Daisy Heads for Bozeman

[SilverCabin]

Packing and final preparations are underway for a Sunday June 1, 2008 departure for Bozeman, MT and the International Rally. Our planned route is to head west to Natchez, MS then north along the Great River Road until we get to the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca, or run out of time. We need to be in Bozeman on the 20th.

I've spotted with Google Earth and my GPS all of Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt 2 - The River Run stops, so we should be enjoying some good eating. Well maybe not the Lutefisk We have 20 days to get there so we intend to go slow, stay on the back roads, and enjoy the country.

Before leaving the west, we’ll visit Glacier National Park in Montana, and Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada for some hiking. We’ll travel east via the north shore of Lake Superior, then head south through Michigan, to visit family before returning to Florida.

Any suggestions or offers of courtesy parking are greatly appreciated.

Randy

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

Packing and final preparations are underway for a Sunday June 1, 2008 departure for Bozeman, MT and the International Rally. Our planned route is to head west to Natchez, MS then north along the Great River Road until we get to the Mississippi's source at Lake Itasca, or run out of time. We need to be in Bozeman on the 20th.

I've spotted with Google Earth and my GPS all of Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt 2 - The River Run stops, so we should be enjoying some good eating. Well maybe not the Lutefisk We have 20 days to get there so we intend to go slow, stay on the back roads, and enjoy the country.

Before leaving the west, we’ll visit Glacier National Park in Montana, and Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada for some hiking. We’ll travel east via the north shore of Lake Superior, then head south through Michigan, to visit family before returning to Florida.

Any suggestions or offers of courtesy parking are greatly appreciated.

Randy

Randy,

Best of luck in your journey. We will be at the Bozeman KOA on June 26 for the Vintage Parade on June 27. We will be going to Glacier before returning home. Drop by the Vintage Section and say HI. Make sure that you see the VAC open house on June 29.

Bill

[SilverCabin]

Originally Posted by wkerfoot

Randy,

Best of luck in your journey. We will be at the Bozeman KOA on June 26 for the Vintage Parade on June 27. We will be going to Glacier before returning home. Drop by the Vintage Section and say HI. Make sure that you see the VAC open house on June 29.

Bill

Bill,

Looking forward to meeting you. See you there.

Randy

[SilverCabin]

In the start post I mentioned we are going to visit some, but not all, of Alton Brown's stops along the Mississippi. Here's his website/episode guide listing those stops. We'll be starting at Natchez, Episode 2.

AltonBrown.com

Let me know if you have recommendations.

Randy

[SilverCabin]

The final house closing and checklist items always take longer than you think they will, but there is a lot to do when leaving for two and a half months. Nevertheless, we were able to get away before 11:00 a.m., and this being Sunday, we didn’t have much traffic to contend with. We took the Florida Turnpike to I-75 north, then exited I-75 at Lake City, FL to travel US-90 westbound. From here on, we’ll be trying to avoid the Interstates as much as possible, travel the back roads, see the country, and slow down to save gas.

The weather today was very hot. Hoke’s outside thermometer stayed at 95 most of the day. At one point it was even reading 102. We had some light showers to contend with and that reduced the temperature briefly. Between Lake City and Tallahassee, FL, some stronger storms passed through in front of us that downed a couple of trees across the road. The County Sheriff had that under control when we arrived at the scene, but there was only one lane open to traffic. We have a CB/Weather Radio with us that scans the weather channels and alerts us to any dangers. We bought it to help us get across Tornado Alley later this month. Didn’t think we would need it so soon.

We’re camped in Three Rivers State Park, just north of Sneads, FL. We were going to stop at a KOA when Pat spotted this park in the directory. We’re on a very nice, level campsite with water and 30/50a electric for only $13.00. The park sits on the shoreline of Lake Seminole at the Florida-Georgia border, and gets its name from the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers to form the Apalachicola River below Lake Seminole. If you have read anything about the “Water Wars” between Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, this is ground zero.

We arrived here at around 6:30 EDT, but when you cross the Apalachicola River you enter the Central Time Zone, so we gained an hour. That will give us some needed extra sleep tonight.

[SilverCabin]

Today was a long mileage day. We left Three Rivers around 9:30 this morning and arrived here close to 7:00 p.m., over 400 miles. This was probably our longest day until we leave the Mississippi River and head west to Bozeman. The weather continued to be hot, but not as hot as yesterday. The thermometer stayed in the low 90s most of the day.

