Hello, hello!

It’s hard to know where to begin when so much has happened since I left Waupaca at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and arrived at Fairview-Riverside State Park in Louisiana at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday! 1,000 miles later and 40 degrees warmer! But I’ll give it a try!

The drive: So for 2 1/2 days it was pretty much “drive-get diesel-drive-rest stop/eat-drive-diesel-drive-rest stop-eat and sleep” Next day, repeat. I managed to make it around all the big cities without any traffic back-ups. The worst construction was in southern Wisconsin, but I was able to cruise through that. You still don’t pay cash tolls in Illinois, but I better get on the website and pay. !! As “Suggested”.

The roads were a challenge for a fifth wheel, even the interstate. The rough patching on the concrete roads jars the RV terribly, and some things vibrate their way to the floor every day! {Nothing breakable} Mississippi construction companies do not seem to have the skill to make a smooth transition between their short bridges and the highway! The bridges have sections of concrete that each have bumps as well. To a car, no big deal. To a fifth wheel: it sets it rocking up with the first bump, and then each concrete section adds another bump, nearly picking up the back of the pick-up! Then 5 bumps later, you’re back onto smooth road. They had these short bridges within 1-3 miles of each other, over and over! I finally realized if I accelerated over the bridge, it straightened out some of the rocking. But not all! It was a nightmare.

The 4 lane highway lanes also get narrower the farther south you go. Semi traffic really picked up in Mississippi. Amazing the number of trucks on the move! It’s also interesting in that all Highway rest areas in Mississippi have 24 hour security. What you see is a booth with windows on 3 sides and an officer inside and police vehicle outside. Cool! Most of the time the semis/RVs and autos are on the same side of the restroom facilities, but separated by a meridian. The one time I saw the autos separated to the other side of the restrooms from the semis/RVs, the security booth was on the auto side. What does that tell you?!!

I had real nice Rest Stops to stay in overnight. I’m fortunate in that the hum of the semi generators puts me to sleep! On Thursday, it was a bright, sunny day in the 80s when I pulled in to register at the State Park. I’ll fill you in on my experiences here next time!