Friday, March 14th - Crusin Cajuns RV Rally - Patterson, LA

First thing.... Tucker and I walked around the entire park perimeter.

Worked online from our coach most of the day.

Ray & Phil taught me to play chicken paws dominoes.

The club served fried fish and rice. Very good.

A professional band played "Swamp Pop". They were very good. Dancing for everyone. They even let us get out there.

Door prize drawing at 9:00 PM. No, didn't win.

Back to the coach for an early turn-in.

Thursday, March 13th - Crusin Cajuns RV Rally - Patterson, LA

First thing.... Tucker and I walked around the entire Kemper Williams Park perimeter. Good for both of us.

Ray showed us around the Patterson Civic Center. Wow, the Cruisin Cajuns RV Rally hosts did a great job!

Free Coors Light on tap and wine available all day, everyday.
Free Coffee always available in the morning.

Our table assignments were across the table from Ray & Ruby and next to their friends from the Gulfport, MS area.

Later in the day, Ray took us to see the Louisiana State Museum - Patterson, home of the Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museums. It was very interesting, especially the racing airplanes on display.

That evening, the Cruisin Cajuns RV Club served Cajun Jambalaya with sausage. Very good.

After dinner, the musician members of the Cruisin Cajuns provided entertainment on the stage. Everyone got up and danced, including us.

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Back to the coach for a good nights sleep.

Wednesday, March 12th - Picayune, MS to Patterson, LA - Travel Day

Today was a travel day again. Ray & Ruby invited us as their guests to two RV Rallies hosted by their RV Club, "Cruisin Cajuns". The first RV Rally was at Kemper Williams Park and Arena in Patterson, LA, about 146 miles from Ray & Ruby's in Picayune, MS.

After 108 miles since our last fill-up, we topped off at RaceTrac in Picayune, $3.18/gal.

We followed Ray's motorcoach carefully to make sure we didn't end up on an off ramp somewhere.

We were greeted at the gate by the friendly Cruisin Cajuns motorcoach parkers. We did not tow the Jeep. Ray towed his Cadillac SUV so we waited a bit for him to unhook and the RV parkers put us right next to Ray & Ruby's motorcoach.

Our Motorcoaches

106 Motorcoaches, all members of the Crusin Cajuns RV Club from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and ours from Florida

Wednesday evening, we we enjoyed a great dinner at the Atchafalaya Golf Club with a whole group of Cruisin Cajun members from the Gulfport, MS area. We were introduced as Ray & Ruby's guest to all. Had a very nice time. Everyone was really friendly. We enjoyed it.

Click Google Map of today's travels - 146 miles today, 861 total.

Tuesday, March 11th - Picayune, MS

Day of rest and organizing the coach for better living.

Ruby cooked Shrimp Etouffee, a cajun and creole dish of shrimp in a tasty roux gravy over rice. Very delicious.

Monday, March 10th - Gainesville, FL to Picayune, MS - Travel Day

Long day! - After a 6:30 AM Tucker walk and breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we departed around 7:30 AM and headed north on I75 to I10 and then west to Mississippi.

Another 236 miles, topped off at Flying J in Tallahassee, FL. - $3.27/gal.

Through the George Wallace Tunnel under the Mobile River in Mobile, AL.

Another 253 miles, topped off at TA in Grand Bay, AL - $3.20/gal.

Arrived at our good friends, Ray & Ruby Hoffer near Picayune, MS around 5:30 PM CST. Unhooked the Jeep and parked in front of Ray's RV Garage that stores his shiny 40' Allegro Bus diesel pusher. Ray BBQ'd chicken on the grill. Nice to sit and get caught up after several very busy days preparing and traveling. 

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Click small map to left to see a Google Map of our travels so far.

Big day for us... 510 miles today, 715 total.

Sunday, March 9th - Englewood, FL to Gainesville, FL - Departure Day

With all the last minute preparation required for a 7 month absence, we under estimated the amount of work to do before we could actually leave. Example: shutter installation, moving last minute items from house to the coach, storing BBQ, bench, firepit etc. Finally, around 5 PM I hooked up the Jeep and we were underway.

Hurricane Shutters are UP!

