swamp (as is much of southern Louisiana. I’d have liked to kayak in the preserve, but a little research online told us that all the paddle-routes were blocked up by overgrowth and the NPS was in no rush to clean it up for a few paddlers. I can understand that, and fully understood it when I saw just how dense the vegetation is on the water; you could nearly walk across it (as you can see below).




Along our roughly 2 mile – very easy – hike we saw a lot of swamp land, a small alligator slither past, our fair share of birds and small fish, but most importantly we came across out first ever venomous snake in our nearly 11 years of combined full-time travel. Even though a fellow hiker announced, “There is a cottonmouth on a stump back there“, we strolled right past it initially, it was so well camouflaged. “Right past it” literally means, within 24 inches of the it’s snout. He was on a stump only a foot off the boardwalk path and we only noticed it after walking past and turning around. Once again, the iPhone’s super-wide-angle lens does not do it justice, but I was not going to get within six feet of this bad-ass just because Apple can’t design a proper camera lens.




In the end, the hour or so in the wild and away from the city was just what the doctor ordered, and I got to check off yet another National Park as a bonus.

 

[Gunny]

Nice size Cotton Mouth too. They are usually fairly docile snakes but I'll leave that to others to prove or disprove.

As usual, great pictures and narrative.

Rob

 

[Van-Tramp]

Welcome to Mississippi, law breaker
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During our week long stay half way up the Natchez Trace Parkway I ran out of beer (I know!!!!), so when we ran into town I checked in at the local grocers to pick up a few bottles. When I could not find any in the store, I popped in to ask a checker… “Excuse me, do you have any beer?” This polite questions halted all three other checkers in the store, as well as the dozen or so customers. Discussions ceased mid sentence, and all eyes turned to me, wide and shocked by simple question. The checker slowly looked up at me and through those chubby cheeks exclaimed in the most fearful voice I have ever heard, “This is a dry county” and pointed accusations of sin and satanic worship at me though her eyes. It was as if I just asked where the local pedophile-convention was while wearing daisy-dukes and a tube-top. I raised me hands, and slowly backed out the door. The only comfort I had was the S&W on my hip could protect me from the fanatics if the S hit the F.
[img=250x300]http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ms-counties-250x300.jpg[/img]
It was then that I truly realized where I was; Mississippi. In Mississippi liquor laws are written up at the city and county level. Every few miles you drive a whole new patchwork of laws are on effect, none of which are published roadside of course. One city/county may not allow the sale of any liquor including beer or wine. Another may only allow beer. Another may only allow hard alcohol but not beer. Some allow drinking while behind the wheel of a car, others allow passengers but not the driver. The more Kerri read up on it the more she came upon extreme stories of people being fined or arrested for simply having a 6-pack in the fridge, or transporting a bottle home after legally purchasing it in the neighboring county. Fear began to creep into her veins, it was palpable. (bucket-list #98504 completed; to use the word ‘palpable’ in a blog post)

The most important law we found out was the Mississippi state law that forbids anyone from importing into the state more than 1 gallon of liquor. When I heard her say those words I laughed out loud and announced, “you are soooooooo breaking the law!” We are hauling dozens of bottles of liquor at any given time, in the trailer, spread across many different types of bourbons, vodkas, rums, and just about anything else you can think of for Kerri to fabricate her cocktails that she loves so much. What we carry with us would easily be considered an “arsenal of alcohol“. We were well past the 1-gallon limit, and we were 200 miles deep into Mississippi, and we were in a dry county.

To rub salt in that wound, we were driving back from dinner in a non-dry county and had a 6-pak that she just purchased for me at the grocery store. Not only were we in violation of the dry-counties law which forbid the transport of beer into the county, she just “straw purchased” that beer for me. I chuckle still at the irony here.

After the discussions settled, and more laughing from my side, Kerri – with wide eyes – stated with the most clarity I have ever heard from her, “We need to leave this state, now“. I chuckled some more with the fact that she now understands how I feel entering states like California, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, etc where gun laws are patched together the same as a poorly made quilt.. and for an otherwise law abiding citizen to be made an instant-criminal simply by crossing an invisible line on the map.

