It took us three driving days to get here. Made it from Mc Henry to Rend Lake State Park, IL the first day dispite the late start at 11:00 and the 3 inches of snow that covered the Airstream. We parked in the dark and made a back-in site into a "drive through" because there was no snow that far south but the ground was dry and frozen. The ranger that came around to collect his $20 commented on it, but since there were only two other trailers in the park and I did no damage, he did not complain. The next morning we got up to 22 degree temperatures and 15 wild turkeys walking around the trailer. They retreated to the woods when we opened the door but were still visable through the barren branches. I walked down to the lake and noticed there were signs on 6 sites indicating people had stayed over Saturday night. There was a hunters' check in station in the park so maybe they were hunters. We noticed two doe on our way out of the park.
We got an early start that morning and made it all the way to Burmingham, AL by the time the sun set. We noticed a 10,000 acre state park on the map and decided to stay there, if we could find it. The Trailer Life Directory was very accurate in locating the road to the park just off Interstate 65 but the smallness of the road and no signs, lead us to park at McDonalds and ask. Sure enough the worker confirmed that was the road and we wound our way up the narrow creek valleys to find the park entrance. The check in person said we had 6 more miles of narrow roads to find the campground. Now completely in the dark we checked in with the young person manning the campground store and received a "map" of the campground. The signage within the campground was non-existent so we wandered around for 15 minutes, dragging the Airstream before we found a spot to pull into. It was not the site he assigned. We never found that one. The next morning the temperature was 32 and we realized the campground only had a spattering of campers. The locals said it was too cold to camp and had given up the pastime in September.
We started out early again with the intension of making it to at least Florida that day. When we made it to Florida by 2:00, we decided to see how far we could get. We made it all the way to our destination at Sherwood Forest Campground in Palm Harbor, FL. Another long day, The Sun sets early this time of year so you can not get on as many miles without parking in the dark.
Found a storage place to park the trailer and moved some things over to the 35 year old double wide mobile home we intended to rehab for my sister. For its age, it was in pretty good condition but would require weeks of work. I started off buying new chair height johns and new flooring for the baths. Then there was the yellow and degraded plastic Tee mold edging on all the Formica cabinets. We could not find the material locally so resorted in ordering from a place in New Jersey we foud on the Net. After it came in UPS, it took me three days to re-edge the 50 doors. fronts using hot melt adhesive to adhere it, as the right with spline was no longer available. Next then the rugs had to be cleaned. More trips back to Home Depot. The door locks and movable windows in the doors needed to be fixed. The local salvage shop for mobiles were the only ones with the parts but they installed easily.
In the mean time we were giving instructions to my sister on how to fix and operate her computer system. Staples gave us a hand there for $$60. There is no official WIFI in the senior citizens' mobile home park where the mobile is located, but several people (including my sister) have not locked their routers.
We had a few days of cold and damp weather but also a few days the sun warmed the car port up to 80 degrees. Our big dually truck barely fits in the carport and I am sure the neighbors can not make out what we are up to.