Hitched up and finally ready to go leave

Up I-75, 105 miles later, filled up at Sam's Club in Brandon, FL - 3.27/gal.

Around 9:00 PM, we pulled into Cracker Barrel in Gainesville to park overnight. RV parking spaces were huge and it was easy to get in and out. We wanted to make it to Tallahassee but there were a lot of trucks on I75 and I don't like night driving plus we were tired from all the work we did before we left.


Click the small map to the left to see a Google Map of today's travels - 205 miles

Welcome to our RV Travel Blog

Taken in Pikeville, Tennessee

Lee Ann, Tucker and I welcome you to our new 2014 RV Travel Blog. To keep all our friends and family posted on our where-abouts and activities during our 7 month RV trip, we decided to create this RV Travel Blog. We'll also be setting up a twitter account that will notify our followers of new updates to this blog as well as allow us to make quick on-the-road twitter posts with pictures and videos. Stay tuned on that.

Current Location: 3/11/2014 - Picayune, MS

How'd we get here? To bring everyone up-to-date, here's a brief timeline.

Little History: 2003-2008 as RV full-timers in our 40' 5th Wheel, we were workamping at various RV Parks throughout the Carolinas, Florida and New Mexico. In April, 2008, we pulled off the road in Englewood, FL to establish our home base, which involved selling our 5th Wheel and remodeling an old house for the next 6 years. Why 6 years? We financed the remodel, which turned out to be a very extensive, out of our own pockets which are not very deep. I could do another whole blog on that but will spare you the details.

Englewood, FL - April 2013 - Although, we love our newly remodeled home and especially our friends and neighbors in Englewood, we began to get the urge to go RVing again, so in April 2013, we purchased a used 2006 30' Safari Simba Motorcoach and a new 2013 Jeep Wrangler to tow behind it. I was really looking for a larger coach (34 - 36') but when we found this one at Camping World in Bartow, FL, Lee Ann said, "smaller is better" for our budget so we went for it. We've had to get used to the smaller footprint compared to our big 40' 5th Wheel, but getting the hang of it. 

Our 2006 30' Safari Simba Class A Motorcoach and 2013 Jeep Wrangler

Checkout Trips - August & November 2013 - We did a couple of short trips in Florida to checkout the coach. One to Matlacha, FL (Small artist/fishing village enroute to Pine Island which is south of Englewood) and one to Crystal River, FL over the Thanksgiving Holiday with our good friends, Tom and Barb Calderon. Both trips were without towing the Jeep.

1st Checkout Trip was Sugar Sand Beach RV Resort in Matlacha, FL

2014 RV Trip Planning - After 6 hot summers of house remodeling and weekly lawn mowing in Florida, we planned for a 7 month journey starting in March and ending back in Englewood on October 1st, 2014. Why March, you say? Our long time friends, Ray & Ruby Hoffer, from Picayune, MS invited us to attend a couple of RV Rallies with them, one on March 12th and another starting tomorrow, March 19th.

Trip Preparation - There was a lot to do before our departure on Sunday, March 9th. Here's the short list:stucco the outside of our house, install window trim and new hurricane shutter layout configurations, primed and painted the house yellow, reorganized our cargo trailer for more storage space, electrical repairs to coach, purchased and installed our tow-bar, brake buddy and accessories, installed of our own towing base-plate on the jeep, installed and wired up dedicated taillights on the Jeep, did tow checkout ride 2 days before departure, moved our personal items including a lot of tools and everyday living items aboard the RV, prepared the house for our absence including installing the hurricane shutters.

A couple of days, before our departure, my good friend and next door neighbor in Florida, Jim Brown, help me with the tow baseplate installation on the Jeep. 2 hours turned into 6 somehow. After completing the dedicated taillight installation and wiring and installing the portable Brake Buddy, I did the test tow around Englewood. All checked out fine. No wiring issues.

Late departure - We planned to leave by 10 AM on Sunday the 9th with an ETA before dark in Tallahassee but with all the last minute prep, didn't actually leave Englewood until nearly 5:00 PM.

See next post for 1st travel day info.

Sorry for the long post but necessary to set the stage for the following posts.