 

[highdesertranger]

Buford T Justice is on your tail. highdesertranger

 

[Van-Tramp]

Natchez Trace Parkway – part 1
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I have been looking forward to this part of the country for a long time. And the timing was perfect, after a tough final week in Louisiana for me. A slight back-track and a hop to the North put us right at Natchez, Mississippi and the the town of Natchez, Mississippi. The historic Melrose plantation of the Natchez National Historical Park became my 82nd National Park visited. Beyond a Ranger led tour, there is little to do here, but the views of the 80-acre plantation were amazing. Kerri and I walked around the entire area soaking it in.



Once we had our fill we left to find our first night’s camp location along the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Parkway travels more than 400 miles North, generally following the Mississippi River to Nashville, Tennessee. It is a very well maintained two lane highway with mild speeds through beautiful Mississippi Delta and thick forest. Although the Parkway cuts right through some well populated areas, the National Park Service did a great job keeping the Parkway separated from the civilized world. Along the 400+ miles of the Parkway is only 50 entry or exit points, and all commercial traffic is prohibited. Thick trees box your view to anything outside the black ribbon of asphalt winding through the green landscape. Pullouts and exhibits about the “Trace” are sprinkled every few miles for when a stretch (or a dog run) is needed.





The Trace is an old trail that the Parkway closely follows. It dates back well before we began to colonize this land. Originally used by the Native American’s, we began using it as an Interstate travel path between the Gulf of Mexico and Tennessee. Stories are told on many placards of folks taking man-made rafts down the Mississippi with there warez to sell in New Orleans, then walk – or if they were lucky they rode a horse – the Trace back up river. The above image is of the old Trace trail sunken many feet into the land by the amount of traffic that once passed over it. I spent more then a few hours daydreaming of how cool that must have been to walk the Trace.

There are three free campgrounds along the Parkway and we had plans for them all. The southern most campground is the Rocky Springs Campground where we shared the place with only a few other campers. The evening was already upon us, so a meal and some cuddling rounded out a great evening. I woke early to watch the sun rise in the trees before snatching Kerri out of bed to go for a morning hike with the dogs. From the campground a trail brought us to the site of the old Rocky Springs ghost town. Not much exists here anymore but for a few old relics; bank safes. Nevertheless, the dogs seriously enjoyed getting back into the woods after the week long inner-city RV park stay.

 

[highdesertranger]

nice pics. beautiful. highdesertranger

 

[exitinn]

PLEASE DO NOT RESEND ALL THOSE PHOTOS!! BE KIND TO THOSE ON CELL PHONES AND LIMITED DATA PLANS

There was a lady in Motor Home magazine that took a month to do the Natchez Trace Pky. , I did it on a motorcycle in the 80's .

PLEASE DO NOT RESEND ALL THOSE PHOTOS!! ​

BE KIND TO THOSE ON CELL PHONES AND LIMITED DATA PLANS​

 

[Almost There]

There was a lady in Motor Home magazine that took a month to do the Natchez Trace Pky. , I did it on a motorcycle in the 80's .

It only took me 10 days to do it last year...guess I was going too fast.... 

It was a memorable trip. I geocached along the way and I stopped at every pull-out except the ones that were just picnic areas. AND I go to hike at least a couple of miles of the Natchez Trace itself!..

 

[Van-Tramp]

Natchez Trace Parkway – part 2
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/natchez-trace-parkway-part-2/

With the Rocky Springs Campground being only a single night stay, we had nearly 200 miles of driving before we made it to our destination to spend the work week. The Jeff Busby Campground sits at roughly the halfway point of the parkway, and within reach of a few places worthy of exploration. Even though we would stay here all week, we really only had a day to do the seeing of the sights as Kerri’s Pacific Coast work hours would keep her locked in at the computer until well after dark each night. Once again, Kerri gets the credit for finding many of these off-the-beaten-path places.


