We arrived in Farragut PA September 21st and had a nice reunion with family and friends. Steve had a few jobs lined up for me including cutting firewood. We also did our dentist appointments and took care of some business. It was nice to be back in PA for awhile, but after six weeks we were getting itchy to hit the road again. After voting Tuesday we got on the road on November 3rd.

We stopped the first night at Dick and Betty Souters in Mt. Sydney, VA and had a nice visit with them. They let us use their campground, which is real nice.

November 4th we traveled to Baileyton, TN where we spent night two. Friday we traveled on to Raccoon Valley Campground at Heiskell, TN which is an Escapee campground that we like. We stayed there and toured the surrounding area. One day we drove over to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and took a drive up in the Smokies. In the evening we took a trolley tour of the Christmas lights in Gatlinburg. There are bluegrass jam sessions here at Raccoon Valley put on twice a week by some of the local people. They are very good.

Another day we went to Oak Ridge TN. and toured the American Museum of Science and Energy which has to do with the history of the development of the world’s first atomic weapons, and how the city of Oak Ridge was developed in conjunction with the Atomic project. We had such a good time at Raccoon Valley that we stayed there until November 14th when we moved south. We stopped at Clanton AL. for the night and the next day traveled on to the Escapees Rainbow Plantation campground in Summerdale AL.

We arrived at Rainbow Plantation on Monday, November 15th. This is a beautiful park located out in the country in a very quiet setting. We are about eight miles from the gulf to the west and about fifteen miles to the south. This is a beautiful area and we wish we could have seen the beach areas before Hurricane Ivan hit. The whole beach from east of Pensacola all the way to Mobile AL has been devastated and will take months or even years to restore to its original condition.

On Tuesday we joined a group on a bus tour to a casino in Biloxi MS. We got the bus ride a nice buffet lunch and $10.00 seed money for $3.00. We had a great time. On Wednesday we took a ride down to Gulf Shores to see the hurricane damage. I have never seen so much devastation. There were tarps on hundreds of house roofs and many houses and business’s completely ruined. Along the resort area they were gathering up the sand off the lawns and streets and hauling it back to the beach. Many of the hotels and restaurants had major damage and will not be repaired for many months.

We went to Fairhope, AL, a neat little town for the lighting of the Xmas lights in the town square. They had a band and vendors along the town streets. Some of the stores were open. Later we went to Lambert’s Cafe, Foley, AL to eat with Lloyd and Bert Christainsen and friends. A fun place to eat. The food is good homestyle cooking. It’s known as The only home of throwed rolls. They throw delicious hot rolls to you!

Saturday we went to Pensacola Naval Air Station which is the home of the Navy Blue Angels and toured the Naval Air Museum. This is a great museum with many planes ranging from WW1 vintage right up to today’s jets. It was very enjoyable.

We met a lot of nice people and discovered a lot of things to do and see in the area around Summerdale, so we decided to stay here for Thanksgiving. The campground furnishes the turkey and gravy and everyone brings a dish and eats as a group of about 150 in the clubhouse. It wasn’t family, but the next best thing.

On Saturday morning we were having some thunder showers with high winds and later heard there was a tornado that touched down in the town of Summerdale which is about five miles from the campground. It demolished or severely damaged about forty houses. It must have snuck up on the weather people because there were no warnings.

On Monday November 29th we reluctantly departed Summerdale and traveled west to New Orleans. Tuesday we took a guided tour of downtown New Orleans including the French Quarter, the river walk, one of their above ground cemeteries and a beautiful plantation house and garden. After seeing the traffic and congestion we were glad we took the tour instead of driving down town.

Wednesday morning we moved on west as far as Beaumont TX. and stopped at a nice coast to coast resort for the night. They had an ice cream social so we were really happy we chose that park.

Thursday, December 2nd we headed northwest to Livingston TX to the Escapees Rainbows End RV Park and national headquarters. We will stay here at least a week and get our mail and tour the headquarters and surrounding area. After that we will go south into the Rio Grand Valley and see what that’s like.

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