10/14 - SWANSEA, S.C.

We are in a beautiful location out in the middle of nowhere. The River Bottom Farms RV Park is just 3/4 mile off Highway 178 and 22 miles SE of I-20 - between Augusta, GA and Columbia, SC. This location will give us a shortcut so we won't have to drive all the way to Columbia to get to I-26. We usually try to stay away from the roads that are not marked as truck routes but the campground is using this road for their directions to their location, and it was a good highway to this location so we are hoping it will be just as good as we travel it to get to I-26. It is so beautiful and quiet here. There are ponds (3) for fishing and a trail to the creek and river. We walked to the creek but it is flooded so we couldn't get to the river.

We had quite an anxious afternoon on our last day at Florence, AL. We had planned to leave on Saturday, 12/12, but on Thursday afternoon a city park official came knocking on our door to tell us the dam north of us MAY be releasing water which would cause the park to flood. He told us he would notify us if that happened for sure. Well, about an hour or so later (around 2 pm) he stopped by again and said we would have 2 hours to vacate the park. We were on our own for finding another park. Thank goodness for internet. As Royle was putting stuff away outside, I was on the internet to find a place close to us. Love rvparksreview.com for finding a lot of info on parks. I found one just 10 miles from us and easy/convenient location - I followed in the car so we didn't have to spend time hooking up for just 10 miles. We stayed there until Sat. and then left from there as originally planned.

It was foggy yesterday as we travelled through Atlanta along I-20 to reach our park. Forecast is for heavy fog this morning for this location as well as Charleston so we may delay leaving here as long as possible. Our trip today is only 120 miles but may end up to be a long 120 miles if we have heavy fog the entire trip.

FLORENCE, ALABAMA, MCFARLAND CITY PARK, 11/28-12/12

Royle sure did good at finding this park. We were surprised to see such big sites in a city park. The park covers a huge area and it even has a marina, but it only has 60 RV sites. We even have a view of the Tennessee River and can watch the barges travel up and down the river. The weather was really nice and warm for the first couple of days we were here but it has since turned quite cool. It rained yesterday but sunny (and very cold) today. We will start doing some sightseeing of the northern portion of the Trace on Thursday.

Photos:
(1)The river view from the opposite end of the park from the campsites
(2)Cruise ship - Pickwick Belle, located in the marina
(3)Bridge from the opposite end of the park from the campsites
(4)Our site - concrete pads, picnic table, room for parking the car, grass and view of the river
(5)The river at 7:30 this morning, taken across from our campsite - brrrr so cold. Note the bridge in the distance

SIGHTSEEING ALONG THE NATCHEZ TRACE, TUPELO, MS

We stayed in Tupelo at the Natchez Trace RV Park for just 3 nights and spent 2 days sightseeing. The location is very easy access to the Natchez Trace Parkway. We discovered that Tupelo was the birth place of Elvis Presley. Here are a few photos - the house, obviously, is where Elvis was born.
Then: Cole Creek-cypress swamp, I love this photo; one of highest points in Mississippi at 603 ft; part of the original trace; Royle in front of the Old Trace sign.

NATCHEZ TRACE

Today we are leaving our beautiful location along the Mississippi River in West Memphis (Tom Sawyer RV Park) and heading for the Natchez RV Park in Tupelo, MS. We heard about the Natchez Trace historic parkway from a friend and it worked out that we are close enough to head that way and spend some time doing some sightseeing. People parked in the site next to us last week have spent time touring Natchez Trace and absolutely loved it so I am excited about doing some sightseeing.

If you are interested in seeing what it is all about, I included a link so if you click on my title (Natchez Trace), the Nat'l Park Svc website will open.

11/11 - ARRIVED IN MEMPHIS, TN

Actually, we are across the Mississippi river from Memphis, in West Memphis, Arkansas at the Tom Sawyer RV Park. We made reservations for a week but may end up staying longer. This photo shows the view we get from our coach - a beautiful spot - but we did hear trains last night. The barges go by all day long.

HEADING FOR MEMPHIS

We had a great time in Branson. Our RV park is located across from a state park which has paved walking trails along the lake - we enjoy walking that scenic trail. We went to the Shoji violinist show. His theater has the most beautiful bathrooms - voted best in USA and shown on the travel channel. On Sunday we went to the Silver Dollar Theme Park. They have 4 million Christmas lights throughout the park. We saw the Dickens Christmas Carol play, performances of Cajun Christmas music and good old fashioned Christmas music by Pure Heart (3 female singers) and Trace Easton, a wonderful pianist. The theme park has all kinds of rides, performances throughout the park, gift shops, restaurants, a train that takes you through some of the park - too popular and we would have had to wait over an hour so we didn't do that.

The scenic photo is an overlook not too far from our RV park. The decorated fireplace is one of several photos I took of the women's restroom. The men's restroom even has a pool table! The photo of the Christmas lights was taken at the Silver Dollar City.

This morning we are moving to a park in West Memphis, which is really in Arkansas, and located right along the Mississippi River - Tom Sawyer RV Park. It is a beautiful location.

BRANSON, MISSOURI - ANDY WILLIAMS

We went to the Andy Williams Christmas show and it was so great. I chose not to see it last year because I wasn't sure how good it would be. But, I was pleasantly surprised that his voice is still strong - maybe even stronger than his younger days. He is 83 and he even did a soft tap dance. He also had some very good guest acts which kept our eyes glued to the stage for almost 2 hours.

In the first photo Andy is singing his famous moon river song - the scenery not only included the moon but a river running down through the set.