Rodney Ghost Town was our first stop. So close to coming the state capitol back in the day, Rodney died due to natural causes. Quite literally, the Mississippi River naturally changed course and left the town of Rodney behind. Rodney did not survive that split up. One interesting thing we found out was that the Rodney First Presbyterian Church has a cannon ball lodged in it’s front wall, above the top-center window from a civil war battle. I did not notice it while we were there, but upon Kerri reading more about the town, we found that we both took pictures of the church and can easily see that cannon ball.





Our next stop, and one we almost decided to pass on, was the Windsor Ruins. Constructed between 1859 and 1861 the Windsor mansion was finished just in time for the owner, Smith Coffee Daniell II, to promptly drop dead. The mansion survived without him, eventually housing troops during the civil war. In 1890, the embers from a cigarette are rumored to have started the fire that would completely destroy the mansion, leaving only the columns we see today.




Not wanting to pass up yet another National Park, Kerri and I ventured well off the Trace – to Vicksburg – and visited the Vicksburg National Military Park (#84) and was completely surprised by just how busy it was. A line of cars to get in, a full parking lot, and a full herd of people inside the Visitor’s Center. After purchasing my obligatory NPS lapel pin, we started the 17 mile auto-tour that winds through the old civil war battlefield where hundreds upon hundreds of stone memorials are erected to commemorate military leaders and their soldiers.

I must say, while the memorials themselves were nothing  to me, the view across the battlefield was amazing. These poor guys fought and died in such a small area. They could have just as easily stopped firing at each other and shared a cup of coffee with little walking.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Hidden smack in the middle of the auto-tour was the very cool The U.S.S. Cairo, was one of seven ironclad gunboats used in the war at the time. It was sunk back during the war, and recovered only in the 1960’s. It came to the NPS back in the 70’s where it has been stored since. Not only is it much larger than I could have imagined, the enormous feat it must have taken to move it (steam powered) just blew my mind. It was not much more than a huge steam powered paddle boat with cannons facing all directions and metal plating weighing it down. Needless to say, I was quite pleased we got to drop in to see this old fella.



After spending out work week at the campground we continued north up the parkway, stopping in and visiting any of the sights we wanted. I have to say, it was not all that easy to do as the paper map and the actual road-signs gave two completely different names on the signage… or no sign at all. Trying to stop the more than 50 feet of total length of the truck and trailer in short distances just isn’t going to happen. We missed a few this way.

The few stops we did get to drop in on were great, and the dogs seriously enjoyed the extra running around. We spent a single night at the Meriwether Lewis Campground, not far from the northern boundary of the parkway, before heading into Nashville, TN for the next work week.

 

[exitinn]

You should eat at Loveless Cafe . Very good .
I hope I did it right this time .

 

[Van-Tramp]

Welcome to Nashville
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/welcome-to-nashville/

Originally Nashville was a pass-through point, not a week-long destination. But with the early exit of the Natchez Trace Parkway came an unscheduled stop not far out of Nashville-proper to burn away the extra time. Kerri frantically researched cool spots to visit and came up with a short list of things to experience while here.

First was a stop at the famous Patterson House, where the drinks were top-notch and I had the best tater-tots I have ever had. Yep, tater-tots! At first I was slightly put off by this place, but after a few sips it all felt good. The vibe was just right (not bar-like) and the decor and service convinced me that I was in a historic place worthy of my enjoyment. I found out just how much I like frothy egg-white gin based drinks. We both needed a bot of a walk after so we chose to stop in at the Station Inn for the Bluegrass jam session, which turned out to be quite some fun and just what the doctor ordered to sober up a tick.

Embedded Instagram image at http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/welcome-to-nashville/

The next day, Kerri required – required I tell you –  some hot chicken. She had just the place to fulfill her craving, so off to lunch at Prince’s Hot Chicken where we devoured a half-chicken along with some fries and beans, which was oh so good! It wasn’t until the following morning that a little bit of regret came up… or out.

