13 Sep 2025 - Arrived at Griff's - Home for the Season - Mission Complete! + Final Stats

 

We departed The Meadows RV Park this morning at 0726 hrs and headed north on Hwy 61.  We reached the Iowa border and the feeling of home came over us, or at least closer.  

We made just one potty stop and then rolled into Griff's Valley View RV Park at 1150 hrs after driving 245 miles this morning.  Our site was vacant and we backed in and leveled up the coach quickly.  Out our back window is the fishing pond, although we will not be sleeping in the coach while it is here.  .

We got started right away taking photos of the cabinets and compartments as-is, and then methodically emptying them using our inventory as a guide.  We do not unload everything out of the coach in the off-season.  Kitchen utensils, pots, pans, etc are all duplication from what we have at home, so there is no need to unload that stuff.  There are many other items like that too numerous to mention.  The soft goods like towels, table clothes, toilet paper, paper towels, etc that a critter might get into are moved into large storage bins that live in the coach over the winter. It is critically important we keep track of what we leave in there and what we haul home so that next year when we do the loading it does not become a cluster, so to speak. 

Once we have unloaded everything that is going to be hauled home, we thoroughly clean the inside and outside including the roof, give the outside a good ceramic maintenance treatment with a buffer, and repair anything that needs tweaked.  Only after all that is done do we move it to inside storage for the off-season.  All that happens quicker than it sounds, weather permitting.  Right now we are schedule to move the coach next Friday, so that gives me five days including tomorrow.  

Everything that gets unloaded has to be hauled home and unloaded into the house and put away.  As we opened the door for the first time there was a hollowness or emptiness that is hard to describe. Our son had gathered up much of Liberty's toys, stairs and other reminders, but the silence here was deafening.  The sadness in losing our little Liberty on this trip still lingers and our returning home reopened the wounds.  I think losing her during our travels made it even worse.  But I cannot say enough about the great folks at the Veterinary Medical Center in Glasgow KY.  The compassion and caring they display was greatly appreciated.  They cremated Liberty right there and returned her remains to our house, so she was waiting for us when we got home today.  Doreen and I agreed to wait until tomorrow to open the box that contains her urn and final paw print.  We both miss her greatly as she has been our travel pup for the last 12 years, but we know she is in a better place and her suffering is over..

We did two big loads home today including the pantry and fridge/freezer, and got most of it put away at home.  Doreen also did several loads of laundry as some of the things that needed washed, such as table cloth for example, go back to the coach,  So tomorrow we will take a few items back out, and then haul the remaining items home, mostly hanging clothes, shoes etc.  At that point we about collapsed.  It was Casey's pizza for dinner, a shower, and watched the Iowa Hawkeye's football team put it to UMass in Iowa City.

So that is a wrap on this year's adventures.  It's had it's highs and lows.  We surely appreciate seeing everyone and the time you all spent with us.  We saw a lot of cool places, ate some delicious food and sampled some awesome bourbon and wine.  We are looking forward to another great adventure next year, to be determined!  

Final Stats:  This is campground #37 of 37 

# States Traveled Through So Far This Trip, in order: 24 (IA, MO, KS, OK, MO, IA, IL, IN, MI, WI, IA, IL, IN, KY, TN, NC, SC, GA,TN, GA, TN, KY, MO, IA)  

# States left to visit on this trip: 0 ()

Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  1 (Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

Lighthouses visited:  2 (Oak Island Lighthouse, Old Baldy Lighthouse)

Lighthouses climbed:  2 (Oak Island Lighthouse, Old Baldy Lighthouse)

Point to point travel miles (trailer miles):  6799 miles 

  - Avg point to point travel miles between campgrounds:  184 miles

Vicinity miles (truck miles with no trailer):  3536 miles 

  - Avg vicinity miles:  101 miles

Total miles driven:  10,335 miles 

Total point to point driving time:  135 hrs 32 minutes

Total diesel fuel purchased: 961.923 gals 

Total diesel fuel cost:  $3255.63 

Average diesel fuel cost/gal:  $3.375

Max diesel fuel cost:  $3.999 (Elkhart IN) 

Min diesel fuel cost:  $2.879 (Yukon OK) 

Avg MPG:  11.23 miles/gal

Cost/mi of operation:  $0.33

# Nights at end of this stay:  182 (Includes Griff's start & end)

Total lodging cost:  $7587.88  (includes Griff's start & end)

Average cost/night:  $41.69

12 Sep 2025 - Arrived at The Meadows RV Park & Coffee Shop - Last Night of this Year's Trip

 

This morning we departed Tween the Lakes RV Park near New Rivers KY at 0730 hrs and headed up through St Louis then north on Hwy 61 to The Meadows RV Park and Coffee Shop near New London MO.  The Illinois border came quickly after passing Paducah KY.  