From Three Rivers State Park we headed north into Alabama to US-84. We did this to avoid the cities of Pensacola, FL and Mobile, AL and because GasBuddy.com said gas was cheaper in Alabama and Mississippi. Gas was somewhat cheaper, but not more than a few cents less than Florida.

There is almost nothing on US-84 from Dothan, AL to where we are today; many small towns, some kind of attractive, but nothing really to mark for a return visit. US-84 turned out to be a very nice highway however, mostly four lane divided through Mississippi, and well maintained in Alabama. We made a lunch stop in Evergreen, AL. Evergreen looked like a nicely maintained railroad town, but no passenger service anymore. We’ve seen lots of towns like this in the south. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the intercity rail service return?

Tonight we are in the Homochitto National Forest at the Clear Springs Recreational Area. The campground is five miles west of Meadville, MS, and 24 miles from Natchez, south of US-84. They have very nice level campsites here with water and 30/50a electric for only $15.50. Another good find in the guidebooks by Pat. There are only six other RVs in here, and last night there were many open spaces as well. We’re traveling without reservations, so the parks being empty are good for us, but a sign that RV travel is down. We’ll let you know what we experience when we get to some of the destination parks out west.

After getting Daisy parked for the night, we had just enough daylight left to set up the grill, enjoy a dry martini, and cook a steak before dark. I’ll take some pictures in the morning.

[maxandgeorgia]

Enjoy your trek up the Mississippi! Midwesterners all our lives, we hadn't taken this drive until last fall when we fell in love with this river route. If you have a chance on your northern drive of Lake Superior, you'll be treated to spectacular views, places, and people. I am for sure one of your trip junkies! Please take lots of pictures and visit with the people in all the small towns along the way. You are on an incredible odyssey ~G

[cameront120]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I enjoy seeing your photos of places I've never been.

[MsRivet]

We will be following your journey and wishing we were there for every mile of it. Enjoy the ride. Not sure what direction you will head next but I have spent some time in the following campgrounds while in Louisiana. These are just EAST of Shreveport, LA and the Red River.

Lake Bistineau State Park, a Louisiana State Park near Bossier City, Haughton, Minden

Cypress Black Bayou - A Recreation and Conservation Park

OH, and Caddo Lake State Park in EAST Texas . . .

TPWD: Caddo Lake State Park

Be safe and we must meet up upon your return to Central Florida.

Best Regards-

Tim & Alice Wymer
Oakland, FL
WBCCI #4249
'04 28' International CCD (MINE)
F-350 Diesel Crew Cab L/B (HIS)

[SilverCabin]

It seem that I have exceeded my attachment quota, and the forum software won't accept any of my further posts with attachments. I'll try to sort this out with the mods to see what I have to do. In the mean time, please go to my website below and follow along there on the Travel Blog.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions so far.

Randy

[clancy_boy]

Randy and Pat,

Your trip is one Tina and I wish to do someday. I will be following along here and hope to get some of your details about the International. What a great trip. Drive safe.

Mike

[Felix'64]

Randy,
What part(s) of Michigan will you be visiting, aside from the UP? We're in Kalamazoo, and while we don't have much we can offer you a place in our driveway and electricity.

Enjoy your journey - be sure to visit Whitefish Point and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum just north of Paradise, MI when you're in the UP. It's a magical place.

Renee

[SilverCabin]

Hi Everyone,

I just updated the Travel Blog on my website www.silvercabin.net for yesterday's segment of the journey. We figured out why the forums wasn't accepting my posts--my membership had expired. I've renewed that now, but there is several days behind us now.

It's a lot of work to post things twice, and I'm pretty far behind now here on the forums, so I'll keep my site updated and post a message here when I make an update. Please continue to comment here or ask any questions.

On my site now are days three through eight, for your enjoyment.

Thanks for reading my Blog,

Randy

[SilverCabin]

Originally Posted by clancy_boy

Randy and Pat,

Your trip is one Tina and I wish to do someday. I will be following along here and hope to get some of your details about the International. What a great trip. Drive safe.

Mike

Mike and Tina,

We hope you can make this trip someday too. The scenery gets better and better as you travel north. The temperature is supposed to drop today too as this front passes. We're ready for some cooler weather.

Almost pealed the AC off Daisy yesterday. You can read about it on my website.

Randy