Embedded Instagram image at http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/welcome-to-nashville/

By this time we were really hankerin’ for a visit to the Grand Ole Opry, and wouldn’t you know it, it is right here in Nashville! Two hours of country, honkytonk, and bluegrass music. Somewhere in the middle of all that music I hit a mental pause button and looked around and questioned to myself, “How the hell did I get here?” From a van to the Grand Ole Opry, that is crazy talk. Seriously, Kerri brings me to so many places I would never have gone before meeting her. Grand Ole Opry? Patterson’s? Nashville?!?!? This girl brings me places well outside my comfort zone, that is for sure.

The rest of the week was filled with boring work, laundry, visits to my chain-gym, and walking the dogs, but we did have this view out our window from our spot this week. Not too shabby.

 

[Van-Tramp]

Chattanooga
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/chattanooga/


[size=large]It only took a single night’s stay to see not one, but three National Parks in the Chattanooga, TN area. However, to visit them all we needed to navigate no less than three states across two time zones within a few hour period. Such is the pain that comes with wanting to see as many National Parks as one can visit, reasonably.[/size]
[size=large]
After dropping the trailer at the Marion County Park we immediately took off to visit the Little River Canyon National Preserve (#85). The Preserve is located in Alabama, about an hour to the south-west of Chattanooga. We stopped in at the Little River Canyon Falls, one of the prime destinations in the Preserve, and met on of the chattiest volunteers who spoke to us in the completely different language that Alabama folks speak.  I think she was telling us about kayaking in the river, because she spotted the two large kayaks on our truck, but that is only a guess. After five minutes trying to get away from her, we finally got to snap a few photos of the falls. After, we took the 12 mile drive down the Little River Parkway that follows the river to the South.

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The following morning we left early to visit the Russell Cave National Monument (#86), also located in Alabama, in the heavy rain. Actually, it was barely sprinkling when we arrived at the Monument, but the very moment we set out to hike he short boardwalk to the cave itself, the sky opened up on us. We were prepared with rain jackets and hats, but neither really dealt well with the deluge that hit us. Still, the short hike out was worth every drop that soaked into our clothing.
The people who lived here might have known just how good they had it here, with fresh water flowing directly into the cave, many natural resources all around, and fantastic protection from the elements. For those reasons they lived here for many thousands of years. The cave was amazing, and seriously made me wish I was a cave man 10,000 years ago.

Lastly, we drove to Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park (#87) which is in Georgia and in the Eastern time zone. The minor issue of the change in time zone got us to the park just after Visitor Center hours. We did get to take an auto tour of the park, which was an extremely well maintained park and a great destination for bicyclists. Here the Union and Confederate armies clashed in late 1863. Here the Confederates won early battles but the Union army eventually pushed the Confederate army further south.

And that is if for Tennessee for us. We picked up the trailer and hauled it 90 minutes into Georgia, not far out of the Atlanta area. Here we get to meet up with some friends, who neither of us have seen since the week Kerri and I met back in January of 2015.[/size]

 

[Van-Tramp]

[font=Arial, Georgia, sans-serif]McKinney Campground[/font]
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/mckinney-campground/


