Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Nov 3: Florida Panhandle RV journey begins, to Nashville

We figured two fairly long days to get to Falling Waters State Park in Florida.  It's about due south of Dothan, AL.  Google Maps suggested route was to go down to Champaign, IL, take I-74 east, then IL-1 down till crossing over to Vincennes, IN.  Then US-41 to the KY Pennyrile Parkway, to I-24, to Nashville.

We just took I-74 across to Indiana, then IN-63/US-41 down to Kentucky. I like driving on the "yellow" roads, the secondary four lane highways.  We only go about 62 MPH, give or take, because the fuel economy goes down a lot as speed goes up.  With diesel fuel nearly $4 a gallon, and 10 MPG, it adds up.  Anyway, the routing was pretty good.  It was a slog getting through Terre Haute and Evansville, though.

As a side note, our 70 lb dog has some arthritis, and can't just bolt up and down from the pickup truck cab like she used to.  We have to carry a ramp for her.  And you can't just lay the ramp in the truck bed, because when towing a fifth wheel trailer, the wind in the truck bed is just crazy.  Anything you can lift is too light to lay loose in the bed.  I mounted a truck tool chest up near the front, with an inch or so slack at the front of the bed.  We slide the ramp into that slack area, and it stays put. We also have a ramp for the trailer, as shown in the photo.  (Taken elsewhere.)



Back to our story, the Pennyrile Parkway was excellent.  One of those non-interstate four lanes where you have the road to yourself.  Peaceful driving and nice scenery.  Then I-24 down to Nashville.   It was a 440 mile day, which with the towing is about the max we care to do.  We had read that Camping World, an RV store chain, allows overnight stops.   And there was a CW right off the interstate at the Grand Ole Opry area.  But instead we chickened out and stayed at the KOA a few hundred yards away.  

Very nice place, and right next door to a well-known fried chicken and catfish place. Terry loves catfish, so I hiked over there and bought us a mess of fried stuff.  Ask Terry about the fried pickles.   


1 comment:

  1. You hiked? or drove? And the puppy is so cute in the picture of the ramps :) And fried pickles are a big thing down here in southern IL... Never got the courage to try them though!

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