The further north we traveled the more cornfields lined the road.  Things look dry up this way.  We've got that report from home too.  Not that abnormal for this time of the year.  

We crossed the Mississippi on the beautiful Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge and off to the south the Arch came into view. 

 

At 1247 hrs we rolled into The Meadows RV Park and Coffee Shop after driving 305 miles today.  I was ready for today to be over.  We've stayed here before and it is convenient right off Hwy 61.  Just south of the campground is New London MO and they have a Casey's convenience store with diesel and awesome pizza!  If you have never tried one and have the opportunity, order a taco pizza, a Midwest favorite.  Adjacent to the campground is a river where they do a lot of rafting, canoeing and kayaking.  There is access right from the campground.  I believe they take you north of here and put you in, then you get out back here.

We checked in quickly and made our way to the pull-through site they assigned us.  It is 50 amp full hook-up, gravel but fairly level, and an easy in and out since we are only staying one night again.

River rafting vehicles

After getting set-up I drove down to Casey's and fueled up the truck in preparation for the final 243 mile leg of our trip tomorrow.  

Next report from home (the coach will be at Griff's but we will be sleeping in our house).

11 Sep 2025 - Arrived at Tween the Lakes RV Park in Grand Rivers KY (One Nighter)

 

We loaded up at the Beautiful Rock campground in Rockmart GA in the dark this morning, which is never the best idea, but it all went smoothly and we were on our way at 0706 hrs Eastern Time. We made our way up to I-75, then I-24 through Chattanooga and Nashville all the way to our destination.  The sun crested the mountains in western GA with an orage glow and a heavy haze across the fields. 

We crossed several state lines today, from GA into TN then I-24 took us back into GA, then back into TN and then KY!  Traffic was a bit crazy at times and this is the only sign picture we captured.  

The trip was longer than normal for us, 347 miles from end to end.  Part of it was very beautiful even considering we were on an interstate highway. 

Overall it was not a bad trip until we got into Kentucky.  I-24 northbound in southern and central Kentucky, is absolutely horrendous. This was the worst stretch of road we experiences during our entire 2025 trip.  I was having flashbacks to I-10 in Louisiana. This picture does not nearly do it justice, but the roadside was littered with shredded tires like I have never seen before, from damaged vehicle.  Miles and miles of shredded tires.

I'm serious when I say if the State of Kentucky cannot afford to fix I-24, then they should close it.  You are trashing our vehicles.  And some of the worst spots are where they have attempted repairs.  I wonder what it was like before they tried to fix it??  I am really surprised I had any springs left on my trailer when we arrived.  I pissed off a lot of folks I'm sure but I actually moved into the left lane, which is a no-no unless you are passing, and I stayed there for probably 20 miles or more.  I saw semi's doing the same thing.  So that ruined this part of the journey for me.  Items were displaced inside the coach, but I have not found any obvious damage yet.  

We rolled into Tween the Lakes RV Park near Grand Rivers KY at 1257 Central Time, so right at seven hours and, again, 347 miles.  If you do the math we were right on track for our normal 50 miles per hour average including three stops. There are trails nearby and this is the trailhead for the Livingston County Trail System, apparently a very popular trail.

This campground welcomed us with a text that said no need to stop in the office.  Proceed directly to your site and have a nice day!  So we did!  Pave sites, very level and adequately long, and full hookup.  Many campers here appear to be seasonal, like a lot of the other campgrounds we have stayed.  

Against our normal modus operandi, we are only staying here one night,  Same with the next place.  We are on a bee-line home and will arrive Saturday.  Our sight-seeing and people-seeing is done for this summer. The week following our return will be very busy with unloading the coach, cleaning, waxing, fixing and winterizing, then moving it to winter storage.  We have two grandson's playing football right now and one getting ready to start fall baseball.  There will be housework and yardwork to do.  Vaca is over!

Tomorrow's travel is 305 miles, through St Louis up to just south of Hannibal MO.  We will plan our departure to avoid unnecessary traffic in St Louis.  

Next report from The Meadow Campground and Coffee House near New London MO

10 Sep 2025 - Last Day at Beautiful Rock RV Park in Rockmart GA

 

Our last day at Rockmart similar to last days at other stops.  The typical utilities such as replenishing the pantry & fridge and saying goodbye to our friends.  We made a return trip to Cedartown to stop at the fruit market but they were not open.  I suspect we might have been a bit early since it was before lunch.  Disappointing as we were going to buy a box of Georgia peaches to take home and also a container of boiled peanuts.  Thankfully our friend Lindy surprised me with some peanuts in with some canned goodies from her pantry yesterday!  Thank you Lindy!  We also stopped by the Cedartown Liquors as they have some of the allocated bourbons from Buffalo Trace.  I took the opportunity to have my picture taken with Jack Daniels!