Immediately following my last blog post, two things happened; First, my back decided to play 90-year-old again and nearly freeze up. I caught it quickly and instead of fighting the initial feelings, I went with it and hopefully saved myself weeks worth of pain and suffering. We do have that big hike coming up in a few weeks, so I can’t be hobbling around like an old man.  Second, my laptop decided it was done. Quite literally, it refused to boot up again. Considering that I have owned and used it (in a van and on the road the entire time) for roughly five years, I knew the time was coming for a replacement. I say this to hopefully excuse the length between blog posts.
Before either of those happenings, we moved into McKinney Campground, just to the North of the Atlanta area. Kerri chose the place thanks to reviews on [size=large]Campendiumhttp://www.campendium.com/. We lucked out to score the final remaining spot open for the week we were staying as Spring Break was starting that following weekend. A prime spot with a great waterfront view and easy launching of our kayaks… what else could be asked for?[/size]
[size=large] http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/McKinney-Campground.jpg[/size]
At the first opportunity we jumped in the kayaks and set out to explore the the lake in the early morning dew and light. While not the most exciting place to kayak, it not only felt good to get back on the water, but to get us both up and moving so early in the morning. I even spent a few minutes out on the water with Moose on board. He did much better than the last time he went kayaking, when he spend the entire time [size=large]disturbing the peacehttp://www.van-tramp.com/wp/the-battle-of-kelly-lake/.[/size]
[size=large] http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/McKinney-kayak2.jpg [/size]
After the work week (which included the back injury and laptop failure) we had a scheduled meetup with Todd & Russ. T&R were there when Kerri and I first met in Jan of 2015, but we have not seen each other since. They came up to camp a few nights with us. Moose was very happy to finally get to hang out with Francis (their dog) who he fell in love with back in Jan of 2015. He may have gotten a little over-excited actually… but she was sending all the right signals and Moose was only following her lead.
[size=large] http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Photo-Apr-01-7-46-01-PM.jpg[/size]

 

[Van-Tramp]

Ocmulgee National Monument
http://www.van-tramp.com/wp/ocmulgee-national-monument/

[size=large]The Ocmulgee National Monument (#88 National Park) is a prehistoric settlement site dating back 17,000 years, and just a few miles away from our camp in Macon, GA. I was going to take a few hours to go visit the Monument after we had arrived and setup camp, but Kerri found that for only a few evenings a year, they put on a lantern-walk… and that very evening happened to be one of those special days. We showed up just before sunset to visit the Visitor’s Center, then set out for the 1-hour (1 mile) hike into the darkness towards the Greater Temple Mound. Along the way we met volunteers playing the role of people would have lived at, fought at (the site was also a battlefield in the Civil War), or explored the site over its many years.

 
In the end, it was Kerri’s first time exploring any of the National Park’s at night. I initially agreed that it was my first as well, until I remembered my midnight hike into a volcano in Hawaii.[/size]

 

[Van-Tramp]

Avoiding certain death and destruction
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A knock on the door after dark usually goes unanswered by me, and this one would have been the same if it had not been that the man standing outside – the State Park Ranger – had already talked with us earlier that evening. Earlier he mentioned that the storm coming in would be severe and that if we heard the tornado sirens we should shelter in the bathrooms. The bathrooms were sturdy cement buildings; much safer in tornado weather then a trailer. I did put some clothing on and made sure he did not have more to add to the warnings… he did not.

That knock is all it took to finally put Kerri past the edge of comfort. And the weather was to arrive by the time we woke the following morning. She talked about abandoning our site and making a run for it, but the question of “where?” mattered. If we drove only an hour in any direction, we were in no better situation. In fact, it could be worse in the new location. There was no way to tell. Finally, after a few hours attempting to get Kerri to fall asleep, we made the decision to abandon and run as far South as we could.

We packed up, and hitched up the trailer in record time but we were still leaving at midnight on a weekday. Kerri valiantly drove for three and a half hours which would take us out of the “red” zone and into the “orange”. We were still in danger, and now in a Walmart parking lot. After only four few hours of much needed sleep we got moving again, before the storm now scheduled to arrive a few hours later. Another one and a half hours of driving brought as near the Florida border and to where Kerri wanted to spend the rest of the work week; The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Not only did we sleep better, the scenery was amazing and the swamp was top-notch. The storm came in later that evening, after sunset, and put on one heckuva lightening and thunder show, but nothing worse than we had been in dozens of times. Kerri checked in on Macon, GA (where we came from) online, and while no tornadoes wiped out any campgrounds or trailers, we feel we made the right decision nonetheless. We lost out on the campground fees (no refund), and some sleep, but sometimes those losses just have to be taken. Thankfully, we have the luxury of hitching up and leaving any time we want.