Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Jim and Cindy's Adventure Blog traveling all over the USA

Author: Rolling Along With The Reynolds

Family time in Ft. White; our hearts are full

A lovely three weeks were spent at the Ft. White Pine Forest Homestead to visit with my Mom and GrandJim and take care of some personal business in our official domicile town of Lake City. Would’ve stayed a bit longer, but our hydraulic jack system needs further attention, so that means moving onwards for repairs. 

It was a great time to visit with family, including my Aunt and Uncle. Had a chance to sift through some old boxes of family photos, bonded so strongly to Callie and Lizzie the sweetest cats ever that we seriously wanted to stowaway (although Darcy I highly doubt would  share our enthusiasm for this, LOL).

2023-7 Picture Album of Ft. White

 

Eventful times

Lots of party events occurred in this short time period, in spite of my Mom’s health. Happy hours (Lee and Denise), social lunches (Jeff and Becky), Cinco De Mayo, the British Coronation, Kentucky Derby, and more! 

GrandJim’s hard work out in the yard yielded bountiful harvests of roses and other flowers, plus the garden full of Romaine lettuce, Arugula, banana peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions made delicious salads (oh, and of course the mint to add into Mint Juleps!)

<—– Jim cooking smashburgers on the Blackstone griddle.

2023-7 Picture Album of Ft. White

Ft. White Scenery

Columbia county is so pretty; the dirt roads out in the country make for some very enjoyable bike rides. Touring the family acreage on golf carts revealed some interesting sights (robber flies, oh my! Plus cute cottontail rabbits, bulls on the loose – yes, danger danger, gorgeous oaks draped in spanish moss, a hidden motor speedway, and the famous pile of old Herty clay turpentine pots from generations past).

2023-7 Picture Album of Ft. White

 

2023-8 “On the Road to Moscow” picture album

Heading northwards to Iowa

We left Florida rather abruptly, due to a short notice appointment available at the HWH Hydraulic factory in Moscow, Iowa. Originally intending on making our way up to Columbus Georgia to have the hydraulic jacks and room slides looked at (repaired) yet again, we decided to call the manufacturer directly and sure enough they had an appointment that could accommodate us.  So, we quickly planned a route to get us up to Moscow Iowa from Florida in four days time.

The first leg was up to Acworth Georgia (just north of Atlanta) to boondock in a Cabela’s parking lot overnight. I was proud of myself behind the wheel, as I took the reigns and made it through downtown ATL; it helped that it happened to be a Saturday afternoon and traffic was light. Continuing onwards, I jumped back behind the wheel again and made it through Chattanooga and Nashville traffic to spend one night in Eddyville, KY. Outback RV Resort was the place we stopped and it was such a clean park. Not a destination, but we’d stay here again if passing through. Next up was a stop over in Chatham Illinois. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the campground we selected for the night, Double J, was right on Route 66. They had a nice walking trail and fun little features on the the grounds such as putt putt golf and Rt 66 mementos. On the fourth day, we successfully rolled into the HWH factory.
HWH was quite impressive. Knowing this would be a Service stop, we had no idea how long we’d be here. Unlike Coachcraft in Columbus who had to wait on parts and things to be shipped off and returned, we dealt directly with the HWH technicians and, viola, were immensely happy with the results just 5 hours later!

So, where to go from here? Because it was late in the afternoon when things wrapped up at HWH, we decided to spend an additional night right where we were and commence an exploratory discussion on what to do/where to go. Since we’re already half way up the country, now’s the time to take in the sights of Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and likely go westward towards Minnesota. Exciting times to be “back on the road, rolling along!”  

Next Stop? Somewhere close to Dubuque, Iowa it is!

 

2023-8 “On the Road to Moscow” picture album

 

Our favorite place

The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak Florida is one of our all-time favorite places to be. Good to be back! Hit all of the must-see places while there, including the Canoe Outpost on the Suwannee River, the beach, the Mother Tree House, the Bat house at sunset, biking the many trails (sadly the flip flop tree and the bra tree are history) throughout the 700+ acre park.

SOSMP Pictures (Album 2023-6)

Rees Lake (aka Spirit Lake)

 

SOSMP Pictures (Album 2023-6)

Mushroom Stage, with a fresh coat of paint!

Suwannee Springs, Graffiti Bridge

 

SOSMP Pictures (Album 2023-6)

 
Tree House, Bat House

Montgomery Alabama

I’ve always heard great things about Gunter Hill COE Campgrounds just outside of Montgomery Alabama, so we had to check it out. It did not disappoint, although we would’ve preferred being in the newer cleaner nicer loop of the two offered, which is the Catoma Loop. The Antioch Loop where our campsite was is tighter to maneuver and the roads are not as well maintained.  The COE is also next door to the Montgomery Motor Speedway. Hopping on our e-bikes, we paid them a visit, which happened to be on a Practice night before Saturday night Races. Free admission on Friday to get into the Grandstands!  We were hoping to return the next night for the actual race, but sadly heavy rains came and cancelled the event.

After Gunter Hill, we boondocked for an overnighter at a Harvest Host in Dothan. Folklore Brewery was a fun evening; had several meads, ales, beer cheese pretzels, and fine conversation with two other RV couples staying the night.

Link to montgomery pictures (album #2023-5)

 

 

 

 

 

Springtime in NE Alabama

We spent close to a week in the Northeast area of Alabama. Here to specifically visit “Saf-T-Plus”, for an inspection of last year’s suspension upgrades. All is well!

We stayed at Cane Creek RV Park in Heflin Alabama. We’d definitely re-visit this town, but likely not the RV Park. Although it met our needs with Full Hookups, it in itself is not impressive. But it is close to Tallapoosa Georgia and Anniston/Oxford Alabama.
We did several hikes in various segments of the Pinhoti Trail within the Talladega National Forest. My favorite was the Cheaha Falls hike, with just 2 miles of easy elevations to reach the spectacular waterfalls. 

 

Talladega pics (Album 2023-4)