We DID take our October trip up and along the Lake Huron
coastline in the eastern portion of Michigan!
A mix of gray, rainy, windy weather greeted us but soon gave way to
bright, sunny, colorful few days of exploring the oft visited Scenic River Road
that runs along side the even more scenic AuSable River that curves and winds
thru the colorful northern woods.
Before heading back home to prepare our house for our annual winter
jaunt to Florida, H chose to follow the 2-lane blacktop road that
Thanksgiving was fast approaching and the push to remove the
mega amount of leaves from our yard, to get the trailer winter ready and the
bright blue truck road ready was upon H.
He WAS planning on pulling out on Sunday, December 1st but
our Good God had other plans for him.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving he was admitted to the hospital once
again - with severe chest pains that after extensive testing, proved to be
blood clots in his lung. His pain
relieved and meds secured, he was released after 5 days. On this Thanksgiving Day we are thankful the
attack happened when it did instead of Monday December 2nd – when we
were to be driving in the mountains of Kentucky and Virginia. His doctors also released him to do
ANYTHING he wanted! Rush and stress
ensued but the “train” pulled out only two days after the original departure
date. Yes, a whole bunch of things got
forgot!! But that’s why we have super
neighbors at home and Harbor Freights along the way!!
Paintsville Lake State Park is always the intended 1st
night stopover and like our dear friends, B&C, who left Michigan several
weeks before us, the bushy white bearded, Santa looking, host greeted us and we
parked in the usual pull thru site nearest the clean, warm bathhouse! The next morning as we were heading
I NEVER enjoy running the gauntlet thru Ashville NC but it
is still way better than the treacherous north/south route of I75 – including
the danger of truck filled Cincinnati.
Peaceful Georgia was on our minds!
Tallulah Falls State Park is perched on a knoll, high above
a 300 ft deep gorge with its handful of rushing waterfalls. Hiking paths are a
plenty for viewing them all -IF you have enough stamina! The
About 30 miles west of Tallulah Falls is the small Frankenmuth
Michigan wannabe town of Helen Georgia.
Each Christmas season the Swiss style town is decorated with a multitude
of white and twinkling lights and various other holiday displays. Too bad we went to revisit them on a
Wednesday evening and all the shops were closed! But they still wanted $5 to park! We took a chance and parked anyway (without paying) to walk the
empty street and still enjoy the bright lights on the gazebo in the park on
Main Street!
On Thursday we set out once more with high hopes of a good
travel day with sunshine and blue skies.
We were hit with 2 near misses of what could have been tragic traffic
accidents - neither of which would have been our fault. The brakes on the truck and trailer got 2
heated up workouts that day. A lot of friends have been praying for our travel
safety and believe me - the prayers (and H’s reflexes) have been working.
Little Ocmulgee State Park, just outside of McRae Georgia is
weird to pronounce but is another good stopover place for the night! The campground is hidden behind a pristine
golf course and rustic lodge but the sites are generously sized and the
magnitude of crunching brown oak leaves had been freshly blown off of the
gravel parking pads. Jim, the friendly
camp host from Illinois came over quickly to see if we needed anything! It quickly turned into “happy hour” because
Jim smoked his cigar and H enjoyed the forbidden odor! (He’s not enjoyed his
favorite bad habit since before his June surgery!) He did enjoy his beverage of choice tho!
