MKWe’re Doing it Again! We decided to take a second go at getting out of the Minnesota winter. We wanted to have a new camper by now, but it didn’t happen. We did, however, upgrade the truck! The route is similar to last year but with different campsites and different things to see. Instead of National Parks,…
Abandoned Places Tour 2024 United Crushers Mill – Minneapolis, MN In preparation for our 2024 Winter “Get the Hellouta MN” trip, we picked a theme – Abandoned Places – and began with the abandoned United Crushers Mill building in Minneapolis to whet our whistle. The Mill is an old unused flour mill and is located between…
Genesco Consolidated Schools in Iowa In rural Iowa we found Genesco Consolidated Schools and the staff dormitory.The red brick building was built in 1920 and merged with rival school Dysart in 1966.The three-story structure housed kindergarten through 12th grade before the merger. Declining enrollment eventually forced Dysart-Geneseo to close the building. It was sold in 1983.Broken…
Litte More of Iowa Iowa doesn’t have much to offer in regard to things to do or places to see. There was a cool old house where we stopped for gas. It was being used as a redemption center for metal and cans. I was taking pictures and a guy came out and asked if I…
Ha Ha Tonka Castle In 1905, Robert M. Snyder, a wealthy Kansas City businessman, brought in European Masons to build his dream castle. Construction was halted a year later when Snyder was killed in one of the state’s first automobile accidents.The castle was finally finished by his sons in 1922. The property was eventually used as…
“Pencil – Cola” Just across the Alabama border we found our first Campsite Big Lagoon State park. It sits just south ofPensacola Florida and next door to the Blue Angles Navy base.Armadillo in our campsiteRainScary Wind – Tornado just SE of usMore RainJets flying over oftenReturn to the Ocean for the dogs… a bit of side…
Rainbow Springs Florida We went here to see the spring-fed pool that may contain manatee and to see the abandoned zoo and old attraction park. The foliage and waterfalls made it feel like we were in Jurassic Park! It was all really cool! (Note: A few short videos follow because pictures just couldn’t do it justice.)…
Lake Okeechobee and 55+ ! The 10th biggest freshwater lake in the country and our first 55 plus RV park just north of Lake Okeechobee…. Zachary Taylor RV park.They had a really nice pool, workout room, meeting/party room. And an abundance of different water birds many of them perched in a big tree by the workout…
New Smyrna Beach & Sugar Mill Ruins (whew!) From Okeechobee to New Smyrna Beach Florida – Sugar Mill Ruins RV Park. A large family-owned park nestled in the woods 5 miles from the Atlantic coast. Campsites are spaced among the palm trees and there are many nice places to walk. There was a nice COLD pool…
Savannah Calls Us Back Red Gate Farmsis a family-owned property and has been for over 90 years. It’s one of Savannah’s most popular wedding and event venue. It’s also an Equestrian center plus they have a limited amount of RV spaces. It has many many acres of lakes and trees, trails and open spaces. Besides the…
Night and Day in Savannah One evening, we ventured out of our little piece of the country to take a haunted trolley tour of the historic city of Savannah. Much to our surprise we were 2 turns and about 3 miles from the heart of the city! Wow! We had no idea we were so close…
Abandoned Fort Jackson Just outside downtown Savannah is the Civil War era Fort Jackson. A dog friendly Historical site constructed in 1808 it was built to protect Savannah from attack by sea. The cannons have an excellent view of the Savannah River and any ship coming up the river would be in big trouble. The confederates…
The Things You See When You Slow Down A Giant Pink Elephant!A Super Old Church and Cemetery!An Even Older Gigantic Oak Tree! It’s not every day you see two nicely posing dogs next to a giant pink elephant! We also stopped at the largest live oak tree east of the Mississippi – Angel Oak Tree. It…
WalknTour of Charleston A return to the James Island County campground (we stayed here last year) in Charleston started out poorly. It rained for the first day and 1/2. We were pretty wet by the time it was over and feeling a bit claustrophobic in the camper, but it cleared up and was nice out for…
The Camper Incident Heading to Huntington Beach SC On our way out of town we got to see the North Side of Charleston for a couple days. We broke a leaf spring on the camper about 1 mile from James Island and spent our travel day finding a flat bed to tow the camper and an…
Atalaya Castle Located inside Huntington Beach State Park is the picturesque, Moorish-style winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington, philanthropist, and sculptor, respectively. The castle was modeled after the Atalaya Castle in Spain. The winter home and gardens and land were all left to the park as their legacy. It was quite impressive and volunteers…
Wax Birthday Party I celebrated my 55th birthday in North Myrtle Beach with Kyle and Alan. We went to a brewery on a lake with swings for seats and a wax museum that was VERY entertaining and then to a supper club which also very entertaining in a different way. The food was good enough, but…
The Final Days on the Coast We loved our time on the beaches of the east coast. We walked the dogs 3 times a day on the dog-friendly beaches and we are sad to see it go.We stayed in a house named Bow Wow Bungalow. You can see the pickup, the camper and then the fenced…
And That’s a Wrap…Again The final 3 days are just driving, eating at restaurants and staying in hotels. We try to keep it under 8-9 hours a day for everyone (dogs) sanity.We had never been in a Sparky’s or a Buc-ee’s but we’ll be back. So fun to stop and shop at those places! And a…