This is one of only three of the Jack Daniels statues in Georgia.  They got it because of the volume of sales according to the young lady behind the counter.  We toured Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg TN last year.  

We finished up in Cedartown and headed back to Rockmart to see Ralph one last time at work.  He owns the Liberty Tax center and he does not only income taxes but accounting, payroll and related tasks for companies.  Lindy works there also.  Next door to Liberty Tax is Walmart, so we popped in the to buy a very few items, enough to get us home as we only have three more nights, arriving back in Ankeny on Saturday,

We fueled the big ol' brown truck and then returned to the campground to dump/flush tanks, stow hoses etc.  Our travel day tomorrow is almost 350 miles which is a longer than normal drive for us, so we will bug out early.  We've had a great stay here and it has been awesome to see Ralph & Lindy and spend some time with them, but it is time to say goodbye to Georgia and return home to recover from the 2025 camping season.  

 Next report from Tween the Lakes RV Park in Grand Rivers KY, just a bit east of Paducah KY.  A one-nighter there then north to Hannibal MO for a night followed by a short drive home to Griff's Valley View RV Park on Saturday.

9 Sep 2025 - Visit with Ralph & Lindy at their house; Visit to Cedartown; Dinner at Bremen

 

This morning Doreen and I worked on a rough plan for RV'ing next year.  We are attempting to schedule our coach into the factory for a "top to bottom" inspection, correcting deficiencies, both those known now and those found there.  We are just wrapping up season six of camping in our Alliance and we have had very few problems.  Most of them I have been able to correct myself, or they have taken care of them at the rally's.  This is a super solid coach and we are very pleased with it.  Any issues or questions we've had have been addressed quickly by Alliance.  

After lunch we drove to our Alliance friends Ralph & Lindy's new house they are building. It is in rural Georgia about 20 miles southwest of  where we are camping. The drive through the rolling hills and winding roads was beautiful. 

 Ralph is doing the work himself on his own timeline and it is coming along great. The inside is spacious, open concept.  Their house sits on a couple acres.

 We went inside and got caught up on their house progress, their family and other things going on.  Then we drove into Cedartown GA, a nearby town.  Doreen, Lindy and their granddaughter Evie joined us and we stopped at a roadside stand for some Georgia peaches and boiled peanuts.  We have to return tomorrow so we will pick up a small box of peaches and the boiled peanuts to take back to the coach for transport home.  

Later we saddled up and drove down to Bremen GA for dinner.  In their old downtown area there is a wood fired pizza place called "The Grill @ 222",  We both had pizza and it was great!    

We actually visited The Grill on bingo night, so as we waited for our pizza to get done, we played our cards.  No winners at our table!

Tomorrow will be our last day here.  As mentioned before we plan to drive back over to Cedartown for peaches and boiled peanuts, and then back in Rockmart we will stop into Liberty Tax and say goodbye to Ralph as he will be working.  We will get fuel on our way back to the campground, then flush and dump, stow hoses and prepare for a long trvel day on Thursday.

8 Sep 2025 - Arrived at Beautiful Rock Campground in Rockmart GA

 

This morning we bugged out of the Twin Lakes RV park in Cumming GA and headed SW around Atlanta to Rockmart, a small town in western GA just 20 or so miles from the Alabama state line.  It was only only 77 miles to Rockmart so we took our time leaving, departing at 1038 hrs.  Mid-day traffic on the outskirts of Atlanta was not bad at all.   

We rolled into the Beautiful Rock Campground at  1227 hrs and checked into the office.  There we were greeted by Gloria, a wonderful and helpful young lady.  She gave us a selection of sites to choose from, drove us to the sites so we could have a look, and made sure our EMS was happy with the power. She also made sure we could see the southern sky for the three satellites Directv uses.   Apparently they had previously corrected a power issue on our chosen site, but they sure did not clean up the pedestal...  Dude, a little 409 would go a long way here!  We will keep an eye on the voltage, current and temperature.. 

This campground is spread out over a large area in several sections.  Some sites are power & water only (no sewer) and that in itself is not a show stopper for us, but having sewer is handy as we can dump and flush tanks right here before departing rather than having to drive to a dump station to do that.  Our site is located by one of their lakes and we were encouraged to fish it if we so desired.  The sites are fairly well spaced which is nice.  They are not paved and relatively level and just $30/night!

After getting set-up we had a quick lunch then headed into town to do laundry and replenish the pantry and fridge.  This should be the last time we have to do either of those on this trip as we will arrive home this Saturday!  Wow, that does not seem possible!!  Speaking of home, I received a text from our launch and recovery place today - Griff's Valley View RV Park.  They had a no-notice opening so we will be able to land there on Saturday rather than the Adventureland Campground as we had planned.  Griff's is about half the price as Adventureland plus there will be no issues with me washing the roof, washing the entire coach, waxing and doing other repairs, maintenance and winterization at Griff's, plus it is closer to home than Adventureland.  

So why the (Big) Beautiful Rock Campground in Rockmart GA?  Well, we have some great Alliance friends, Ralph and Lindy,  that live nearby and we have never seen their new house or visited this area before.  We could not leave Georgia without stopping to see them!  We will be here for three nights, departing Thursday morning and heading to a campground near Paducah KY.  Then Friday we will stay the night at a campground near Hannibal MO,  Then Saturday we will drive it on home, well to Griff's at least, and we will sleep at our house Saturday night.

This afternoon after we returned from doing the laundry and Ralph & Lindy stopped by for a visit .  It was great to see them.  The last time we were together was at the Alliance Rally at the end of May.  

We will drive to their house tomorrow and then head out to see the sights and have some dinner with them.

7 Sep 2025 - Visit to Big Canoe & Lunch on the Pontoon Boat

 

Today we drove about 30 miles north to a private, gated community north of Atlanta in the North Georgia mountains called Big Canoe, where our friends/military comrade Brad & Beth Herren live.  We were here back in 2021 and they showed us not only their beautiful home but all around Big Canoe, an off-road jeep ride in the mountains, and a visit to Amicalola Falls. The Big Canoe development started in the early 1970's and it occupies about 8000 acres.  There are about 3000 residents with around 60% fulltime, the remainder are weekenders.  There are over 20 miles of hiking trails, 3 waterfalls, 3 lakes, over 50 community clubs, 27 holes of golf, and much more.  It is an absolutely beautiful area,  where you typically cannot see your neighbor's house as they are spread out across the mountain terrain in widely spaced, heavily wooded multi-acre lots.  Brad says Big Canoe controls everything you can think of from an architectural standpoint.  You cannot cut trees without approval.  Outside paint colors require approval,  Replacement roof materials and color require approval.  And the list goes on. 

Many residents use pine needle straw as ground cover 

Brad met us outside the gate this morning and led us through.  Security gave us a vehicle pass and then we headed to his house.  

We parked the big ol' brown truck and I had forgotten to put out trash bag in the dumpster as we left the campground this morning.  Brad grabbed it and stuck it in with his trash can inside his garage.  Had we left it in the back of our truck, the bears would have likely damaged the truck clawing their way in there to get our trash!  

We went inside their house and talked for a bit.  I took these pictures out their second floor deck.  

In the distance is Amicalola Falls, but foliage covers it from our view this time of the year

This one was taken in April 2021

We loaded up Brad's vehicle and headed down to the marina where he had rented a pontoon boat for us to enjoy on this gorgeous day.  

We are on Lake Petit, one of the lakes here at Big Canoe.  They do not allow gasoline motors on the boats, only electric low speed trolling motors. 

Residents with waterfront property cannot have docks.  If they have boats they must use the marina.  Even kayaks and canoes are centrally stored and launched from one location.  

So we boarded the pontoon along with coolers and other items for lunch, and headed out on a cruise.  The skies were clear and the winds light.  Temperatures were to peak at about 80 degrees today so picture perfect day for a pontoon ride.  As we got started, an eagle circled above us but I did not get a picture.  There is an island in the middle of the lake and Brad says there are usually three or more eagles nesting there but not today.  

In the distance, the mountain sides were dotted with houses.  Like Brad's house, I can only imagine what the views were from there houses.    

These houses are on the mountainside that faces Atlanta 

so the lights of the city could be seen on some nights.

We continued to cruise around and enjoy the day.  Brad found a cove that was shaded from the wind and Beth unpacked lunch including three different types of Italian sandwiches with veggies, condiments, fruit and chips for lunch.  It was delicious and filling for sure!

We had a great time and great conversations with Brad and Beth, but the time had run out on the pontoon rental so Brad headed back to the marina and we loaded up and drove back to their house.  He had told us the entire area is inhabited by bears, deer, coyotes and various other critters.  Here is a coyote that was checking us out as we passed by today.  Can you see him?

Back at the house we said our goodbyes, thanking Brad and Beth for their hospitality, and we headed the big ol' brown truck back to Cumming to get ready for our departure tomorrow.  We have really enjoyed our stay here and the time we've had with Brad and Beth.  

Our next destination is Rockmart GA, just about 65 miles away, so we will not be in a hurry to leave here tomorrow.  Check-out time here is 1200 hrs and I cannot find the check-in time there, but 1300 hrs is usual.  

Next report from Beautiful Rock RV Park in Rockmart GA!